The History of Woman Suffrage Volume II Part 43

SPRINGFIELD, Feb. 21.

DEAR REVOLUTION:--We have been resting here at the capital of Illinois a few days. Of our meeting in the Opera House we will say nothing about it, except that we had the Governor and members of the Legislature as attentive listeners, and the Lieut.-Governor for presiding officer, who made an admirable speech indorsing woman's suffrage. Mrs. Livermore made an able argument, though Robert _Laird_ Collyer says we never have any logic on our platform, as if we had not been so logical in all our positions for the last twenty years that the dear men had no answer to make. Poor fellows! as they saw their outposts, one after another taken, their fortresses riddled through and through, their own guns turned on their defenseless heads, and such fifty-pounders as "taxation without representation," "all men created equal," "no just government can be formed without the consent of the governed," hurled at them, no wonder they left logic and took up ridicule; and now, when we meet them with their own weapons, they say we can not reason. The drunken man always imagines the lamp-posts dancing. Poor R. L. C., in the Chicago Convention, really thought his plat.i.tudes logic, and our logic sentiment.

On arriving at Springfield, we found the Chicago delegation all ready to besiege the Legislature. Among them were Mrs. Mary A.

Livermore, Mr. Bradwell and his pretty wife Myra, who edits the Chicago _Legal News_. We have met several members of the bar and judges of the Supreme Court, among others Judge Lawrence and Judge Breese. All these gentlemen of the bar are in favor of amending the laws and const.i.tutions. One thing is certain, unless these Republicans wheel in and do their duty, the Democrats in the West will take up woman's suffrage. We would advise the Western men to come into the measure generously and gracefully, and not be so obstinate and mulish as our Eastern lords have been. There is no escape, and where is the use of courting disgrace and defeat?

Sharon Tyndale, Ex-Secretary of State, escorted us to the House and Senate, and introduced us to the heads of the departments. We had two pleasant interviews with Gov. Palmer. He talks very reasonably in regard to the enfranchis.e.m.e.nt of women, although he says he does not quite indorse it yet, but as he has a very clear, honest mind, he will soon convince himself that what the ballot has done towards elevating man it will do for woman also.

The telegrams are flying in all directions for us to come here, there, everywhere. Western women are wide-awake to-day. The question of submitting an amendment to the Const.i.tution to strike out the word "male," is under consideration. The poor "white male" is doomed.

E. C. S.

CHICAGO, March 1.

DEAR REVOLUTION:--From Springfield, I went to Bloomington, lectured before the Young Men's a.s.sociation to a large audience, and met there many liberal men and women. I found that the Rev.

Mr. Harrison had just fired a gun in the town paper on the lack of logic in the Chicago Convention and women's intuitions in general. It amuses me to hear the nonsense these men talk. They say G.o.d never intended woman to reason, they shut their college doors against her so that she can not study that manly accomplishment, and then they blame her for taking a short cut to the same conclusion they reach in their roundabout, lumbering processes of ratiocination. Do these gentlemen wish us to set aside G.o.d's laws, pick up logic on the sidewalks, and go step by step to a point we can reach with one flash of intuition? As long as we have the gift of catching truth by the telegraph wires, neither the sage of Bloomington nor Robert Laird Collyer of Chicago need ask us to go jogging after it in a stage-coach, perchance to be stuck in the mud on the highways as they are. It is enough to make angels weep to see how the logicians, skilled in the schools, are left floundering on every field before the simple intuitions of American womanhood.

Finding the ladies of Bloomington somewhat scarified and nervous under the Reverend's firing, like the good Samaritan, I tried to pour oil and wine on their wounded spirits, by exalting intuition, and with a pitiful and patronizing tone deploring the slowness, the obtuseness, the materialism of most of the sons of Adam. It had its effect. They soon dried their tears, and with returning self-respect, told me of all the wonderful things women were doing in that town. From the scintillations of wit, the fun and the laughter, an outsider would never have supposed that we were an oppressed cla.s.s, and so hopelessly degraded in the statute laws and Const.i.tution. After the meeting we had a long talk with the clerical a.s.sailant, and were happy to find that the good man's pen had done his heart great injustice. He is rather morbid on the question of logic; but the most melancholy symptom of his disease is his hatred of _The Revolution_. He says it is a very wicked paper, that he had felt it his duty to warn his congregation against taking it, thus depriving us of, at least, five hundred subscribers, though he read it himself (under protest) regularly every week. Strange what a fascination evil things have even for those who minister at the altar! He advised me to strangle Train, gibbet the financial editor, snub the proprietor, and to say no more in the paper on the questions of political economy, until we had one and all studied the subject.

Dear _Revolution_, when I listened to those things, I had the same sinking of the heart that I used to feel when neighbors complained that my boys were running over their house-tops, dropping stones down their chimneys, ringing their bells then running away, throwing b.a.l.l.s in their windows, and teazing the girls on the sidewalk. Now, I do hope, dear _Revolution_, you will not bring my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave, but turn over a new leaf and adopt some Christian means to get back these five hundred subscribers. The reverend gentleman said one thing that was like balm to my bruised spirit. He liked everything over the initials P. P. and E. C. S. _Sub rosa_, P. P., we must try and circ.u.mvent Train, and fill the paper ourselves.

I met some grand women at Bloomington, one who has been a successful merchant in the dry-goods business. She has not only supported her self and a family of children, but cleared $5,000 in five years. Another lady is a furniture dealer; when her husband died she went on with the business, and although he was so much embarra.s.sed that every one advised her to close up and save what she could, she has paid all the debts, saved a handsome sum of money, and been every way more successful than her husband before her. A lady is the head of an establishment where music and pianos are sold. She carries on a large business, and has been very successful. All these women with their intuitions seem to be doing much better than many who can boast the gift of reason. I should not be surprised if, in the progress of events, men should come to think that woman's gift, after all, is the more desirable.

E. C. S.

TOLEDO, March 7.

DEAR REVOLUTION:--A bright, crisp morning I found myself seated beside Mrs. Livermore in the train for Milwaukee, whither we were going to attend a convention. In these eventful times of woman suffrage, having been separated a few days, on meeting, our hearts were overflowing with good news for one another. While I told Mrs. L. all I had seen and heard at Bloomington, and the various conversations I had had with dissenting "white males" on the trains, she told me her plans in regard to her new paper, the _Agitator_. Having decided to call such a journal into being, what its name should be was the question. Accordingly a council was held of the wise men and willful women of Chicago over the baptismal font of the new comer. The men, still clinging to the pleasant illusions that everything emanating from woman should be mild, gentle, serene, suggested "The Lily," "The Rose Bud," "The New Era," "The Dawn of Day;" but Mrs. Livermore, always heroic and brave, now defiant and determined, having fully awakened to the power and dignity of the ballot, and stung to the very soul with the proposed amendment for "manhood suffrage," declared that none of those names, however touching and beautiful, expressed what she intended the paper should be--nothing more or less than the twin sister of _The Revolution_, whose mission is to turn everything inside out, upside down, wrong side before. With such intentions, she felt the _Agitator_ was the only name that fully matched _The Revolution_. All the women present echoed her sentiments, eschewing the "rose bud" dispensation and declaring that they would rather get the word "male" out of the const.i.tution than to have a complete set of diamonds--rather have a right to property, wages, and children, than the best seats in the cars, and the tid-bits at the table. Thus, with one simultaneous shout, the women proclaimed the _Agitator_. The men calmly and sorrowfully resigned all hope of influence in the matter, and, as they dispersed, it was evident they looked mournfully into the future. Good Prof. Haven said that the mere name of the _Agitator_ gave him an ague chill, and what life would be to most men after this twin sister to _The Revolution_ was under full headway, no one could predict. Filled with profound pity for our beloved countrymen in this their hour of humiliation, we arrived in Milwaukee, where a delegation of ladies and gentlemen awaited us, among whom were a nephew and niece of Rufus Peckham, of New York, young law students of great promise. We drove to the Plankington House, where a suite of beautifully furnished apartments, with a bright fire in the grate, was prepared for us.

The Convention was held in the City Hall, and lasted two days, three sessions each, and was crowded throughout. Miss Chapin, the regularly ordained pastor of the Universalist church, was the President. Mr. and Miss Peckham, Dr. Laura J. Ross, and Madam Anneke were the ruling spirits of the Convention. Madam Anneke, a German lady of majestic presence and liberal culture, made an admirable speech in her own language. The platform, besides an array of large, well-developed women, was graced with several reverend gentlemen--Messrs. Dudley, Allison, Eddy, and Fellows--all of whom maintained woman's equality with eloquence and fervor. The Bible was discussed from Genesis to Revelation, in all its bearings on the question under consideration. By special request I gave my Bible argument, which was published in full in the daily papers. A Rev. Mr. Love, who took the opposite view, maintained that the Bible was opposed to woman's equality.

He criticised some of my Hebrew translations, and scientific expositions, but as the rest of the learned D.D.s sustained my views, I shall rest in the belief that brother Love, with time and thought, will come to the same conclusions. A Rev. Mr.

England also profanely claimed the Bible on the side of tyranny, and seemed to think that "Nature intended that the male should dominate over the female everywhere." As Mr. E. is a small, thin, shadowy man, without much blood, muscle, or a very remarkable cerebral development, we would advise him always to avoid the branch of the argument he stumbled upon in the Milwaukee Convention--"the physical superiority of man." Unfortunately for him, the platform ill.u.s.trated the opposite, and the audience manifested, ever and anon, by suppressed laughter, that they saw the contrast between the large, well-developed brains and muscles of the women who sat there, and those of the speaker. Either Madam Anneke, Mrs. Livermore, or Dr. Ross, could have taken the reverend gentleman up in her arms and run off with him. Now, I mean nothing invidious toward small men, for some of the greatest men the world has known have been physically inferior, for example, Lord Nelson, Napoleon, our own Grant and Sheridan, and ex-Secretary Seward. All I mean to say is, that it is not politic or in good taste for a small man to come before an audience and claim physical superiority; that branch of the argument should be left for the great, burly fellows six feet high and well-proportioned, who ill.u.s.trate the a.s.sertion by their overpowering presence.

We were happy to meet Mr. Butler in Milwaukee, a good Democrat, and one of the most distinguished lawyers in Wisconsin, and to find in him an ardent supporter of our cause. I told him we were looking to the Democrats to open the const.i.tutional doors to the women in the several States. He said he thought they were getting ready to do so in the West. In Milwaukee, my pet resolutions that had been voted down in Washington and Chicago pa.s.sed without a dissenting voice.

MADISON, Wisconsin.

Hearing of the great enthusiasm at Milwaukee, Madison telegraphed for the convention to adjourn to the capitol and address the Legislature. Accordingly, on Friday a large delegation took the train to that city. On arriving, the first person who greeted us was Mr. Croffet, formerly of the New York _Tribune_. He went with us to the hotel where we were introduced to lawyers, judges, senators, generals, editors, Republicans and Democrats, who were alike ready to break a lance for woman. A splendid audience greeted us in the Hall of Representatives. Governor Fairchild presided. Mrs. Livermore, Miss Anthony and myself, all said the best things we could think of, and with as much vim as we could command after talking all day in the cars and every moment until we entered the capitol, without even the inspiration that comes from a good cup of tea or coffee. Blessed are they who draw their inspirations from the stars, the grand and beautiful in nature, and the glory of the human face divine, for such sources n.i.g.g.ardly landlords and ignorant cooks can neither muddle nor exhaust. After the meeting we were invited into the Executive apartments and presented to Mrs. Fairchild, a woman of rare beauty, cultivation, and common sense. She, as well as the Governor, expressed great interest in the question of woman's suffrage. The Governor, with many others, subscribed for _The Revolution_.

From Madison we returned to Chicago. At Janesville, Wis., the Postmaster, Mr. Burgess, came on board on his way to Washington.

In the course of conversation we learned that there had been some trouble in that town about the post office, and it was finally decided to submit the matter to a vote of the people. The result was that Miss Angeline King, Mr. Burgess's opponent, was chosen by fifty majority. This was a bomb sh.e.l.l in the male camp, and half a dozen men started for Washington, to show General Grant that they had, one and all, done braver deeds during the war than Angie possibly could have done, and that their loyalty should be rewarded. Angie, like a wise woman, stole the march on all of them, and reached Washington before they started. If the people of Janesville prefer Angie, as they have shown they do by their votes, we think it would be well for the powers that be to confirm the choice of the people.

In Chicago, we were glad to meet again our charming friend, Anna d.i.c.kinson. Miss Anthony spent the day with her at Mr. Doggett's one of the liberal merchant princes of that city. The result of that day's cogitation was one of the most cutting speeches that the "Gentle Anna," as the _Tribune_ called her, ever made. It was a severe, but just criticism of all the twaddle of the Western press after the Chicago Woman's Suffrage Convention. Liberty Hall was crowded with a most enthusiastic audience, and although the press was not very complimentary the next day, the people who listened were delighted. She was advertised to give "Fair Play,"

but the West is tired of the negro question, and she was besieged on all sides to speak on woman, which she did with great effect.

E. C. S.

GALENA, March 3.

DEAR REVOLUTION:--As you look at the date, your patriotic heart will palpitate to think that the women of _The Revolution_ have taken possession of the home of the President, and propose to hold a Woman Suffrage Convention right under the very shadow of his flagstaff, peering up beside one chimney of a large square brick house with a flat roof. Said house is situated on a high hill with pleasant grounds about. At the present writing we are on the opposite hill under the hospitable roof of "Sarah Coates,"

whose name appears in the reports of all the early Ohio conventions. She is now Mrs. Harris. We arrived here this morning at six o'clock, and found good Mr. Harris waiting for us at the depot. He is one of the oldest and wealthiest inhabitants in the county. They have a beautiful home, surrounded with every comfort and luxury. Mrs. Harris is a n.o.ble woman, tall, fine-looking, and moves about among her household G.o.ds like a queen. Although she has a large family of black-eyed, rosy-cheeked children, pictures, statuary, a cabinet of rare minerals, a conservatory of beautiful plants, and a husband who thinks her but little lower than the angels, she still demands the right to vote, and occasionally indulges in the luxury of public speaking. She is the moving spirit in every step of progress in Galena, and was the President of the convention. We have had a most enthusiastic meeting, three sessions, and house crowded throughout on an admission fee of twenty-five cents. The women all over the West are wide-awake. Theodore Tilton had just preceded us, and some ladies laughingly told us that Theodore said they would _certainly_ vote in _twenty years_!!

Let our cold-blooded Eastern reformers understand that ideas, like grains, grow fast in the West, and that women here intend to vote now, "right along," as the Hutchinsons sing. The editor of the _Independent_ may talk of twenty years down on the Hudson among the Rip Van Winkles in Spookey Hollow, to H. G. in New York, or W. P. at the "Hub," but never to Western audiences, or to the women of _The Revolution_. Why, Mr. Tilton, when you go to the Senate some wise woman will sit on your right, and some black man on your left. You are to pay the penalty of your theorizing and be sandwiched between a woman and a black man in all the laws and const.i.tutions before five years pa.s.s over your curly head.

Twenty years! Why, Theodore, we expect to be walking the golden streets of the New Jerusalem by that time, talking with Noah, Moses, and Aaron, about the flood, the Pharaohs, the journey through the Red Sea and the wilderness. We shall be holding conventions by that time on the banks of the Jordan with Eve, Sarah, Rebecca, Huldah, Deborah, Miriam, Ruth, Naomi, Sheba, Esther, Vashti, Mary, Elizabeth, Priscilla and Phebe, Tryphena and Tryphosa, and all the strong-minded women honorably mentioned in sacred history. Do you not know, Theodore, that we have vowed never to go disfranchised into the Kingdom of Heaven? In the meantime, we propose to discuss sanitary and sumptuary laws, finance, and free trade, religion and railroads, education and elections with such worthies as yourself in the councils of the American republic. Twenty years! Why, every white male in the nation will be tied to an ap.r.o.n-string by that time, while all the poets and philosophers will be writing essays on "The Sphere of Man"!

We found the good men and women of Galena filled with faith in the new President. They say he is a sober, honest, true man; that he will entirely revolutionize affairs at Washington, send the old political hacks to their homes, drive bribery and corruption from high places, and draw a new order of statesmen about him.

May the good angels guide and strengthen him, for unless something is soon done to rouse the slumbering virtue of the American people, our sun will set in darkness to rise no more.

Feeling the deepest interest in the past, the present, and the future of Ulysses, we asked a thousand questions concerning him.

Among other things, we proposed to go to the tannery where he used to work, but found that was a myth. We peeped into some of the stores where, in his leisure hours, he used to smoke the pipe of peace, and fancied that in walking up and down the streets our feet might be treading in his footsteps. What a fascination there is in the material surroundings of great souls, and in contact with the people who have seen and loved them! But, alas, how little of the inner life, that is most interesting to hear about, mortals ever reveal to one another.

On the way from Galena to Toledo we met Frederick Dougla.s.s, dressed in a cap and a great circular cape of wolf-skins. He really presented a most formidable and ferocious aspect. I thought perhaps he intended to ill.u.s.trate "William the Silent" in his northern dress, as well as to depict his character in his Lyceum lecture. As I had been talking against the pending amendment of "manhood suffrage," I trembled in my shoes and was almost as paralyzed as Red Riding Hood in a similar encounter.

But unlike the little maiden, I had a friend at hand, and, as usual in the hour of danger, I fell back in the shadow of Miss Anthony, who stepped forward bravely and took the wolf by the hand. His hearty words of welcome and gracious smile rea.s.sured me, so that when my time came I was able to meet him with the usual _suaviter in modo_. Our joy in shaking hands here and there with Dougla.s.s, Tilton, and Anna d.i.c.kinson, through the West, was like meeting ships at sea; as pleasant and as fleeting.

Dougla.s.s's hair is fast becoming as white as snow, which adds greatly to the dignity of his countenance. We hear his lecture on "William the Silent" much praised. Mr. Tilton's lecture too, on "Statesmanship," is said to be the best he has ever delivered. We had an earnest debate with Dougla.s.s as far as we journeyed together, and were glad to find that he was gradually working up to our ideas on the question of suffrage. He is at present hanging by the eyelids half-way between the lofty position of Robert Purvis, and the narrow one of George W. Downing. As he will attend the woman suffrage anniversary in New York in May, we shall have an opportunity for a full and free discussion of the whole question.

TOLEDO, Ohio.

At two o'clock in the morning we reached Toledo, drove to the Oliver House, registered our names, left some notes for friends, who would be looking for us next day, and then retired, giving orders not to be called till noon, even for the King of France.

At the appointed hour our friend, Mr. Israel Hall, formerly of Syracuse, was announced. He invited us to his hospitable home, where we stayed during the convention, which was held in Hunker's Hall and p.r.o.nounced a complete success. At the close of the meetings, a rising vote was called of all those in favor of woman's suffrage. The entire audience, men and women, rose as if one body. Two dissenting "white males" (small, men of course) came to the surface in opposition, to the great amus.e.m.e.nt of everybody. The platform throughout the meetings was occupied by some of the leading men and women of the city. Judge Jones called the convention to order and presided over its deliberations.

There was no lack of questions in Toledo, but they were all cunningly propounded in writing. This was a new feature in our meetings and we were much struck with its wisdom. The questioner in an audience, no matter how bland and benevolent, is always viewed with aversion, and, however well armed at all points, is sure to be unhorsed by a brilliant sally of wit and ridicule. But when a poser is put in black and white, nothing will do but downright logic and argument. To that _unwomanly_ work we addressed ourselves in the Toledo convention, and all admitted that we gave most satisfactory answers. Mrs. Israel Hall is the one who heads the woman's rebellion here. To her let all those write and go who wish to work in that part of the Lord's vineyard. We are glad to see by the papers that while we have been so enthusiastically received in the West, Lucy Stone is drawing crowded houses in all the chief cities of New England.

E. C. S.

THE MAY ANNIVERSARIES IN NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN.

The Executive Committee of the Equal Rights a.s.sociation issued a call[116] for the anniversary in New York, early in the spring of 1869. Never for any Convention were so many letters[117] written to distinguished legislators and editors, nor so many promptly and fairly answered.

The anniversary commenced on Wednesday morning at Steinway Hall, New York. The opening session was very largely attended, the s.p.a.cious hall being nearly full, showing that the era of anniversaries of important and useful societies, had by no means pa.s.sed away.[118] In the absence of the president, Mrs. Lucretia Mott, the chair was taken by Mrs.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton, First Vice-President. Rev. Mrs. Hanaford, of Ma.s.sachusetts, opened the meeting with prayer.

LUCY STONE presented verbally the report of the Executive Committee for the past year, running over the pet.i.tions in favor of woman suffrage presented during the year to Congress and State Legislatures and the various conventions held in different parts of the country, and remarked upon the greater respect now shown to the pet.i.tions. Formerly, she said, they were laughed at, and frequently not at all considered. This last year they were referred to committees, and often debated at great length in the legislatures, and in some cases motions to submit to the people of the State an amendment to the State Const.i.tution doing away with the distinction of s.e.x in the matter of suffrage was rejected by very small majorities. In one State, that of Nevada, such a motion was carried; and the question will shortly be submitted to the people of the State. A number of important and very successful conventions have been held in the Western States, and have made a decided impression. But what is most significant is, that newspapers of all shades of opinion are giving a great deal of s.p.a.ce to this subject. It is recognized as among the great questions of the age, which can not be put down until it is settled upon the basis of immutable justice and right. The report was unanimously accepted and adopted.

Rev. O. B. FROTHINGHAM.--I am not here this morning thinking that I can add any thing to the strength of the cause, but thinking that perhaps I may gain something from the generous, sweet atmosphere that I am sure will prevail. This is a meeting, if I understand it, of the former Woman's Rights a.s.sociation, and the subjects which come before us properly are the subjects which concern woman in all her social, civil, and domestic life. But the one question which is of vital moment and of sole prominence, is that of suffrage. All other questions have been virtually decided in favor of woman. She has the _entree_ to all the fields of labor. She is now the teacher, preacher, artist, she has a place in the scientific world--in the literary world. She is a journalist, a maker of books, a public reader; in fact, there is no position which woman, as woman, is not ent.i.tled to hold. But there is one position that woman, as woman, does not occupy, and that is the position of a voter. One field alone she does not possess, and that is the political field; one work she is not permitted, and that is the work of making laws. This question goes down to the bottom--it touches the vital matter of woman's relation to the State.... Is there anything in the const.i.tution of the female mind, to disqualify her for the exercise of the franchise. As long as there are fifty, thirty, ten, or even one woman who is capable of exercising this trust or holding this responsibility it demonstrates that s.e.x, as a s.e.x, does not disfranchise, and the whole question is granted. (Applause.) Here our laws are made by irresponsible people--people who demoralize and debauch society; people who make their living in a large measure by upholding the inst.i.tutions that are inherently, forever, and always corrupt. (Applause.) Laws that are made by the people who own dramshops, who keep gambling-saloons, who minister to the depraved pa.s.sions and vices of either s.e.x, laws made by the idler, the dissipated, by the demoralized--are they laws? It is true that this government is founded upon caste.

Slavery is abolished, but the aristocracy of s.e.x is not. One reason that the suffrage is not conceded to woman is that those who refuse to do so, do not appreciate it themselves. (Applause.) As long as the power of suffrage means the power to steal, to tread down the weak, and get the rich offices into their own hands, those who have the key of the coffers will wish to keep it in their own pockets. (Applause.)

The Committee on Organization reported the officers of the society for the ensuing year.[119]

STEPHEN FOSTER laid down the principle that when any persons on account of strong objections against them in the minds of some, prevented harmony in a society and efficiency in its operations, those persons should retire from prominent positions in that society. He said he had taken that course when, as agent of the Anti-Slavery Society, he became obnoxious on account of his position on some questions. He objected, to certain nominations made by the committee for various reasons. The first was that the persons nominated had publicly repudiated the principles of the society. One of these was the presiding officer.

Mrs. STANTON:--I would like you to say in what respect.

Mr. FOSTER:--I will with pleasure; for, ladies and gentlemen, I admire our talented President with all my heart, and love the woman. (Great laughter.) But I believe she has publicly repudiated the principles of the society.

Mrs. STANTON:--I would like Mr. Foster to state in what way.