[Speech of Edwin P. Whipple at the "Ladies' Night" banquet of the
Papyrus Club, Boston, February 15, 1879, in response to a toast in
his honor as "one whose gentle mind, delicate fancy, keen wit, and
profound judgment have made for him a high and secure place among
American authors."]
MR. CHAIRMAN:--I suppose that one of the most characteristic
follies of young men, unmarried, or in the opinion of prudent mammas,
unmarriageable, is, when they arrive at the age of indiscretion, to
dogmatize on what they call the appropriate sphere of woman. You
remember the thundering retort which came, like a box on the ears, to
one of these philosophers, when he was wisely discoursing vaguely on his
favorite theme. "And pray, my young sir," asked a stern matron of forty,
"will you please to tell us what is the appropriate sphere of woman?"
Thus confronted, he only babbled in reply, "A celestial sphere, madam!"
But the force of this compliment is now abated; for the persons who
above all others are dignified with the title of "Celestials" are the
Chinese; and these the Congress of the United States seems determined to
banish from our soil as unworthy--not only of the right of citizenship
and the right of suffrage, but the right of residing in our democratic
republic. Accordingly, we must find some more appropriate sphere for
women than the Celestial. Nobody, I take it, however bitterly he may be
opposed to what are called the rights of women, objects to their
residing in this country, or to their coming here in vast numbers.
[Applause.]
Do you remember to what circumstance Chicago owed its fame? When the
spot where a great city now looks out on Lake Michigan was the
habitation of a small number of men only, a steamboat was seen in the
distance, and the report was that it contained a cargo of women, who
were coming to the desolate place for the purpose of being married to
the forlorn men. Every bachelor hastened to the pier, with a telescope
in one hand and a speaking-trumpet in the other. By the aid of the
telescope each lover selected his mate, and by the aid of the
speaking-trumpet each lover made his proposals. In honor of the women
who made the venturesome voyage, the infant city was named "She-Cargo."
[Laughter and applause.]
Therefore, there is no possibility of a doubt that there is no objection
to women as residents of this country. The only thing to be considered
is, whether or not they shall have the right of voting. I think nobody
present here this evening has conceit enough to suppose that he is more
competent to give an intelligent vote on any public question than the
intelligent ladies who have done the Club the honor to be present on
this occasion. The privilege of voting is simply an opportunity, by
which certain persons legally qualified are allowed to exercise power.
The formal power is so subdivided that each legally qualified person
exercises but little. But where meanwhile is the substance of power?
Certainly in the woman of the household as well as in the man. Indeed, I
recollect that when an objection was raised that to give the right of
suffrage to women would create endless quarrels between husband and
wife, a married woman curtly replied that the wives would see to it that
no such disturbance should really take place. [Applause.] And, as the
question now stands, I pity the man who is so fortunate to be married to
a noble woman, coming home to meet her reproachful glance, when he has
deposited in the ballot-box a vote for a measure which is base and for a
candidate who is equally base. Then, in his humiliation before that
rebuking eye, he must feel that in her is the substance of power, and in
him only the formal expression of power. [Applause.]
But we have the good fortune to-night to have at the table many women of
letters, who have in an eminent degree exercised the substance of power,
inasmuch as they have domesticated themselves at thousands of firesides
where their faces have never been seen. Their brain-children have been
welcomed and adopted by fathers and mothers, by brothers and sisters, as
members of the family; and their sayings and doings are quoted as though
they were "blood" relations. Two instances recur to my memory. In
lecturing in various portions of the country, I have often been a guest
in private houses. On one occasion I happened to mention Mrs. Whitney as
a lady I had often met; and, instantly, old and young crowded round,
pouring in a storm of questions, demanding to know where the author of
"Faith Gartney" lived, how she looked, and was she so delightful in
society as she was in her books. On another occasion, my importance in a
large family was raised immensely when a chance remark indicated that I
numbered Miss Alcott among my friends. All the little men and all the
little women of the household, all the old men and all the old ladies,
rallied round me, in order that I might tell them all I knew of the
author of "Little Women" and "Little Men." [Applause.]
Now these are only two examples of the substance of power which
cultivated women already possess. That such women, and all women, can
obtain the formal power of voting at elections is, in the end, sure, if
they really wish to exercise that power; and that the power is withheld
from them is not due to the opposition of men, but is due to the fact
that they are not, by an overwhelming majority, in favor of it
themselves. When the champions of woman's rights get this majority on
their side, I have a profound pity for the men who venture to oppose it.
[Applause.]