The cells were dirty, the inmates crowded together in poorly ventilated
quarters, the sane and insane often being placed in the same room.
These conditions, and others too sad to mention, she made public
through the newspapers and the pulpits. But she did not stop at this.
Every jail and almshouse in Massachusetts was visited by her; she must
see for herself how the unfortunate inmates were treated. For two years
she traveled about, visiting these institutions and taking notes. Then
she prepared her famous Memorial to the Legislature.
In this Memorial Miss Dix said: "I proceed, gentlemen, briefly to call
your attention to the present state of insane persons within this
Commonwealth, in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens, chained and
naked, beaten with rods and lashed into obedience." Proofs were offered
for all facts stated.
The Memorial was presented by Dr. S. G. Howe, husband of Julia Ward
Howe. Dr. Howe was then a member of the Legislature. The conditions
thus made public shocked the entire community, so that, after much
discussion, a bill was passed enlarging the asylum at Worcester. A
small beginning, yet the grand work of reform was started, and Miss Dix
was grateful.
She then turned her attention to other States, visiting the jails,
almshouses, and insane asylums as far west as Illinois and as far south
as Louisiana. In Rhode Island she found the insane shockingly treated.
At that time there lived in Providence a very rich man named Butler.
He had never been known to give anything to help the unfortunate, but
Miss Dix decided to appeal to him. People smiled when they heard that
she intended to call upon Mr. Butler and ask him for money.
During the call, he talked of everything except the subject nearest
Miss Dix's heart, "talking against time," as they say, to prevent her
from putting the vital question. At length she said in a quiet but
forceful manner:
"_Mr. Butler, I wish you to hear what I have to say._ I bring before
you certain facts involving terrible suffering to your fellow
creatures, suffering you can relieve."
She then told him what she had seen.
Mr. Butler heard her story to the end without interruption. Then he
said,
"What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to give $50,000 to enlarge the insane hospital in this
city!"
"Madam, I'll do it!" was the reply.
After three years of this sort of work, Miss Dix became an expert on
the question of how an insane asylum should be built and managed. In
New Jersey, she succeeded after much hard work in securing the passage
of a bill establishing the New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum, and the
money necessary to build it. This building was a model for the times.
For twelve years she went up and down through the United States in the
interests of the suffering insane, securing the enlargement of three
asylums and the building of thirteen.
In 1850, Miss Dix secured the passage of a bill giving twelve million
acres of public lands for the benefit of the poor insane, the deaf
and dumb, and the blind. Applause went up all over the country, yet,
strange to say, after the passage of the bill by both Houses, President
Franklin Pierce vetoed it!
This was a severe blow to Miss Dix and she again went to Europe for a
rest. But rest she could not. All the large European cities had abuses
of this kind to be corrected, and she must work to help them.
A most interesting story is told of her encounter with Pope Pius
IX. In vain had she tried to get authority in Rome to enable her to
do something to improve the horrible Italian prisons. She had even
tried, but vainly, to get audience with the Pope. One day she saw his
carriage, _stopped it_, and addressed him, willy-nilly, in _Latin_,
as she knew no Italian. Her enterprise appears to have impressed the
Pope favorably, for he gave her everything she asked for. In her own
country, again, she extended her labors to the Western States. Then the
breaking out of the Civil War rendered such labors useless.
But now there were the soldiers to help! Her active interest in them
came about in the following way:
Shortly after April, 1861, she happened to be passing through Baltimore
when the Sixth Regiment of Massachusetts, on its way to Washington,
was stoned by a vast mob, several men being killed. At once Miss Dix
knew what to do. She took the first train she could get for Washington,
and reported at the War Department for free service in the hospitals,
where through Secretary Simon Cameron, she immediately received the
appointment as "Superintendent of Women Nurses." Here, truly, was an
enormous piece of work for her.
Among her duties were the selection and assignment of women nurses; the
superintendence of the thousands of women already serving; the seeing
that supplies were fairly distributed; and looking after the proper
care of wounded soldiers. Her remarkable executive ability soon brought
order and system out of confusion. It is said that she accepted no
women who were under thirty years of age, and demanded that they be
plain in dress and without beauty. Good health and good moral character
were also, of course, requirements.
Many of the surgeons and nurses disliked her. They said she was severe,
that she would not listen to any advice nor take any suggestions. The
real cause of her unpopularity, however, was that she demanded of all
about her entire unselfishness and strict devotion to work. Very severe
was she with careless nurses or rough surgeons.
Two houses were rented by her to hold the supplies sent to her care,
and still other houses were rented for convalescent soldiers or nurses
who needed rest. She employed two secretaries, owned ambulances and
kept them busy, printed and distributed circulars, settled disputes in
matters which concerned her nurses, took long journeys when necessary,
and paid from her own private purse many expenses incurred. Everything
she possessed—fortune, time, strength—she gave to her country in its
time of need.
During the four years of the War, Miss Dix never took a holiday. Often
she had to be reminded of her meals, so interested was she in the
work. At the close of the War, when the Hon. Edwin M. Stanton, then
Secretary of War, asked her how the nation could best thank her for
her services, she answered, "I would like a flag."
Two beautiful flags were given to her with a suitable inscription.
These flags she bequeathed to Harvard College, and they now hang over
the doors of Memorial Hall.
The War over, Miss Dix again took up her work for the insane and for
fifteen years more devoted herself to their welfare.
In 1881, at the age of seventy-nine, she retired to the hospital she
had been the means of building at Trenton, New Jersey, and here she was
tenderly cared for until her death in 1887.
[Illustration: MARGARET FULLER D'OSSOLI]
MARGARET FULLER D'OSSOLI
(1810-1850)
"I have always said it: Nature meant to make woman its masterpiece."
—_Gotthold Ephraim Lessing_
Margaret Fuller was born in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, May 23, 1810.
Her parents were people of great culture and refinement, and devotedly
attached to each other. Margaret wrote years after her father's death:
"His love for my mother was the green spot on which he stood apart from
the commonplaces of a mere bread-winning existence. She was one of
those fair, flowerlike natures, which sometimes spring up even beside
the most dusty highways of life. Of all persons whom I have known, she
had in her most of the angelic."
It was not surprising therefore that Margaret should have inherited
a beautiful nature and a fine mind. She became the idol of her
father, who was fifty years in advance of his neighbors in his ideas
of bringing up girls. Mr. Fuller believed that his daughter should
have as good an education as his boys! But since there were no girls'
colleges, and the boys' colleges were closed to them, he was obliged to
teach Margaret himself.
At six years of age this clever child began to read Latin. Once, when
she was eight, her father found her so absorbed in _Romeo and Juliet_
that she did not hear him when he spoke to her. It is probable that
much of Margaret's later ill-health was the result of the severe mental
work demanded of her in childhood by her father.
Mr. Fuller was certainly very ambitious that Margaret should excel in
her studies. Often she remained up until late at night reciting to him,
not knowing that she was working beyond her strength.
She describes her life at the age of fifteen in the following manner:
"I rise a little before five, walk an hour, and then practice on the
piano until seven, when we breakfast. Next, I read French till eight;
then two or three lectures in Brown's Philosophy. About half past nine,
I go to Mr. Perkins's School and study Greek till twelve, when, the
school being dismissed, I recite, go home, and practice again till
dinner at two. Then when I can, I read two hours in Italian."
Though frail in body and plain in looks, this young girl grew to
be a fascinating and attractive woman. Men and women of prominence
fell under the influence of her charms. At seventeen, her unusual
intellectual qualities gained her the friendship of Rev. James Freeman
Clark; and later she became a valued friend of the Emerson family.
At the age of twenty-three, Margaret taught in the famous school of
Mr. Alcott in Boston. Through working with this great educator, she
met most of the gifted men and women of the time. Elizabeth Peabody,
another remarkable woman, to whom we are indebted for bringing
Froebel and the Kindergarten into notice in the United States,
became Margaret's friend, and together these two labored to revive
intellectual thought among women.
When Mr. Alcott ceased teaching, Margaret became Principal of a school
in Providence, Rhode Island. But longing to become better educated
herself, she resigned from her position to give private lessons in
the higher branches, meanwhile studying languages. So great were her
acquisitive powers that before long she had a good teaching knowledge
of Latin, Greek, German, French, and Italian.
Her greatest gift was her ability to entertain people by conversing
with them. Deeply interested in the welfare of women, her talent for
talking led her to open a "School of Conversation." A large number of
intelligent, educated women met in the home of Miss Elizabeth Peabody
where, led by Margaret Fuller, they discussed important books and
philosophical subjects. Her idea was to induce women to do something
worth while with their knowledge.
These _Conversations_ were ridiculed by the community at large, yet
they were continued successfully for five years, and attracted many
serious and intellectual women who felt the need of mental activity.
At last the _Conversations_ became an old story, and Margaret looked
about for other occupation. One came to her in the form of an editorial
position on the New York Tribune offered her by Horace Greeley, the
editor-in-chief. She used her pen, also, for the benefit of the people,
writing editorials to influence the rich to help the poor, the unjust
to become just. She also translated books from foreign languages, and
kept a journal which was published after her death.
In 1847, Miss Fuller went to Rome to live, and while there met a
handsome young Italian named Giovanni Angelo, the Marchese d'Ossoli.
This gentleman had been discarded by his family for his part in a
political movement led by Mazzini for the independence of Italy. His
troubles attracted Margaret to him, they became attached to each other,
and finally married.
It was necessary, however, to keep the marriage a secret, Margaret
being a Protestant. During the siege of Rome by the French army in
1849, Margaret, still known as Miss Fuller, took an active part in
hospital work, spending the greater part of her time in nursing the
sick and wounded.
The Marchese d'Ossoli, had charge of the battery on Pincian Hill, the
most exposed of all positions. Such great fear was felt for the men
stationed there that Margaret summoned Mr. Cass, the American minister
at Rome, and gave him certain letters and papers. He was astonished to
learn from these that she was married to d'Ossoli, and that the package
contained the certificate of their marriage and that of the birth and
baptism of their child; also that she intended to go to the Pincian
Hill, remain with her husband and die with him if necessary.
Mr. Cass willingly took charge of these papers, and watched the
Marchese and Margaret walk away together as if on a pleasant stroll.
They survived the night, however, and next morning the French army
entered Rome. Soon after, the Marchese and Marchesa with their child
left Rome for Florence, to sail for America as soon as possible.
It is recorded that both dreaded the voyage, as d'Ossoli had been
told by a fortune-teller to avoid the sea, and Margaret had a strong
presentiment of disaster.
They sailed May 5, 1850, and from the first the voyage was a bad
one. The captain died of small-pox and had to be buried at sea.
Then wind-storms delayed them; and when little Angelo was taken ill
with small-pox, the agony of the parents may be imagined. The child
recovered, but on July 19, during a terrific gale, the vessel was
wrecked off Fire Island, and Margaret, her husband, and her child were
lost.
A trunk containing papers and manuscripts belonging to Margaret was
picked up, and in this way her relatives and friends came to know the
true history of her life abroad.
[Illustration: HARRIET BEECHER STOWE]
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
(1811-1896)
"Give her of the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise her
at the gates."
—_Solomon_
Few women's names have made so vivid a mark upon the history of our
country as that of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom's
Cabin.
On June 14, 1811, in the little town of Litchfield, Connecticut,
Harriet first saw the light of day. She was the seventh child, the
eldest being but eleven years of age. Just two years after Harriet was
born came a little brother, Henry Ward, who became the renowned pastor
of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn.
Harriet's father, the Reverend Lyman Beecher, was a man of marked
ability, and her mother, Roxanna Beecher, was a woman whose beautiful
life has been a help to many. The family was a large one to be
supported on a salary of five hundred dollars a year, and in order
to assist, Roxanna Beecher started a select school, where she taught
French, drawing, painting and embroidery, as well as the higher
English branches.
A great grief came to little Harriet, when she was between three and
four, in the death of her mother. Certain things in connection with
this event, as the funeral, the mourning dresses, and the walk to the
burial ground, never left her memory. Her little mind was confused by
being told that her mother had gone to heaven, when Harriet had with
her own eyes seen her laid in the ground. Her brother Henry suffered
likewise from this confusion of thought. He was found one day in the
garden digging diligently. When his elder sister Catherine asked him
what he was doing, he answered: "I'm going to heaven to find mamma!"
When Harriet was six, her father married again. At first the little
girl, who had loved her own mother so dearly, felt very sad about this;
but she afterward learned to love and respect her new mother.
Harriet had a remarkable memory. At seven she had memorized
twenty-seven hymns and two long chapters in the Bible. She read
fluently, and continually searched her father's library for books
which might interest her. Very few did she find there, however. Most
of the titles filled her childish soul with awe, and she longed for
the time when she could understand and enjoy such works as Bonnett's
_Inquiries_, Bell's _Sermons_, and Bogue's _Essays_.
One day good luck befell her. In the bottom of a barrel of old sermons
she came upon a well-worn volume of _The Arabian Nights_. Imagine her
joy! A world of enchantment opened to her. When _Ivanhoe_ fell in her
way, she and her brother George read it through, together, seven times.
It was in the school of Mr. John P. Brace that Harriet discovered
her taste for writing. Her compositions were remarkable for their
cleverness; when one of them was read at the entertainment at the close
of the year, Harriet's cup of joy was full to the brim.
About this time Harriet's elder sister, Catherine, opened a school
in Hartford. The circumstances which led her to do so were very sad.
Catherine, who was remarkably gifted, had been engaged to Professor
Fisher of Yale, a brilliant and promising young man. These young people
expected to be married on the return of the Professor from a European
trip. But the vessel on which he sailed was wrecked, and he never came
back.
This almost prostrated Catherine, but her strong nature rose to meet
the blow. She determined to devote her life to the work of helping
girls. After hard work she raised several thousands of dollars and
built the Hartford Female Seminary, where girls studied subjects
heretofore taught only in boys' colleges, and received an education
more on an equality with that given to boys.
People of that time wondered what use girls would make of Latin and
philosophy, but Miss Beecher's able management of the school and her
womanly and scholarly attainments so filled them with admiration that
they gladly put their daughters in her charge. Here also entered twelve
year old Harriet, not only as a pupil, but a pupil teacher, that she
might help her father in paying the expenses of his large family. The
experience of Harriet in this school was of much use in after life. She
had to master problems without any assistance from others, and in doing
this, she became self-reliant.
About ten years after this, her father was called to become President
of Lane Theological Seminary at Cincinnati, Ohio. Catherine and Harriet
felt bound to go with him, to help him in the new field of work. The
journey, made by stage-coach across the mountains, was very tiresome.
They settled in Walnut Hills, a suburb of Cincinnati, where the
sisters opened another school.
In 1836, Harriet married Calvin E. Stowe, professor of Biblical
Criticism and Oriental Literature in the Lane Seminary. Mr. Stowe,
together with other intelligent men in Ohio at that time, was much
interested in the advancement of education in the common schools.
In order to study the question and to purchase books for the Lane
Seminary, Mr. Stowe was sent abroad. This happened shortly after his
marriage.
During his absence Harriet lived in Cincinnati with her father and
brother, writing short stories and essays for publication and assisting
her brother, Henry Ward, who was then editing a small daily paper.
The question of slavery had become an exciting topic in Cincinnati.
Being near the borderland of Kentucky, a slave state, this city
naturally became the center of heated discussions. Many slaves who
escaped sought refuge in Cincinnati, and people who were friendly to
their cause assisted them to reach Canada, where they were safe from
capture by their so called masters.
Among the students of Lane Seminary were both Northerners and
Southerners, and many fierce debates as to the rights and wrongs of
slavery were carried on in that institution. The feeling was very
intense and excitement ran high. Dr. Bailey, an editor who attempted to
carry on in his newspaper a fair discussion of the slavery question,
had his presses broken and thrown into the river.
Mrs. Stowe took into her family, as servant, a colored girl from
Kentucky. Though by the laws of Ohio this girl was free, having been
brought into the state by her mistress and left there, yet it was
rumored that some one had come to the city from over the border hunting
for her, with the intention of taking her back into slavery. Mrs. Stowe
and Henry Ward Beecher drove the poor girl by night twelve miles into
the country and left her with an old friend until such time as the
search for her should be given up. This incident served Mrs. Stowe as
the basis of her description in _Uncle Tom's Cabin_ of Eliza's escape
from Tom Loker and Marks.
Houses of free colored people were burned and even Lane Seminary stood
in danger from the mob. Mr. Stowe and his family slept with firearms at
hand ready to defend themselves if necessary. When the trustees of the
college forbade all discussion of the question of slavery, nearly all
the students left the institution.
Then Mrs. Stowe opened her house to colored children and taught them.
One boy in her school was claimed by a master in Kentucky, arrested and
put up at auction. Mrs. Stowe raised sufficient money to buy him and
gave it to his distracted mother, who thus saved him. Heart-rending
incidents like this were continually brought to the attention of the
Stowe family, until at last they felt unable to endure the situation.
They decided to come North where Mr. Stowe accepted a position in
Bowdoin College, Maine.
Very poor was the Stowe family in those days. Mrs. Stowe earned a
little now and then, by her writings, and from a few boarders. She had
now apparently all she could do, with a family of young children whom
she herself taught, with her writing, and with caring for the strangers
in the house; but even so, she could never get out of her mind those
wretched creatures, her brothers and sisters, who were being bought and
sold. What could she do for them?
The most frequent topic of conversation everywhere was the proposed law
called The Fugitive Slave Act. This law would give the slave-holders
of the South the right to bring back into slavery any colored person
claimed as a slave, and also commanded the people of the North to
assist in the business of pursuit. Public feeling grew more and more
heated, but the law was passed. After its passage many pitiable scenes
occurred. The Stowe and Beecher families received frequent letters
telling of shocking incidents. Families were broken up, children
sold and sent far from their parents, while many slaves who ran away
perished from cold and hunger.
One day Mrs. Stowe received a letter from her sister-in-law, Mrs.
Edward Beecher, which she read to her family. When she came to this
passage: _Now, Hattie, if I could use a pen as you can, I would write
something that would make the whole nation feel what an accursed thing
slavery is_, Mrs. Stowe stood up, an expression upon her face which
those who saw it never forgot.
What she said, however, was simply, "I _will_ write something! I will,
if I live!"
Some months after this Mrs. Stowe was seated at communion in the
college church at Brunswick, when the scene of the death of Uncle Tom
passed through her mind as clearly as in a vision. She hastened home,
wrote out the chapter on his death, as it now stands, and then read it
to her assembled family. Her two sons aged eleven and twelve years
burst out crying, saying, "Oh, mamma! Slavery is the most cruel thing
in the world!"
When two or three more chapters were ready, she offered it for
publication to Dr. Bailey, then in Washington, and _Uncle Tom's Cabin_
was first published as a serial in his paper _The National Era_. For it
Mrs. Stowe received three hundred dollars.
When completed, it was published by Jewett of Boston, in March, 1852,
meeting with instant success. In ten days ten thousand copies were
sold. Thirty different editions appeared in London in six months, and
it was translated into twenty foreign languages. It was dramatized, and
several theaters were playing it at one time. In less than a year over
three hundred thousand copies were sold.
Mrs. Stowe "woke up to find herself famous,"—not to say wealthy.
Letters of congratulation poured in upon her from all parts of the
world. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert sent hearty thanks. Charles
Dickens wrote, "Your book is worthy of any head and any heart that ever
inspired a book." Charles Kingsley wrote, "It is perfect!"
The poet Whittier wrote to Garrison, "What a glorious work Harriet
Beecher Stowe has wrought! Thanks for the Fugitive Slave Law! Better
would it be for slavery if that law had never been enacted, for it gave
occasion for _Uncle Tom's Cabin_!"
Longfellow also wrote in praise of the book, and letters were received
from most of the noted men who opposed slavery.