"The females of this State are about as happy and contented with

their present position in relation to this right (suffrage), as

it is necessary they should be, and I do not favor the

proposition (of Woman's Suffrage), which my friend from Posey,

Mr. Owen, appears to countenance."

"It is not because I love justice less, but woman more, that I

oppose this section."

"This doctrine of separate estate will stifle all the finer

feelings, blast the brightest, fairest, happiest hopes of the

human family, and go in direct contravention of that law which

bears the everlasting impress of the Almighty Hand. Sir, I

consider such a scheme not only as wild, but as wicked, if not in

its intentions, at least in its results."

It is incredible that men in their sane minds should argue day after

day, that if women were allowed to control their own property, it

would "strike at the root of Christianity," "ruin the home," and "open

wide the door to license and debauchery." And yet these men did so

argue through weeks of stormy debate; the bitterest feeling being

shown, not with regard to the proposed change in the law of descent,

but with regard to the right of women to "acquire and possess property

to their sole use and disposal," during the husband's life-time. It is

strange, indeed, that the man who advocated this "most meagre

justice," as he truly says, should have been a target, not only for

ridicule, but for abuse. I append one extract of the latter

description, to illustrate how violent and unreasoning was the

prejudice with which my father contended. One gentleman after quoting

from the marriage contract of my father and mother, the extract in

which he, my father, divests himself of the right to control the

"person and property of another," proceeds as follows:

Sir, I would that my principles on this, in contradistinction

with those of the gentlemen from Posey, were written in

characters of light across the noon-day heavens, that all the

world might read them. (Applause). I have in my drawer numerous

other extracts from the writings of the gentleman from Posey, but

am not allowed to read them; and, indeed, sir, under the

circumstances, decency forbids their use. But if I were permitted

to read them, and show their worse than damning influence upon

society, in conjunction with this system of separate interests, I

venture to aver that gentlemen would turn from them with disgust;

aye, sir, they would shun them as they would shun man's worst

enemy, and flee from them as from a poisonous reptile. (Page

1161, "Debates in Indiana Convention").

The section was finally reconsidered and rejected a few days before

adjournment (p. 2013). But my father, with his characteristic

perseverance, continued his efforts until they were finally crowned

with success in the Legislature, after fifteen years of endeavor.

Most of the arguments used by those delegates, if they can be called

by so dignified a name, bear a singular resemblance to the arguments

used to-day by the opponents of woman's suffrage. May we not then

conclude that the fears which have been proved absolutely groundless

in the one case, may be equally so in the other?

An enthusiastic public meeting was held in Indianapolis in honor of my

father by the women of the State, Mrs. Sarah T. Bolton taking a

prominent part. On this occasion a beautiful silver pitcher was

presented to him as a token of gratitude for his persevering efforts

in behalf of women. This pitcher still holds a place of honor in our

family dinings on gala days.

In reply to several slurs in regard to this memorial, my father during

the debates in the Convention thus retorted:

Since I have had occasion to allude to the testimonial which it

is proposed to offer me on behalf of the women of my adopted

State, I will say here, that regarding it as the greatest

compliment--if in so grave a connection a word often so lightly

used may be properly employed--the greatest compliment I ever

received in my life, or ever can receive till I die: it matters

little to me what may be said of myself in that connection; I am

accustomed to personal attack, and am proof against ridicule. But

if any man, whether he disgrace a chair on this floor, or

dishonor by his presence some of the bar-rooms of the city, utter

an insinuation, cast a reproach, directly or indirectly, by open

assertion, or covert insinuation, against the motives or the

character of those courageous women who may have met in

Lawrenceburg or elsewhere, to consult regarding rights shamefully

denied to them, or those who may have publicly expressed

gratitude to the defenders of these rights--if such a man there

be, within or without the walls of this capitol, I say here of

such a one, let him receive it as he will, that I would give my

hand more freely to the inmate of the penitentiary than to him.

(Page 1185, "Debates in Indiana Convention").

In 1843 and 1845 my father was elected to Congress, serving until

1847. In 1853 he was appointed Minister to Naples, remaining there

until 1858. During the war his exertions were unremitting. He was the

friend of Governor Morton, and was consulted by that energetic

statesman in all his more important plans. He wrote several letters on

the political crises of the time, which had a wide circulation and

influence. Mr. Lincoln said to several of his friends, that a letter

addressed to him by Mr. Owen, and a conversation consequent thereon,

had done more toward deciding him in favor of the Emancipation

Proclamation, than any other influence which had been brought to bear.

My father also made strenuous efforts during the winter of 1865-'66 to

postpone the enfranchisement of the freedmen ten years, until 1876.

(See _Atlantic Monthly_, June, 1875). Subsequent events have shown his

judgment to have been correct and far-sighted. He believed the

conferring of suffrage upon the negro, dim-visioned in the sudden

light of a new liberty, to be a most dangerous experiment; he foresaw

that the ballot which the North gave to them as a protection against

their arrogant masters, would prove a two-edged sword with a terrible

reactionary force in the hands of an untrained race just freed from

mental leading-strings; he knew the difficulty to be inherent, a

difficulty which the existence of slavery must necessarily have

produced. He maintained that although the sword had struck off the

outward chains, the white-heat of ire kindled in the hearts of the

conquered had not fused the inward shackles of the slave, but had

riveted them the firmer, and that the invisible fetters welded by

revengeful hate should be broken most carefully.

In the latter years of his life my father gave his entire attention to

the study of Modern Spiritualism, or rather to the study of

Spiritualism in both its ancient and its modern phases. He published

two works on this subject, "Footfalls on the Boundary of Another

World," and "The Debatable Land between this World and the Next." In a

letter written shortly before his death, he expresses himself as

follows: "I hope, my child, that you will never, at any period of your

life, be less happy than you now are. If you cultivate your spiritual

nature rationally, I feel assured you never will. For one effect of

rational Spiritualism is to make one more satisfied the longer one

lives, and to make the last scenes of life, hours of pleasant

anticipation, instead of a season of dread, or, as with many it has

been, of horror." It would be well for non-investigators who maintain

that my father's belief in Spiritualism necessarily proves him to have

been illogical, to see to it that they are not falling into the

inconsequence which they are ascribing to him. Reasoning _a priori_,

should we not believe that the man who saw so clearly the dangers

which were unperceived by some of our keenest statesmen, could not

become, except in a rare instance and for a short time, a misled dupe?

Has any one the right to condemn such a man unproved?

While my father was exerting his energies for the welfare of the

nation, my mother was giving her life to her children. Sons and

daughters were welcomed into the Owen homestead, and the wide halls

and great rooms of the rambling country house rang with the voices of

children. Three of these little ones slipped back to Heaven before the

portals had closed. The stricken parents with blinded eyes met only

the rayless emptiness of unbelief. May God help the mother, fainting

beneath a bereavement greater than she can bear, who cries for help

and finds none; who stretches her empty arms upward in an agony of

appeal and is answered by the hollow echo of her own cry; may God help

her, for she is beyond the help of man. Other children came to fill

the vacant places, other voices filled the air, but the hearts of

father and mother were not filled until years later, when a sweet

faith thrilled the hopeless blank.

The story of these two is the story of many beside. Husband and wife

began the long journey side by side with equal talent, hope, energy;

his work led him along the high-road, hers lay in a quiet nook; his

name became world-known, hers was scarcely heard beyond the precinct

of her own village; and yet who can say that his life was the more

successful, who can say that the quiet falling rain, with its slow

resultant of flower and fruit in each little garden nook, is less

important than the mighty ship-laden river bearing its wealth of

commerce in triumph to the sea?

George Eliot, in "Middlemarch," says of Dorothea:

Her finely-touched spirit had its fine issues, though they were

not widely visible.... The effect of her being on those around

her was incalculably diffusive; for the growing good of the world

is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not

so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to

the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in

unvisited tombs.

This is true of many Dorotheas; it is true of the Dorothea of whom I

am writing. Geographically, Mary Owen's field of labor was narrow; but

a small Western village of a thousand souls may hold within its

ethical strata all the developments of a continent. Let her who feels

that her small limits imprison her, remember that emotions are not

registered by the census. Lovers and business men, struggling youths

and perplexed mothers, children and veterans, poured their griefs and

fears, their hopes and disappointments, into the listening ear of

sympathy, knowing that the clear judgment of this little woman could

unravel much that seemed to be in hopeless entanglement.

Well do I remember the cheer of this our home. Simple were its duties,

simple indeed its pleasures. Well do I remember the busy troop of boys

and girls, with the busy mother at their head, directing their

exuberant energy with a rare administrative ability. Besides her own

children, four of whom reached maturity, she took during her life

seven other young people under her protection, so that the great

old-fashioned house was always filled to overflowing with fresh young

life. Pasture and stable, hennery and dairy, yard and garden, kitchen

and parlor, all were under her immediate guidance and control. Well do

I remember the pots of golden butter, fresh from her cool hand; the

delicious hams cured under her supervision; the succulent vegetables

and juicy fruits fresh from her garden--that trim, symmetrical garden,

with its well-weeded beds, its well-kept walks! Many a bright summer

morning have I seen her resting on a low bench beneath a huge

overhanging elm, overlooking the field of our labors. To a stranger

the flushed face with its irregular features, might have seemed plain;

the earnest, energetic manner might have seemed almost abrupt; but to

the children who sat on the grass at her feet looking upward, the face

was beautiful. That calm eye had pierced through so many childish

intricacies and made them clear; the firm mouth could smile so gently

at any youthful shortcoming, and the strong voice rang with a hope

which sent fear and doubt skulking away in shamefaced silence. It was

the brightest part of the day, this short respite, before mother,

marshalling her young army, led them to the study-room. This impromptu

lesson-hour was filled with a teaching so trenchant, that oftentimes,

in these lonelier days, when perplexed in the intricacies of life's

journeyings, a word spoken in some long ago summer morning, floats

down the years and rises before my troubled vision a guiding star.

When her children were grown, and the task she had undertaken years

before had been well done, our mother turned her attention for a time

to public work. She gave much thought to the Woman Question,

especially that portion of it pertaining to woman's work, and

addressed one or two meetings in New York on this subject. Miss

Anthony recently said to me: "Miss Owen, you do not know how great an

impression your mother made upon us--a woman who had lived nearly her

whole life in a small Western village, absorbed in petty cares, and

yet who could stand before us[56] with a calm dignity, telling us

searching truths in simple and strong words." The only lecture I heard

my mother deliver was in the church of our village. Her subject was

the rearing of children. A calm light rested on her silver hair and

broad brow; her manner was the earnest manner of a woman who has

looked into the heart of life. Blessed is the daughter to whom it is

given to reverence a mother as I reverenced mine that night. A quiet,

but deep attention was given to her words, for the fathers and mothers

who were listening to her knew that she was speaking on a subject to

which she had given long years of careful thought and faithful

endeavor. It would not be possible in the space allotted me to give a

detailed account of my mother's teachings with regard to the rearing

of children; but I will state a few of the more prominent

theories--theories proved by practice, which I remember.

Self-government was the primary principle, the broad foundation. She

held this qualification to be the only guarantee of success in the

broadest sense of the word, and that to be effectual and never-failing

it must be interwoven into the very fiber of the child. During the

earliest years our mother administered punishment, or rather she

invented some means by which the child should be made to feel the

result of its bad conduct. Injuring another was held to be a cardinal

sin. For this misdeed our hands were tied behind us for an

interminable length of time; for running away we were tied to the

bed-post; for eating at irregular hours we were deprived of dainties

at the next meal, etc. But as soon as we reached the age of reason,

she exerted, not a controlling, but a guiding hand. We were restricted

by few rules, for our mother believed in the largest possible liberty,

and she held that it was better to pass over the smaller shortcomings

unnoticed, than constantly to be finding fault. She maintained that

scolding should be indulged in most sparingly, as much of it was

detrimental both to the temper of the child and the dignity of the

mother. She believed that too little allowance was made for the

heedlessness growing out of pure exuberance of spirits. But when a law

was once established it was unalterable, and no child ever thought of

resisting it. For instance, no one, large or small, was allowed to

exhibit a peevish ill-nature, either by word or manner, in the public

rooms of the house. My mother merely said, in a quiet tone: "My child,

you are either tired or sick; in either case, it would be better to go

to your own room and lie down until you are quite restored." The

result of this simple rule was an almost uniform cheerfulness. I have

lived in many homes, in many parts of the world, but I have never seen

one which equaled my mother's in this respect. I do not remember a

single command issued by my mother to her older children; but I can

well remember her saying: "I think you had better do so and so"; and I

recollect distinctly that when we obstinately followed our own

unreasoning will, as we were often inclined to do, we were invariably

taught a bitter but wholesome lesson. She believed these lessons to be

much more effectual for good than any arbitrary prohibition on her

part would have been; she reserved such prohibition for the cases

where the consequences were not confined to ourselves, or were of too

serious a nature.

The one mistake made by my mother was in the physical management of

her children. Like many mothers whose bodies and minds are kept at the

highest tension, she failed to give vital strength to her children.

The most promising of these died in early childhood, "by the will of

God," as we say in our blindness. One of them especially, the "little

king," as he was called, being a magnificent child, both in mental and

moral development. Of those who came to maturity, one died at the age

of twenty-seven, one has been an invalid for years, one has fair

health, and one only rejoices in a vigorous physique. This boy was

born in my grandmother's house, near the sea, where my mother had

spent, as she expressed it, "the laziest year of her whole life."

These children have all had a keen love of study, an energy which

carried them far beyond their strength, and she failed sufficiently to

curb them. But in other respects, our mother has done to the

uttermost. Her children had strong propensities both for good and ill.

She has, so far as is possible, strengthened the virtues and repressed

the faults of every child given into her keeping.

"The sun shines," is a sentence simple and short, but how infinite is

its meaning; myriads of unfolding blossoms flash it back in vivid

coloring; myriads of stalwart trees whisper it; myriads of breathing

things revel in it; myriads of men thank God for it. So is it with the

influence of a good mother. It is not given us to follow each tiny

shaft of light in its endless searchings, neither do we note how the

riot of the waste places within us is pruned by deft hands into a

tenuous symmetry, nor how, in the midst of this life's growth, is laid

the foundation of the kingdom of Heaven, by the silent masonry of a

mother's constant endeavor.

Mothers, all over this broad land, heavy-laden with the puerile

details of daily living, fling off your shrouding cares, and lift your

worn faces that you may see with a broad outlook how full-fruited is

the vineyard in which you are toiling; the thorns are irritating; the

glebe is rough; your spirit faints in the heat of the toilsome day.

Look up! the lengthening shadows are falling like dew upon you! tired

hearts, look up! purple-red hangs the clustering fruit of your

life-long work; the vintage has come, the freest from blight that can

ever come--the vintage of a faithful mother!

The name of Mary Owen was not written upon the brains of men, but it

is graven upon the hearts of these her children; so long as they live,

the blessed memory of that home shall abide with them, a home wherein

all that was sweet, and strong, and true, was nurtured by a wise hand,

was sunned into blossoming by a loving heart.

A benediction rests upon the brow of him who has given his best work

to help this world onward, even though it be but a hair's-breadth; but

the mother who has given herself to her children through long years of

an unwritten self-abnegation, who has thrilled every fiber of their

beings with faith in God and hope in man, a faith and a hope which no

canker-worm of worldly experience can ever eat away, she shall be

crowned with a sainted halo.

REMINISCENCES BY DR. MARY F. THOMAS AND AMANDA M. WAY.

At an anti-slavery meeting held in Greensboro, Henry Co., in 1851, a

resolution was offered by Amanda M. Way, then an active agent in the

"Underground Railroad," as follows:

WHEREAS, The women of our land are being oppressed and degraded

by the laws and customs of our country, and are in but little

better condition than chattel slaves; therefore,

_Resolved_, That we call a Woman's Rights Convention, and that a

committee be now appointed to make the necessary arrangements.

The resolution was adopted. Amanda M. Way, Joel Davis, and Fanny Hiatt

were appointed.

The Convention met in October, 1851, in Dublin, Wayne Co., and

organized by electing Hannah Hiatt, President; Amanda Way,

Vice-President; and Henry Hiatt, Secretary. Miss Way made the opening

address, and stated the object of the Convention to be a full, free,

and candid discussion of the legal and social position of women. The

meetings continued two days. Henry C. Wright addressed large audiences

at the evening sessions. A letter was received from Mary F. Thomas, of

North Manchester, urging all those who believe in woman's rights to be

firm and outspoken. She encouraged young ladies to enter the trades

and professions, to fit themselves in some way for pecuniary

independence, and adds, "Although a wife, mother, and housekeeper,

with all that that means, I am studying medicine, and expect to

practice, if I live."

Such a Convention being a novel affair, called out some ridicule and

opposition, but the friends were so well pleased with their success,

that a committee was appointed to arrange for another the next year,

which was held in Richmond, Oct. 15 and 16, 1852. A few of the

resolutions[57] will show the spirit of the leaders at that time. A

Woman's Rights Society was formed at this Convention, a Constitution

and By-laws adopted, and it became one of the permanent organizations

of the State. Hannah Hiatt, President; Jane Morrow, Vice-President;

Mary B. Birdsall, Secretary; Amanda Way, Treasurer.

Another Convention was held at Richmond October 12, 1853. The

President being absent, Lydia W. Vandeburg presided with dignity and

ability. Frances D. Gage, Josephine S. Griffing, Emma R. Coe, and

Lydia Ann Jenkins were among the prominent speakers. Having heard that

Antoinette Brown had been denied admission as a delegate to the

"World's Temperance Convention," held in New York, on account of her

sex, they passed a resolution condemning this insult offered to all

womankind. Thirty-two persons[58] signed the Constitution in the first

Convention, and the movement spread rapidly in the Hoosier State.

The fourth annual meeting convened in Masonic Hall, Indianapolis,

October 26, 1854. Frances D. Gage, Caroline M. Severance, and L. A.

Hine were the invited speakers, and right well did they sustain the

banner of equal rights in the capital of the State. J. W. Gordon, then

a young and promising lawyer, and since one of the leading men of the

State, avowed himself in favor of woman suffrage, and added much to

the success of the Convention. The press, as usual, ridiculed,

burlesqued, and misrepresented the proceedings; but the citizens

manifested a serious interest, and requested that the next Convention

be held at the capital.

About this time the "Maine Liquor Law" was passed in this State. The

women took an active part in the temperance campaign, and helped to

secure the prohibitory law. This made the suffrage movement more

popular, as was shown in the increased attendance at the next

Convention in Indianapolis, October 12, 1855, at which Emma B. Swank

presided. The prominent speakers were James and Lucretia Mott, Frances

D. Gage, Ernestine L. Rose, Joseph Barker, Amanda Way, Henry Hiatt,

and J. W. Gordon. With such women as these to declare the gospel of

equality, and to enforce it with their pure faces, womanly graces, and

noble lives, the people could not fail to give their sympathy, and to

be convinced of the rightfulness of our cause. The two leading papers

again did their best to make the movement ridiculous. The reporters

gave glowing pen sketches of the "masculine women" and "feminine men";

they described the dress and appearance of the women very minutely

but said little of the merits of the question, or the arguments of the

speakers. Amanda Way was chosen President of the Society; Dr. Mary

Thomas, Vice-President; Mary B. Birdsall, Secretary; Abbe Lindley,

Treasurer.

The next annual meeting was held in Winchester, October 16 and 17,

1856. In her introductory remarks, the President referred to the great

change that had taken place in five years. Women were now often seen

on the platform making speeches on many questions, behind the counters

as clerks, in the sick-room as physicians. The temperance organization

of Good Templars, now spreading rapidly over the State, makes no

distinction in its members; women as well as men serve on committees,

hold office, and vote on all business matters. Emma B. Swank and Sarah

E. Underhill were the principal speakers at this Convention. For

logical argument and beauty of style, Miss Swank was said to have few

equals. Dr. Mary Thomas was chosen President for the next year.

The annual meeting of 1857 was again held in Winchester, by an

invitation from the citizens, and the Methodist Episcopal Church was

tendered for their use. On taking the chair, the President, Dr. Mary

F. Thomas, said:

This is the first time I have had the pleasure of meeting with

this Association, still my heart, my influence, and my prayers

have all been with the advocates of this cause. Although I have

not enjoyed the privilege of attending the annual meetings, owing

to my many cares, I have not been an idler in the vineyard. By my

example, as well as my words, I have tried to teach women to be

more self-reliant, and to prepare themselves for larger and more

varied spheres of activity.

Frances D. Gage, who was always a favorite speaker in Indiana, was

again present, and scattered seeds of truth that have produced

abundant fruit. On motion of Amanda Way, who said she believed it was

time for us to begin to knock at the doors of the Legislature, a

committee of three was appointed to prepare a form of petition to be

circulated and presented to the next Legislature.

In 1858 the Convention again met in Richmond, Sarah Underhill,

President. Adeline T. Swift and Anne D. Cridge, of Ohio, both

excellent speakers, were present. The committee appointed to draft a

form of petition, reported the following:

_To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the

State of Indiana:_

The undersigned, residents of the State of Indiana, respectfully

ask you to grant to women the same rights in property that are

enjoyed by men. We also ask you to take the necessary steps to

amend the Constitution so as to extend to woman the right of

suffrage.

Sarah Underhill, Emma Swank, Mary Birdsall, Agnes Cook, Dr. Mary F.

Thomas, and Amanda Way were appointed to present said petition to the

Legislature. The interest was so great, and the discussions so

animated, for many new speakers from all parts of the State had risen

up, that the Convention continued through three days.

On the 19th of January, 1859, the petition was presented to the

Legislature by Mary Birdsall, Agnes Cook, and Dr. Mary Thomas. An

account of the proceedings was given in _The Lily_, a woman's rights

paper, published and edited by Dr. Mary Thomas. The occasion of the

presentation of petitions in person by a delegation of the Indiana

Woman's Rights Association before the assembled Houses of the

Legislature, drew an immense crowd long before the appointed hour. On

the arrival of the Committee, they were escorted to the Speaker's

stand. The President, J. R. Cravens, introduced them to their

Representatives.

Mrs. Agnes Cook, in a few brief remarks, invited a serious and candid

consideration of the intrinsic merits of the petition about to be

presented, and the arguments of the petitioners.

Dr. Mary Thomas read the petition signed by over one thousand

residents of Indiana, and urged the Legislature to pass laws giving

equal property rights to married women, and to take the necessary

steps to so amend the Constitution of the State as to secure to all

women the right of suffrage. She claimed these rights on the ground of

absolute justice, as well as the highest expediency, pointing out

clearly the evils that flow from class legislation.

Mrs. Birdsall being introduced, read a clear, concise address,

occupying about half an hour.

The following resolution, offered by Gen. Steele, was unanimously

adopted:

_Resolved_, That the addresses just read be spread upon the

Journal, and that copies be requested for publication in the city

papers.

After the Senate adjourned, the Speaker called the House to order, and

on the motion of Mr. Murray, it resolved itself into committee of the

whole on the memorial just presented. On motion of Mr. Hamilton, the

petition was made the special order for Friday, when it was referred

to the Committee on "Rights and Privileges," who reported "that

legislation on this subject is inexpedient at this time," which report

was concurred in by the House.

The ninth annual meeting was held in Good Templars' Hall, Richmond, in

October, 1859. It continued but one day, as the time was fully

occupied in business plans for future work. Mary B. Birdsall was

chosen President of the Association.

The intense excitement of the political campaign of 1860, and the

civil war that followed, absorbed every other interest. The women who

had so zealously worked for their own rights, were just as ready to

help others. Some hastened to the hospitals; others labored in the

sanitary movement. Others did double duty at home, tilling the ground

and gathering in the harvests, that their fathers, husbands, brothers,

and sons might go forth to fight the battles of freedom. No

conventions were held for ten years; but public sentiment had taken a

long stride during those years of conflict, and when the pioneers

of this reform, who had been accustomed to opposition and

misrepresentation, again began the work, they were astonished to find

themselves in a comparatively popular current.

We find the following letters from Henry C. Wright and Esther Ann

Lukens, in _The Liberator_:

DUBLIN, WAYNE CO., Indiana, _Oct. 14, 1851_.

DEAR GARRISON:--I am in a Woman's Rights Convention, the first

ever held in this State, called by the women of Indiana to

consider the true position of woman. An excellent but short

address was made by the President, Hannah Hiatt, on the

importance of the movement and the ruinous consequences of

dividing the interests of men and women, and making their

relations antagonistic in the State, the Church, and the affairs

of every-day life. Much was said against woman's taking part in

government. It would degrade her to vote and hold office, and

destroy her influence as mother, wife, daughter, sister. It was

an answer that if voting and holding office would degrade women,

they would degrade men also; whatever is injurious to the moral

nature, delicacy, and refinement of woman is equally so to man.

Moral obligations rest equally on both sexes. Man should be as

refined and chaste as woman if we would make our social life

pure. Women may as well say to men, "Keep away from the

ballot-box and from office, for it degrades you and unfits you to

be our companions," as for man to say so to women. Dr. Curtis, a

Methodist class-leader, said the Bible had placed the _final

appeal_ in all disputes in man; that if woman refused obedience,

God gave man the right to use force. This "Christian teacher" was

the only person in the Convention who appealed to the spirit of

rowdyism, whose language was unbecoming the subject and the

occasion. He was the only one who appealed to the Bible to

justify the subjection of woman. And while he awarded to man the

right to use force, he said the only influence the Bible

authorized woman to use was moral suasion. Man is to rule woman

by violence; woman must rule man by love, kindness, and

long-suffering. So says the Bible according to the interpretation

of the learned Dr. Curtis. The Convention lasted two days. It was

a thrilling meeting.

Yours, HENRY C. WRIGHT.

NEW GARDEN, Ohio, _Oct. 2, 1851_.

DEAR FRIENDS:--When Goethe was asked if the world would be better

if the Golden Age were restored, he answered, "A synod of good

women shall decide."

Could his spirit look down upon us he would see those synods, of

which he perhaps prophetically spoke, assembling all over the

land, not to restore an age of semi-barbarism, but to hasten the

advent of a new and far more golden era, when there will be no

dangerous pilgrimage of years' duration to win back the Holy

Sepulchre, but a far more divine and sacred inheritance shall

have been sought and found; namely, freedom for woman to exercise

every right, capacity, and power with which God has endowed her.

If there are any natural rights, then they belong to all by

virtue of our humanity, and are not graduated by degrees of

superiority. If the privilege of voting had been limited to those

men who were strong in mind and morals, we should never have had

a Governor's signature to "the black laws of Ohio."

It is perverse and cruel to raise the cry that we make war upon

domestic life; that we would destroy its natural order and

attraction by allowing woman to mingle in the coarse and noisy

scenes of political life. Is not the aid of man equally important

in the family, and would his necessary duties in the home

conflict with his duties as a citizen and a patriot?

Man can not wrong and oppress woman without jeopardizing his own

liberty. Cramped and crippled as she may be by inexorable law,

she avenges herself, and decides his destiny. So long as woman is

outlawed, man pays the penalty in ignorance, poverty, and

suffering. Our interests are one, we rise or fall together.

Sisters of Indiana, accept my heartfelt sympathy in the work you

have undertaken. It is well for the pioneers of a new country to

call down God's blessing on their labors by an early claim to an

equality of rights.

Yours, for justice to all, ESTHER ANN LUKENS.

Having never met the brave women who endured the first shower of

ridicule in Indiana, we asked to be introduced to them in some brief

pen-sketches, and in the following manner they present themselves:

REV. AMANDA M. WAY

may be truthfully called the mother of "The Woman Suffrage

Association" in Indiana organized in 1851, and took an active

part in all the Conventions until she became a resident in Kansas

in 1872. Miss Way was always an abolitionist, a prohibitionist,

and an uncompromising suffragist--the great pioneer of all

reforms. It is amusing to hear how many places she has been the

first to fill; yet she has done it all in such a quiet way that

no one seemed to feel that she was ever out of place. It was a

common remark, "Amanda can do that, but she is not like other

people." She was the first woman elected Grand Secretary of the

"Indiana Order of Good Templars," in 1856; the first State

lecturer and organizer; the first in the world to be elected

Grand Worthy Chief Templar; the first one in her State to be a

representative to the national lodge; the first one admitted as a

regular representative to the Grand Division, Sons of Temperance,

and the first to be a licensed preacher in the Methodist

Episcopal Church. What is better still, she continues in the work

she began, gaining power and influence with the experience of

years. An editor, speaking of her, said: "There is no woman more

widely and favorably known in this State than Amanda Way. Her

name is a household word, and in the hearts of the temperance

reformers her memory will ever be sacred."

In 1859, she was associated with Mrs. Underhill in editing _The

Ladies' Tribune_, and has since been connected with the press

much of the time. During the Rebellion, her time and thoughts

were given to active labors in the hospitals and the sanitary

movement. Many a soldier returned to his home who would have died

but for her care. In company with Mrs. Swank she presented a

memorial, to the Legislature in 1871, asking the elective

franchise for women, and made a very effective speech on the

occasion.

Her home-life has been equally active and faithful; a widowed

mother and a sister's orphaned children, have been her special

care, depending on her for support. Once, when asked why she

never married, she laughingly replied, "I never had time."

She has been a consistent member of the Methodist Church twenty

years, and ten years ago, unsolicited by herself, she was

licensed as a minister by the Winchester Quarterly Conference,

Rev. Milton Mahin, Presiding Elder. In her travels over the State

she preaches almost every Sunday, being invited to fill many

pulpits, both in Kansas and this State.

She is a calm, forcible, earnest speaker, and, though quiet and

reserved in manner, she is genial and warm in her affections.

She is now fifty-two years old, and though her life has been a

constant battle with wrongs, she has not become misanthropic nor

despondent. Knowing that progress is the law of life, she has

full faith that the moral world, though moving slowly, is still

moving in the right direction.

HELEN Y. AUSTIN,

Corresponding Secretary of the State Suffrage Association for

many years, a position for which she was eminently fitted, being

gifted as a writer. Having had a liberal education, and great

enthusiasm in our cause, her labors have been valuable and

effective. She is a correspondent for several journals and

periodicals, is very active in "The State Horticultural Society,"

and takes a deep interest in all the progressive movements of the

day.

LOUISE V. BOYD.

Mrs. Boyd is a lady of fine poetical genius and superior literary

attainments. She has been an earnest advocate of woman suffrage

for many years, and is herself a living argument of woman's

ability to use the rights she asks.

In 1871 she read a very able essay on the "Women of the Bible,"

before the State Association of the Christian Church. It was the

first time a woman's voice had been heard in that religious body.

The success of her effort on that occasion opened the way for

other women. Mrs. Boyd and her husband (Dr. S. S. Boyd, who is

also a zealous friend of our cause), have both been officers of

the State W. S. Association for many years, taking an active part

in all our Conventions.

REV. MARY T. CLARK.

Mrs. Clark has been an acceptable lecturer and preacher for many

years in different parts of the State. She was early a recognized

minister among the Congregational Quakers. More recently she has

been ordained in the Universalist Church, and enjoys equal rights

and honors with the clergymen of that denomination. She is a

woman of education and culture, and of English parentage.

EMMA B. SWANK.

Mrs. Swank is one of the most pleasing speakers of Indiana. She

is a graduate of Antioch, and while yet in college she gained

quite a reputation by her lecturing on Astronomy. She spent

several years lecturing to classes of women on Physiology,

Anatomy, and Hygiene. Of late, she has devoted herself to Woman

Suffrage and Temperance. She served as president of the State

Society one year before the war and one since, and has always

done good, service to the cause of woman with both pen and

tongue.

SARAH E. UNDERHILL.

Mrs. Underhill was first known in Indiana as the editor and

proprietor of the _Ladies' Tribune_ at Indianapolis in 1857. She

associated with her Amanda Way as office editor, that she might

devote her entire time to lecturing. Though she remained in the

State but three years, she was widely and favorably known as an

earnest and effective speaker on Woman Suffrage and Temperance.

When the war began, she was among the first to go to the sick and

wounded soldiers. A brief account of her work in the hospitals

will be found in the "Women of the War."

JANE MORROW.

Miss Morrow was a pioneer in our movement; attended the Second

Convention in 1852. She was not a speaker, but a practical

business woman, owning and successfully carrying on a dry-goods

store in Richmond for many years. By precept and example, she

taught the doctrine of woman's independence and self-reliance.

She was a kind, genial, sunny-hearted woman, who made all about

her bright and happy, though she was what the world calls an "old

maid." In 1867, she died suddenly, without a moment's warning or

parting word; but "Aunt Jane," as she was familiarly called, will

long be remembered in her native town.

MARY B. BIRDSALL

was secretary of the Convention of 1852, and held that position

for three years. She purchased _The Lily_, a Woman's Rights

paper, of Amelia Bloomer, in 1855, and published it for three

years. Her home is in Richmond.

MARY ROBINSON OWEN.

Mrs. Owen, wife of Robert Dale Owen, was not known to the public

until after the war. It is said, however, that she suggested and

helped prepare the amendments to the laws with reference to

woman's property rights, that her husband carried through our

Legislature. She had a strong, clear intellect, and her lectures

were more argumentative and pointed than rhetorical and flinched.

She sympathized with and aided her husband in all his reformatory

movements, and was his equal in mental power. She was one of the

vice-presidents of our Indiana State Woman Suffrage Association

at the time of her death, 1871.

MARY F. THOMAS.

Mary F. Thomas, M.D., was born October 28. 1816, in Montgomery

County, Maryland. Her parents, Samuel and Mary Myers, were

members of the Society of Friends, and resided in their early

days in Berks and Chester Counties, in Pennsylvania. Her father

was the associate of Benjamin Lundy, in organizing and attending

the first anti-slavery meeting held in Washington, at the risk of

their lives.

Desiring to place his family beyond the evil influences of

slavery, he moved to Columbiana County, Ohio. He purchased a farm

there; his daughters assisted him in his outdoor labors in the

summer, and studied under his instructions in the winter. While

in Washington he frequently took his daughters to the capitol to

listen to the debates, which gave them interest in political

questions. Mary was early roused to the consideration of woman's

wrongs by the unequal wages paid to teachers of her own sex. In

1845 she was much moved in listening to the preaching of Lucretia

Mott at a yearly meeting in Salem, Ohio, and resolved that her

best efforts should be given to secure justice for woman.

In 1839 she was married to Dr. Owen Thomas. She has three

daughters, all well educated, self-reliant women. Her youngest

daughter, a graduate of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York,

took the Greek prize in the intercollegiate contest in 1874. As

Mrs. Thomas' husband was a physician, she studied medicine with

him, and graduated at the Penn Medical College of Philadelphia in

1854. She was the first woman to take her place in the State

Medical Association as a regularly admitted delegate. She is a

member of the Wayne County Medical Association; has been

physician for "The Home for Friendless Women" in the city of

Richmond for nine years, and has filled the office of City

Physician by the appointment of the Commissioners for several

years.

Though deeply interested in the woman suffrage reform, owing to

her domestic cares and medical studies she could not attend any

public meetings until 1857; since that time she has been one of

the most responsible standard-bearers, and for several years

President of the State Association.

Mrs. Thomas was always a conscientious abolitionist; the poor

fugitive from bondage did not knock at her door in vain. The

temperance reform, too, has had her warm sympathy and the benefit

of her pure example. She is a member of the Grand Lodge of Good

Templars, and has held important offices in that Order, having

been a faithful disciple in spreading the gospel of temperance

over forty years, always a member of some organization.

During the war of the rebellion she gave herself in every way

that was open to woman to the loyal service of her country. As

assistant physician in hospitals, looking after the sick and

wounded, and in sanitary work at home, she manifested as much

patriotism as any man did on the battle-field. After her long

experience, she comes to the conclusion, that with the ballot in

her own hand, with the power to coin her will into law, a woman

might do a far more effective work in preventing human misery and

crime, than she ever can accomplish by indirect influence, in

merely mitigating the evils man perpetuates by law.

(_From the Liberator of May, 1856_).

RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN WISCONSIN.

Minority Report of C. L. Sholes, from the "Committee on

Expiration and Re-enactment of Laws," to whom were referred

sundry petitions, praying that steps may be taken to confer

upon women the right of suffrage in Wisconsin.

The minority of the Committee on Expiration and Re-enactment of

Laws, beg leave to report:

The theory of our government, proclaimed some eighty years since,

these petitioners ask may be reduced to practice. The undersigned

is aware that the opinion has been announced from a high place

and high source, that this theory is, in the instrument which

contains it, a mere rhetorical flourish, admirable to fill a

sentence and round a period, but otherwise useless and

meaningless; that so far from all mankind being born free and

equal, it is those only who have rights that are entitled to

them; those yet out of the pale of that fortunate condition being

intended by Providence always to be and remain there. But

notwithstanding this opinion has the weight of high authority,

and notwithstanding the practice of the American people has thus

far been in strict accordance with such opinion, the undersigned

believes the theory proclaimed is not simply a rhetorical

flourish, nor meaningless, but that it means just what it says;

that it is true, and being true, is susceptible of an application

as broad as the truth proclaimed.

All humankind, says the theory, are endowed by their Creator with

certain inalienable rights. Other governments proclaim the divine

right of kings, and assume that man is the mere creature of the

government, deriving all his rights from its concessions, and

forever subject to all its impositions, while this government (or

at least its theory) elevates all men to an equality with kings,

brings every man face to face with the author of his being and

the arbiter of his destiny, deriving his rights from that source

alone; and makes government his creature instead of his master,

instituted by him solely for the better protection and

application of his God given rights. It is important to keep in

mind this theory of our government and its difference with the

theories of all other governments. Endowed by their Creator with

certain inalienable rights, it says, because those rights are

necessary to correct relations between each individual of

humanity and his Creator. Herein is the whole merit of the

American theory of government, and of its practice too, so far as

that practice has gone. It is a grand theory, opening as it does

to every human being the boundless plains of progress which

stretch out to the foot of the eternal throne, and implying as it

does such noble powers in humanity, and such noble conditions and

uses for those powers. Its effect upon those who have enjoyed the

benefit of its application has been in harmony with its own

exalted character. Though but a day old, as it were, in the

history of nations, the United States, in a great many respects,

outstrip all other nations of the earth, and are inferior in few

or no particulars to any. The mass of her people are conceded to

be the most intelligent people of the world, and manifest,

individually and collectively, the fruits of superior

intelligence. It will not be denied that our theory of

government, viewing as it does every man as a sovereign, opening

up to every man all the distinctions, all the honors, and all

the wealth which man is capable of desiring, appreciating, or

grasping, exercises a powerful, indeed a controlling influence in

making our people what they are, and our nation what it is.

These petitions ask only that these rights, enjoyed by one

portion of the American people, may be extended to embrace the

whole, not less for the abstract but all-sufficient reason, that

they have been given to the whole by the Creator, than that by

their application to the whole, the more general will be the

benefits experienced; and the deeper, broader, more prevailing

and more enduring will become those benefits. Manifestly, such

must be the case; for as these rights belong to humanity, and

produce their exalted and beneficial fruits by their application

to and upon humanity, it follows that, wherever humanity is,

there they belong, and there they will work out their beneficial

results. To exclude woman from the possession of equal political

rights with man, it should be shown that she is essentially a

different being; that the Creator of man is not her Creator; that

she has not the same evil to shun, the same heaven to gain; in

short, the same grand, immortal destiny which is supposed to

invite to high uses the capacity of man, does not pertain to nor

invite her. We say this must be shown; and if it can not be, as

certainly it can not, then it follows that to withhold these

rights, so beneficial to one portion, is to work an immediate and

particular injury to those from whom they are withheld, and,

although a more indirect, not a less certain injury to all.

Man-masculine is not endowed by his Creator with certain

inalienable rights because he is male, but because he is human;

and when, in virtue of our strong and superior physical capacity,

we deny to man-feminine the rights which are ours only in virtue

of our humanity, we exercise the same indefensible tyranny

against which _we_ felt justified in taking up arms, and

perilling life and fortune.

The argument against conceding these rights all are familiar

with. They are precisely the same which have been in the mouths

of tyrants from the beginning of time, and have been urged

against any and every demand for popular liberty. A want of

capacity for self-government--freedom will be only

licentiousness--and out of the possession of rights will grow

only the practice of follies and wrongs. This is the argument, in

brief, applied to every step of gradual emancipation on the part

of the male, and now by him applied to the female struggling to

reach the common platform. Should the American male, in the van

of human progress, as the result of this theory of a capacity for

self-government, turn round and ignore this divinity, this

capacity in another branch of the human family? The theory has

worked only good in its application thus far, and it is a most

unreasonable, a most unwarrantable distrust to expect it to

produce mischief when applied to others in all respects mentally

and morally the equals of those who now enjoy it. It neither can

nor will do so; but, necessarily, the broader and more universal

its application, the broader and more universal its benefits.

The possession of political rights by woman does not necessarily

imply that she must or will enter into the practical conduct of

all the institutions, proper and improper, now established and

maintained by the male portion of the race. These institutions

may be right and necessary, or they may not, and the nature of

woman may or may not be in harmony with them. It is not proposed

to enact a law compelling woman to do certain things, but it is

proposed simply to place her side by side with man on a common

platform of rights, confident that, in that position, she will

not outrage the "higher law" of her nature by descending to a

participation in faults, follies, or crimes, for which she has no

constitutional predilections. The association of woman with man,

in the various relations of life in which such association is

permitted, from the first unclosing of his eyes in the imbecility

of infancy, till they close finally upon all things earthly, is

conceded to be highly beneficial. Indeed, we think it will be

found, on scrutiny, that it is only those institutions of society

in which women have no part, and from which they are entirely

excluded, which are radically wrong, and need either thorough

renovation or entire abrogation. And if we have any duties so

essentially degrading, or any institution so essentially impure,

as to be beyond the renovating influence which woman can bring to

bear on them, beyond question they should be abrogated without

delay--a result which woman's connection with them would speedily

bring about.

Who dares say, then, that such association would not be equally

beneficial, if in every sphere of activity opened to man, woman

could enter with him and be at his side? Are our politics, in

their practice, so exalted, so dignified, so pure, that we need

no new associations, no purer and healthier influences, than now

connected with them? Is our Government just what we would have

it; are our rulers just what we would have them; in short, have

we arrived at that happy summit where perfection in these

respects is found? Not so. On the contrary, there is an universal

prayer throughout the length and breadth of the land, for reform

in these respects; and where, let us ask, could we reasonably

look for a more powerful agent to effect this reform, than in the

renovating influences of woman? That which has done so much for

the fireside and social life generally, neither can nor will lose

its potent, beneficial effect when brought to bear upon other

relations of life.

To talk of confining woman to her proper sphere by legal

disabilities, is an insult to the divinity of her nature,

implying, as it does, the absence of instinctive virtue, modesty,

and sense on her part. It makes her the creature of law--of our

law--from which she is assumed to derive her ability to keep the

path of rectitude, and the withdrawal of which would leave her to

sink to the depths of folly and vice. Do we really think so badly

of our mothers, wives, sister, daughters? Is it really we only of

the race who are instinctively and innately so sensible, so

modest, so virtuous, as to be qualified, not only to take care of

ourselves, but to dispense all these exalted qualities to the

weaker, and, as we assume, inferior half of the race? If it be

so, it may be doubted whether Heaven's last gift was its best.

Kings, emperors, and dictators confine their subjects, by the

interposition of law, to what they consider their proper spheres;

and there is certainly as much propriety in it as in the

dictation, by one sex, of the sphere of a different sex. In the

assumption of our strength, we say woman must not have equal

rights with us, because she has a different nature. If so, by

what occult power do we understand that different nature to

dictate by metes and bounds its wants and spheres? Fair play is a

Yankee characteristic; and we submit, if but one-half of the race

can have rights at a time because of their different natures,

whether it is not about time the proscribed half had its chance

in, to assume the reins of Government, and dictate _our_ sphere.

It is no great compliment to that part of the race to venture the

opinion, that the country would be full as well governed as it

now is, and our sphere would be bounded with quite as much

liberality as now is theirs.

Let every human being occupy a common platform of political

rights, and all will irresistibly gravitate exactly to their

proper place and sphere, without discord, and with none but the

most beneficial results. In this way human energy and capacity

will be fully economized and expended for the highest interest of

all humanity; and this result is only to be obtained by opening

to all, without restriction, common spheres of activity.

Woman has all the interests on earth that man has--she has all

the interest in the future that man has. Man has rights only in

virtue of his relations to earth and heaven; and woman, whose

relations are the same, has the same rights. The possession of

her rights, on the part of woman, will interfere no more with the

duties of life, than their possession by man interferes with his

duties; and as man is presumed to become a better man in all

respects by the possession of his rights, such must be the

inevitable effect of their possession upon woman.

The history of the race, thus far, has been a history of tyranny

by the strong over the weak. Might, not right, has been as yet

the fundamental practice of all governments; and under this order

of things, woman, physically weak, from a slave, beaten, bought,

and sold in the market, has but become, in the more civilized and

favored portions of the earth, the toy of wealth and the drudge

of poverty. But we now have at least a new and different theory

of government; and as the aspiration of one age is sure to be the

code of the next, and practice is sure at some time to overtake

theory, we have reason to expect that principle will take the

place of mere brute force, and the truth will be fully realized,

"That men and women have one glory and one shame;

Everything that's done inhuman injures all of us the same."

Never, till woman stands side by side with man, his equal in the

eye of the law as well as the Creator, will the high destiny of

the race be accomplished. She is the mother of the race, and

every stain of littleness or inferiority cast upon her by our

institutions will soil the offspring she sends into the world,

and clip and curtail to that extent his fair proportions. If we

would abrogate that littleness of her character which finds a

delight in the gewgaws of fashion, and an enjoyment in the narrow

sphere of gossipping, social life, or tea-table scandal, so long

the ridicule of our sex; open to her new and more ennobling

fields of activity and thought--fields, the exploration of which

has filled the American males with great thoughts, and made them

the foremost people of the world, and which will place the

American females on their level, and make them truly helps meet

for them. When we can add to the men of America a race of women

educated side by side with them, and enjoying equal advantages

with them in all respects, we may expect an offspring of giants

in the comprehension and application of the great truths which

involve human rights and human happiness.

These petitions ask that the necessary steps may be taken to

strike from the Constitution the legal distinction of sex. Your

Committee is in favor of the prayer of the petitions; but, under

the most favorable circumstances, that is a result which could

not be attained in less than two years. In all probability, it

will not be longer than that before the Constitution will come up

directly for revision, which will be a proper, appropriate, and

favorable time to press the question.

Your Committee, therefore, introduces no bill, and recommends no

action at present.

All of which is respectfully submitted. C. L. SHOLES.

This able report was the result, in a great measure, of the agitation

started by Mrs. Nichols and Mrs. Fowler in 1853, and by Lucy Stone's

lecturing tour in 1855, thus proving that no true words or brave deeds

are ever lost. The experiences of these noble pioneers in their first

visits to Wisconsin, though in many respects trying and discouraging,

brought their own rich rewards, not only in higher individual

development, but in an improved public opinion and more liberal

legislation in regard to the rights of women in that State.

FOOTNOTES:

[55] "The Relation of Woman to Industry in Indiana," by May Wright

Sewall.

[56] The vast audience of women alone, in Apollo Hall, to discuss the

McFarland and Richardson tragedy.

[57] See Appendix.

[58] See Appendix.

CHAPTER X.

PENNSYLVANIA.

William Penn--Independence Hall--British troops--Heroism of

women--Lydia Darrah--Who designed the Flag--Anti-slavery

movements in Philadelphia--Pennsylvania Hall destroyed by a

mob--David Paul Brown--Fugitives--Millard Fillmore--John

Brown--Angelina Grimké--Abby Kelly--Mary Grew--Temperance in

1848--Hannah Darlington and Ann Preston before the Legislature--

Medical College for Women in 1850--Westchester Woman Rights

Convention, 1852--Philadelphia Convention, 1854--Lucretia

Mott answers Richard H. Dana--Jane Grey Swisshelm--Sarah Josepha

Hale--Anna McDowell--Rachel Foster searching the records.

In 1680, Charles II., King of England, granted to William Penn a tract

of land in consideration of the claims of his father, Admiral Penn,

which he named Pennsylvania. The charter for this land is still in

existence at Harrisburg, among the archives of the State. The

principal condition of the bargain with the Indians was the payment of

two beaver skins annually. This was the purchase money for the great

State of Pennsylvania.

Penn landed at New Castle October 27, 1682, and in November visited

the infant city of Philadelphia, where so many of the eventful scenes

of the Revolution transpired. Penn had been already imprisoned in

England several times for his Quaker principles, which had so

beneficent an influence in his dealings with the Indians, and on the

moral character of the religious sect he founded in the colonies.

While yet a student he was expelled from Christ Church, Oxford,

because he was converted to Quakerism under the preaching of Thomas

Loe. He was imprisoned in Cork for attending a Quaker meeting, and in

the Tower of London in 1668 for writing "The Sandy Foundation Shaken,"

and while there he wrote his great work, "No Cross, No Crown." In

1671, he was again imprisoned for preaching Quakerism, and as he would

take no oath on his trial, he was thrown into Newgate, and while there

he wrote his other great work on "Toleration."

In 1729 the foundations of Independence Hall, the old State House,

were laid, and the building was completed in 1734. Here the first

Continental Congress was held in September, 1774; a Provincial

Convention in January, 1775; the Declaration of Independence

proclaimed July 4, 1776, and on the 8th, read to thousands assembled

in front of the building. These great events have made Philadelphia

the birthplace of freedom, the Mecca of this western world, where the

lovers of liberty go up to worship; and made the Keystone State so

rich in memories, the brightest star in the republican constellation,

where in 1776 freedom was proclaimed, and in 1780 slavery was

abolished.

Philadelphia remained the seat of Government until 1800. The British

troops occupied the city from September 26, 1777, to June 18, 1778.

During this period we find many interesting incidents in regard to the

heroism of women. In every way they aided the struggling army, not

only in providing food and clothes, ministering to the sick in camp

and hospitals, but on active duty as messengers and spies under most

difficult and dangerous circumstances. The brave deeds and severe

privations the women of this nation endured with cheerfulness would

fill volumes, yet no monuments are built to their memory, and only by

the right of petition have they as yet the slightest recognition in

the Government. A few instances that occurred at Philadelphia will

illustrate the patriotism of American women.[59]

While the American army remained encamped at White Marsh, the

British being in possession of Philadelphia, Gen. Howe made some

vain attempts to draw Washington into an engagement. The house

opposite the headquarters of Gen. Howe, tenanted by William and

Lydia Darrah, members of the Society of Friends, was the place

selected by the superior officers of the army for private

conference, whenever it was necessary to hold consultations.

On the afternoon of the 2d of December, the British

Adjutant-General called and informed the mistress that he and

some friends were to meet there that evening, and desired that

the back room up-stairs might be prepared for their reception.

"And be sure, Lydia," he concluded, "that your family are all in

bed at an early hour. When our guests are ready to leave the

house, I will myself give you notice, that you may let us out and

extinguish the candles."

Having delivered this order, the Adjutant-General departed. Lydia

betook herself to getting all things in readiness. But she felt

curious to know what the business could be that required such

secrecy, and resolved on further investigation. Accordingly, in

the midst of their conference that night, she quietly approached

the door, and listening, heard a plan for the surprise of

Washington's forces arranged for the next night. She retreated

softly to her room and laid down; soon there was a knocking at

her door. She knew well what the signal meant, but took no heed

until it was repeated again and again, and then she arose

quickly and opened the door. It was the Adjutant-General who

came to inform her they were ready to depart. Lydia let them out,

fastened the door, extinguished the fire and lights, and returned

to her chamber, but she was uneasy, thinking of the threatened

danger.

At the dawn of day she arose, telling her family that she must go

to Frankfort to procure some flour. She mounted her horse, and

taking the bag, started. The snow was deep and the cold intense,

but Lydia's heart did not falter. Leaving the grist at the mill,

she started on foot for the camp, determined to apprise Gen.

Washington of his danger. On the way she met one of his officers,

who exclaimed in astonishment at seeing her, but making her

errand known, she hastened home.

Preparations were immediately made to give the enemy a fitting

reception. None suspected the grave, demure Quakeress of having

snatched from the English their anticipated victory; but after

the return of the British troops Gen. Howe summoned Lydia to his

apartment, locked the door with an air of mystery, and motioned

her to a seat. After a moment of silence, he said: "Were any of

your family up, Lydia, on the night when I received my company

here?" "No," she replied, "they all _retired_ at eight o'clock."

"It is very strange," said the officer, and mused a few minutes.

"I know you were asleep, for I knocked at your door three times

before you heard me; yet it is certain that we were betrayed."

Afterward some one asked Lydia how she could say her family were

all in bed while she herself was up; she replied, "Husband and

wife are one, and that one is the husband, and my husband was in

bed." Thus the wit and wisdom of this Quaker woman saved the

American forces at an important crisis, and perhaps turned the

fate of the Revolutionary War.

During that dreadful winter, 1780, at Valley Forge, the ladies of

Philadelphia combined to furnish clothing for the army. Money and

jewels were contributed in profusion. Those who could not give money,

gave their services freely. Not less than $7,500 were contributed to

an association for this purpose, of which Esther De Berdt Reed was

president. Though an English woman, the French Secretary said of her:

"She is called to this office as the best patriot, the most zealous

and active, and the most attached to the interests of the country."

The archives of the Keystone State prove that she can boast many noble

women from the time of that great struggle for the nation's existence,

the signal for which was given when the brave old bell rang out from

Independence Hall its message of freedom. The very colors then

unfurled, and for the first time named the flag of the United States,

were the handiwork, and in part the invention of a woman. That to the

taste and suggestions of Mrs. Elizabeth Ross, of Philadelphia, we owe

the beauty of the Union's flag can not be denied. There are those who

would deprive her of all credit in this connection, and assert that

the committee appointed to prepare a flag gave her the perfected

design; but the evidence is in favor of her having had a large share

in the change from the original design to the flag as it now is; the

same flag which we have held as a nation since the memorable year of

the Declaration of Independence, the flag which now floats on every

sea, whose stars and stripes carry hope to all the oppressed nations

of the earth; though to woman it is but an _ignis fatuus_, an ever

waving signal of the ingratitude of the republic to one-half its

citizens.

An anecdote of a female spy is related in the journal of Major

Tallmadge. While the Americans were at Valley Forge he was stationed

in the vicinity of Philadelphia with a detachment of cavalry to

observe the enemy and limit the range of British foraging parties. His

duties required the utmost vigilance, his squad seldom remained all

night in the same position, and their horses were rarely unsaddled.

Hearing that a country girl had gone into the city with eggs; having

been sent by one of the American officers to gain information;

Tallmadge advanced toward the British lines, and dismounted at a small

tavern within view of their outposts. The girl came to the tavern, but

while she was communicating her intelligence to the Major, the alarm

was given that the British light-horse were approaching. Tallmadge

instantly mounted, and as the girl entreated protection, bade her get

up behind him. They rode three miles at full speed to Germantown, the

damsel showing no fear, though there was some wheeling and charging,

and a brisk firing of pistols.

Tradition tells of some women in Philadelphia, whose husbands used to

send intelligence from the American army through a market-boy, who

came into the city to bring provisions, and carried the dispatches

sent in the back of his coat. One morning, when there was some fear

that his movements were watched, a young girl undertook to get the

papers. In a pretended game of romps, she threw her shawl over his

head, and secured the prize. She hastened with the papers to her

friends, who read them with deep interest, after the windows were

carefully closed. When news came of Burgoyne's surrender, the

sprightly girl, not daring to give vent openly to her exultation, put

her head up the chimney and hurrahed for Gates.

And not only in the exciting days of the Revolution do we find

abundant records of woman's courage and patriotism, but in all the

great moral movements that have convulsed the nation, she has taken an

active and helpful part. The soil of Pennsylvania is classic with the

startling events of the anti-slavery struggle. In the first

Anti-Slavery Society, of which Benjamin Franklin was president, women

took part, not only as members, but as officers. The name of Lydia

Gillingham stands side by side with Jacob M. Ellis as associate

secretaries, signing reports of the "Association for the Abolition of

Slavery."

The important part women took in the later movement, inaugurated by

William Lloyd Garrison, has already passed into history. The interest

in this question was intensified in this State, as it was the scene of

the continued recapture of fugitives. The heroism of the women, who

helped to fight this great battle of freedom, was only surpassed by

those who, taking their lives in their hands, escaped from the land of

slavery. The same love of liberty that glowed in eloquent words on the

lips of Lucretia Mott, Angelina Grimké, and Mary Grew, was echoed in

the brave deeds of Margaret Garner, Linda Brent, and Mrs. Stowe's

Eliza.

On December 4, 1833, the Abolitionists assembled in Philadelphia to

hold a national convention, and to form the American Anti-Slavery

Society. During all the sessions of three days, women were constant

and attentive listeners. Lucretia Mott, Esther More, Sidney Ann Lewis,

and Lydia White, took part in the discussions.

The following resolution, passed at the close of the third day,

without dissent, or a word to qualify or limit its application, shows

that no one then thought it improper for women to speak in public:

_Resolved_, That the thanks of the Convention be presented to our

female friends for the deep interest they have manifested in the

cause of anti-slavery, during the long and fatiguing sessions of

this Convention.

Samuel J. May, in writing of this occasion many years after, says: "It

is one of the proudest recollections of my life that I was a member of

the Convention in Philadelphia, in December, 1833, that formed the

American Anti-Slavery Society. And I well remember the auspicious

sequel to it, the formation of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery

Society. Nor shall I ever forget the wise, the impressive, the

animating words spoken in our Convention by dear Lucretia Mott and two

or three other excellent women who came to that meeting by divine

appointment. But with this last recollection will be forever

associated the mortifying fact, that we _men_ were then so blind, so

obtuse, that we did not recognize those women as members of our

Convention, and insist upon their subscribing their names to our

'Declaration of Sentiments and Purposes.'"

PHILADELPHIA ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY.

No sooner did the National Society adjourn, than the women who had

listened to the discussions with such deep interest, assembled to

organize themselves for action. A few extracts from Mary Grew's final

report of the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society in 1870 show

that--

A meeting convened at the school-room of Catherine McDermott,

12th mo. 9th, 1833, to take into consideration the propriety of

forming a Female Anti-Slavery Society; addresses were made by

Samuel J. May, of Brooklyn, Conn., and Nathaniel Southard, of

Boston, who pointed out the important assistance that might be

rendered by our sex in removing the great evil of slavery. After

some discussion upon this interesting subject, it was concluded

to form a Society, in the belief that our combined efforts would

more effectually aid in relieving the oppression of our suffering

fellow-creatures. For this purpose a Committee was appointed to

draft a Constitution, and to propose such measures as would be

likely to promote the Abolition of Slavery, and to elevate the

people of color from their present degraded situation to the full

enjoyment of their rights, and to increased usefulness in

society.

At a meeting held 12th mo. 14th, the Committee appointed on the

9th submitted a form of Constitution, which was read and adopted.

After its adoption, the following persons signed their names:

Lucretia Mott, Esther Moore, Mary Ann Jackson, Margaretta Forten,

Sarah Louisa Forten, Grace Douglass, Mary Sleeper, Rebecca

Hitchins, Mary Clement, A. C. Eckstein, Mary Wood, Leah Fell,

Sidney Ann Lewis, Catherine McDermott, Susan M. Shaw, Lydia

White, Sarah McCrummell, Hetty Burr. The Society then proceeded

to the choice of officers for the ensuing year; when the

following persons were elected: Esther Moore, Presiding Officer;

Margaretta Forten, Recording Secretary; Lucretia Mott,

Corresponding Secretary; Anna Bunting, Treasurer; Lydia White,

Librarian.

The Annual Reports of the first two years of this Society are not

extant; but from its third, we learn that in each of those years

the Society memorialized Congress, praying for the abolition of

slavery in the District of Columbia and the Territories of the

United States. In the second year of its existence, it appointed

a Standing Committee for the purpose of visiting the schools for

colored children in this city, and aiding them in any practicable

way. In the third year it appointed a Committee "to make

arrangements for the establishment of a course of scientific

lectures, which our colored friends were particularly invited to

attend." The phraseology of this statement implies that white

persons were not to be excluded from these lectures, and

indicates a clear-sighted purpose, on the part of the Society, to

bear its testimony against distinctions founded on color. In this

year it published an Address to the Women of Pennsylvania,

calling their attention to the claims of the slave, and urging

them to sign petitions for his emancipation. Mrs. Elizabeth

Heyrick's well-known pamphlet, entitled "Immediate, not Gradual

Emancipation," was during the same year republished by the

"Anti-Slavery Sewing Society," a body composed of some of the

members of this Association, but not identical with it, which met

weekly at the house of our Vice-President, Sidney Ann Lewis.

Another event, important and far-reaching beyond our power then

to foresee, had marked the year. A member of this Society[60] had

received and accepted a commission to labor as an agent of the

American Anti-Slavery Society. It is evident, from the language

of the Report, that the newly-appointed agent and her

fellow-members regarded the mission as one fraught with peculiar

trial of patience and faith, and anticipated the opposition which

such an innovation on the usages of the times would elicit. Her

appointed field of labor was among her own sex, in public or in

private; but in the next year's Report it is announced that she

had enlarged her sphere. The fact should never be forgotten by us

that it was a member of this Society who first broke the soil in

that field where so many women have since labored abundantly, and

are now reaping so rich a harvest.

The next year, 1837, was made memorable by a still greater

innovation upon established usage--the first National Convention

of American Anti-Slavery Women. It is interesting and profitable

to notice, as the years passed, that new duties and new

responsibilities educated woman for larger spheres of action.

Each year brought new revelations, presented new aspects of the

cause, and made new demands. Our early Reports mention these

Conventions of Women, which were held during three consecutive

years in New York and this city, as a novel measure, which would,

of course, excite opposition; and they also record the fact that

"the editorial rebukes, sarcasm, and ridicule" which they

elicited, did not exceed the anticipations of the Abolitionists.

The second of these Conventions was held in this city, in the

midst of those scenes of riot when infuriated Southern

slaveholders and cowardly Northern tradesmen combined for

purposes of robbery and arson, and surrounded Pennsylvania Hall

with their representatives, the mob which plundered and burnt it,

while the City Government looked on consenting to these crimes.

That Convention was the last assembly gathered in that Hall, then

just dedicated to the service of Freedom. Its fifth session, on

the 17th of May, 1838, was held, calmly and deliberately, while

the shouts of an infuriated mob rose around the building,

mingling with the speakers' voices, and sometimes overwhelming

them; while stones and other missiles crashing through the

windows imperilled the persons of many of the audience. The

presence of an assembly of women was supposed to be a partial

protection against the fury of the rioters; and believing that

the mob would not fire the building while it was thus filled, a

committee of anti-slavery men sent a request to the Convention to

remain in session during the usual interval between the afternoon

and evening meetings, if, with their knowledge of their perilous

surroundings, they felt willing to do so. The President laid the

request before the Convention, and asked, Will you remain? A few

minutes of solemn deliberation; a few moments' listening to the

loud madness surging against the outer walls; a moment's unvoiced

prayer for wisdom and strength, and the answer came: _We will_;

and the business of the meeting proceeded. But before the usual

hour of adjournment arrived, another message came from the

committee, withdrawing their request, and stating that further

developments of the spirit pervading the mob and the city,

convinced them that it would be unwise for the Convention to

attempt to hold possession of the Hall for the evening. The

meeting adjourned at the usual hour, and, on the next morning,

the burnt and crumbling remains of Pennsylvania Hall told the

story of Philadelphia's disgrace, and the temporary triumph of

the spirit of slavery.

The experience of that morning is very briefly mentioned in the

published "Proceedings," which state that "the Convention met,

pursuant to adjournment, at Temperance Hall, but found the doors

closed by order of the managers"; that they were offered the use

of a school-room, in which they assembled; and there the

Convention held its closing session of six hours. But they who

made a part of the thrilling history of those times well remember

how the women of that Convention walked through the streets of

this city, from the Hall on Third Street, closed against them, to

the school-room on Cherry Street, hospitably opened to them by

Sarah Pugh and Sarah Lewis, and were assailed by the insults of

the populace as they went. It was a meeting memorable to those

who composed it; and was one of many interesting associations of

our early anti-slavery history which cluster around the

school-house, which in those days was always open to the advocacy

of the slave's cause.[61]

An incident in connection with the last of these Conventions,

shows how readily and hopefully, in the beginning of our work, we

turned for help to the churches and religious societies of the

land; and how slowly and painfully we learned their real

character. It is long since we ceased to expect efficient help

from them; but in those first years of our warfare against

slavery, we had not learned that the ecclesiastical standard of

morals in a nation _can not_ be higher than the standard of the

populace generally.

A committee of arrangements appointed to obtain a house in which

the Convention should be held, reported: "That in compliance with

a resolution passed at a meeting of this Society, an application

was made to each of the seven Monthly Meetings of Friends, in

this city, for one of their meeting-houses, in which to hold the

Convention." Two returned respectful answers, declining the

application; three refused to hear it read; one appointed two

persons to examine it, and then decided "that it should be

_returned without being read_," though a few members urged "that

it should be treated more respectfully"; and that from one

meeting no answer was received.

As to other denominations of professed Christians, similar

applications had been frequently refused by them, although there

was one exception which should be ever held in honorable

remembrance by the Abolitionists of Philadelphia. The use of the

church of the Covenanters, in Cherry street, of which Rev. James

M. Wilson was for many years the pastor, was never refused for an

anti-slavery meeting, even in the most perilous days of our

enterprise. Another fact in connection with the Convention of

1839 it is pleasant to remember now, when the faithful friend

whose name it recalls has gone from among us. The Committee of

Arrangements reported that their difficulties and perplexities

"were relieved by a voluntary offer from that devoted friend of

the slave, John H. Cavender, who, with kindness at once

unexpected and gratifying, offered the use of a large unfurnished

building in Filbert Street, which had been used as a riding

school; which was satisfactorily and gratefully occupied by the

Convention."

In the year 1840, our Society sent delegates to the assembly

called "The World's Anti-Slavery Convention," which was held in

London, in the month of May of that year. As is well known, that

body refused to admit any delegates excepting those of the male

sex, though the invitation was not thus limited; consequently,

this Society was not represented there.

The year 1850 was an epoch in the history of the anti-slavery

cause. The guilt and disgrace of the nation was then intensified

by that infamous statute known by the name of "The Fugitive Slave

Law." Its enactment by the Thirty-first Congress, and its

ratification by Millard Fillmore's signature, was the signal for

an extensive and cruel raid upon the colored people of the North.

Probably no statute was ever written, in the code of a civilized

nation, so carefully and cunningly devised for the purpose of

depriving men of liberty. It put in imminent peril the personal

freedom of every colored man and woman in the land. It furnished

the kidnapper all possible facilities, and bribed the judge on

the bench to aid him in his infamous work. The terrible scenes

that followed; the cruel apathy of the popular heart and

conscience; the degradation of the pulpit, which sealed the deed

with its loud Amen! the mortal terror of a helpless and innocent

race; the fierce assaults on peaceful homes; the stealthy

capture, by day and by night, of unsuspecting free-born people;

the blood shed on Northern soil; the mockeries of justice acted

in United States courts; are they not all written in our

country's history, and indelibly engraven on the memories of

Abolitionists?

The case of Adam Gibson, captured in this city by the notorious

kidnapper, Alberti, and tried before the scarcely less notorious

Ingraham, in the year 1850, and which was succeeded in the next

year by the Christiana tragedy, are instances of many similar

outrages committed in Pennsylvania. No pen can record, no human

power can estimate, the aggregate of woe and guilt which was the

legitimate result of that Fugitive Slave Bill.

The year 1855 was marked by a series of events unique in our

history. A citizen of Philadelphia, whose name will always be

associated with the cause of American liberty, in the legal

performance of his duty, quietly informed three slaves who had

been brought into this State by their master, a Virginia

slaveholder, that by the laws of Pennsylvania they were free. The

legally emancipated mother, Jane Johnson, availing herself of

this knowledge, took possession of her own person and her own

children; and their astonished master suddenly discovered that

his power to hold them was gone forever. No judge, commissioner,

or lawyer, however willing, could help him to recapture his prey.

But a judge of the United States District Court could assist him

in obtaining a mean revenge upon the brave man who had

enlightened an ignorant woman respecting her legal right to

freedom. Judge Kane, usurping jurisdiction in the case, and

exercising great ingenuity to frame a charge of contempt of

Court, succeeded in his purpose of imprisoning Passmore

Williamson in our County jail. The baffled slaveholder also found

sympathizers in the Grand Jury, who enabled him to indict for

riot and assault and battery, Passmore Williamson, William Still,

and five other persons. During the trial which ensued, the

prosecutor and his allies were confounded by the sudden

appearance of a witness whose testimony that she was not forcibly

taken from her master's custody, but had left him freely,

disconcerted all their schemes, and defeated the prosecution. The

presence of Jane Johnson in that court room jeoparded her

newly-acquired freedom; for though Pennsylvania was pledged to

her protection, it was questionable whether the slave power, in

the person of United States officers and their ever ready

minions, would not forcibly overpower State authority and obtain

possession of the woman. It was an intensely trying hour for her

and for all who sympathized with her. Among those who attended

her through that perilous scene, were the president of this

Society, Sarah Pugh, and several of its members. All those ladies

will testify to the calm bearing and firm courage of this

emancipated slave-mother, in the hour of jeopardy to her

newly-found freedom. Protected by the energy and skill of the

presiding Judge, William D. Kelley, and of the State officers,

her safe egress from the court-room was accomplished; and she was

soon placed beyond the reach of her pursuers.

In 1859 we reaped a rich harvest from long years of sowing, in

the result of the trial of the alleged fugitive slave, Daniel

Webster. This trial will never be forgotten by those of us who

witnessed it. The arrest was made in Harrisburg, in the month of

April, and the trial was in this city before United States

Commissioner John C. Longstreth. We do not, at this distance of

time, need the records of that year, to remind us that "it was

with heavy and hopeless hearts that the Abolitionists of this

city gathered around that innocent and outraged man, and attended

him through the solemn hours of his trial." The night which many

of the members of this Society passed in that court, keeping

vigils with the unhappy man whose fate hung tremulous on the

decision of the young commissioner, was dark with despair; and

the dawn of morning brought no hope to our souls. We confidently

expected to witness again, as we had often witnessed before, the

triumph of the kidnapper and his legal allies over law and

justice and human liberty. In the afternoon of that day we

re-assembled to hear the judicial decision which should consign

the wretched man to slavery, and add another page to the record

of Pennsylvania's disgrace. But a far different experience

awaited us. Commissioner Longstreth obeyed the moral sentiment

around him, and doubtless the voice of his conscience, and

pronounced the captive free. "The closing scenes of this trial;

the breathless silence with which the crowded assembly in the

court-room waited to hear the death-knell of the innocent

prisoner; the painfully sudden transition from despair to hope

and thence to certainty of joy; the burst of deep emotion; the

fervent thanksgiving, wherein was revealed that sense of the

brotherhood of man which God has made a part of every human soul;

the exultant shout which went up from the multitude who thronged

the streets waiting for the decision"; these no language can

portray, but they are life-long memories for those who shared in

them. This event proved the great change wrought in the popular

feeling, the result of twenty-five years of earnest effort to

impress upon the heart of this community anti-slavery doctrines

and sentiments. Then for the first time the Abolitionists of

Philadelphia found their right of free speech protected by city

authorities. Alexander Henry was the first Mayor of this city who

ever quelled a pro-slavery mob.

Our last record of a victim sacrificed to this statute, is of the

case of Moses Horner, who was kidnapped near Harrisburg in March,

1860, and doomed to slavery by United States Judge John

Cadwallader, in this city. One more effort was made a few months

later to capture in open day in the heart of this city a man

alleged to be a fugitive slave, but it failed of ultimate

success. The next year South Carolina's guns thundered forth the

doom of the slave power. She aimed them at Fort Sumter and the

United States Government. God guided their fiery death to the

very heart of American slavery.

If the history of this Society were fully written, one of its

most interesting chapters would be a faithful record of its

series of annual fairs. Beginning in the year 1836, the series

continued during twenty-six years, the last fair being held in

December, 1861. The social attraction of these assemblies induced

many young persons to mingle in them, besides those who labored

from love of the cause. Brought thus within the circle of

anti-slavery influence, many were naturally converted to our

principles, and became earnest laborers in the enterprise which

had so greatly enriched their own souls. The week of the fair was

the annual Social Festival of the Abolitionists of the State.

Though held under the immediate direction of this Society, it

soon became a Pennsylvania institution. Hither our tribes came up

to take counsel together, to recount our victories won, to be

refreshed by social communion, and to renew our pledges of

fidelity to the slave. There were years when these were very

solemn festivals, when our skies were dark with gathering storms,

and we knew not what peril the night or the morning might bring.

But they were always seasons from which we derived strength and

encouragement for future toil and endurance, and their value to

our cause is beyond our power to estimate.

The pro-slavery spirit which always pervaded our city, and which

sometimes manifested itself in the violence of mobs, never

seriously disturbed our fair excepting in one instance. In the

year 1859 our whole Southern country quaked with mortal fear in

the presence of John Brown's great deed for Freedom. The coward

North trembled in its turn lest its Southern trade should be

imperilled, and in all its cities there went up a frantic cry

that the Union must be saved and the Abolitionists suppressed.

The usual time for holding our fair was at hand. Before it was

opened a daily newspaper of this city informed its readers that

notwithstanding the rebuke which the Abolitionists had received

from a recent meeting of Union-savers, they had audaciously

announced their intention of holding another fair, the avowed

purpose of which was the dissemination of anti-slavery

principles. The indignant journalist asked if Philadelphia would

suffer such a fair to be held. This was doubtless intended as a

summons to a mob, and a most deadly mob responded to the call. It

did not expend its violence upon our fair, but against an

assembly in National Hall, gathered to listen to a lecture by

George W. Curtis, upon the Present Aspect of the Country.

The High Constable, Mayor, and Sheriff were the agents employed

by the slave power to take and hold possession of Concert Hall,

and in its behalf, if not in its name, to eject us and our

property. The work was commenced by the Mayor, who sent the High

Constable with an order that our flag should be removed from the

street. Its offensiveness consisted in the fact that it presented

to the view of all passers-by a picture of the Liberty Bell in

Independence Hall, inscribed with the words, "Proclaim liberty

throughout all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof." The

next step was an attempt to induce the lessee to eject us from

the hall. On his refusal to violate his contract with us, the

trustees obtained legal authority to dispossess us on the plea

that the hall had been rented for a purpose which tended to

excite popular commotion. The sheriff entered, took possession,

and informed the managers that our property must be removed

within three hours. Then were the doors of this hall,[62] where

we are now assembled, opened to us, and here our fair was held,

with great success, during the remainder of the week. In the

stormiest seasons of our enterprise these saloons have never been

closed against anti-slavery meetings; and our fair of 1860 was

welcomed to them amidst the loud threatenings of a mob which were

seeking to appease the angry South, then just rising in open

rebellion against the United States Government. The experience of

those four days of December spent in these rooms will never be

forgotten by us. It was a season of trial, of rejoicing, and of

victory. The veterans of our cause, long accustomed to the

threats and the presence of mobs, found reason for rejoicing in

the courage and serenity with which the young recruits in our

ranks faced the peril of scenes so new to them, and proved their

faith in the principles of our cause and their devotion to the

right. Our victory was complete, our right of peaceful assemblage

maintained, without any active demonstration of hostility from

the indignant citizens who had fiercely resolved that the

Anti-Slavery Fair should be suppressed. Such demonstrations were,

doubtless, restrained by a knowledge of the fact that they would

be met by vigorous and effectual opposition by the Mayor of the

city, who, upon that occasion, as upon many other similar ones,

was faithful to the responsibility of his office.

In the year 1862 the nation was convulsed with the war consequent

upon the Southern Rebellion; our soldiers, wounded and dying in

hospitals and on battle-fields; claimed all possible aid from the

community; anti-slavery sentiments were spreading widely through

the North, and it was believed to be feasible and expedient to

obtain the funds needful for our enterprise by direct appeal to

the old and new friends of the cause. Therefore, our series of

fairs closed with the twenty-sixth, in December, 1861.

The money raised by this Society in various ways amounted to

about $35,000. Nearly the whole of this revenue has been expended

in disseminating the principles of our cause, by means of printed

documents and public lectures and discussions. In the earlier

years of this Society, a school for colored children, established

and taught by Sarah M. Douglass, was partially sustained from our

treasury. We occasionally contributed, from our treasury, small

sums for the use of the Vigilance Committees, organized to assist

fugitive slaves who passed through this State on their way to a

land where their right to liberty would be protected. But these

enterprises were always regarded as of secondary importance to

our great work of direct appeal to the conscience of the nation,

in behalf of the slave's claim to immediate, unconditional

emancipation. To this end a large number of tracts and pamphlets

have been circulated by this Society; but its chief agencies have

been the anti-slavery newspapers of the country. Regarding these

as the most powerful instrumentalities in the creation of that

public sentiment which was essential to the overthrow of slavery,

we expended a considerable portion of our funds in the direct

circulation of _The Liberator_, _The Pennsylvania Freeman_, and

_The National Anti-Slavery Standard_, and a small amount in the

circulation of other anti-slavery papers. Our largest

appropriations of money have been made to the Pennsylvania and

American Anti-Slavery Societies, and by those Societies to the

support of their organs and lecturing agents.

The financial statistics of this Society are easily recorded.

Certain great and thrilling events which marked its history are

easily told and written. But the life which it lived through all

its thirty-six years; the influence which flowed from it,

directly and indirectly, to the nation's heart; the work quietly

done by its members, individually, through the word spoken in

season, the brave, self-sacrificing deed, the example of fidelity

in a critical hour, the calm endurance unto the end; these can be

written in no earthly book of remembrance. Its life is lived; its

work is done; its memorial is sealed. It assembles to-day to take

one parting look across its years; to breathe in silence its

unutterable thanksgiving; to disband its membership, and cease to

be. Reviewing its experience of labor and endurance, the united

voices of its members testify that it has been a service whose

reward was in itself; and contemplating the grandeur of the work

accomplished (in which it has been permitted to bear a humble

part), the overthrow of American slavery, the uplifting from

chattelhood to citizenship of four millions of human souls; with

one heart and one voice we cry, "Not unto us, O Lord! not unto

us, but unto Thy name" be the glory; for Thy right hand and Thy

holy arm "hath gotten the victory."

In 1838, Philadelphia was the scene of one of the most disgraceful

mobs that marked those eventful days. The lovers of free speech had

found great difficulty in procuring churches or halls in which to

preach the anti-slavery gospel. Accordingly, a number of individuals

of all sects and no sect, of all parties and no party, erected a

building wherein the principles of Liberty and Equality could be

freely discussed.

David Paul Brown, one of Pennsylvania's most distinguished lawyers,

was invited to give the oration dedicating this hall to "Freedom and

the Rights of Man." In accepting the invitation, he said:

For some time past I have invariably declined applications that

might be calculated to take any portion of my time from my

profession. But I always said, and now say again, that I will

fight the battle of liberty as long as I have a shot in the

locker. Of course, I will do what you require.

Yours truly, DAVID PAUL BROWN.

S. WEBB and WM. H. SCOTT, Esqs.

Whenever fugitives were arrested on the soil of Pennsylvania, this

lawyer stood ready, free of charge, to use in their behalf his skill

and every fair interpretation of the letter and spirit of the law, and

availing himself of every quirk for postponements, thus adding to the

expense and anxiety of the pursuer, and giving the engineers of the

underground railroad added opportunities to run the fugitive to

Canada.

Pennsylvania Hall was one of the most commodious and splendid

buildings in the city, scientifically ventilated and brilliantly

lighted with gas. It cost upward of $40,000. Over the forum, in large

gold letters, was the motto, "Virtue, Liberty, Independence." On the

platform were superb chairs, sofas, and desk covered with blue silk

damask; everything throughout the hall was artistic and complete.

Abolitionists from all parts of the country hastened to be present at

the dedication; and among the rest came representatives of the Woman's

National Convention, held in New York one year before.

Notices had been posted about the city threatening the speedy

destruction of this temple of liberty. During this three days'

Convention, the enemy was slowly organizing the destructive mob that

finally burned that grand edifice to the ground. There were a large

number of strangers in the city from the South, and many Southern

students attending the medical college, who were all active in the

riot. The crowds of women and colored people who had attended the

Convention intensified the exasperation of the mob. Black men and

white women walking side by side in and out of the hall, was too much

for the foreign plebeian and the Southern patrician.

As it was announced that on the evening of the third day some ladies

were to speak, a howling mob surrounded the building. In the midst of

the tumult Mr. Garrison introduced Maria Chapman,[63] of Boston, who

rose, and waving her hand to the audience to become quiet, tried in a

few eloquent and appropriate remarks to bespeak a hearing for Angelina

E. Grimké, the gifted orator from South Carolina, who, having lived in

the midst of slavery all her life, could faithfully describe its

cruelties and abominations. But the indescribable uproar outside,

cries of fire, and yells of defiance, were a constant interruption,

and stones thrown against the windows a warning of coming danger. But

through it all this brave Southern woman stood unmoved, except by the

intense earnestness of her own great theme.

ANGELINA GRIMKÉ'S ADDRESS.

Do you ask, "What has the North to do with slavery?" Hear it,

hear it! Those voices without tell us that the spirit of slavery

is _here_, and has been roused to wrath by our Conventions; for

surely liberty would not foam and tear herself with rage, because

her friends are multiplied daily, and meetings are held in quick

succession to set forth her virtues and extend her peaceful

kingdom. This opposition shows that slavery has done its

deadliest work in the hearts of our citizens. Do you ask, then,

"What has the North to do?" I answer, cast out first the spirit

of slavery from your own hearts, and then lend your aid to

convert the South. Each one present has a work to do, be his or

her situation what it may, however limited their means or

insignificant their supposed influence. The great men of this

country will not do this work; the Church will never do it. A

desire to please the world, to keep the favor of all parties and

of all conditions, makes them dumb on this and every other

unpopular subject.

As a Southerner, I feel that it is my duty to stand up here

to-night and bear testimony against slavery. I have seen it! I

have seen it! I know it has horrors that can never be described.

I was brought up under its wing. I witnessed for many years its

demoralizing influences and its destructiveness to human

happiness. I have never seen a happy slave. I have seen him dance

in his chains, it is true, but he was not happy. There is a wide

difference between happiness and mirth. Man can not enjoy

happiness while his manhood is destroyed. Slaves, however, may

be, and sometimes are mirthful. When hope is extinguished, they

say, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." [Here stones

were thrown at the windows--a great noise without and commotion

within].

What is a mob? what would the breaking of every window be? What

would the levelling of this hall be? Any evidence that we are

wrong, or that slavery is a good and wholesome institution? What

if the mob should now burst in upon us, break up our meeting, and

commit violence upon our persons, would that be anything compared

with what the slaves endure? No, no; and we do not remember them,

"as bound with them," if we shrink in the time of peril, or feel

unwilling to sacrifice ourselves, if need be, for their sake.

[Great noise]. I thank the Lord that there is yet life enough

left to feel the truth, even though it rages at it; that

conscience is not so completely seared as to be unmoved by the

truth of the living God. [Another outbreak of the mob and

confusion in the house].

How wonderfully constituted is the human mind! How it resists, as

long as it can, all efforts to reclaim it from error! I feel that

all this disturbance is but an evidence that our efforts are the

best that could have been adopted, or else the friends of slavery

would not care for what we say and do. The South know what we do.

I am thankful that they are reached by our efforts. Many times

have I wept in the land of my birth over the system of slavery. I

knew of none who sympathized in my feelings; I was unaware that

any efforts were made to deliver the oppressed; no voice in the

wilderness was heard calling on the people to repent and do works

meet for repentance, and my heart sickened within me. Oh, how

should I have rejoiced to know that such efforts as these were

being made. I only wonder that I had such feelings. But in the

midst of temptation I was preserved, and my sympathy grew warmer,

and my hatred of slavery more inveterate, until at last I have

exiled myself from my native land, because I could no longer

endure to hear the wailing of the slave.

I fled to the land of Penn; for here, thought I, sympathy for the

slave will surely be found. But I found it not. The people were

kind and hospitable, but the slave had no place in their

thoughts. I therefore shut up my grief in my own heart. I

remembered that I was a Carolinian, from a State which framed

this iniquity by law. Every Southern breeze wafted to me the

discordant tones of weeping and wailing, shrieks and groans,

mingled with prayers and blasphemous curses. My heart sank within

me at the abominations in the midst of which I had been born and

educated. What will it avail, cried I, in bitterness of spirit,

to expose to the gaze of strangers the horrors and pollutions of

slavery, when there is no ear to hear nor heart to feel and pray

for the slave? But how different do I feel now! Animated with

hope, nay, with an assurance of the triumph of liberty and

good-will to man, I will lift up my voice like a trumpet, and

show this people what they can do to influence the Southern mind

and overthrow slavery. [Shouting, and stones against the

windows].

We often hear the question asked, "What shall we do?" Here is an

opportunity. Every man and every woman present may do something,

by showing that we fear not a mob, and in the midst of revilings

and threatenings, pleading the cause of those who are ready to

perish. Let me urge every one to buy the books written on this

subject; read them, and lend them to your neighbors. Give your

money no longer for things which pander to pride and lust, but

aid in scattering "the living coals of truth upon the naked heart

of the nation"; in circulating appeals to the sympathies of

Christians in behalf of the outraged slave.

But it is said by some, our "books and papers do not speak the

truth"; why, then, do they not contradict what we say? They can

not. Moreover, the South has entreated, nay, commanded us, to be

silent; and what greater evidence of the truth of our

publications could be desired?

Women of Philadelphia! allow me as a Southern woman, with much

attachment to the land of my birth, to entreat you to come up to

this work. Especially, let me urge you to petition. Men may

settle this and other questions at the ballot-box, but you have

no such right. It is only through petitions that you can reach

the Legislature. It is, therefore, peculiarly your duty to

petition. Do you say, "It does no good!" The South already turns

pale at the number sent. They have read the reports of the

proceedings of Congress, and there have seen that among other

petitions were very many from the women of the North on the

subject of slavery. Men who hold the rod over slaves rule in the

councils of the nation; and they deny our right to petition and

remonstrate against abuses of our sex and our kind. We have these

rights, however, from our God. Only let us exercise them, and,

though often turned away unanswered, let us remember the

influence of importunity upon the unjust judge, and act

accordingly. The fact that the South looks jealously upon our

measures shows that they are effectual. There is, therefore, no

cause for doubting or despair.

It was remarked in England that women did much to abolish slavery

in her colonies. Nor are they now idle. Numerous petitions from

them have recently been presented to the Queen to abolish

apprenticeship, with its cruelties, nearly equal to those of the

system whose place it supplies. One petition, two miles and a

quarter long, has been presented. And do you think these labors

will be in vain? Let the history of the past answer. When the

women of these States send up to Congress such a petition our

legislators will arise, as did those of England, and say: "When

all the maids and matrons of the land are knocking at our doors

we must legislate." Let the zeal and love, the faith and works of

our English sisters quicken ours; that while the slaves continue

to suffer, and when they shout for deliverance, we may feel the

satisfaction of "having done what we could."

ABBY KELLY, of Lynn, Massachusetts, rose, and said: I ask

permission to pay a few words. I have never before addressed a

promiscuous assembly; nor is it now the maddening rush of those

voices, which is the indication of a moral whirlwind; nor is it

the crashing of those windows, which is the indication of a moral

earthquake, that calls me before you. No, these pass unheeded by

me. But it is the "still small voice within," which may not be

withstood, that bids me open my mouth for the dumb; that bids me

plead the cause of God's perishing poor; aye, _God's_ poor.

The parable of Lazarus and the rich man we may well bring home

to ourselves. The North is that rich man. How he is clothed in

purple and fine linen, and fares sumptuously! Yonder, yonder, at

a little distance, is the gate where lies the Lazarus of the

South, full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that

fall from our luxurious table. Look! see him there! even the dogs

are more merciful than we. Oh, see him where he lies! We have

long, very long, passed by with averted eyes. Ought not we to

raise him up; and is there one in this Hall who sees nothing for

himself to do?

LUCRETIA MOTT, of Philadelphia, then stated that the present was

not a meeting of the Anti-Slavery Convention of American women,

as was supposed by some, and explained the reason why their

meetings were confined to females; namely, that many of the

members considered it improper for women to address promiscuous

assemblies. She hoped that such false notions of delicacy and

propriety would not long obtain in this enlightened country.

While the large Hall was filled with a promiscuous audience, and

packed through all its sessions with full three thousand people, the

women held their Convention in one of the committee-rooms. As they had

been through terrible mobs already in Boston and New York, they had

learned self-control, and with their coolness and consecration to the

principles they advocated, they were a constant inspiration to the men

by their side.

The Second National Anti-Slavery Convention of American Women

assembled in the lecture-room of Pennsylvania Hall in Philadelphia,

May 15, 1838, at ten o'clock A.M. The following officers were

appointed:

PRESIDENT--Mary L. Parker, of Boston.

VICE-PRESIDENTS--Maria Weston Chapman, Catharine M. Sullivan,

Susan Paul, of Boston, Mass.; Mariana Johnson, Providence, R. I.;

Margaret Prior, Sarah T. Smith, of New York; Martha W. Storrs, of

Utica, N. Y.; Lucretia Mott, of Philadelphia; Mary W. Magill, of

Buckingham, Pa.; Sarah Moore Grimké, of Charleston, S. C.

SECRETARIES--Anne W. Weston, Martha V. Ball, of Boston; Juliana

A. Tappan, of New York; Sarah Lewis, of Philadelphia.

TREASURER--Sarah M. Douglass, of Philadelphia.

BUSINESS COMMITTEE--Sarah T. Smith, Sarah R. Ingraham, Margaret

Dye, Juliana A. Tappan, Martha W. Storrs, New York; Miriam

Hussey, Maine; Louisa Whipple, New Hampshire; Lucy N. Dodge,

Miriam B, Johnson, Maria Truesdell, Waity A. Spencer, Rebecca

Pittman, Rhode Island; Lucretia Mott, Mary Grew, Sarah M.

Douglass, Hetty Burr, Martha Smith, Pennsylvania; Angelina Grimké

Weld, South Carolina.

On motion of SARAH PUSH, Elizabeth M. Southard, Mary G. Chapman,

and Abby Kelly were appointed a committee to confer with other

associations and the managers of Pennsylvania Hall to arrange for

meetings during the week.

SARAH T. SMITH, from the Business Committee, presented letters

from the Female Anti-Slavery Societies of Salem and

Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, signed by their respective

secretaries, Mary Spencer and L. Williams.

At this time, even the one and only right of woman, that of petition,

had been trampled under the heel of slavery on the floor of Congress,

which roused those noble women to a just indignation, as will be seen

in their resolutions on the subject, presented by Juliana A. Tappan:

_Resolved_, That whatever may be the sacrifice, and whatever

other rights may be yielded or denied, we will maintain

practically the right of petition until the slave shall go free,

or our energies, like Lovejoy's, are paralyzed in death.

_Resolved_, That for every petition rejected by the National

Legislature during their last session, we will endeavor to send

five the present year; and that we will not cease our efforts

until the prayers of every woman within the sphere of our

influence shall be heard in the halls of Congress on this

subject.

MARY GREW offered the following resolution, which was adopted:

WHEREAS, The disciples of Christ are commanded to have no

fellowship with the "unfruitful works of darkness"; and

WHEREAS, Union in His Church is the strongest expression of

fellowship between men; therefore

_Resolved_, That it is our duty to keep ourselves separate from

those churches which receive to their pulpits and their communion

tables those who buy, or sell, or hold as property, the image of

the living God.

This resolution was supported by Miss Grew, Lucretia Mott, Abby Kelly,

Maria W. Chapman, Anne W. Weston, Sarah T. Smith, and Sarah Lewis; and

opposed by Margaret Dye, Margaret Prior, Henrietta Wilcox, Martha W.

Storrs, Juliana A. Tappan, Elizabeth M. Southard, and Charlotte

Woolsey. Those who voted in the negative stated that they fully

concurred with their sisters in the belief that slaveholders and their

apologists were guilty before God, and that with the former, Northern

Christians should hold no fellowship; but that, as it was their full

belief that there was moral power sufficient in the Church, if rightly

applied, to purify it, they could not feel it their duty to withdraw

until the utter inefficiency of the means used should constrain them

to believe the Church totally corrupt. And as an expression of their

views, Margaret Dye moved the following resolution:

_Resolved_, That the system of American slavery is contrary to

the laws of God and the spirit of true religion, and that the

Church is deeply implicated in this sin, and that it therefore

becomes the imperative duty of her members to petition their

ecclesiastical bodies to enter their decided protests against it,

and exclude slaveholders from their pulpits and communion tables.

The last session was opened by the reading of the sixth chapter of 2

Corinthians, and prayer by Sarah M. Grimké. An Address to Anti-Slavery

Societies was read by Sarah T. Smith, and adopted. We copy from it the

plea and argument for woman's right and duty to be interested in all

questions of public welfare:

ADDRESS TO ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETIES.

DEAR FRIENDS:--In that love for our cause which knows not the

fear of man, we address you in confidence that our motives will

be understood and regarded. We fear not censure from you for

going beyond the circle which has been drawn around us by

physical force, by mental usurpation, by the usages of ages; not

any one of which can we admit gives the right to prescribe it;

else might the monarchs of the old world sit firmly on their

thrones, the nobility of Europe lord it over the man of low

degree, and the chains we are now seeking to break, continue

riveted, on the neck of the slave. Our faith goes not back to the

wigwam of the savage, or the castle of the feudal chief, but

would rather soar with hope to that period when "right alone

shall make might"; when the truncheon and the sword shall lie

useless; when the intellect and heart shall speak and be obeyed;

when "He alone whose right it is shall rule and reign in the

hearts of the children of men."