perhaps, the most to awaken thought on the woman question in
Bohemia. She stands at the head of a talented group of literary
women, which plays a brilliant part in the fatherland of Huss. The
means for woman's instruction, however, are most lamentable in
Bohemia. The universities are shut against women, and though two
women have been graduated in Switzerland, their degrees are not
recognized in their native land. Beyond primary instruction the
State does almost nothing for its women, though they outnumber the
other sex by two hundred thousand. In several of the large cities
of Bohemia something has been accomplished for girls' high-school
and normal-school instruction; but, in general, we may say that the
intellectual development of Bohemian girls is left to private
instruction. Associations of women have done much to fill this
void, one of which, founded by Carolina Svetla, is devoted to the
industrial and commercial instruction of girls. Two thousand women
belong to this association, and five hundred girls attend its
school annually, while many young women frequent its school for the
training of nurses. This vigorous organization has disarmed
prejudices by the success of its schools and by the arguments of
its monthly organ, the _Zenske Listy_, ably edited by Elise
Krasnohorska, one of the best known Bohemian poets, and a leader in
the work of improving the condition of her countrywomen. Vojta
Naprstek, a man who has justly been named "the woman's advocate,"
has founded at Prague the Women's American Club, whose object is
charity and the intellectual elevation of women, and has presented
the club a valuable collection of books and objects of art. A lady,
writing me from Prague, says:
The club has always been in a most flourishing condition,
although it has never had a constitution or by-laws to hold it
together,--nothing but the single bond of philanthropy. At first
it had not even a name. But outsiders began to call its members
'the Americans,' because they adopted American improvements in
their homes. The appellation was accepted by the club as an
honorable title, and from that time it formally called itself the
"American Club."
The Austrian code, in its treatment of women, is unsurpassed in
contradictions. Women, for example, may testify in criminal
actions, but they may not be witnesses to the simplest legal
document. There are many absurdities of this sort in the existing
law which were unknown in the ancient code of independent Bohemia,
which was more liberal in its treatment of women. Divorce exists,
but divorced persons cannot marry again. Bohemia being a part of
Austria, women vote in the same way as has already been mentioned
in what was said of the latter country. But at Prague, however,
women do not vote, the capital still retaining its old laws on this
subject.
Concerning the other grand division of the empire of the Hapsburgs,
Hungary, much the same may be said as of Bohemia. It is only within
the last forty years that Hungary has striven to attain to the
level of occidental civilization and culture, so that the question
of the amelioration of women's condition is of very recent origin
in that country. Rose Revai, of Budapest, writes:
Hungarian legislators have always treated us favorably in all
matters pertaining to the family, marriage and inheritance. By
the mere act of marriage we attain our majority and are
emancipated from tutelage. As heirs, our interests are not
forgotten, and as widows, we have the control over our own
children. In business and trade we enjoy equal rights with men.
And Hungarian women have not been slow to take advantage of these
privileges, as is shown by those of our sex who occupy worthy
positions in literature, art, commerce, industry, the theater and
the school-room.
Although the Hungarian universities are still closed against women,
there are many girls' industrial and normal schools and colleges.
The impetus given to female education in Hungary is chiefly
due to the late Baron Joseph Eoetvoes, the savant, poet and
philanthropist, who was minister of public instruction in 1867.
Women are employed in the postal and telegraphic service.
* * * * *
Returning north, to Holland, we find much the same situation as
in the other Teutonic nations. "The women of Holland are
unquestionably better educated, and entertain as a body more
liberal ideas than French women," said a Dutch lady to me, who had
lived many years at Paris; "but, on the other hand, there is not
the little group of women in the Netherlands who grasp the real
meaning of the woman question as is the case here in France."
Woman's social position is a little better in Holland than in the
Catholic countries. In 1870 an essay on the woman question "by a
lady" demanded political rights for women, and there are a few
instances of women having lectured on that subject. The Dutch
universities are open to female students, and Aletta Henriette
Jacobs, the first and only female physician in Holland, has a
successful practice at Amsterdam. Dr. Jacobs recently attempted to
vote, and carried the question before the courts. Elise A.
Haighton, of Amsterdam, writes:
A few of our women do not hesitate to participate in political
and social discussions. The Union (_Unic_), a society which aims
to promote popular interest in politics by meetings, debates,
tracts, etc.; the Daybreak (_Dageraad_), a radical association
which holds very ultra opinions on politics, religion and
science, and supports a magazine to which many scientific men
contribute; and the New Malthusian Band, an organization
sufficiently explained by its name, all count several women among
their members.
Elise van Calcar, the veteran Dutch authoress, sums up the
situation in Holland, as follows:
I am sorry to have to confess that, as regards the general
emancipation of women, we have accomplished but very little. Our
work is indirect; we can only proclaim the injustice of our
position.
* * * * *
Two countries, the product of Latin and Teutonic civilization,
Belgium and Switzerland, must be touched upon before we turn to the
Scandinavian people. Of the first, Belgium, about the same may be
said as of Holland with which she was so long united politically. A
correspondent in Belgium writes me as follows:
There cannot be said to be any movement in this country in favor
of the emancipation of women. No journal, no association, no
organization of any kind exists.
But public opinion is said to be quite favorable. Women are making
their way slowly into certain callings. The professors of the
universities of Liege and Ghent, when asked their opinion not long
ago by the minister of public instruction, expressed a desire to
see women admitted to the privileges of these institutions on the
same terms as men, and to-day female students are found at all the
institutions for higher education. Another correspondent writes:
Within the past few years an effort has been made among the women
of the middle classes in the large cities, and secondary and
professional schools have been established for girls, which are
already producing good fruit. This movement is beginning to make
itself felt among the upper classes, and it is to be hoped that
the next generation will make longer strides in the direction of
instruction than is the case with the present generation.
In one respect at least Belgium is far behind her neighbor,
Holland. Dr. Isala van Diest, the first and so far the only female
physician in Belgium, although she has passed successfully all the
necessary examinations and taken all the necessary degrees, may not
practice medicine in her own country. She wrote me recently:
I fear I shall soon be obliged to give up the fight and go to
France, England or Holland, unless I wish to lose the fruit of
all my studies.
Concerning the higher education of women Dr. van Diest writes:
There existed in Belgium some years ago a law which required
students who would enter the university, to pass the examination
of graduate in letters (_gradue-en-lettres_). Candidates for this
degree were expected to know how to translate Greek and write
Latin. But as there were no schools where girls could study the
dead languages with the thoroughness of boys who were trained six
years in the classics, the former were almost entirely shut out
from enjoying the advantages of an university course. This
_graduat_, however, no longer exists, and the entrance of women
into our universities is now possible. Female students are found
to-day at Brussels, Liege and Ghent, but their number is still
very small. It was in 1880 that the first woman entered the
university of Brussels, but it was not until 1883 that their
admission became general. They pursue, for the most part,
scientific studies, thereby securing more lucrative positions as
teachers, and pass their examinations for graduation with
success.
Switzerland being made up of more than a score of separate cantons
closely resembling our States in their political organization, it
is difficult to arrive at the exact situation throughout the whole
country--small though it be. However, generally speaking, it may be
said that the Helvetic republic has remained almost a passive
spectator of the woman movement, though a few signs of progress are
worthy of note. The Catholic cantons lag behind those that have
adopted Protestantism, and the latter are led by Geneva. Though
subject to the Napoleonic code, Geneva has never known that
debasing law of the tutelage of women which existed for so long a
time in the other cantons, even in the intelligent canton of Vaud,
where it was abolished only in 1873. It was not until 1881 that a
federal statute put an end to the law throughout all Switzerland.
Geneva has always been very liberal in its treatment of married
women--divorce exists, excellent intermediate girls' schools were
created more than thirty years ago, and women are admitted to all
the university lectures. Marie Goegg, the untiring leader of the
movement in that country, writes me:
However, notwithstanding these examples of liberality, which
denote that the law-makers had a breadth of view in accord with
their time, Switzerland, as a whole, has been one of the least
disposed of European States to accept the idea of the civil
emancipation of woman, much less her political emancipation, so
that from 1848 to 1868 the demands of American women were
considered here to be the height of extravagance.... The seed
planted in America in 1848, though its growth was difficult,
finally began to take root in Europe. The hour had come.
In March, 1868, Marie Goegg published a letter, in which she
invited the women of all nations to join with her in the formation
of a society. In July of that same year the Woman's International
Association was founded at Geneva with Marie Goegg as president.
The organization began immediately an active work, and through its
efforts, several of the reforms already mentioned were brought
about, and public opinion in Switzerland considerably enlightened
on the question. Mrs. Goegg says:
With the object of advancing the young movement, I established at
my own risk a bi-monthly, the _Woman's Journal_ (_Journal des
femmes_). But this was a violation of that good Latin motto,
_festina lente_, and, at the end of a few months the paper
suspended publication. Swiss public opinion was not yet ready to
support such a venture.
It may be pointed out here that, except in England, all the
women's societies created in Europe had, up to the time of the
organization of the International Association refrained from
touching the question of the political rights of women. The Swiss
association, on the contrary, always included this subject in its
programme. But, unfortunately, at the moment when our efforts
were meeting with success, and the future was full of promise for
the cause which we advocated, the terrible Franco-German war
broke out, and, for various reasons unnecessary to go into here,
I felt constrained to resign the presidency, and the association
came to an end.
Two years later the International Association was revived in the
form of the Solidarity (_Solidarite_), whose name signified the
spirit which ought to unite all women. In 1875 Mrs. Goegg became
president of the new organization as well as founder and editor of
its organ, the _Solidarity Bulletin_ (_Bulletin de la Solidarite_).
But on September 20, 1880, both society and journal ceased to
exist. The president in her farewell address said:
The dissolution of the Solidarity ought not to discourage us, but
ought rather to cause us to rejoice, for the recent creation of
so many women's national societies in different countries proves
that the Solidarity has accomplished its aim, so that we have
only to retire.
The striking success of university coeducation in Switzerland calls
for a few words of notice. Mrs. Goegg writes:
In October, 1872, I sent a petition to the grand-council of
Geneva, asking that women be admitted to the university of Geneva
on the same footing as men. The state of public opinion on this
subject in Switzerland, and especially in Geneva, may be judged
from the fact that, fearing to compromise the demand if I acted
in my own name or that of the Solidarity, the petition was
presented as coming from "the mothers of Geneva." Our prayer was
granted.
The number of women who have pursued studies at Geneva has steadily
increased every year. In 1878 the university of Neufchatel was
thrown open to women, while the university of Zurich has long had a
large number of female students. Professor Pflueger, of the
university of Bern, writing to me in April, 1883, said:
From February 2, 1876, to the present time, thirty-five women
have taken degrees at our medical school. The lectures are
attended each semester on an average by from twenty-five to
thirty women, while from three to six follow the lectures on
philosophy and letters. The presence of women at our university
has occasioned no serious inconvenience and many colleagues favor
it.
The rector of the university of Geneva wrote, February, 1883:
Up to the present time the attendance of women at our university
has occasioned us no inconvenience except in some lectures of the
medical school, where the subjects are not always of a nature to
admit of their treatment before mixed classes.
* * * * *
We shall now glance at the situation of woman in the three
Scandinavian countries, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Sweden stands
first, just as Germany does among the Teutonic nations, and France
among the Latin nations; in fact we may perhaps go farther and say
that of all Continental States, Sweden leads in many respects at
least, in the revolution in favor of women.
The State, the royal family, private individuals, and, above all,
women themselves have all striven to outstrip each other in the
emancipation of Swedish women. Normal schools, high schools,
primary schools, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Academy
of Fine Arts, both at Stockholm, dairy schools and a host of other
educational institutions, both private and public, are thrown wide
open to women. The State has founded scholarships for women at
Upsala University and at the medical school of the university of
Lund. Numerous benevolent, charitable and industrial societies
have been established and in many instances are managed by women.
But the best idea may be gained of the liberal spirit which
prevails in Sweden by showing what the State has done for the
emancipation of women. For instance, in 1845, equality of
inheritance for son and daughter was established, and the wife was
given equal rights with the husband as regards the common property;
in 1846, woman was permitted to practice industrial professions and
to carry on business in her own name; in 1861, the professions of
surgery and dentistry were opened to her; in 1864, her rights in
trade and industrial pursuits were enlarged; in 1870, she was
admitted to the universities and medical profession; in 1872, a
woman of twenty-five was given the full right of disposing of
herself in marriage, the consent of parents and relations having
been necessary before that time; and in 1874, a married woman
became entitled to control that part of her private property set
aside for her personal use in the marriage contract, as well as to
possess her own earnings. The reforms in favor of married women are
in no small measure due to the society founded in 1871 by Mrs.
E. Anckarsvaerd and Anna Hierta Retzius, whose aim was the
accomplishment of these very reforms.
A good beginning has been made toward securing full political
rights for Swedish women. In many matters relative to the
municipality, women vote on the same terms with men, as for
example, in the choice of the parish clergy, in the election of
municipal councilors, and members of the county council. This
latter body elects the House of Lords, so that woman's influence,
through an intermediate electoral body, is felt in the upper
chamber. May this not be one reason why the Swedish legislature has
been so liberal toward women? Demands have been made, but in vain,
for the complete franchise which would confer upon women the
privilege of voting for members of the diet. Woman's interests have
found a warm and energetic advocate in the _Home Review_
(_Tidskrift foer Hemmet_), which was founded in 1859 by the Hon.
Rosalie d'Olivecrona and the Baroness Leyonhufoud, to-day the Hon.
Mrs. Adlersparre. The paper is still edited by the latter; Rosalie
d'Olivecrona, who has always been a most active friend of the woman
movement, having retired in 1868.
* * * * *
If we cross the boundaries of Sweden into the sister kingdom of
Norway, we find the condition of woman absolutely changed.
"Concerning Norway, I have said almost nothing," writes Camilla
Collett, the distinguished Norwegian author, in some notes which
she sent me recently on the situation of women in Scandinavia, "for
the very simple reason that there is little to say." The long and
oppressive domination of Denmark prostrated Norway, but her close
union with Sweden since the fall of Napoleon, has begun to have a
good effect, and the liberal influence of the latter country in
favor of woman is already beginning to be felt in the other half of
the Scandinavian peninsula. One step in advance has been the
opening of the university to women--"The best thing that can be
said of Norway," says Camilla Collett. Miss Cecilie Thoresen, the
first female student to matriculate at Christiania University,
writing to me from Eidsvold, Norway, in December, 1882, says it was
in 1880 that she decided to try and take an academic degree. Her
father, therefore, applied to the minister of public instruction
for the necessary authorization; the latter referred the
application to the university authorities, who, in their turn,
submitted the portentous question to the faculty of the law-school.
In due season Miss Thoresen received this rather unsatisfactory
response:
The admission of women to the university is denied, but we
recognize the necessity for changing the law on the subject.
Thereupon Mr. H. E. Berner, the prominent liberal member of the
Storthing, or Norwegian parliament, introduced a bill permitting
women to pursue university studies leading to the degrees in arts
and philosophy (_examen artium_ and _examen philosophicum_). The
committee reported unanimously in favor of the bill; on March 30,
1882, it passed without debate the Odelsthing, one of the two
chambers of the Storthing, with but one dissenting voice--that of a
clergyman; on April 21, 1882, it received the unanimous vote of the
other house, the Lagthing; and it finally became a law on June 15,
1882. But Mr. Berner did not stop here. He once wrote me:
In my opinion there hardly exists nowadays another social problem
which has a better claim on public attention than that of the
emancipation of women. Until they are placed on an equal footing
with men, we shall not have departed from the days of barbarism.
In 1884, Mr. Berner succeeded in making it possible for women to
take all university degrees, the law of 1882 having opened to them
only the degrees in arts and philosophy. He is now pressing on the
attention of parliament other reforms in favor of women; and he has
recently written me that he believes that his efforts will be
crowned with success.
* * * * *
In Denmark nothing has been done in the direction of political
rights, nothing for school suffrage, though the liberal movement of
1848 improved woman's legal position slightly. But the situation of
married women is still very unsatisfactory, for it may be summed up
by saying that her property and her children are controlled by the
husband. In 1879 many thousand women petitioned the legislature for
the right to their own earnings, and a law was passed to this
effect. During the last twenty years, thanks to the example set by
Sweden, much has been done to open to women the field of work. In
1875 the university consented to receive women, but as the State
furnishes them only primary instruction, and does nothing for their
intermediate instruction, leaving this broad gap to be filled by
private efforts, the educational situation of Danish women leaves
much to be desired. But the women themselves have turned their
attention to this matter, and high schools and professional schools
for women, and generally managed by women, are springing up.
Denmark has produced several journals devoted to the interests of
women and edited by women. The _Friday_ (_Fredagen_), issued from
July, 1875, to 1879, was edited by Vilhelmine Zahle. It was a bold,
radical little sheet. The name was probably taken from the _Woman's
Journal and Friday Society_, which appeared at Copenhagen in 1767,
under the anonymous editorship of a woman. The _Woman's Review_
(_Tidsskrift for Kvinder_) began to appear in January, 1882. Its
editor, Elfride Fibiger, has associated with her Mr. Friis, a very
earnest friend of the women's movement, who has given a more
progressive turn to the paper, which has come out for women's
suffrage--the first journal in Denmark to take this radical step.
Perhaps the most encouraging sign of progress is the foundation,
during the past few years, of numerous associations of women with
different objects in view. John Stuart Mill's "Subjection of
Women," which was translated into Danish and widely read; the
"Letters from Clara Raphael," of Mathilde Fibiger, which appeared
still earlier, in 1850; the writings of Camilla Collett, of Norway;
the liberal utterances of the great poets of the North, Bjoernsen,
Hostrup and Ibsen, whose "Nora" has rightfully procured for him
the title of "Woman's Poet"; the great progress in America, England
and Sweden; all these influences stimulated thought, weakened
prejudices and prepared the way for reforms in the Danish
peninsula. Kirstine Frederiksen, of Copenhagen, says:
It is plainly evident that Danish women are weary of the part
allotted to them in the old society, a part characterized by the
sentiment that the best that can be said of a woman is that there
is nothing to say about her.... When, in due time, the claim for
political rights is made here in Denmark, then will women from
all classes unite in their efforts to secure the palladium which
alone can protect them from arbitrariness and subjection.
* * * * *
We shall now take up the Slavonic countries, beginning with Russia,
which stands first, not only because of its vastness, but also
because of its liberality toward women. The position of the Russian
women before the law is very peculiar. Children, whatever their age
and whether male or female, are never emancipated from the control
of their parents. The daughter can only escape from this authority,
and then only in a limited degree, by marriage, and the son by
entering the service of the State. In the provinces alone girls of
twenty-one may marry without the parents' consent. The married
woman is in the full power of her husband, though she is the
mistress of her own fortune. Divorce exists. Russian women vote on
an equality with men for members of the municipal councils and
county assemblies, and these two bodies choose the boards which
transact the public business, such as superintending the collection
of taxes, keeping the roads in order, directing the schools, etc.
The Russian woman does, not however, appear at the polls, but is
represented by some male relative or friend (as we have already
seen in Austria) who casts the vote for her. Thus the Russian
woman, except that she is ineligible to office, possesses all the
political rights of the Russian man--a privilege, however, that is
of little value in a country where liberty is crushed under the
iron heel of autocracy. The position of the Russian peasant women
is not as good as that of the women of the upper classes. They find
some comfort, however, in the doctrines of the rapidly spreading
religious sects, which resemble somewhat the American Revivalists
or Anabaptists. In fact, the subject condition of Russian women is
one of the chief causes of the growth of these sects; down-trodden
by society and the State, they seek liberty in religion. In some of
these sects women preach. Miss Maria Zebrikoff, an able Russian
writer, sends me this curious information:
We have lately heard of a new sect which preaches a doctrine
exalting woman. She is placed above man, because she can give
birth to another being. Her pain and travail are so great, that
alleviating the other sufferings and annoyances of woman would be
but a poor reward; she is entitled to the deepest gratitude of
mankind.
Thought concerning the emancipation of woman was first awakened
among the upper classes about 1840, inspired by George Sand, but
was confined to a narrow circle of men of science and authors. The
new ideas continued to exist in a latent form until the freedom of
the serfs in 1860, when they burst forth into life. The reforms of
the last reign, the abolishment of bureaucratic government and the
emancipation of the slaves, advanced the cause of woman, for the
daughters of the office-holders and land-owners, reduced to poverty
by these changes, were forced to go forth into the world and earn
their own living. Woman's success in the walks of higher
education--especially in medicine--has been a great victory for the
friends of the rights of woman. The government, the professors of
the university and women themselves have all united, more or less
heartily, in a common effort to give Russian women facilities for a
complete education. The first woman's medical school in Russia owes
its origin to a donation of 50,000 rubles from a woman. The war
department--for Russia thinks of medicine only in its relation to
the army--came to the aid of the new movement, and the medical
profession, though in a restricted manner, was thrown open to
women.[574] As yet women physicians may treat only diseases of
women and children, but, notwithstanding this drawback, there are
fifty-two women physicians in St. Petersburg and two hundred and
fifty in Russia. During the last war with Turkey twenty women
physicians did noble work in the army. Women flock to the
universities in great numbers. An attempt has been made to render
the profession of law accessible to them, but the government has
prohibited it. It is expected that ere long women will be
professors in the university. The chemical, medical and legal
associations have already received women into membership.
In literature Russian women take an active part; reviews,
magazines, and political journals counting many women among their
contributors and in some cases their directors. Writes Maria
Zebrikoff:
It is especially in the domain of fiction that Russian women
excel. After the two renowned names of Tourgueneff and Tolstoi,
the greatest genius of which our contemporary literature can
boast is Krestowsky, the pseudonym of woman.
"The reaectionary party," exclaims the same lady with enthusiasm,
"counts in its ranks no woman distinguished for thought or talent."
Even this brief glance at woman's position in Russia conclusively
proves that when the day of liberty comes to the great Cossack
empire, the women will be as thoroughly fitted to enter upon all
the duties of citizenship as the men. The women of no other
continental nation are perhaps better prepared for complete
emancipation than those of Russia. Here, as in several other
respects, autocratic Russia resembles free America. The good-will
of every transatlantic friend of woman's elevation should ever go
forth to this brave, struggling people of the North.
The civil law of the kingdom of Poland, a part of Russia, has been,
since 1809, the Napoleonic code; the other Polish provinces of
Russia are subject to Russian law. Under the former, the woman has
an equal share in the patrimony; but the married woman is a
perpetual minor. According to the Russian code, on the contrary, a
girl receives only a fourteenth part of the patrimony; and when a
distant relative dies, brothers alone inherit. But a woman has
absolute control of her own property: and when she becomes of age,
at twenty-one, she may buy, own, sell, without being subjected to
any tutelage, without requiring the consent of the husband--the
very contrary of the Napoleonic code. This same thing is true in
several other particulars, a striking illustration of the fact that
much-abused Russian civilization is in some respects superior to
the much-vaunted Latin civilization. In regard to education, the
Polish woman is not so well off. In the primary schools alone does
she enjoy equal rights; in secondary education she has far fewer
advantages than the boy; while as for university instruction, she
is forced to seek it in Russia or in foreign lands, the Polish
universities being absolutely closed against her. In the Polish
provinces under direct Russian authority, the State does nothing
whatever for woman's instruction; and in the kingdom of Poland, the
same thing is true except in the matter of primary instruction.
Polish women may practice medicine, if, besides this foreign
diploma, they also pass an examination before the medical school of
St. Petersburg. Tomaszewicz Dobrska is one of the few Polish women
who has succeeded in this difficult field.
The Academy of Fine Arts at Cracow is open to men alone, but
Madeline Andrzejkowicz has endeavored to fill the gap by
establishing at Warsaw a school of painting for women. The first
woman's industrial school was founded in 1874 at Warsaw, and during
the first six years, to 1880, it had 743 scholars. Establishments
of this kind are now quite numerous in the kingdom, but, for
political reasons, they have not been founded in the Polish
provinces of Russia. The unfortunate political situation of Poland,
which robs even men of their rights, is an insurmountable obstacle
in the way of the emancipation of women. There are, however, many
encouraging signs of progress. At Warsaw there is more than one
newspaper edited by a woman. Marie Ilnicka has owned and edited for
more than sixteen years, at the capital, a paper which is widely
read and which has great influence. It is no uncommon thing for
women to deliver public lectures, which are very popular and draw
large houses. Elise Orzeszko, the distinguished Polish novelist,
tells me:
We have confidence in the efforts of the men who are leading
society and who are sacrificing their talents and earnestly
toiling to advance liberal ideas. In the meanwhile our duty is to
awaken thought on the question of woman's rights, so that when a
better day does come to Poland, women may be ready to participate
in the common welfare.
* * * * *
But we cannot close this brief sketch without mentioning the
Orient, that region of transition between the darkness of Asia and
the light of occidental Europe; for, though the position of woman
is in general so lamentable that at first glance it seems best to
pass over this portion of the continent in silence, one catches
here and there a glimmer of progress that portends a better day in
the still distant future. And, too, regenerate Greece commands our
attention, for she indeed is a rich oasis in this desert of
Mohammedan conquest.
There are many Ottoman women, especially among the rich families,
who desire to change their dress and enter into relations with the
women of other religions, but the ecclesiastical and civil
authorities are always ready to check this tendency and to
rigorously enforce the ancient customs. In certain harems earnest
efforts have been made to establish true family life and to bring
up the children under the eye and care of the parents, with the aid
of foreign governesses, who, along with the languages, inculcate
the habits and manners of occidental nations. Vain attempts have
been made to found girls' schools. There are noble natures who long
for amelioration of their state, and for progress, but fanaticism
condemns everything to mortal stagnation.
The Jewish woman leads a contracted, monotonous existence under the
authority of the priest. The wives of many rich bankers have tried
to do something to improve the condition of Hebrew women by
founding aid societies, primary schools, and normal schools. The
Bulgarian women of the country enjoy an agricultural and pastoral
life, and those of the city are simple and primitive in their
habits and customs. But little has been done for woman's
instruction, though some worthy attempts have been made to
establish schools. The hope of the regeneration of the Oriental
woman lies in the influence of Greek civilization. The emancipation
of the Greek woman means the emancipation of the Turkish woman.
The Greek woman in the Orient must be studied under two heads: the
Greek woman in Turkey and the Greek woman in Greece. In
both cases we find them filled with the spirit of western
civilization--perhaps it would be better to say, with the spirit of
their classic ancestors. Primary, secondary and normal schools,
asylums, hospitals, societies--all for women and generally managed
by women--are found in all the Greek centers of Turkey. Calliope A.
Kechayia, the cultured principal of the Zappion, the famous girls'
college at Constantinople, says:
The intellectual condition of the Greek woman in the Orient is,
generally speaking, not inferior to that of women in many parts
of Europe; and as regards the instruction of the girls of the
lower classes, it is much superior to that of several Latin
countries.
The Greek woman in Greece differs essentially from the Oriental
woman. With the independence of Greece came a great patriotic
movement for the building up of the new nationality, a movement in
which women took a most active and prominent part. Several American
women, especially Mrs. Hill, lent their aid and founded the first
girls' school at Athens. "A whole generation of women," says a
Greek lady, "distinguished for their social and family virtues,
received their education in this college." An association of
Greeks soon afterward established a normal school for women. The
Greek government also early took up the question of popular
education without excluding women from its plans. The way in which
young Greek schoolmistresses hastened all over the peninsula,
spreading knowledge, the Greek language and their own enthusiasm
throughout the newly liberated nation, is one of the most unique
episodes in modern history. "It is true and beyond dispute," I am
told by Miss Kechayia, "that the Greece of to-day owes its rapid
progress and its Greek instruction to its women." But the Greek
woman is more than a school-mistress. The wife of a public man has
other than social duties to occupy her. She often represents her
husband before his constituents. She participates actively and
usefully in many of his political affairs. It frequently happens
that the wife goes into the provinces to solicit votes for her
husband, and sometimes in drawing-room lectures she defends his
political conduct. "In truth these facts would not be believed by a
foreigner if he had not seen them with his own eyes," I was once
told by a Greek. Associations of various kinds have been formed by
women during the past few years, and there is at least one instance
of a woman lecturing in public on literary topics. However, woman's
rights in the American sense has not yet penetrated into Greece,
but from what has just been said it will be seen that when that day
comes, the reform will find a soil well prepared for its reception.
* * * * *
Such is a brief and general view of the present status of the Woman
Question on the European Continent. It will have been constantly
noticed in the preceding pages that in every country there are
evidences of progress. Public opinion in the Old World is slowly
but surely accepting Voltaire's statement when the broad-minded
philosopher says, with a dash of French gallantry: "Women are
capable of doing everything we do, with this single difference
between them and us, that they are more amiable than we are." In
matters of instruction, the ideas of Montesquieu and Aime Martin
are gaining ground. "The powers of the sexes," wrote the
penetrating author of the "Spirit of the Laws," "would be equal if
their education were, too. Test women in the talents that have not
been enfeebled by the way they have been educated, and we will then
see if we are so strong." "It is in spite of our stupid system of
education," declared Aime Martin, more than fifty years ago, "that
women have an idea, a mind and a soul." And even the more radical
utterances of the late Eugene Pelletan find an echo. "By keeping
women outside of politics," once said the distinguished senator,
"the soul of our country is diminished by one-half." No wonder then
that Frances Power Cobbe likens this revolution to the irresistible
waves of the ocean. "Of all the movements, political, social and
religious, of past ages, there is, I think," writes Miss Cobbe,
"not one so unmistakably tide-like in its extension and the
uniformity of its impulse, as that which has taken place within
living memory among the women of almost every race on the globe.
Other agitations, reforms and revolutions have pervaded and lifted
up classes, tribes, nations, churches. But this movement has
stirred an entire sex, even half the human race. * * * When the
time comes to look back on the slow, universal awakening of women
all over the globe, on their gradual entrance into one privileged
profession after another, on the attainment by them of rights of
person and property, and, at last, on their admission to the full
privileges of citizenship, it will be acknowledged that of all the
'Decisive Battles of History,' this has been, to the moralist and
philosopher, the most interesting; even as it will be (I cannot
doubt) the one followed by the happiest Peace which the world has
ever seen."
FOOTNOTES:
[566] This chapter is, in large part, a resume of Mr. Stanton's
valuable work "The Woman Question in Europe," published in 1884 by
the Putnams of New York, to which we refer the reader who desires
to study more in detail the European movement for women.--[THE
EDITORS.
[567] The United States was represented by Albert Brisbane and Mrs.
Brisbane, of New York; Elizabeth Chalmers and Mrs. Gibbons, of
Philadelphia; Colonel T. W. Higginson, of Massachusetts; Miss
Hotchkiss, Fernando Jones and his wife and daughter, Jane Graham
Jones and Genevieve Graham Jones (now Mrs. Geo. R. Grant), Mrs.
Klumpke and her two daughters, of Chicago; Mrs. Party and Louisa
Southworth, of Ohio.
[568] Before closing this brief sketch, I desire to mention with
deep gratitude the name of the man who first lifted up his voice in
the Italian parliament to defend and protect women. Salvatore
Morelli deserves the veneration of every Italian woman. His first
book, "Woman and Science" (_La Donna e la Scienza_), dedicated to
Antona Traversi, was animated by a just and noble spirit, too
radical, however, to meet with universal approbation. When he
entered parliament, Morelli, with the same courage, constancy, and
radicalism, demanded the complete emancipation of women.
Conservatives laughed, and many friends of our movement trembled
for the cause. Ably seconded by Mancini, he succeeded in securing
for women the right to testify in civil actions, a dignity which
they had not previously enjoyed, although, by an absurd
contradiction they could be witnesses in criminal cases, convict of
murder by a single word and send the criminal to the scaffold. One
of Morelli's last acts was a divorce bill which was examined by the
Chamber. Guardasigilli Tomman Villa, the then Minister of Justice,
was inclined to accept it, but death, which occurred in 1880, saved
poor Morelli the pain of seeing his proposition rejected. An appeal
to women has been made to raise a modest monument to Salvatore
Morelli in memory of his good deeds, by Aurelia Cimino Folliero de
Luna. The author of this essay has been requested to receive
subscriptions to this fund. Such subscriptions will be acknowledged
and forwarded to the Italian Committee. They should be addressed to
Theodore Stanton, 9 rue de Bassano, Paris, France.
[569] The American members are as follows: Massachusetts, Julia
Ward Howe, Lucy Stone; Illinois, Jane Graham Jones, Miss Hotchkiss;
New York, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Theodore
Stanton; Pennsylvania, Mrs. Gibbons, of Philadelphia.
[570] The office of this journal is 12, rue de Cail, Paris.
[571] The office of this journal is 4, rue des Deux-Gares, Paris.
[572] See the _Index_, of Boston, May 19, 1881, where I give in
full this remarkable speech.
[573] What is said of Austria in this respect further on in this
chapter will apply to Italy if the proposed reform is finally
accepted by parliament.
[574] Recent reforms in the war department call for economy, and
the minister has been forced to refuse the usual subsidy for the
support of the woman's medical courses and they are unfortunately
in a very critical situation. The result will probably be the
foundation of medical colleges for women independent of government
aid.
CHAPTER LVIII.
REMINISCENCES.
BY E. C. S.
Reaching London amidst the fogs and mists of November, 1882, the
first person I met, after a separation of many years, was our
revered and beloved friend, William Henry Channing. The tall,
graceful form was somewhat bent; the sweet, thoughtful face
somewhat sadder; the crimes and miseries of the world seemed more
heavy on his heart than ever. With his refined, nervous
organization, the gloomy moral and physical atmosphere of London
was the last place on earth where that beautiful life should have
ended. I found him in earnest conversation with my daughter and a
young Englishman soon to be married, advising them not only as to
the importance of the step they were about to take, but as to the
minor points to be observed in the ceremony. At the appointed time
a few friends gathered in Portland-street chapel, and as we
approached the altar, our friend appeared in surplice and gown, his
pale, spiritual face more tender and beautiful than ever. This was
the last marriage service he ever performed, and it was as pathetic
as original, his whole appearance so in harmony with the exquisite
sentiments he uttered that we who listened felt as if for the time
being we had entered with him into the Holy of Holies.
Some time after, Miss Anthony and I called on him, to return our
thanks for the very complimentary review he had written of the
History of Woman Suffrage. He thanked us in turn for the many
pleasant memories we had revived in those pages, which he said had
been as entertaining as a novel; "but," said he, "they have filled
me with indignation, too, over the repeated insults offered to
women so earnestly engaged in honest endeavors for the uplifting of
mankind. I blushed for my sex more than once in reading these
volumes." We lingered long in talking over the events connected
with this great struggle for freedom. He dwelt with tenderness on
our divisions and disappointments, and entered more fully into the
humiliations suffered by women than any man we ever met. His
conversation that day was fully as appreciative of the nice points
in the degradation of sex as is John Stuart Mill in his wonderful
work on "The Subjection of Woman." He was intensely interested in
Frances Power Cobbe's efforts to suppress the vivisectionists, and
the last time I saw him he was presiding at a parlor meeting at
Mrs. Wolcott Brown's, when Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell gave an
admirable address on the causes and cure of the social evil. Mr.
Channing spoke beautifully in closing, paying a warm and merited
compliment to Miss Blackwell's clear and concise review of all the
difficulties involved in the question.
Reading so much of English reformers in our journals, of the
Brights, the McLarens, the Taylors, of Lydia Becker, Caroline
Biggs, Josephine Butler and Octavia Hill, and of their great
demonstrations with lords and members of parliament in the chair,
we had longed to compare the actors in those scenes with our
speakers and conventions on this side the water. At last we met
them, one and all, in London, York, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow,
Edinburgh, in great public meetings and parlor reunions, at dinners
and receptions, listened to their public men in parliament, the
courts and the pulpit, to the women in their various assemblies,
and came to the conclusion that Americans surpass them in oratory
and the spirited manner in which they conduct meetings. They have
no system of elocution in England such as we have--a thorough
training of the voice, in what is called vocal gymnastics. A
hesitating, apologetic way seems to be the national idea for an
exordium on all questions. Even their ablest men who have visited
this country, such as Kingsley, Stanley, Arnold, Spencer, Tyndal,
Huxley, and Canon Farrar, have all been criticised by the American
public for their stammering enunciation. They have no speakers to
compare with Wendell Phillips and George William Curtis, or Anna
Dickinson and Phoebe W. Couzins. John Bright is without a peer
among his countrymen, as are Mrs. Bessant and Miss Helen Taylor
among the women. Miss Tod, from Belfast, is a good speaker. The
women, as a general thing, are more fluent than the men; those of
the Bright family in all its branches have deep, rich voices.
Among the young women, Mrs. Fawcett, Mrs. Charles McLaren, Mrs.
Scatcherd, Miss Henrietta Mueller, Mrs. Fenwick Miller, and Lady
Harberton, all speak with comparative ease and self-possession. The
latter is striving to introduce for her countrywomen a new style of
dress, in which all the garments are bifurcated, but so skillfully
adjusted in generous plaits and folds, that while the wearer enjoys
the utmost freedom, the casual observer is quite ignorant of the
innovation. We attended one of their public meetings for the
discussion of that question, at which Miss King, Mrs. Charles
McLaren, and Lady Harberton appeared in the new costume. All spoke
in its defense, and were very witty and amusing in criticising the
present feminine forms and fashions. Lady Harberton gave us a
delightful entertainment one evening at her fine residence on
Cromwell Road, where we laughed enough to dissipate the depressing
effect of the fogs for a week to come over the recitations of
Corney Green on the piano. There, among many other celebrities, we
met Moncure D. Conway[575] and his charming wife.
I reached England in time to attend the great demonstration in
Glasgow to celebrate the extension of the municipal franchise to
the women of Scotland. It was a remarkable occasion. St. Andrew's
immense hall was packed with women; a few men were admitted to the
gallery at half a crown apiece. It was said there were 5,000 people
present. When a Scotch audience is thoroughly roused, nothing can
equal the enthusiasm. The arriving of the speakers on the platform
was announced with the wildest applause, the entire audience
rising, waving their handkerchiefs, and clapping their hands, and
every compliment paid the people was received with similar
outbursts of pleasure. Mrs. McLaren, a sister of John Bright,[576]
presided, and made the opening speech. I had the honor, on this
occasion, of addressing an audience for the first time in the old
world. Many others spoke briefly. There were too many speakers; no
one had time to warm up to the point of eloquence. Our system of
conventions of two or three days, with long speeches discussing
pointed and radical resolutions, is quite unknown in England. Their
meetings consist of one session of a few hours into which they
crowd all the speakers they can summon together. They have a few
tame resolutions on which there can be no possible difference of
opinion printed, with the names of those who are to speak appended.
Each of these is read, a few short speeches made, that may or may
not have the slightest reference to the resolution, which is then
passed. The last is usually one of thanks to some lord or member of
parliament who may have condescended to preside at the meeting, or
to do something for the measure in parliament; it is spoken to like
all that have gone before. The Queen is referred to tenderly in
most of the speeches, although she has never done anything to merit
the approbation of the advocates of suffrage for woman. As on this
occasion a woman conducted the meeting, much of the usual red tape
was omitted.
From Glasgow quite a large party of the Brights and McLarens went
to Edinburgh, where the Hon. Duncan McLaren gave us a warm welcome
to Newington House, under the very shadow of the Salisbury crags.
These and the Pentland Hills are the remarkable feature in the
landscape as you approach this beautiful city, with its monuments
and castles on which are written the history of the centuries. We
passed a few charming days driving about, visiting old friends, and
discussing the status of woman on both sides of the Atlantic. Here
we met Elizabeth Pease Nichol, Jane and Eliza Wigham, whom I had
not seen since we sat together in the World's Anti-slavery
Convention in London in 1840, Yet I knew Mrs. Nichol at once; her
strongly-marked face is one not readily forgotten.
I went with the family on Sunday to Friends' meeting, where a most
unusual manifestation for that decorous sect occurred. I had been
told that if I felt inclined, it would be considered quite proper
for me to make some remarks, and just as I was revolving an opening
sentence to a few thoughts I desired to present, a man arose in a
remote part of the house, and began in a low voice to give his
testimony as to the truth that was in him. All eyes were turned
toward him, when suddenly a friend leaned over the back of the
seat, seized his coat-tails and jerked him down in a most emphatic
manner. The poor man buried his face in his hands, and maintained a
profound silence. I learned afterwards that he was a bore, and the
friend in the rear thought it wise to nip him in the bud. This
scene put to flight all intentions of speaking on my part, lest I,
too, might get outside the prescribed limits, and be suppressed by
force. I dined with Mrs. Nichol at Huntly Lodge, where she has
entertained in turn many of our American reformers. Her walls have
echoed to the voices of Garrison, Rogers, Samuel J. May, Parker
Pillsbury, Henry C. Wright, Douglass and Remond, and hosts of
English philanthropists. Though over eighty, she is still awake on
all questions of the hour, and generous in her hospitalities as of
yore.
Later, Miss Anthony, in company with Mrs. Rebecca Moore, spent
several weeks in Edinburgh looking over Mrs. Nichol's voluminous
correspondence with the anti-slavery apostles, to see if anything
of interest could be gleaned for these volumes. She found Mrs.
Moore as a traveling companion better than the most approved
encyclopedia, as she possessed all possible information on every
subject and locality, so that all Miss Anthony had to do was to
keep her ears open whenever she was sufficiently rested to listen.
There, too, Miss Anthony visited Dr. Agnes McLaren, in her
_recherche_ home, and found her as charming in the social circle as
she was said to be skillful in her profession. She spent several
days also with Dr. Jex Blake, and from her lips heard the full
account of her prolonged struggle to open the medical college to
women, and to secure for them as students equal recognition. After
listening to all the humiliations to which they had been subjected,
and their final expulsion from the university, and of the riots in
Edinburgh, Miss Anthony felt that Dr. Jex Blake had fought the
battle with great wisdom and heroism. The failure of the experiment
in that university was not due to a want of tact in the women who
led the movement, but to the natural bigotry and obstinacy of the
Scotch people, the universal hostility of the medical professors to
all innovations, and the antagonism men feel towards women as
competitors in the sciences and professions. Before leaving
Edinburgh a public reception was tendered to Miss Anthony, Mrs.
Nichol presiding. Professor Blackie, Mrs. Jessie Wellstood, and the
honored guest herself, did the speaking. With refreshments and
conversation it was altogether a pleasant occasion.
In the meantime I was making new friends in the other parts of the
kingdom. Mrs. Margaret Lucas, whose whole soul is in the temperance
movement, escorted me from Edinburgh to Manchester, to be present
at another great demonstration in the Town Hall, the finest
building in that district. It had just been completed, and, with
its ante-rooms, dining hall, and various apartments for social
entertainments, was altogether the most perfect hall I had seen in
England. There I was entertained by Mrs. Matilda Roby, who, with
her husband, gave me a most hospitable reception. She invited
several friends to luncheon one day, among others, Miss Lydia
Becker, editor of the _Suffrage Journal_ in that city, and the Rev.
Mr. Steinthal, who had visited this country and spoken on our
platform. The chief topic at the table was John Stuart Mill, his
life, character, writings, and his position with reference to the
political rights of woman. In the evening we went to see Ristori in
Queen Elizabeth. Having seen her many years before in America, I
was surprised to find her still so vigorous. And thus, from week to
week, were suffrage meetings, receptions, dinners, luncheons and
theatres pleasantly alternated.
The following Sunday we heard a grand sermon from Moncure D.
Conway, and had a pleasant interview with him and Mrs. Conway at
the close of the sessions. Later we spent a few pleasant days at
their artistic home, filled with books, pictures, and mementoes
from loving friends. A billiard-room with well-worn cues and balls
may in a measure account for his vigorous sermons--quite a novel
adjunct to a parsonage. A garden reception there to Mr. and Mrs.
Howells, gave us an opportunity to see the American novelist
surrounded by his admiring friends. Howells and Hawthorne seemed to
be great favorites in the literary circles of England at that time,
but I never read one of their novels without regretting for the
honor of American women that they had not painted more vigorous and
piquant characters for their heroines.
One was always sure of meeting some Americans worth knowing at the
Conway's in Bedford Park. We dined there with Mary Clemmer and Mr.
Hudson, just after their marriage, and a bright, pretty daughter of
Murat Halstead, who chatted as gaily among the staid English as on
her native heath. There, too, we first saw Mrs. William Mellen with
her daughters, from Colorado Springs, now residing in London for
the purpose of educating a family of seven children,[577] although
there is no so fitting place to educate children to the duties of
citizens of a republic, as under our own free institutions. If
possessed of wealth, they readily adopt aristocratic ideas, and
enjoy the distinctions of class they find in all monarchical
countries, which totally unfit them for properly appreciating the
democratic principles it is our interest to cherish at home.
The Sunday after Mr. Conway left for Australia, I was invited to
fill his pulpit. Spending a few days with Mrs. Conway, we attended
the Ladies' Club one afternoon. The leading spirits seemed to be
Miss Orme and Miss Richardson, both attorneys in practice, with an
office in London, though not yet regularly admitted to the Queen's
Bench. The topic of discussion was the well-worn theme--the
education of girls; but no one seemed quite prepared to take off
all the ligatures from their bodies and the fears of everything
known or unknown from their minds, and leave them for a season to
grow as nature intended, that we might find out by seeing them in
their normal condition what their real wants and needs might be. I
suggested for their next topic, the proper education of boys, which
was accepted. I retired that night very nervous over my sermon for
the next day, and the feeling steadily increased until I reached
the platform; but once there, my fears were all dissipated, and I
never enjoyed speaking more than on that occasion, for I had been
so long oppressed with the degradation of woman under canon law and
church discipline that I had a sense of relief in pouring out my
indignation.
My theme was, "What has Christianity done for Woman?" and by the
facts of history, I showed clearly that to no form of religion was
woman indebted for one impulse of freedom, as all alike have taught
her inferiority and subjection to man. No lofty virtues can emanate
from such a condition. Whatever heights of dignity and purity women
have individually attained, can in no way be attributed to the
dogmas of their religion.
With my son Theodore, always deeply interested in my friends and
public work, we called on Mrs. Gray, Miss Jessie Boucherett and Dr.
Hoggan, who had written essays for "The Woman Question in Europe";
on our American minister, Mr. Lowell, Mr. and Mrs. George W.
Smalley, and many other notable men and women. By appointment we
had an hour with the Hon. John Bright at his residence on
Piccadilly. As his photograph, with his fame, had reached America,
his fine face and head, as well as his political opinions, were
quite familiar to us. He received us with great cordiality, and
manifested a clear knowledge, and deep interest in regard to all
American affairs. Free trade and woman suffrage formed the basis of
our conversation; the literature of our respective countries, our
great men and women, the lighter topics of the occasion. He is not
sound in regard to the political rights of women, but it is not
given to any one man to be equally clear on all questions. He voted
for John Stuart Mill's amendment to the "Household Suffrage Bill,"
in 1867, but, as he said, as a personal favor to a friend, without
any strong convictions as to the merits of what he considered "a
purely sentimental measure."
We attended the meeting called to rejoice over the passage of the
Married Woman's Property bill, which gave to the women of England
in 1882 what we had enjoyed in many States in this country since
1848. Mrs. Jacob Bright, Mrs. Scatcherd, Mrs. Almy, and several
members of parliament made short speeches of congratulation to
those who had been instrumental in carrying the measure. It was
generally conceded that to the tact and persistence of Mrs. Bright,
more than to any other one person, belonged the credit of that
achievement. Hon. Jacob Bright was at that time a member of
parliament, and fully in sympathy with the bill; and while Mrs.
Bright exerted all her social influence to make it popular with the
members, her husband, thoroughly versed in parliamentary tactics,
availed himself of every technicality to push the bill through the
House of Commons. Mrs. Bright's chief object in securing this bill,
aside from establishing the right every human being has to his own
property, was, to lift married women on an even plane with widows
and spinsters, thereby making them qualified voters.
The next day we went out to Barn Elms to visit Mr. and Mrs. Chas.
McLaren. Mr. McLaren, a Quaker by birth and education, has
sustained to his uttermost the suffrage movement, and his charming
little wife, the daughter of Mrs. Pochin, is worthy the noble
mother who was among the earliest leaders on this question,
speaking and writing with equal ability on all phases of the
subject. Barn Elms is a grand old estate, a few miles out of
London. It was the dairy farm of Queen Elizabeth, and presented by
her to Sir Francis Walsingham. Since then it has been inhabited by
many persons of note. It has existed as an estate since the time of
the early Saxon Kings, and the record of the sale of Barn Elms in
the time of King Athelston is still extant. What with its well-kept
lawns, fine old trees, and glimpses here and there of the Thames
winding round its borders, and its wealth of old associations, it
is indeed a charming spot. Our memory of those days will not go
back to Saxon Kings, but remain with the liberal host and hostess,
the beautiful children and the many charming acquaintances we met
at that fireside. I doubt whether any of the ancient lords and
ladies who dispensed their hospitalities under that roof, did in
any way surpass the present occupants. Mrs. McLaren, interested in
all the reforms of the day, is radical in her ideas, a brilliant
talker, and, for one so young, remarkably well informed on all
political questions. One thing is certain, those old walls never
echoed to more rebellious talk among women against existing
conditions,[578] than on that evening.
It was at Barn Elms I met for the first time Mrs. Fannie Hertz, to
whom I was indebted for many pleasant acquaintances afterwards. She
is said to know more distinguished literary people than any other
woman in London. I saw her, too, several times in her own cozy
home, meeting at her Sunday-afternoon receptions many persons I was
desirous to know. On one occasion I found George Jacob Holyoake
there, surrounded by a bevy of young ladies, all stoutly defending
the Nihilists in Russia, and their right to plot their way to
freedom; they counted a dynasty of Czars as nothing in the balance
with the liberties of a whole people. As I joined the circle Mr.
Holyoake called my attention to the fact that he was the only one
in favor of peaceful measures among all those ladies. "Now," said
he, "I have often heard it said on your platform, that the feminine
element in politics would bring about perpetual peace in
government, and here all these ladies are advocating the worst
forms of violence in the name of liberty." "Ah," said I, "lay on
their shoulders the responsibility of governing, and they would
soon become as mild and conservative as you seem to be." He then
gave us his views on cooeperation, the only remedy for many existing
evils, which he thought would be the next step toward a higher
civilization.
There, too, I met some Positivists, who, though quite reasonable on
religious questions, were very narrow on the sphere of woman. The
difference in sex, which is the very reason why men and women
should be associated in all spheres of activity, they make the
strongest reason why they should be separated. Mrs. Hertz belongs
to the Harrison school of Positivists. I went with her to one of
Mrs. Orr's receptions, where we met Robert Browning, a fine looking
gentleman of seventy years, with white hair and mustache. He is
frank, easy, playful, and a good talker. Mrs. Orr seemed to be
taking a very pessimistic view of our present sphere of action,
which Mr. Browning, with poetic coloring, was trying to paint more
hopeful.
The next day I dined with Mrs. Margaret Bright Lucas, in company
with Mr. John P. Thomasson, member of parliament, and his wife, and
afterwards we went to the House of Commons and had the good fortune
to hear Gladstone, Parnell, and Sir Charles Dilke. Seeing Bradlaugh
seated outside the charmed circle, I sent my card to him, and in
the corridor we had a few moments' conversation. I asked him if he
thought he would eventually get his seat; he replied, "Most
assuredly I will. I shall open the next campaign with such an
agitation as will rouse our politicians to some consideration of
the changes gradually coming over the face of things in this
country."
The place assigned ladies in the House of Commons is really a
disgrace to a country ruled by an Empress. This dark perch is the
highest gallery immediately over the speaker's desk and government
seats, behind a fine wire-work, so that it is quite impossible to
see or hear anything. The sixteen persons who can crowd in the
front seat, by standing with their noses partly through some open
work, can have the satisfaction of seeing the cranial arch of their
rulers, and hearing an occasional pean to liberty, or an Irish
growl at the lack of it. I was told this net work was to prevent
the members on the floor from being disturbed by the beauty of the
women. On hearing this I remarked that I was devoutly thankful that
our American men were not so easily disturbed, and that the beauty
of our women was not of so dangerous a character.
I could but contrast our spacious galleries in that magnificent
capitol at Washington, as well as in our grand State capitols,
where hundreds of women can sit to see and hear their rulers at
their ease, with these dark, dingy buildings, and such inadequate
accommodations for the people. My son, who had a seat on the floor
just opposite the ladies' gallery, said he could compare our
appearance to nothing better than birds in a cage. He could not
distinguish an outline of anybody. All he could see was the moving
of feathers and furs, or some bright ribbon or flower.
In the libraries, the courts, and the House of Lords, I found many
suggestive subjects of thought. Our American inventions seem to
furnish them cases for litigation. A suit in regard to Singer's
sewing machine was just then occupying the attention of the Lord
Chancellor. Not feeling much interest in the matter, I withdrew and
joined my friends, to examine some frescoes in the ante-room. It
was interesting to find so many historical scenes in which women
had taken a prominent part. Among others, there is Jane Lane
assisting Charles II. to escape, and Alice Lisle concealing the
fugitives after the battle of Sedgemoor. Six wives of Henry VIII.
stand forth a solemn pageant when one recalls their sad fate. Alas!
whether for good or ill, woman must ever fill a large space in the
tragedies of the world.
I passed a few pleasant hours in the house where Macaulay spent his
last years. The once spacious library and the large bay window
looking out on a beautiful lawn, where he sat from day to day
writing his flowing periods, possessed a peculiar charm for me, as
the surroundings of genius always do. I thought as I stood there
how often he had unconsciously gazed on each object in sight in
searching for words rich enough to gild his ideas. The house is now
owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Winckworth. It was at
one of their sociable Sunday teas that many pleasant memories of
the great historian were revived.
We went with Mrs. Lucas to a meeting of the Salvation army, in
Exeter Hall, which holds 5,000 people. It was literally packed--not
an inch of standing-room even, seemed to be unoccupied. This
remarkable movement was then at its height of enthusiasm in
England, and its leaders proposed to carry it round the world, but
it has never been so successful in any other latitude. They not
only hold meetings, but they march through the streets, men and
women, singing and playing on tambourines. The exercises on this
occasion consisted of prayers, hymns, and exhortations by Mr. and
Mrs. Booth. When this immense audience all joined in the chorus of
their stirring songs, it was indeed very impressive. The whole
effect was like that of an old-fashioned Methodist revival meeting.
I purchased their paper, _The War Cry_, and pasted it in my journal
to show the wild vagaries to which the human mind is subject. There
is nothing too ridiculous or monstrous to be done under the
influence of religious enthusiasm. In spite, however, of the
ridicule attached to this movement, it is at least an aspiration
for that ignorant, impoverished multitude. The first thing they
were urged to do was to give up intoxicating drinks, and their
vicious affiliations. If some other organization could take hold of
them at that point, to educate them in the rudiments of learning
and right living, and supplement their emotions with a modicum of
reason and common sense in the practical affairs of life, much
greater good might result from this initiative step in the right
direction.
One of the most remarkable and genial women we met was Miss Frances
Power Cobbe. She called one evening at 10 Duchess street, and
sipped with us the five o'clock cup of tea, a uniform practice in
England. She is of medium height, stout, rosy, and vigorous
looking, with a large, well-shaped head, a strong, happy face, and
gifted with rare powers of conversation. I felt very strongly
attracted to her. She is frank and cordial and pronounced in all
her opinions. She gave us an account of her efforts to rescue
unhappy cats and dogs from the hands of the vivisectionists. We saw
her, too, in her own cozy home and in her office in Victoria Row.
The perfect order in which her books and papers were all arranged,
and the exquisite neatness of the apartments were refreshing to
behold.
My daughter, having decided opinions of her own, was soon at
loggerheads with Miss Cobbe on the question of vivisection. After
showing us several German and French books with illustrations of
the horrible cruelty inflicted on cats and dogs, enlarging on the
hypocrisy and wickedness of these scientists, she turned to my
daughter and said, "Would you shake hands with one of these
vivisectionists?" "Yes," said Harriot, "I should be proud to shake
hands with Virchow, the great German scientist, for his kindness to
a young American girl. She applied to several professors to be
admitted to their classes, but all refused except Virchow; he
readily assented, and requested his students to treat her with
becoming courtesy. 'If any of you behave otherwise,' said he, 'I
shall feel myself personally insulted.' She entered his classes and
pursued her studies unmolested and with great success. "Now," said
she, "would you refuse to shake hands with any of your statesmen,
scientists, clergymen, lawyers or physicians, who treat women with
constant indignities and insults?" "Oh, no"; said Miss Cobbe.
"Then," said Mrs. Blatch, "you estimate the physical suffering of
cats and dogs as of more consequence than the humiliation of human
beings. The man who tortures a cat for a scientific purpose is not
as low in the scale of being, in my judgment, as one who sacrifices
his own daughter to some cruel custom." Though Miss Cobbe weighs
over two hundred pounds, she is as light on foot as a deer and is
said to be a great walker. After seeing her I read again some of
her books. Her theology now and then evidently cramps her, yet her
style is vigorous, earnest, sarcastic, though at times playful and
pathetic. In regard to her theology, she says she is too liberal to
please her orthodox friends and too orthodox to please the
liberals, hence in religion she stands quite solitary.
Suffering from the effects of the prolonged fogs, we took our
letters of introduction from Dr. Bayard of New York to the two
leading high-dilution homeopathic physicians in London, Drs. Wilson
and Berridge. We found the former a good talker and very original.
We were greatly amused with his invectives against the quacks in
the profession; the "mongrels," as he called the low dilutionists.
The first question he asked my daughter was if she wore high heels;
he said he would not attempt to cure any woman of any disease so
long as she was perched on her toes with her spine out of plumb.
His advice to me was to get out of the London fogs as quickly as
possible. No one who has not suffered a London fog can imagine the
terrible gloom that pervades everywhere. One can see nothing out of
the windows but a dense black smoke. Drivers carry flambeaux in the
streets to avoid running into each other. The houses are full; the
gas burns all day, but you can scarcely see across the room;
theaters and places of amusement are sometimes closed, as nothing
can be seen distinctly. We called on Dr. Berridge, also, thinking
it best to make the acquaintance of both that we might decide from
their general appearance, surroundings, conversation and
comparative intelligence, which one we would prefer to trust in an
emergency. We found both alike so promising that we felt we could
trust either to give us our quietus, if die we must, on the high
dilutions. It is a consolation to know that one's closing hours at
least are passed in harmony with the principles of pure science. On
further acquaintance we found these gentlemen true disciples of the
great Hahneman.
As we were just then reading Froude's "Life of Carlyle," we drove
by the house where he lived and paused a moment at the door, where
poor Jennie went in and out so often with a heavy heart. It is a
painful record of a great soul struggling with poverty and
disappointment; the hope of success as an author so long deferred
and never wholly realized. His foolish pride of independence and
headship, and his utter obliviousness as to his domestic duties and
the comfort of his wife, made the picture still darker. Poor
Jennie, fitted to shine in any circle, yet doomed all her married
life to domestic drudgery, with no associations with the great man
for whose literary companionship she had sacrificed herself. It
adds greatly to one's interest in Scott, Dickens, Thackeray,
Charlotte Bronte, Bulwer, James and George Eliot, to read them
amidst the scenes where they lived and died. Thus in my leisure
hours, after the fatigues of sight-seeing and visiting, I re-read
many of these authors near the places where they spent their last
days on earth.
As I had visited Ambleside forty years before and seen Harriet
Martineau in her prime, I did not go with Miss Anthony to Lake
Windermere. She found the well-known house occupied by Mr. William
Henry Hills, a liberal Quaker named after William Henry Channing.
Mrs. Hills received the party with great hospitality, showed them
through all the apartments and pointed out the charming views from
the windows. They paused a few moments reverently in the chamber
where that grand woman had passed her last triumphant days on
earth. On the kitchen hearth was still sitting her favorite cat,
sixteen years old, the spots in her yellow and black fur as marked
as ever. Puss is the observed of all observers who visit that
sacred shrine, and it is said she seems specially to enjoy the
attention of strangers. From here Miss Anthony drove round
Grasmere, the romantic home of Wordsworth, wandered through the old
church, sat in the pew he so often occupied and lingered near the
last resting-place of the great poet. As the former residence of
the anti-slavery agitator, Thomas Clarkson, was on Ulswater,
another of the beautiful lakes in that region, Miss Anthony
extended her excursion still further and learned from the people
many pleasing characteristics of these celebrated personages. On
her way to Ireland she stopped at Ulverston and visited Miss Hannah
Goad, who was a descendant of the founder of Quakerism, George Fox.
She was in the old house in which he was married to Margaret Fell
and where they lived many years; attended the quaint little church
where he often spoke from the high seats, looked through his
well-worn Bible, and the minutes of their monthly meetings, kept by
Margaret Fell two centuries ago.
Returning to London we attended one of Miss Biggs' receptions and
among others met Mr. Stansfeld, M. P., who had labored faithfully
for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases acts, and in a measure
been successful. We had the honor of an interview with Lord
Shaftsbury at one of his crowded receptions, and found him a little
uncertain as to the wisdom of allowing married women to vote, for
fear of disturbing the peace of the family. I have often wondered
if men see in this objection what fatal admissions they make as to
their own selfishness and love of domination.
Miss Anthony was present at the great Liberal conference at Leeds
on October 17, to which Mrs. Helen Bright Clark, Miss Jane Cobden,
Mrs. Tanner, Mrs. Scatcherd and several other ladies were duly
elected delegates from their respective Liberal leagues, and
occupied seats on the floor. Mrs. Clark and Miss Cobden, daughters
of the great Corn-law reformers, spoke eloquently in favor of the
resolution to extend parliamentary suffrage to women, which was
presented by Walter McLaren of Bradford. As these young women made
their impassioned appeals for the recognition of woman's political
equality in the next bill for the extension of suffrage, that
immense gathering of 1,600 delegates was hushed into profound
silence. For a daughter to speak thus in that great representative
convention in direct opposition to her loved and honored father,
the acknowledged leader of that party, was an act of heroism and
fidelity to her own highest convictions almost without a parallel
in English history, and the effect on the audience was as thrilling
as it was surprising. The resolution was passed by a large
majority. At the reception given to Mr. John Bright that evening,
as Mrs. Clark approached the dais on which her noble father stood
shaking the hands of passing friends, she remarked to her husband,
"I wonder if father has heard of my speech this morning, and if he
will forgive me for thus publicly differing with him?" The query
was soon answered. As he caught the first glimpse of his daughter
he stepped down and, pressing her hand affectionately, kissed her
with a fond father's warmth on either cheek in turn. The next
evening the great Quaker statesman was heard by the admiring
thousands who could crowd into Victoria Hall, while thousands,
equally desirous to hear, failed to get tickets of admission. It
was a magnificent sight, and altogether a most impressive gathering
of the people. Miss Anthony with her friends sat in the gallery
opposite the great platform, where they had a fine view of the
whole audience. When John Bright, escorted by Sir Wilfred Lawson,
took his seat, the immense audience rose, waving hats and
handkerchiefs and with the wildest enthusiasm giving cheer after
cheer in honor of the great leader. Sir Wilfred Lawson in his
introductory remarks facetiously alluded to the resolution adopted
by the conference as somewhat in advance of the ideas of the
speaker of the evening. The house broke into roars of laughter,
while the father of Liberalism, perfectly convulsed, joined in the
general merriment.
But when at length his time to speak had come, and Mr. Bright went
over the many steps of progress that had been taken by the Liberal
party, he cunningly dodged all in the direction of the emancipation
of the women of England. He skipped round the agitation in 1867 and
John Stuart Mill's amendment presented at that time in the House of
Commons; the extension of the municipal suffrage in 1869; the
participation of women in the establishment of national schools
under the law of 1870, both as voters and members of school-boards;
the Married Woman's Property bill of 1882; the large and increasing
vote for the extension of parliamentary suffrage in the House of
Commons, and the adoption of the resolution by that great
conference the day before. All these successive steps towards
woman's emancipation he carefully remembered to forget.
During Miss Anthony's stay in Leeds she and her cousin, Dr. Fannie
Dickinson, were guests of Mrs. Hannah Ford at Adel Grange, an old
and lovely suburban home, where she met many interesting women,
members of the school-board, poor-law guardians and others. The
three daughters of Mrs. Ford, though possessed of ample incomes,
have each a purpose in life; one had gathered hundreds of factory
girls into evening schools, where she taught them to cut and make
their garments, as well as to read and write; one was an artist and
the third a musician, having studied in London and Florence. It was
during this ever-to-be-remembered week that Miss Anthony, escorted
by Mrs. Ford, visited Haworth, the bleak and lonely home of the
Brontes. It was a dark, drizzly October day, intensifying all the
gloomy memories of the place. She sat in the old church pew where
those shivering girls endured such discomforts through the fearful
services, with their benumbed feet on the very stone slab that from
time to time was taken up to deposit in the earth beneath their
loved dead! She was shown through the house, paused at the place
under the stairs where the imperial Shirley had her fierce
encounter with that almost human dog, Keeper; she stood in the
drawing-room where the sainted three sisters, arm-in-arm, paced up
and down plotting their weird stories. She walked through the same
old gate, on the same single stone pavement and over the same stile
out into the same heather fields, gazing on the same dreary sky
above and the same desolate earth on every side. She dined in the
same old "Black Bull"; sat in poor Branwell's chair and was served
by the same person who dealt out the drinks to that poor
unfortunate--then a young bar-maid, now the aged proprietor.
Miss Anthony crossed from Barrow to Belfast, where she was given a
most cordial reception at the house of one of Ireland's
distinguished orators, Miss Isabella M. Tod, who took her to one of
her Ulster temperance meetings at Garvah, where they were the
guests of Rev. Thomas Medill, a cousin of the distinguished Chicago
editor. There, as Miss Anthony listened to the prayers and
exhortations of the Presbyterian ministers and to the arguments of
Miss Tod, and heard no appeals to the audience to join in the work
of suppressing the traffic, a realizing sense of the utter
powerlessness of the queen's subjects in Ireland dawned upon her
for the first time. In all that crowd there was not one who had any
voice in the decision of that question. The entire control of the
matter rested with three magistrates appointed by the queen, who
are in nowise responsible to the tax-paying people to whom they
administer the laws. Had Miss Tod been addressing an American
audience, she would have appealed to every man to vote only for
candidates pledged to no-license. From Garvah they made a
pilgrimage to the Giant's Causeway. Miss Anthony had, when at Oban,
visited Fingal's Cave, and the two wonders that always fix
themselves upon the imagination of the youthful student of the
world's geography fully matched her expectations.
At Dublin she visited the Castle, the old parliament building, now
a bank; Kings and Queens College, that gives diplomas to women;
the parks, the cemeteries, the tomb of Daniel O'Connell. She
attended a meeting of the common council, of which Alfred Webb, the
only surviving son of the old abolitionist, Richard D. Webb, was a
member, and there she listened to a discussion on a petition to the
queen that the people of Dublin might be allowed to elect their own
tax-collector instead of having one placed over them by "the powers
that be" at London, as the official thus appointed had just proved
a defaulter. In listening to the outrages perpetrated upon a
helpless people by foreign officials, the one wonder to her was,
not that so many of Ireland's sons are discontented, but that they
are not in open rebellion.
There Miss Anthony made the acquaintance of numbers of excellent
Friends,[579] and with Mrs. Haslam visited their large free library
and attended their First-day meeting. In Dublin, too, she met
Michael Davitt, who seemed to her a most sincere champion of
liberty for himself and his people. Miss Anthony spent a week with
Mr. and Mrs. Haslam in Cork, visiting Blarney Castle, the old
walled city of Youghal with its crumbling Quaker meeting-house and
fine old mansion in which Sir Walter Raleigh lived, and thence to
the beautiful Lakes of Killarney, and in a jaunting-car through the
evicted tenants' district, entering the hovels and talking with the
inmates. The sad stories poured into her ears, and the poverty and
wretchedness she saw, proved to her that none of Mr. Redpath's
revelations, so shocking to the humanity of our people, were in the
least over-drawn. The circuit through Limerick, Galway, Clifton and
Belfast was made in third-class cars, that she might talk with the
people of the working class. This was the season for their county
fairs, which gave her an opportunity to see the farmers driving
their cattle and taking their meagre products to the fair. The
women and girls were uniformly barefooted, while some of the men
and boys wore shoes. In reply to her query why this was so, one man
said, "It is all we can do to get shoes for them as airnes the
money." The same old story; woman's work, however arduous, brings
no price in the market.
While in London we attended several large and enthusiastic reform
meetings. We heard Bradlaugh address his constituency on that
memorable day at Trafalgar Square, at the opening of parliament,
when violence was anticipated and the parliament houses were
surrounded by immense crowds, with the military and police in large
numbers to maintain order. We heard Michael Davitt and Miss Helen
Taylor at a great meeting in Exeter Hall, the former on home-rule
for Ireland, and the latter on the nationalization of land, showing
that in ancient times the people had many privileges long since
denied. They even had forests and commons and the road-side, where
their cows, sheep and geese could glean something. The facts and
figures given in these two lectures as to the abject poverty of the
people and the cruel system by which every inch of land had been
grabbed by their oppressors, were indeed appalling. A few days
before sailing we made our last visit to Ernestine L. Rose and
found our noble coadjutor, though in delicate health, pleasantly
situated in the heart of London, as deeply interested as ever in
the struggles of the hour.
Dining one day with Mrs. Lucas, we were forcibly impressed with the
growing liberality of people of all shades of belief and of all
professions. The guests on that occasion were Mrs. Hallock,
sister-in-law of Robert Dale Owen, thoroughly imbued with his
religious and social ideas; Dr. Mary J. Hall, the only woman
practicing homeopathy in England; Miss Henrietta Mueller, member of
the London school-board; Miss Clara Spence, a young actress from
America, who gave us some fine recitations; and such liberals in
politics and religion as Mrs. Stanton Blatch and myself, while our
hostess was an orthodox Friend. However we were all agreed on one
point, the right of women to full equality everywhere. In the
evening we went to see Mrs. Hallock's daughter, Ella Deitz, in the
play of "Impulse." We urged Mrs. Lucas to accompany us, but she
said she had never been to a theater in her life.
A great discomfort in all English homes is the cold draughts
through their halls and unoccupied rooms. A moderate fire in the
grates in the family apartments is their only mode of heating, and
they seem quite oblivious as to the danger of throwing a door open
into a cold hall on one's back while the servants pass in and out
with the various courses' at dinner. As we Americans were sorely
tried under such circumstances, it was decided in the Basingstoke
mansion to have a hall stove, which, after a prolonged search, was
found in London and duly installed as a presiding deity to defy the
dampness that pervades all those ivy-covered habitations, as well
as the neuralgia that wrings their possessors. What a blessing it
proved, more than any one thing making the old English house seem
like an American home! The delightful summer heat we in America
enjoy in the coldest weather is quite unknown to our Saxon cousins.
Although many came to see our stove in full working order, yet we
could not persuade them to adopt the American system of heating the
whole house at an even temperature. They cling to the customs of
their fathers with an obstinacy that is incomprehensible to us, who
are always ready to try experiments. Americans complain bitterly of
the same freezing experiences in France and Germany, and in turn
foreigners all criticise our over-heated houses and places of
amusement.
An evening reception at Mrs. Richardson's, in the city of York,
gave us an opportunity of a personal greeting with a large circle
of ladies identified with the suffrage movement, and a large public
meeting the next day in the Town Hall enabled us to judge still
further of the merits of English women as speakers. Here I was
entertained by Mrs. Lucretia Kendall Clarke, an American, who had
spent five years as a student in Dresden, where she made the
acquaintance of Mr. Clarke. It is said in England that the
American girls capture all the choice young men; that our rich
cattle-dealers get all their best horses, cows, sheep, dogs, and
that in time we shall rob them of all that is best in the country.
One thing is certain, we shall always regret our hospitable
invitation to the sparrows, as they are making war on our native
birds instead of fulfilling their mission to the "Diet of Worms."
In company with Mrs. Scatcherd we spent an hour in that magnificent
York cathedral, said to be one of the finest in England. Being
there at the time for service we had the benefit of the music. To
us, lost in admiration of the wonderful architecture and the
beautiful carving in wood and stone, the solemn strains of the
organ reverberating through those vast arches made the whole scene
very impressive. As women in many of the churches are not permitted
to take part in the sacred ceremonies, the choir is composed of
men, and boys from ten to fifteen who sing the soprano and alto.
But these old ideas, like the old Roman wall that still surrounds
that city, time only can remove.
We had a merry trip from York to London. Miss Mueller, Mrs. Chant,
Mrs. Shearer, Miss Stackpole, in our compartment, discussed freely
the silly objections to woman's enfranchisement usually made by
our legislators. We found on comparing notes that the arguments
usually made were the same in the House of Commons as in the halls
of Congress. If the honorable gentlemen could only have heard their
stale platitudes with good imitations in voice and manner, I doubt
whether they would ever again air their absurdities. I regretted
that our Caroline Gilkey Rogers had not been there to have given
her admirable impersonation of a Massachusetts legislator.
A few days later I attended another meeting in Birmingham and
stayed with a relative of Joseph Sturge, at whose home I had
visited forty years before. This was called to discuss the
degradation of women under the Contagious Diseases acts. Led by
Josephine Butler, the women of England have been deeply stirred on
the question of repeal, and are very active in their opposition to
the law. We heard Mrs. Butler speak in many of her society
meetings, as well as on several public occasions. Her style is not
unlike that we hear in Methodist class-meetings from the best
cultivated of that sect; her power grows out of her deeply
religious enthusiasm.
In London we met Emily Faithful, who had just returned from a
lecturing-tour in the United States, and were much amused with her
experiences. Having taken prolonged trips over the whole country
from Maine to Texas for many successive years, Miss Anthony and I
could easily add the superlative to all her narrations. She dined
with us one day at Mrs. Mellen's, where we also had the pleasure of
meeting Miss Jane Cobden, a daughter of the great Corn-law
reformer, who was much interested in forming Liberal leagues, to
encourage the Liberal party and interest women in the political
questions under consideration. She passed a day with us at
Basingstoke, and together we visited Mrs. Caird, the author of
"Whom Nature Leadeth," an interesting story of English life. I
found the author a charming woman, but in spite of the title I
really could not find one character in the three volumes that
seemed to follow the teachings of nature.
Two weeks again in London, visiting picture-galleries, museums,
libraries, going to teas, dinners, receptions, concerts, theaters
and reform-meetings; it is enough to turn one's head to think of
all the different clubs and associations managed by women. It was a
source of constant pleasure to me to drive about in hansoms and try
to take in the vastness of that wonderful city; to see the
beautiful equipages, fine saddle-horses and riders and the skill
with which the bicycles were so rapidly engineered through the
crowded streets. The general use of bicycles and tricycles all over
England, even for long journeys, is fast becoming the favorite mode
of locomotion both for ladies and gentlemen.
It was a pleasant surprise to meet the large number of Americans
usually at the receptions of Mrs. Peter Taylor.[580] Graceful and
beautiful in full dress, standing beside her husband, who evidently
idolizes her, Mrs. Taylor appeared quite as refined in her
drawing-room as if she had never been "exposed to the public gaze,"
while presiding over a suffrage convention. Mr. Peter Taylor, M.
P., has been untiring in his endeavors to get a bill through
parliament against "compulsory vaccination." Mrs. Taylor is called
the mother of the suffrage movement. The engraving of her sweet
face which adorns the English chapter will give the reader a good
idea of her character. The reform has not been carried on in all
respects to her taste, nor on what she considers the basis of high
principle. Neither she nor Mrs. Jacob Bright has ever been
satisfied with the bill asking the right of suffrage for "widows
and spinsters" only. To have asked this right "for all women duly
qualified," as but few married women are qualified by possessing
property in their own right, the result would have been
substantially the same without making any invidious distinctions.
Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Bright felt that as married women were the
greatest sufferers under the law, they should be the first rather
than the last to be enfranchised. The others, led by Miss Becker,
claimed that it was good policy to make the demand for "spinsters
and widows," and thus exclude the "family unit" and "man's
headship" from the discussion; and yet these were the very points
on which the objections were invariably based. They claimed that if
"spinsters and widows" were enfranchised they would be an added
power to secure to married women their rights. But the history of
the past gives no such assurance. It is not certain that women
would be more just than men, and a small privileged class of
aristocrats have long governed their fellow-countrymen. The fact
that the spinsters in the movement advocated such a bill shows that
they are not to be trusted in extending it. John Stuart Mill, too,
was always opposed to the exclusion of married women in the demand
for suffrage.
If our English friends had our system of conventions and
discussions in which every resolution is subject to criticism,
changes could be more readily effected. But as their meetings are
now conducted, a motion to amend a resolution would throw the
platform into the wildest confusion and hopelessly bewilder the
chairman. We saw this experiment made at the great demonstration in
St. James' Hall the night before Mr. Mason's bill was to be acted
on in the House of Commons. For its effect on their champions some
were desirous that a resolution should be endorsed by that great
audience proposing higher ground; that instead of "spinsters and
widows," the demand should be for "all duly qualified women." After
the reading of one of the resolutions Miss Jessie Craigen arose and
proposed such an amendment. Mr. Woodhall, M. P., in the chair,
seemed quite at a loss what to do. She was finally, after much
debate and prolonged confusion, suppressed, whether in a
parliamentary manner or not I am unable to say. Here we should have
discussed the matter at length if it had taken us until midnight,
or adjourned over until next day, "the spinsters and widows" having
been the target for all our barbed arrows until completely
annihilated.
Spending two months in traveling on the continent, Miss Anthony had
many amusing experiences. While visiting our minister and his wife,
Mr. and Mrs. Sargent, at Berlin, she occupied some rainy days, when
sight-seeing was out of the question, in doing up papers and
writing a large number of letters on our official paper, bearing
the revolutionary mottoes, "No just government can be formed
without the consent of the governed," "Taxation without
representation is tyranny." For a brief period she was in the full
enjoyment of that freedom one has when a pressing duty to family
and friends has been thoroughly discharged. But alas! her
satisfaction was soon turned to disappointment. After a few days a
dignified official appeared at the American Legation with a large
package bearing the proscribed mottoes, saying, "such sentiments
cannot pass through the post-office in Germany." So all that form
of propagandism was nipped in the bud, and in modest, uncomplaining
wraps the letters and papers started again for the land of the free
and reached their destination.
But this experience did not satisfy the "Napoleon of our movement"
that the rulers in the old world could securely guard their
subjects from those inflammable mottoes to which from long use we
are so indifferent. She continued to sow the seeds of rebellion as
she had opportunity, in Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy. It
is well for us that she did not experiment in Russia, or we should
now be mourning her loss as an exile in Siberia. At all points of
interest books are kept for visitors to register their names; Miss
Anthony uniformly added some of our Pilgrim Fathers' heroic
ejaculations in their struggle for liberty, which friends visiting
the same places afterwards informed us were carefully crossed out
so as to be quite illegible. But we may hope for their restoration
in the near future and that they may yet do an effective work. Thus
circumscribed with her pen and not being able to speak a foreign
language, happily no rebellions were fomented by her rapid transit
through their borders.
My sense of justice was severely tried with all I heard of the
persecutions of Mrs. Besant and Mr. Bradlaugh for their
publications on the right and duty of parents to limit population.
Who can contemplate the sad condition of multitudes of young
children in the old world whose fate is to be brought up in
ignorance and vice--a swarming, seething mass whom nobody
owns--without seeing the need of free discussion of the
philosophical principles that underlie these tangled social
problems. The trials of Foote and Ramsey, too, for blasphemy,
seemed unworthy a great nation in the nineteenth century. Think of
well-educated men of good moral standing, thrown into prison in
solitary confinement for speaking lightly of the Hebrew idea of
Jehovah and the New Testament account of the birth of Jesus! Our
Protestant clergy never hesitate to make the dogmas and
superstitions of the Catholic church seem as absurd as possible,
and why should not those who imagine they have outgrown Protestant
superstitions make them equally ridiculous? Whatever is true can
stand investigation and ridicule.
The last of April, when the wild-flowers were in their glory, Mrs.
Mellen and her lovely daughter, Daisy, came down to Basingstoke to
enjoy its beauty. As Mrs. Mellen had known Charles Kingsley and
entertained him at her residence in Colorado, she felt a desire to
see his former home. Accordingly, one bright morning Mr. Blatch
drove us through Stralfieldsage over the grounds of the Duke of
Wellington, well stocked with fine cattle, sheep and deer. This
magnificent place was given him by the English government after the
battle of Waterloo. A lofty statue of the duke that can be seen for
miles around stands at the entrance. A drive of a few miles further
brought us to Eversley, the home of Canon Kingsley, where he
preached many years and where all that is mortal of him now lies
buried. We wandered through the old church, among the moss-covered
tombstones and into the once happy home, now silent and deserted,
his loved ones scattered in different quarters of the globe.
Standing near the last resting-place of the author of "Hypatia,"
his warning words for woman, in a letter to John Stuart Mill,
seemed like a voice from the clouds, saying with new inspiration
and power, "This will never be a good world for woman until the
last remnant of the canon law is civilized off the face of the
earth."
Mrs. Mellen's spacious home in Pembroke Gardens, Kensington, was
thrown open for her American friends in London to celebrate the
Fourth of July. A large number of our English acquaintances were
also present, who very kindly congratulated us on the stirring
events of that day in 1776. Of the Americans assembled, many
contributed to the general entertainment. Grace Greenwood, Miss
Rachel Foster, Miss Kate Hillard and Miss Mildred Conway gave
recitations. Miss Lippincott, daughter of Grace Greenwood, sang
some fine operatic music; Mrs. Carpenter of Chicago sang sweetly,
playing her own accompaniment; Mr. Frank Lincoln gave some of his
amusing impersonations; Miss Maud Powell of Chicago, only fourteen
years of age, who had been taking lessons in France and Germany for
some years, played exquisite airs on the violin; Mrs. Flora Stark,
Miss Alice Blatch and Miss Conway gave us some fine classical music
on the piano, and Nathaniel Mellen sang some pathetic negro
melodies.[581] Altogether it was a pleasant occasion and I felt
quite proud of the varied talents manifested by our young people.
Some English friends remarked on their cleverness and readiness,
all spontaneously called out without any time for preparation.
We heard Mr. Fawcett speak to his Hackney constituents at one
of his campaign meetings. In the course of his remarks he
mentioned with evident favor as one of the coming measures the
disestablishment of the church, and was greeted with loud applause.
Soon after he spoke of woman suffrage as another question demanding
consideration, but this was received with laughter and jeers,
although the platform was crowded with advocates of the measure,
among whom were the wife of the speaker and her sister, Dr. Garrett
Anderson, who sat just behind him. The audience were evidently in
favor of releasing themselves from being taxed to support the
church, forgetting that women were taxed also not only to support
the church, in which they had no voice, but the State, too, with
its army and navy. Mr. Fawcett was not an orator, but a simple,
straightforward speaker. He made but one gesture, striking his
right clenched fist into the palm of the left hand at the close of
all his strongest assertions; but being sound and liberal, he was a
great favorite with his constituents.
A pleasant trip southward through Bath to Bristol brought us to the
home of the Misses Priestman and Mrs. Tanner, sisters-in-law of
John Bright. I had stayed at their father's house forty years
before, so we felt like old friends. I found them all charming,
liberal women, and we enjoyed a few days together, talking over our
mutual struggles, and admiring the beautiful scenery for which that
part of the country is quite celebrated. The women of England were
just then organizing political clubs, and I was invited to speak
before the one in Bristol. They are composed of men and women
alike, for the discussion of all political questions. The next day
I spoke to women alone in the church on the Bible view of woman's
creation and destiny. It is strange that those who pretend to be
well-versed in Scripture do not see that the simultaneous creation
of man and woman and the complete equality of the sexes are as
clearly taught in the first chapter of Genesis as the reverse is in
the allegorical garden-scene in the second. The drive over the
suspension-bridge by moonlight to dine with Mrs. Garnet, a sister
of John Thomasson, M. P., was a pleasant episode to public speaking
and more serious conversation. There, too, we had an evening
reception. There is an earnestness of purpose among English women
that is very encouraging under the prolonged disappointments
reformers inevitably suffer. There is something so determined and
heroic in what Mary Priestman does and says that one would readily
follow her through all dangers. It added much to my comfort in
this visit to have an escort in Mrs. Lucas.
Later Miss Anthony visited Bristol and had a complimentary
reception at the Misses Priestman's. She was the guest of Miss Mary
Estlin, who had spent some time in America, a dear friend of Sarah
Pugh and Parker Pillsbury. Miss Estlin was from home during my
visit, so that I did not see her while in England. The order of
English homes among the wealthy classes is very enjoyable. All goes
on from year to year with the same servants, the same surroundings,
no changes, no moving, no building even; in delightful contrast
with our periodical upheavings, always uncertain where we shall go
next, or how long our main dependents will stand by us.
From Bristol we went to Greenbank to visit Mrs. Helen Bright Clark,
a daughter of the great orator. In the evening the parlors were
crowded, and I was asked to give an account of the suffrage
movement in America. Some clergymen questioned me in regard to the
Bible position of woman, whereupon I gave quite an exposition of
its general principles in favor of liberty and equality. As two
quite distinct lines of argument can be woven out of those pages on
any subject, on this occasion I selected all the most favorable
texts for justice to woman, and closed by stating the limits of its
authority. Mrs. Clarke, though thoroughly in sympathy with the
views I had expressed, feared lest my very liberal utterances might
have shocked some of the strictest of the laymen and clergy.
"Well," I said, "if we who do see the absurdities of the old
superstitions never unveil them to others, how is the world to make
any progress in the theologies? I am now in the sunset of life, and
I feel it to be my special mission to tell people what they are not
prepared to hear, instead of echoing worn-out opinions." The result
showed the wisdom of my speaking out of my own soul. To the
surprise of Mrs. Clark, the primitive Methodist clergyman called on
Sunday morning to invite me to occupy his pulpit in the afternoon
and present the same line of thought I had the previous evening. I
accepted his invitation. He led the services and I took my text
from Genesis i., 27, 28, showing that man and woman were a
simultaneous creation, endowed with equal power in starting.
Mr. and Mrs. Clark I found very agreeable, progressive people, with
a nice family of boys and girls. Like all English children, they
suffered too much repression, while our American children have too
much latitude. If we could strike the happy medium between the two
systems, it would be a great benefit to the children of both
countries. The next day we drove down to see Glastonbury cathedral.
England is full of these beautiful ruins, covered with flowers and
ivy, but the saddest spectacles, with all this fading glory, are
the men, women and children whose nakedness neither man nor nature
seeks to drape.
Returning to London we accepted an invitation to take tea with Mrs.
Jacob Bright. A choice circle of three it was, and a large server
of tempting viands was placed on a small table before us. Mrs.
Bright, in earnest conversation, had helped us each to a cup of
tea, and was turning to help us to something more, when over went
table and all, tea, bread and butter, cake, strawberries and cream,
silver, china, in one conglomerate mass. Silence reigned. No one
started; no one said "Oh!" Mrs. Bright went on with what she was
saying as if nothing unusual had occurred, rang the bell, and when
the servant appeared, pointing to the _debris_, she said, "Charles,
remove this." I was filled with admiration at her coolness, and
devoutly thankful that we Americans maintained an equally dignified
silence.
At a grand reception given in our honor by the National Central
Committee, in Princess' Hall, Mr. Jacob Bright, M. P., presided and
made an admirable opening speech, followed by his sister, Mrs.
McLaren, with a highly complimentary address of welcome. By
particular request Miss Anthony gave a presentation of the
industrial, legal and political status of American women; while I
set forth their educational, social and religious limitations. Mr.
John P. Thomasson, M. P., made the closing address, expressing his
satisfaction with the addresses of the ladies and the progress made
in both countries.[582]
Mrs. Thomasson, daughter of Mrs. Lucas, gave several delightful
evening parties,[583] receptions and dinners, some for ladies
alone, where an abundant opportunity was offered for a critical
analysis of the idiosyncracies of the superior sex, especially in
their political dealings with women. The patience of even such
heroic souls as Lydia Becker and Caroline Biggs was almost
exhausted with the tergiversations of members of the House of
Commons. Alas for the many fair promises broken, the hopes
deferred, the votes fully relied on and counted, all missing in the
hour of action. One crack of Mr. Gladstone's whip put a hundred
Liberals to flight in a twinkling, members whom these noble women
had spent years in educating. I never visited the House of Commons
that I did not see Miss Becker and Miss Biggs trying to elucidate
the fundamental principles of just government to some of them.
Verily their divine faith and patience merited more worthy action
on the part of their representatives.
We formed very pleasant friendships with Miss Frances Lord and Miss
Henrietta Mueller, spending several days with the latter at 58
Cadogan square, and both alike visited us at different times in
Basingstoke. Miss Lord has translated some of Ibsen's plays very
creditably to herself, and, we understand, to the satisfaction of
the Swedish poet. Miss Lord is a cultured, charming woman,
attractive in society, and has a rare gift in conversation; she is
rather shrinking in her feelings. Miss Mueller, her devoted friend,
is just the opposite; fearless, aggressive and self-centered. Miss
Lord discharged her duties as poor-law guardian faithfully, and
Miss Mueller, as member of the London school-board, claimed her
rights when infringed upon, and maintained the dignity of her
position with a good degree of tact and heroism. We met Miss
Whitehead, another poor-law guardian, at Miss Mueller's, and had a
long talk on the sad condition of the London poor and the grand
work Octavia Hill had done among them. Miss Mueller read us a paper
on the dignity and office of single women. Her idea seems to be
very much like that expressed by St. Paul in his epistles, that it
is better for those who have a genius for public work in the church
or State not to marry; and Miss Mueller carries her theory into
practice thus far. She has a luxurious establishment of her own, is
fully occupied in politics and reform, and though she lives by
herself she entertains her friends generously, and does whatever it
seems good to her to do. As she is bright and entertaining and has
many worshipers, she may fall a victim to the usual fate in spite
of her admirable essay, which has been printed in tract form and
circulated extensively in England and America. Miss Mueller gave
Miss Anthony and myself a farewell reception on the eve of our
departure for America, when we had the opportunity of meeting once
more most of the pleasant acquaintances we had made in London.
Although it was announced for the afternoon, we did in fact receive
all day as many as could not come at the hour appointed. Dr.
Elizabeth Blackwell took breakfast with us; Mrs. Fawcett, Mrs.
Seville[584] and Miss Lord were with us at luncheon; Harriet Hosmer
and Olive Logan soon after; Mrs. Peter Taylor later, and from three
to six o'clock the parlors were crowded.
Returning from London I passed my birthday, November 12, in
Basingstoke. It was a sad day to us all, knowing that it was the
last before my departure for America. When I imprinted the farewell
kiss on the soft cheek of little Nora in the cradle, she in the
dawn and I in the sunset of life, I realized how widely the long
years and the broad ocean would separate us forever. Miss Anthony,
who had been visiting Mrs. Parker, near Warrington, met me at
Alderly Edge, where we spent a few days in the charming home of Mr.
and Mrs. Jacob Bright. There we found their noble sisters, Mrs.
McLaren and Mrs. Lucas, young Walter McLaren and his lovely bride,
Eva Mueller, whom we had heard several times on the suffrage
platform. We rallied her on the step she had lately taken,
notwithstanding her sister's able paper on the blessedness of a
single life. While here we visited Dean Stanley's birthplace; but
on his death the light and joy went out, and the atmosphere of the
old church whose walls had once echoed to his voice, and the house
where he had spent so many useful years, seemed sad and deserted.
But the day was bright and warm, the scenery all around was
beautiful, cows and sheep were still grazing in the meadows, the
grass as green as in June. This is England's chief charm, forever
green, some compensation for the many cloudy days. An evening
reception in Mrs. Bright's spacious parlors, with friends from
Manchester and other adjoining towns, with speeches of welcome and
farewell, finished our visit at Alderly Edge.
As our good friends Mrs. McLaren and Mrs. Lucas had determined to
see us safely on board the Servia, they escorted us to Liverpool,
where we met Mrs. Margaret Parker, Mrs. Scatcherd and Dr. Fanny
Dickinson of Chicago. Another reception was given us at the
residence of Dr. Ewing Whittle. Several short speeches were
made, all cheering the parting guests with words of hope and
encouragement for the good cause.
Here the wisdom of forming an international association was
considered. The proposition met with such favor from those present
that a committee was appointed to correspond with the friends in
different nations. As Miss Anthony and myself are members of that
committee,[585] now that these volumes are finished and we are at
liberty once more, we shall ascertain as soon as possible the
feasibility of a grand international conference in New York in
1888, to celebrate the fourth decade of our movement for woman's
enfranchisement. Such conventions have been held by the friends of
anti-slavery, peace, temperance, social purity and evangelical
christianity, and why may not the suffrage cause, too, receive a
new impetus from the united efforts of its friends in all
countries.
On the broad Atlantic for ten days we had many opportunities to
review all we had seen and heard. There we met our noble friends,
Mr. and Mrs. Hussey of New Jersey; also Mrs. Margaret Buchanan
Sullivan of Chicago, just returning from an extended tour in
Ireland, who gave us many of her rich experiences. Sitting on deck
hour after hour, how often I queried with myself as to the
significance of the boon for which women were so earnestly
struggling. In asking for a voice in the government under which we
live, have we been pursuing a shadow for forty years? In seeking
political power, are we abdicating that social throne where they
tell us our influence is unbounded? No! no! the right of suffrage
is no shadow, but a substantial entity that the citizen can seize
and hold for his own protection and his country's welfare. A direct
power over one's own person and property, an individual opinion to
be counted on all questions of public interest, is better than
indirect influence, be it ever so far-reaching.
Though influence, like the pure white light, is all-pervading, yet
it is oft-times obscured with passing clouds and nights of
darkness; like the sun's rays, it may be healthy, genial,
inspiring, though sometimes too direct for comfort, too oblique for
warmth, too scattered for any given purpose. But as the prism by
dividing the rays of light reveals to us the brilliant coloring of
the atmosphere, and as the burning-glass by concentrating them in a
focus intensifies their heat, so does the right of suffrage reveal
the beauty and power of individual sovereignty in the great drama
of national life, while on a vital measure of public interest it
combines the many voices of the people in a grand chorus of protest
or applause.
After an unusually calm, pleasant voyage, for November, we sailed
up our beautiful New York harbor just as the sun was rising in all
his glory, gilding every hill-top and distant spire in the
landscape, and with grateful hearts we celebrated the national
Thanksgiving-day once more with loving friends in the great
Republic.
FOOTNOTES:
[575] He asked me confidentially if I knew what the "D" in his name
stood for. "Why," said I, "in line with your profession, it must be
for 'Divinity,' or 'Doxology.'" "No," said he, "for 'Dynamite.'" As
we were being blown up just then in all parts of London, I begged
him not to explode until Sunday morning in old South Church, as I
would rather see a wreck of the old theologies than of our charming
hostess and Corney Green, who were giving us this pleasant
entertainment.
[576] She says she prefers to be known as the wife of Duncan
McLaren, a member of parliament from Edinburgh for sixteen years,
who always voted right on the woman question, while John Bright is
opposed to the movement.
[577] She occupies the home of an English woman who has taken her
seven children to Germany for their education. How strange it is
that so many parents imagine that they can educate their children
better in a foreign land.
[578] After dinner, while the gentlemen still lingered at the
table, the ladies being alone, an unusual amount of heresy as to
the rights of "the divinely appointed head of the house" found
expression. A young English-woman, who had been brought up in great
retirement, turned to me and said, "I never heard such declarations
before; do you ladies all really believe that God intended men and
women to be equal, and do you really feel that girls have a right
to enjoy as many privileges as boys?" In chorus we all promptly
said, "We do," and I added, "If you will recall all the events of
your life thus far, and your own feelings at times, you will find
that again and again your own heart has protested against the
injustice to which you have been subjected. Now," said I, "think a
little, and see if you can recall no sense of dissatisfaction at
the broad difference made between your sisters and brothers."
"Well," said she, "I did often wonder why father gave the boys half
a crown a week for spending money, and us girls a few pence; why so
much thought and money were expended on their education, and so
little on ours; but as I saw that that was the custom everywhere, I
came to the conclusion that they were a superior order of beings,
and so thought no more about it, and I never heard that theory
contradicted until this evening."
[579] Among these were Mr. and Mrs. Haslam, Mr. Wigham, brother of
Eliza Wigham, and his cultured wife; Hannah Webb, the daughter of
Richard, and Thomas Webb and daughters, in whose old family-record
book of visitors she was shown the autographs of William Lloyd
Garrison and Nathaniel P. Rogers over the date of 1840.
[580] On one occasion I counted fourteen: Miss Risley Seward, Mrs.
Louise Chandler Moulton, Mrs. Laura Curtis Bullard, Miss Rachel
Foster, Mrs. William Mellen and two sons and daughters, Mr.
Theodore Tilton. Miss Anthony, Mrs. Stanton Blatch and myself.
[581] Aside from those already mentioned were William Henry
Channing, L. N. Fowler, the phrenologist, and his daughter; Mrs.
Louise Chandler Moulton, Mrs. Stanton, Mrs. Stanton Blatch, Miss
Anthony, Mrs. Powell, Mrs. Wilson, Mrs. Phillips, several members
from the Bright, the McLaren and the Cobden families, Mrs. Conway,
Miss Emily Faithful, Mr. William Henry Blatch, Mr. Stark, the
artist; Philip Marston, the blind poet; Miss Orme and Miss
Richardson, attorneys-at-law; Judge Kelley, wife and daughter
Florence, Miss Lydia Becker, Miss Caroline Biggs and sisters, Miss
Julia Osgood.
[582] Among the distinguished persons on the platform were Frances
Power Cobbe, Dr. Garrett Anderson, Mrs. Fawcett, Mrs. Jacob Bright,
Mrs. Lucas, Mrs. Thomasson, Mrs. Margaret Parker, Mrs. Alice
Scatcherd, Miss Becker, Miss Biggs, Mrs. Moore, Mr. and Mrs.
Conway, Oscar Wilde and his queenly mother, Charles McLaren, M. P.,
Mrs. Peter A. Taylor, Miss Helen Taylor, Miss Orme, Miss Mueller,
Miss Lord, Miss Foster, Mrs. and Miss Blatch, Mrs. Mellen, Miss Tod
of Belfast, Mrs. Chesson, daughter of George Thompson, the great
anti-slavery orator, and very many others whose names we cannot
recall.
[583] Where we met Mrs. Fawcett, Dr. Garrett Anderson, Sir Hugh
Staples, Mr. Mitchell, the Misses Stackpole and brothers, Madame
Venturi, Miss Biggs and sisters, Miss Frances Lord and her sister,
who is doing a noble work in her kindergarten.
[584] Mrs. Seville, whose husband was a professor at Sandhurst
College, having recently awoke to the indignities the church heaps
upon women, made her protest in discarding her bonnet and appearing
on Sundays with her head uncovered, contrary to Paul's injunctions.
Having thus attended church for two years, involving much criticism
and disturbance, both the vicar and the bishop labored with her to
resume the bonnet, but she remained incorrigible. She read us a
letter of remonstrance from the bishop, over which we all had a
hearty laugh.
[585] The following is the report of the action prepared that
evening by Mrs. Parker: "At a large and influential gathering of
the friends of woman suffrage, at Parliament Terrace, Liverpool,
November 16, 1883, convened by E. Whittle, M. D., to meet Mrs.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Miss Susan B. Anthony prior to their
return to America, it was proposed by Mrs. Margaret E. Parker of
Penketh (near Warrington), seconded by Mrs. McLaren of Edinburgh,
and unanimously passed:
"That this meeting, recognizing that union is strength and that the
time has come when women all over the world should unite in the
just demand for their political enfranchisement; therefore
"_Resolved_, That we do here appoint a committee of correspondence,
preparatory to forming an International Woman Suffrage Association.
"_Resolved_, That the committee consist of the following friends,
with power to add to their number:
"_For the American Center_--Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Miss Susan
B. Anthony, Miss Rachel Foster. _London Center_--Mrs. Peter A.
Taylor, Mrs. Margaret B. Lucas, Miss Helen Taylor, Miss Henrietta
Mueller, Miss Caroline A. Biggs, Mr. and Mrs. Charles McLaren, Miss
Eliza Orme, Miss Rebecca Moore, London; Mrs. Harriot Stanton
Blatch, Basingstoke. _Manchester Center_--Mr. and Mrs. Jacob
Bright, Manchester; Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Thomasson, Bolton; Mrs.
Margaret E. Parker, Penketh; Dr. and Mrs. Whittle, Liverpool; Mrs.
Oliver Scatcherd, Leeds; Mr. and Mrs. Walter McLaren, Bradford;
Mrs. Philips, Liverpool; Mr. and Mrs. Crook, Bolton; Mr. Berners,
Mr. Russell, Liverpool; Miss Becker, Manchester. _Bristol
Center_--Miss Helen Bright Clarke, Street; Mrs. Alfred Ostler,
Birmingham; Miss Priestman, Bristol. _Center for Scotland_--Mrs.
Duncan McLaren, Mrs. Elizabeth Pease Nichol, Miss Eliza Wigham,
Edinburgh. _Center for Ireland_--Miss Tod, Belfast; Mrs. Haslam,
Dublin. _Center for France_--M'lle Hubertine Auclert, Mr. and Mrs.
Theodore Stanton, Charlotte B. Wilbour, Paris.
APPENDIX.
* * * * *
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE CENTENNIAL YEAR.
Among those who sent most cordial letters of greeting, with
requests that their names should be enrolled in the centennial
autograph-book as signers of the woman's declaration of sentiments,
were: _Maine_, Lavinia M. Snow, Lucy A. Snow; _New Hampshire_,
Marilla M. Ricker, Abby P. Ela; _Massachusetts_, E. T. Strickland,
Sarah E. Wall; _Rhode Island_, Paulina Wright Davis; _Connecticut_,
Isabella Beecher Hooker, Frances Ellen Burr, Julia and Abby Smith;
_New York_, Clemence S. Lozier, Henrietta Paine Westbrook, Nettie
A. Ford, Elizabeth B. Phelps, Charlotte A. Cleveland, Elizabeth M.
Atwell; _Pennsylvania_, E. A. Stetson Lozier, Anna Thomson; _New
Jersey_, Ellen Dickinson, S. Mary Clute, Mary M. Van Clief, S. H.
Cornell, Emma L. Wilde, Jennie Dixon, Casa Tonti, Marie Howland,
Lucinda B. Chandler; _District of Columbia_, Addie T. Holton,
Margaret E. Johnson, Sabra P. Abell, Ruth Carr Dennison, Ellen H.
Sheldon, Mary Shadd Cary and ninety-four others, Mary F. Foster,
Susan A. Edson; _Virginia_, Sally Holly, Carrie Putnam; _Kentucky_,
Annie Laurie Quinby; _Tennessee_, Elizabeth Avery Meriwether;
_Louisiana_, Elizabeth Lisle Saxon; _Michigan_, Sarah C. Owen,
Margaret J. E. Millar; _Illinois_, A. J. Grover, Edward P. Powell,
Cynthia A. Leonard, Susan H. Richardson; _Missouri_, Francis Minor,
Annie R. Irvine; _California_, Sarah L. Knox, Sarah J. Wallis,
Carrie M. Robinson, Mary E. Kellogg, Georgiana Bruce Kirby;
_Oregon_, Mrs. A. J. Johns, Eveline Merrick Roork, Charles A. Reed;
_Washington Territory_, Mary Olney Brown, Abby H. H. Stuart; _Utah
Territory_, Annie Godbe; _Iowa_, Amelia Bloomer, Submit C. Loomis,
Philo A. Lyon and seventy-five others of Humboldt, Jane A. Telker,
Nancy R. Allen, Margaret Euart Colby, Mrs. Ellen M. Robinson, Mrs.
G. R. Woodworth, Mrs. W. W. Johnson, Mrs. Caroline A. Ingham, Mrs.
Mabel A. Stough, Mrs. R. H. Spencer, Mrs. J. W. Kenyon, Mrs. A. M.
Horton, Miss L. T. Dood, Mary L. Watson, Mrs. Sarah A. McCoy, Mrs.
J. J. Wilson, Mrs. F. L. Calkins, Mrs. L. H. Smith, Mrs. Emma C.
Spear, Mrs. M. L. Burlingame, Mrs. G. W. Blanchard, Mrs. D. L.
Ford, Mrs. E. C. Buffam, Mrs. Cora A. Jones, Mrs. Clara M. Wilson;
_Wisconsin_, Laura Ross Wolcott, M. Josephine Pearce, Eliza T.
Wilson, H. S. Brown; _Minnesota_, Sarah Burger Stearns; _Kansas_,
Susan E. Wattles, Elsie Stewart, Henrietta L. Miller, Lottie
Griffin, Jane M. Burke, Malura Hickson, Elsie J. Miller;
_Colorado_, Alida C. Avery; _Ohio_, Sarah R. L. Williams, Margaret
V. Longley; _England_, Lydia E. Becker, Caroline A. Biggs, Jessie
M. Wellstood.
* * * * *
CHAPTER XXX.
CONSTITUTION OF THE NATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
ARTICLE 1. This organization shall be called the NATIONAL WOMAN
SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION.
ARTICLE 2. The object of this Association shall be to secure
NATIONAL Protection for women in the exercise of their right to
vote.
ARTICLE 3. All citizens of the United States subscribing to this
Constitution, and contributing not less than one dollar annually,
shall be considered members of the Association, with the right to
participate in its deliberations.
ARTICLE 4. The officers of this Association shall be a President, a
Vice-President from each of the States and Territories,
Corresponding and Recording Secretaries, a Treasurer and an
Executive Committee of not less than five.
ARTICLE 5. A quorum of the Executive Committee shall consist of
nine, and all officers of this Association shall be _ex-officio_
members of the committee, with power to vote.
ARTICLE 6. All woman suffrage societies throughout the country
shall be welcomed as auxiliaries, and their accredited officers or
duly appointed representatives shall be recognized as members of
the National Association.
OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION, 1886.
_President_--Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Tenafly, N. J.
_Vice-Presidents-at-Large_--Susan B. Anthony, Rochester, N. Y.;
Matilda Joslyn Gage, Fayetteville, N. Y.; Rev. Olympia Brown,
Racine, Wis.; Phoebe W. Couzins, St. Louis, Mo.; Abigail Scott
Duniway, Portland, Ore.
_Honorary Vice-Presidents_--Ernestine L. Rose, London, England;
Priscilla Holmes Drake, Huntsville, Ala.; Mrs. Perry Spear, Eureka
Springs, Ark.; Sarah. J. Wallis, Mayfield; Sarah Knox Goodrich, San
Jose, Cal.; Mary F. Shields, Colorado Springs, Col.; Rev. Phebe A.
Hanaford, New Haven, Conn.; Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes, Sioux Falls,
Dak. Ter.; Rosina M. Parnell, Susan A. Edson, M. D., Ellen M.
O'Connor, Washington, D. C.; Catherine V. Waite, Myra Bradwell,
Chicago, Ill.; Zerelda G. Wallace, Indianapolis; Eliza Hamilton,
Fort Wayne, Ind.; Amelia Bloomer, Council Bluffs; Mary V. Cowgill,
West Liberty, Ia.; Prudence Crandall Philleo, Elk Falls; Mary T.
Gray, Wyandotte; Mary A. Humphrey, Junction City, Kan.; Elizabeth
H. Duval, Rinaldo, Ky.; Ann T. Greeley, Ellsworth; Lucy A. Snow,
Rockland, Me.; Anna Ella Carroll, Baltimore, Md.; Sarah E. Wall,
Worcester; Paulina Gerry, Stoneham, Mass.; Catherine A. F.
Stebbins, Detroit, Mich.; Charlotte O. Van Cleve, Minneapolis,
Minn.; Caroline Johnson Todd, St. Louis, Mo.; Harriet S. Brooks,
Omaha, Neb.; Eliza E. Morrill, Sarah H. Pillsbury, Concord; Mary
Powers Filley, North Haverhill, N. H.; Sarah G. Hurn, Vineland;
Delia Stewart Parnell, Bordentown, N. J.; Clemence S. Lozier, M.
D., New York; Amy Post, Rochester; Sarah H. Hallock, Milton; Mary
R. Pell, Flushing, N. Y.; Elizabeth Oakes Smith, Hollywood, N. C.;
Sophia O. Allen, South Newbury; Sarah R. L. Williams, Toledo;
Louise Southworth, Cleveland, O.; Harriet W. Williams, Portland,
Ore.; M. Adeline Thomson, Philadelphia, Penn.; Catherine C.
Knowles, East Greenwich; Elizabeth B. Chace, Valley Falls, R. I.;
Elizabeth Van Lew, Richmond, Va.; Mary Olney Brown, Abbie H. H.
Stuart, Olympia, Wash. Ter.; Laura Ross Wolcott, Milwaukee; Emma C.
Bascom, Madison, Wis.
_Vice-Presidents_--Caroline M. Patterson, Harrison, Ark.; Ellen
Clarke Sargent, San Francisco, Cal.; Mrs. L. J. Terry, Pueblo,
Col.; Isabella Beecher Hooker, Hartford, Conn.; Marietta M. Bones,
Webster City, Dak.; Mary A. Stewart, Greenwood, Del.; Ruth C.
Dennison, Washington, D. C.; Mrs. C. B. S. Wilcox, Interlachen,
Fla.; Althea L. Lord, Savannah, Ga.; Dr. Jennie Bearby, Mountain
Home, Idaho; Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Evanston, Ill.; Helen M.
Gougar, Lafayette, Ind.; Jane Amy McKinney, Decorah, Ia.; Laura M.
Johns, Salina Kan.; Mary B. Clay, Richmond, Ky.; Caroline E.
Merrick, New Orleans, La.; Sophronia C. Snow, Hampden Corners, Me.;
Caroline Hallowell Miller, Sandy Spring, Md.; Harriette R.
Shattuck, Malden, Mass.; Fannie Holden Fowler, Manistee, Mich.;
Sarah Burger Stearns, Duluth, Minn.; Olivia Fitzhugh, Vicksburg,
Miss.; Virginia L. Minor, St. Louis, Mo.; Clara Bewick Colby,
Beatrice, Neb.; Maria H. Boardman, Reno, Nev.; Ada M. Jarrett,
Magdalena, N. Mex.; Marilla M. Ricker, Dover, N. H.; Cornelia C.
Hussey, East Orange, N. J.; Lillie Devereux Blake, New York, N. Y.;
Mary Bayard Clarke, New Berne, N. C.; Frances D. Casement,
Painesville, O.; Harriette A. Loughary, McMinneville, Ore.; Matilda
Hindman, Pittsburgh, Penn.; Anna S. Aldrich, Providence, R. I.;
Elizabeth Lisle Saxon, Memphis, Tenn.; Jennie Bland Beauchamp,
Denton, Tex.; Jennie A. Froiseth, Salt Lake City, Utah; Lydia
Putnam, Brattleboro', Vt.; Mrs. Roger S. Greene, Seaettle, Wash.
Ter.: Alura C. Collins, Milwaukee, Wis.; Amalia B. Post, Cheyenne,
Wyoming.