Volume II Part 112 (1/2)
MY DEAR MRS. STONE:--My regret at not being able to attend the meetings of the American Suffrage a.s.sociation this year, is not consoled by the pleasure of expressing, by letter, my warmest sympathy with their objects; but, if we can not do the thing we would, we must do the next best thing to it.
To say that I believe in womanhood suffrage with my whole head and heart, is very imperfectly to express the eagerness with which I hope for it, and the confidence with which I expect it. It will come, as other right things come, because it is right. But those forces which ”make for righteousness”
make haste slowly. Do we not often trip up ourselves in our pilgrimage toward truth, by attributing our own sense of hunger and hurry and heat to the fullness and leisure and calm in which the object of our pa.s.sionate search moves forward to meet us? There is something very significant to the student of progress, in the history of the forerunners of revolutions. Their eager confidence in their own immediate success, their pathetic bewilderment at the mystery of their apparent failures, are rich with suggestion to any one who means work for an unpopular cause. No reform marches evenly to its consummation. If it does not meet apparent overthrow, it must step at times with the uneasiness of what George Eliot would call its ”growing pains.” But growing pains are not death-throes. In the name of growth and decay let us be exact in our diagnosis!
I have fallen into this train of thought, because there seems to have been a concerted and deliberate attempt, this past year, on the part of certain of those opposed to the thorough elevation of women, to a.s.sert that our influence is distinctly losing ground. Irresponsible a.s.sertion is the last refuge of the force whose arguments have fallen off in the fray, and ”unconscious annihilation” is as yet a very agreeable condition. It might be replied, in the language of the hymn-book:
”If this be death, 'Tis sweet to die!”
Perhaps to the onlookers this has not been one of our fast years. No one actually engaged in the struggle to improve the condition of women can for an instant doubt that it has been a strong one. A silent, sure awakening of women to their own needs is taking place on every hand; and it is becoming evident that until the ma.s.ses of women are thus awakened, the movement to enfranchise them must not antic.i.p.ate any very vivid successes. Let us be content if our strength runs for a time to the making of muscle, not to the trial of speed.
I am, Madam, very sincerely, ELIZABETH STUART PHELPS.
CONCORD, Oct. 1, 1873.
DEAR MRS. STONE:--I am so busy just now proving ”woman's right to labor,” that I have no time to help prove ”woman's right to vote.”
When I read your note aloud to the family, asking ”What shall I say to Mrs. Stone?” a voice from the transcendental mist which usually surrounds my honored father instantly replied, ”Tell her you are ready to follow her as leader, sure that you could not have a better one.” My brave old mother, with the ardor of many unquenchable Mays s.h.i.+ning in her face, cried out, ”Tell her I am seventy three, but I mean to go to the polls before I die, even if my three daughters have to carry me.” And two little men, already mustered in, added the cheering words, ”Go ahead, Aunt Weedy, we will let you vote as much as ever you like.”
Such being the temper of the small Convention of which I am now president, I can not hesitate to say that though I may not be with you in body, I shall be in spirit, and am as ever, hopefully and heartily yours,
LOUISA MAY ALCOTT.
Letters from William Lloyd Garrison and Lydia Maria Child were also read, expressing deep sympathy and hope for the cause.
Mr. BLACKWELL, as Chairman of the Business Committee, reported the resolutions, of which the last was:
6. _Resolved_, That the woman suffrage movement, like every other reform of the age, laments the loss and honors the memory of its most powerful advocate, John Stuart Mill.
MATILDA J. HINDMAN, of Pittsburgh, made an address explaining the origin of the movement for woman suffrage, a.s.serting its verity and necessity. She gave many reasons for woman's needing the ballot.
Mrs. LUCY STONE gave instances of oppressive laws with reference to statutes relative to widows which are in force in some New England States, and which bear very hard upon women because they can not vote.
Mrs. ABBA G. WOOLSON, of Ma.s.sachusetts, author of ”Woman in American Society,” gave an exceedingly interesting description of her tour through Wyoming, her hour and a half conversation in the cars with Gov. Campbell, whose testimony was positive in favor of all the new privileges given to women, by which Wyoming has distinguished herself. Mrs. Woolson came home happy to have for the first time set her foot on Republican soil; ”for,” said she, ”no State in the Union is a republic, but it is to me an absolute monarchy.”
Rev. CELIA BURLEIGH, demonstrated that this Government is not a republic, but an aristocracy so long as the suffrage is denied to woman.
Mrs. MARY A. LIVERMORE found much encouragement for the cause in various signs of the times. She would have women act as if they already bore the responsibilities of voters; would have them put off frivolity and every other cause of offense to opponents, and put on a soberness of spirit and a gracious gravity of mien as behooved those in whose hearts a great work lay. She exhorted them to remember that they were not arrayed against men as foes, but that they were working with fathers, brothers, husbands and sons for the best interests of the whole race.
An audience of at least 1,200 persons was present at the closing session.
The following letter from Miriam M. Cole was read:
OTTERBEIN UNIVERSITY, WESTERVILLE, O., Oct. 4, 1873.
DEAR MR. BLACKWELL--Much as I wish to be with you the 13th and 14th, I can not. My work in the University can not be given to another, and I have no right to leave it undone. I hope your meeting will be profitable and successful. It is said, ”Interest in woman suffrage is dying out.” This is not true, so far as I know. There is more sober, candid talk on the subject in private circles, here in Ohio, than ever before. Our students in the University are asking questions, with a desire for intelligent answers, and at home, in Sydney, before I left, many experienced politicians confessed it to be the one thing needful. I am sure it is gaining ground among our quiet, sensible people. The stir may not be so demonstrative in cities as formerly, but through the country there is a general awakening. If we can only have patience to wait, we shall not be disappointed.
Right, sooner or later, will come into its kingdom. Women are no longer children to be frightened by imaginary bears, neither will they be satisfied with playthings, who ask for better. The distance between men and women is lessening every year. Colleges are bringing them on to the same plane, and the agitation of this question of woman's right to a voice in the government, has given and is giving men new ideas respecting the strength of woman's intellect and her determination to be more than a doll in this busy world.
Whether we are made voting citizens or not, let no man beguile himself with the thought that the old order of things will be restored. They who step into light and freedom will not retrace their steps. This end is equality, civil, religious and political--there is no stopping-place this side of that. My best wishes are with you and yours.
MIRIAM M. COLE.
Miss HULDAH B. LOUD, of East Abington, Ma.s.s., was the first speaker: Scorned by the Democrats and fawned upon by the Republicans, who profess but to betray, under these circ.u.mstances we come again to the fight. We believe in liberty in the highest degree, such liberty as our fathers fought for, and this struggle will go on until that liberty is gained; liberty is the pursuit of life, health, and happiness. We look in vain for honesty in political life. We turn in disgust from the meaningless plat.i.tudes of the Republican Convention at Worcester, from the incidental admission of a plank in the platform which means nothing.