Volume III Part 70 (1/2)

[263] PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 10, 1870.--The formal opening of Swarthmore College took place this afternoon, when a large number of its friends were conveyed thither in a special train on the Westchester railroad. The audience a.s.sembled in the lecture room, where addresses were delivered by Samuel Willets and John D. Hyoks, of New York, Edward Parrish, president of the college, Wm. Dorsey, and Lucretia Mott. It was stated that the amount spent in land and buildings amounted to $205,000 and contributions were solicited for $100,000 additional to fully furnish the building, and supply a library, philosophical and astronomical apparatus. The building is a ma.s.sive one of five stories, constructed of Pennsylvania granite, and appointed throughout, from dormitory, bathroom, recitation-hall, to parlor, kitchen and laundry, in the most refined and substantial taste. It is 400 feet in length, by 100 deep, presenting two wings for the dormitories of the male and female students respectively, and a central part devoted to parlor, library, public hall, etc. Especially interesting in this division of the college is a room devoted to Quaker antiquities, comprising portraits and writings of the founders of the sect. Among them we notice the treaty of William Penn, a picture of the treaty a.s.sembly, a letter of George Fox, etc. The college opens with 180 pupils, about equally divided between the s.e.xes, the system of instruction being a joint education of boys and girls, though each occupy separate wings of the building. The inst.i.tution was built by the Hicksite branch of the Society of Friends, but the pupils are not confined to members of that persuasion.

[264] The speakers at this convention were Lucretia Mott, Frances Dana Gage, Wendell Phillips, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B.

Anthony, Edward M. Davis, Robert Purvis, Aaron M. Powell. The officers of the society were: _President_, Robert Purvis; _Vice-presidents_, Lucretia Mott, William Whipper, Dinah Mendenhall; _Recording Secretary_, Mary B. Lightfoot; _Corresponding Secretary_, Frances B. Jackson; _Treasurer_, John K.

Wildman; _Executive Committee_, William Still, Ellen M. Child, Harriet Purvis, Elisha Meaner, Octavius Catts, Sarah S. Hawkins, Sarah Pugh, Clementina Johns, Alfred H. Love, Louisa J. Roberts, Jay Chapel.

[265] J. K. Wildman, Miss A. Ramborger, Clementina L. John, Ellen M. Child, and Pa.s.smore Williamson.

[266] _President_, Mary Grew; _Vice-Presidents_, Edward M. Davis, Mrs. C. A. Farrington, Mary K. Williamson; _Recording Secretary_, Annie Heac.o.c.k; _Corresponding Secretary_, Eliza Sproat Turner; _Treasurer_, Gulielma M. S. P. Jones; _Executive Committee_, John K. Wildman, Ellen M. Child, Annie Shoemaker, Charlotte L. Pierce, and Dr. Henry T. Child.

[267] Among those who addressed the members of the convention were Bishop Matthew Simpson, Rev. Charles G. Ames, f.a.n.n.y B. Ames, Mary Grew, Sarah C. Hallowell, Matilda Hindman, Elizabeth S. Bladen and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

[268] Among the men who spoke for woman's enfranchis.e.m.e.nt were John M. Broomall, John M. Campbell, Lewis C. Ca.s.sidy, Benjamin L.

Temple, Levi Rooke, George F. Horton, H. W. Palmer, William Darlington, Harry White, Frank Mantor, Thomas MacConnell, Henry Carter, Thomas E. Cochran. In addition to those who spoke, those who voted _yes_ are John E. Add.i.c.ks, William H. Ainey, William D.

Baker, Charles O. Bowman, Charles Brodhead, George N. Corson, David Craig, Matthew Edwards, J. Gillingham Tell, Thomas Howard, Edward C. Knight, George Lear, John S. Mann, H. W. Patterson, T. H. B.

Patton, Thomas Struthers, John W. F. White.

[269] _Ayes_--William Styles, William McLain, clerks in the water department; A. W. Lyman, clerk in the custom-house; M. C. Coppeck, clerk in the highway department, who was defeated by one of the ladies for school directors.h.i.+p; John B. Green, a member of the board of education; John Buckley, clerk in the post-office; Theodore Canfield, sergeant of police; John Murray, contractor of the highway department; George W. Schrack, an ex-clerk, lately resigned from the tax receiver's office; Daniel T. Smith, ex-detective; Asher W. Dewees, Oliver Bowler, Mr. Agnew, Ezra Lukens, clerk in the United States a.s.sistant treasurer's office, president of the Republican Invincibles, candidate last year against Mr. Jonathan Pugh for commissioner of city property, and a candidate for the same office next year; William B. Elliott, collector of internal revenue; Charles M. Carpenter, alderman, who signed Mrs. Paist's certificate; Jackson Keyser, an employe in the navy yard; Alfred Ruhl, clerk in the custom-house; Mr. Jones, and Henry C. Dunlap, who is Republican candidate for common council--20. _Nays_--James W. Sayre, Joseph B. Ridge, Samuel Caldwell, Dr. Charles Hooker, John E. Lane, Lewis Bogy, John Mansfield. Daniel Rieff, William Githens, Thomas Evans, George Schimpf and F. Theodore Walton--12. So the resolution was carried by 20 yeas to 12 nays.

[270] Their modest home at 114 North Eleventh street has long been a hospitable retreat for reformers, where many of us identified with the suffrage movement have been most courteously entertained.

Anna and Adeline Thomson after long lives of industry have been, too, the steadfast representatives of great principles in religious and political freedom, always giving freely of their means to the unpopular reforms of their day and generation.--[E. C. S.

[271] The Executive Board of the New Century Club for 1879-1880, was: _President_, Mrs. Eliza S. Turner; _Vice-Presidents_, Mrs.

Emily W. Taylor, Mrs. S. C. F. Hallowell; Mrs. Henry C. Townsend, Mrs. Aubrey H. Smith; _Corresponding Secretary_, Miss Louise Stockton; _Recording Secretary_, Miss Anna C. Bliss; _Treasurer_, Mrs. Charlotte L. Pierce; _Directors_, Mrs. Susan I. Lesley, Mrs.

Henry Cohen, Mrs. Huldah Justice, Miss Emily Sartain, Miss Mary Grew, Mrs. S. B. F. Greble, Mrs. M. W. Coggins, Miss Mary A.

Burnham, Mrs. Ellison L. Perot, Mrs. Thomas Roberts. Others names found in its annual report as contributing to the efficiency of the club are: Mrs. Fannie B. Ames, Miss Grace Anna Lewis, Mrs. Emma J.

Bartol, Mrs. E. L. Head, Miss Mary C. c.o.xe, Mrs. Charlotte L.

Pierce, Madam Emma Seiler, Miss Amanda L. Dods, Miss Lelia Patridge, Miss Lily Ray, Miss Ella Cole, Mrs. Susan I. Lesley, Mrs.

E. C. Mayer, Miss Bennett, Mlle. Fra.s.son. The work of the club has its divisions of science, literature, art, music, entertainment, cooking, hospitalities, charities, employment for women, legal protection for working women, prisons and reformatory inst.i.tutions.

[272] See Chapter 30 for an account of this Philadelphia convention.

[273] The _yeas_ were as follows: Messrs. Ayers, Barnes, Blackford, Boyer, Boyle, Brooks, W. C. Brown, I. B. Brown, J. L. Brown, Brosius, Burnite, Burchfield, Chadwick, Coburn, E. L. Davis, Deveney, Duggan, Eckels, Ellsworth, Emery, Fetters, Gahan, Gardner, Gavitt, Gentner, Glenn, Grier, G. W. Hall, F. Hall, A. W. Hayes, Hines, Higgins, Hoofnagle, Hulings, Hughes, Jenkins, Klein, Kavanaugh, Landis, Lafferty, Merry, B. B. Mitch.e.l.l, S. N. Mitch.e.l.l, Millor, Molineaux, A. H. Morgan, W. D. Morgan, J. W. Morrison, E.

Morrison, Myton, McCabe, McClaran, Neill, Neeley, Nelson, Nesbit, Nicholson, Parkinson, Powell, Romig, Schwartz, Short, Sinex, Sloc.u.m, J. Smith, Sneeringer, Snodgra.s.s, Stees, Sterett, Stewart, Stubbs, Sweeney, Trant, Vanderslice, Vaughn, Vogdes, Wayne and Ziegler--78.

CHAPTER x.x.xIX.

NEW JERSEY.

Women Voted in the Early Days--Deprived of the Right by Legislative Enactment in 1807--Women Demand the Restoration of Their Rights in 1868--At the Polls in Vineland and Roseville Park--Lucy Stone Agitates the Question--State Suffrage Society Organized in 1867--Conventions--A Memorial to the Legislature--Mary F. Davis--Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford--Political Science Club--Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey--Orange Club, 1870--July 4, 1874, Mrs. Devereux Blake Gives the Oration--Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell's Letter--The Laws of New Jersey in Regard to Property and Divorce--Const.i.tutional Commission, 1873--Trial of Rev. Isaac M. See--Women Preaching in His Pulpit--The Case Appealed--Mrs.

Jones, Jailoress--Legislative Hearings.

New Jersey was the only State that, in adopting her first const.i.tution, recognized woman's right to suffrage which she had exercised during the colonial days, and from time immemorial in the mother country. The fact that she was deprived of this right from 1807 to 1840 by a legislative enactment, while the const.i.tution secured it,[274] proves that the power of the legislature, composed of representatives from the people, was considered at that early day to be above the State const.i.tution. If, then, the legislature could abridge the suffrage, it must have the power to extend it, and all the women of this State should demand is an act of the legislature. They need not wait for the slow process of a const.i.tutional amendment submitted to the popular vote. In 1868, in harmony with a general movement in many other States, the women of New Jersey began to demand the restoration of their ancient rights.

The following is from _The Revolution_ of November 19, 1868, written by Elizabeth A. Kingsbury:

VINELAND, N. J., Nov. 5, 1868.

At a meeting of women, held the week before election, a unanimous vote was taken that we would go to the polls. John Gage, chairman of the Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation of Vineland, called a meeting, and though the day was an inclement one, there was a good attendance. A number of earnest men as well as women addressed the audience. Among them were Colonel Moss of Missouri, and James M. Scovel of Camden, State senator, who strengthened us by their words of earnest eloquence. At 7:30 A. M., November 3, John and Portia Gage and myself entered Union Hall, where the judges of election had already established themselves for the day. Instead of occupying the center of the platform, they had taken one side of it, apparently for the purpose of leaving us room on the other. We seated ourselves in chairs brought for the occasion, when one gentleman placed a small table for our use. Another inquired if we were comfortable and the room sufficiently warm.