Volume III Part 87 (1/2)
Hon. Frank Sanborn, in his annual report to the American Social Science a.s.sociation, mentioned the formation of a branch society[370] in this State. He said:
Like the State Charities Aid a.s.sociation of New York, which was organized and is directed by women, the Illinois a.s.sociation devotes itself chiefly to practical applications of social science, though in a somewhat different direction.
It was formed in October, 1877, with a members.h.i.+p of some two hundred women; it publishes a monthly newspaper, _The Illinois Social Science Journal_, full of interesting communications, and it has organized in its first seven months' existence eight smaller a.s.sociations in other States.
The enthusiasm in this society branching out in so many practical directions, absorbed for a time the energies of the Illinois women. Our members.h.i.+p reached 400. This may account for the apparent lethargy of the Suffrage a.s.sociation during the years of 1877-78. Caroline F. Corbin dealt an effective blow in her novel, ent.i.tled ”Rebecca; or, A Woman's Secret.” Jane Grey Swisshelm, with trenchant pen, wrote earnest strictures against the shams of society. Elizabeth Holt Babbitt wrote earnestly for all reform movements. Myra Bradwell persistently held up to the view of the legislators of the State the injustice of the laws for woman. Mrs. Julia Mills Dunn and Mrs. Hannah J. Coffee were doing quiet but most effective work in Henry county. Miss Eliza Bowman was consecrating her young womanhood to the care of the Foundlings' Home. Mrs. Wardner, Mrs. Candee, Mrs. George, and other women in the southern part of the State, were founding the library at Cairo, while in every village and hamlet clubs for study or philanthropic work were being organized. Mrs. Kate N.
Doggett, as president of the a.s.sociation for the advancement of Women, was lending her influence to the formation of art clubs.
And all this in addition to the vast army of faithful teachers, represented by Sarah B. Raymond, Professor Louisa Allen Gregory and Mary C. Larned. Mrs. Louise Rockwood Wardner, president of the Illinois Industrial School for Girls, and the n.o.ble band of women a.s.sociated with her, were earnestly at work in the endeavor to secure to the vagrant girls of the State an industrial education. Miss Frances E. Willard and the dauntless army of temperance workers were pet.i.tioning for the right to vote on all questions pertaining to the liquor traffic.
Meanwhile many of the members of the Illinois Social Science a.s.sociation were beginning to realize that every measure proposed for progressive action was thwarted because of woman's inability to crystallize her opinions into law. This has been the uniform experience in every department of reform, and sooner or later all thinking women see plainly that the direct influence secured by political power gives weight and dignity to their words and wishes. Mrs. Jane Graham Jones, ex-president of the State a.s.sociation, continued her effective work in Europe, and, as a delegate from the National a.s.sociation, prepared the following address of welcome to the International Congress, convened in Paris, July 5, 1878:
Friends, compatriots, and confreres of the International Congress a.s.sembled to discuss the rights of women: Allow me to extend to you the congratulations of the National Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation of America, which I have the honor to represent. I congratulate you upon this important, this sublime moment, this auspicious place for the meeting of a woman's congress. Paris, gorgeous under the grand monarch who surrounded his royal person with a splendid galaxy of beauty, genius, and chivalry; attractive and influential under the great emperor whose meteoric genius held spell-bound the wondering gaze of a world; to-day, with neither king nor court, nor man of destiny, is grander, more gorgeous, more beautiful and more influential than ever before. To-day this is the shrine toward which the pilgrims from every land turn their impatient steps.
Each balmy breeze comes to us heavily laden with the dialects of all nations. Not only are the different parts represented in their economic and industrial products, but each thought, idea, motive and need is brought before the world in the various congresses a.s.sembled during this great union festival of liberty, peace and labor. Literature, science, religion, education, philosophy, and labor, each has had its eloquent advocates. At this time, when the great ones of the earth are met together in earnest thought and honest discussion, when each mind and conscience is attuned to the highest motive, how appropriate that woman, whose labor, wealth and brain have cemented the stones in every monument that man has reared to himself; that woman, the oppressed, woman, the hater of wars, the faithful, quiet drudge of the centuries, watching while others slept, working while others plundered and murdered; woman, who has died in prison and on the scaffold for liberty, should here and now have her audience and her advocates.
As a child of America I love and venerate France. We cannot forget LaFayette, although a hundred years have pa.s.sed since generous France sent him to our aid in our great struggle for freedom. But as a woman I glory in her. [Great and deafening applause.] All true women love and honor France.
[At this point the reader was interrupted with wild cries of ”Bravo! bravo!” ”Live America!” ”True, true.”] France, in whose prolific soil great and progressive ideas generate and take root, in spite of king, emperor, priest or tyrant; France, the protectress of science, art, and philosophy; France, the home of the scholar and thinker; France, the asylum which generously received the women who came hither seeking those intellectual advantages and privileges cruelly denied them at home; France, that compelled republican America and civilized England to open their educational inst.i.tutions to women; France, the birth-place of a host of women whose splendid genius, devoted lives, and heroic deaths have encouraged and inspired women of other lands in their struggles to strike off the ignominious shackles which the ages have riveted upon them! [Loud applause.] How apropos it is, then, that the women from all nations meet on the free soil of France to give to the world their declaration of rights. To-day we clasp hands and pledge hearts to the sacred cause of woman's emanc.i.p.ation. To-day we meet to thank France for the grand women whose lofty utterances come echoing and reechoing to us through the corridors of time, and to thank her for her great men who have been the beacon lights to guide the world to higher civilization and greater hatred of oppression. In the name of my great countrywomen, inaugurators and leaders of the woman's rights movement in America, the eloquent and ardent advocates of liberty for men and women alike, both black and white; in the name of the officers of the National Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation; in the name of those grand women, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony, I salute the women of France and of the world a.s.sembled in this congress, and bid them G.o.d-speed. When we call to mind what has been accomplished by n.o.ble women everywhere, we are encouraged to renewed effort.
In America we have accomplished wonders, and yet we demand more; and shall continue to demand until we are equal in the state, in the church, and in the home. Twenty years ago woman entered our courts of law only as a criminal to be tried; now she enters as an advocate to plead the cause of justice, and invoke the spirit of mercy. Twenty years ago woman entered the sick room only as the poorly-paid nurse; now she is the trusted medical adviser, friend and counsellor. To-day she is in many respects the peer of man, to-morrow she will be in all respects his acknowledged equal. [Great and continued applause.]
Who can measure the influence this congress may have on woman's advancement toward that perfect equality which justice and humanity demand. Women of France and of the world, be of good cheer, and continue to agitate for the right, for in the elevation of woman lies the progress of the world. [Deafening applause, and cries of hear, hear.]
A letter to the Chicago _Times_ commenting upon the above address says:
Mrs. Jones being indisposed, was replaced momentarily by her daughter, a beautiful young lady of about sixteen summers, who read the opening address of her mother; her rich voice p.r.o.nouncing with such distinctness and beauty, the earnest words, translated into French, won all hearts, and gave to the opening of the congress such a prestige as it would otherwise never have had. After its close, Miss Jones regained her seat amidst the hearty congratulations of the throng a.s.sembled in that great hall, and I was proud of our little American. Her beauty and courage, coupled with her extreme youth, were the princ.i.p.al topics discussed during the day by outsiders. I was thankful that our nation was so well represented at the very first meeting, and the Parisian journals were all loud in their praise of Mrs. Jones'
welcoming address, as well as the charming apparition of her young and accomplished daughter.
As indicating the numerous lines along which woman's aroused energies have found expression, we would call attention to the Art Union of central Illinois. It is composed of nine societies, ”The Historical,” and ”The Palladium,” of Bloomington; the art cla.s.s at Decatur; ”Art Society,” of Lincoln; ”Art a.s.sociation,”
of Jacksonville; ”Art Society,” of Peoria; ”Art Society,” of Springfield, and ”Art Club,” of Champagne. Mrs. Lavilla Wyatt Latham, wife of Col. Robert G. Latham, of Lincoln, was the originator of the Art Union. Their s.p.a.cious home, built with large piazzas in true southern style, is a museum of curiosities.
Its library, cabinet, pictures, and statuary, make it a most attractive harbor of rest to the wandering band of lecturers, especially as the cultivated host and hostess are in warm sympathy with all reform movements. Mr. Latham was a warm friend of Abraham Lincoln, and entertained him many times under his roof.
The _Woman's Journal_ of March 24, 1877, said:
Seventy women of Illinois, appointed by the Woman's State Temperance Union, went to the legislature, bearing a pet.i.tion signed by 7,000 persons, asking that no licenses to sell liquor be granted, which are not asked for by a majority of the citizens of the place.
Mr. SHERMAN moved a suspension of the rules to admit of the presentation of the pet.i.tion.
Mr. MERRITT objected, but, by a decided vote, the rules were suspended, and the pet.i.tion was received and read.
Mr. SHERMAN moved that Mrs. Prof. S. M. D. Fry of Wesleyan University of Bloomington, be invited to address the House upon the subject of the pet.i.tion.
Mr. HERRINGTON objected to the obtrusion of such trifling matter upon the House, which had business to do. It was well enough to let the pet.i.tion be received, but he wanted n.o.body to be allowed to interfere with the business of the House.
Referring to some forty or fifty ladies of the Union who had been admitted to the floor of the House, he wanted to know by what authority persons not ent.i.tled to the privilege of the floor had been admitted. He insisted on his prerogative as a member, and asked that the floor and lobbies be cleared of all persons not ent.i.tled to the privilege of the House.
According to the Chicago _Tribune_, this speech of Herrington created a slight sensation, among the ladies especially, but Mr. Herrington's demand was ignored, and a recess of thirty minutes was taken to allow Mrs. Fry to address the House in support of the pet.i.tion, which she did in a speech put in very telling phrases. At its conclusion, some of the members opposed to temperance legislation, signalized their ill-breeding, to say the least, by derisive yells for Mr. Herrington and others to answer Mrs. Fry.
Presently the hall was resonant with yells and cheers, converting it into a a very babel, and the hubbub was kept up until, at the expiration of the half-hour recess, Speaker Shaw called ”order” and the House immediately adjourned.
If any body of men bearing a pet.i.tion of 7,000 voting men, had gone to the same legislature, and by courtesy been admitted to speak for their pet.i.tion, no member would have dared to insult them. It is because they had no recognized political rights that these women were insulted. Claim your right, ladies, to be equal members of the legislature, then you can enact temperance laws, and have an unquestioned right ”to the privilege of the floor.”
In 1879, under the lead of their president, Frances E. Willard, the women of Illinois rolled up a mammoth pet.i.tion of 180,000, asking the right to vote on the question of license. This prayer, like that of the 7,000, met the fate of all attempts of disfranchised cla.s.ses to influence legislation. Following this repulse, in some ten or fifteen of the smaller cities of the State, boards of common council were prevailed upon to pa.s.s ordinances giving the women the right to vote on the question.