Eighty Years and More; Reminiscences 1815-1897
She was uniformly in favor of toning down our fiery pronunciamentos. For
Miss Anthony and myself, the English language had no words strong enough
to express the indignation we felt at the prolonged injustice to women.
We found, however, that, after expressing ourselves in the most vehement
manner and thus in a measure giving our feelings an outlet, we were
reconciled to issue the documents in milder terms. If the men of the
State could have known the stern rebukes, the denunciations, the wit,
the irony, the sarcasm that were garnered there, and then judiciously
pigeonholed and milder and more persuasive appeals substituted, they
would have been truly thankful that they fared no worse.
Senator Seward frequently left Washington to visit in our neighborhood,
at the house of Judge G.V. Sackett, a man of wealth and political
influence. One of the Senator's standing anecdotes, at dinner, to
illustrate the purifying influence of women at the polls, which he
always told with great zest for my especial benefit, was in regard to
the manner in which his wife's sister exercised the right of suffrage.
He said: "Mrs. Worden having the supervision of a farm near Auburn, was
obliged to hire two or three men for its cultivation. It was her custom,
having examined them as to their capacity to perform the required labor,
their knowledge of tools, horses, cattle, and horticulture, to inquire
as to their politics. She informed them that, being a widow and having
no one to represent her, she must have Republicans to do her voting and
to represent her political opinions, and it always so happened that the
men who offered their services belonged to the Republican party. I
remarked to her, one day, 'Are you sure your men vote as they promise?'
'Yes,' she replied, 'I trust nothing to their discretion. I take them in
my carriage within sight of the polls and put them in charge of some
Republican who can be trusted. I see that they have the right tickets
and then I feel sure that I am faithfully represented, and I know I am
right in so doing. I have neither husband, father, nor son; I am
responsible for my own taxes; am amenable to all the laws of the State;
must pay the penalty of my own crimes if I commit any; hence I have the
right, according to the principles of our government, to representation,
and so long as I am not permitted to vote in person, I have a right to
do so by proxy; hence I hire men to vote my principles.'"
These two sisters, Mrs. Worden and Mrs. Seward, daughters of Judge
Miller, an influential man, were women of culture and remarkable natural
intelligence, and interested in all progressive ideas. They had rare
common sense and independence of character, great simplicity of manner,
and were wholly indifferent to the little arts of the toilet.
I was often told by fashionable women that they objected to the woman's
rights movement because of the publicity of a convention, the immodesty
of speaking from a platform, and the trial of seeing one's name in the
papers. Several ladies made such remarks to me one day, as a bevy of us
were sitting together in one of the fashionable hotels in Newport. We
were holding a convention there at that time, and some of them had been
present at one of the sessions. "Really," said I, "ladies, you surprise
me; our conventions are not as public as the ballroom where I saw you
all dancing last night. As to modesty, it may be a question, in many
minds, whether it is less modest to speak words of soberness and truth,
plainly dressed on a platform, than gorgeously arrayed, with bare arms
and shoulders, to waltz in the arms of strange gentlemen. And as to the
press, I noticed you all reading, in this morning's papers, with evident
satisfaction, the personal compliments and full descriptions of your
dresses at the last ball. I presume that any one of you would have felt
slighted if your name had not been mentioned in the general description.
When my name is mentioned, it is in connection with some great reform
movement. Thus we all suffer or enjoy the same publicity--we are alike
ridiculed. Wise men pity and ridicule you, and fools pity and ridicule
me--you as the victims of folly and fashion, me as the representative of
many of the disagreeable 'isms' of the age, as they choose to style
liberal opinions. It is amusing, in analyzing prejudices, to see on what
slender foundation they rest." And the ladies around me were so
completely cornered that no one attempted an answer.
I remember being at a party at Secretary Seward's home, at Auburn, one
evening, when Mr. Burlingame, special ambassador from China to the
United States, with a Chinese delegation, were among the guests. As soon
as the dancing commenced, and young ladies and gentlemen, locked in each
other's arms, began to whirl in the giddy waltz, these Chinese gentlemen
were so shocked that they covered their faces with their fans,
occasionally peeping out each side and expressing their surprise to each
other. They thought us the most immodest women on the face of the earth.
Modesty and taste are questions of latitude and education; the more
people know,--the more their ideas are expanded by travel, experience,
and observation,--the less easily they are shocked. The narrowness and
bigotry of women are the result of their circumscribed sphere of thought
and action.
A few years after Judge Hurlbert had published his work on "Human
Rights," in which he advocated woman's right to the suffrage, and I had
addressed the legislature, we met at a dinner party in Albany. Senator
and Mrs. Seward were there. The Senator was very merry on that occasion
and made Judge Hurlbert and myself the target for all his ridicule on
the woman's rights question, in which the most of the company joined, so
that we stood quite alone. Sure that we had the right on our side and
the arguments clearly defined in our minds, and both being cool and
self-possessed, and in wit and sarcasm quite equal to any of them, we
fought the Senator, inch by inch, until he had a very narrow platform to
stand on. Mrs. Seward maintained an unbroken silence, while those ladies
who did open their lips were with the opposition, supposing, no doubt,
that Senator Seward represented his wife's opinions.
When we ladies withdrew from the table my embarrassment may be easily
imagined. Separated from the Judge, I would now be an hour with a bevy
of ladies who evidently felt repugnance to all my most cherished
opinions. It was the first time I had met Mrs. Seward, and I did not
then know the broad, liberal tendencies of her mind. What a tide of
disagreeable thoughts rushed through me in that short passage from the
dining room to the parlor. How gladly I would have glided out the front
door! But that was impossible, so I made up my mind to stroll round as
if self-absorbed, and look at the books and paintings until the Judge
appeared; as I took it for granted that, after all I had said at the
table on the political, religious, and social equality of women, not a
lady would have anything to say to me.
Imagine, then, my surprise when, the moment the parlor door was closed
upon us, Mrs. Seward, approaching me most affectionately, said:
"Let me thank you for the brave words you uttered at the dinner table,
and for your speech before the legislature, that thrilled my soul as I
read it over and over."
I was filled with joy and astonishment. Recovering myself, I said, "Is
it possible, Mrs. Seward, that you agree with me? Then why, when I was
so hard pressed by foes on every side, did you not come to the defense?
I supposed that all you ladies were hostile to every one of my ideas on
this question."
"No, no!" said she; "I am with you thoroughly, but I am a born coward;
there is nothing I dread more than Mr. Seward's ridicule. I would rather
walk up to the cannon's mouth than encounter it." "I, too, am with you,"
"And I," said two or three others, who had been silent at the table.
I never had a more serious, heartfelt conversation than with these
ladies. Mrs. Seward's spontaneity and earnestness had moved them all
deeply, and when the Senator appeared the first words he said were:
"Before we part I must confess that I was fairly vanquished by you and
the Judge, on my own principles" (for we had quoted some of his most
radical utterances). "You have the argument, but custom and prejudice
are against you, and they are stronger than truth and logic."
CHAPTER XIII.
REFORMS AND MOBS.
There was one bright woman among the many in our Seneca Falls literary
circle to whom I would give more than a passing notice--Mrs. Amelia
Bloomer, who represented three novel phases of woman's life. She was
assistant postmistress; an editor of a reform paper advocating
temperance and woman's rights; and an advocate of the new costume which
bore her name!
In 1849 her husband was appointed postmaster, and she became his deputy,
was duly sworn in, and, during the administration of Taylor and
Fillmore, served in that capacity. When she assumed her duties the
improvement in the appearance and conduct of the office was generally
acknowledged. A neat little room adjoining the public office became a
kind of ladies' exchange, where those coming from different parts of the
town could meet to talk over the news of the day and read the papers and
magazines that came to Mrs. Bloomer as editor of the _Lily_. Those who
enjoyed the brief reign of a woman in the post office can readily
testify to the void felt by the ladies of the village when Mrs.
Bloomer's term expired and a man once more reigned in her stead.
However, she still edited the _Lily_, and her office remained a
fashionable center for several years. Although she wore the bloomer
dress, its originator was Elizabeth Smith Miller, the only daughter of
Gerrit Smith. In the winter of 1852 Mrs. Miller came to visit me in
Seneca Falls, dressed somewhat in the Turkish style--short skirt, full
trousers of fine black broadcloth; a Spanish cloak, of the same
material, reaching to the knee; beaver hat and feathers and dark furs;
altogether a most becoming costume and exceedingly convenient for
walking in all kinds of weather. To see my cousin, with a lamp in one
hand and a baby in the other, walk upstairs with ease and grace, while,
with flowing robes, I pulled myself up with difficulty, lamp and baby
out of the question, readily convinced me that there was sore need of
reform in woman's dress, and I promptly donned a similar attire. What
incredible freedom I enjoyed for two years! Like a captive set free from
his ball and chain, I was always ready for a brisk walk through sleet
and snow and rain, to climb a mountain, jump over a fence, work in the
garden, and, in fact, for any necessary locomotion.
Bloomer is now a recognized word in the English language. Mrs. Bloomer,
having the _Lily_ in which to discuss the merits of the new dress, the
press generally took up the question, and much valuable information was
elicited on the physiological results of woman's fashionable attire; the
crippling effect of tight waists and long skirts, the heavy weight on
the hips, and high heels, all combined to throw the spine out of plumb
and lay the foundation for all manner of nervous diseases. But, while
all agreed that some change was absolutely necessary for the health of
women, the press stoutly ridiculed those who were ready to make the
experiment.
A few sensible women, in different parts of the country, adopted the
costume, and farmers' wives especially proved its convenience. It was
also worn by skaters, gymnasts, tourists, and in sanitariums. But, while
the few realized its advantages, the many laughed it to scorn, and
heaped such ridicule on its wearers that they soon found that the
physical freedom enjoyed did not compensate for the persistent