Eighty Years and More; Reminiscences 1815-1897
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, in the beginning, with equal power.
Returning to London, I accepted an invitation to take tea one afternoon
with Mrs. Jacob Bright, who, 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 débris, 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, 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 explained the industrial, legal, and political status of
American women, while I set forth their educational, social, and
religious condition. John P. Thomasson, M.P., made the closing address,
expressing his satisfaction with our addresses and the progress made in
both countries.
Mrs. Thomasson, daughter of Mrs. Lucas, gave several parties,
receptions, and dinners,--some for ladies only,--where an abundant
opportunity was offered for a critical analysis of the idiosyncrasies of
the superior sex, especially in their 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 Liberal members to
flight--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 the legislators. Verily their divine faith and
patience merited more worthy action on the part of their alleged
representatives!
Miss Henrietta Müller gave a farewell reception to Miss Anthony and me
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 could not come at the hour appointed. Dr.
Elizabeth Blackwell took breakfast with us; Mrs. Fawcett, Mrs. Saville,
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, 1883, in
Basingstoke. It was a sad day for us all, knowing that it was the last
day with my loved ones before my departure for America. When I imprinted
the farewell kiss on the soft cheek of my little granddaughter Nora in
the cradle, she in the dawn and I in the sunset of life, I realized how
widely the broad ocean would separate us. Miss Anthony, met me at
Alderly Edge, where we spent a few days with Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Bright.
There we found their noble sisters, Mrs. McLaren and Mrs. Lucas, young
Walter McLaren and his lovely bride, Eva Müller, 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 there, we visited Dean Stanley's
birthplace, but on his death the light and joy went out. 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 beautiful, cows and sheep were still
grazing in the meadows, and the grass was as green as in June. This is
England's chief charm,--it is forever green,--perhaps in compensation
for the many cloudy days.
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 and Mrs. Scatcherd. Another reception was given us
at the residence of Dr. Ewing Whittle. Several short speeches were made,
and all present cheered the parting guests with words of hope and
encouragement for the good cause. Here the wisdom of forming an
international association was first considered. The proposition met with
such favor from those present that a committee was appointed to
correspond with the friends in different nations. Miss Anthony and I
were placed on the committee, and while this project has not yet been
fully carried out, the idea of the intellectual co-operation of women to
secure equal rights and opportunities for their sex was the basis of the
International Council of Women, which was held under the auspices of the
National Woman Suffrage Association in Washington, D. C, in March, 1888.
On the Atlantic for ten days we had many opportunities to review all we
had seen and heard. Sitting on deck, hour after hour, how often I
queried with myself as to the significance of the boon for which we were
so earnestly struggling. In asking for a voice in the government under
which we live, have we been pursuing a shadow for fifty 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, are better than indirect influence, be
that ever so far reaching.
Though influence, like the pure white light, is all-pervading, yet it is
ofttimes 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
purpose. But as the prism divides the rays, revealing the brilliant
colors of the light, so does individual sovereignty reveal the beauty of
representative government, and as the burning-glass shows the power of
concentrating the rays, so does the combined power of the multitude
reveal the beauty of united effort to carry a grand measure.
CHAPTER XXIII.
WOMAN AND THEOLOGY.
Returning from Europe in the autumn of 1883, after visiting a large
circle of relatives and friends, I spent six weeks with my cousin,
Elizabeth Smith Miller, at her home at Geneva, on Seneca Lake.
Through Miss Frances Lord, a woman of rare culture and research, my
daughter and I had become interested in the school of theosophy, and
read "Isis Unveiled," by Madame Blavatsky, Sinnett's works on the
"Occult World," and "The Perfect Way," by Anna Kingsford. Full of these
ideas, I soon interested my cousins in the subject, and we resolved to
explore, as far as possible, some of these Eastern mysteries, of which
we had heard so much. We looked in all directions to find some pilot to
start us on the right course. We heard that Gerald Massey was in New
York city, lecturing on "The Devil," "Ghosts," and "Evil Spirits"
generally, so we invited him to visit us and give a course of lectures
in Geneva. But, unfortunately, he was ill, and could not open new fields
of thought to us at that time, though we were very desirous to get a
glimpse into the unknown world, and hold converse with the immortals. As
I soon left Geneva with my daughter, Mrs. Stanton Lawrence, our occult
studies were, for a time, abandoned.
My daughter and I often talked of writing a story, she describing the
characters and their environments and I attending to the philosophy and
soliloquies. As I had no special duties in prospect, we decided that
this was the time to make our experiment. Accordingly we hastened to the
family homestead at Johnstown, New York, where we could be entirely
alone. Friends on all sides wondered what had brought us there in the
depth of the winter. But we kept our secret, and set ourselves to work
with diligence, and after three months our story was finished to our
entire satisfaction. We felt sure that everyone who read it would be
deeply interested and that we should readily find a publisher. We
thought of "Our Romance" the first thing in the morning and talked of it
the last thing at night. But alas! friendly critics who read our story
pointed out its defects, and in due time we reached their conclusions,
and the unpublished manuscript now rests in a pigeonhole of my desk. We
had not many days to mourn our disappointment, as Madge was summoned to
her Western home, and Miss Anthony arrived armed and equipped with
bushels of documents for vol. III. of "The History of Woman Suffrage."
The summer and autumn of 1884 Miss Anthony and I passed at Johnstown,
working diligently on the History, indulging only in an occasional
drive, a stroll round the town in the evening, or a ride in the open
street cars.
Mrs. Devereux Blake was holding a series of conventions, at this time,
through the State of New York, and we urged her to expend some of her
missionary efforts in my native town, which she did with good results.
As the school election was near at hand Miss Anthony and I had several
preliminary meetings to arouse the women to their duty as voters, and to
the necessity of nominating some woman for trustee. When the day for
the election arrived the large upper room of the Academy was filled with
ladies and gentlemen. Some timid souls who should have been there stayed
at home, fearing there would be a row, but everything was conducted with
decency and in order. The chairman, Mr. Rosa, welcomed the ladies to
their new duties in a very complimentary manner. Donald McMartin stated
the law as to what persons were eligible to vote in school elections.
Mrs. Horace Smith filled the office of teller on the occasion with
promptness and dignity, and Mrs. Elizabeth Wallace Yost was elected
trustee by a majority of seven. It is strange that intelligent women,
who are supposed to feel some interest in the question of education,
should be so indifferent to the power they possess to make our schools
all that they should be.
This was the year of the presidential campaign. The Republicans and
Democrats had each held their nominating conventions, and all classes
participated in the general excitement. There being great
dissatisfaction in the Republican ranks, we issued a manifesto: "Stand
by the Republican Party," not that we loved Blaine more, but Cleveland
less. The latter was elected, therefore it was evident that our efforts
did not have much influence in turning the tide of national politics,
though the Republican papers gave a broad circulation to our appeal.
Dowden's description of the poet Shelley's efforts in scattering one of
his suppressed pamphlets, reminded me of ours. He purchased bushels of
empty bottles, in which he placed his pamphlets; having corked them up