Acquaintances, Old and New,
Among Reformers
OLYMPIA BROWN

THE
WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS
LIBRARY
Purchased from the
Trust Fund of
Lathrop Colgate Harper
LITT. D.




เ
OLYMPIA BROWN

Acquaintances, Old and New,
Among Reformers
By OLYMPIA BROWN
“We have escaped
But partly that old half-tamed wild beast's paw
Whereunder woman, the weak thing, was shaped:
Men too have known the cramping enemy
In grim brute force, whom force of brain shall awe:
Him our deliverer. await wel
1911

Copyright applied for, 1911
by
Olympia Brown
Published September, 1911

TO THE WOMAN'S SUFFRAGE CAUSE WHICH
HAS INSPIRED THE NOBLEST REFORMERS
OF THE LAST HALF-CENTURY.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
Early Impressions
ny
School and College..
12
My First Petition..
19
Women in the Ministry.
26
The American Equal Rights Association...... 32
Tour in New York With Susan B. Anthony... 37
Some New England Pioneers.
42
The Kansas Campaign..
55
Organization of the New England Woman's
Suffrage Association
75
"Mother Cobb”
80
The Sixteenth Amendment....
85
Some Later Reformers...
93
Wisconsin
102

PREFACE.
This little book is sent out in the hope that it
may add a mite to the interest and success of the
cause to which it is dedicated. In former years
my children and other friends have often asked
me to write some account of my work and the
people that I have known but press of duties has
always occupied my entire time and I have felt
that it was better to let the dead past "bury its
dead” while I pressed forward to meet the de-
mands of the hour. When the Woman's Suffrage
bill was presented to the voters last May, Mrs.
Emma Smith DeVoe and others interested in the
cause urged me to write some account of the early
reformers and others with whom I have worked
from time to time. They thought that such a book
would be a great help to the cause both by awaken-
ing a personal interest in reformers and by adding
something to the treasury to meet the needs of the
present campaign.
Thus urged, I set about the writing. My time
has been limited and I have been able to give only
spare moments snatched from household duties, a
large correspondence, planning the campaign and
filling appointments. I have had no time to con-
sult records or verify statements. I have hastily
written from memory those things which I hope
will interest the younger advocates of the cause
and inspire them to new endeavor.
OLYMPIA BROWN.


CHAPTER I.
EARLY IMPRESSIONS.
“Love, strength and courage, courage, strength and love,
The heroes of all time are built thereof."
The earliest reformer that I ever knew was my
own mother, Mrs. Lephia 0. Brown. Living on
our little farm in Michigan, her time occupied
with the homely duties of the household—the
washing, the dairy and the spinning, she yet seized
every opportunity to read and her mind was well
stored with knowledge. She was abreast of the
times on every question. Long before I had heard
of Mrs. Stanton or Miss Anthony, I had grown
familiar with the principle of equal rights and of
the need of larger liberties and opportunities for
women. My mother's conversations on these topics
were often most forceful and thrilling and natur-
ally aroused in us a desire to do something to real-
ize her ideals. In the education and management
of her children, although laboring under great dis-
advantages on account of the newness of the coun-

8
Early Impressions.
try, the burdens she bore and the labors which she
undertook, she yet anticipated many of the ad-
vanced ideas of the present day. She had the cour-
age of her convictions and was most original and
independent in thought and action. Her reading
was extensive and her judgment of and taste for
literature was remarkable. Her memory even to
her last day, at the age of nearly eighty-nine, was
most unusual. Her discernment and judgment of
character were so clear and correct that it seemed
almost like clairvoyance; no shams or pretenses
caped the keenness of her vision. On the whole,
in spite of natural partiality, I believe I am justi-
fied in saying that I have never seen her equal.
Among my earliest recollections are the even-
ing readings in the home of my childhood on our
little farm in Michigan. These readings were
sometimes from the standard books of the time,
but a share of the evening was always given to
the New York Weekly Tribune. Horace Greeley
was then the farmer's authority for everything
from grains and soils to religion and reform.
Greeley was then the representative of progress.
In his paper might be found accounts of and dis-
cussions upon Fourierism, Woman's Rights, Dress
Reform, Anti-slavery, Water-cure and all the

Early Impressions.
9
ideas and theories then new but now either ac-
cepted and adopted or exploded and forgotten. I
remember one evening in particular when they
read an account of a great Woman's Rights Con-
vention held in Worcester, Mass., October 22 and
23, 1850, two years after the first convention at
Seneca Falls. Young as I was, the idea seized
upon me.
The speeches stirred my soul; the
names of the participants loomed up before me as
the names of great heroes often inspire young
boys. They seemed to me like prophets of a better
time; not only the participants in that meeting
but all the great reformers of that day had a fas-
cination for me.
Garrison, Phillips, Burleigh, Foster, Pillsbury,
Douglas; I never speak these names even now
without a return of that feeling of awe and rever-
ence which took possession of me at that time.
Another evening they read the wonderful story
of a woman ordained to the Christian ministry!
My imagination was all afloat, my ambition was
stirred. Antoinette Brown! How many times I
repeated the name! Antoinette !! Antoinette!! It
seemed to stand for everything that was beautiful
and exalted.
At other times I heard of Lucy Stone, Susan B.

10
Early Impressions.
Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Abby Kelly
Foster and others. They all seemed so far away,
so grand, so noble. The thought that I myself
should sometime see them, talk with them, speak
on the same platform, even criticise them, never
entered my mind; the thing would have seemed so
wild, so impossible.
But time makes changes and as the years passed
there came with a larger development and a
broader knowledge a conception of something that
might be achieved, even by me, and so there came
the seminary and the college life. It was while I
was at Antioch College that “Aunt Fanny" Gage
came to Yellow Springs, where the college was
located, and gave a Woman's Rights lecture. She
opened the work of the evening by reading the
description of the virtuous woman in the last chap-
ter of Proverbs. It has since been a favorite chap-
ter with me and I often read it at Suffrage meet-
ings as it really contains the gist of the whole
matter. “Give her of the fruit of her hands and
let her own works praise her in the gates.” That
is just what the advocates of Woman's Suffrage
ask. “Aunt Fanny" Gage was really one of the
ablest women we have ever had in this country.
She was strong and true and original, but she had

Early Impressions.
11
lived a hard life battling with the prejudices of
the
age and seeing the wrongs done to women so
plainly, and feeling her helplessness to right them
so forcibly that it made her too earnest, if such a
thing were possible. She wearied people by re-
hearsing the wrongs of women and reciting too
vividly the flagrant instances of injustice that
came to her notice and rebuking the indifference
To those who were satisfied with
their present ease and comfort, or occupied with
their own vocations and transient pleasures, all
this seemed like useless complaining and they
wearied of hearing the story of wrong and injus-
tice and unfair dealing. They turned away with
the desire "only to eat and drink and enjoy."
of the many

CHAPTER II.
SCHOOL AND COLLEGE.
“Reach after new thoughts and new aspirations."
In the early days of Michigan the opportuni-
ties for school education were limited. The school
system was not fully established and the outlying
districts were often left without any school, unless
some enterprising men roused the people to the
necessity of providing themselves with a teacher
at their own expense. Michigan University during
its first years was not co-educational. An uncle
of mine was one of the Regents and he often made
trips to Ann Arbor in that capacity. My sisters
and I often urged upon him the importance of
opening the school to young women but he always
contended that it was unnecessary since women
had no use for a University education. My uncle
was a man of extended reading and a very excel-
lent writer, but in common conversation he often
reverted to the old familiar Vermont dialect and

School and College.
13
I recall one occasion when in explaining to me the
scope of the University of which he rightly
judged that I was quite ignorant, he said, "Why, a
University is a place where they have all manner
o’learnin',” the inference being that such a place
would be very unsuitable for women.
I can but think these conversations were per-
haps a seed sowing which afterwards contributed
a little to the opening of the college doors. But it
was a long struggle, and it was years later that
co-education was recognized at Ann Arbor. One
generation sows and another reaps, often for-
getting what has gone before. An instance of this
occurred in a Wisconsin town where we were hold-
ing meetings a few years ago. A young woman
physician craved the privilege of speaking against
Woman's Suffrage. We gave her a place on the
evening program. Her argument was that women
did not need the ballot since they had so many
advantages and could accomplish so much without
it. She dwelt especially upon her own experience,
detailing at some length her victorious course
through the Michigan University and her success-
ful admission to the ranks of the medical profes-
sion. All this she had achieved without the ballot
and “Madam President,” said she, "it was not the

14
School and College.
After a year
result of controversy.” When I arose I told the
audience that the speech illustrated the difference
between the lady's age and mine. I belonged to a
generation that waged a very serious controversy
to open the Michigan University to women and
thus enabled the lady to get her education at Ann
Arbor. She belonged to the generation that prof-
ited by our labors.
But it was not Michigan University that the
writer was permitted to enter.
at Mt. Holyoke, in which the orthodox theology
and the strict, though wholesome regulations
of Mary Lyon were tested, I went to Antioch
College, then quite newly started, at Yellow
Springs, Ohio. Antioch College was one of the
first to admit women. Lombard University at
Galesburg, Ill., a Universalist school, had admitted
one or two women before Antioch was founded
and Oberlin, as it used to be sneeringly said, “ad-
mitted women and niggers." But with these two
exceptions, Antioch was the first college to try the
experiment, then called “the great experiment,” of
co-education.
Horace Mann was called to be the President
of this new institution which undertook the
perilous experiment of educating women. Presi-

School and College.
15
dent Mann was perhaps one of the noblest men
that this country has ever produced. Regal in his
bearing, with a head that was almost majestic,
endowed with great gifts and splendid scholarship
he was singularly fitted to stand at the head of a
great institution of learning. Had he also pos-
sessed the practical qualities which enabled Dr.
Harper of the Chicago University to hypnotize
capital, Antioch might today have been a rival of
the great institution on Lake Michigan. But alas,
not all the grand qualities are ever concentrated
in any one man and the lack of that very practical
and useful money-getting ability prevented Presi-
dent Mann's institution from taking the high rank
which it deserved and makes it at the present time
a small college in Southern Ohio instead of a great
university numbering its pupils by thousands and
known and recognized the world over.
The men and women on the Faculty at Antioch
College, for women were recognized there, were
persons of unique and unusual ability. Professor
Deane, Horace Mann's niece, the head of the his-
tory department, was a woman of the finest cul-
ture; and several others were known then and
have been honored since in the world of literature
and scholarship. Horace Mann's large acquaint-

16
School and College.
ance and world-wide reputation brought to the col-
lege at different times many remarkable char-
acters. Here came Edward Everett Hale and
Henry W. Bellows, Horace Greeley, George W.
Curtis and other distinguished reformers as well
as Father Taylor, the “Seaman's Friend." Seeing
and hearing them was a great privilege, and here,
too, I at last had an opportunity of seeing and
receiving as a guest, Antoinette Brown, since
called Mrs. Blackwell. She was not then, nor has
she been until recent years the pastor of a church,
her time being occupied with her little family of
daughters. At Antioch it was customary for the
students to arrange a course of lectures given every
season in the college chapel, a large and pleasing
audience room. But no women were ever invited
to lecture. On inquiry all were told that the
reason was that there were no women at all com-
parable to the men employed. And, beside, there
was no woman whose voice would fill the chapel.
One season, after the course had been finished and
in spite of our petitions and representations, no
woman had been employed, a few of us determined
to have a lecture of our own. We posted notices
in all the halls that the young women were invited
to meet in a certain recitation room. When they

School and College.
17
Her per-
came together we placed the matter before them,
with the result that a subscription was raised to
pay the cost and it was voted to invite Antoinette
Brown Blackwell.
It now seems incredible that there should have
been such opposition to this lecture as made it
necessary
to scheme and contrive to secure it
and especially that it was with some difficulty
that we obtained the Christian Church for her
to preach in on Sunday. However, we were all
delighted with the result. Even those who had
been opposed were converted by her quiet and lady-
like demeanor and words of wisdom.
sonality was and is most pleasing, and although
she is now well on in the eighties, yet she looks as
amiable and beautiful as ever. Her ordination
was not by any ecclesiastical authority or in ac-
cordance with the requirements or usages of any of
the denominations, and therefore did not establish
a precedent or open a way for other women to
enter the ministry except as her example served
as a stimulus and inspiration for others and thus
led them to try to open the doors so long sealed
against them. Her pastorate was short and her
preaching has not been extensive, but her life and
character have been a blessed and beautiful mes-

18
School and College.
sage to the people of the United States. Her
letter to me describing her ordination is before me.
After speaking of efforts to obtain a letter of
license to preach or ordination as a missionary
and mentioning several men who were favorable,
she says, “Of course there was opposition on the
part of the authorities who felt that men so closely
allied to the institution, (meaning Oberlin), would
commit them in the estimation of the world to
woman's preaching. They were willing to have me
preach but not to endorse this as a principle."
When she sought a letter of license she was told
that she “must preach if she chose to do so on her
own responsibility.” Finally her church at South
Butler, New York, desiring her ordination, several
were found courageous enough to take part. The
Rev. Luther Lee preached the sermon. Gerrit
Smith gave the charge. Her deacons assisted in
the laying on of hands and “all went off well.”

CHAPTER III.
MY FIRST PETITION.
“Upspringing from the ruined old
I saw the New."
It is difficult for the young woman of today
to realize changes that have taken place in regard
to the position of women.
The advocates of
women's rights have been slowly securing changes
in the laws of state after state until now many
people who are entering into the results of the
labors of others forget what has been done. They
think “things have always stood as they stand
today.”
At a meeting of the Wisconsin Woman's Suf-
frage Association, held in Milwaukee, on June 23d,
1911, a play was read by its author, illustrating
the unjust laws to which women were subjected in
the sixties. It called out much amusement and
some astonishment among the young women pres-
ent. At that time, in no state were women able to
control property. Inherited property passed to the

20
My First Petition.
husband upon marriage. In the Episcopal mar-
riage service, the groom was made to commit
perjury, saying, “With all my goods, I thee en-
dow," while in fact, he endowed her with no goods
and took all she owned even to her wearing ap-
parel. If a woman had a separate business, as in
the case of dressmaker, washerwoman, or shop-
keeper, her earnings belonged to the husband.
Should it be paid to the woman, it could be col-
lected again as she was not considered a person in
the law. A woman's rights petition, in those days,
had no reference to woman's suffrage, but was
usually a petition for property rights or the guar-
dianship of children. Women then, as now, except
in a few states were not legally guardians of their
own children, unless born out of wedlock.
Soon after graduating at Antioch college, I
went up to Cleveland, Ohio, to visit in the family
of Judge Tilden. Mrs. Tilden was one of the most
pleasing and at the same time most earnest women
that I have ever met. Her daughter Mattie had
been a student at Antioch and was frequently at
our home in Yellow Springs, her talent and bril-
liancy making her visits occasions of enjoyable con-
versation and of entertainment. She now invited
me to spend the holidays at her home in Cleveland.

My First Petition.
21
Mrs. Tilden was the mother of a large family and
her hospitality was well known.
At this time Mrs. Tilden had received from
Mrs. J. E. Jones, of Salem, a petition to the legis-
lature of Ohio, asking for legislation which would
enable married women to control their inherited
property and their earnings in case of having a
separate business, and the guardianship of chil-
dren. She was unable with her many household
cares to circulate this petition as requested. She
thought, perhaps, I would be willing to spend “a
couple of days” in circulating the petition and
requested that I begin at once on Euclid avenue.
I was more than glad to do something for woman's
rights and circulating the petition seemed to offer
an opportunity. I began upon Euclid avenue in
the morning and at night brought in the first
blank filled. It contained eighty-nine names. It
was my first woman's rights petition. But Euclid
avenue was only just begun and I continued the
next day and the next and so on every day except-
ing Sundays until spring. I regretted the neces-
sity of stopping my work on New Year's day,
which was then given up to fashionable calls, but
was obliged to submit to the inevitable. One won-
ders now that there should have been opposition to

22
My First Petition.
so plain and just a request but many and many
were the long arguments I had with men on this
subject.
When one is young, time seems of little ac-
count and I did not object to discussing the
subject a whole hour at a time with men whose
principal argument was usually that it would not
do to have women have money in their own name,
or to have the guardianship of their own children,
lest the husband should die and the wife marry
again and some other man should take the money
and assume the guardianship of the children. The
whole argument implied that women were incap-
able of independent action and that a mother's
love would count for nothing in protecting her
children and providing for their welfare. The
argument is most insulting to women and in-
dicates a want of confidence not only in their
ability, but their loyalty to their children. I have
often heard similar suggestions even in later years
and never without indignation. Thus the circu-
lating of the petition became a woman's rights
propaganda and every day brought some new and
curious experience. Sometimes on coming home
at night from a long day's tramp, I would find a
woman there filled with terror and bitterness, de-

My First Petition.
23
or
manding, “Take my name off that paper. My
husband laughs at me. He says I would be ask-
ing to vote next." There were many amusing
incidents which I met in going about. Once I
rang a doorbell and an old school-friend who
was living there answered the bell. I commenced
without observing who she was, setting forth the
meaning of my petition, when she began to laugh,
and looking up we greeted each other with en-
thusiasm.
I canvassed, I suppose, nearly the whole of
Cleveland, visiting not only the homes, but also
the business places, and asking every man
woman that I saw to sign the petition. I think
it was on one of the first days of the canvass that
Mrs. Tilden wished me to call upon Mrs. Caroline
M. Severance, since well-known in woman's suf-
frage work as Madam Severance. I had a very
pleasant interview with her and she gave me much
encouragement. Some years afterward I was asso-
ciated with her in organizing a convention at
Horticultural Hall, Boston, at which was founded
the New England Woman's Suffrage Association,
and later in organizing one of the first woman's
clubs. This was not a woman's club such as we
have today. It was rather a meeting place for

24
My First Petition.
woman's rights advocates from all parts of the
country who happened to be in Boston. We took
a house at No. 3, Park Place, and fitted it up with
a common parlor on the first floor and lodging
rooms on the second floor. Mrs. Chase, of Rhode
Island, and I lodged there the first night of its
opening. It was very scantily furnished, but Mrs.
Chase was a most enjoyable woman and we had a
very jolly time. The building was afterward the
headquarters of the Woman's Journal.
In the spring, Mrs. Jones, already mentioned,
who seemed to be at the head of woman's rights
work in Ohio, wished me to meet her at Columbus
to attend a hearing before the legislature where
the petition was to be presented. That city had
been canvassed in the residence part, but at that
time it was considered quite unusual, if not im-
proper, for a woman to visit the offices and places
of business of men. No woman in Columbus had
been willing to do this. I spent a week in Colum-
bus presenting my petition in the business places
of the city. The petitions were all pasted together
and made an immense roll which I could hardly
carry. When unrolled by the member who pre-
sented it in the Ohio Senate, it extended through
the chamber and far out into the corridor. The

My First Petition.
25
members of the Senate all cheered. We had a
very enthusiastic hearing at which Mrs. Jones and
“Aunt Fanny” Gage and others spoke. I was con-
sidered too young to take part, but I felt amply
rewarded for my winter's hard work in merely
having the privilege of sitting upon the platform
and listening to the grand arguments of these
noble reformers. But, what was my delight when
I heard afterward that the petition was the means
of securing important property rights to the
women of Ohio!

CHAPTER IV.
WOMEN IN THE MINISTRY.
66 *
sneers are weakness veiling rage.”
Although the Reverend Antoinette Brown had
been ordained as a Christian minister and had
preached some three years at South Butler,
New York, yet her work had been interrupted
by her change of faith and her marriage with
Mr. Samuel Blackwell, which brought many
home cares and maternal duties. Thus it was
that when the subject of going out to preach
the Gospel presented itself to my mind, I found
myself quite alone so far as the co-operation
or sympathy of other women was concerned. It
many years since Mrs. Blackwell
had been a pastor of a church and no
had arisen to take her place. Her example thus
had been in a measure lost. The peculiarity of
her ordination and the shortness of her pastor-
ate prevented her from establishing a precedent
was
now
one

Women in the Ministry.
27
which others might follow. The theological
schools, for the most part, were purely for men.
Oberlin had received women under protest and
with limitations. The Unitarian Theological
School at Meadville, Pennsylvania, refused to re-
ceive a woman, saying their trustees "regarded it
as too great an innovation." The theological
school connected with St. Lawrence University at
Canton, New York, appeared to be the only place
practicable for obtaining an education for the min-
isterial profession and even there, in spite of the
democratic principles which are necessarily in-
volved in the broad humanitarian doctrines of the
Universalist Church, there was much misunder-
standing of the motives of the applicant for ad-
mission and much unwarranted prejudice on the
subject. There was also to be met, as in all the
efforts for woman's advancement, a certain amount
of jealousy and considerations of personal interest,
as when a young, would-be theologian urged that
it would never do to allow a woman to pass
through the theological school because there were
so many women out of employment that the minis-
try would be overrun with them and this would
"lower the price of preaching."
I was a Universalist by inheritance, my mother

28
Women in the Ministry.
being a very zealous follower of Hosea Ballou, and
also by virtue of my studies and experience at
Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary. At the latter
institution the strictest orthodoxy was taught
not only by the teachers, but by the occasional
visits of the Rev. Dr. Kirk, of Boston, a
minister with a beautiful strong voice and pleas-
ing personality, but, as it seemed to me, quite
destitute of logic. But, Universalist as I was,
I could not fail to see that my presence in the
theological school was anything but agreeable to
the faculty and students. Indeed, it required no
particular discernment to perceive this when one
would come with friendly argument to show
me the error of my ways and another, by ridicule,
would seek to discourage my every effort, and still
others would canvass the subject of the awful
catastrophe which threatened of a woman graduate
of a theological school. Dr. Ebenezer Fisher, the
president of the institution, had said on admitting
me that although he did not think women were
called to the ministry, yet he left it between me
and the great Head of the Church.” This seemed
to me a very appropriate place to leave the question
and I did not think that young and inexperienced
students were better suited to decide it than the
Authority referred to by Dr. Fisher.

Women in the Ministry.
29
even
This was during the war and the feeling of
political differences was intense. Those who advo-
cated the freedom of the slave and the liberal prin-
ciples of the Republican party were conscious of
great virtue and were regarded as the exponents
of
progress;
while those less ardent or
opposed to the course pursued by the popular
party were called “Copperheads” and looked upon
as fossils or undeveloped mortals who had not yet
reached the stage of intellectual perception. The
school, as a part of the great Republic, naturally
reflected the popular ideas and consequently was
divided on the subject of politics. One would have
expected that the “Liberal” and “Progressive”
party would be most favorable to the advancement
of women, but such was not the case. Young men
who could scarcely find words sufficiently strong
to express their feelings on the subject of liberty
for all were the ones who led the way in the effort
to drive out the first woman who had dared to
invade the sacred precincts of the Divinity School,
while the "Copperheads” were kind and friendly
and apparently willing that all should have a fair
chance. Indeed, a lecturer who came to the school
on one occasion was so eloquent and showed so
much enthusiasm for justice for even the meanest

30
Women in the Ministry.
and the poorest, and was so broad in his views of
liberty that I was greatly impressed and addressed
a letter to him thanking him for his strong words
in behalf of justice, in some way also revealing the
fact that I supposed women were included in what
he had to say. I am sorry to say that I received
in reply a most severe rebuke. The great man
was highly indignant that such an interpretation
should be put upon his words. He had no sympa-
thy whatever with the movement for woman's
rights. So I have often found men who, if you
could believe their words, were ready to die for
the negro, but would at the same time oppose bit-
terly any enlargement of women's opportunity or
sphere. While, on the other hand, the cause has
often found among its most loyal supporters “good
Democrats” who were making no pretensions to
progressive principles.
However, rebukes and sneers or even ridicule
are weapons against which earnestness and deter-
mination are proof. Thus I went on trembling,
but undaunted, through the theological school and
passed the ordeal of ordination which was some-
what bitterly contested. In spite of the prophecy
of an opposing student that “if she sought an ap-
pointment to preach there would be a gradual

Women in the Ministry.
31
turning up of noses," I found a pastorate imme-
diately and have never once met the appalling re-
ception predicted by the student. But on the other
hand, after some forty-eight years of almost con-
tinuous preaching, I can say that on the whole, I
have met a most favorable and kindly reception in
both the East and the West and feel convinced that
no profession is so well suited to women in their
various relations of wife, mother, or housekeeper
as the ministry. There are people who can only
see a single application of a great principle and
hence the inconsistencies of those who advocate
liberty for one class but deny it to another.

CHAPTER V.
THE AMERICAN EQUAL RIGHTS
ASSOCIATION.
“Assured of worthiness we do not dread
Competitors; we rather give them hail
And greeting in the lists where we may fail;
*
*
Good speed to them! My place is here or there;
My pride is that among them I have place;"
During the war all work for woman's rights
was suspended. Women employed themselves in
scraping lint and making bandages, preparing
needle books and pin cushions, holding fairs, rais-
ing money and otherwise working for the soldier.
The first call after the war for reformatory effort
was in the spring of 1866. I had been settled a
short time over my little church at Weymouth,
Mass., when I received a letter from Susan B.
Anthony inviting me to attend a Woman's Rights
Convention in New York City. I had never been
in New York City and unsophisticated as I was,
it seemed like a great undertaking. I prepared
.

41
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON
WENDELL PHILLIPS
SUSAN B. ANTHONY


American Equal Rights Association.
33
myself for the event by getting an entire new outfit
of clothing. I recollect that my dress was crepe
marette, a silk and wool fabric much in vogue at
that time. It was of a drab color and there was a
large cape of the same material. My bonnet
matched the dress in color and was trimmed with
a pink rose on one side. This drab array seemed
to me modest and exceedingly appropriate for a
person going to a Woman's Rights Convention,
like the green veil with which "Josiah Allen's wife"
prepared herself for her visit to President Arthur,
"dressy, but not too dressy.” I also invested in a
twelve-dollar silk umbrella which even now I re-
member as having been very pretty; also a new
twenty-five dollar leather valise, quite beyond my
means, but what was money when preparing for
my first Woman's Rights Convention !
Thus equipped I set forth with a beating heart
for the great city, filled with speculations as to the
people that I should meet and the speeches that I
should hear. On the way I thought of where I
should stay. After looking over a list of New
York hotels I decided upon going to the Irving
House. That name sounded literary and distin-
guished and so to the Irving House I went. I
found myself very comfortable there and reason-

34
American Equat Rights Association.
ably near to the church in which the meeting was
to be held. Early in the morning I arose and after
breakfast repaired to the church more than an
hour before the time for the meeting.
I saw a large placard on the side of the church
announcing “WOMAN'S RIGHTS CONVEN-
TION HERE TODAY.” Having reached the
right place I was content to sit in the park and
watch for the opening of the church. After a time
I saw a few old women wearing "Paisley shawls,"
black in the center and with colored borders, going
in. I then felt that it was time for me to enter.
As I recall that meeting now it seems to me
that it was very small and the audience quite out
of proportion in number and character to the dis-
tinguished speakers on the platform. There I saw
for the first time Henry Ward Beecher, Theodore
Tilton, Parker Pillsbury, Susan B. Anthony, Mrs.
Stanton and others. Mrs. Stanton was the speaker
of the occasion. As I remember her at that time,
her hair was quite dark and drawn down over
her ears according to the fashion of that day. She
read her manuscript, and while it was exceed-
ingly well read and the style of writing was in
the same grand eloquence which always character-
ized her utterances, yet her whole appearance upon

American Equal Rights Association.
35
the platform was in striking contrast to the strong
and undaunted manner in which she faced her
audience and told them great truths in later years
when her beautiful white curled hair added a
charm to her radiant face.
But, however she appeared at that time or any
other, whether she read or spoke, she was always
the great statesman and the grand orator. Mr.
Beecher made a short address, and also Theodore
Tilton. Just what they all said I do not now
recall except that Theodore Tilton told a story of
some occasion on which a Bible was wanted and it
being a gathering of ministers it was expected that
Bibles would be in evidence, but no, no minister
had a Bible. During the session someone asked
for a corkscrew; every minister had a corkscrew.
Just what he was illustrating by this I do not re-
member. In the afternoon Wendell Phillips gave
a lecture addressed to women of which the burden
was that women should first give up fashion and
folly and become more serious and earnest, and he
repeated several times, as a sort of refrain “Albany
can do nothing for you." I think the few women
who had the courage to venture out at that small
meeting were not the ones who needed the lecture

36
American Equal Rights Association.
and the oft-repeated assurance that Albany could
do nothing for us was rather disheartening.
After the afternoon session a number of people
repaired to the ante-room where they organized
“The American Equal Rights Association,” which
was to work equally for women and negroes.


HIF
411
HA
FREDERICK DOUGLASS HENRY WARD BEECHER
LUGY STONE

CHAPTER VI.
TOUR IN NEW YORK WITH
SUSAN B. ANTHONY.
"Strive and thrive! Cry 'Speed-fight on!'"
It was not long after the organization of the
Equal Rights Association that a large convention
was held at Albany, New York. There I met for
the first time Lucy Stone, and she explained to
me her reasons for retaining her own name after
marriage.
What she said impressed me much. It is un-
doubtedly true that the custom of surrendering
one's name upon marriage originated when woman
was a mere chattel and marriage was a family ar-
rangement based upon financial considerations.
In this view of the subject we perceive that the
name merely indicated the person to whom she
belonged, as in slavery times when the negro
changed his name on gaining a new owner, the
purpose being to indicate who was his master and
to what family he was attached.

38
Tour in New York.
She also said that all women who have ar-
rived at years of maturity should be called "Mrs.";
that “Miss” should be applied only to young girls,
as in the case of boys, "Master," when used, indi-
cates that they are not full grown men. She
mentioned what I knew before, that the retaining
of her name was fully understood and sanctioned
by Mr. Blackwell, her husband, at the time of
their marriage.
I was very much pleased with Lucy Stone and
what has been called her “soft persuasive voice”
was agreeable to me at that time.
There, too, I first saw and heard Frederick
Douglass. Mr. Douglass certainly was a most mag-
nificent speaker. A rich vocabulary, keen wit, in-
tense feeling, and a grand voice, also a personality
filled with magnetism, all contributed to make him
a great orator. Mrs. Stanton, on this occasion, gave
a most beautiful and impressive lecture. She was
still confined to her manuscript and it was neces-
sary to listen intently to hear what she said. She
afterward laid aside her manuscript, faced her
audience, and was heard distinctly in all the great
halls of this country. She had a most lucid and
powerful mind. Her intimate acquaintance with
prominent people, members of Congress and oth-

Tour in New York.
39
ers, as well as her agreeable personal appearance,
ready wit and extreme good nature, made her the
most influential woman that has yet appeared in
America.
There, too, I met my Ohio friend, Mrs. J. E.
Jones. She was kind enough to commend my little
speech, almost my first effort in behalf of women.
But she criticized me for being too earnest. The
convention lasted two days, was largely attended
and seems to have been a great success.
The following winter Miss Anthony wished me
to come over to New York and accompany her on a
tour of conventions and meetings about the state.
Parker Pillsbury and Francis Remond were of the
party. We were gone about six weeks during
which we held a large number of conventions, one
or two of which I arranged. Before starting on
the trip I had written to Fort Plain and other
places for Sunday appointments. The committee
at Fort Plain returned a very cordial reply saying
that they would be glad to have me preach for
them on the Sunday named. On arriving at the
hotel, I sent word to the committee, notifying
them of my arrival. It seems that the name and
handwriting had suggested to them
Imagine their surprise when they met me at the
a
man.

40
Tour in New York.
hotel! They accepted the situation, however, with
great good nature and the Sunday service appeared
to be acceptable. Being there, I improved the
occasion by appointing equal rights meetings at
Fort Plain and a small neighboring town. These
meetings, arranged by me, were very successful
and pleased Miss Anthony very much. During
this tour of conventions, we visited Mrs. Stanton's
early home in the northern part of the state where
I met her mother, a venerable matron, and her two
daughters, Harriet and Margaret, bright, beautiful
young girls in their "teens.” The meetings there
were very satisfactory.
At this distance and with my larger experience,
it seems strange to me, that a tour in which so
many diverse elements were combined should have
been attended with so little friction. Of course,
san B. Anthony was the head and front of the
movement, making most of the arrangements and
conducting meetings. Parker Pillsbury was a
most earnest and exceedingly radical man, who
did not mince words in condemning the popular
evils. Miss Anthony and Mr. Pillsbury were dis-
»posed to criticize my efforts to have our meet-
ings opened with prayer, as they considered
prayer at the opening of such meetings a meaning-

Tour in New York.
41
less form, as indeed it often is. Mr. Remond was
a negro of considerable ability, but, like many
others of his race, he felt keenly the discrimina-
tion which is made against them in society. These
were equal rights meetings, supposed to be held
in the interests of the enfranchisement of negroes
as well as women.
Of course, Miss Anthony and I laid most stress
on the rights of women, although in doing so, we
announced the great principle of human rights
and justice for all. We could seldom get through
a meeting without some bitter words from Mr.
Remond illustrating the injustice done to the
negro as so much greater than the wrongs of
women. He seemed to have no patience with the
presentation of our claims. On the whole, how-
ever, the trip was most agreeable and apparently
successful, although the seed sown in New York
in behalf of equal rights has never seemed very
fruitful of results. While we were on this trip,
the news came that a proposition to submit two
amendments to the Constitution, one enfranchising
negroes, the other enfranchising women, had been
submitted to the voters of Kansas.

CHAPTER VII.
SOME NEW ENGLAND PIONEERS.
"Long have we sung our noble pioneers
Vanguard of progress, heralds of the time,
Guardians of industry and art sublime,
Leaders of man down all the brightening years!"
In speaking of early reformers one naturally
thinks first of people whose names are known to
all the world and whose reputations attest what
they have done. But in reality, oftentimes these
prominent men and women represent opinions
that are held quite largely by humble people who
are unknown and whose combined influence has
helped to create a public sentiment which made
the work of the recognized reformer possible.
This was especially true of the anti-slavery
movement. Garrison and Phillips were possible
because the spirit of liberty was abroad and priv-
ate and humble men all over the land were feel-
ing deeply upon the great wrong of slavery. These
great reformers came to the front to utter in

Some New England Pioneers.
43
grand words the thoughts of thousands and to
make effective the public sentiment which was
unrecognized and unconscious.
This was also true of the woman's rights move-
ment. It was true fifty years ago and it is true
today as Mrs. Charlotte Stetson Gilman says of
woman:
“She walketh veiled and sleeping,
For she knoweth not her power,
She obeyeth but the pleading
Of her heart and the high leading
Of her soul unto this hour.
Slow advancing, halting, creeping,
Comes the woman to the hour,
She walketh veiled and sleeping,
For she knoweth not her power.
Gradually and by the slow process of evolu-
tion have we reached the ideals of womanhood
which prevail today. But in the years gone by
earnest souls were looking forward to a better time
and women as well as men were thinking great
thoughts which were yet to find expression.
Formerly there were many original characters
in country places who thought for themselves be-
cause their minds were not filled with the murders
and robberies and cheatings which today are con-
stantly reported in the daily papers. One such I

44
Some New England Pioneers.
recall who so far from being a reformer was con-
sidered very conservative. He was called “a cop-
perhead," and the word copperhead in war times
was considered almost synonymous with traitor.
He bore the not unusual name of Smith, and be-
cause he was daring enough to work in the field
without his shoes, he was called "bare-footed
Smith.” Mr. Smith was not a handsome man, nor
a learned one, but he was a strong, true, inde-
pendent man, as I had evidence in my own ex-
perience.
At the time of leaving the theological school, it
was proposed that I should take the place of Rev-
erend Eli Ballou, at Marshfield, Vermont, while
he went on a missionary errand to the northern
part of the state. Preaching by women being
unknown at that time, there was some question as
to how it would be received by the staid people of
Marshfield. It was therefore agreed that I should
go there and preach one Sunday and if the people
liked and accepted the arrangement, I was to re-
main through the season. I accordingly went to
Marshfield, spending the night at the little country
hotel and preached the first Sunday to a good
congregation. They seemed more than satisfied
and were pleased with the arrangement. It was

Some New England Pioneers.
45
agreed that I should remain, according to Mr.
Ballou's wish.
Now, it would seem that a people who were
ready to accept a person as a public teacher, would
be willing to receive the same person into their
homes. But such is not the case. Often people
will sanction in company with a multitude what
they would not endorse alone; such is the timidity
of the human race in this our age, and so I found
when I set out to seek a suitable boarding place.
During a forenoon's travel, visiting most of the
homes in Marshfield, I everywhere met a rather
cool reception, no one wanting a boarder. I was
about returning to the little hotel in despair, when
I was hailed by a woman in an express wagon.
She wanted to know if I would like to live out in
the country a little way. She said she was Mrs.
Smith and her husband had sent her down to town
to get me because he was sure I could not get a
boarding place in Marshfield and he thought I
"ought to have some place.” I assured her that I
would be delighted to live in the country and so
she took me and my belongings out to their house
on the farm where I made the acquaintance of
"Barefooted Smith," and a most kind, considerate
and helpful man I found him, and, although a
وو

46
Some New England Pioneers.
“copperhead," he had a son who died in the war
and bore without complaining the burdens of that
sorrowful time. Many a self-satisfied reformer has
done no better.
Among the early reformers whose faces come
up before me after these many years is Dr. Dio
Lewis, then quite noted for his radical ideas in
regard to food, temperance, and physical culture.
He had taken a prominent part in the war on the
saloons and some satirical rhymes designed for
ridicule referred to him as “the beautiful bran-
eating Dio.” On the occasion of my being called
home from Marshfield to Ann Arbor, Michigan,
by the serious sickness of my brother, it chanced
that Dio Lewis came there to lecture and for the
first time I heard the gospel of physical culture.
At that time, athletic fields, football teams,
physical training, and the development of muscle
had not become fads, in fact, were almost un-
heard of.
I was delighted with Dio Lewis' description of
the light gymnastics which he illustrated with
wands and rings and small dumb bells and deter-
mined to go to his school of physical culture and
develop my shoulders. I lost no time in going to
Boston, securing a room and appearing at Dio

Some New England Pioneers.
47
Lewis' gymnasium hall. Here I entered the class
and took such training as the light gymnastics
afforded. These were very pleasing and graceful
exercises though not very powerful in developing
muscle. Dr. Lewis was a most agreeable and
genial gentleman, original in his ideas and very
loyal to his principles.
On Saturdays the class usually listened to a
lecture or familiar talk from some prominent or
noted man. Among these came A. Bronson Alcott,
then regarded as a great philosopher, and in ac-
cordance with that character, assuming a slow,
didactic, and authoritative style of discourse.
Speaking at length on the subject of men and wo-
men he announced that "men were all thought and
women were all sentiment, although," he said,
“there are a great many exceptions.” In fact, he
thought, “there were as many masculine minds in
feminine bodies and feminine minds in masculine
bodies as the reverse. Thus he went prosing along
through his lecture hour. At last he paused and
requested the class to ask questions. The members
of the class hesitating a little to question so great
an authority, he urged them, saying he must have
talked in vain if he had suggested nothing to the
minds of his hearers. Finally, prompted by this

48
Some New England Pioneers.
urging, I timidly ventured to ask how he had ar-
rived at the law that man was all thought and
woman all sentiment if he did not find it so in his
observation ? If “there are as many masculine
minds in feminine bodies and feminine minds in
masculine bodies as the reverse," might it not be
that the principle is wrong and man is not all
thought and woman all sentiment?
The great
man was not pleased and in spite of his philosophy
showed some ill feeling saying, “Some women are
argumentative and that proves the rule.” Pres-
ently he gathered up his papers and took his leave,
saying, "I think I have talked enough."
Another lecturer was Professor Leonard, a
teacher of elocution. He gave some good sug-
gestions on vocal culture, but it was some years
afterward at Racine, Wisconsin, under the in-
structions of Professor Vance that I learned to
control the voice. In those days there was much
prejudice against elocution and there seemed to
be an impression that the attempt to improve the
voice was violating a law of nature. In truth,
there is no part of the human mechanism more
susceptible to culture than the voice and nothing
more pleasing than a well-trained voice. If our
young women would give more special attention


UNIVERSALIST CHURCH
WEYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS

Some New England Pioneers.
49
to vocal culture it would pay them well in the
more agreeable impression they would make in
society and upon their friends.
From Dr. Dio Lewis' school I went to Wey-
mouth to become the pastor of the Universalist
church there. Looking back upon that time, I
think that the whole church must have been re-
formers since they were willing to accept a woman
as pastor at a time when there was, perhaps, no
woman pastor in the whole country and there are
so few people who are willing to depart from old
customs. The people of Weymouth were accus-
tomed to going to Boston to hear Phillips and Gar-
rison and other great speakers of that day and
partook somewhat of the same spirit.
Mr. Elias Richards was the chairman of the
board of trustees of my church at Weymouth. I
think of him now with the utmost reverence and
gratitude. He was so calm, so wise, so just, and
his vision was so broad and his charity for his
fellow men so far reaching, that he really seemed
a model man. He was a friend of Garrison and
an admirer of Theodore Parker. He lived what
Parker, Garrison and Phillips taught. Mr. Garri-
son came out sometimes to lecture for our church;
also Henry C. Wright and other reformers. Henry

50
Some New England Pioneers.
C. Wright, on one occasion, gave me a prescription
for success. It was in this wise; speaking very
slowly, he said, “Olympia, if you want to learn to
speak, you must write, and if you want to learn
to write, you must speak.” The instruction was
sound.
Weymouth was the home of Mrs. Maria Weston
Chapman, a lady who had taken a prominent part
in the anti-slavery agitation. Here, too, was the
home of a cousin of Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was
probably through the influence of the Weymouth
Emersons that we secured a lecture for our church
by the great philosopher. He stayed, while there,
with his relatives and I was invited to take tea and
meet Mr. Emerson. He talked well on many sub-
jects and it was very interesting to listen to his
conversation. At last he got around to Woman's
Suffrage, in which he said he believed, but he
went on to say that he found the women whom he
most respected, those whose opinions he most
valued, were opposed to it. He appealed to me to
know if I did not find it so, and by way of em-
phasis he explained again that he meant “those
women whose opinion one would really value.” I
had not then learned diplomatic ways of putting
things, indeed, I have always been a poor scholar in

Some New England Pioneers.
51
that direction, and so I just bluntly said, "I should
not value the opinion of any woman who was op-
posed to woman's suffrage.” Just what harm there
was in this remark I do not know, but I noticed
that it was regarded as heresy. It was probably
considered very narrow to make one's appreciation
of another depend upon her judgment on a single
subject, but when we remember what woman's suf-
frage means, that it involves the whole principle
of democratic government and the doctrine of jus-
tice taught in the Golden Rule, we see that any
one who is wrong on these subjects could not be a
very loyal citizen of our republic nor a good
Christian.
Rev. A. A. Miner, pastor of the Universalist
Church on School street, Boston, also visited us
at Weymouth. He came to recognize the organi-
zation of our church and also at other times to
lecture in aid of our treasury. He was always
most kind and helpful. I have often heard it
said that he was opposed to the entrance of women
into the ministry, but if so, he never indicated it
in any of my relations with him. I knew him as
a kind friend and co-worker in the ministry for a
term of years. He was always most wise in his
suggestions and courteous in his deportment and

52
Some New England Pioneers.
seemingly approved of my work. I recall the time
when he recognized the church. He said to me,
with some emphasis, “In recognizing this church
of which you are pastor, I am recognizing you as
a minister." He seemed to wish me to under-
stand that he favored my work.
Once, at a Tufts' College Commencement din-
ner he made a rather sweeping statement to the
effect that there were no distinctions at Tufts, all
being welcomed. As women were not admitted to
the college at that time his speech probably was
not intended to include them. I inserted a notice
in a paper quoting his words and adding that
evidently Tufts’ College had been opened to wo-
The next time I saw him he referred to the
notice and laughed as though he considered it a
good joke. A less amiable man might have taken
offence, but he was a sensible man and a most
able preacher.
After a six-years' pastorate at Weymouth, I
went to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where I had in
my congregation the renowned P. T. Barnum, the
great showman. Here came many noted people. .
These were more or less interesting at the time, but
are for the most part forgotten today. Here I
worked with Mrs. Isabella Beecher Hooker in vari-
men.

Some New England Pioneers.
53
ous parts of the state, and here I first made the
acquaintance of Mrs. S. M. C. Perkins, who after-
ward became a warm friend.
While at Bridgeport I went down to New York
to attend a meeting for the purpose of forming a
woman's club and here “Sorosis” was organized.
The program was arranged with great care and
nothing was to be read or spoken there that had
not passed through the hands of a committee. For
this reason I declined to present a paper. Every-
thing in this meeting was to be absolutely correct.
Susan B. Anthony was not on the program, and
a guard was stationed at the door lest Mrs. Vic-
toria Woodhull, against whom popular prejudice
was then at its height, should appear. I was a lit-
tle surprised to hear announced among this most
select set of approved speakers Mrs. S. M. C. Per-
kins, a woman then little known, and apparently
quite new to the public platform. I had been look-
ing for a woman who should be at once able to
make an acceptable speech and at the same time be
pioneer enough to go to a strange place, seek out
friends, engage a place of meeting, advertise, and
hold the meeting. Such people, combining prac-
tical ability with gifts of speech, are not com-
mon, and I had looked in vain over the whole

54
Some New England Pioneers.
range of my acquaintance for the woman I
wanted. As soon as I heard Mrs. Perkins I
felt that here was a woman with strong common
sense, working power and good speaking ability.
I lost no time in engaging her to come to Con-
necticut and take up the work. She came and
had a most successful campaign. She afterward
came to Wisconsin and helped me there year after
year in canvassing portions of the state. I was
never disappointed in her, for she was always
strong and true. Her good practical New England
common sense always won the people and it was
an immense loss to me and to our cause when she
was taken from us only a few years ago by an acci-
dent which caused immediate death.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE KANSAS CAMPAIGN.
"We fall to rise, are baffled to fight better."
In the spring of 1867 Lucy Stone visited me
at Weymouth, Massachusetts. She had just come
from Kansas where she had been with her husband
in the interest of the suffrage amendment sub-
mitted the previous winter to the voters. She had
visited the county seats, had met the state central
committee of the Republican party, and had ar-
ranged with them to send a speaker who should
keep the subject before the people during the sum-
mer. The party had agreed to furnish the speaker
with a conveyance about the state and a traveling
companion. When their campaign should open in
the fall this speaker would make a short address in
each of the Republican meetings.
There were at that time very few women ready
to speak on the subject of woman's suffrage and
none could undertake the work during the hot

56
The Kansas Campaign.
months of July and August. Mrs. Stone wished
me to undertake the task, and after a little con-
sideration and consulting the trustees of my
church I decided to go. I reached Leavenworth
the first day of July and went, according to Lucy
Stone's direction, to Colonel Coffin, then a member
of the Republican central committee. Mr. Coffin
was far from cordial. He knew of no such ar-
rangement in regard to conveyance and com-
panion. He said in his abrupt way, “Why did
they not send Anna Dickinson? Anna Dickinson
is the one we want here.” However, we arranged
a meeting in Leavenworth and another in a small
town in the vicinity.
I then went to Lawrence where I was most
cordially entertained by the Reverend Mr. Brown,
pastor of the Unitarian Church. Nothing was
known there of any arrangement for the trip, but
Mr. Brown opened his church and we held an
effective meeting there. The church was filled
and all seemed interested. Mr. Milton Reynolds,
whom I had formerly known at Albion, Michigan,
was the editor of the principal paper. He gave
good notices and continued to do so through the
whole campaign. thus rendering valuable service to
the cause.

11
11)
UNITARIAN CHURCH
LAWRENCE KANSAS, IN 1867


The Kansas Campaign.
57
The next day I went to Topeka where I met
“Sam” Wood who was then the chairman of the
Republican central committee, and the backbone
of the party in the state. “Sam” had made ar-
rangements for meetings, two every day, including
Sundays, for two months, beginning with a large
meeting on the Fourth of July in Topeka at which
he and several others beside myself were speakers.
He had little "dodgers” printed which he had sent
all over the state to advertise the meetings. This
began to look like business! The next day “Sam”
discoursed in a philosophical way about the futility
of human expectations and how unable we are to
accomplish many things which we plan and how
often we are disappointed in the accomplishment
of what we desire, finally stating that the Republi-
can party could not furnish a conveyance or a com-
panion, or, in fact, assist the campaign in any
manner, but that he had written to places all along
the line where he thought there were good people
who would entertain the speaker and good men
who would convey me from place to place. The
situation was more appalling than it is at this
time in Wisconsin. Instead of three or four so-
cieties all clamoring for the whole field, there was
one lone inexperienced young woman without

58
The Kansas Campaign.
money or means of conveyance facing the entire
campaign. But all that made no difference to me.
“Sam” had provided a team and a driver to take
me to the first appointment where he assured me I
would find a cordial reception and a conveyance
for the next day, which proved true. “Sam”
Wood was a most singular character, a frontiers-
man, rough and ready, filled with expedients, and
overflowing with energy.
He had been through
the border ruffian and John Brown periods and had
been a conspicuous figure in those troublous times.
He knew many people in the state, and was, there-
fore, able to make better arrangements for meet-
ings than could have been made by any other man,
but he appeared to be ignorant of the distances
between places and these meetings were often fifty
miles apart, making it necessary to start at four
o'clock in the morning in order to reach the first
appointment at two P. M., when, after a short stay
for lunch and a speech in some school house, we
would start at once in order to meet an engage-
ment at eight o'clock in the evening.
There were good men in Kansas in those days,
and although I secured conveyances by chance,
sometimes riding with rough men, Indians, or
negroes, anybody that would go, there was not one

The Kansas Campaign.
59
instance on the part of those men of rudeness or
discourtesy or anything but utmost kindness and
apparent interest in the success of the campaign.
Often men would leave their work, the sorghum
boiling in the kettle, or the plowing of a field, and
borrow a horse or a wagon and take the speaker on.
The interest those men took in the cause was most
encouraging and inspiring.
Another difficulty was the fact that there were
few roads laid out in Kansas and we were obliged
to follow a trail across the prairie, often very in-
distinct, and accordingly, we generally lost our way
and would travel round and round, not knowing
where we were. Once in a while we would meet a
countryman and inquire the distance to the next
town to which we would receive the illuminating
reply of "right smart,” or “a good little bit.”
Many a time darkness overtook us wandering in
uncertainty over the prairie, and yet, strange as it
may seem, I never failed to meet an appointment
during the whole campaign, and however late in
the evening we arrived, we always found a good
audience waiting for us, singing and speaking to
occupy the time, as they knew we would necessarily
lose our way. People came from long distances,
oftentimes riding ten or fifteen miles on horseback
to attend the meetings.

60
The Kansas Campaign.
Kansas, at that time, was just emerging from
the effect of the border ruffian raids and the war
in which many of her men had been killed. She
also had seen her fields stripped of vegetation by
grasshoppers and her people suffering from fever
and ague and other diseases incident to the settling
of new countries. There were no railroads except-
ing one from Leavenworth to Manhattan, and one
short line from Wyandotte to White Cloud in the
north. There were few stage routes or liveries;
automobiles were not invented and telephones un-
dreamed of. Even ox teams, so often the reliance
of the pioneer, were not in evidence in Kansas.
Perhaps they were unsuited to that prairie coun-
try. Consequently I had to ask at each meeting
for some conveyance to the next appointment.
Once I had to make a long journey over the prairie
and the only conveyance I could get was a lumber
wagon and an Indian driver. I rode with some
trepidation, but the driver only spoke once during
the whole ride. When about half way across the
prairie he turned around and demanded, “Why
don't you get married ?” thus showing that his
idea of woman's sphere was precisely the same as
that of Colonel Roosevelt, Lyman Abbott, and
other refined men of our day. As I made no reply,
he continued in silence the rest of the journey.

The Kansas Campaign.
61
At one time an old gentleman wished me to
put in an extra meeting a few miles from the reg-
ular route, promising to take me to the next ap-
pointment in case I should do so. I went to his
house and held a meeting quite successfully, but
it was with great difficulty that he could comply
with his part of the agreement. He had a large
kettle of sorghum boiling, his buggy was a poor,
rickety affair, and it was inconvenient for him to
leave home, but he was as good as his word, and
we set forth, losing our way, as usual, and reaching
our destination only about nine o'clock at night.
However, the audience was there and we had a
good meeting. But there was no one with a con-
veyance ready to take me on, and hence the little
old gentleman felt compelled to continue the jour-
ney. He continued with me several days, often
worrying about his sorghum and affairs at home,
although I exhorted him to go back and leave me
to my fate, since people probably would prefer to
provide a conveyance rather than to have me
stranded upon them.
One of the pleasantest experiences of the cam-
paign was meeting the Hutchinson family, John
Hutchinson and his son, Henry, and daughter,
Viola. I met them first at Atchison and traveled

62
The Kansas Campaign.
with them some two weeks, speaking in their con-
certs while they sang suffrage songs at my meet-
ings. They had a beautiful span of horses and a
carriage which made traveling easy. They were
delightful people and their sweet singing stirred
the enthusiasm of all. Many of their songs were
composed by Mr. Hutchinson himself. I remem-
ber one in particular, "The Fatherhood of God and
the Brotherhood of Man,” which they used to sing
with great effect.
It would be tedious to mention all the good
people who spoke words of encouragement or
otherwise aided. Governor Robinson, a pioneer in
the state, spoke in some of my meetings. Joel
Moody, an editor of Mound City, with his wife
and two children accompanied me for twelve days.
Mr. Moody often spoke in the meetings and with
much effect. He was one of the foremost men of
Kansas at that time. Once, while the Moodys
were with me, we were received by an organized
mob who hailed us with sticks and stones and
shouts of derision. They were determined to break
up the meeting and while Mr. Moody went to find
a resting place for his weary wife and tired chil-
dren, I faced the battle alone.
While I was trying to speak the rowdies kept

The Kansas Campaign.
63
up their noise, shouting and throwing stones until
the little school-house rocked and the people inside
trembled. It seemed that this mob had been or-
ganized in advance by a young lawyer who in-
tended to prevent the meeting. As we entered the
village after a long, hard day's drive we were met
by two men who informed us in response to our
inquiry that no notices of the meeting were up.
I asked for the principal men. They said, “There
are no principal men.” I asked if there was no
minister. One replied that he was the minister.
I said, “Will you not put a light in that school-
house?” He finally did so and the people who
had known all about it all the time rushed in.
Then the hubbub began. After speaking in the
midst of all the confusion for a half an hour or so,
I paused and asked if the opposition had anything
to say. Then the lawyer and his crowd came in.
All was still when the lawyer himself made an
extended speech against woman's suffrage, going
back to Queen Elizabeth. After annihilating her,
he proceeded to denounce all later women who had
attempted to do anything. A row of women in
“slat” sunbonnets who sat on one side of the
school-house and were evidently not edified by his
remarks kept whispering loudly, “You had better

64
The Kansas Campaign.
shut up. We've got no use for you," but after he
stopped and Mr. Moody, who had returned, under-
took to speak, the noise and interruptions began
again with new force until finally we were obliged
to close the meeting at ten o'clock and were glad
to escape from the town with only the loss of sup-
per and breakfast and a night's rest.
One of the incidents of the campaign which at-
tracted most attention outside the state was my
discussion with Judge Sears of Leavenworth.
The Republicans had sent out speakers to op-
pose us and these speakers usually came just a day
before or a day after my meeting. It so hap-
pened on one occasion that their appointment was
on the same date with mine. On arriving at Oska-
loosa, my escort learned that posters were up an-
nouncing that Judge Sears of Leavenworth would
speak in the principal church in the town. My no-
tices were up for the same time and place, but he
said the people of the place wished me to speak and
claimed I had the preference because my notices
were posted first. He went out to consult Judge
Sears as to what could be done. He replied that
he was in the hands of his friends and would do
as they desired. I proposed to give him the first
hour of the evening. He accepted the arrange-

The Kansas Campaign.
65
ment. I quote from the report of the meeting
given at the time in the Kansas State Journal and
reproduced in the History of Woman's Suffrage,
by Susan B. Anthony and E. Cady Stanton.
"The largest church in the place was crowded
to its utmost, every inch of space being occupied.
Judge Gilchrist was called to the chair, and first
introduced Judge Sears, who made the following
points in favor of Manhood Suffrage:
1st. That in the early days of the Republic no
discrimination was made against negroes on ac-
count of color.
He proved from the constitutions and charters
of the original thirteen states, that all of them,
with the exception of South Carolina, allowed the
colored freeman the ballot, upon the same basis
and conditions as the white man. That we were
not conferring a right, but restoring one which
the fathers in their wisdom had never deprived
the colored man of. He showed how the word
white had been forced into the state constitutions,
and advocated that it should be stricken out, it
being the last relic of the “slave power.'
2d. That the negro needed the ballot for his
protection and elevation.
3d. That he deserved the ballot. He fought

66
The Kansas Campaign.
with our fathers side by side in the war of the
revolution. He did the same thing in the war of
1812, and in the war of the rebellion. He fought
for us because he was loyal and loved the old flag.
If any class of men had ever earned the enjoy-
ment of franchise the
negro
had.
4th. The Republican party owed it to him.
5th. The enfranchisement of the negro was
indispensable to reconstruction of the late rebel-
lious states upon a basis that should secure to the
loyal men of the South the control of the govern-
ment of those states. Congress had declared it
was necessary, and the most eminent men of the
nation had failed to discover any other means by
which the South could be restored to the Union,
that should secure safety, prosperity and happi-
There was not loyalty enough in the South
among the whites to elect a loyal man to an in-
ferior office.
Upon each one of these points, the Judge elab-
orated at length, and made really a fine speech,
but his evident discomfiture showed that he knew
what was to follow. It was expected that when
Miss Brown was introduced many would leave,
owing to the strange feeling against female suf-
frage in and about Oskaloosa; but not one left. The
ness.

The Kansas Campaign.
67
crowd grew more dense. A more eloquent speech
never was uttered in this town than Miss Brown
delivered; for an hour and three-quarters the
audience was spell-bound as she advanced from
point to point. She had been longing for such
an opportunity, and had become weary of striking
off into open air; and she proved how thoroughly
acquainted she was with her subject as she took
up each point advanced by her opponent, not
denying its truth, but showing by unanswerable
logic that if it were good for certain reasons
for the negro to vote, it was ten times better for
the same reasons for the women to vote.
The argument that the right to vote is not a
natural right, but acquired as corporate bodies
acquire their rights, and that the ballot meant
‘protection,' was answered and explained fully.
She said the ballot meant protection; it meant
much more; it meant education, progress, ad-
vancement, elevation for the oppressed classes,
drawing a glowing comparison between the work-
ing classes of England and those of the United
States. She scorned the idea of an aristocracy
based upon two accidents of the body. She paid
an eloquent tribute to Kansas, the pioneer in all
reforms, and said that it would be the best ad-

68
The Kansas Campaign.
vertisement that Kansas could have to give the
ballot to women, for thousands now waiting and
uncertain, would flock to our state, and a vast
tide of emigration would continually roll toward
Kansas until her broad and fertile prairies would
be peopled. It is useless to attempt to report her
address, as she could hardly find a place to stop.
When she had done, her opponent had nothing to
say. He had been beaten on his ground, and re-
tired with his feathers drooping. After Miss
Brown had closed, some one in the audience called
for a vote on the female proposition. The vote
was put, and nearly every man and woman in the
house rose simultaneously. Men that had fought
the proposition from the first arose, even Judge
Sears himself looked as though he would like to
rise, but his principles forbade. After the first
vote, Judge Sears called for a vote on his, the
negro proposition, when about one-half the house
arose.”
In the autumn Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony
came from the East, but it was difficult for them
to find a conveyance.
Governor Robinson took
Mrs. Stanton in his, for that time, luxurious car-
riage to some of the more important places, while
Miss Anthony remained in Lawrence distributing

The Kansas Campaign.
69
literature throughout the state, and later holding
meetings with George Francis Train. Toward
the end of the campaign the Republican party
took a stand against us. I had spoken in al-
most every settlement of any kind in the state
and the people were quite aroused. There seemed
evidence that the measure would carry at the polls.
This alarmed them and they sent out circulars
everywhere, calling the attention of voters to the
fact that the presidential election was near at
hand and that there was but one question before
the people that of negro suffrage. Voters were
urged to concentrate upon that and "leave all other
issues.”
The Republican party sent out Rev. I. S. Kal-
loch and Judge Spear, of Leavenworth, to speak
against the cause and to denounce its advocates.
Among other opponents came Charles Langston, a
negro orator, whose brother had received great
kindness from Miss Anthony and who had every
reason to be grateful to the noble women who had
espoused the cause of the negro. He appealed to
the lowest prejudices of men, asking in public
meetings if they “wanted every old maid to vote?”
and when on one occasion, at a picnic, he followed
me in speaking, he rebuked the audience with

70
The Kansas Campaign.
"preferring every thing that had a white face to
the negro.
>>
>>
During the last two weeks George Francis
Train came to Kansas, as he said, "because he had
property there and because he expected to be the
next President of the United States.” Mr. Train
was a most unique person. He held several great
meetings in Leavenworth, Lawrence, and other
places. In one of his speeches he gave a parody
on Longfellow's "Excelsior," something in this
wise :
“The shades of night were falling fast,
When through a Kansas village passed
A maiden with a strange device,
And all she cried was 'Woman's Suffrage,
and so on through all the verses, each verse ending,
“And still she cried ‘Woman's Suffrage.'
We felt that the Eastern friends had not given
us the help that we had a right to expect, and Mr.
Train, as the State Record said, "gave an age of
history in this epigram:
“The Garrisons, Phillipses, Greeleys, and Beechers,
False prophets, false guides, false teachers and
preachers,
Left Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony, Brown and
Stone
To fight the Kansas battles alone.”
>>

The Kansas Campaign.
71
His epigrams always brought down the house.
As examples of these I quote the following:
"Kansas will win the world's applause,
As the sole champion of woman's cause."
“So light the bonfires, have the flags unfurled,
For the banner state of all the world.”
"My mission to Kansas breaks the white woman's
chains,
Then three cheers for virtue and beauty and
brains.”
>>
Some parts of his proclamation to the people
would be quite pat in our own state:
"Do you want to set a proud example to all man-
kind?
Vote for women.”
"Do you want the people to rule instead of poli-
ticians ?
Vote for women.”
"Do you want ‘charity for all, malice for none;'
your creed?
>>
Vote for women.”
"Do you want beauty, virtue and intelligence in-
stead of vice and ignorance?
Vote for women.”

72
The Kansas Campaign.
“Do you love your mother, your sister, your wife,
your daughter, your sweetheart?
Then, for God's sake, be men on Tuesday next and
Vote for women.”
One writer says in speaking of Train: “Train
at this time was a most magnificent specimen of
manhood, about six feet tall, with curling black
hair, and black eyes. He made a most unusual
appearance, and under any conditions, perhaps,
except with the greatest animosity of the Repub-
lican leaders and the Republican press, would
have been conceded by many the power to win the
battle. But there was so much politics, and so
much men’s politics injected into the campaign
that the battle was lost."
In those four months I traveled over the
greater part of Kansas, held two meetings every
day, and the latter part of the time three meetings
every day, making in all between two and three
hundred speeches, averaging an hour in length; a
fact that tends to show that women can endure
talk and travel at least as well as men; especially
when we recollect how the Hon. Sidney Clark,
then candidate for Congress, canvassed, in the
beautiful autumn weather, a small portion of the
state which I had traveled over amid the burning

The Kansas Campaign.
73
heat of July and August; he spoke once a day
instead of twice; he rested on Sundays; he had no
anxiety about the means of travel, his conveyance
being furnished at hand; he was supported by a
large constituency, and expected to be rewarded by
office and honors; yet with all these advantages,
he broke down in health and was obliged to give
up a part of his appointments, and the Republican
papers said, "It was not strange, as no human
being could endure without loss of health such
constant speaking with such long and tedious
journeys as Mr. Clark had undertaken.”
On the whole, we had a rousing campaign and
at the end gained one-third of all the votes cast,
which, although I felt then crushed and humili-
ated, I now see was quite a victory considering that
we had no party, no organization, no money, and
that the Republican party, which had voted for the
measure in the legislature and was then domi-
nant in Kansas, preferred as voters the male negro
to the noble white women pioneers in the state.
But disappointment and defeat were softened
by a letter from Susan B. Anthony:
“Dear Olympia:
"Never was defeat so glorious a victory. My
dear Olympia, if ever any money gets into my

74
The Kansas Campaign.
power to control, you shall have evidence that I
appreciate the herculean work you have done here
in Kansas the past four long months.”
I would have gone farther and done more for
those words of appreciation from Susan. I was
a hero worshipper then. Pity it is that the illu-
sions of youth are so often doomed to be dissi-
pated by larger experience.

CHAPTER IX.
ORGANIZATION OF THE NEW
ENGLAND WOMAN'S SUF-
FRAGE ASSOCIATION.
“Wake thou and watch! the world is gray
With morning light!"
Previous to the Kansas campaign there had
been no regularly organized woman's suffrage so-
ciety. The old Equal Rights Association was
formed to help the negro quite as much as women,
and these two differing subjects, although the
great principle was the same, often caused clashes
in meetings. In Kansas many had objected to the
presentation of the woman question alone. Even
Susan B. Anthony said, “Olympia, you have no
right to say one word more for women than you
do
for the negro," and at a great meeting in New
York City in the May following our return from
Kansas, Frederick Douglass won great applause by
making a comparison between the needs of the
negro and those of women, saying, “There are no

76
New England Suffrage Association.
KuKlux Clans seeking the lives of women. The
voters are their fathers, their husbands and broth-
ers," and he drew the conclusion that all should
work for the negro to the exclusion of woman's
suffrage. It seemed that there ought to be a dis-
tinctively woman's suffrage society.
After giving the subject considerable thought, I
concluded that a Massachusetts Woman's Suffrage
Society ought to be formed, and accordingly wrote
to Abby Kelly Foster, then living at Worcester,
Massachusetts. Abby Kelly had been very promi-
nent in the anti-slavery warfare, and had also ad-
vocated the rights of women. The old abolitionists
in that day imagined that with the freeing of the
slaves the whole battle for equal rights in this
country was fought out. As Mr. Garrison once
said in conversation, "The victory for equal rights
has been secured. Abby Kelly with bloody feet has
led the way and marked out the course for all
women." Consequently, one naturally turned to
her. She replied, and said, “Get a parlor or small
hall in Boston and announce that all interested in
the subject are invited to meet on some day men-
tioned, during the May meetings.”
Mr. T. F. Leonard, an elocutionist, offered his
hall on Summer street, for the purpose. The an-

New England Suffrage Association.
77
nouncement was made for two o'clock in the after-
noon and the notice given in the papers and at
the anti-slavery and other meetings. At the hour
named, the hall was filled to overflowing and Mr.
Leonard said that people had been coming all the
forenoon inquiring about the meeting. Many dis-
tinguished people were present. Mrs. Caroline
Severance was there; Parker Pillsbury was there,
and others. I recall especially Mr. Charles Bur-
leigh, whom I had never seen before, who, with his
hair parted in the middle, his long, light curls and
placid face was supposed by many to resemble
Jesus Christ. His power of speech was unusual,
and he made a stirring appeal on this occasion. I
called the meeting together and stated what I
thought. After some discussion and considerable
speech making, it was decided to appoint a com-
mittee which should hold meetings during the
summer, correspond with influential people and
call a convention in the early autumn for the pur-
pose of organizing a Woman's Suffrage Associa-
tion. Mrs. Severance was made the chairman of this
committee and Stephen Foster and two or three
others besides myself were on the committee. The
result of the committee's work for the summer
was a large convention held in the autumn in

78
New England Suffrage Association.
Horticultural Hall, Boston. At this meeting Julia
Ward Howe made her first appearance as a woman
suffrage advocate. She came forward in a some-
what hesitating manner and said in substance that
she had been opposed to the movement because
“she did not like to have her father, her husband,
or her brother abused,” but “the cause had now
gained such proportions that she felt like paying
it a tribute of respect.” Lucy Stone sat near me
and whispered, “I think she might do more than
pay a tribute of respect.” Frederick Douglass also
appeared at this meeting as usual setting forth
the disabilities of the negro; "they had had no col-
leges, no schools,” etc. Adin Ballou, who was then
a somewhat noted reformer in New England, had
assisted in arranging the meeting and took part in
the program.
Mr. Garrison also gave a grand
lecture in the evening to a full house. Reformers
are often deceived by a kind of mirage and see
distant things near and suppose that victory is at
hand, when in reality, generations are yet to pass
before it can be realized. An instance of this was
presented in Mr. Garrison's opening remarks. He
said, “In the progress of every great cause there
are three periods; first, a period of indifference
when no one cares, and there is no hostility; sec-

New England Suffrage Association.
79
ond, a period of opposition and ridicule, people
have begun to notice and to disapprove; third, the
period of victory, opposition has been overcome,
ridicule has been silenced and people are ready to
receive the truth. In this cause we have passed
through the first two periods and are now enter-
ing on the period of victory." In like manner Mr.
T. W. Higginson argued against sending out lec-
turers to canvass the state, because, he said, “The
seed has all been sown. The work has been done.
We have now only to gather in the harvest."
The result of this convention in Horticultural
Hall was the organization of the New England
Woman's Suffrage Association, (probably the first
Woman's Suffrage Association organized in this
country or any other), which has continued until
the present time and through its yearly meetings
has exerted great influence in favor of liberty.

CHAPTER X.
“MOTHER” COBB
"Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far
above rubies.”
In writing an account of early reformers, one
should not omit “Mother Cobb," who, although
never identified with the Woman's Suffrage move-
ment, really led the way for women in many direc-
tions. It was not customary for women in those
early times to take part in public meetings or sit
on platforms or to be in any way conspicuous. But
Mrs. Cobb was prominent in the conference meet-
ings of her denomination, attending the yearly
meetings and always making her presence felt.
She was fond of dress, and on one occasion at a
grove meeting of some kind, she appeared on the
platform with her husband. The ministers in the
audience were quizzical as usual. One of them
said to the other laughingly, “Methinks I see rib-
bons fluttering on the platform,” and at another
time when she lectured in my church at Bridge-

“Mother Cobb."
81
port, Connecticut, she was dressed somewhat fanci-
fully with some display of ribbons, laces and
jewelry. I had advertised the meeting extensively
and the church was filled. Her subject was
"Physiology."
We might mention in passing that Mrs. Cobb
was the founder of the first woman's physiological
society in the United States and continued to be
its president as long as she lived. In her lecture,
she gave practical advice drawn from her own ex-
perience in regard to the care of children, and the
treatment of disease, always taking care to explain
that she “made no war on the medical profession,”
and advised sending for the physician promptly
when needed. The editor of the principal paper
had said to me in advance that he intended to give
a full report of the lecture. As the wife of the
Reverend Sylvanus Cobb, and the mother of the
novelist of the same name, she naturally attracted
a good deal of attention. When the paper came
out the next day, it contained a full description of
her bracelets, pins and other ornaments, however
commending Mrs. Cobb very highly and saying
she was “just such a woman as any man would like
to have for a mother.” Mrs. Cobb was very much
grieved that the paper should take such liberties

82
"Mother Cobb."
with these sacred articles which had been given
her by "dear departed friends," and were worn
for their sakes. Mrs. Cobb wept and was disposed
to destroy the papers which she had purchased. I
comforted her by telling her that while it was dis-
agreeable and unreasonable to have our wearing
apparel described in the papers, it was inevitable
in this stage of woman's progress, editors and re-
porters being much more able to judge of our
clothes than they were of our arguments. After I
had pointed out the fine things which the editor
had said about her, she concluded to cut out these
portions of the report before destroying the papers.
“Father Cobb” had preached the installation
sermon when I settled at Weymouth as pastor of
the church, and a fine, strong, progressive sermon
it was, containing sentiments in regard to women
which few ministers of that day would have dared
to utter. Therefore, Mrs. Cobb was very fond of
visiting my parishes, both in Weymouth and
Bridgeport, and in conference meeting she would
often tell how “darling Hubby had preached
Olympia's installation sermon.” It was on the
occasion of one of these visits that she gave some
brief account of her life, telling among other
things, how she had been educated in the evan-

"Mother Cobb."
83
gelical faith but had converted herself to Uni-
versalism at an early age by reading from the
scriptures :
“Who will have all men to be saved, and to come
unto the knowledge of the truth.”
"For there is one God, and one mediator be-
tween God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testi-
fied in due time.”
I Timothy, Chapter II, Verses 3, 4, 5.
Such was her enthusiasm for Universalism that
her great desire then was to marry a Universalist
minister and rear twelve sons all to be Universalist
ministers. The first Universalist minister she ever
saw was Mr. Cobb, and she was married to him
at the age of fifteen. She also recited the rhymes
with which he proposed marriage and with which
she responded. I always regretted not taking them
down and I only remember the closing line of her
reply, “With you and you alone I mean to live.”
Mrs. Cobb reared, I think, eleven children, two
daughters and nine sons, and as all the sons had
preached more or less, she felt that she had very
nearly accomplished her mission. She had fine
natural ability. She was a fluent speaker, often
making the best speech of the occasion as one of our
clergymen once said to me.
She had the courage

84
"
رو
"Mother Cobb.of her convictions and was most kind and amiable.
She named her house in East Boston the “Castle
of Peace.” While I was visiting there at one time,
she gave me an account of the way she had man-
aged her children, keeping them at home in the
evening by telling them stories which she com-
posed as she went along and "what,” said she,
“could I have done with all my boys if I had not
been able to make up these stories ?” When her
son, Sylvanus, was writing his startling stories
for the New York Ledger, she said she could only
read the first chapter of each story because he
killed so many of his characters in later chapters,
and once he wrote her not to begin the story at all
for he had “killed some in the first chapter."
Mrs. Cobb had such ability that could she have
had the education and opportunities of today, she
would have taken high rank. Women in public
life, those who study medicine, who are public
lecturers and those engaged in literature, owe a
debt to Mrs. Cobb who went before and opened
the
way
for the women who came after.

CHAPTER XI.
THE SIXTEENTH AMENDMENT.
“The home-pressed question of the age can find
No answer in the catch-words of the blind
Leaders of blind. Solution there is none,
Save in the Golden Rule of Christ alone."
March 15, 1869, will be held memorable in all
coming time as the day when the Hon. George W.
Julian submitted a joint resolution to Congress to
enfranchise the women of the Republic by a six-
teenth amendment to the Federal Constitution,
which reads as follows:
“Art. XVI. The right of suffrage in the
United States shall be based on citizenship and
shall be regulated by Congress and all citizens of
the United States, whether native or naturalized,
shall enjoy the right equally without any distinc-
tion or discrimination whatever founded on sex.”
Immediately after the presentation of this
amendment, petitions for its passage were sent
throughout the nation and have been steadily roll-
ing into Congress ever since. The first great na-

86
The Sixteenth Amendment.
tional convention held in Washington took place
in the winter of 1869, and there I met many emi-
nent reformers. The following description of some
of them is taken from the History of Woman Suf-
frage: “On the platform was an imposing array
of intellect, courage and noble character First,
there was dear Reverend Lucretia Mott. Her
sweet, saintly face cloistered in her Quaker bonnet,
her serene and gracious presence so dignified and
so utterly unpretending; so self-poised, yet so
gentle; so peaceful, yet so powerful, sanctioning
and sanctifying the meeting and the movement.
Near her sat her sister, Mrs. Wright, of Auburn,
New York, a woman of strong constant character
and of rare intellectual culture. Mrs. Cady Stan-
ton, a lady of impressive and beautiful appearance,
in the rich prime of an active, generous and help-
ful life; Miss Susan B. Anthony, looking keen,
energetic and uncompromising ; Clara Barton,
whose name is dear to soldiers and blessed in
thousands of homes to which the soldier shall
return no more.” There were other most inter-
esting people there and this first convention was
a great success and was followed by annual na-
tional conventions held in Washington for years
during the life of Mrs. Stanton. Her great utter-

The Sixteenth Amendment.
87
ances at those conventions and at the hearings
before congressional committees have educated the
people of the United States and of the old world
and laid the foundations for Woman's Suffrage
everywhere.
I attended most of those conventions and there
made many interesting acquaintances. There I
first met Matilda Hindman, of Pennsylvania, a
quiet little lady filled with zeal for the cause and
devotion to its interest. She afterward worked
with me during one season in Wisconsin and I
met her again in the South Dakota campaign of
1890. She was at that time just coming from Cali-
fornia where she had canvassed a part of the state,
and later she canvassed Colorado and contributed
not a little to the women's victory in that state.
She was not a powerful speaker but a most excel-
lent reasoner and her manners and personal ap-
pearance were most winning.
I met Abigail Scott Duniway at several conven-
tions and always with great pleasure. She had
been a pioneer in Oregon in its earliest days and
had worked unceasingly and vigorously for the
women's cause in the far west. Now, in 1911, she
is still perseveringly advocating justice for women
in her own state for her faith and hope and cour-

88
The Sixteenth Amendment.
age does not flag in spite of the fact that our
cause has been voted down five different times in
Oregon.
One little incident illustrates the claim made
that interest in Woman's Suffrage does not lessen
regard for material things nor cause a loss of abil-
ity to contribute to them. I had gone down to the
annual convention at some financial sacrifice
and in order to make both ends meet had under-
taken to be my own milliner, trimming last
year's bonnet with a shaded brown ribbon which
I "had in the house." We had at that con-
vention a company of women youthful at that
time, Anna Shaw, Laura Johns, Lucy Anthony
and others. It was the second or third day of
the convention when I learned, through the kind
interest of a friend that “our young women”
were very much scandalized by the gaiety of
my appearance. Such a very bright and youth-
ful bonnet appeared to them out of keeping with
the solemnity of the occasion. My friend, Mrs.
Hooker, wished to remove the stigma and accord-
ingly sent over to my room one of her own bonnets.
It was heavily draped in black and as her head was
large and mine small it very nearly obliterated
my head. The bushel-basket fashion of today did


BELVA LOCKWOOD

The Sixteenth Amendment.
89
not prevail then and such a covering up of the
human features seemed intolerable.Mrs. Duni-
way's room at the Riggs House adjoined mine, and
having been a milliner in her youth she came to
the rescue by skillfully draping one of those short
lace veils, formerly called "nose veils," over the ob-
jectionable ribbon, thus rendering the bonnet at
once becoming and satisfactory to my critics.
Of course we always had Belva Lockwood, the
pioneer woman of the legal profession, helping to
make the arrangements, to prepare the program,
and also to speak from time to time. At home in
Washington, she was a sort of patron to all the
new comers and her powerful appeals for justice
were always effective.
There, too, was Mrs. Spofford, the genial and
generous hostess of the Riggs House, and Mrs.
Matilda Joscelyn Gage, always filled with matter,
the results of careful research and thorough in-
vestigation. But time fails to tell of them all.
It was at the convention of 1870 that I first
met Isabella Beecher Hooker, a sister of Henry
Ward Beecher. This meeting was the beginning
of a long friendship which ended only with her
life. She was then very beautiful, tall and slender,
charmingly dressed, with keen bright eyes spark-

90
The Sixteenth Amendment.
ling, while her refined manners won the admira-
tion of all who saw her. As I was then stationed
at Bridgeport, Connecticut, while her home was
at Hartford, we worked together for many years,
holding meetings in the different cities of Con-
necticut and organizing societies where practicable.
She was very original and suggestive and had a
mind well stored with information. She was full
of inspiration and rare moral courage and an in-
terview with her always gave one new intellectual
life. I have learned more and enjoyed more from
association with her than with any other woman
outside my own family with whom I have ever
been associated.
In 1871 came the Victoria C. Woodhull Me-
morial. It had been presented soon after the
opening of Congress in December, 1870, but the
hearing upon the memorial before the Judiciary
Committee of the House of Representatives, took
place January 11th, 1871. The Woman's Suf-
frage convention met on the same day and Mrs.
Woodhull read there the Memorial which she had
just read to the Judiciary Committee. This was
her only connection with the Woman's Suffrage
Association, The Memorial was an able document.
Mrs. Woodhull herself, was fine looking and richly,

ISABELLA BEECHER HOOKER


The Sixteenth Amendment.
91
though plainly and neatly dressed, and made a
favorable impression upon all who saw her. At
the time of the hearing she had been in Washing-
ton some six weeks, living at the most fashionable
hotel and interviewing the members of Congress
upon whom she had an inexplicable influence.
This was, no doubt, increased by the impression
which had gone abroad, that as a banker in Wall
street, she was able to command large sums of
money. This impression, however, was soon dis-
sipated and the popular excitement following upon
the announcement of what was then called her
“free love doctrine,” was most injurious to the
progress of the Woman's Suffrage cause. The
present position of Mrs. Woodhull and of her sis-
ter, Lady Cook, in England, has changed the
prejudice of the old time to respect and even ad-
miration.
The Beecher scandal, which Mrs. Woodhull pre-
cipitated by publications in her paper, was also a
great injury not only to the Woman's Suffrage
cause, but to all progressive movements. Whatever
the truth about that scandal really was, the fact
remains that the great magnaminity, the breadth
of vision, the keen insight and grand eloquence of
Mr. Beecher did much for the cause of liberty.

92
The Sixteenth Amendment.
Those dear old reformers of the last generation
are gone. They were heroes of undaunted courage.
We shall not see their like again, but their influ-
ence still lives and will live for generations.
Whenever and wherever women are enfranchised,
it will be, in part, at least, the result of the bravery
and heroism of those early reformers. Would that
the women of today might catch the immortal fire
that was in them !

CHAPTER XII.
SOME LATER REFORMERS.
“I count myself in nothing else so happy,
As in a soul remembering my good friends:”
Among the friends whom I knew best and
recall with greatest distinctness was Mary A. Liv-
ermore. At the time of the return to agitation of
the woman's rights question after the war she was
known everywhere by her great "sanitary fairs”
which she conducted with such marked ability and
by her interest in the care of the soldiers, and her
name was spoken with reverence and love by many
of those to whom she had ministered in the hos-
pital or to whom she had brought messages from
friends who had died upon the battle-field. But
she had not given thought to the subject of wo-
man's suffrage.
I had known Mrs. Livermore by reputation for
years for her husband had been a pastor at Wey-
mouth, Massachusetts, some years before my com-

94
Some Later Reformers.
ing. During my residence at Weymouth I had a
long correspondence with Mrs. Livermore in which
she contended that women must first get fair play
in the industrial world before asking for the bal-
lot, work and wages being so much more important
than voting. I tried to show her that work and
wages were regulated to some extent by votes and
that a disfranchised person could never hope to
secure justice in the world of work.
When she finally became an advocate of the
cause she signalled her conversion by arranging a
series of conventions in Chicago, St. Louis, and
Milwaukee which were carried out on a large scale
and no doubt did much good. As a former resi-
dent of Weymouth, she was a friend of most of
the people of my parish there, especially of Mr.
J. H. Willis, my husband, and hence she visited
in our family and spoke in my churches both in
Bridgeport, Conn., and Racine, Wis.
most entertaining in conversation and equally so
in her public discourse; although her oratory was
not of so high an order as that of Mrs. Stanton, yet
doubtless it would reach many more people.
On one occasion we held a large "Woman's Coun-
cil” in Racine lasting several days. We secured
Mrs. Livermore for the opening evening. The
She was

Some Later Reformers.
95
meeting was held in the Blake Opera House, and
as it was the opening night of the opera house as
well as of the Council, we had a crowded house.
I asked a gentleman how he liked her. “Well," he
said, "she is the greatest conversationalist that I
ever heard.” And that was a correct description
of her speaking; it was conversational, consisting
of incidents of the war and circumstances in her
life, all interesting and popular. Would that we
had her here now to win over our opponents and
help us secure the ballot for the women of Wis-
consin!
Another of the later reformers whom I valued
very highly was Clara B. Colby. I knew her as a
public speaker, as a writer and editor of the Wo-
man's Tribune, and in private life as a friend.
She was good in all, but her forte lay in editorial
writing. Her use of language was excellent and
her writing answered the description given by Van
Dyke in his prayer. “As in a river so in a writing
clearness is the best quality and a little that is
pure is worth more than much that is mixed.”
Clearness and fitness of expression characterized
her writings and in establishing and conducting
the Woman's Tribune unassisted for twenty-five
years she did a work which would have been im-

96
Some Later Reformers.
possible to most. Oftentimes when subscriptions
were few and dues delayed, she would be forced
by the exigencies of the case to set the type with
her own hands, but she was always equal to the
emergency, and although working against terrible
odds she yet maintained a most readable and inter-
esting paper and only gave it up after twenty-five
years when she heard the call of the English Suf-
fragists and felt that she ought to lend her aid in
their great struggle. But certain it is that the
truest charity begins at home and far-away benev-
olence defeats oftentimes the very objects which it
aims to aid ; thus in this case. There never was a
time in which Mrs. Colby could work to better
purpose for advancing woman's suffrage than here
in Wisconsin today.
Another of the later reformers was Mrs.
C. Holt Flint. She was and is today one of the
most loyal advocates of our cause and takes special
interest in the campaign now in progress in our
state and often writes words of encouragement to
the workers; from one of these letters I quote:
"I would tell an audience that I would not insult
their good sense by pleading the right of women
to vote, for every woman is as different from every
other woman and from any man as every man is

Some Later Reformers.
97
man.
different from any other man and from any wo-
So it would not be possible for any person
to represent any other man or woman.”
Mrs. Flint compiled some excellent practicable
programs for entertainments to be given by suf-
frage societies which are proving very valuable
where used.
During the campaign in Iowa in
1892, in which I took part, Mrs. Flint with asso-
ciates called a Mississippi Valley conference to
meet at Des Moines for the purpose of consider-
ing the special needs of the West. This confer-
ence was admirably planned and well carried out.
It did much to stimulate interest in the cause in
Iowa and surrounding states. At this conference
we introduced a unique service. An hour was set
apart for religious exercises and mothers were in-
vited to bring their little children and consecrate
them to liberty. Several children were brought.
Among those who brought forward children was
Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch. Mrs. McCul-
loch is so well known in all suffrage work and at
this time so prominent as the justice of the peace
in Evanston that she needs no introduction to the
readers of this book. She was then and has been
since one of my most valued friends and co-
workers. The consecration service was very im-

98
Some Later Reformers.
pressive and I believe gave to the hearers a new
appreciation of the value of liberty.
At this conference I enjoyed meeting and con-
ferring with my friend Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe.
I met her first in South Dakota during the cam-
paign of 1890. I had been invited by Miss An-
thony to take part in this campaign and was asked
to meet her and others engaged in the work at
Mitchell where the opening convention of the cam-
paign was to be held. People came to this con-
vention from all parts of the state and the various
speakers employed by the national society as well
as the home speakers were gathered there. Sev-
eral of these arrived on the same train which
brought me there. We were introduced to each
other and were taken by the committee of enter-
tainment to the several homes to which they had
been assigned.
Soon after my arrival at my destination word
came that the guests outnumbered the places of
entertainment and I was asked to take a room-
mate and also to state if I had any preference as
to the person to be selected. I made haste to name
“that young lecturer, Mrs. Emma Smith DeVoe.”
It proved a most fortunate choice. We had a
week together of real enjoyment and met several

Some Later Reformers.
99
times afterward during the campaign and again,
two
years later in Iowa, where we were associated
in several meetings beside the Mississippi Val-
ley Conference. I afterward employed her dur-
ing several different seasons to aid in the canvass
of Wisconsin. She was a speaker that could al-
ways be trusted to please the audience and to
offend no one. One woman who worked with her
in Washington during the campaign there said in
speaking of the campaign, “Mrs. DeVoe is the
best organizer in the world,” and the result of
that campaign goes far to show that her judgment
was correct.
She was a most agreeable companion, ready to
believe the best of everybody, to help everybody and
to discern the capabilities of her companions. Her
part in gaining the great Washington victory has
made her famous the world over and her com-
plete devotion to woman's suffrage naturally ren-
ders her a most valued leader. In the South
Dakota campaign her speaking was made particu-
larly attractive by songs or by recitations com-
posed by her husband, Mr. J. H. DeVoe. Mr.
DeVoe took great interest in our cause in Dakota,
and his songs, of which he wrote both words and
music, had a marked effect. I always liked best,

100
Some Later Reformers.
"O Sing of Wyoming, Glory of the Mighty West.”
Wyoming was then the only state in which the
right of women to vote was recognized, and hence
the Wyoming song had a special significance. I
add here a little plaintive melody that always
pleases the audience:
A SOLDIER'S TRIBUTE TO WOMAN.
1.
In the long, long years ago, when I wore the loyal
blue,
When the patriotic women, with their hearts so
good and true,
Came to help us in our struggle, as no other ones
could do,
Then I swore to help my sisters, for they nursed
and brought me thro'.
CHORUS.
Yes, they nursed and brought me thro', when the
fever laid me low,
In
my dreams I now can see them, while they're
flitting to and fro,
Then I swore to help the women, for their hearts
were loyal, too,
And my vote shall go to free them, for they nursed
and brought me thro'.

Some Later Reformers.
101
2.
On the fields of Petersburg, ’midst the screaming
shot and shell,
Where the soul of man was tested, where the
bravest soldiers fell,
There I saw the women kneeling, with their hearts
so good and true,
By the bleeding, wounded soldiers, and they
nursed and brought them thro'.
CHORUS
3.
On the dome in Washington, there the goddess
proudly reigns,
She's the emblem of our freedom, while our wo-
men are in chains,
And her light from Bedloe's tower gleams in
mock’ry o’er the sea,
While our mothers, wives, and daughters, humbly
beg for liberty.
CHORUS
4.
Let us stand in solid phalanx, ev'ry man who wore
the blue,
For our mothers, wives, and sweethearts, who to
us were tried and true,
For no better friends, with truer hearts, on earth
we'll ever find;
We will not forget the kindness of the girls we
left behind.
CHORUS.

CHAPTER XIII.
WISCONSIN.
"To thy duty now and ever!
Dream no more of rest or stay;
Give to Freedom's great endeavor
All thou art and hast today:”
Wisconsin was settled at a time when the great
question of the age in the United States was
slavery or liberty. The discussions on the sub-
ject created immense excitement and during that
great wave of enthusiasm for liberty, Wisconsin
was born marked at the very outset with a taste
for justice and loyalty to the principle of equal
rights for all. Accordingly it was not strange that
when the convention was called to form a con-
stitution for the new state many anti-slavery and
equal rights men should be found among the dele-
gates. The journal of the convention speaks es-
pecially of the delegates from Walworth County
who had been "free soilers” in New York and who
demanded that the constitution should provide for

Wisconsin.
103
universal suffrage. But the time was not ripe for
such an innovation upon established customs, and
hence they could not prevail although their de-
mand and the considerable support they received
in the convention indicated the spirit that was
abroad and the character of the people that were
combining to form a new state. Thus we have
found from that day to this in Congress, in Re-
publican conventions and everywhere that the in-
surgents and reformers are often Wisconsin men.
As an instance of this, one of our most re-
nowned members of Congress, "Matt" Carpenter,
made one of his most eloquent speeches an ap-
peal for Woman's Suffrage, and in like manner
our young and eloquent La Follette announces
himself as a strong advocate of Woman's Suf-
frage, as well as of other reforms.
Among the active women of the state one re-
calls a little coterie of women at Richland Cen-
ter who formed the first, or nearly the first, wo-
man's club in the state and that club was
woman's suffrage club. Perhaps the most notable
of the women reformers of Wisconsin was Dr.
Laura Ross, later Dr. Laura Ross Wolcott, of Mil-
waukee. She was a woman of intense feeling and
great strength of character. Wherever she was her
а.

104
Wisconsin.
influence must be felt and to some extent at least,
her will must be done. She was one of the very
earliest of the women physicians in the United
States, and was highly educated, having studied
in the old world and practised her profession in
the hospitals of Paris. It is not strange that even
in conservative Milwaukee she soon gained a large
practice and a host of friends among the best
people. But, however extensive or profitable her
practice, she never forgot to be at all times the
reformer.
My first acquaintance with Mrs. Wolcott was
in 1880, when she came down to Racine to see me
concerning a convention which Miss Anthony had
proposed to hold in Milwaukee. It was just after
the death of Dr. Wolcott, her husband, and she
was overwhelmed with sorrow and much occupied
with those painful, but necessary matters of busi-
ness which inevitably follow the death of the head
of a family. Under these circumstances she was
little inclined to undertake a convention in which
the labor and most of the funds must come from
her. But she was devoted to the cause and felt
as I did at that time, that Susan Anthony's word
was law. So she engaged the opera house and
announced the meeting. This was the convention

Wisconsin.
105
of 1880 of which many have heard. It was well
advertised and there was a splendid corps of speak-
ers, but the weather was most unfortunate and the
meeting was a disappointment and cause of grief
to Dr. Wolcott.
I was associated with Dr. Wolcott more or less
in suffrage work from that time for several years
until her failing health compelled her to give up
her practice and leave the state. She grew de-
spondent and was somewhat embittered toward the
last by the indifference of many, the unjust criti-
cism of others and the mistakes of the leaders of
the cause. It is difficult to work for a great and
unpopular cause for years without some degree of
discouragement. The number of people who will
work for a principle which seems to the superficial
to have no personal interest for them is very
small; and the great multitude failing to under-
stand the motives or even the action of reformers
are generally unjust in their judgment and cruel
in their criticism while the advocates of the cause,
being human and liable to mistakes are often in-
judicious in their manner of presenting the sub-
ject and unwise in the policy they pursue. This
is particularly true of the woman's rights cause.
Many women who are unaccustomed to public ef-

106
Wisconsin,
fort do not realize the importance of correct
methods and in some cases, carried away by the
larger possibilities which are opening to them be-
come excited and unreasonable, thus verifying the
saying, “Fools rush in where angels dare not
tread.” But these things have no bearing on the
merits of the question and must be borne with
patience and a large amount of charity.
The only wonder is that so many undisciplined
and even uneducated women become inspired by
the greatness of the cause which they advocate and
rise above their surroundings, outgrow their limi-
tations and acquit themselves nobly in the contest
for liberty. The woman's cause in Wisconsin has
been advocated by many efficient and inspired
women of whom many were of the finest culture
and who have shown themselves most unselfish
and generous in the disinterested manner in which
they have worked without remuneration or imme-
diate prospect of success. I recall many names
of whom it would be a pleasure to write if time
and the limits of this booklet would permit. Be-
sides Mrs. Jessie Luther, the truest friend and the
most loyal worker that one could wish; Mrs. Maria
Hanchett, always bright and ready; Mrs. Ellen
A. Rose, who was a most zealous worker, and a

Wisconsin.
107
very effective speaker in spite of a somewhat
homely though direct phraseology, I might speak
of Mrs. S. U. Pinney, of Madison, who often
came to gladden our conventions with her clear
blue eyes and beaming countenance as well as her
contribution to our treasury.
Then there was
Mrs. M. P. Dingee, a niece of Theodore Parker
and a disciple of Horace Mann, a New England
woman with the finest education that Boston could
give in her day. She edited the Wisconsin Citizen
for seven years entirely without remuneration.
Her articles in the Citizen were written in the
most chaste and beautiful style and are well
worthy of preservation. When she resigned the
editorship her place was taken by Mrs. H. H.
Charlton, a writer of unusual ability, some of
whose poems should take rank with those of the
best and most noted writers of our day. I quote
the concluding stanzas of a pleasing poem which
Mrs. Charlton published in the Wisconsin Citizen.
The title is “Thanksgiving":
"Thanks for the love that crowns our homes
And makes the nation blest;
Of all Thine early gifts to man,
Dear Lord, love crowns the rest."

108
Wisconsin.
For love! Fair maids, with sunny hair,
And matrons gray
with
years,
Strong noble youth, and stalwart men,
Gave thanks for love, with tears,
For love which gilds the brightest scene,
The cloud with silver lines,
Which sorrow soothes, and softens pain,
And sordid care refines.
For love that gave Thine only Son,
To lift a world from sin,
Flung wide the Golden City's Gates,
To welcome mortals in.
We thank Thee, Lord, and may that love
As shown in Christ, thy Son,
Bear up our souls in life and death.'
‘Amen,' said every one."
There was Laura James, of Richland Center,
who never tired working for the cause and whose
philanthropies were known to all the people of
her town. But of all this host of brave true wo-
men, one recalls especially Mrs. Almeda B. Gray
and Mrs. Maria A. Fowler. These two women
worked together like sisters and no one could tell
which was the more interested or more unselfish.
I was intimately associated with them from the
time of the organization of the Wisconsin Wo-
man's Suffrage Association in 1882, to about 1889,
when Mrs. Gray removed to California and thus

Wisconsin.
109
broke up the trio. As an illustration of the way
these two women worked, I quote a few para-
graphs from the history of the Wisconsin Woman's
Suffrage Association published in the Milwaukee
Free Press of July 23, 1911. The subject is the
Wisconsin school suffrage law of 1885:
“The school suffrage law, as everybody in Wis-
consin knows, was for some years a subject of con-
troversy. Senator Norman L. James, of Richland
Center, had headed the committee that reported
the bill. After its passage by the legislature care-
ful consideration was given to the campaign which
would follow, previous to its submission to the
voters in November, 1886. Senator James' recom-
mendation to me was, 'Have a still hunt, and a
still hunt it was. Probably many people in the
state did not realize that there was any campaign
going on and outside the state it was entirely un-
known. But we carried the election by the votes
of intelligent men. There were doubtless many
who did not vote on the subject at all, but if so
it was through their own inattention. We held
several conventions, distributed literature and
quietly worked for success. On ovember 1, 1886,
Miss Anthony sent a telegram to me saying she,
with Mrs. Colby, would join me in a series of con-

110
Wisconsin.
gressional district conventions, beginning Novem-
ber 8. These meetings were to be educational in
character and were without special reference to
the subject of the election. On receiving the tele-
gram I at once, with my husband, Mr. J. H.
Willis, arranged a meeting for each congressional
district, printed posters accordingly and inserted
the notices in the papers. We worked at this till
twelve o'clock at night and the next morning,
November 2, I set out to make a tour of the places
proposed, to arrange places of meetings and enter-
tainment for the speakers. I returned just in time
to meet Miss Anthony at Racine, November 8.
After the election members of the legislature
and others informed us that the bill really gave
full suffrage. I quote the law:
Section 1. “Every woman who is a citizen of
this state, of the age of 21 years or upward (ex-
cept paupers, persons under guardianship and
persons otherwise excluded by section 2 of article
III of the Constitution), who has resided within
the state one year and within the city or town in
which she claims the right to vote ten days next
preceding any election pertaining to school mat-
ters shall have a right to vote at such election.”
A provision was also made for a submission
to the voters at the next general election. This

Wisconsin.
111
measure was voted upon in the autumn of 1886
and received a fair majority. After the measure
passed, the officers of the Wisconsin Woman's Suf-
frage Association were informed by members of
the joint committee that the law was intended to
give women very nearly full suffrage. Since,
while it limits the elections at which women
might vote to those "pertaining to school matters,"
it places no limit on the subjects upon which
women were to vote at those elections. On exam-
ination it was found that the elections “pertaining
to school matters" embraced nearly all of the reg-
ular elections.
Learning the broad scope of this law and the
possibilities which it contained for women, the
association thought it best to send a lecturer to
hold meetings about the state to explain the law
and interest the women in utilizing it to its ut-
most. I resigned my pastorate in Racine at this
time in order to conduct this canvass of the state.
Mrs. A. B. Gray of Scofield, chairman of the
executive committee, and Mrs. M. A. Fowler, of
Richland Center, secretary of the association, were
deeply interested, and Mrs. Fowler made arrange-
ments for meetings. During the following season
she devoted her entire time to planning and ar-

112
Wisconsin.
ranging the meetings. The appointments were
filled by me. Lectures were given, collections
taken and some forty or fifty organizations
formed.
All will recall how the meaning of the law was
questioned and finally brought into the courts re-
quiring six decisions, the first by Judge J. B. Wins-
low, of Racine, stating that if the law did not
mean what it said, it meant nothing. The later
decisions provided that women should vote on all
school matters before the people at any election
but in separate ballot boxes. Thus we were com-
pelled to keep up the interest of the people, raise
the money and carry on the suit. This occupied
several years' time, and the combined energies of
the officers of the Association. During all the time
that the case was pending in the courts Mrs. Gray
and Mrs. Fowler were working with might, mind
and strength, corresponding, arranging meetings
and raising money. I was also traveling all over
the state holding meetings. The suit cost the
society nearly $2,000. The society was involved
in debt at the time of the decision of the case
rendered by Judge Cassody in February, 1888. I
started the following week on a tour of meetings
in northern Wisconsin, held for the purpose of

Wisconsin.
113
raising money to meet these obligations, notwith-
standing the fact that the mercury at that time
was twenty degrees below zero.
- The devotion of Mrs. Gray and Mrs. Fowler
was something grand to see and most invigorating
to remember. The tragic death of Mrs. Fowler
a few years ago filled all our hearts with sorrow.
Among the workers in Wisconsin one remem-
bers with pride and satisfaction Madame Matilda
Francisca Anneke who often spoke at our conven-
tions in Washington and took part in the conven-
tion of 1880 in Milwaukee above referred to. She
was a woman of great dignity and power and had
an imposing presence. Her very interesting his-
tory has been written more than once and books
dealing with it can be found in most public
libraries.
Madame Anneke was born in Westphalia,
Germany, in the city of Muenster. Fritz Anneke,
her husband, was a leader in the fight for the
German Constitution, and when this revolution
became a lost cause he, with others, among whom
Carl Schurz was prominent, fled as exiles to
Switzerland. Both Carl Schurz and Madame
Anneke herself acted as adjutants to Anneke
throughout the campaign. When no stone was

114
Wisconsin.
left unturned to bring about an extradition treaty
with Switzerland the exiles came to America
where Madame Anneke became very prominent as
journalist, educator and speaker. It is good to
remember that she brought her love of liberty and
justice with her and lost no opportunity to speak
or work for the woman's cause.
But it is always true that the good and great
are not confined to any one period. As Whittier
has said:
“All of good the past hath had
Remains to make our own time glad.”
Individuals pass away, but the truth lives on
and finds its advocates in every generation. The
places of those grand women of the past are being
taken today by Mrs. Etta Gardner of Platteville,
Mrs. G. A. Hipke, of Milwaukee, our most efficient
chairman of the Central Committee of the Wis-
consin Woman's Suffrage Association, Miss Lena
Newman, the present able editor of the Wisconsin
Citizen, and a company of bright young women
who are making a fine record in the present cam-
paign.
The question of full suffrage for women is
now before the voters of Wisconsin. It is for them
to decide in November, 1912, what shall be its

Wisconsin.
115
fate. Shall our grand Wisconsin be recognized as
the honored leader in reform, the first of the states
of the Middle West to recognize the rights of its
women? Or shall the cause be voted down and
discredited, the women of the state disappointed,
and our glorious commonwealth disgraced ?
The result will depend upon the wise, judi-
cious, persistent efforts of the advocates of the
cause.

Press of
S. E. Tate Printing Conapary
Milwaukee



355 43-B
са.
1911
Brown, Olympia,
[Harper ]
Br