FOOTNOTES:
[104] For details of early history see vol. I., chap. viii. See also "Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement," Roberts Bros., Boston.
[105] As an original question, no friend of woman suffrage can deny that it was a mean thing to put the word "male" into the fourteenth amendment. It was, doubtless, wise to adopt that amendment. It was an extension of the right of suffrage, and so far in the line of American progress, yet it was also an implied denial of the suffrage to women.—[Warrington in the Springfield Republican.
[106] See [Vol. II., page 178].
[107] John Neal came from Maine; Nathaniel and Armenia White from New Hampshire; Isabella Hooker from Connecticut; Thomas W. Higginson from Rhode Island; and John G. Whittier, Samuel May, jr., Gilbert Haven, John T. Sargent, Frank W. Bird, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, William S. Robinson, Stephen and Abby Kelley Foster, with a host of others, from Massachusetts. Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell, who then lived in New Jersey, were also among the speakers.
[108] In giving an account of her efforts in this direction she says: "After my return from Kansas in 1867, I felt that we ought to do something for the cause in Massachusetts. There was at that time no organization in the State, and there had been no revival of the subject in the minds of the people since the war, which had swallowed up every other interest. In the spring of 1868, I wrote to Abby Kelley Foster, telling her my wish to have something done in our own State, and she advised me to call together a few persons known to be in favor of suffrage, some day during anniversary week, in some parlor in Boston. I corresponded with Adin Ballou, E. D. Draper, and others, on the subject, and talked the matter over with Prof. T. T. Leonard, teacher of elocution, who offered his hall for a place of meeting. I wrote a notice inviting all persons interested in woman suffrage to come to Mr. Leonard's hall, on a certain day and hour. At the time appointed the hall was full of people. I opened the meeting, and stated why I had called it; others took up the theme, and we had a lively meeting. All agreed that something should be done, and a committee of seven was appointed to call a convention for the purpose of organizing a woman suffrage association. Caroline M. Severance, Stephen S. Foster, Sarah Southwick and myself, were of this committee. We held a number of meetings and finally decided to call a convention early in the autumn of 1868. This convention was held in Horticultural Hall, and the result was the organization of the New England Woman Suffrage Association."
[109] President, Julia Ward Howe; Vice-presidents, William Lloyd Garrison, Boston; Paulina W. Davis, Providence, R. I.; James Freeman Clarke, Boston; Sarah Shaw Russell, Boston; Neil Dow, Me.; Lucy Goddard, Boston; Samuel E. Sewall, Melrose; Lidian Emerson, Concord; John Hooker, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Hartford, Ct.; Harriot K. Hunt, Boston; James Hutchinson, jr., West Randolph, Vt.; Armenia S. White, Concord, N. H.; Louisa M. Alcott, Concord; L. Maria Child, Wayland; John Weiss, Watertown. Corresponding Secretary, Sara Clark, Boston. Recording Secretary, Charles K. Whipple, Boston. Treasurer, E. D. Draper, Boston. Executive Committee: Lucy Stone, Newark, N. J.; T. W. Higginson, Newport, R. I.; Caroline M. Severance, West Newton; Francis W. Bird, East Walpole; Mary E. Sargent, Boston; Nathaniel White, Concord, N. H.; Richard P. Hallowell, Boston; Stephen S. Foster, Worcester; Sarah H. Southwick, Grantville; Rowland Connor, Boston; B. F. Bowles, Cambridge; George H. Vibbert, Rockport; Olympia Brown, Weymouth; Samuel May, jr., Leicester; Nina Moore, Hyde Park.
[110] Ednah D. Cheney, Rev. C. A. Bartol, Rev. F. E. Abbot, Rev. Phœbe Hanaford and Hon. George F. Hoar.
[111] For report of American Association see [Vol. II., page 756].
[112] Lucy Stone, Mary A. Livermore, Stephen S. and Abby Kelley Foster, H. B. Blackwell, Rev. W. H. Channing, Rev. J. F. Clarke, Rev. Gilbert Haven, Julia Ward Howe and Elizabeth K. Churchill made eloquent speeches.
The first board of officers of the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association was: President, Julia Ward Howe. Vice-presidents: William Lloyd Garrison, Roxbury; Anne B. Earle, Worcester; John G. Whittier, Amesbury; Lidian Emerson. Concord; Hon. Robert C. Pitman, New Bedford; Mrs. Richmond Kingman, Cummington; Rev. R. B. Stratton, Worcester; Edna D. Cheney, Jamaica Plain; Hon. Isaac Ames, Haverhill; Sarah Shaw Ames, Boston; J. Ingersoll Bowditch, West Roxbury; Lydia Maria Child, Wayland; Mary Dewey, Sheffield; Hon. George F. Hoar, Worcester; Sarah Grimke, Hyde Park; Sarah R. Hathaway, Boston; William I. Bowditch, Boston; Harriot K. Hunt, M. D., Boston; Hon. Samuel E. Sewall, Melrose; A. Bronson Alcott, Concord; Angelina G. Weld, Hyde Park; Hon. Henry Wilson, Natick; Rev. James Freeman Clarke, Boston; Charlotte A. Joy, Mendon; Jacob M. Manning, D. D., Lucy Sewall, M. D., Boston; Rev. Joseph May, Newburyport; Maria Zakrzewska, M. D., Roxbury; Rev. William B. Wright, Boston; Rev. Jesse H. Jones, Natick; Phœbe A. Hanaford, Reading; Seth Hunt, Northampton: Maria S. Porter, Melrose. Executive Committee: Rev. Rowland Connor, Boston; Caroline M. Severance, West Newton; Rev. W. H. H. Murray, Boston; Gordon M. Fiske, Palmer; Sarah A. Vibbert, Rockport; Rev. Gilbert Haven, Maiden; Caroline Remond Putman, Salem; Frank B. Sanborn, Springfield; Mercy B. Jackson, M. D., Boston; Samuel May, jr., Leicester; Margaret W. Campbell, Springfield; Rev. C. M. Wines, Brookline; Mary A. Livermore, Melrose; William S. Robinson, Maiden; Henry B. Blackwell, Boston; Lucy Stone, Boston; S. S. Foster, Worcester; Mrs. Wilcox, Worcester; Ada R. Bowles, Cambridge. Corresponding Secretary, Nina Moore, Hyde Park. Recording Secretary, Charles C. Whipple, Boston. Treasurer, E. D. Draper, Hopedale.
[113] Mary F. Eastman, Ada C. Bowles, Lorenza Haynes, Elizabeth K. Churchill, Hulda B. Loud, Matilda Hindman and other agents in the lecture field have also done a great deal of missionary work.
[114] The committee of arrangements were Mrs. Isaac Ames, Harriet H. Robinson, Sarah B. Otis, Philip Wheeler, Jane Tenney, Mrs. A. A. Fellows, Mrs. Jackson, Miss Talbot and Miss Halsey.
The speakers were: Wendell Phillips, Mary A. Livermore, Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Elizabeth K. Churchill, Margaret W. Campbell, Mary F. Eastman, Henry B. Blackwell, Lucy Stone and others. Julia Ward Howe and Mr. C. P. Cranch, read original poems. Two old-time tea-party songs, curiosities in their line, were read. One, dated Boston, 1773, entitled "Lines on Bohea Tea," was written by Susannah Clarke, great-aunt of W. S. Robinson; the other, copied from Thomas' Boston Journal, of December 2, 1773, was written by Mrs. Ames, a tailoress.
[115] Committee of Arrangements—Lucy Stone, Abby Kelley Foster, Thomas J. Lothrop, Timothy K. Earle, Sarah E. Wall, Harriet H. Robinson and E. H. Church. At this public gathering, Athol, Boston, Haverhill, Leicester, Leominster, Lowell, Malden, Melrose, Milford, North Brookfield, Taunton, and many other Massachusetts towns were well represented.
[116] The speakers were Lucy Stone, Rev. W. H. Channing, Mary A. Livermore, Mary F. Eastman, Kate N. Doggett, Rev. F. A. Hinckley, Ednah D. Cheney, T. Wentworth Higginson, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Anna Garlin Spencer and Julia E. Parker. Harriet H. Robinson read a condensed history of Massachusetts in the woman suffrage movement. Interesting letters were received from Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, F. W. Bird, H. B. Blackwell, Margaret W. Campbell, Mrs. C. I. H. Nichols and Frances D. Gage. Two original woman suffrage songs, written by Anna Q. T. Parsons and Caroline A. Mason, were sung on the occasion.
[117] Board of officers for 1885: President, Miss Abby W. May; Vice-president, Mrs. Edna Dean Cheney; Secretary, Miss Brigham; Treasurer, Miss S. F. King; Assistant-secretary, Miss Von Arnim; Directors, Miss H, Lemist, Mrs. J. W. Smith, Mrs. M. P. Lowe, Mrs. H. G. Jackson, Mrs. L. H. Merrick, Mrs. G. L. Ruffin, Mrs. Walton, Mrs. Whitman, Miss Rogers, Miss E. Foster, Miss Shaw, Miss Lougee, Miss L. M. Peabody, Dr. A. E. Fisher, Mrs. Buchanan, Mrs. O. A. Cheney, Mrs. E. Hilt, Mrs. M. W. Nash, Mrs. M. H. Bray, Mrs. Fifield, Mrs. J. F. Clarke, Miss L. P. Hale, Mrs. A. H. Spalding; Lecture Committee, Miss Lucia M. Peabody, Mrs. Fifield and Mrs. L. H. King.
[118] It is the only organization in the State whose business is managed by its members. Its officers are a president, one or more vice-presidents for each county, a secretary, treasurer, auditor, and a standing committee of seven with power to add to its number. These officers are elected annually. Executive meetings, in which all members participate, are held monthly. President, Harriette R. Shattuck; Vice-presidents, Dr. Salome Merritt, Joan D. Foster, Emma F. Clarry, Louisa E. Brooks, Esther P. Hutchinson, Sarah S. Eddy, Harriet M. Spaulding, Martha E. S. Curtis, Dr. Sarah E. Sherman, Sarah G. Todd, Abbie M. Meserve, Sophia A. Forbes, Esther B. Smith, Emma A. Todd. Treasurer, Sara A. Underwood; Auditor, Lavina A. Hatch; Secretaries, Hannah M. Todd, Elizabeth B. Atwell, Harriet H. Robinson; Standing Committee, H. R. Shattuck, Dr. S. Merritt, H. H. Robinson, Lydia E. Hutchings, Mary R. Brown, E. B. Attwill, Lucretia H. Jones.
[119] South Framingham, South Boston, Winchester, Rockland, Wakefield, Uxbridge, Millbury, Bedford, Westboro', Salem, Lynn, Lowell, Rowley, Concord, Woburn, Malden, Cambridge, Beverly Farms.
[120] Two of these, Harriet H. Robinson and Harriette R. Shattuck, spoke at the first hearing before the Senate committee. It chanced that Mrs. Robinson was the first woman to speak before this Special Committee. The other delegates were: Mary R. Brown, Emma F. Clarry, Louisa E. Brooks, Mrs. G. W. Simonds, Sarah S. Eddy, Mr. and Mrs. D. W. Forbes, Mary H. Semple, Louisa A. Morrison and Cora B. Smart.
[121] The authors and compilers of these leaflets are Harriette R. Shattuck, Sara A. Underwood, Hannah M. Todd and Mary R. Brown.
[122] The speakers at these hearings were Harriette R. Shattuck, Mary R. Brown, Sidney D. Shattuck, Nancy W. Covell, Dr. Julia C. Smith, Mr. S. C. Fay, Louisa A. Morrison, Sara A. Underwood and Harriet H. Robinson.
[123] The speakers were Rev. J. T. Sargent, A. Bronson Alcott, H. B. Blackwell, Dr. Mercy B. Jackson, S. S. Foster, Mary A. Livermore, Rev. B. F. Bowles, F. B. Sanborn, W. S. Robinson, Gilbert Haven and many others.
[124] In the records of the executive meetings of this Association I find the following votes. In October, 1872, it was voted, That any invitation to speak at Republican meetings, extended to our agents by Republican committees in this State, be accepted by them until the coming election, their usual salaries being paid by this Association; that Miss Loud be notified by Lucy Stone of our arrangement in regard to Republican meetings, and be requested, after the 15th instant, to hold her meetings in that manner as far as practicable; that the balance of expenses of the woman's meeting held at Tremont Temple be paid by this Association. [This was a political meeting held by the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association to endorse General Grant as the presidential candidate of the Republican party.]
[125] The National Association of Massachusetts at its executive session, August 23, passed the following:
Resolved, That while we respect the advice of our leaders, as their private political opinion, we deem it worse than useless to "stand by the Republican" or any other party while we are deprived of the only means of enforcing a political opinion; and that we advise all associations, to concentrate their efforts upon securing the ballot to women, withholding all attempt at political influence until they possess the right which alone can make their influence effective.
[126] At the executive meeting of the New England Association, May, 1874, it was voted that a circular be sent to the friends of woman suffrage, requesting them to meet in Boston, May 25, to consider the expediency of calling a convention to form a political party for woman suffrage.
[127] The call for this convention was signed by Harriet H. Robinson, Rev. A. D. Sargent, Rev. G. H. Vibbert, William Johnson, Mrs. T. R. Woodman, Helen Gale and Mrs. M. Slocum. Judge Robert C. Pitman was the candidate for governor.
[128] This "Woman Suffrage ticket," the first ever offered to a Massachusetts voter, received 41 votes out of the 1,340 cast in all by the voters of the town, a larger proportion than that first cast by the old Liberty party in Massachusetts, which began with only 307 votes in the whole State, and ended in the Free Soil and Republican parties.
[129] Election day dawned and it rained hard, but the women braved the storm. There they stood from 9 o'clock a.m. till a quarter of 5 p.m. and distributed votes, only leaving their positions long enough to get a cup of coffee and a luncheon, which was provided at the headquarters. They distributed 1,700 woman suffrage ballots and 1,000 circulars containing arguments on the rights of women. They were treated with unexceptionable politeness and kindness by the voters.
[130] The first time women went to the polls in Massachusetts was in 1870, when forty-two women of Hyde Park, led by Angelina Grimké Weld and Sarah Grimké, deposited their ballots, in solemn protest "against the political ostracism of women, against leaving every vital interest of a majority of the citizens to the monopoly of a male minority." It is hardly needful to record that these ballots were not counted.
[131] For summary of voting laws relating to women from 1691 to 1822, see "Massachusetts in the Woman Suffrage Movement," by Harriet H. Robinson: Roberts Brothers, Boston.
[132] Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Lucy Stone, Theodore Parker, Wendell Phillips, and other speakers of ability, presented able arguments in favor of giving women the right to vote.
[133] This memorial was printed by order of the legislature (Leg. Doc. Ho. 57) and is called "Memorial of the Female Signers of the Several Petitions of Henry A. Hardy and Others," presented March 1, 1849. The document is not signed and Mrs. Ferrin's name is not found with it upon the records, neither does her name appear in the journal of the House in connection with any of the petitions and addresses she caused to be presented to the legislature of the State. But for the loyal friendship of the few who knew of her work and were willing to give her due credit, the name of Mary Upton Ferrin [see [Vol. I., page 208]] and the memory of her labors as well as those of many another silent worker, would have gone into the "great darkness."
[134] The committee was addressed by Wendell Phillips, Julia Ward Howe, Lucy Stone, Rev. James Freeman Clarke and Hon. George F. Hoar.
[135] Two years before (1869), while sitting as visitor in the gallery of the House of Representatives, I heard the whole subject of woman's rights referred to the (bogus) committee on graveyards!
[136] It was perhaps intended to serve as a means of reïnstating Abby W. May and other women who had been defeated as candidates for reëlection on the Boston school-board. The names of Isa E. Gray, Mrs. C. B. Richmond, Elizabeth P. Peabody and John M. Forbes led the lists of petitioners.
[137] At the first annual election for school committees in cities and towns in 1879-80, about 5,000 women became registered voters.
[138] Lucretia P. Hale, Abby W. May, Lucia M. Peabody, Mary J. S. Blake, Kate G. Wells, Lucretia Crocker.
[139] This act, so brief and so expressive, is worthy to be remembered. It simply reads: "Be it enacted, etc., as follows:
Sec. 1. No person shall be deemed ineligible to serve upon a school committee by reason of sex.
Sec. 2. This act shall take effect upon its passage. (Approved June 30, 1874.)
By force of habit, the legislature said not a word in the law about women. There are now (1885) 102 women members of school-boards in Massachusetts.
[140] See "Women under the law of Massachusetts," Henry H. Sprague. Boston: W. B. Clarke & Carruth.
[141] The authority for this old "thumb" tradition, that "a man had the right to whip his wife with a stick no bigger than his thumb," is found in an early edition of Phillip's Evidence. That book was authority in English common law and in it Phillips is quoted as saying, that according to the law of his day a husband "might lawfully chastise his wife with a reasonable weapon, as a broomstick," adding, however, "but if he use an unreasonable weapon, such as an iron bar, and death ensue, it would be murder."—[Chamberlin, p. 818.
[142] In an old will, made a hundred and fifty years ago, a husband of large means bequeathed to his "dearly beloved wife" $50 and a new suit of clothes, with the injunction that she should return to her original, or family home. And with this small sum, as her share of his property, he returned her to her parents.
[143] The little actual gain in votes since 1874, in favor of municipal or general suffrage for women, might cause the careless observer to draw the inference that no great progress had been made in legislative sentiment during all these years. In 1870 the vote in the House of Representatives on the General Woman Suffrage Bill was 133 to 68. In 1885 the bill giving municipal suffrage was defeated in the House by a vote of 130 to 61. But this is not a true index of the progress of public opinion.
[144] Mrs. Ellen M. Richards was the first woman who entered.
[145] The Harvard Annex, so called, began its seventh year with sixty-five young ladies enrolled for study. The enrollment for the preceding six years was as follows: First year, 29: second, 47; third 40; fourth, 39; fifth, 49, sixth, 55. Some of the students come from distant places, but a majority are from the Cambridge and neighboring high-schools. The institution occupies this year for the first time a building which has been conveniently arranged for its purposes. The endowment of the association which manages the work now amounts to $85,000.
[146] This lady was Lucy Downing, a sister of the first governor of Massachusetts. She was the wife of Emanuel Downing, a lawyer of the Inner Temple, a friend of Governor Winthrop and afterward a man of mark in the infant colony. In a letter to her brother, Lucy Downing expresses the desire of herself and husband to come to New England with their children, but laments that if they do come her son George cannot complete his studies. She says: "You have yet noe societies nor means of that kind for the education of youths in learning. It would make me goe far nimbler to New England, if God should call me to it, than otherwise I should, and I believe a colledge would put noe small life into the plantation." This letter was written early in 1636, and in October of the same year the General Court of the Massachusetts colony agreed to give £400 towards establishing a school or college in Newtowne (two years later called Cambridge). Soon afterwards Rev. John Harvard died and left one-half of his estate to this "infant seminary," and in 1638 it was ordered by the General Court that the "Colledge to be built at Cambridge shall be called Harvard Colledge."
Early in 1638 Lucy Downing and her husband arrived in New England, and the name of George Downing stands second on the list of the first class of Harvard graduates in 1642. The Downings had other sons who do not seem to have been educated at Harvard, and daughters who were put out to service. The son for whom so much was done by his mother, was afterwards known as Sir George Downing, and he became rich and powerful in England. Downing street in London is named for him. In after life he forgot his duty to his mother, who so naturally looked to him for support; and her last letter written from England after her husband died, when she was old and feeble, tells a sad story of her son's avarice and meanness, and leaves the painful impression that she suffered in her old age for the necessaries of life.
It is hard to estimate how much influence the earnest longing of this one woman for the better education of her son, had in the founding of this earliest college in Massachusetts. But for her thinking and speaking at the right time the enterprise might have been delayed for half a century. It is to be deplored that Lucy Downing established the unwise precedent of educating one member of the family at the expense of the rest; an example followed by too many women since her time. Harvard College itself has followed it as well, in that it has so long excluded from its privileges that portion of the human family to which Lucy Downing belonged.
Although women have never been permitted to become students of this college, or of any of the schools connected with it, yet they have always taken a great interest in its pecuniary welfare, and the University is largely indebted to the generosity of women for its endowment and support. From the records of Harvard College, it appears that funds have been contributed by 167 women, which amount, in the aggregate, to $325,000. Out of these funds a proportion of the university scholarships were founded, and at least one of its professors' chairs. In its Divinity school alone five of the ten scholarships bear the names of women. Caroline A. Plummer of Salem gave $15,000 to found the Plummer Professorship of Christian Morals. Sarah Derby bequeathed $1,000 towards founding the Hersey Professorship of Anatomy and Physic. The Holden Chapel was built with money given for that purpose by Mrs. Samuel Holden and her daughters. Anna E. P. Sever, in 1879, left a legacy to this college of $140,000. [See Harvard Roll of Honor for women in Harvard Register in 1880-81.] Other known benefactors of Harvard University are: Lady Moulson, Hannah Sewall, Mary Saltonstall, Dorothy Saltonstall, Joanna Alford, Mary P. Townsend, Ann Toppan, Eliza Farrar, Ann F. Schaeffer, Levina Hoar, Rebecca A. Perkins, Caroline Merriam, Sarah Jackson, Hannah C. Andrews, Nancy Kendall, Charlotte Harris, Mary Osgood, Lucy Osgood, Sarah Winslow, Julia Bullock, Marian Hovey, Anna Richmond, Caroline Richmond, Clara J. Moore and Susan Cabot.—[H. H. R.
The question is often asked, why are women so much more desirous than men to see their children educated? Because it is a right that has been denied to themselves. To them education means liberty, wealth, position, power. When the black race at the South were emancipated, they were far more eager for education than the poor whites, and for the same reason.—[Eds.
[147] Ruth Barnaby, aged 101 in 1875, Elizabeth Phillips and Hannah Greenway were also members of this branch of the profession. The last was midwife to Mrs. Judge Sewall, who was the mother of nineteen children. Judge Samuel E. Sewall mentions this fact in his diary, recently published.
[148] Dr. Jackson had a large practice in Boston, and filled for five years the chair of professor of diseases of children in the Boston University School of Medicine.
[149] In 1840, a Massachusetts woman could not legally be treasurer of even a sewing society without having some man responsible for her. In 1809, it was necessary that the subscriptions of a married woman for a newspaper or for charities should be in the name of her husband.
[150] Olympia Brown's own account of this transaction is as follows: In 1864, soon after my settlement in Weymouth, I solemnized a marriage. It was the first time a woman had officiated in this capacity, and there was so much talk about the legality of the act, that I petitioned the legislature to take such action as was necessary in order to make marriages solemnized by me legal. The committee to whom it was referred reported that no legislation was necessary.
[151] This little book is worthy of mention, from the fact that it is probably the first publication of its kind in Massachusetts, if not in America. The whole title of the book is, "Observations on the Rights of Women, with their appropriate duties agreeable to Scripture, reason and common sense." Mrs. Crocker, in her introduction, says: "The wise author of Nature has endowed the female mind with equal powers and faculties, and given them the same right of judging and acting for themselves as he gave the male sex." She further argues that, "According to Scripture, woman was the first to transgress and thus forfeited her original right of equality, and for a time was under the yoke of bondage, till the birth of our blessed Savior, when she was restored to her equality with man."
This is a very fine beginning, and would seem to savor strongly of the modern woman's rights doctrine; but, unfortunately, the author, with charming inconsistency, goes on to say,—"We shall strictly adhere to the principle of the impropriety of females ever trespassing on masculine grounds, as it is morally incorrect, and physically impossible."
[152] In 1836 there was a small woman's club of Lowell factory operatives, officered and managed entirely by women. This may be a remote first cause of the origin of the New England Women's Club, since it bears the same relation to that flourishing institution, that the native crab does to the grafted tree. This was the first woman's club in the State, if not in the whole country.
[153] A few ladies met at the house of Dr. Harriot K. Hunt to consider a plan for organization. Its avowed object was "to supply the daily increasing need of a great central resting place, for the comfort and convenience of those who may wish to unite with us, and ultimately become a center for united and organized social thought and action." Its first president was Caroline M. Severance. On the executive board were the names of Julia Ward Howe, Ednah D. Cheney, Lucy Goddard, Harriet M. Pitnam, Jane Alexander, Abby W. May, and many others who have since become well known. This club held its first meetings in private houses, but it has for several years occupied spacious club rooms on Park street in Boston. Julia Ward Howe is its president. The club has its own historian, and when this official gives the result of her researches to the public, there will be seen how many projects for the elevation of women and the improvement of social life have had their inception in the brains of those who assemble in the parlors of the New England Woman's Club. In 1874, it projected the movement by which women were first elected on the school committee of Boston, and also prepared the petition to be sent to the Massachusetts legislature of 1879, the result of which was the passage of the law allowing women to vote for school committees. In the Woman's Journal for 1883 will be found a sketch of this club.
[154] "Taxation of Women in Massachusetts"; "Woman Suffrage a Right, not a Privilege," and "The Forgotten Woman in Massachusetts."
[155] Its projectors were A. Bronson Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Professor W. T. Harris, Frank B. Sanborn, Professor Benjamin Pierce, Dr. H. K. Jones, Elizabeth P. Peabody and Ednah D. Cheney.
[156] This act is almost as brief as a certain clause in one of the election laws of the State of Texas, which says: "The masculine gender shall include the feminine and neuter."
[157] We deeply regret that we have been unable to procure a good photograph of our generous benefactor, as it was our intention to make her engraving the frontispiece of this volume, and thus give the honored place to her through whose liberality we have been enabled at last to complete this work. We are happy to state that Mrs. Eddy's will was not contested by any of the descendents of the noble Francis Jackson, but by Jerome Bacon, a millionaire, the widower of her eldest daughter who survived the mother but one week. When the suit was entered the daughters of Mrs. Eddy, Sarah and Amy, her only surviving children, in a letter to the executor of the estate, Hon. C. R. Ransom, said: "We hereby consent and agree that, in case this suit now pending in the court shall be decided against the claims of Lucy Stone and Susan B. Anthony, we will give to them the net amount of any sum that as heirs may be awarded to us, in accordance with our mother's will."