After her removal to her new home in the West, much additional labor came to her in the untrodden field in which her lot was cast. When she took up her residence in Council Bluffs, society was unorganized, without places of worship, and without any of the religious or moral agencies of older communities. We have seen in her personal memoirs how she was very soon called into the work before her. For two years none of the religious services to which she had been accustomed were held in the town, except that occasionally a bishop or minister made his way thither; when they came along, these always found a genuine welcome in her home. It is remembered that Bishops Kemper and Lee, and the Rev. Edward W. Peet, were among her guests during the first year of her residence. They all held religious services in the little Congregational church building which then stood on Main Street. At last a young missionary arrived and took up his residence, making his first home with Mrs. Bloomer in her modest dwelling under the bluff. And so it was in future years; whenever new clergymen of her denomination came to begin their work in town, they all uniformly found a home and resting place in her house until permanent quarters were secured. Clergymen, temperance lecturers, reformers of almost all kinds, among them advocates of woman’s enfranchisement, always found a welcome place at her table. On one occasion, being alone in the house during her husband’s absence, she was thrown into great trepidation at finding that her guest for the night (who had just come up from the bloody fields of Kansas) was armed both with bowie-knife and revolver; but the night passed in safety, for the owner of these appalling weapons was one of the noble men who periled their lives to win that state for freedom.
The building up of a new community was in those days attended with great labor and called for unflinching courage and steady perseverance. Churches had to be erected, school-houses built, libraries established and good works of all kinds encouraged. In all this Mrs. Bloomer did her full part. The support of the minister and the building of churches, especially, fell largely upon the women. They held festivals and collected money for these objects. They organized and maintained sewing societies and gave entertainments of various kinds for these objects. Mrs. Bloomer was among the active workers in this field. She was for many years secretary and treasurer of the Woman’s Aid Society in her parish, a society which contributed many thousands of dollars towards the erection of three successive churches and wholly built the rectory, as well as contributed largely in other ways towards the support of the parish. In 1880 she was president of the Art Loan-Exhibition given for the joint benefit of the city library and the church, one of the most successful efforts of the kind ever held in the city. On the parish register of her church under the date of 1856 her name stands as that of the first woman admitted to membership, and until within a few months of her decease, when she was prevented by bodily infirmities, she was a regular attendant upon the services. She was, however, no mere copyist, taking the words or teachings of others without thought or examination; but looked into all questions, theological, social or reformatory, for herself, and her clergymen will bear testimony to the many discussions they held with her on these and kindred subjects. One occasion her husband recalls: He came to his dinner at the usual hour, but found his wife and a visiting clergyman engaged in warm argument. They had been at it all the forenoon, the breakfast table standing as left in the morning and all preparations for dinner being forgotten. Of course, he enjoyed a good laugh at their expense.
HER CHARACTER ANALYZED.
Mrs. Bloomer was a great critic, and for that reason may not have been so popular with her associates as she otherwise might have been. Her criticisms, possibly, were sometimes too unsparing and too forcibly expressed. She had strong perceptive faculties and noticed what she believed to be the mistakes and failings of others, perhaps, too freely. No one ever attacked her, in print or otherwise, without receiving a sharp reply either from tongue or pen if it was in her power to answer. But no person ever had a kinder heart, or more earnestly desired the happiness of others, or more readily forgot or forgave their failings. Perhaps, she was deficient in the quality of humor and took life too seriously; this over-earnestness, however, if it existed at all, it is believed was brought out more fully by dwelling so much upon what she regarded as the wrongs of her sex and the degradation to which they were subjected through unjust laws and the curse of strong drink. The same charge, that of taking things too seriously, has recently been made by a noted writer against the women of the present day who are battling for what they conceive to be the sacred rights of women.
ABOUT THE FIRST SINNER.
Although Mrs. Bloomer was a member of one of the more conservative branches of the Christian community, she was an earnest advocate of woman’s admission to all departments of Christian work. She repudiated the notion that woman was so great a sinner in the Garden of Eden that she should be forever excluded from ministerial work and responsibilities. As to the first sin in the garden, here is her view of it as stated by herself:
“How any unprejudiced and unbiased mind can read the original account of the Creation and Fall and gather therefrom that the woman committed the greater sin, I cannot understand. When Eve was first asked to eat of the forbidden fruit she refused, and it was only after her scruples were overcome by promises of great knowledge that she gave way to sin. But how was it with Adam who was with her? He took and ate what she offered him without any scruples of conscience, or promises on her part of great things to follow—certainly showing no superiority of goodness, or intellect, or strength of character fitting him for the headship. The command not to eat of the Tree of Life was given to him before her creation, and he was doubly bound to keep it; yet he not only permitted her to partake of the tree without remonstrating with her against it and warning her of the wrong, but ate it himself without objection or hesitation. And then, when inquired of by God concerning what he had done, instead of standing up like an honorable man and confessing the wrong, he weakly tried to shield himself by throwing the blame on the woman. As the account stands, he showed the greater ‘feebleness of resistance and evinced a pliancy of character and a readiness to yield to temptation’ that cannot be justly charged to the woman. As the account stands, man has much more to blush for than to boast of.
“While we are willing to accept this original account of the Creation and Fall, we are not willing that man should add tenfold to woman’s share of sin and put a construction on the whole matter that we believe was never intended by the Creator. Eve had no more to do with bringing sin into the world than had Adam, nor did the Creator charge any more upon her. The punishment inflicted upon them for their transgression, was as heavy upon him as upon her. Her sorrows were to be multiplied; and so, too, was he to eat his bread in sorrow and earn it with the sweat of his face amid thorns and thistles. To her, no injunction to labor was given; upon her no toil was imposed, no ground cursed for her sake. * * * * The Bible is brought forward to prove the subordination of woman and to show that, because St. Paul told the ignorant women of his time to keep silent in the churches, the educated, intelligent women of these times must not only occupy the same position in the church and the family but must not aspire to the rights of citizenship. But the same Power that brought the slave out of bondage will, in His own good time and way, bring about the emancipation of woman and make her the equal in dominion that she was in the beginning.”
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY.
On the 15th of April, 1890, Mr. and Mrs. Bloomer commemorated the Fiftieth Anniversary of their marriage at their home in Council Bluffs. Many invitations were issued, nearly all of which were generously responded to, and their house was filled with guests from three o’clock in the afternoon when the reception began until late in the evening. Over one hundred persons were in attendance. A local paper describes the affair as follows: