LUCY STONE
(1818-1893)
"Woman is a creation between men and the angels."
—Honoré de Balzac
In the town of West Brookfield, Massachusetts, in 1818, lived a farmer, named Francis Stone, and his wife, a gentle and beautiful woman, whose life was spent in devotion to her husband and in aiding him in his work on the farm. Mrs. Stone worked continuously from early morning until late at night, often milking eight cows after the necessary housework was done. The family consisted of seven children. When, on August 18th, the eighth was born, and Mrs. Stone was told that the new baby was a girl, she said, "Oh, dear! I am sorry it is a girl. A woman's life is so hard!"
It seems as if this little girl, who was called Lucy, must have understood her mother's words, for, as she grew up, she showed very clearly that she intended to try to make life easier for all women. Her childhood was spent in doing useful work about the house and on the farm. She cooked, swept, dusted, made butter and soap. She drove the cows, planted seeds, weeded the garden,—in short, was never idle. But all the time she worked in this way, Lucy was thinking deeply and comparing her life with that of her brother at college. She pondered deeply over questions like the following:
Why are not girls permitted to earn their living like their brothers?
Why is it that mother works so hard, and father has all the money?
Why are boys given the great benefits of a college education and girls refused it?