If possessed of artistic genius, I would seize the pencil and imprison in rich and gorgeous coloring two pictures for the woman's pavilion of our centennial; for the first I would reproduce that prophetically symbolic scene at the dawn of our history, when with a faith and generosity worthy of honorable mention, Isabella of Castile placed her jewels in the almost discouraged mariner's hands, and bade Columbus give to the world Columbia. The second scene would be the antithesis of the first, as to-day, the women of the United States make haste to lay at the feet of our statesmen and prophets their jewels of thought and influence, bidding them, in the name of woman, give to the world a perfected government, a genuine republic, a purer civilization. Now, as then, there are many ready with mocking jeers; but, turning not to the right nor the left, the faith of woman and the courage of man move on apace to sure success. That historic "first gun" not only jarred loose every rivet in the manacles of 4,000,000 slaves, but when the smoke of the cannonading had lifted, the entire horizon of woman was broadened, illuminated, glorified. On that April day when a nation of citizens were suddenly transformed into an army of warriors, American women, with a patriotism as intense as theirs, a consecration as true, quietly assumed their vacated places and became citizens. Out from market-place and forum, counting-house and farm—keeping time to the chime of the music of the Union—marched father, husband and son; into office, store and farm, called there by no ambitious desire to wander out of their sphere, but by the same dire military necessity that called our men to the front stepped orphaned daughter and widowed wife. Anna Dickinson captured the lyceum and platform. The almost classic scene of "Corinne at the Capitol" is not more remarkable than that historic scene of the Quaker girl at Washington, called there to receive the plaudits of the highest officials of our nation, for services rendered in the then vital political campaigns of New Hampshire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New York.
The cruel, scarlet days of war dragged wearily on. Up from the Southern battle-fields, borne northward in the lull of the war tempest, came a wailing appeal from "the boys," who hitherto had never appealed to "mother" in vain: "We are wounded, sick and starving." Instantly the mother-heart responded—waiting not for "orders," snapping official red-tape, as though it had been woven of cob-webs, two women started southward with the needed supplies, and this great, anxious, agonized North gave a sob of relief when the message thrilled through the land that Jane C. Hoge and Mary A. Livermore had arrived at the front with the needed supplies. Idle, helpless, dependent queens were not then in demand, but women fitted to be wives of heroes. Because our lake-bordered, tree-fringed village was once her home, I lovingly trace first on Evanston's scroll of honor the name of Jane C. Hoge, while just underneath it I write that of our venerable philanthropist, who was the first woman in these United States to receive the badge of the Christian commission, Mrs. Arza Brown.
And now, standing here upon the border-land of two centuries, over-shadowed by the dear old flag, re-baptized with the blood of my beloved as of yours—standing here, a native-born citizen, as a woman to whom the honor, purity, peace and freedom of native land is dear as life; as a wife vitally interested in the interests of manhood; as a mother responsible for the best development of her children; as a human being, responsible to her Creator for the highest possible usefulness, I claim equality before the law.
Congratulations to women that we have at last found a home in journalism; that amid the clashing of sabers of our modern press tournament, the knights of the quill recognize that women have some rights that journalists are bound to respect. These columns are in the interest of no class, clique, sect, or section, and we earnestly request accurate data of woman's work. All missionary, literary, temperance and woman suffrage organizations, will be accorded space for announcing their aims. With an occasional review of new books, we will confer in regard to what woman has written; wandering through studios and sanctums, we will record what she is painting and preaching. Pleading an intense and loving interest in the splendid opportunities now opening to American women, we shall hope that some truth may be evolved that may enrich their lives.
Many facts recently arresting attention, in connection with the industrial, political, and moral interests of women, seem to render a conference of their representatives in regard to business aims, expedient. There is need of a bureau through which the industrial interests of women can be promoted and some practical answer given to the question everywhere heard, "How can we earn a living?" There is a demand for an educational bureau of correspondence and also a lyceum bureau through whose agency good lectures upon practical subjects can be secured in every city and village. All interested in such a conference are requested to send their names to Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Evanston, Ill., or Mrs. Louise Rockwood Wardner, Cairo, Ill.
Like the State Charities Aid Association of New York, which was organized and is directed by women, the Illinois Association devotes itself chiefly to practical applications of social science, though in a somewhat different direction. It was formed in October, 1877, with a membership of some two hundred women; it publishes a monthly newspaper, The Illinois Social Science Journal, full of interesting communications, and it has organized in its first seven months' existence eight smaller associations in other States.
Friends, compatriots, and confrères of the International Congress assembled to discuss the rights of women: Allow me to extend to you the congratulations of the National Woman Suffrage Association of America, which I have the honor to represent. I congratulate you upon this important, this sublime moment, this auspicious place for the meeting of a woman's congress. Paris, gorgeous under the grand monarch who surrounded his royal person with a splendid galaxy of beauty, genius, and chivalry; attractive and influential under the great emperor whose meteoric genius held spell-bound the wondering gaze of a world; to-day, with neither king nor court, nor man of destiny, is grander, more gorgeous, more beautiful and more influential than ever before. To-day this is the shrine toward which the pilgrims from every land turn their impatient steps.
Each balmy breeze comes to us heavily laden with the dialects of all nations. Not only are the different parts represented in their economic and industrial products, but each thought, idea, motive and need is brought before the world in the various congresses assembled during this great union festival of liberty, peace and labor. Literature, science, religion, education, philosophy, and labor, each has had its eloquent advocates. At this time, when the great ones of the earth are met together in earnest thought and honest discussion, when each mind and conscience is attuned to the highest motive, how appropriate that woman, whose labor, wealth and brain have cemented the stones in every monument that man has reared to himself; that woman, the oppressed, woman, the hater of wars, the faithful, quiet drudge of the centuries, watching while others slept, working while others plundered and murdered; woman, who has died in prison and on the scaffold for liberty, should here and now have her audience and her advocates.
As a child of America I love and venerate France. We cannot forget LaFayette, although a hundred years have passed since generous France sent him to our aid in our great struggle for freedom. But as a woman I glory in her. [Great and deafening applause.] All true women love and honor France. [At this point the reader was interrupted with wild cries of "Bravo! bravo!" "Live America!" "True, true.">[ France, in whose prolific soil great and progressive ideas generate and take root, in spite of king, emperor, priest or tyrant; France, the protectress of science, art, and philosophy; France, the home of the scholar and thinker; France, the asylum which generously received the women who came hither seeking those intellectual advantages and privileges cruelly denied them at home; France, that compelled republican America and civilized England to open their educational institutions to women; France, the birth-place of a host of women whose splendid genius, devoted lives, and heroic deaths have encouraged and inspired women of other lands in their struggles to strike off the ignominious shackles which the ages have riveted upon them! [Loud applause.] How apropos it is, then, that the women from all nations meet on the free soil of France to give to the world their declaration of rights. To-day we clasp hands and pledge hearts to the sacred cause of woman's emancipation. To-day we meet to thank France for the grand women whose lofty utterances come echoing and reëchoing to us through the corridors of time, and to thank her for her great men who have been the beacon lights to guide the world to higher civilization and greater hatred of oppression. In the name of my great countrywomen, inaugurators and leaders of the woman's rights movement in America, the eloquent and ardent advocates of liberty for men and women alike, both black and white; in the name of the officers of the National Woman Suffrage Association; in the name of those grand women, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony, I salute the women of France and of the world assembled in this congress, and bid them god-speed. When we call to mind what has been accomplished by noble women everywhere, we are encouraged to renewed effort.
In America we have accomplished wonders, and yet we demand more; and shall continue to demand until we are equal in the state, in the church, and in the home. Twenty years ago woman entered our courts of law only as a criminal to be tried; now she enters as an advocate to plead the cause of justice, and invoke the spirit of mercy. Twenty years ago woman entered the sick room only as the poorly-paid nurse; now she is the trusted medical adviser, friend and counsellor. To-day she is in many respects the peer of man, to-morrow she will be in all respects his acknowledged equal. [Great and continued applause.]
Who can measure the influence this congress may have on woman's advancement toward that perfect equality which justice and humanity demand. Women of France and of the world, be of good cheer, and continue to agitate for the right, for in the elevation of woman lies the progress of the world. [Deafening applause, and cries of hear, hear.]
Mrs. Jones being indisposed, was replaced momentarily by her daughter, a beautiful young lady of about sixteen summers, who read the opening address of her mother; her rich voice pronouncing with such distinctness and beauty, the earnest words, translated into French, won all hearts, and gave to the opening of the congress such a prestige as it would otherwise never have had. After its close, Miss Jones regained her seat amidst the hearty congratulations of the throng assembled in that great hall, and I was proud of our little American. Her beauty and courage, coupled with her extreme youth, were the principal topics discussed during the day by outsiders. I was thankful that our nation was so well represented at the very first meeting, and the Parisian journals were all loud in their praise of Mrs. Jones' welcoming address, as well as the charming apparition of her young and accomplished daughter.
Seventy women of Illinois, appointed by the Woman's State Temperance Union, went to the legislature, bearing a petition signed by 7,000 persons, asking that no licenses to sell liquor be granted, which are not asked for by a majority of the citizens of the place.
Mr. Sherman moved a suspension of the rules to admit of the presentation of the petition.
Mr. Merritt objected, but, by a decided vote, the rules were suspended, and the petition was received and read.
Mr. Sherman moved that Mrs. Prof. S. M. D. Fry of Wesleyan University of Bloomington, be invited to address the House upon the subject of the petition.
Mr. Herrington objected to the obtrusion of such trifling matter upon the House, which had business to do. It was well enough to let the petition be received, but he wanted nobody to be allowed to interfere with the business of the House. Referring to some forty or fifty ladies of the Union who had been admitted to the floor of the House, he wanted to know by what authority persons not entitled to the privilege of the floor had been admitted. He insisted on his prerogative as a member, and asked that the floor and lobbies be cleared of all persons not entitled to the privilege of the House.
According to the Chicago Tribune, this speech of Herrington created a slight sensation, among the ladies especially, but Mr. Herrington's demand was ignored, and a recess of thirty minutes was taken to allow Mrs. Fry to address the House in support of the petition, which she did in a speech put in very telling phrases. At its conclusion, some of the members opposed to temperance legislation, signalized their ill-breeding, to say the least, by derisive yells for Mr. Herrington and others to answer Mrs. Fry. Presently the hall was resonant with yells and cheers, converting it into a a very babel, and the hubbub was kept up until, at the expiration of the half-hour recess, Speaker Shaw called "order" and the House immediately adjourned.
If any body of men bearing a petition of 7,000 voting men, had gone to the same legislature, and by courtesy been admitted to speak for their petition, no member would have dared to insult them. It is because they had no recognized political rights that these women were insulted. Claim your right, ladies, to be equal members of the legislature, then you can enact temperance laws, and have an unquestioned right "to the privilege of the floor."
After the city ordinance of Keithsburg allowed women to vote, the hardest work was to convert the women themselves. Committees were appointed who visited from house to house to persuade women to go to the polls for the suppression of the rule of liquor. On the morning of election they met in a church for conference and prayer. At 10 o'clock forty brave women marched to the polls and cast their first ballot for home protection. Carriages were running to and fro all day to bring the invalid and the aged. For once they were induced to leave the making of ruffles and crazy quilts, to give their silent voice for the suppression of vice. Three weeks later not a woman could be found in the town opposed to suffrage, and for one year not a glass of liquor could be bought in Keithsburg.
In June, 1879, the Circuit Court of Union County, Judge John Dougherty presiding, appointed Helen A. Schuchardt, resident of the county, to the office of Master in Chancery. Mrs. Schuchardt gave bond with security approved by the court, taking and subscribing the required oath of office. Since that day, she has been the acting Master of Chancery of that county, taking proofs, making judicial rules, and performing the other various duties incident to such office. At the last term of the court the State attorney, at the instance of Mr. Frank Hall, relator, filed an information in the nature of a quo warranto charging that Mrs. Schuchardt had usurped and was unlawfully holding and exercising the office. Mrs. Schuchardt filed pleas setting forth the order of the court appointing her, her bonds with the order of approval, and the oath of office filed by her. To these pleas a general demurrer was interposed and argued.
The questions presented by the demurrer were: First—Is the defendant eligible to this office, she being neither a practicing nor a learned lawyer? Second—Is the defendant eligible to this office, she being a female? The court dismissed the first question on the ground that the statute does not require admission to the bar as a qualification. Of the eleven Masters in Chancery in that Judicial Circuit, it was shown that only five had been admitted to the bar. As to the second objection, i. e., that Mrs. Schuchardt was a female (!) it was decided that the common law never contemplated the admittance of a woman to the office of Master in Chancery, and that doubtless it was the first instance in which a woman had been admitted to the office. It was also decided that the act of March 22, 1872, did not make women eligible to this office; Master in Chancery—for woman—did not mean "occupation, profession, or employment," and that "persons do not select an office, but are selected for the office."
Judge Harker, in delivering this opinion, said: "It is due to Mrs. Schuchardt to say in conclusion, that while I am constrained to sustain this demurrer and hold that under the law she cannot retain this office, there is not one of the Masters in Chancery in the four counties where I preside, who has been more faithful or attentive in the discharge of his duties, and none who has exhibited higher qualifications to discharge well those duties. And it is my sincere hope that at its next session the legislature will make this office accessible to females."
In May, 1877, Mrs. Eunice G. Sayles, and Mrs. Julia Mills Dunn, secured Mrs. Stanton to give a lecture on woman suffrage in Moline, and at a reception given to her by Mrs. Sayles, a society with 22 members was organized, which has held meetings regularly since that time, with the reading of papers on topics previously arranged by the president. It is a matter of pride that not a failure has ever occurred, each member always cheerfully performing the duty assigned her. An evening reception is held annually to celebrate the organization of the society, to which two hundred or more guests are invited, each member being entitled to bring several outside of her own family. The meetings have been valuable, not only in promoting friendly relations between the members, but also in the mental stimulus they have afforded. Much of the success of this society is due to the literary culture and earnestness of Mrs. Anne M. J. Dow, who was our president for three years. We have sustained a great loss in the death of Mrs. Sarah D. Nourse, who for thirty-five years was an earnest friend of all reforms.
Soon after its organization, our society became auxiliary to the National Association. We have circulated petitions and forwarded them to Springfield and Washington, where they have met the fate common to all prayers of the disfranchised; we have circulated tracts, placed on file in the public reading room all the suffrage journals, and secured the best lecturers on the question. We are organizing an afternoon reading society, to have read aloud "The History of Woman Suffrage," and shall soon place it on the shelves of the public library of the village. While we cannot point to any wonderful revolution in public sentiment because of our work, we are nevertheless full of courage, and under the leadership of our State president, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, we shall go forward in faith and good works, hoping for the end of woman's political slavery.[373]