When the gift of a little child came it was more to her than all else beside. For a while the world centered in that tiny cradle, and the hand which rocked that cradle had rather perform this gentle office than rule the world. It will ever be thus. With the true woman, dearer than wealth or fame is the touch of baby hands, sweeter than the applause of multitudes is the ripple of a baby's laughter. As the years passed by, the mother gave more of her life to the public, but always with the thought of the young girl who was growing up beside her and making of her home the dearest and most sacred spot.
This part of the memorial services appropriately closed with the tender reminiscences of forty-five years of married life, by the husband, Mr. Blackwell.
Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton (N. Y.) sent an eloquent tribute to the memory of Lucy Stone, Leland Stanford, George W. Childs, Elizabeth Oakes Smith and Elizabeth Peabody. After reciting the contributions of each in the cause of woman, she closed with these words from The Prince of India in reference to the last great record: "There is thy history and mine, and all of little and great and good and bad that shall befall us in this life. Death does not blot out the records. Everlastingly writ, they shall be everlastingly read; for the shame of some, for the glory of others."
Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg of Philadelphia told of the loyalty to women of Mr. Child's paper, the Public Ledger, and of his many benefactions. Frederick Douglass gave the offering of his eloquence and ended as follows:
It is not alone because of the goodness of any cause that men can safely predicate success. Much depends on the character and quality of the men and women who are its advocates. The Redeemer must ever come from above. Only the best of mankind can afford to support unpopular opinions. The common sort will drift with the tide. No good cause can fail when supported by such women as were Lucretia Mott, Abby Kelly, Angelina Grimke, Lydia Maria Child, Maria W. Chapman, Thankful Southwick, Sally Holly, Ernestine L. Rose, E. Oakes Smith, Elizabeth Peabody and the noble and gifted Lucy Stone. Not only have we a glorious constellation of women on the silent continent to assure us that our cause is good and that it must finally prevail, but we have such men as William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, William Henry Channing, Francis Jackson, Gerrit Smith, Samuel J. May, Samuel E. Sewall—now no longer with us in body, but in spirit and memory to cheer us on in the good work of lifting women in the fullest sense to the dignity of American liberty and American citizenship.
Miss Anthony closed the services with heartfelt testimonials to Mrs. Myra Bradwell, one of the first woman lawyers and founder and editor of The Legal News; Miss Mary F. Seymour, founder of The Business Woman's Journal; and Col. John Thompson, a founder of the Patrons of Husbandry, the first national organization of men to indorse woman suffrage.
At one of the evening sessions Miss Anthony presented Dr. John Trimble, secretary of the National Grange, and Leonard Rhone, chairman of its executive committee. The latter said in course of a few brief remarks: "When the farmers of this country organized they took with them their wives and daughters, and for twenty-seven years we have tried woman suffrage in the Grange and it has worked well. What we have demonstrated by experience in our organization we are ready to indorse, and by almost a unanimous vote at our last national convention we passed a resolution in favor of woman suffrage."
Mrs. Orra Langhorne read a clever paper on House Cleaning in Old Virginia, describing present social and political conditions and showing the need of woman's participation. Mrs. Mary Lowe Dickinson (N. Y.), secretary of the King's Daughters, gave a talk which sparkled with anecdotes and illustrations, every one scoring a point for woman suffrage. Madame Hanna Korany, from Syria, told in her soft, broken English how the women of the old world looked to those of America to free them from the slavery of customs and laws.
Mrs. Miriam Howard DuBose took for her subject Some Georgia Curiosities, which she showed to be "men who love women too dearly to accord them justice; women who are deceived by such affection; the self-supporting woman, who crowds all places where there is any money to be made without encountering the masculine frown and declares she has all the rights she wants. Georgia's motto should read: Unwisdom, Injustice, Immoderation."
Miss Harriet A. Shinn (Ills.), president of the National Association of Women Stenographers, gave unanswerable testimony from employers in many different kinds of business expressing a preference for women stenographers. Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates (Me.) illustrated how class distinctions, public schools, religious liberty and social life have been affected by the thought of the times, by fashionable thought. The official report said: "So bristling with humor was this address that there were several times when the speaker had to stop and wait for the laughter to subside. At the conclusion, her effort was acknowledged by long applause."