[no date] Thousands of teachers, bookkeepers, clerks, seamstresses and women of small salary, who make for themselves a home, though it be in one room or two or three, and with their scanty means impart to it an air of comfort and there extend a modest welcome to their friends. They illustrate the national love of woman for home, which no outside occupation ever can eradicate. There is no emancipation for which women need be more profoundly grateful than that from the old prejudice or custom which made it highly improper for any unmarried woman to set up her own household, but doomed her always to a life of dependence in the oftentimes uncongenial home of married relatives. 129 [*67*] Whatever peroration Mrs Anthony may have ever made - was [whi????] extemporaneous - she never gave it but a very few times - she hated to read - losing thereby all her magnetic touch with her audience and she couldn't commit it or anything else to memory - [Homes of Single Women A home of one's own is the want, the necessity of every human being. The one thing longed for - worked for. The one hope that never forsakes us till we reach the very portals of the life beyond.] Homes of Single Women Written in Denver, Col., October 1877 A home of one's own is the want, the necessity of every human being; - The one thing above all others, longed for, worked for; - whether the humblest cottage or proudest palace, a home of our own is the soul's dream of rest, - the one hope that will not die until we have reached the very portals of the [life beyond] everlasting home. Probably none of us will attempt to question the superiority of the time-honored plan of making a home by the union of one man and one woman in marriage. 2 But in a country like ours, [where men are in a hopeless minority of nearly a half million, and ] where such considerable numbers of [that minority] men, from choice, or necessity, fail to establish Matrimonial homes, there is no way of escape, vast numbers of [the majority] women must make homes for themselves, or, forego them altogether. In Massachusetts, alone, there are, to-day, 70,000 more women than men; - wives and sisters of soldiers & sailors, miners, & stockmen, lumber-men, & mountain men who, in their [fruitless]search for wealth, have forgotten the loved of their youth. To these deserted women, necessity has proved the mother of invention; and as you pass 3 from village to village, you will see lovely white cottages, wreathed in vines, nestled amidst gardens of vegetables & flowers, fruits & shade trees, [paradisical homes all] each a little paradise, save the presence of the historic Adam [which these women have made for themselves, before whom ever ready. women reverently says - God thy law - thou mine"! to say the woman she did tempt me, & I did eat."] [Within these enclosures you will find one, two, three, four women, perchance a [spinster] disappointed maiden, a widowed mother, a fugitive wife and children - all thriftily and happily joined together in the up-hill struggle of life - doing their own housework, by a judicious division of the cooking & cleaning, the washing & ironing, the making & mending, the gardening & marketing, and in addition, by serving or teaching, factory or shop work, bringing to themselves the means of support.] 4 For homes like these, the passer-by is wont to heave a pitying sigh, as there rises before him the sad panorama of crushed affections, blighted hopes, bereaved hearts; - but [alas], - these are homes of exceeding joy & gladness, compared [as you bring to view those of the wives & mothers of the 600,000 common drunkards, libertines, tyrants, - worse than brutes,- as you look into] to [the] with the myriads of ill-assorted marriage homes - where existence, by night & by day, is but a living death!! [No one could say, again, even the person who has oftenest said it, - that single women, - women's rights women, professional women, have no home instincts, were they to be guests in the delightful home I found mine, while I wrought out these facts and illustrations, in the hope of helping young girls to see that they could make themselves homes without marriage. Every penny that purchased this lovely house was earned by the young woman who makes it a home, and that, too, in the hard way a Doctor must earn money. The house is surrounded by spacious grounds - embellished with grass platts, ornamental trees, fruit trees, & grape vines, & flowers of every] 5 It has been said that the man of the 19th Century insists upon having for a wife a woman of the 17th century. It is perhaps nearer the truth to say that he demands the spirit of the two centuries combined in one woman;- the activity and liberality of thought which characterize the present era,- with the [intellectual] submission to authority which belonged to the past. However that may be [no one can fail to see] 6 all will agree with [truth of] Legouve['s assertion] that the "history of women offers an uninterrupted series of emancipations; and that their present condition,- which is subjection as compared with the future,- is liberty as compared with the past." 7 In woman's transition from the position of subject to sovereign, there must needs be an era of self-sustained self-appointed homes, where [where] her freedom and equality shall be unquestioned. As young women become educated in the industries of the world, thereby learning the sweetness of independent bread, it will be more & more impossible for them to accept the Blackstone marriage limitation that "husband & wife are one and that one the husband." Indeed , not a few, already; scorning to be mere helpers of men,- are answering proposals for marriage [for marriage] as did 8 Aurora Leigh (*poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning*), that of the cousin Romney as they walked and talked in that English garden of their Maiden Aunt [the only sister of their dead fathers] "You misconceive the question like a man who sees a woman as the complement of his sex, merely. You forget, too much, every creature, female, as the male, stands single in responsible act and thought; as also, in birth and death." 9 (And will man) Man will not, at once, be able to surrender his time honored supremacy over woman, so well defined by Petruchio. "But for my boring Kate, she must with me. Nay look not big, nor stamp, nor stare, nor fret; I will be master of what is mine own; She is my goods, my chattels;- she, (is) my house, my household stuff, my field, my barn, my horse, my ox, my ass, my anything'; And here she stands, - touch her who dare; I'll bring my action on the proudest he That stops my way in Padua. " [Such monstrous assumption is infringement of all personal rights, leading to such abominable submission, makes one's blood boil; - And yet the legal, logical position of all married women, to day, is that of subjection- so clearly & admirably set forth by England's noblest son- John Stuart Mill,] 10 ["She is my goods, my chattels;she is my house," "My household stuff, my field, my barn," "My horse my ox, my ass, my anything;" "And here she stands touch her who dare, " "I'll bring my action on the proudest he" "that stops my way in Padua.") (over) * (And) Even when man's intellectual convictions shall be sincerely and fully on the side of freedom & equality to woman, the force of long existing customs and laws will impel him to [usurp] exert authority over her, which [no truly cultured] will be distasteful to the, self-[supporting] sustained, self-respectful woman, [can, for a moment brook] The habit of the ages cannot, at once, be changed. [No theoretical avowal of state & national] Such monstrous s assumption and infringement of all rights, leading to such an abominable submission, makes one’s blood boil, and yet, [it is] the legal, logical position of all married women, today, is that of subjection - so admirably set forth by England’s noblest son - John Stuart Mill.] Not even amended constitutions & laws can revolutionize the practical relations of men & women, immediately. any more than did the Constitutional freedom & franchise of black men, transform[ed] white men into practical recognition of the civil & political rights of [their] those who were but yesterday their legal slaves. Constitutional equality [does not merely make the literal fact simply, it but] gives to all the aid and protection of the law, while they educate & develop themselves - while they grow into the full stature of freemen. It simply allows [gives] equality of chances to establish equality. [And] Not until women [& black men] shall have practically demonstrated their claim to equality in the world of work - in agriculture, manufactures, mechanics, inventions, the 12 arts & sciences;- not until they shall have [taken the prizes] established themselves in education, literature & politics, and are in actual possession of the highest places of honor & emolument, by the industry of their own hands & brains, & by election [by the votes of the votes of the of the people,] or appointment [of Governors, or President]; not until they shall have actually won equality at every point - morally, intellectually, physically, politically, will the superior sex, [the superior sex] really accept the fact - and lay aside all assumptions, dogmatic or autocratic. [Meanwhile, therefore, for the maintenance of self respect for the one side - and for the education [of men] into the recognition of Equality, on the other women, by making & enjoying homes without men, will thereby establish the most efficient training schools for both -] 13 [During this transition period] [Meanwhile] Meanwhile, the "logic of events" points, inevitably, to an epoch of Single Women. If women will not accept marriage with subjection, - nor men proffer it without, - there is, - there can be, no alternative; - The women who [wont] will not be ruled, - must live without marriage. - And during this transition period, wherever, for the maintenance of self-respect, on the one side, and [for] education into the recognition of equality, on the other, Single women make comfortable and attractive homes for themselves, they [establish] furnish the best and most efficient [training schools] object lessons for men. [& make the class contemptuously called "Old Maids" honorable] [Meanwhile, the "logic of events" points to an epoch of large numbers of unmarried women. Surely, if women will not accept marriage with subjection, nor men proffer it without it, - there is, there can be no alternative. [Each] The freedom loving woman must live apart from the other, until] 14 [*The Careys*] [In the days of My "Revolution"] Fanny Fern in her inimitable way pictures the Modern “Old Maid”, thus - “No, Sir, she dont shuffle Round in skimpt raiment, awkward shoes, cotton gloves, with horn side-combs fastening six hairs to her temples. - she don’t read "Laws Serious Call" or keep a cat, or a snuff-box, or go to bed at dark, or scowl at little children, or gather catnip - not a bit of it. - She wears nicely fitting dresses and becoming bits of color in her hair; and she goes to concerts and parties - and suppers and lectures - and she don’t go alone, either! She lives in a [nice] good house earned by herself; - and she gives nice, little teas in it. 15 She don't work for no wages and bare toleration, day and night; No Sir. If she has no money, she teaches or she lectures or she writes books or poems, or she is a book-keeper, or she sets type, or, she anything [else] but depend on somebody else's husband; - and she feels well and independent, in consequence, and holds up her head with the best, and asks no favors; - and woman's rights has done it. She has sense as well as freshness, - and conversational repartee - as well as dimples and curves. - She carries a dainty parasol, [and] or a natty little umbrella; and she has live poets and sages & philosophers in her train, - and knows how to use her eyes, - and dont care if she never sees a cat, - and couldn't tell a snuff-box from a patent reaper; and has a bank-book and dividends; - and her name is "Alice & Phoebe"; - and Woman's Rights has done it." 16 [The Careys] Mary Clemmer very truly says, "The Secret of the rare material success which attended [them] the Carey Sisters [from the beginning,] is to be found in the fact that from the first they began to make a home; also in the fact that they possessed every attribute of character and habit necessary to the making of one. They had an unfeigned horror of "boarding". A home they must have, albeit it was up two flights of stairs. To the maintenance of this home they brought industry, frugality, and a hatred of debt. If they had money but to pay for a crust, then a crust must suffice. With their inflexible integrity they had no right to more, till they had money to pay for that more. They never [wore or] had anything better than they could afford. From the beginning to the end they always lived within their income. Carey. 17 With true feminine instinct, they made their little “flat” take on at once, the coziest look of home. I have heard Alice tell how she papered one room with her own hands, and Phoebe how she painted the doors, framed the pictures, and “brightened up” things generally” [Thus, from the first, they had a home,- and by ] By the very magnetism that made it bright, cheery, - in truth a home, - they drew around it friends- the choicest spirits- both men and women. [One of these] Horace Greeley, their [earliest] most frequent visitor [at their home] thus refers to their early Sunday evenings. [tea parties] “Being already an acquaintance, I called on the sisters soon after they had set up their household gods among us. Their parlor was 18 not so large as some others, but quite as neat and cheerful, and the few literary persons, or artists, who occasionally met, at their informal invitation, to discuss with them a cup of tea and the newest books, poems, and events, might have found many more pretentious, but few more enjoyable gatherings. I have a dim recollection that the first of these little tea parties was held up two flights of stairs, in the less fashionable section of the city; [but] but good things were said there I recall with pleasure yet. As their circumstances gradually [though slowly] improved, by dint of diligent industry and judicious economy, they occupied more eligible quarters, and the modest dwelling they have some 19 years owned and improved , in the very heart of this emporium [ (53 East 20th st) ] has long been known to the literary guild as combining one of the best private libraries, with the sunniest drawing-room (even by gas light) to be found between Kingsbridge & the Battery." This new and last earthly home of the sisters was at 53 East 20th street - just three blocks below "The Woman's Bureau" - established by Mrs Elizabeth B. Phelps - at 49 East 23rd Street - which was at one time the centre for Woman Suffrage meetings and receptions, as well as the up-town office of The Revolution. On the right, as you entered their door, was the large and beautiful parlor, with windows - south & north; - to the left, was the 20 Library - The second floor east room was Phoebe's - the west Alice's - both bright and sunny sanctums for their divine inspirations. During the years I [two & a half years of my paper] published The Revolution, I had the entree of their house and home & Each in turn contributed her poems to [The Revolution] my paper. "The Born Thrall", running through the first half of the year 1870, Alice considered the best of her prose writings. I shall never forget the December Sunday morning when a note came from Phoebe, saying, "Miss [Mrs] Anthony" will you come round & sit with sister, while I go to Church?" - Of course I was but too glad to go; And it was there, in that cheery sick-room, as I sat on a low cushion at the feet of that lovely, large souled, clear brained woman, 21 [It was] that she told me, [that] how, ever & anon, in the years gone by, as she was writing her stories for bread & shelter, her pen would run off into facts & philosophies of woman's servitude, that she knew would ruin her book with the publishers, but which, for her own satisfaction, she had carefully treasured, chapter by chapter, as her soul had thus overflowed. "I am now," said she, "financially free - where I can write my deepest and best though for woman. Oh, how much of my life I have been compelled to write what men would buy, not what my heart most longed to say, and what a clog to my spirit it has been." As she sat there, reading to me from these first chapters, her sweet face, her lustrous eyes, 22 her musical voice, all a-glow-as with a live coal from off the altar, I said, "Alice, I must have that story for The Revolution!" - "But I may never be able to finish it." - "We'll trust to providence for that," said I, and the first six months of "The Revolution," of [January] the year 1870 - carried "The Born Thrall" to thousands of responsive hearts. But, alas, nature gave way, and she was never [able] well enough to give the finishing touches to those terribly true to life pictures of the pioneer wife & mother. [And] I can but marvel that Mary Clemmer, in her attempt to set forth the life & works of Alice Carey, should never have mentioned "The Born Thrall" - the story, that like its author, was cut off, just as it reached its meridian height of promise. - her sweet face, all aglow, as with a live coal from off the altar, 23 [And] That 15th of February of 1870, which marked the half-way station of my life, gave to the world one of Phoebe's sweetest little tributes to mortal woman, - full of wit, humor, pathos, fact & sentiment. My private calls, breakfasts & lunches with the Carey sisters were vastly more to me, than were the Sunday evening receptions, where were gathered [together] the students of literature & art, reform & politics, fact & philosophy, not only of the metropolis and its adjacent cities, but eminent representative men & women, of the old world and the new, who [sojourning or] passing through the city, did [must] not fail to pay court at this shrine of the muses. The sisters were were deeply interested in the cause of equal rights to all; and the 24 subject of woman's enfranchisement was frequently the topic of conversation. While at that time, Mr. Greeley - almost always present -advocated warmly the right of women to equal educational and industrial advantages, he stoutly opposed their demand for suffrage. It was his habit to say, "The best women I know do not want to vote." [And] The charming Alice would as often put the question to each of the distinguished women at her table, "Do you want to vote, Miss Booth?"-yes- "Do you want to vote Miss Allen?" -yes- "Do you want to vote Miss Dickinson?" -yes- and each and every one as invariably replied "Yes,"-And yet at the very next reception Mr. Greeley would again repeat his stereotype (fiction - some of his best [????????? ]) question of the enfranchisement of woman, was one of frequent discussion. While the almost never absent Mr Greely advocated equal educational and industrial advantages for (?) 25 Mr Greely against his will, And he died in the delusion, [as Kansas, Michigan & Colorado are said to have noted,] that “the best women do not want to vote.” [This was written before Nebraska, Oregon & Rhode Island- had echoed the refrain! [and] before Kansas had given her women the municipal vote - and before their use of it the first election had forever demonstrated -that the best women do want to vote - and the bad women are very last to care to exercise the right!!] [*Single Women*] 27 Another delightful home of women alone, is that of Mary L. Booth, the successful editor of Harper's Bazar, and Mrs. Wright, in a beautiful four story brown front on 59th Street [Madison Avenue, New York.] [Miss Booth's] Their Saturday evening receptions are the successors of the [Miss] Cary's Sunday evening reunions; and one meets there many of the same people. Their parlors are plainly but pleasantly furnished; and wear a bright aspect at their informal receptions, when friends living in, or visiting New York, - in full dress, or walking suits, drop in and go out again, with little or no ceremony. For refreshments, only a cup of tea, light biscuits & simple cakes, are served during the evening 28 Of this co-partnership, Miss Booth is so purely a woman of literary pursuits, and outside affairs, that she gives over all domestic details, and largely too, all those of her own wardrobe, to the care of Mrs Wright, whom the world would call more feminine in her character. Yet, I have been told that she was the wife of a Captain of a ship, and that once, when on a voyage with her husband, he was taken very ill, and his mates & other officers proving inefficient, she bravely took command, and brought the vessel safely into port. - At Miss Booth's, on these Saturday evenings, [you] one may meet Frank B. Carpenter, the artist, with his noble [looking] wife, & beautiful daughter, now the wife of 29 A.C. Ives, one of [the] London representatives of the Associated Press of America, --- Mr & Mrs Junius Henri Browne and his wife, [Lillian Gilbert Brown a most gifted woman, the young sister of [*stet this*] Mrs Calhoun Runkle, the writer of many of the ablest political leaders of the New York Tribune, during the Sixties, past ten years,] Mary Mapes Dodge, - editor of the "St Nicholas", [that rejoices the hearts of the youth of our land; - There too, you will see] Mrs. E. L. Yeomans, the Chemist, Harriet Prescott Stafford, the poet - Jennie June [Mrs Greaterex - the ameteur artist - who has preserved to future generations, the homes of the Old Knickerbockers of Manhattan Island, in her most beautiful pen & ink sketches.] Croly, the editor of Demorest's Monthly, [now Godey's Lady's book -] those sister actors - the gifted daughters of Mrs Frances Dietz Hallock, Miss Linda Dietz & Mrs Ella Dietz Clymer-, Horace Greely's nieces, Margaret & Pauline Cleveland, and hosts of others, or more, or less celebrity. - [Among the] 30 [Visitors,] men and women from time to time are will meet the representatives from all the leading journals of the City. [And, there too, you might have met - at least one - the oddest of all oddities, Joaquin Miller, who gained more popularity in English Society, then he ever could in New York -- and who sold his farm & home, took the money therefrom, to go to Europe to cultivate his love of ?poesy, leaving his wife & five young children, penniless & alone, to shift for themselves, as best they could in the wilds of far off Oregon.] Miss Booth's salary from the Harper is $5000 a year. and the amount of literary work she has done the past twenty years, aside from her editorial duties, is perfectly marvelous. [She has excellent health & good spirits. She has written a voluminous history of New York - translated numberless] 31 [volumes of the French Liberalists - Labourlue Victor Hugo etc. -- And, yet, whether you find Miss Booth in her editorial Sanctum at the Harpers, or in her well stored library at [home] 87 Madison Avenue, she ever seems at leisure to give you a cordial welcome.] Dr. Lozier 32 [But the] A woman’s home, all must love and honor, is that of the Pres. of the National W(Women) S(Sufffage) Association Dr Clemence L. Lozier, [of New York] a very mother in Israel, to every woman, struggling for an honest subsistence. For twenty or more years her house has been the home of one, [sometimes 2 or 3] or more poor young women studying medicine at the college, she herself founded, and in the maintenance of which she has invested between 15 or 20 thousand dollars of her own earnings. Not only is this home hospitable professionally, but it ever welcomes all reforms or reformers seeking to change the conditions of society for the elevation and equalization of the human family. Her large & elegantly furnished parlors have for years been freely thrown open for the weeks meetings of the N.Y. City Women Suffrage Society; and 33 Dr. Lozier Dr. Lozier is the one, and only Professional woman in New York, who gives liberally, nay more, munificently, of her large earnings, to aid the organized movement for the enfranchisement of her sex. i have known her to contribute 2, 3, and 5 hundred dollars a year- and one year as high as fifteen hundred; not drawn from her generous purse, through personal pity for individual misfortunes - but intelligently, wisely appropriated to carry-forward the educational forces for the establishment of the equality of women in all her rights, civil and political. She is often heard to say, in public and in private- “All my success, professionally, and financially, I owe to the “Women’s Rights Movement”. It is but my duty, therefore, to help it, and thereby help all other women, who shall come after me - 34 The marriage of Dr. Lozier’s youth was a very happy, but brief one, her husband dying early, leaving her the mother of one child. Her second experiment was exceedingly unfortunate; the man not only leaving her to support herself and young son, by sewing & teaching & nursing, -but he himself fed on the scanty earnings of her hands, and worse yet - allowed all her little house-keeping furniture, to be seized & sold to the highest bidder, to pay his Liquor & gambling debts - three times over, did that persevering wife and mother, gather together the barest necessities of a home - Cook stove & utensils, table, dishes, bed & bedding - and three times, did she see them all swept into the ruthless man of the whisky shop. [And] This, good friends, was [Dr Lozier has been twice married, her first marriage was a very happy, [ ], but her husband soon died, leaving her with one child; her second experiment was exceedingly unfortunate, the man, not only, leaving her to support herself & son, - and his lazy self too —by sewing but besides, contracting debts at grogshops and gambling houses,] 35 all legally done, under the old laws of New York when the wife's services, not only those rendered to and for her husband in the home, but those given to her neighbors outside, belonged to him - and when every dollar the wife had before marriage, or inherited afterward, belonged, by law, to the husband, - no matter how incompetent, [how drunken] or unworthy; -- -- Soon after the last selling out of her house & home - Mrs. Lozier's eye chanced to rest on a letter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton's, read at the first N.Y. State Women's Temperance Convention, held at Albany in 1852 - urging the right of divorce for drunkenness, - and clearly setting forth the crime of the mother who stamped her child with the drunkard's appetite for rum. - That letter shocked Dr. Lozier 5 36 Mrs Lozier into her first thought, not only of her right , but, her solemn duty to cease to be the wife of that [bad] such a man. She quickly obtained a legal separation from bed & board — which was all the laws of N.Y. then, or now, allow, for drunkenness, — set about studying medicine, - in due time received her diploma from the Eclectic Medical College at Syracuse, — the only one in the nation then open to women; - and established herself in New York City; - where she soon had a large and successful practice — making the diseases of women and children her specialty. I have often seen 20 & 20 ladies in her parlors — some in the faded & worn garments of poverty, - but many, many more in the “purple & fine linen” of wealth with their elegant equipages awaiting them on the street, - all [these] Dr. Lozier 6 37 [were] watching their turn to enter the office & there receive the ministrations of her skill & loving sympathy. For many years her income has ranged from 10, [to 15 &]to 20 thousand dollars. I have known numbers of poor working girls, [who had been tampered with, by ignorant, or designing male professionals, & by them pronounced incurable.] - treated by this noble woman, [& that] free of charge, [too,] restored to health & strength, in a few weeks, or months, and thereby enabled to resume their daily toil for bread. [One such, an earnest, honest young woman, was for a long time Mailing clerk in my Revolution office.] Mott 1 (The Motts) 38 What numbers of the wayfaring advocates of reform, will with me, bear grateful testimony to that haven of rest, that coziest home of the Mott Sisters, in Albany, N.Y.! - There were [in it,] in the earlier days, their mother, the most beautiful & gifted of Quaker Matrons - and four unmarried daughters. - - [B]but the home was made by the sisters Abigail & Lydia -- two of the rarest, most [best] cultured women I ever met. ----------- For thirty years and more, in that stolidly conservative, old Dutch City, those two women stood almost the sole representatives of the then unpopular movements for Temperance, Peace, Anti-Slavery, and Woman's Rights. Mott 2 39 At different periods, during those [thirty] years, those sisters earned their living by teaching, boarding-house-keeping, and Shirt Manufacturing. They were the most self respect[ful]ing women I ever knew; -- always ennobling whatever work they laid their hands on. [No one ever thought of them as Working Women] and they had the respect of the best and most conservative people of Albany. In the olden days, when Gov. Seward, Gov. Marcy, and other leading politicians of the Whig & Democratic parties, sat at their table, they forgot they were at a Boarding House; -- they knew, only, that the viands were well chosen, & appetizingly Mott 3 40 arrayed before them. -- They forgot their hostesses were unmarried women, in humble circumstances; -- they felt themselves in the presence of equals - - their peers, in knowledge of [in all matters of politics] public questions; - and vastly their superiors in all those of morals & ethics. When Thurlow Weed, Joshua Spencer, Horatio Seymour entered their furnishing store on Broadway, they lost sight of the [fact of women] shirt-makers - and beheld only the two intelligent self-poised, Quaker women, behind the counter. [Their home was always of the most simple, but perfect order. In That of Maiden Lane, best known to all Their kitchen & dining room were one, as were their parlor and guest chamber And yet I have met at that table Wendell] Mott 4 41 Their home was always of the most simple, but perfect ordering, [In that of Maiden Lane - best known to all - their kitchen and dining room were one, as were their parlor and guest chamber; And yet,] I have met [there] at their table many honored and honorable guests [not a few] who loved to break bread with those noble women. I have never seen Wendell Phillips, more charming in his manners and conversation than at the humble 42 board of the Mott Sisters. There too, have sat William Lloyd Garrison, Nathaniel P. Rogers, Parker Pillsbury, Abby Kelly, Stephen Foster, Frederick Douglas, Charles Lenox Remond, Gerritt Smith, Samuel J. May, Lucretia Mott, Pauline Wright Jones, [??estine L. Rose, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Clarina Howard Nichols, Frances Dana Gage, Antoinette L. Brown, Lucy Stone, with many, many others of the early workers in the cause of human freedom & equality. [And] Not only the advocates [of] of 'immediate and unconditional emancipation of slavery' found shelter Mott 5 1/2 43 and rest under the roof of these sisters - but [also] the panting fugitive slave, as he stole his way northward to Canada, - ever met a helping hand and cheering god speed, Mott 6 44 [Matilda Joslyn Gage Elizabeth Cady Stanton D. Gage, Antoinette L. Brown, Lucy Stone, with many, many others of the early & earnest workers in the cause of human freedom and equality. ] 44 Were Court House or City Hall to be engaged for lectures. (No Churches were then opened to these great questions) Were [a] legislative hearings to be obtained- it was always the Misses Motts who had the entire responsibility of the arrangements- not only did they entertain those unpopular agitators in their house, and secure public hearings for them, but they sat on the platforms with them- and thus heroically sustained them and the principles before the assembled people & their representatives. Mott 7 45 I was most intimate with the younger sister for more than twenty five years; and I do not believe there was ever a married woman of the most magnificent home of the most loving and faithful husband, whose influence on society, religion, reform, and government, was so great & good as was that of Lydia Mott, standing alone, in her own inspiring love and faith [in justice and truth,] in that conservative city of Albany, for over thirty years. Martineau 1 46 [*Miss Martineau*] [During the Summer of 1854 - Parker Pillsbury, of N. H. - passed a two weeks in the home of Miss] A friend writes ; "Harriet Martineau - [and wrote to his friends, Stephen P. & Abby Kelly Foster - "She] has pitched her tent in one of the most delightful spots this world of beauty can afford among the lakes & mountains of Westmoreland and Cumberland, in the north of England; -- Ground truly classical in itself; and made more so, by having been the residence of so many worshippers of the muses. - Here are the homes & tombs of Wordsworth & Southey, - the younger Coleridge & Prof. Wilson; - Here too have lived De Quincey & Mrs Hemans, and Wm Wilberforce; - and now lives Miss Martineau, - to me greater far, Martineau 2 27 than any of them. - Harriet Martineau is a wonder of a woman. She has purchased land, - [contrived] planned, contracted for, and completed a magnificent house; - and here she lives in elegance & luxury, - and here expects to die. -- [A man & his wife inhabit the Porters Lodge, both in her employ. -- Then, in the house, she keeps always a cook & a chambermaid, (both superior women) & sometimes additional help besides. -- She keeps two cows, a pig or two, and poultry in considerable variety. -- And] The amount of labor she performs is immense. [She goes to her study about 9 in the morning. No one is admitted until two in the afternoon, - nor then, if strangers without letters of introduction. She is seldom seen much until three of four - then] Martineau 3 48 [She often, indeed generally, goes out to walk until five- then she comes to dinner - after that her employments are miscellaneous until tea at 8 - Then, when she has no company, she goes to her evenings reading; if she have company she will defer it. Sometimes till 10, and never retires until the clock strikes one. But late as that seems, she is always ready for breakfast by half past eight. At her request I have been with her two weeks, and happy, hasty weeks they were. While there, we received the news of poor Anthony Burns’ return to slavery. In compliance with my wishes, and her own feelings, she wrote her next editorial on that subject. She writes five long articles weekly, for the London “Daily News” the second paper in Martineau 4 49 circulation in The Eastern Hemisphere, and [a] capital articles they are. [she made of it ] She is a contributor to “Dickens Household Words”, besides writing many of the best articles in the “Westminster Review”, and many books of her own. It seems to me her travels in Egypt & Palestine are far the best ever written.” - And in addition to all this work, she, for years, contributed to The National Anti Slavery Standard at New York. [Wm Lloyd Garrison Margaret Fuller Thomas Carlyle] Dr. Avery 1 50 Do any of you, gentlemen & ladies, doubt the truth of my picturings of the homes of unmarried women; - Do any of you still cling to the old theory, that single women, women's rights women, professional women, have no home instincts, - allow me to introduce you to the home of Dr. Alida C. Avery Denver Colo. where I, during the beautiful October days of 77, gathered fresh inspiration to put these descriptions on paper- [to work out my allotted task] - in the hope of helping young women to see some other way to a home than that of marriage. Every penny that purchased this lovely house was earned by the woman who makes it a home; - and that, too, in the hard [way a Doctor must earn money] profession of medicine. The house is surrounded by spacious grounds, embellished with grass plants, ornamental & fruit trees, grape vines, and flowers of every it a home; and that, too, in the hard way a doctor must earn money. [*Dr Avery*] 51 hue; --with [flowering] vines creeping up and about every window, peeping in at the house-pets that rival them inside; -- the parlor, the dining room, the office, veritable green houses. Every room in the house has its vases of fresh flowers; And such dainty vases -- silver, glass, porcelain, the gifts of loving friends, in token of tender sympathy & skillful aid in days of weary illness; Ah! could you but have seen that heavenly guest chamber - as I entered it - the evening after the Colorado election - all wearied & worn from my canvassing trip over the mountains, through the valleys of that Centennial state - in which my beds, often had been the proverbial, "hard side" of a plank [in the main] - you would have felt it, as I Variety, with flowering vines creeping about every window, peeping inside at their rivals, that blossom and cheer. Dr Avery2 52 did - the very promised land. - [And], everything green without- as within that house - [the grass even] the trees, the shrubs, the vines, the flowers, the grass even. are the result of ceaseless care from the time of seed planting; - through all the spring, summer, and autumn months, the entire grounds are showered daily- such watching and such watering as no eastern gardener can understand= and as no soil and no climate save that of Colorado, demands. The arrangement of the furniture has been the object of such loving study, that [I defy any] no East Lake student could suggest an improvement. I have seen many a pretty breakfast table- but that of Dr. Alina P Avery’s, with it flowers & fruits, [*Dr Avery*] 53 its decorated china, silver & cut-glass; with its delicately chosen bill of fare, surpasses them all; - [And] The careful economy, which makes all the comforts & luxuries possible on a doctor's income, is a lesson every woman should study. - [And] This home lover, and home keeper, is a true reform worker, too- and when planning the W.S. campaign in Colorado last summer, studying maps, writing letters - 15 & 20 - a day - & attending to her professional duties, she still found time for just as careful marketing, [and] housekeeping and gardening as before. [And] All this is done from pure love of home; - no spurious second-hand domestcity affected for the praise of some man, or conscientiously decorated [*Dr Avery 5*] 54 Maintained for the comfort of the one who furnishes the money; nor because she has nothing else to busy herself about, but her one impelling motive, is from the true womanly home Instinct - unsurpassed, by that of any of the women who “have all the rights they want” [Following this we find notes of other beautiful homes of single women that of the “Sister Smith, Julia & Abby - Glastonbury Conn women- among them that of the Sarah Pugh with Abby and Sarah (Hensher?) of Philadelphia, and that of the gifted Anna E. Dickinson. 1710 Locust N. Philadelphia, where guests included the greatest statemen, reformers, scholars and actors of the day. With the comment- is Miss Dickinson less happy than a son a brother- in providing this lovely home for her [husband] widowed mother and only sister? Are her several brothers less ready to accept the products of her labor for their comfort & pleasure than are sisters from their brothers?] 55 The charm of all these women's homes, is, that their owners are "settled" in life; - that the men, young or old, who visit them, no more count their hostess' charms in the matrimonial market, than when guests in the homes of the most happily married women. Men go to these homes as they do to their gentlemen's clubs, to talk of art, science, politics, religion & reform, [barring only their wine & cigars, their low wit & satire on feminine follies;] - they go to meet their equals in the proud domain of intellect, - laying aside for the time being at least, all of their conventional 'small talk for the ladies' -[about fashion and fripperies, - beaux and balls.] The Charms of all these homes of single women 55 But, say you, all these beautiful homes are made by exceptional women; the few women of superior intellect, rare genius, or masculine executive ability, that enables them to rise above the environments of sex, - to lean on themselves for support & protection, - to amass wealth, to win honors & emoluments; -- they are not halves, needing complements, as are the masses of women; - but evenly balanced, well rounded characters; - therefore are not models to be reached by the average [ common lot] women we every-day meet. XXXX [ it is true the names mentioned have been those of exceptional women but there are ] But, say you, all these homes are made by the few 57. [lined out] 46 [end of line out] Sisters are indispensable to brothers. So long as they need them to make homes for them. But so soon as the wife is found, there is no longer need of the sister. The brothers cannot afford to support her. [lined out] them [end line out]. Late in life though it be in life, the sister must [line out] now[end of line out] then begin to make a home of her own. [lined out] A case in point [end of line out] a widowed mother and sister wrought early or late in their frugal New England home to eke out their means to meet the College expenses of the youngest son or brother. The sisters education has neglected, that she might ply her needle to at to their 58 Little income- When womanhood came to her, she was without the charms and graces of culture; reading music, the arts and sciences were all alike Greek to her. Dwarfed in all her powers, save those of self-abnegation that a brother [lined out] another [end line out] might grow into masculine grandeur. I was once a guest in that humble home. The son and brother had graduated from “Old Barnard”, with highest honors. He gloried in his lore of logic and law. [lined out] He could sport with the titans above and below. [end of line out] His language was pure as a poem. His hopes, his aspirations, his ambition knew no bounds. The mother and sister bowed in his presence, as they in untutored English sought to play their part as hostesses. 59 [lined out] 48 [end of line out] It was, indeed, a sad spectacle. He, at their expense, a safely launched, full freighted craft. Ready to make for parts unknown. They wasted and worn from never ceasing toil, sadly, breathlessly, watching the receding object of all their tender love and care. [lined out] He going forth to grapple with the stars; they falling back to grand grub on in the deeps of honesty. With shriveled intellects, and despairing souls. He in the worlds high places, with wife proudest culture in an home of luxuries supernal They in obscurity hereafter of the loved of their souls, hoping only for comfort in release from all earthly sorrows. [It was a most pitiable spectacle - The young man, at their expense, fully armed and equipped, ready to take his place in the highest and best of earths.] 60 Another instance of the uncertainty of securing a home by faithfully serving men - May be seen in the case of the sisters of the late J. Edgar Thomson - the first president of the Pennsylvania Rail Road. Their father died while they were young. The mother and sisters plied the father's vocation and by most patient toil and careful economy maintained the family, while their brother- pursued his studies travelled in Europe and opened his way to wealth and position. 61 Late in life he married without making any settlement upon his mother & sisters, whose home he now left, - though he promised to provide for them as before, - always repeating the comforting assurance - "As my fortune increases so shall yours - my prosperity shall always be your prosperity" -- In a very few years Mr Thomson died leaving an estate of a million or more - the entire income of which he willed to his young wife, and $100, a month to each of his sisters - with scanty 62 Stipend the sisters Anna & Adeline have their hospitable home at 114 North 11th street, where one meets the true friends of humanity and where are all the delightful influences of freedom and equality is early formed in the homes of women with other name than that of their own father. And get another surpassingly beautiful home is that of our gifted and brilliant Anna E. Dickenson 1710 Locust street, where guests include greatest statesmen and reformers. So our beloved Anna [lined out] any[end line out] less happy than would be a son or brother, in providing this luxurious home for her widowed mother and only sister 9 are her several brothers any less ready to take their ease and pleasure at her her expense, than sisters, (?) to live in idleness upon their mothers carings? 63 When and inventions of “The Smith Sisters” Julia and Abby - of Glastonburg Conn- Sarah Pugh with Abby and Sarah Kensher of Philadelphia, — of thirty two widows quiet homes in the little village of Holly near Rochester- There of the daughter’s home a Kansas pioneer, [lined out] where father [end line out] whose husband had said to her in 1867- if the amendment should carry and you should go to the halls and note, ‘This roof wouldn’t be big enough to cover both of us”- and the little heroin wife retorted, “He’s well to hope it will carry, and if it does I shall surely note and then if this house isn’t big enough to hold us both, it wont be me that will get out Jim”!! 64 And the she climaxes [with] by telling of the first Press dinner at [New] Delmonica's in New York at which women were present - when the toast master - Mr Simonton of the Associated Press said "Miss Anthony will you tell us "why the women don't propose?" To which she replied Because it isn't a modest thing [for] to ask a man to please be so kind as to support me! - But so soon as women have equal chances in the world of work - and are able to possess themselves of wealth & position, it will be both easy and proper [then] for a woman to ask the man she loves and respects to share with her the luxuries of her four story house front, elegant carriage and fleetest dapple grays!!! [It is woman's leaning dependence on man that makes] 61 Then she gives Transcribed and reviewed by volunteers participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.