BLACKWELL FAMILY LUCY STONE Jones, J. ElizabethSalem, July 1st 48 My dear friend Lucy I have long had it in contemplation to write you, & having a leisure hour this afternoon, I will accomplish my purpose. I feel that I know you pretty well, & that we have many views and feelings in common with each other. I hope we shall have the pleasure of a personal acquaintance ere long – & now in the [comment?] [?] – let me inquire, if you cannot – come & spend a week with us after you graduate. I should be delighted to have you, & my husband, I know, would join in the invitation if he were present. He is holding a meeting to day some 15 miles distant. Paul Brooke informs me that you cannot attend the Anniversary of the Western [?]. I regret it very deeply. I had set my heart upon having you there. I considered it highly important, on your own account & on account of the cause. On your account, I say, for it does us all good to mingle our sympathies with congenial spirits. In such a meeting we gather strength & courage & seem to comprehend as we could not otherwise do, the magnitude & the holy nature of our enterprise. Then I thought your might be moved to talk, & thus advance the interests of the cause. But if you cannot be present, of course, I must give it up. I have heard repeatedly that you have rather inclined to lecture on "Womens Rights" if at all. Allow me to offer a suggestion on that point, & you can take it for what it is worth. Is it not better to go forward & take our rights -show our independence - establish our equality - make the world feel that we are not intellectually inferior, rather than tarry to discuss the question [whether] with the cowardly miscreants that would trample us down, whether it is just & proper for us to enjoy rights equal to those which they possess? I never went into an argument to prove the negro a man, & I feel quite as little inclined to enter upon a course of reasoning to show that God designed the sexes to enjoy equal rights.. The former we always assume, & [let] our course & conduct must show that we believe the latter. When men shall see that we despise their flattery & gallantry - that we prefer our rights [instead] & ask nothing more - that instead of being playthings & [a] gossips we are persons of intelligence, of judgement, of reason, of depth & strength of mind, then shall we begin to have legislation on the subject, & the rights that we now claim shall be acknowledged by all. Women must place themselves in the position they ought to occupy, & I believe they will be influenced to do this by the example of those who take a true stand. I know they will lug their chains awhile; but at length they will begin to covet the freedom that we enjoy. I believe that the Grimke's, L. Watt, A. Kelley, P. S. Wright & others who have been in the lecturing field, have done more to establish Woman's Rights than they could have done by a direct agitation of the question. You & I may differ on this subject - I wish we could talk the matter over. I have heard something about your going East this summer. You want to see your friends very much, I dare say, but I am very anxious to have you stay here and lecture on slavery. I not only have an earnest desire that you do so, but I have some policy in this plan. I want you to enter the field & fully commit yourself to lecturing before you see your friends. Had I not entered it, before consulting my friends, & witnessing their deep hostility to this plan, & seeing the alienation of acquaintanses at the prospect even, & feeling the scorn and ridicule of the world at such a determination, very likely my great love of approbations would have deterred me from entering it at all. I know nothing of your organisation, but I know these considerations would influence any person to some extent. If we have a painful duty to perform, the sooner we commence the better - beginning is the worst part of the job. It is hard to go forth as a female lecturer & face the prejudices of this age, & I should not like to be dreading it for 6 months or a year. Don't think of waiting to prepare yourself. You can learn in the field what you want to know, far better than out of it. This year is much more favorable than the next will be for lecturing on account of the Presidential election. Can you not be persuaded to commence in Sept.? Do you not see that the field is all white for the harvest? You know, I trust, that Ohio is the place for you rather than Mass. I saw your brother in Boston, took tea at F. Jacksons with him, his wife & Miss Bishop, a friend of yours I believe. If you have leisure & inclination please write me soon. Affect'ly J. Elizabeth Jones J. Elizabeth Jones 1847 July 1 Lucy Stone Oberlin Lorain Co. Ohio