Elizabeth Cady Stanton SPEECHES & WRITINGS FILE Reminiscences. Chapters 60-64, 66, 68 Reminiscences LX? 60? by Elizabeth Cady Stanton Chapter Six Months in Paris. My first experience in a flat, living on an even plane, no running up & down stairs, was as pleasant as it was surprizing. I had no idea of the comfort & convenience of this way of living. Our flat was on the fifth floor, consisting of drawing room, dining room, library, a good sized hall, in which stood a large American Stove, five bedrooms, bath[e]room & kitchen, & a balcony 2 52 feet long & four wide. The first few days it made me dizzy to look down from this balcony into the street below. I was afraid the whole structure would give way, it [looked] appeared so light & airy, hanging midway between earth & heaven. But my confidence in it steadfastness & integrity grew day to day, & it became my favorite retreat, commanding as it did a magnificent view of the whole city & distant surroundings. Most people prefer, very sensibly, the fifth flat on account of the balcony. On warmer moonlight nights, Theodore and I often walked & talked there until the old cathedral clocks warned us of the midnight hour & as the family were all [aught] out of town for the summer, we had the days & nights & the apartment, all at our disposal. (There were so many Americans in town & French reformers to be seen that [Theodore wanted me to] [see that he] we kept up [his] our Wednesday afternoon receptions during my whole visit. This gave me a fine opportunity of meeting many old friends & making many new & valuable acquaintances. 4 At a Reception which we gave to women's rights advocates, I met Mme. Maria Deraismis [sic], the only female Free Mason in France & the best woman orator in the country; her sister Mme. Téresse Deraismes [sic], who takes part in all woman movements; M. Léon Richer, who is now, I am sorry to learn, in very bad health, but who was then actively advocating the civil & political rights of women through the columns & his vigorous journal; Mme. Griess-Traut, who makes a specialty of peace work; Mme. Isabella Bogelot, who attended the Washington Congress of 1888 & who is a leader in charity work; Mme Emile de Morsier, the soul of the informative Congress of 1889 at Paris; Mme. [Madame Kargomar] Pauline Kergomar, the first woman [made school commissioner] in France, Mme. Henry [Greville], the well-known novelist who visited America a few years ago. (To be made a member of the Superior Council of Public Information.) I also met M. Grévy's son-in-law, M. Daniel Wilson. He was then a Deputy & one of the most powerful politicians in France. A few months later he caused his father's political downfall. I have a vivid recollection of him because he could speak English, his father having been a British subject. 5. Among the guests at our various Wednesday receptions were Mr. & Mrs. John Bigelow + the Misses Bigelow, Mrs. Frank Leslie, Mr. & Mrs. James G. Blaine, Mr. Daniel C. French, the Concord sculptor; Mrs. J.C. Ayer, Mr. L. White Busbey, one of the editors of the Chicago [underlined: Inter Ocean], Rev. Dr. Henry M. Field, Bjornstjerne Bjornson, the celebrated Norweigian author & republican, Charles Gifford Dyer, the painter & father of the gifted young violinist Miss Hella Dyer; the late Rev. Mr. Moffett, then United States Consul at Athens & his son, Mr. Cleveland Moffett, of the New York [underline: Herald]; Mrs. Governor Bagley & daughter, of Michigan; Mr. & Mrs. Henry Douglass Pierce of Indianapolis, Grace Greenmont & her talented daughter [Miss Bryant, daughter of the poet] who charmed everyone with her melodious voice. We had several pleasant interviews with Frederick Douglass & his wife, Irene, exciting games of chess with Theodore Tilton in the pleasant apartments of the late W. A. Fuller Esq. & his bright daughter Miss Kate Fuller. At this time I also met our brilliant countrywomen, Louise Chandler [Mindlin?] & Laura Curtis Bullard. Seeing so many familiar faces I could easily imagine myself in New York rather than in Paris. I attended several receptions & dined with Mrs. Charlotte Wilbour, greatly enjoying her clever 7 descriptions of a winter on the Nile in their own Dahabeeyeh. [He] I heard Pere Hyacinthe preach & met him & his fine looking American wife on several occasions [Theodore &] I took long drives, every day through the parks & pleasant parts of the city, with garden concerts, operas theatres & the Hippodrome [We] I found abundant amusement [and I] I never grew weary of the latter performance the wonderful intelligence displayed there by animals being a fresh surprize to me every time I went. 8 [We] I [went to] attended a reception at the Elysee Palace, escorted by M. Joseph Fabre, then a Deputy & now Professor at the famous State Superior Normal School for Women near Paris. M. Fabre is the author of a play and several volumes devoted to Joan of Arc. He presented me to the then President & Mme. Jules Grevy. I was also introduced to M. Jules Ferry, then Prime Minister, as "one of the leading American woman orators." M. Ferry said among other things: "I am sorry to [say it] confess it, but it is only too true, our French women are far behind their sisters in America." I met there the present Minister of Marine & his wife Mme. Barbey, one of the handsomest & tastefully dressed ladies in the crowded drawing rooms. The beautiful large garden of the Elysee Palace was thrown open 9. 3. that evening - it was in July - and the fine band and the Republican Guard gave a delightful concert under the big trees. I visited the picture galleries once more after a [?] lapse of nearly fifty years - some readers will remember that I was in the French capital back in 1840 - & was struck by the fact that in the interval several women had been admitted to places of honor. This was especially noticeable in the Luxemburg Sculpture Gallery where two women - Mme. Bertaux & the late Mme. Claude Vignon, wife of the present Minister of Finance, M. Rouvier - are now both represented by good work, the first and only women sculptors admitted to that gallery. By the way Mme. Bertaux presents a curious example of a women who has outstripped both her husband and teacher in his favorite study, for M. Léon Bertaux taught his wife the sculptor's art. 61? Reminiscences by Elizabeth Cady Stanton Chapter Again in England. Coming directly from Paris to London, one is forcibly struck with the gloom of the latter city, especially at night. Paris with its electric lights is brilliant everywhere while London with its meagre gas jets here & there, struggling with the darkness, is as gloomy and desolate as Dore's pictures of Dante's Inferno. Went on Sunday when the shops are closed 2 the silence & solitude of the streets, the general smokey blackness of the building & the atmosphere give one a melancholy impression of the great center of civilization. There are no places of interest open to the people, except the churches x & the drinking saloons x (over) We spent three days with Miss Henrietta Muller at 58 Cadogan Place. We found Miss Muller earnestly discussing the need of a woman's paper, different in character from any they had yet had, a dream she realized a few years after. We spent a day with Miss Emily Lord, at her Kindergarten establishment. She had just returned from X Now that it has been discovered that the smoke can be utilized, & the atmosphere cleared it is astonishing that the authorities do not avail themselves of the discovery, & thus bring light & joy & sunshine into that city. & then clean the smoke of centuries from their blackened buildings 3 Sweden where she spent six weeks in the carpenter's shop, studying the Swedish Lloyd system, in which children of twelve years old learn to use tools making spoons forks & other useful implements, Miss Lord showed us some of her work, quite creditable, for her first attempts. She say the children in the higher grades of the kindergarten enjoy the carpenter work immensely & become very deft in the use of tools. We found the three sisters Frances Emily & Maria equally cultivated & charming the latter a queenly beauty, who would grace any throne. Frances had just returned from America, where she Coming directly from Paris to Sweden one is struck 4 had been deeply interested in psychical researches We went to the theatre one night to see Mary Anderson in Winters tale. Though not a great actress we thought her beautiful & graceful. Nov 1st reached Basingstoke once more & found all things in order. The monotony of our dull towns was varied a little during the winter by a course of lectures on literature announced by one Hobson, a linieal descendant of "Hobson's Choice" which the reader will remember was not what one liked but what one could get. He was a thin pale awkward man, 5 evidently ill of ease. Like Lowell's Zekle when courting Huldy. "He stood a spell on one foot fust, then stood a open on t'other, An'on which one he felt the wust, He could not ha' told ye nuther." And he knew as little of interpreting the great thoughts of Milton Carlysle & Tennyson as Zekle knew of courting. The elite of Basingstoke had eagerly embraced the opportunity for an intellectual feast, and sat expectant from week to week at the feet of Hobson. At the close of each lecture there were no outbursts of enthusiasm, but the audience solemnly dispersed, no one confiding to another the disappoint --all felt. As the committee had made herculean efforts 6 to secure an audience, and of compassion for them all criticisms were kindly withheld. Many times we went in a pouring rain hoping to have our souls exalted & refreshed but returned home laughing in a kind of suppressed critical hysteria. His reading of some of Carlysle's grand passages was simply ridiculous. No attempt has been made since for another course of lectures. My diary tells of several books I read during the winter & what the authors say of women. Two books of Laladin showing the glory and shame of woman as set forth in the Bible. Read "Religio Medici" by Sir Thomass Brown M.D. born in London October 1605, three years before Milton. In this book he discourses on many 7 high themes, God, Creation, Heaven, Hell, & vouchsafes one sentence to woman the central figure on this planet as mother of the race. Of her he says "I was never married but once, & commend their resolution who never marry twice, not that I disallow of second, nor in all cases of polygamy, which considering the unequal number of the sexes, may also be necessary. The whole world was made for man, but the 12th part of man for woman. Man is the whole world, the breath of God, woman the rib & crooked piece of man. I speak not in prejudice, [nor am averse] nor am averse from that sweet sex, but naturally amorous of all that is beautiful. 8 I can look all day at a handsome picture, though it be but of a horse." Turning to John Paul Friedrich Richter, I find in his chapters on woman many equally ridiculous sentiments mixed up with much fulsome admiration. After reading some volumes of Richter, I took up Henrich Heine the German poet and writer. He says, "Oh! the women, we must forgive them much, for they love much & many. Their hate is properly only love turned inside out. Sometimes they attribute some delinquency to us, because they think they can in this way gratify another man 9 When they write they have always one eye in the papers, & the other on some man. This is true of all authoresses except the Countess Hahn Hahn who has only one eye!! In John Ruskins Biography, he gives us a glimpse of his timidity in regard to the sex, when a young man. He was very fond of the society of girls, but never knew how to approach them. He said "he was perfectly happy in serving them, would gladly make a bridge of himself for them to walk over, a beam to fasten a swing for them, anything but to talk to them". 10 Such are some of the choice specimens of masculine wit I found in my diary collected during my winters reading. I have many more. The thought just strikes me that these gems strung togethers would make a very amusing speech at some of our conventions, or an interesting Magazine article. [The] Some men of our own times might shine in such a collection. Reminiscences by Elizabeth Cady Stanton Chapter LXII New Years day in London Auguste Comte One of the interesting features in Mr Frederic Harrisons church is the celebration of the (Day of Humanity) New Year by the disciples of Auguste Comte. The first of January is annually marked by them with social festivities, public meeting, & lectures. Mrs. Fanny Hertz invited Mrs Stanton Blatch & myself to spend the day & dine with her in order to meet some of her festive friends [at her home] which we did, & had a most enjoyable time under her 2 hospitable roof In the evening we went to Newton Hall to hear Mr Harrison on the Positive Philosophy & the character of Comte. The music, & reminiscences of the early life of their great leader added interest to the occasion. The English Positivists group themselves mainly round Mr Harrison, Dr Bridges & Professor Beesly, who regard M Pierre Lafitte of Paris as the Central Director of Positivism, a post for which he was selected by Auguste Comte. Mr Harrison is President of the body that meets at Newton Hall. But Dr Bridges & Prof Beesley are of equal importance with him. They form a sort of triumvirate 3 being united by a close & devoted friendship that dates from their college days, having alike given their best energies to the dissemination of Comte's ideas. There is another smart group in Chapel Street of which Richard Congreve is the centre. It is distinguished from those in Newton Hall by their tendency to accentuate the development of a cultus & a ritual, giving undue prominence to some of the least tenable & least valuable of Comte's theories. Such were the leaders of Positivism in London in January 1888, what changes have since occurred I do not know 4 Though woman hold a very subordinate place in the calendar of saints with this school of philosophers, yet it seemed to me that Mrs Hertz was at least the social centre of the movement. At her recherche home one was always sure to meet persons worth knowing. Although she is wont to argue stoutly for the superiority of man, that being one of the dogmas of Comte school: necessary as they say to social order: yet I noticed that in argument in general topics, she was quite able to maintain her opinions with the 5 best of the fraternity. The conversation at dinner that evening was brilliant, earnest, & instructive. We found the Hall tastefully decked with evergreens. The bust of Comte occupying the central point in front of the dais, while those of other distinguished Positivists filled prominent spaces about the hall. Sitting in a front seat I soon lost myself studying the features of the great philosopher, so loved & honored among his worshippers. The small head & thread like facial muscles indicating the sensitive nervous organization he possessed, fully accounted 6 for the extremes of happiness & misery he at times experienced. Thinking of his tangled life, I contrasted the homage men paid him the world over, with the bitter antagonism called out when his principles were first annunciated. I had the honor of an introduction to the learned triumvirate at the close of Mr Harrisons lecture, & was told by one of their admirers that they were all alike speakers of exceptional power. (paragraph symbol) For days afterward, my thoughts were centered in Auguste Comte, & as I used Harriet Martineau's admirable translation of his great work 7 I paused ever & anon to think of his eventful life. I dwelt on the trials of his youth, the hardships of his early manhood, & the disappointments of his later years. His biographers tell us that being of an insurgent disposition he was always in trouble. He was never docile to the authority of either parents or teachers, though in after life he strenuously preached absolute obedience. Being very precocious, he had no special veneration for those whose only superiority lay in years & position. He entered Monpelier Lycee at nine years of age, & quickly 8 distinguished himself by his ardor in study & his resistence to discipline. His Professors praised him, his masters punished him. At the age of twelve, he had finished the prescribed course at the Lycee & at seventeen was admitted at the Ecole Polytechnique. His comrades respected & admired him. His Professors recognized his eminent capacity But his brilliant career was suddenly checked by heading an insurrection against one of the masters who had insulted the younger students. He was expelled, but his reception by his parents was so cold that in opposition to their threats, he soon left for Paris. There penniless & alone. 9 he began the eternal struggle for bread & distinction in which so many noble intellects have been crippled & conquered But in spite of poverty & an inharmonious wife on one hand, with the ridicule & bitter opposition of philosophers metaphysicians & theologians on the other, he made a noble fight & though often wounded was never vanquished. He was married at twenty seven but found the relation so intolerable, that in due time he worked his way out of it. These domestic troubles, & the varied vexations of his critics with the elaboration of his 10 great conceptions, of the unity of all the sciences together proved too much for one of his nervous organization, & he suddenly became insane. However the cerebral attack passed off in a few months & he was at work again. Later in life this great soul found a harbor of rest in the love & friendship of Madame Clotilde de Vaux. Speaking of this relation George Henry Lewes, one of his most appreciative biographers, says, "Marriage being impossible to them, owing to unfortunate ties on both sides, a passionate friendship was their only 11 consolation. Those who knew him in the early days of this attachment, will recall the mystic enthusiasm with which he always spoke of her, & the irrepressible emotions that led him to speak of her at all times & to all listners. The unspeakable influences of a true affection transformed his whole being. Unfortunately this supreme happiness lasted only one year, but her death made no change in his devotion. During her life she had been a benign influence irradiating his moral nature & for the 12 first time giving satisfaction to the immense tenderness that slumbered there. She thus initiated him into those secrets of emotional life which were indispensable to his philosophy in its subsequent elaboration. Her death rather intensified than altered this influence, by purifying it from all personal & objective elements. The remainder of his life was a perpetual hymn to her memory. Every week he visited her tomb. Every day he prayed to her & invoked her continual assistance. His published eulogies 13 & invocations may call forth mockery from frivolous contemporaries: intense convictions, disinterested passions, easily lending themselves to ridicule: but posterity will read in them a grave union & will see that this modern Beatrice played a considerable part, in the evolution of the Religion of Humanity." These notes from all I heard that day I find in my diary. I trust they will interest your readers as deeply as they did & still do me. Reminiscences by Elizabeth Cady Stanton Chapter 63 62 1/2? Jan 1888 a week in London After the rich interviews we had with the disciples of Auguste Comte, we + [* + Note (we includes Mrs. Blatch [and] myself)*] gave ourselves up to concerts, theatres, dinners, receptions, & various reform meetings. Dining one day with Mrs Margaret Bright Lucas, we met Charles & Susan Bowles, who invited us to attend a course of lectures they were about to give, on Christian Science, at number 2 446 the Strand. x We attended several, but were disappointed in not gleaning one new idea, nor in having an old one clearly & concisely presented. Our festivities were sadly interrupted by a three days fog, so dense it was dangerous to venture out. Carriages could only make their way by carrying flambeaux. When we could do nothing else, we amused ourselves reading Rider Haggards novels [* x Footnote - Rooms Amy dedicated to many high purposes*] 3 "She" "Jes" & "Solomon's Mines" We did not like them very much as we could see no principle or phase of life they were intended to illustrate. That we could not understand the purpose of the author was our charitable conclusion. We met [the author] him at a reception soon after & tried to get him to throw some light in his creations especially on "She" where painful death, as one of our own sex, caused us the deepest humiliation. after Reminiscences by Elizabeth Cady Stanton Chapter LXIII Home again for two years, As the International Council was fully reported & published in book form, revised & corrected by Miss Anthony, Miss Foster & myself. I will merely say at this time, that our most sanguine expectations as to its success in numbers & influence were more than realized. The large theatre was crowded for an entire week, & hosts of able 12 moderate time. I notice that the most stupid people, whom one cares the least to see, generally linger the longest, & hold the most inauspicious places instead of taking nay for new comers ?rculate. [Now] The month of June I spent in w York struggling with shoemakers milliners & dressmakers. I took three dress to [one] a supposed artist. She ruined one. fortunately I rescued the 13 others before her scissors had made their way into the material. Moral, when experimenting with an unknown hand take one dress at a time. All my attempts at clothe - thatching at this time were partial failures, but [during [July] August] [I found?] a solace for my woes in in meeting many pleasant friends once more. I attended several of Col Robert Ingersoll's receptions & saw the great orator & iconoclast at his own fireside surrounded by his admirers, heard his beautiful daughters sing, which gave all who listened great pleasure, as they have remarkably fine voices. One has since married, & is now pouring all her richest melodies in the opera of lullabye in her own nursery. I had several pleasant interviews with M[?]ure D Conway & different memb[ers] of his family with [H?] Gardner , Grace Greennood & many others where 1 13 1/2 Gardner, Mrs. Devereaux Blake Grace Greenwood Dr William F Channin[g] & many others whose friendship I prize, Mr Channing had many beautiful photographs of California scenery & much to tell me of the grandeur of that region, & its many advantages as a place of residence as he has lived in Pasadena several years. His estimate of the charms of that state may be relied on as valuable. After a month in New York he enjoyed the bracing air of the Berkshire Hills in Massachusetts, where accompanied by my daughter Mrs. Stanton Lawrence I spent the hot days of July, As I had promised to spend a year with her in Omaha, early in August we turned our f- westward stopping here & there Reminiscences by Elizabeth Cady Stanton Chapter LXIV Chicago, Beaman [Iowa], Omaha, We visited the points of interest in that wonderful western city, during the few days we remained at the Sherman House. Mr Pierce kindly placed his wife's victoria at our service, & we drove through the magnificent parks, & all the smart beautiful avenues. It is another city of unlimited possibilities for decoration, as it has great natural advantages with its immense Lake & rivers & 2 boundless rolling prairies. It was a most fortunate arrangement when it was decided to have The Worlds Fair held there, as they have abundant space for all desirable buildings on lands beautifully situated, on the shores of an inland ocean as Lake Michigan may be truly called. Moreover the people of Chicago are celebrated for their public spirit & marvellous enterprize. The way Chicago rose up from that terrific fire in 18__ was more like a fairy dream than a practical ressurrection. 3 At Beaman we met Col Duncan McMartin: my sister's husband, a tall vigorous man, whom the physicians declared could not live a year, at the end of the civil war, in which he served. But farm life in the bracing air of Iowa & generous draughts of whiskey in the worst stages of his depletion have made him a hale happy old gentleman, now well up in the seventies. He is said to be the most successful & scientific farmer in the state. A farm of 2000 acres under high cultivation is indeed a beautiful 4 sight. They have a comfortable house that has been built by installments, wings added from year to year as the family have increased & made this a summer resort for the second and third generation. A model barn too, raised on a series of solid brick pillars, furnishing a subterranean shelter, from fierce winds & blizzards, for the sheep & cattle. Col McMartin is an educated man, & has applied his knowledge of chemistry & botany, to the cultivation of trees & flowers, hens & eggs as much as to cattle, [&] grains & fruits 5 Hence he has the finest family, the largest hens & eggs. The greatest variety of trees, the choicest cattle, the most corn to an acre, & wool to a sheep of any farmer in that state. He was a graduate of the law school in Cambridge, my sister of Mr Wilhards Seminary in Troy. & with their united wisdom & industry, they have made that farm a Paradise on earth. On their library table you will find all the best American periodicals & foreign reviews, & hear [find] 6 the same subjects discussed at their fireside [table] as in the most aristocratic eastern drawing room. It is a mistake to suppose that it needs no education to conduct the business of farm life & that it must necessity be a dreary solitude for with intelligence & cultivation, it can be made most pleasant & profitable. But, successful farming like all other business needs money to begin [start] with, & plenty of hands to do the necessary work: both of which the Colonel had in starting, We passed a much enjoyable week 7 there sitting under the trees reading & talking, for a beautiful grove of their own planting, surrounds the house, furnishing a cool retreat the hottest days in summer. To reach Omaha it was necessary to change trains at Yuma, waiting until eleven o'clock. Unfortunately that night the train was delayed until past two in the morning. As it was excessively, warm in the station we sat outside, & were much amused watching the various trains coming & going, & the hungry men eating, all night. 8 In the intervals we had some conversation with the young men who served the various meals, & were surprized to learn that the feast was continuous at all hours night & day, I was glad to learn that for a beverage there was an increasing demand for milk, & lemonade. We called for the latter twice, & sipped it slowly to shorten the weary hours. With all the rushing to & fro, I did not see one drunken man that night, nor hear one profane word, though we sat outside near the door though which they were all passing, 9. I remarked to a gentleman who like us was waiting for the train, on the quiet good behavior, of all the rough looking men passing along during these hours. Ah: said that is partly because they see ladies here. All American men are naturally chivalrous & respectful towards women at all times & in all places. It was nearly three o'clock before the very wished for train came pulling in sight, & when in sweet slumbers our weary waiting was soon 10 forgotten. We reached Omaha in time to celebrate the great day when the first bridge was completed between Council Bluffs & Omaha It was a grand procession in which all the industries of both towns were represented, which occupied six hours in passing. We had a desirable position for viewing the pageant, & very pleasant company interpret to the mottoes symbols & banners. The bridge practically brings the towns together as electric street cars now run 11 from one to the other, in ten minutes, all day, far into the night. Here for the first time I saw the cable cars, running up hill & down without an visible means of locomotion. As one car in which the underground machinary was worked, was open all winter as well as during the summer, I took my daily ride of nine miles, for fifteen cents, in all kinds of weather. My son who escorted me always went into the closed car, & was greatly amused with the remarks he heard of the queer 12 old lady, that always rode outside in all kinds of wintry weather. One day some one remarked loud enough for all to hear, "it is evident that woman does not know enough to come in when it rains." Bless me said the conducter; who knew my son, who I was; "that woman knows as much as the Queen of England, too much to come in here by a hot stove, she rides out there every day for her health, with a thick hood, fur cloak, & boots She does not feel the cold," & she knows enough too to sit on the side where the rain does not blow in" 13. Soon after we reached our stopping place, the conducter told of me a few days after. that three who had made the disparaging remarks were greatly mortified when they saw that my son who helped me out, had quietly listened to their criticisms. How little we understand the comparative superior position of those whom we often criticise. There I sat enjoying the balmy air, the pure fresh breezes of heaven, indifferent to the fate of an old cloak & hood that had crossed the Atlantic, been saturated with salt water 14. many times, pitying the women inside, breathing air laden with microbes, that dozens of people had been throwing off from time to time all day, sacrifizing themselves to their stylish bonnets cloaks & dresses, suffering, with the heat of a red hot stove & yet they in turn pitying me. As my son found the closed car too hot, & the open one too cold, we finally agreed, that he would see me on the car, & then calculating the exact time that three trips would take, be there to see me off, & in the interim take a brisk walk 15 for his own health. I was often surprized with the punctuality. The cars reached a given point. It was seldom they varied five minutes. My 73 birthday I spent with my son Gerrit Smith on his farm near Portsmouth. As we had not met in several years, it took us a long time, in the net work of life, to pick up all the stitches that had dropped since we parted, I amused myself darning stockings & drawing plans for an addition to their house, in odd moments, when the conversation was interrupted by various farm duties. 16 I soon saw that farming on a small scale without plenty, of help & money, made life there quite different from what I found it in my sister's establishment. In the spring my son & his wife came to the conclusion that they had had enough of the solitude of farm life & turned their faces eastward. Their exodus from the prairies of Iowa & their landing by the sea shore must have a future chapter by itself Soon after my return to Omaha the editor of The Women's Tribune 17 Mrs Clara B. Colby, called and lunched with us one day.- She announced the coming state convention, at which I was expected "to make the best speech of my life." As she had all the arrangements to make she invited me to drive round with her, that we might talk by the way. So she engaged the hall, made arrangements at the Paxton house for a reception, called on all her faithful coadjutors, to arouse their enthusiasm in the work, & climbed up to the sanctums of the editors 18 democratic & republican alike, asking them to advertise the convention & to say a kind word for our oppressed class, in our struggles for emancipation. They all promised favorable notices & comments & kept their promises. Mrs Colby being President of the state society, opened the meeting with an able speech & presided throughout with tact & dignity. There had just been a terrible tragedy in the city, in which a young woman who had been deceived & disappointed, by a young man from 19 one of the first families in Chicago, & waylaid & shot him dead. This added interest & point to the convention, as it roused thought to the evils of our social life & to woman's position as one of its important factors. It furnished a text, too, for speeches & resolutions. As Miss Anthony was lecturing in Nebraska at the time, she was able to attend the convention, & added greatly to the enthusiasm of the occasion. Mrs Colby was satisfied 20 with the success of the convention, & with the enjoyment all expressed in the reception, at which several gentlemen made short effective speeches. x (over) I came very near meeting with a serious loss. The lady who escorted me in her carriage to the Opera House, carried my manuscript, which I did not miss until it was nearly my turn to speak. When I told Mrs Dinsmore who sat by my side, that Mrs _____ had forgotten to give me my speech. She went at once to Mrs_____ * I might fairly say that Mrs Colby was the life & soul of the suffrage movement in Nebraska, though always ably sustained by C. S. Montgomery, who graduated at the same college with Mrs. Colby & was one of her earliest converts & had always remained a staunch & fearless advocate of woman suffrage. He & Mr J J Points & the Rev Mr Hause all spoke during the convention. Mr Hause kindly gave his church free for the day sessions. [* 21*] in the audience who was filled with consternation when asked to produce the answers. She said she remembered taking it, but what she had done with it she did not know. With great presence of mind Mrs Densmore said, you may have dropped it alighting from the carriage, let us go & look where you stopped, & lo! they found it lying in the gutter. As the ground was frozen hard it was not even soiled. When I learned what a narrow escape I had, I trembled for I had prepared no extemporaneous train 22. of thought & I could not reproduce the speech I had just written. I should have been obliged to talk, when my turn came, & if inspired by the audience or the good angels, might have done well, or might have failed utterly. The moral to this episode for all public speakers is hold on to your own manuscript. A sad event followed our convention One of the mot active women in all these meetings Mrs Orpha Dinsmore died with apoplexy a few days 23 after. Later a memorial meeting was held in the Unitarian church at which Mrs Colby & myself & several other ladies & gentlemen gave many pleasant reminiscences of her public & private life, of all her good deeds in the various reforms with which she was associated. The music on that occasion was very impressive, & the tributes most tender. She was a noble woman & her vacant place will not easily be filled. I made many pleasant acquaintances [*x over* ] This was only the second memorial meeting that had ever been held for a woman. The first was for Mrs Lucretia Mott. [*24*] both in Omaha & Council Bluffs during the six months I spent there, or shall not soon forget the kind attentions of the Everetts, the Poppletons, the Morrells, the [*over*] Greens, Judge Savage & his charming wife, & others whose names I cannot just now recall. I found the drives about both cities very pleasant & the climate delightful. It is said that they have fifty more bright-clear days during the year, than we have in New York x the Blumers the Lawrences [*25*] In Omaha I began my reminiscences at Mrs Colby's suggestion, & at the point of the bayonet. She has kept me at them ever since, until now. I have a painful sense of guilt, if I allow a week to pass without sending her a budget Whatever weariness or pleasure the readers of The Tribune have experienced in perusing these chapters they may blame or praise Ms Colby. Reminiscences by Elizabeth Cady Stanton Chapter LXVI Miss Anthony's [seventh] 70th birthday Again to Europe. My daughters came on to Washington to celebrate the birthday of one who had always been to them a second mother Mrs. Blatch with many others made a speech on the occasion & Ms Lawrence [*10*] I dined with Dr. John Chapman and his talented wife. They are the editors of the Westminster Review. I also dined with the late Mrs. Caroline deBarrow who, during her long life, contributed from her large fortune to the advancement of various reforms & who wrote several remarkable books & pamphlets in favor of all good causes. At these & other tables I met Mrs. Emily Crawford the Paris correspondent of the letters in Daily News; Louise Michel, the revolutionary socialist; Mr. G. A. P. Healy, the veteran portrait painter; [Mr. Theodore Tilton, who then as now resides in Paris]; M. Yves Guyot [now] a member of the present Ministry, who is an outspoken advocate of women's rights, and many other interesting persons whose names escape me. [*10 a*] At a breakfast party which we gave I made the acquaintance of General Cluseret who figured in our Civil War, who afterwards became War Minister of the Paris Commune & who is now member of the Chamber of Deputies. He learned English when in America & has not entirely forgotten it. He told anecdotes of Lincoln, Stanton, Sumner, Fremont, Garibaldi, the Count of Paris & many other famous men who he once knew & proved to be a very interesting conversationalist. [*#*] [*11*] Old book stands were always attractive centres of interest to Theodore, & among other treasure troves he brought home one day a boy of fourteen years whose office was to watch the books a bright cheery little fellow of mixed French & German descent, who could speak English French & German. He was just what we had desired, to run errands, tend the door etc etc. As he was delighted with the idea of coming to us, we went to see his parents. [*12*] We were pleased with their appearance & surroundings. We learned that they were members of the Lutheran Church. That the boy was one of the shining lights in Sunday School & the only point in our agreement on which they were strenuous was that he should go regularly to Sunday school & have time to learn his lessons. So "Immanuel" commenced a new life with us & as we had unbounded confidence in the boy's integrity, we excused his short comings & for a time believed all he said. The moment we were out [*13 *] We soon found he was in the drawing room, investigating every drawer, playing on the piano, or sleeping on the sofa. Though he was told never to touch the hall stove, he would open all the draughts & make it red hot. So, on going out we locked up every part but the kitchen, then he amused himself burning holes through the pantry shelves, when the cook was out, & boring holes with a gimblet through a handsomely carved bread board. One day in making up a spare bed for a friend, we discovered under the mattress, hosts of letters [*14*] he was supposed to have mailed at different times. When we reprimanded him for his pranks he would look at us steadily but sorrowfully & immediately afterwards, we would hear him dancing down the corridor singing "Safe in the arms of Jesus". If he had taken heed to the one half we said to him, he would have been safer in our hands, than in those of his imaginary protector. He turned out a thief, an unmitigated liar, a dancing dervish & through all our experiences of six weeks with him, his chief reading was his bible & Sunday school books. The experience [*15*] however was not lost on Theodore, he has never suggested a boy since & a faithful daughter of Eve reigns in his stead. During the summer I was in the hands of two artists. Miss Anna Klumpke who painted my portrait & Paul Bartlett who moulded my head in clay. To shorten the operation sometimes I sat for both at the same time. Although neither of them were fully satisfied with the results of their labors, yet we had many pleasant hours together, discussing [*16*] their art, their early trials, & artists in general. Each had good places in the exhibition, & honorable mention that year. It is sad to see so many American girls & boys, who have no genius for painting or sculpture, spending their days in garrets, in solitude & poverty; with the vain hope of earning distinction as artists. Women of all classes are awaking to the necessity of self support, but few are willing to do the ordinary useful work in which they are fitted. In their Exposition [*17*] that year 6000 pictures were offered, & only two thousand accepted & many of these were "skyed". I spent a week with Miss Katharine Fuller at 40 Quai D'Orleans. The view from that apartment on the fifth floor, looking up & down the Seine is magnificent! [* over*] It was lovely on the balcony at night to watch the little boats with their bright lights sailing up & down, especially the night of their great annual fete the 14th of July when the whole city was magnificently illuminated. Paris is indeed a beautiful city; [*18*] with its brilliant electric lights, we may truly say there is no night there. We drove about the city on several occasions at midnight, to see the life: men women & children enjoying the cool breezes & the restaurants all crowded with hungry people. Much however as the French enjoy the open air, the moment they enter their houses, they shut up every door & window also they do in travelling. Without continued warfare, if in a car will French people, you could never keep the [*19*] smallest crack of a window open. Sunday in Paris is charming, it is the day for the masses of the people. All the galleries of art, the libraries, concert halls, & gardens, are open for them. Every body dressed in his best out driving, walking or having picnics in the various parks & gardens; husbands, wives & children [all together] laughing & talking happily together. The seats in the streets & parks are all filled with the laboring masses. The [seats] benches all over Paris along the curbstones, in every street & the highways in the suburbs, show the [*20*] care given to the comfort of the people. You will see mothers & nurses with their babies & children resting on these benches, laboring men eating their lunches & sleeping there at noon, the organ grinders & monkeys too taking their comfort, hydrants where people can drink & many other conveniences are to be found everywhere. What a contrast to dark, dingy, foggy London especially at night, & on Sunday, where the drinking saloons, & the churches are the only resorts open to the people, all the streets dimly lighted, & many buried in Egyptian darkness. In France you see men & women everywhere [*21*] together, in England the men generally stagger about alone, caring more for their pipes & beer than their mothers, wives, & sisters. Social life among the lower classes especially, is far more natural & harmonious in France than in England because women mix more freely in business & amusements Reminiscences by Elizabeth Cady Stanton Chapter LXVIII Parnell, The Jackson case. At the seaside There were some problems in social ethics, that deeply stirred the English people in the year of our Lord 1890. One was Charles Stuart Parnell's platonic friendship with Mrs. O'Shea, the other was the Lord Chancellor's decision in the case of Mrs. Jackson. The pulpit, the press, & the people vied with each other in trying to dethrone Mr. Parnell as the great Irish leader... but the united forces did not succeed in destroying his self-respect, nor in hounding him out of the British Parliament though after a brave, protracted resistance on his part [*8*] on the bench of our Supreme Court who in deciding great questions of human rights, shall be governed by the broad principles of justice rather than precedent. One pleasant feature in the trial of the Jackson case was the fact that both Lady Colridge & the wife of the Lord Chancellor were seated on the bench, & evidently much pleased with the decision. It is difficult to account for the fact that while women of the higher classes in England, take the deepest interest in politics & court decisions, American women of wealth & position are so wholly indifferent to all public matters. While English women take an active part in the elections, holding meetings & canvassing their districts, here even the wives of Judges, Governors & senators speak Transcribed and reviewed by volunteers participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.