The reader of the preceding pages will be sorely disappointed if he expects to find in this brief chapter a similar record of progress and reform. If, however, he looks simply for an earnest of the future, for a humble beginning of that wonderful revolution in favor of women which has occurred in the United States, and to a less degree in England, during the past quarter of a century, his expectations will be fully realized. More than this; he will close this long account of woman's emancipation in the new world convinced that in due season a similar blessing is to be enjoyed by the women of the old world.

For the moment, the woman question in Europe is pushed into the background by the all-absorbing struggle still going on in various forms between the republican and monarchical principle, between the vital present and the moribund past; but the most[Pg 896] superficial observer must perceive, that the amelioration of the lamentable situation of European womanhood is sure to be one of the first problems to come to the front for resolution, as soon as liberty gains undisputed control on this continent,—a victory assured in the not-distant future. When men shall have secured their rights, the battle will be half won; women's rights will follow as a natural sequence.

The most logical beginning for a sketch of the woman movement on the continent, and indeed of any step in advance, is of course France, where ideas, not facts, stand out the more prominently; for, in questions of reform, the abstract must always precede the concrete,—public opinion must be convinced before it will accept an innovation. This has been the rôle of France in Europe ever since the great revolution; it is her rôle to-day. She is the agitator of the old world, and agitation is the lever of reform.

The woman movement in France dates from the upheaval of 1789. Though the demands for the rights of man threw all other claims into the shade, a few women did not fail to perceive that they also had interests at stake. Marie Olympe de Gouges, for example, in her "Declaration of the Rights of Woman," vindicated for her sex all the liberties proclaimed in the famous "Declaration of the Rights of Man." During the empire and the restoration the reform slept; under the July monarchy there was an occasional murmur, which burst forth into a vigorous protest when the revolution of 1848 awakened the aspirations of 1789, and George Sand consecrated her talent to the cause of progress. During the second empire, in spite of the oppressive nature of the government, the movement took on a more definite form; its advocates became more numerous; and men and women who held high places in literature, politics and journalism, spoke out plainly in favor of ameliorating the condition of French women. Then came the third republic, with more freedom than France had enjoyed since the beginning of the century. The woman movement felt the change, and, during the past ten years, its friends have been more active than ever before.

The most tangible event in the history of the question in France is the International Woman's Rights Congress, the first international gathering of the kind, which assembled in Paris in the months of July and August during the exposition season of 1878. The committee which called the congress contained representatives from six different countries, viz.: France, Switzerland,[Pg 897] Italy, Holland, Russia and America. Among the eighteen members from France were two senators, five deputies and three Paris municipal councilors. Italy was represented by a deputy and the Countess of Travers, an indefatigable friend of the undertaking, who died just before the opening of the congress. The American members of the committee were Julia Ward Howe, Mary A. Livermore and Theodore Stanton. Among the members[567] of the congress, besides those just mentioned, were deputies, senators, publicists, journalists, and men and women of letters from all parts of Europe. Sixteen different organizations in Europe and America sent delegates. The National Woman Suffrage Association was represented by Jane Graham Jones and Theodore Stanton, and the American Woman Suffrage Association by Julia Ward Howe.

The work of the congress was divided into five sections, as follows: the historical, the educational, the economic, the moral, and the legislative. The congress was opened on July 25, by Léon Richer, its promoter and originator, and one of the most indefatigable friends of women's rights in France. He invited Maria Deraismes, an able speaker well known among Paris reformers, to act as temporary chairman. The next thing in order was the election of two permanent presidents, a man and a woman. The late M. Antide Martin, then an influential member of the Paris municipal council, and Julia Ward Howe were chosen. Mrs. Howe, on taking the chair, made a short speech which was very well received; Anna Maria Mozzoni, of Milan, a most eloquent orator, followed; and then Genevieve Graham Jones advanced to the platform, and in the name of her mother, Jane Graham Jones, delegate of the National Woman Suffrage Association, she conveyed to the congress messages of good-will from the United States. This address, delivered with much feeling, and appealing to French patriotism, was enthusiastically received. When Miss Jones had taken her seat, M. Martin arose, thanked the foreign ladies for their admirable words, and concluded in these terms: "In the name of my compatriots, I particularly return gratitude to Miss Graham Jones for the eloquent and cordial manner in which she has just[Pg 898] referred to France, and in turn, I salute republican America, which so often offers Europe examples of good sense, wisdom and liberty."

At the second session was read a long and eloquent letter from Salvatore Morelli,[568] the Italian deputy. Theodore Stanton read a paper entitled, "The Woman Movement in the United States." The third session was devoted to the educational phase of the woman question. Tony Révillon, who has since become one of the radical deputies of Paris, spoke, and Miss Hotchkiss presented an able report on "The Education of Women in America." After Miss Hotchkiss had finished, Auguste Desmoulins, now a member of the Paris municipal council, offered, as president of the section, a resolution advocating the principal reforms—the same studies for boys and girls, and coëducation—demanded by Miss Hotchkiss. The resolution was carried without debate. Aurelia Cimino Folliero de Luna, of Florence, followed in a few remarks on the "Mission of Woman." Eugénie Pierre, of Paris, spoke on the "Vices of Education in Different Classes of Society," and in closing complimented America in the highest terms for its progressive position on the woman question. In fact, the example of the United States was frequently cited throughout the proceedings of this congress, and the reformers of America may find some joy in feeling that their labors are producing fruit even in the old world.

At the last session of the congress, August 9, 1878, a permanent international committee was announced. France, England, Italy, Alsace-Lorraine, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Roumania and the United States are all represented on this committee.[569] The chief duties of this committee were to be[Pg 899] the advancement of the reforms demanded by the congress and to issue the call for the next international gathering. The congress ended with a grand banquet on the evening of the last day's session, in which about two hundred guests participated.

The present situation in France is full of interest and encouragement. There are societies, journals, and different groups of reformers all striving independently but earnestly to better the situation of French women politically, civilly, morally and intellectually. At the head of the agitation in favor of women's political rights stand Hubertine Auclert and her vigorous monthly, La Citoyenne[570]; the reformers of the code are lead by Léon Richer and his outspoken monthly, Le Droit des Femmes[571]; the movement in favor of divorce, which was crowned with success in the summer of 1884, is headed by Alfred Naquet in the senate, and finds one of its earliest and ablest supporters in Olympe Audouard; the emancipation of women from priestly domination—and herein lies the greatest and most dangerous obstacle that the reformers encounter—counts among its many advocates Maria Deraismes; woman's moral improvement, to be mainly accomplished by the abolition of legalized prostitution, is demanded by Dr. and Mrs. Chapman and Emilie de Morsier; while the great uprising in favor of woman's education has such a host of friends and has already produced such grand results, that the brief limits of this sketch will permit neither an enumeration of the one nor the other.

The transition from France to Italy is easy and natural, for it is on the Cisalpine peninsula that Gallic ideas have always taken deeper root than elsewhere on the Continent, and, as might be expected, the Italian woman movement resembles in many respects that of which we have just spoken.

With the formation of the kingdom of Italy in 1870 began a well-defined agitation in favor of Italian women. The educational question was first taken up. Prominent among the women who participated in this movement were Laura Mantegazza, the Marchioness Brigida Tanari, and Alessandrina Ravizza. Aurelia Cimino Folliero de Luna, who has devoted her whole life to improving the condition of her countrywomen, writes me from Florence on this subject. "Here it was," she says, "that the example of American and English women, who in this respect[Pg 900] were our superiors, was useful to us. While we were still under foreign domination and ignorant of solidarity of sex, they were free and united." The new political life produced a number of able women orators and writers, such as Anna Mozzoni, Malvina Frank, Gualberta Beccari, and many others. The last named founded at Venice La Donna, and in 1872 Aurelia Cimino Folliero de Luna established in Florence La Cornelia, which has since ceased to exist, while in 1882 Ernesta Napollon began at Naples the publication of the short-lived L'Umanitario, the youngest of a goodly list of journals which have done much to excite an interest in the woman question. The Italian government has generously seconded the efforts of the reformers. The code has been modified, schools have been established, the universities thrown open and courses in agriculture proposed.

But the most significant sign of progress in Italy was afforded by the great universal suffrage convention, held at Rome on February 11, 12, 1881. Anna Mozzoni, delegate to the convention from the Milan Society for the Promotion of Woman's Interests, of which she is the able president, made an eloquent appeal for woman suffrage and introduced a resolution to this effect which was carried by a good majority.[572] In 1876 a committee of the Chamber, of which the deputy Peruzzi was chairman, reported a bill in favor of conferring on women the right to vote on municipal and provincial questions (voto amministrativo), a privilege which they had formerly enjoyed in Lombardy and Venice under Austrian rule. This bill was reïntroduced in 1882 by the Depretis ministry and was reported upon favorably by the proper committee in June, 1884. It is believed that the proposition will soon become a law. If such is the case, Italian women will enjoy the same rights as Italian men in municipal and provincial affairs, with this exception, that they will not be eligible to office in the bodies of which they are electors.[573] Aurelia Cimino Folliero de Luna, says:

I make no doubt that in a few years the question of the emancipation of women in Italy will be better understood; will be regarded from a more elevated standpoint and will receive a more general and greater support; for if we turn to the past, we shall be astonished at what has already been accomplished in this direction.

[Pg 901]

Concepcion Arenal, the distinguished Spanish authoress, signals several signs of progress in her country. This lady writes:

In the schools founded by the Madrid Association for the Education of Women, nearly five hundred girls pursue courses in pedagogics, commercial studies, modern languages, painting, etc. This instruction, for the most part gratis, is given by professors who devote their time and strength to this noble object without receiving any remuneration,—worthy continuators of the grand work of the founder of the Madrid high-school for women, Fernando de Castro, of blessed memory, one of the most philanthropic men I ever met, who so loved mankind that his name should be known in every land. Nine hundred and eighteen girls attended the session of 1880-1881 of the school of music and declamation at Madrid, and the number has since increased.

A few years ago a school of arts and trades was founded at the capital, and women were admitted to the classes in drawing. In 1881, one hundred and thirty availed themselves of this privilege. In 1882, one hundred and fifty-four female students were present at the institutions (institutos) for intermediate education in Spain. The coëducation of the sexes, therefore, is not unknown to us. In that year Valencia, Barcelona, Gerona and Seville each counted sixteen, while the single girl at Mahon discontinued her studies on the ground that she preferred not to mingle with boys. At Malaga, the only female aspirant for the bachelor's degree took seven prizes, and was "excellent" in all her studies. During the academic year, 1881-1882, twelve women attended lectures in the Spanish universities. The three at Madrid were all working for the doctorate, and one had passed the necessary examinations; the two at Valladolid were occupied with medicine, while at Barcelona five were studying medicine, one law, and one pharmacy. Three of the medical students have passed their examinations, but instead of the degrees, which are refused them, they are granted certificates which do not allow them to practice.

Our public opinion is progressing, as is evidenced by the laws, and especially by the educational reforms, which are the exclusive work of men. The council of public instruction, a consulting body holding by no means advanced ideas, was called upon a short time ago, to decide whether the university certificates conferred upon women could be converted into regular degrees, which would entitle the recipients to the enjoyment of the privileges attached to these titles. The learned council discussed, hesitated, tried to decide the question, but finally left it in a situation which was neither clear nor conclusive. This hesitancy and vagueness are very significant; a few years ago a negative decision would have been given promptly and in the plainest terms.

Portugal is following closely upon the steps of Spain, and, in the former as in the latter country, it is in the department of education that the most marked signs of an awakening are to be found. Rodrigues de Freitas, the well-known publicist and republican statesman of Porto, says:[Pg 902]

There is not a single intermediate school for girls in all Portugal. In 1883, the Portugese parliament took up the subject of intermediate instruction, and discussed the question in its relation to women, and the progress in this direction realized in France during the last few years. A deputy who opposed the reform, recalled the words of Jules Simon, pronounced in a recent sitting of the council of public instruction at Paris. The philosopher remarked:

We are here a few old men, very fortunate gentlemen, in being excused from having to marry the girls you propose to bring up.

Our minister of the interior, who has charge of public instruction, followed, and declared that he was in favor of the establishment of girls' colleges. He said:

It is true that M. Jules Simon considers himself fortunate in not having to marry a girl educated in a French college; but I think I have discovered the reason for this aversion. He is getting in his dotage, otherwise he would experience no repugnance in proposing to such a girl, provided, of course, that, along with an education, she was at the same time pretty and virtuous.

The chamber laughed. And such is the situation to-day: the minister favorable to the better instruction of women, while neither minister nor deputies make an earnest effort to bring it about.

This dark picture is relieved, however, by one or two bright touches. There are many private boarding schools where families in easy circumstances send their daughters, who learn to speak several languages, are taught a little elementary mathematics and geography, and acquire a few accomplishments. Some of the pupils of these institutions pass with credit the examinations of the boys' lyceums or colleges. Article 72, of the law of June 14, 1880, on intermediate instruction, reads as follows: "Students of the female sex, who wish to enter the State schools, or pass the examinations of said schools, come within the provisions of this law, except as regards the regulations concerning boarding scholars." That is to say, girls enjoy in the State intermediate schools the same privileges as male day scholars. Many girls have availed themselves of this opportunity and have passed the lyceum examinations.

Crossing the Rhine into the Teutonic countries, we find less progress on the whole, than among the Latin races. Germany, however, if behind France and Italy, is far ahead of Spain and Portugal. The agitation is divided into two currents: the Leipsic and the Berlin movements. The former is the older, the General Association of German Women having been founded in Leipsic in October, 1865. Louise Otto-Peters, the prime mover in the organization of this association, may be considered the originator of the German movement. A novelist of much power, whose stories all teach a lesson in socialism, she established in 1848, the year of the great revolutionary fermentation throughout Europe, the first paper which advocated the interests of women in Germany. The aims of the Leipsic and Berlin reformers[Pg 903] were of an economic and educational nature. It was felt that the time had come when woman must have wider and better paid fields of work, and when she must be more thoroughly educated in order to be able the easier to gain her livelihood. A paper, New Paths (Neue Bahnen), was established as the organ of the association. It still exists. The plan of holding annual conventions—much like those which have been in progress in America for so many years—in the chief cities of Germany was settled upon, and numerous meetings of this kind have already occurred. At these gatherings all questions pertaining to woman's advancement are discussed, and auxiliary associations organized. The General Association of German Women has sent several petitions to the Reichstag, or imperial parliament, demanding various reforms and innovations. The principal members of the association are Louise Otto-Peters, the president and editor of the Neue Bahnen; Henriette Goldschmidt, the most effective speaker of the group; and Mrs. Winter, the treasurer, all of whom live in Leipsic; Miss Menzzer of Dresden; Lina Morgenstern, the well-known Berlin philanthropist; and Marie Calm of Cassel, perhaps the most radical of the body, whose ideas on woman suffrage are much the same as those entertained in England and the United States. In fact, an American is frequently struck by the similarity between many of the features of the General Association of German Women, and the Woman's Rights Association in the United States.

The Berlin movement, which resembles that of Leipsic in everything except that it is rather more conservative, owes its origin to that distinguished philanthropist, Dr. Adolf Lette. The Lette Verein, or Lette Society, so called in honor of its founder, was organized in December, 1865, but a few months after the establishment of the Leipsic association. The object of the society is, as has already been said, to improve the material condition of women, especially poor women, by giving them a better education, by teaching them manual employments, by helping to establish them in business—in a word, by affording them the means to support themselves. The Lette Society has become the nucleus of similar organizations scattered all over the German empire. Its organ, the German Woman's Advocate (Deutcher Frauenanwalt), is a well-conducted little monthly, edited by the secretary of the society, Jenny Hirsch. Anna Schepeler-Lette, daughter of the founder, has been for many[Pg 904] years and is still at the head of this admirable society. She writes me:

If we are asked whether we would have women enter public life, whether we would wish them to become professors in the university, clergymen in the church, and lawyers at the bar, as is the case in America, we should make no response, for they are but idle questions. These demands have not yet been made in Germany, nor will they be made for a long time to come, if ever. But why peer into the future? We have to-day many institutions, many customs, which past centuries would have looked upon as contrary to Divine and human law. In this connection we would say with Sancho Panza: "What is, is able to be."

The German philosopher, Herr von Kirchmann, is more decided in his views concerning the future of his countrywomen. In one of his last works, entitled "Questions and Dangers of the Hour" (Zeitfragen und Abenteuer) is a chapter on "Women in the Past and Future," where it is shown that the female sex has been gradually gaining its freedom, and the prediction is made that the day is near at hand when women will obtain their complete independence and will compete with men in every department of life, not excepting politics.

Turning to the other great Germanic nation, Austria, we find still less progress than in the north. In fact, the movement in the south is little more than a question of woman's self-support. The important problem of woman's education is not yet resolved in Germany, and in Austria still less has been done. "In two particulars," writes a Berlin correspondent, "Austria may be said to be in advance of Germany. The admission of women to the university does not present such insurmountable difficulties, and her employment in railroad, post, and telegraph offices does not encounter such strong opposition." But it must not be supposed from this statement that the Austrian universities are open to women. "Our universities are shut against women," Professor Wendt, of Troppau, informs me; "but they may pass the same examinations as boys who have finished their preparatory studies, though it is distinctly stated in the women's diplomas that they may not continue their studies in the university." The professors, however, sometimes allow foreign girls to attend lectures. Professor Bruhl, of Vienna, for example, has lectured to men and women on anatomy. The Academy of Fine Arts at Vienna is not open to women, though the Conservatory of Music is much frequented by them. In 1880, in fact, three women received[Pg 905] prizes for musical compositions. Johanna Leitenberger, of Salzburg, writes:

Several newspapers are devoted to the different phases of the woman's movement in Austria. Some years ago an ex-officer, Captain A. D. Korn, who, if I am not mistaken, had passed some time in England and America, founded the Women's Universal Journal (Allgemeine Frauen Zeitung). This newspaper was wholly devoted to women's interest, but it soon died. The same thing is true of the Women's Journal (Frauenblätter) of Gratz, which appeared for a short time under my editorship. * * * * On October 9, 10, 11, 1872, the third German women's convention (Deutsche Frauenkonferenz) was held at Vienna, under the auspices of the general society for popular education and the amelioration of women's condition. The other two sittings of this society had been held at Leipsic and Stuttgart. The soul of this new movement was Captain Korn, whom I have already mentioned. His study of the woman question in the United States may have prompted him to awaken a similar agitation among the women of the Austrian empire. Addresses were delivered at this convention by ladies from Vienna, Hungary, Bohemia and Styria and all the various interests of women were discussed. * * * * The proceedings of the convention attracted considerable attention, and produced favorable impressions on the audience, which was recruited from the better classes of the population. But the newspapers of Vienna ridiculed the young movement, its friends grew lukewarm, and every trace was soon lost of this first and last Austrian women's rights convention.

In one important particular the Austro-Hungarian empire treats women more fairly than is the case in other European countries. Elise Krásnohorská, the Bohemian author, writes me:

Women have a voice in the municipal, provincial and national elections, though male citizens duly authorized by them cast their vote. With this single reserve—a very important one, it must be confessed—our women are politically the equals of men. At Prague, however, this is not the case. The Bohemian capital preserves an ancient privilege which is in contradiction to the Austrian electoral law, and which excludes us from the elective franchise. Universal suffrage does not exist in the empire, but the payment of a certain amount of taxes confers the right to vote. I do not enter into the details of the electoral law, which is somewhat complicated, which has its exceptions and contradictions, and is in fact an apple of discord in Austria in more than one respect; but, speaking generally, it may be said that a woman who owns property, who is in business, or who pays taxes, may designate a citizen possessing her confidence to represent her at the polls. Our women are satisfied with this system, and prefer it to casting their ballot in person.

It may be said, also, that women are eligible to office, or at least that there is no law against their accepting it, while there are instances of[Pg 906] their having done so. In southern Bohemia, a short time ago, a countess was chosen member of a provincial assembly (okresni zastupitestvo) with the approval of the body, on the condition that she should not participate personally in its deliberations, but should be represented by a man having full power to act for her. At Agram in Croatia, a woman was elected, a few years ago, member of the municipal council, and no objection was made. Of course such cases are very rare, but they have their significance.

Carolina Svetlá, the distinguished poet and author, has done, perhaps, the most to awaken thought on the woman question in Bohemia. She stands at the head of a talented group of literary women, which plays a brilliant part in the fatherland of Huss. The means for woman's instruction, however, are most lamentable in Bohemia. The universities are shut against women, and though two women have been graduated in Switzerland, their degrees are not recognized in their native land. Beyond primary instruction the State does almost nothing for its women, though they outnumber the other sex by two hundred thousand. In several of the large cities of Bohemia something has been accomplished for girls' high-school and normal-school instruction; but, in general, we may say that the intellectual development of Bohemian girls is left to private instruction. Associations of women have done much to fill this void, one of which, founded by Carolina Svetlá, is devoted to the industrial and commercial instruction of girls. Two thousand women belong to this association, and five hundred girls attend its school annually, while many young women frequent its school for the training of nurses. This vigorous organization has disarmed prejudices by the success of its schools and by the arguments of its monthly organ, the Zenské Listy, ably edited by Elise Krásnohorská, one of the best known Bohemian poets, and a leader in the work of improving the condition of her countrywomen. Vojtá Náprstek, a man who has justly been named "the woman's advocate," has founded at Prague the Women's American Club, whose object is charity and the intellectual elevation of women, and has presented the club a valuable collection of books and objects of art. A lady, writing me from Prague, says:

The club has always been in a most flourishing condition, although it has never had a constitution or by-laws to hold it together,—nothing but the single bond of philanthropy. At first it had not even a name. But outsiders began to call its members 'the Americans,' because they adopted American improvements in their homes. The appellation was accepted[Pg 907] by the club as an honorable title, and from that time it formally called itself the "American Club."

The Austrian code, in its treatment of women, is unsurpassed in contradictions. Women, for example, may testify in criminal actions, but they may not be witnesses to the simplest legal document. There are many absurdities of this sort in the existing law which were unknown in the ancient code of independent Bohemia, which was more liberal in its treatment of women. Divorce exists, but divorced persons cannot marry again. Bohemia being a part of Austria, women vote in the same way as has already been mentioned in what was said of the latter country. But at Prague, however, women do not vote, the capital still retaining its old laws on this subject.

Concerning the other grand division of the empire of the Hapsburgs, Hungary, much the same may be said as of Bohemia. It is only within the last forty years that Hungary has striven to attain to the level of occidental civilization and culture, so that the question of the amelioration of women's condition is of very recent origin in that country. Rose Revai, of Budapest, writes:

Hungarian legislators have always treated us favorably in all matters pertaining to the family, marriage and inheritance. By the mere act of marriage we attain our majority and are emancipated from tutelage. As heirs, our interests are not forgotten, and as widows, we have the control over our own children. In business and trade we enjoy equal rights with men. And Hungarian women have not been slow to take advantage of these privileges, as is shown by those of our sex who occupy worthy positions in literature, art, commerce, industry, the theater and the school-room.

Although the Hungarian universities are still closed against women, there are many girls' industrial and normal schools and colleges. The impetus given to female education in Hungary is chiefly due to the late Baron Joseph Eœtvœs, the savant, poet and philanthropist, who was minister of public instruction in 1867. Women are employed in the postal and telegraphic service.

Returning north, to Holland, we find much the same situation as in the other Teutonic nations. "The women of Holland are unquestionably better educated, and entertain as a body more liberal ideas than French women," said a Dutch lady to me, who had lived many years at Paris; "but, on the other hand, there is not the little group of women in the Netherlands who grasp the real meaning of the woman question as is the case here in France." Woman's social position is a little better in Holland[Pg 908] than in the Catholic countries. In 1870 an essay on the woman question "by a lady" demanded political rights for women, and there are a few instances of women having lectured on that subject. The Dutch universities are open to female students, and Aletta Henriette Jacobs, the first and only female physician in Holland, has a successful practice at Amsterdam. Dr. Jacobs recently attempted to vote, and carried the question before the courts. Elise A. Haighton, of Amsterdam, writes:

A few of our women do not hesitate to participate in political and social discussions. The Union (Unic), a society which aims to promote popular interest in politics by meetings, debates, tracts, etc.; the Daybreak (Dageraad), a radical association which holds very ultra opinions on politics, religion and science, and supports a magazine to which many scientific men contribute; and the New Malthusian Band, an organization sufficiently explained by its name, all count several women among their members.

Elise van Calcar, the veteran Dutch authoress, sums up the situation in Holland, as follows:

I am sorry to have to confess that, as regards the general emancipation of women, we have accomplished but very little. Our work is indirect; we can only proclaim the injustice of our position.

Two countries, the product of Latin and Teutonic civilization, Belgium and Switzerland, must be touched upon before we turn to the Scandinavian people. Of the first, Belgium, about the same may be said as of Holland with which she was so long united politically. A correspondent in Belgium writes me as follows:

There cannot be said to be any movement in this country in favor of the emancipation of women. No journal, no association, no organization of any kind exists.

But public opinion is said to be quite favorable. Women are making their way slowly into certain callings. The professors of the universities of Liege and Ghent, when asked their opinion not long ago by the minister of public instruction, expressed a desire to see women admitted to the privileges of these institutions on the same terms as men, and to-day female students are found at all the institutions for higher education. Another correspondent writes:

Within the past few years an effort has been made among the women of the middle classes in the large cities, and secondary and professional schools have been established for girls, which are already producing good fruit. This movement is beginning to make itself felt among the upper classes, and it is to be hoped that the next generation will make[Pg 909] longer strides in the direction of instruction than is the case with the present generation.

In one respect at least Belgium is far behind her neighbor, Holland. Dr. Isala van Diest, the first and so far the only female physician in Belgium, although she has passed successfully all the necessary examinations and taken all the necessary degrees, may not practice medicine in her own country. She wrote me recently:

I fear I shall soon be obliged to give up the fight and go to France, England or Holland, unless I wish to lose the fruit of all my studies.

Concerning the higher education of women Dr. van Diest writes:

There existed in Belgium some years ago a law which required students who would enter the university, to pass the examination of graduate in letters (gradué-en-lettres). Candidates for this degree were expected to know how to translate Greek and write Latin. But as there were no schools where girls could study the dead languages with the thoroughness of boys who were trained six years in the classics, the former were almost entirely shut out from enjoying the advantages of an university course. This graduat, however, no longer exists, and the entrance of women into our universities is now possible. Female students are found to-day at Brussels, Liege and Ghent, but their number is still very small. It was in 1880 that the first woman entered the university of Brussels, but it was not until 1883 that their admission became general. They pursue, for the most part, scientific studies, thereby securing more lucrative positions as teachers, and pass their examinations for graduation with success.

Switzerland being made up of more than a score of separate cantons closely resembling our States in their political organization, it is difficult to arrive at the exact situation throughout the whole country—small though it be. However, generally speaking, it may be said that the Helvetic republic has remained almost a passive spectator of the woman movement, though a few signs of progress are worthy of note. The Catholic cantons lag behind those that have adopted Protestantism, and the latter are led by Geneva. Though subject to the Napoleonic code, Geneva has never known that debasing law of the tutelage of women which existed for so long a time in the other cantons, even in the intelligent canton of Vaud, where it was abolished only in 1873. It was not until 1881 that a federal statute put an end to the law throughout all Switzerland. Geneva has always been very liberal in its treatment of married women—divorce exists, excellent intermediate girls' schools were created more than thirty years ago, and women are admitted to all the[Pg 910] university lectures. Marie Gœgg, the untiring leader of the movement in that country, writes me:

However, notwithstanding these examples of liberality, which denote that the law-makers had a breadth of view in accord with their time, Switzerland, as a whole, has been one of the least disposed of European States to accept the idea of the civil emancipation of woman, much less her political emancipation, so that from 1848 to 1868 the demands of American women were considered here to be the height of extravagance.... The seed planted in America in 1848, though its growth was difficult, finally began to take root in Europe. The hour had come.

In March, 1868, Marie Gœgg published a letter, in which she invited the women of all nations to join with her in the formation of a society. In July of that same year the Woman's International Association was founded at Geneva with Marie Gœgg as president. The organization began immediately an active work, and through its efforts, several of the reforms already mentioned were brought about, and public opinion in Switzerland considerably enlightened on the question. Mrs. Gœgg says:

With the object of advancing the young movement, I established at my own risk a bi-monthly, the Woman's Journal (Journal des femmes). But this was a violation of that good Latin motto, festina lenté, and, at the end of a few months the paper suspended publication. Swiss public opinion was not yet ready to support such a venture.

It may be pointed out here that, except in England, all the women's societies created in Europe had, up to the time of the organization of the International Association refrained from touching the question of the political rights of women. The Swiss association, on the contrary, always included this subject in its programme. But, unfortunately, at the moment when our efforts were meeting with success, and the future was full of promise for the cause which we advocated, the terrible Franco-German war broke out, and, for various reasons unnecessary to go into here, I felt constrained to resign the presidency, and the association came to an end.

Two years later the International Association was revived in the form of the Solidarity (Solidarité), whose name signified the spirit which ought to unite all women. In 1875 Mrs. Gœgg became president of the new organization as well as founder and editor of its organ, the Solidarity Bulletin (Bulletin de la Solidarité). But on September 20, 1880, both society and journal ceased to exist. The president in her farewell address said:

The dissolution of the Solidarity ought not to discourage us, but ought rather to cause us to rejoice, for the recent creation of so many women's national societies in different countries proves that the Solidarity has accomplished its aim, so that we have only to retire.

[Pg 911]

The striking success of university coëducation in Switzerland calls for a few words of notice. Mrs. Gœgg writes:

In October, 1872, I sent a petition to the grand-council of Geneva, asking that women be admitted to the university of Geneva on the same footing as men. The state of public opinion on this subject in Switzerland, and especially in Geneva, may be judged from the fact that, fearing to compromise the demand if I acted in my own name or that of the Solidarity, the petition was presented as coming from "the mothers of Geneva." Our prayer was granted.

The number of women who have pursued studies at Geneva has steadily increased every year. In 1878 the university of Neufchatel was thrown open to women, while the university of Zurich has long had a large number of female students. Professor Pflüger, of the university of Bern, writing to me in April, 1883, said:

From February 2, 1876, to the present time, thirty-five women have taken degrees at our medical school. The lectures are attended each semester on an average by from twenty-five to thirty women, while from three to six follow the lectures on philosophy and letters. The presence of women at our university has occasioned no serious inconvenience and many colleagues favor it.

The rector of the university of Geneva wrote, February, 1883:

Up to the present time the attendance of women at our university has occasioned us no inconvenience except in some lectures of the medical school, where the subjects are not always of a nature to admit of their treatment before mixed classes.

We shall now glance at the situation of woman in the three Scandinavian countries, Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Sweden stands first, just as Germany does among the Teutonic nations, and France among the Latin nations; in fact we may perhaps go farther and say that of all Continental States, Sweden leads in many respects at least, in the revolution in favor of women.

The State, the royal family, private individuals, and, above all, women themselves have all striven to outstrip each other in the emancipation of Swedish women. Normal schools, high schools, primary schools, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, both at Stockholm, dairy schools and a host of other educational institutions, both private and public, are thrown wide open to women. The State has founded scholarships for women at Upsala University and at the medical school of the university of Lund. Numerous benevolent, charitable and[Pg 912] industrial societies have been established and in many instances are managed by women. But the best idea may be gained of the liberal spirit which prevails in Sweden by showing what the State has done for the emancipation of women. For instance, in 1845, equality of inheritance for son and daughter was established, and the wife was given equal rights with the husband as regards the common property; in 1846, woman was permitted to practice industrial professions and to carry on business in her own name; in 1861, the professions of surgery and dentistry were opened to her; in 1864, her rights in trade and industrial pursuits were enlarged; in 1870, she was admitted to the universities and medical profession; in 1872, a woman of twenty-five was given the full right of disposing of herself in marriage, the consent of parents and relations having been necessary before that time; and in 1874, a married woman became entitled to control that part of her private property set aside for her personal use in the marriage contract, as well as to possess her own earnings. The reforms in favor of married women are in no small measure due to the society founded in 1871 by Mrs. E. Anckarsvärd and Anna Hierta Retzius, whose aim was the accomplishment of these very reforms.

A good beginning has been made toward securing full political rights for Swedish women. In many matters relative to the municipality, women vote on the same terms with men, as for example, in the choice of the parish clergy, in the election of municipal councilors, and members of the county council. This latter body elects the House of Lords, so that woman's influence, through an intermediate electoral body, is felt in the upper chamber. May this not be one reason why the Swedish legislature has been so liberal toward women? Demands have been made, but in vain, for the complete franchise which would confer upon women the privilege of voting for members of the diet. Woman's interests have found a warm and energetic advocate in the Home Review (Tidskrift för Hemmet), which was founded in 1859 by the Hon. Rosalie d'Olivecrona and the Baroness Leyonhufoud, to-day the Hon. Mrs. Adlersparre. The paper is still edited by the latter; Rosalie d'Olivecrona, who has always been a most active friend of the woman movement, having retired in 1868.

If we cross the boundaries of Sweden into the sister kingdom of Norway, we find the condition of woman absolutely changed.[Pg 913] "Concerning Norway, I have said almost nothing," writes Camilla Collett, the distinguished Norwegian author, in some notes which she sent me recently on the situation of women in Scandinavia, "for the very simple reason that there is little to say." The long and oppressive domination of Denmark prostrated Norway, but her close union with Sweden since the fall of Napoleon, has begun to have a good effect, and the liberal influence of the latter country in favor of woman is already beginning to be felt in the other half of the Scandinavian peninsula. One step in advance has been the opening of the university to women—"The best thing that can be said of Norway," says Camilla Collett. Miss Cecilie Thoresen, the first female student to matriculate at Christiania University, writing to me from Eidsvold, Norway, in December, 1882, says it was in 1880 that she decided to try and take an academic degree. Her father, therefore, applied to the minister of public instruction for the necessary authorization; the latter referred the application to the university authorities, who, in their turn, submitted the portentous question to the faculty of the law-school. In due season Miss Thoresen received this rather unsatisfactory response:

The admission of women to the university is denied, but we recognize the necessity for changing the law on the subject.

Thereupon Mr. H. E. Berner, the prominent liberal member of the Storthing, or Norwegian parliament, introduced a bill permitting women to pursue university studies leading to the degrees in arts and philosophy (examen artium and examen philosophicum). The committee reported unanimously in favor of the bill; on March 30, 1882, it passed without debate the Odelsthing, one of the two chambers of the Storthing, with but one dissenting voice—that of a clergyman; on April 21, 1882, it received the unanimous vote of the other house, the Lagthing; and it finally became a law on June 15, 1882. But Mr. Berner did not stop here. He once wrote me:

In my opinion there hardly exists nowadays another social problem which has a better claim on public attention than that of the emancipation of women. Until they are placed on an equal footing with men, we shall not have departed from the days of barbarism.

In 1884, Mr. Berner succeeded in making it possible for women to take all university degrees, the law of 1882 having opened to them only the degrees in arts and philosophy. He is now pressing[Pg 914] on the attention of parliament other reforms in favor of women; and he has recently written me that he believes that his efforts will be crowned with success.

In Denmark nothing has been done in the direction of political rights, nothing for school suffrage, though the liberal movement of 1848 improved woman's legal position slightly. But the situation of married women is still very unsatisfactory, for it may be summed up by saying that her property and her children are controlled by the husband. In 1879 many thousand women petitioned the legislature for the right to their own earnings, and a law was passed to this effect. During the last twenty years, thanks to the example set by Sweden, much has been done to open to women the field of work. In 1875 the university consented to receive women, but as the State furnishes them only primary instruction, and does nothing for their intermediate instruction, leaving this broad gap to be filled by private efforts, the educational situation of Danish women leaves much to be desired. But the women themselves have turned their attention to this matter, and high schools and professional schools for women, and generally managed by women, are springing up.

Denmark has produced several journals devoted to the interests of women and edited by women. The Friday (Fredagen), issued from July, 1875, to 1879, was edited by Vilhelmine Zahle. It was a bold, radical little sheet. The name was probably taken from the Woman's Journal and Friday Society, which appeared at Copenhagen in 1767, under the anonymous editorship of a woman. The Woman's Review (Tidsskrift for Kvinder) began to appear in January, 1882. Its editor, Elfride Fibiger, has associated with her Mr. Friïs, a very earnest friend of the women's movement, who has given a more progressive turn to the paper, which has come out for women's suffrage—the first journal in Denmark to take this radical step.

Perhaps the most encouraging sign of progress is the foundation, during the past few years, of numerous associations of women with different objects in view. John Stuart Mill's "Subjection of Women," which was translated into Danish and widely read; the "Letters from Clara Raphael," of Mathilde Fibiger, which appeared still earlier, in 1850; the writings of Camilla Collett, of Norway; the liberal utterances of the great poets of the North, Björnsen, Hostrup and Ibsen, whose "Nora" has[Pg 915] rightfully procured for him the title of "Woman's Poet"; the great progress in America, England and Sweden; all these influences stimulated thought, weakened prejudices and prepared the way for reforms in the Danish peninsula. Kirstine Frederiksen, of Copenhagen, says:

It is plainly evident that Danish women are weary of the part allotted to them in the old society, a part characterized by the sentiment that the best that can be said of a woman is that there is nothing to say about her.... When, in due time, the claim for political rights is made here in Denmark, then will women from all classes unite in their efforts to secure the palladium which alone can protect them from arbitrariness and subjection.

We shall now take up the Slavonic countries, beginning with Russia, which stands first, not only because of its vastness, but also because of its liberality toward women. The position of the Russian women before the law is very peculiar. Children, whatever their age and whether male or female, are never emancipated from the control of their parents. The daughter can only escape from this authority, and then only in a limited degree, by marriage, and the son by entering the service of the State. In the provinces alone girls of twenty-one may marry without the parents' consent. The married woman is in the full power of her husband, though she is the mistress of her own fortune. Divorce exists. Russian women vote on an equality with men for members of the municipal councils and county assemblies, and these two bodies choose the boards which transact the public business, such as superintending the collection of taxes, keeping the roads in order, directing the schools, etc. The Russian woman does, not however, appear at the polls, but is represented by some male relative or friend (as we have already seen in Austria) who casts the vote for her. Thus the Russian woman, except that she is ineligible to office, possesses all the political rights of the Russian man—a privilege, however, that is of little value in a country where liberty is crushed under the iron heel of autocracy. The position of the Russian peasant women is not as good as that of the women of the upper classes. They find some comfort, however, in the doctrines of the rapidly spreading religious sects, which resemble somewhat the American Revivalists or Anabaptists. In fact, the subject condition of Russian women is one of the chief causes of the growth of these sects; down-trodden by society and the State, they seek liberty in religion. In some of these sects women preach. Miss Maria[Pg 916] Zebrikoff, an able Russian writer, sends me this curious information:

We have lately heard of a new sect which preaches a doctrine exalting woman. She is placed above man, because she can give birth to another being. Her pain and travail are so great, that alleviating the other sufferings and annoyances of woman would be but a poor reward; she is entitled to the deepest gratitude of mankind.

Thought concerning the emancipation of woman was first awakened among the upper classes about 1840, inspired by George Sand, but was confined to a narrow circle of men of science and authors. The new ideas continued to exist in a latent form until the freedom of the serfs in 1860, when they burst forth into life. The reforms of the last reign, the abolishment of bureaucratic government and the emancipation of the slaves, advanced the cause of woman, for the daughters of the office-holders and land-owners, reduced to poverty by these changes, were forced to go forth into the world and earn their own living. Woman's success in the walks of higher education—especially in medicine—has been a great victory for the friends of the rights of woman. The government, the professors of the university and women themselves have all united, more or less heartily, in a common effort to give Russian women facilities for a complete education. The first woman's medical school in Russia owes its origin to a donation of 50,000 rubles from a woman. The war department—for Russia thinks of medicine only in its relation to the army—came to the aid of the new movement, and the medical profession, though in a restricted manner, was thrown open to women.[574] As yet women physicians may treat only diseases of women and children, but, notwithstanding this drawback, there are fifty-two women physicians in St. Petersburg and two hundred and fifty in Russia. During the last war with Turkey twenty women physicians did noble work in the army. Women flock to the universities in great numbers. An attempt has been made to render the profession of law accessible to them, but the government has prohibited it. It is expected that ere long women will be professors in the university. The chemical, medical and legal associations have already received women into membership.

In literature Russian women take an active part; reviews, magazines, and political journals counting many women among their[Pg 917] contributors and in some cases their directors. Writes Maria Zebrikoff:

It is especially in the domain of fiction that Russian women excel. After the two renowned names of Tourguéneff and Tolstoi, the greatest genius of which our contemporary literature can boast is Krestowsky, the pseudonym of woman.

"The reäctionary party," exclaims the same lady with enthusiasm, "counts in its ranks no woman distinguished for thought or talent." Even this brief glance at woman's position in Russia conclusively proves that when the day of liberty comes to the great Cossack empire, the women will be as thoroughly fitted to enter upon all the duties of citizenship as the men. The women of no other continental nation are perhaps better prepared for complete emancipation than those of Russia. Here, as in several other respects, autocratic Russia resembles free America. The good-will of every transatlantic friend of woman's elevation should ever go forth to this brave, struggling people of the North.

The civil law of the kingdom of Poland, a part of Russia, has been, since 1809, the Napoleonic code; the other Polish provinces of Russia are subject to Russian law. Under the former, the woman has an equal share in the patrimony; but the married woman is a perpetual minor. According to the Russian code, on the contrary, a girl receives only a fourteenth part of the patrimony; and when a distant relative dies, brothers alone inherit. But a woman has absolute control of her own property: and when she becomes of age, at twenty-one, she may buy, own, sell, without being subjected to any tutelage, without requiring the consent of the husband—the very contrary of the Napoleonic code. This same thing is true in several other particulars, a striking illustration of the fact that much-abused Russian civilization is in some respects superior to the much-vaunted Latin civilization. In regard to education, the Polish woman is not so well off. In the primary schools alone does she enjoy equal rights; in secondary education she has far fewer advantages than the boy; while as for university instruction, she is forced to seek it in Russia or in foreign lands, the Polish universities being absolutely closed against her. In the Polish provinces under direct Russian authority, the State does nothing whatever for woman's instruction; and in the kingdom of Poland, the same thing is true except in the matter of primary instruction. Polish[Pg 918] women may practice medicine, if, besides this foreign diploma, they also pass an examination before the medical school of St. Petersburg. Tomaszewicz Dobrska is one of the few Polish women who has succeeded in this difficult field.

The Academy of Fine Arts at Cracow is open to men alone, but Madeline Andrzejkowicz has endeavored to fill the gap by establishing at Warsaw a school of painting for women. The first woman's industrial school was founded in 1874 at Warsaw, and during the first six years, to 1880, it had 743 scholars. Establishments of this kind are now quite numerous in the kingdom, but, for political reasons, they have not been founded in the Polish provinces of Russia. The unfortunate political situation of Poland, which robs even men of their rights, is an insurmountable obstacle in the way of the emancipation of women. There are, however, many encouraging signs of progress. At Warsaw there is more than one newspaper edited by a woman. Marie Ilnicka has owned and edited for more than sixteen years, at the capital, a paper which is widely read and which has great influence. It is no uncommon thing for women to deliver public lectures, which are very popular and draw large houses. Elise Orzeszko, the distinguished Polish novelist, tells me:

We have confidence in the efforts of the men who are leading society and who are sacrificing their talents and earnestly toiling to advance liberal ideas. In the meanwhile our duty is to awaken thought on the question of woman's rights, so that when a better day does come to Poland, women may be ready to participate in the common welfare.

But we cannot close this brief sketch without mentioning the Orient, that region of transition between the darkness of Asia and the light of occidental Europe; for, though the position of woman is in general so lamentable that at first glance it seems best to pass over this portion of the continent in silence, one catches here and there a glimmer of progress that portends a better day in the still distant future. And, too, regenerate Greece commands our attention, for she indeed is a rich oasis in this desert of Mohammedan conquest.

There are many Ottoman women, especially among the rich families, who desire to change their dress and enter into relations with the women of other religions, but the ecclesiastical and civil authorities are always ready to check this tendency and to rigorously enforce the ancient customs. In certain harems earnest[Pg 919] efforts have been made to establish true family life and to bring up the children under the eye and care of the parents, with the aid of foreign governesses, who, along with the languages, inculcate the habits and manners of occidental nations. Vain attempts have been made to found girls' schools. There are noble natures who long for amelioration of their state, and for progress, but fanaticism condemns everything to mortal stagnation.

The Jewish woman leads a contracted, monotonous existence under the authority of the priest. The wives of many rich bankers have tried to do something to improve the condition of Hebrew women by founding aid societies, primary schools, and normal schools. The Bulgarian women of the country enjoy an agricultural and pastoral life, and those of the city are simple and primitive in their habits and customs. But little has been done for woman's instruction, though some worthy attempts have been made to establish schools. The hope of the regeneration of the Oriental woman lies in the influence of Greek civilization. The emancipation of the Greek woman means the emancipation of the Turkish woman.

The Greek woman in the Orient must be studied under two heads: the Greek woman in Turkey and the Greek woman in Greece. In both cases we find them filled with the spirit of western civilization—perhaps it would be better to say, with the spirit of their classic ancestors. Primary, secondary and normal schools, asylums, hospitals, societies—all for women and generally managed by women—are found in all the Greek centers of Turkey. Calliope A. Kechayia, the cultured principal of the Zappion, the famous girls' college at Constantinople, says:

The intellectual condition of the Greek woman in the Orient is, generally speaking, not inferior to that of women in many parts of Europe; and as regards the instruction of the girls of the lower classes, it is much superior to that of several Latin countries.

The Greek woman in Greece differs essentially from the Oriental woman. With the independence of Greece came a great patriotic movement for the building up of the new nationality, a movement in which women took a most active and prominent part. Several American women, especially Mrs. Hill, lent their aid and founded the first girls' school at Athens. "A whole generation of women," says a Greek lady, "distinguished for their social and family virtues, received their education in this[Pg 920] college." An association of Greeks soon afterward established a normal school for women. The Greek government also early took up the question of popular education without excluding women from its plans. The way in which young Greek schoolmistresses hastened all over the peninsula, spreading knowledge, the Greek language and their own enthusiasm throughout the newly liberated nation, is one of the most unique episodes in modern history. "It is true and beyond dispute," I am told by Miss Kechayia, "that the Greece of to-day owes its rapid progress and its Greek instruction to its women." But the Greek woman is more than a school-mistress. The wife of a public man has other than social duties to occupy her. She often represents her husband before his constituents. She participates actively and usefully in many of his political affairs. It frequently happens that the wife goes into the provinces to solicit votes for her husband, and sometimes in drawing-room lectures she defends his political conduct. "In truth these facts would not be believed by a foreigner if he had not seen them with his own eyes," I was once told by a Greek. Associations of various kinds have been formed by women during the past few years, and there is at least one instance of a woman lecturing in public on literary topics. However, woman's rights in the American sense has not yet penetrated into Greece, but from what has just been said it will be seen that when that day comes, the reform will find a soil well prepared for its reception.

Such is a brief and general view of the present status of the Woman Question on the European Continent. It will have been constantly noticed in the preceding pages that in every country there are evidences of progress. Public opinion in the Old World is slowly but surely accepting Voltaire's statement when the broad-minded philosopher says, with a dash of French gallantry: "Women are capable of doing everything we do, with this single difference between them and us, that they are more amiable than we are." In matters of instruction, the ideas of Montesquieu and Aimé Martin are gaining ground. "The powers of the sexes," wrote the penetrating author of the "Spirit of the Laws," "would be equal if their education were, too. Test women in the talents that have not been enfeebled by the way they have been educated, and we will then see if we are so strong." "It is in spite of our stupid system of education," declared Aimé Martin,[Pg 921] more than fifty years ago, "that women have an idea, a mind and a soul." And even the more radical utterances of the late Eugène Pelletan find an echo. "By keeping women outside of politics," once said the distinguished senator, "the soul of our country is diminished by one-half." No wonder then that Frances Power Cobbe likens this revolution to the irresistible waves of the ocean. "Of all the movements, political, social and religious, of past ages, there is, I think," writes Miss Cobbe, "not one so unmistakably tide-like in its extension and the uniformity of its impulse, as that which has taken place within living memory among the women of almost every race on the globe. Other agitations, reforms and revolutions have pervaded and lifted up classes, tribes, nations, churches. But this movement has stirred an entire sex, even half the human race. * * * When the time comes to look back on the slow, universal awakening of women all over the globe, on their gradual entrance into one privileged profession after another, on the attainment by them of rights of person and property, and, at last, on their admission to the full privileges of citizenship, it will be acknowledged that of all the 'Decisive Battles of History,' this has been, to the moralist and philosopher, the most interesting; even as it will be (I cannot doubt) the one followed by the happiest Peace which the world has ever seen."

[Pg 922]

CHAPTER LVIII.

REMINISCENCES.

BY E. C. S.

Reaching London amidst the fogs and mists of November, 1882, the first person I met, after a separation of many years, was our revered and beloved friend, William Henry Channing. The tall, graceful form was somewhat bent; the sweet, thoughtful face somewhat sadder; the crimes and miseries of the world seemed more heavy on his heart than ever. With his refined, nervous organization, the gloomy moral and physical atmosphere of London was the last place on earth where that beautiful life should have ended. I found him in earnest conversation with my daughter and a young Englishman soon to be married, advising them not only as to the importance of the step they were about to take, but as to the minor points to be observed in the ceremony. At the appointed time a few friends gathered in Portland-street chapel, and as we approached the altar, our friend appeared in surplice and gown, his pale, spiritual face more tender and beautiful than ever. This was the last marriage service he ever performed, and it was as pathetic as original, his whole appearance so in harmony with the exquisite sentiments he uttered that we who listened felt as if for the time being we had entered with him into the Holy of Holies.

Some time after, Miss Anthony and I called on him, to return our thanks for the very complimentary review he had written of the History of Woman Suffrage. He thanked us in turn for the many pleasant memories we had revived in those pages, which he said had been as entertaining as a novel; "but," said he, "they have filled me with indignation, too, over the repeated insults offered to women so earnestly engaged in honest endeavors for the uplifting of mankind. I blushed for my sex more than once in reading these volumes." We lingered long in talking over the events connected with this great struggle for freedom. He dwelt with tenderness on our divisions and disappointments, and entered[Pg 923] more fully into the humiliations suffered by women than any man we ever met. His conversation that day was fully as appreciative of the nice points in the degradation of sex as is John Stuart Mill in his wonderful work on "The Subjection of Woman." He was intensely interested in Frances Power Cobbe's efforts to suppress the vivisectionists, and the last time I saw him he was presiding at a parlor meeting at Mrs. Wolcott Brown's, when Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell gave an admirable address on the causes and cure of the social evil. Mr. Channing spoke beautifully in closing, paying a warm and merited compliment to Miss Blackwell's clear and concise review of all the difficulties involved in the question.

Reading so much of English reformers in our journals, of the Brights, the McLarens, the Taylors, of Lydia Becker, Caroline Biggs, Josephine Butler and Octavia Hill, and of their great demonstrations with lords and members of parliament in the chair, we had longed to compare the actors in those scenes with our speakers and conventions on this side the water. At last we met them, one and all, in London, York, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, in great public meetings and parlor reunions, at dinners and receptions, listened to their public men in parliament, the courts and the pulpit, to the women in their various assemblies, and came to the conclusion that Americans surpass them in oratory and the spirited manner in which they conduct meetings. They have no system of elocution in England such as we have—a thorough training of the voice, in what is called vocal gymnastics. A hesitating, apologetic way seems to be the national idea for an exordium on all questions. Even their ablest men who have visited this country, such as Kingsley, Stanley, Arnold, Spencer, Tyndal, Huxley, and Canon Farrar, have all been criticised by the American public for their stammering enunciation. They have no speakers to compare with Wendell Phillips and George William Curtis, or Anna Dickinson and Phœbe W. Couzins. John Bright is without a peer among his countrymen, as are Mrs. Bessant and Miss Helen Taylor among the women. Miss Tod, from Belfast, is a good speaker. The women, as a general thing, are more fluent than the men; those of the Bright family in all its branches have deep, rich voices.

Among the young women, Mrs. Fawcett, Mrs. Charles McLaren, Mrs. Scatcherd, Miss Henrietta Müller, Mrs. Fenwick[Pg 924] Miller, and Lady Harberton, all speak with comparative ease and self-possession. The latter is striving to introduce for her countrywomen a new style of dress, in which all the garments are bifurcated, but so skillfully adjusted in generous plaits and folds, that while the wearer enjoys the utmost freedom, the casual observer is quite ignorant of the innovation. We attended one of their public meetings for the discussion of that question, at which Miss King, Mrs. Charles McLaren, and Lady Harberton appeared in the new costume. All spoke in its defense, and were very witty and amusing in criticising the present feminine forms and fashions. Lady Harberton gave us a delightful entertainment one evening at her fine residence on Cromwell Road, where we laughed enough to dissipate the depressing effect of the fogs for a week to come over the recitations of Corney Green on the piano. There, among many other celebrities, we met Moncure D. Conway[575] and his charming wife.

I reached England in time to attend the great demonstration in Glasgow to celebrate the extension of the municipal franchise to the women of Scotland. It was a remarkable occasion. St. Andrew's immense hall was packed with women; a few men were admitted to the gallery at half a crown apiece. It was said there were 5,000 people present. When a Scotch audience is thoroughly roused, nothing can equal the enthusiasm. The arriving of the speakers on the platform was announced with the wildest applause, the entire audience rising, waving their handkerchiefs, and clapping their hands, and every compliment paid the people was received with similar outbursts of pleasure. Mrs. McLaren, a sister of John Bright,[576] presided, and made the opening speech. I had the honor, on this occasion, of addressing an audience for the first time in the old world. Many others spoke briefly. There were too many speakers; no one had time to warm up to the point of eloquence. Our system of conventions of two or three days, with long speeches discussing pointed and radical resolutions, is quite unknown in England. Their meetings consist of one session of a few hours into which they crowd all the speakers they can summon together. They have a few[Pg 925] tame resolutions on which there can be no possible difference of opinion printed, with the names of those who are to speak appended. Each of these is read, a few short speeches made, that may or may not have the slightest reference to the resolution, which is then passed. The last is usually one of thanks to some lord or member of parliament who may have condescended to preside at the meeting, or to do something for the measure in parliament; it is spoken to like all that have gone before. The Queen is referred to tenderly in most of the speeches, although she has never done anything to merit the approbation of the advocates of suffrage for woman. As on this occasion a woman conducted the meeting, much of the usual red tape was omitted.

From Glasgow quite a large party of the Brights and McLarens went to Edinburgh, where the Hon. Duncan McLaren gave us a warm welcome to Newington House, under the very shadow of the Salisbury crags. These and the Pentland Hills are the remarkable feature in the landscape as you approach this beautiful city, with its monuments and castles on which are written the history of the centuries. We passed a few charming days driving about, visiting old friends, and discussing the status of woman on both sides of the Atlantic. Here we met Elizabeth Pease Nichol, Jane and Eliza Wigham, whom I had not seen since we sat together in the World's Anti-slavery Convention in London in 1840, Yet I knew Mrs. Nichol at once; her strongly-marked face is one not readily forgotten.

I went with the family on Sunday to Friends' meeting, where a most unusual manifestation for that decorous sect occurred. I had been told that if I felt inclined, it would be considered quite proper for me to make some remarks, and just as I was revolving an opening sentence to a few thoughts I desired to present, a man arose in a remote part of the house, and began in a low voice to give his testimony as to the truth that was in him. All eyes were turned toward him, when suddenly a friend leaned over the back of the seat, seized his coat-tails and jerked him down in a most emphatic manner. The poor man buried his face in his hands, and maintained a profound silence. I learned afterwards that he was a bore, and the friend in the rear thought it wise to nip him in the bud. This scene put to flight all intentions of speaking on my part, lest I, too, might get outside the prescribed limits, and be suppressed by force. I dined with Mrs. Nichol at Huntly Lodge, where she has entertained in turn many of our[Pg 926] American reformers. Her walls have echoed to the voices of Garrison, Rogers, Samuel J. May, Parker Pillsbury, Henry C. Wright, Douglass and Remond, and hosts of English philanthropists. Though over eighty, she is still awake on all questions of the hour, and generous in her hospitalities as of yore.

Later, Miss Anthony, in company with Mrs. Rebecca Moore, spent several weeks in Edinburgh looking over Mrs. Nichol's voluminous correspondence with the anti-slavery apostles, to see if anything of interest could be gleaned for these volumes. She found Mrs. Moore as a traveling companion better than the most approved encyclopedia, as she possessed all possible information on every subject and locality, so that all Miss Anthony had to do was to keep her ears open whenever she was sufficiently rested to listen. There, too, Miss Anthony visited Dr. Agnes McLaren, in her recherché home, and found her as charming in the social circle as she was said to be skillful in her profession. She spent several days also with Dr. Jex Blake, and from her lips heard the full account of her prolonged struggle to open the medical college to women, and to secure for them as students equal recognition. After listening to all the humiliations to which they had been subjected, and their final expulsion from the university, and of the riots in Edinburgh, Miss Anthony felt that Dr. Jex Blake had fought the battle with great wisdom and heroism. The failure of the experiment in that university was not due to a want of tact in the women who led the movement, but to the natural bigotry and obstinacy of the Scotch people, the universal hostility of the medical professors to all innovations, and the antagonism men feel towards women as competitors in the sciences and professions. Before leaving Edinburgh a public reception was tendered to Miss Anthony, Mrs. Nichol presiding. Professor Blackie, Mrs. Jessie Wellstood, and the honored guest herself, did the speaking. With refreshments and conversation it was altogether a pleasant occasion.

In the meantime I was making new friends in the other parts of the kingdom. Mrs. Margaret Lucas, whose whole soul is in the temperance movement, escorted me from Edinburgh to Manchester, to be present at another great demonstration in the Town Hall, the finest building in that district. It had just been completed, and, with its ante-rooms, dining hall, and various apartments for social entertainments, was altogether the most perfect hall I had seen in England. There I was entertained by Mrs.[Pg 927] Matilda Roby, who, with her husband, gave me a most hospitable reception. She invited several friends to luncheon one day, among others, Miss Lydia Becker, editor of the Suffrage Journal in that city, and the Rev. Mr. Steinthal, who had visited this country and spoken on our platform. The chief topic at the table was John Stuart Mill, his life, character, writings, and his position with reference to the political rights of woman. In the evening we went to see Ristori in Queen Elizabeth. Having seen her many years before in America, I was surprised to find her still so vigorous. And thus, from week to week, were suffrage meetings, receptions, dinners, luncheons and theatres pleasantly alternated.

The following Sunday we heard a grand sermon from Moncure D. Conway, and had a pleasant interview with him and Mrs. Conway at the close of the sessions. Later we spent a few pleasant days at their artistic home, filled with books, pictures, and mementoes from loving friends. A billiard-room with well-worn cues and balls may in a measure account for his vigorous sermons—quite a novel adjunct to a parsonage. A garden reception there to Mr. and Mrs. Howells, gave us an opportunity to see the American novelist surrounded by his admiring friends. Howells and Hawthorne seemed to be great favorites in the literary circles of England at that time, but I never read one of their novels without regretting for the honor of American women that they had not painted more vigorous and piquant characters for their heroines.

One was always sure of meeting some Americans worth knowing at the Conway's in Bedford Park. We dined there with Mary Clemmer and Mr. Hudson, just after their marriage, and a bright, pretty daughter of Murat Halstead, who chatted as gaily among the staid English as on her native heath. There, too, we first saw Mrs. William Mellen with her daughters, from Colorado Springs, now residing in London for the purpose of educating a family of seven children,[577] although there is no so fitting place to educate children to the duties of citizens of a republic, as under our own free institutions. If possessed of wealth, they readily adopt aristocratic ideas, and enjoy the distinctions of class they find in all monarchical countries, which totally unfit them for[Pg 928] properly appreciating the democratic principles it is our interest to cherish at home.

The Sunday after Mr. Conway left for Australia, I was invited to fill his pulpit. Spending a few days with Mrs. Conway, we attended the Ladies' Club one afternoon. The leading spirits seemed to be Miss Orme and Miss Richardson, both attorneys in practice, with an office in London, though not yet regularly admitted to the Queen's Bench. The topic of discussion was the well-worn theme—the education of girls; but no one seemed quite prepared to take off all the ligatures from their bodies and the fears of everything known or unknown from their minds, and leave them for a season to grow as nature intended, that we might find out by seeing them in their normal condition what their real wants and needs might be. I suggested for their next topic, the proper education of boys, which was accepted. I retired that night very nervous over my sermon for the next day, and the feeling steadily increased until I reached the platform; but once there, my fears were all dissipated, and I never enjoyed speaking more than on that occasion, for I had been so long oppressed with the degradation of woman under canon law and church discipline that I had a sense of relief in pouring out my indignation.

My theme was, "What has Christianity done for Woman?" and by the facts of history, I showed clearly that to no form of religion was woman indebted for one impulse of freedom, as all alike have taught her inferiority and subjection to man. No lofty virtues can emanate from such a condition. Whatever heights of dignity and purity women have individually attained, can in no way be attributed to the dogmas of their religion.

With my son Theodore, always deeply interested in my friends and public work, we called on Mrs. Gray, Miss Jessie Boucherett and Dr. Hoggan, who had written essays for "The Woman Question in Europe"; on our American minister, Mr. Lowell, Mr. and Mrs. George W. Smalley, and many other notable men and women. By appointment we had an hour with the Hon. John Bright at his residence on Piccadilly. As his photograph, with his fame, had reached America, his fine face and head, as well as his political opinions, were quite familiar to us. He received us with great cordiality, and manifested a clear knowledge, and deep interest in regard to all American affairs. Free trade and woman suffrage formed the basis of our conversation; the literature of our respective countries, our great men and women, the[Pg 929] lighter topics of the occasion. He is not sound in regard to the political rights of women, but it is not given to any one man to be equally clear on all questions. He voted for John Stuart Mill's amendment to the "Household Suffrage Bill," in 1867, but, as he said, as a personal favor to a friend, without any strong convictions as to the merits of what he considered "a purely sentimental measure."

We attended the meeting called to rejoice over the passage of the Married Woman's Property bill, which gave to the women of England in 1882 what we had enjoyed in many States in this country since 1848. Mrs. Jacob Bright, Mrs. Scatcherd, Mrs. Almy, and several members of parliament made short speeches of congratulation to those who had been instrumental in carrying the measure. It was generally conceded that to the tact and persistence of Mrs. Bright, more than to any other one person, belonged the credit of that achievement. Hon. Jacob Bright was at that time a member of parliament, and fully in sympathy with the bill; and while Mrs. Bright exerted all her social influence to make it popular with the members, her husband, thoroughly versed in parliamentary tactics, availed himself of every technicality to push the bill through the House of Commons. Mrs. Bright's chief object in securing this bill, aside from establishing the right every human being has to his own property, was, to lift married women on an even plane with widows and spinsters, thereby making them qualified voters.

The next day we went out to Barn Elms to visit Mr. and Mrs. Chas. McLaren. Mr. McLaren, a Quaker by birth and education, has sustained to his uttermost the suffrage movement, and his charming little wife, the daughter of Mrs. Pochin, is worthy the noble mother who was among the earliest leaders on this question, speaking and writing with equal ability on all phases of the subject. Barn Elms is a grand old estate, a few miles out of London. It was the dairy farm of Queen Elizabeth, and presented by her to Sir Francis Walsingham. Since then it has been inhabited by many persons of note. It has existed as an estate since the time of the early Saxon Kings, and the record of the sale of Barn Elms in the time of King Athelston is still extant. What with its well-kept lawns, fine old trees, and glimpses here and there of the Thames winding round its borders, and its wealth of old associations, it is indeed a charming spot. Our memory of those days will not go back to Saxon Kings, but remain[Pg 930] with the liberal host and hostess, the beautiful children and the many charming acquaintances we met at that fireside. I doubt whether any of the ancient lords and ladies who dispensed their hospitalities under that roof, did in any way surpass the present occupants. Mrs. McLaren, interested in all the reforms of the day, is radical in her ideas, a brilliant talker, and, for one so young, remarkably well informed on all political questions. One thing is certain, those old walls never echoed to more rebellious talk among women against existing conditions,[578] than on that evening.

It was at Barn Elms I met for the first time Mrs. Fannie Hertz, to whom I was indebted for many pleasant acquaintances afterwards. She is said to know more distinguished literary people than any other woman in London. I saw her, too, several times in her own cozy home, meeting at her Sunday-afternoon receptions many persons I was desirous to know. On one occasion I found George Jacob Holyoake there, surrounded by a bevy of young ladies, all stoutly defending the Nihilists in Russia, and their right to plot their way to freedom; they counted a dynasty of Czars as nothing in the balance with the liberties of a whole people. As I joined the circle Mr. Holyoake called my attention to the fact that he was the only one in favor of peaceful measures among all those ladies. "Now," said he, "I have often heard it said on your platform, that the feminine element in politics would bring about perpetual peace in government, and here all these ladies are advocating the worst forms of violence in the name of liberty." "Ah," said I, "lay on their shoulders the responsibility of governing, and they would soon become as mild and conservative as you seem to be." He then gave us his views on coöperation, the only remedy for many existing evils, which he thought would be the next step toward a higher civilization.

There, too, I met some Positivists, who, though quite reasonable on religious questions, were very narrow on the sphere of[Pg 931] woman. The difference in sex, which is the very reason why men and women should be associated in all spheres of activity, they make the strongest reason why they should be separated. Mrs. Hertz belongs to the Harrison school of Positivists. I went with her to one of Mrs. Orr's receptions, where we met Robert Browning, a fine looking gentleman of seventy years, with white hair and mustache. He is frank, easy, playful, and a good talker. Mrs. Orr seemed to be taking a very pessimistic view of our present sphere of action, which Mr. Browning, with poetic coloring, was trying to paint more hopeful.

The next day I dined with Mrs. Margaret Bright Lucas, in company with Mr. John P. Thomasson, member of parliament, and his wife, and afterwards we went to the House of Commons and had the good fortune to hear Gladstone, Parnell, and Sir Charles Dilke. Seeing Bradlaugh seated outside the charmed circle, I sent my card to him, and in the corridor we had a few moments' conversation. I asked him if he thought he would eventually get his seat; he replied, "Most assuredly I will. I shall open the next campaign with such an agitation as will rouse our politicians to some consideration of the changes gradually coming over the face of things in this country."

The place assigned ladies in the House of Commons is really a disgrace to a country ruled by an Empress. This dark perch is the highest gallery immediately over the speaker's desk and government seats, behind a fine wire-work, so that it is quite impossible to see or hear anything. The sixteen persons who can crowd in the front seat, by standing with their noses partly through some open work, can have the satisfaction of seeing the cranial arch of their rulers, and hearing an occasional pean to liberty, or an Irish growl at the lack of it. I was told this net work was to prevent the members on the floor from being disturbed by the beauty of the women. On hearing this I remarked that I was devoutly thankful that our American men were not so easily disturbed, and that the beauty of our women was not of so dangerous a character.

I could but contrast our spacious galleries in that magnificent capitol at Washington, as well as in our grand State capitols, where hundreds of women can sit to see and hear their rulers at their ease, with these dark, dingy buildings, and such inadequate accommodations for the people. My son, who had a seat on the floor just opposite the ladies' gallery, said he could compare our[Pg 932] appearance to nothing better than birds in a cage. He could not distinguish an outline of anybody. All he could see was the moving of feathers and furs, or some bright ribbon or flower.

In the libraries, the courts, and the House of Lords, I found many suggestive subjects of thought. Our American inventions seem to furnish them cases for litigation. A suit in regard to Singer's sewing machine was just then occupying the attention of the Lord Chancellor. Not feeling much interest in the matter, I withdrew and joined my friends, to examine some frescoes in the ante-room. It was interesting to find so many historical scenes in which women had taken a prominent part. Among others, there is Jane Lane assisting Charles II. to escape, and Alice Lisle concealing the fugitives after the battle of Sedgemoor. Six wives of Henry VIII. stand forth a solemn pageant when one recalls their sad fate. Alas! whether for good or ill, woman must ever fill a large space in the tragedies of the world.

I passed a few pleasant hours in the house where Macaulay spent his last years. The once spacious library and the large bay window looking out on a beautiful lawn, where he sat from day to day writing his flowing periods, possessed a peculiar charm for me, as the surroundings of genius always do. I thought as I stood there how often he had unconsciously gazed on each object in sight in searching for words rich enough to gild his ideas. The house is now owned and occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Winckworth. It was at one of their sociable Sunday teas that many pleasant memories of the great historian were revived.

We went with Mrs. Lucas to a meeting of the Salvation army, in Exeter Hall, which holds 5,000 people. It was literally packed—not an inch of standing-room even, seemed to be unoccupied. This remarkable movement was then at its height of enthusiasm in England, and its leaders proposed to carry it round the world, but it has never been so successful in any other latitude. They not only hold meetings, but they march through the streets, men and women, singing and playing on tambourines. The exercises on this occasion consisted of prayers, hymns, and exhortations by Mr. and Mrs. Booth. When this immense audience all joined in the chorus of their stirring songs, it was indeed very impressive. The whole effect was like that of an old-fashioned Methodist revival meeting. I purchased their paper, The War Cry, and pasted it in my journal to show the wild vagaries to which the human mind is subject. There is nothing too ridiculous or monstrous[Pg 933] to be done under the influence of religious enthusiasm. In spite, however, of the ridicule attached to this movement, it is at least an aspiration for that ignorant, impoverished multitude. The first thing they were urged to do was to give up intoxicating drinks, and their vicious affiliations. If some other organization could take hold of them at that point, to educate them in the rudiments of learning and right living, and supplement their emotions with a modicum of reason and common sense in the practical affairs of life, much greater good might result from this initiative step in the right direction.

One of the most remarkable and genial women we met was Miss Frances Power Cobbe. She called one evening at 10 Duchess street, and sipped with us the five o'clock cup of tea, a uniform practice in England. She is of medium height, stout, rosy, and vigorous looking, with a large, well-shaped head, a strong, happy face, and gifted with rare powers of conversation. I felt very strongly attracted to her. She is frank and cordial and pronounced in all her opinions. She gave us an account of her efforts to rescue unhappy cats and dogs from the hands of the vivisectionists. We saw her, too, in her own cozy home and in her office in Victoria Row. The perfect order in which her books and papers were all arranged, and the exquisite neatness of the apartments were refreshing to behold.

My daughter, having decided opinions of her own, was soon at loggerheads with Miss Cobbe on the question of vivisection. After showing us several German and French books with illustrations of the horrible cruelty inflicted on cats and dogs, enlarging on the hypocrisy and wickedness of these scientists, she turned to my daughter and said, "Would you shake hands with one of these vivisectionists?" "Yes," said Harriot, "I should be proud to shake hands with Virchow, the great German scientist, for his kindness to a young American girl. She applied to several professors to be admitted to their classes, but all refused except Virchow; he readily assented, and requested his students to treat her with becoming courtesy. 'If any of you behave otherwise,' said he, 'I shall feel myself personally insulted.' She entered his classes and pursued her studies unmolested and with great success. "Now," said she, "would you refuse to shake hands with any of your statesmen, scientists, clergymen, lawyers or physicians, who treat women with constant indignities and insults?" "Oh, no"; said Miss Cobbe. "Then," said Mrs.[Pg 934] Blatch, "you estimate the physical suffering of cats and dogs as of more consequence than the humiliation of human beings. The man who tortures a cat for a scientific purpose is not as low in the scale of being, in my judgment, as one who sacrifices his own daughter to some cruel custom." Though Miss Cobbe weighs over two hundred pounds, she is as light on foot as a deer and is said to be a great walker. After seeing her I read again some of her books. Her theology now and then evidently cramps her, yet her style is vigorous, earnest, sarcastic, though at times playful and pathetic. In regard to her theology, she says she is too liberal to please her orthodox friends and too orthodox to please the liberals, hence in religion she stands quite solitary.

Suffering from the effects of the prolonged fogs, we took our letters of introduction from Dr. Bayard of New York to the two leading high-dilution homeopathic physicians in London, Drs. Wilson and Berridge. We found the former a good talker and very original. We were greatly amused with his invectives against the quacks in the profession; the "mongrels," as he called the low dilutionists. The first question he asked my daughter was if she wore high heels; he said he would not attempt to cure any woman of any disease so long as she was perched on her toes with her spine out of plumb. His advice to me was to get out of the London fogs as quickly as possible. No one who has not suffered a London fog can imagine the terrible gloom that pervades everywhere. One can see nothing out of the windows but a dense black smoke. Drivers carry flambeaux in the streets to avoid running into each other. The houses are full; the gas burns all day, but you can scarcely see across the room; theaters and places of amusement are sometimes closed, as nothing can be seen distinctly. We called on Dr. Berridge, also, thinking it best to make the acquaintance of both that we might decide from their general appearance, surroundings, conversation and comparative intelligence, which one we would prefer to trust in an emergency. We found both alike so promising that we felt we could trust either to give us our quietus, if die we must, on the high dilutions. It is a consolation to know that one's closing hours at least are passed in harmony with the principles of pure science. On further acquaintance we found these gentlemen true disciples of the great Hahneman.[Pg 935]

As we were just then reading Froude's "Life of Carlyle," we drove by the house where he lived and paused a moment at the door, where poor Jennie went in and out so often with a heavy heart. It is a painful record of a great soul struggling with poverty and disappointment; the hope of success as an author so long deferred and never wholly realized. His foolish pride of independence and headship, and his utter obliviousness as to his domestic duties and the comfort of his wife, made the picture still darker. Poor Jennie, fitted to shine in any circle, yet doomed all her married life to domestic drudgery, with no associations with the great man for whose literary companionship she had sacrificed herself. It adds greatly to one's interest in Scott, Dickens, Thackeray, Charlotte Bronté, Bulwer, James and George Eliot, to read them amidst the scenes where they lived and died. Thus in my leisure hours, after the fatigues of sight-seeing and visiting, I re-read many of these authors near the places where they spent their last days on earth.

As I had visited Ambleside forty years before and seen Harriet Martineau in her prime, I did not go with Miss Anthony to Lake Windermere. She found the well-known house occupied by Mr. William Henry Hills, a liberal Quaker named after William Henry Channing. Mrs. Hills received the party with great hospitality, showed them through all the apartments and pointed out the charming views from the windows. They paused a few moments reverently in the chamber where that grand woman had passed her last triumphant days on earth. On the kitchen hearth was still sitting her favorite cat, sixteen years old, the spots in her yellow and black fur as marked as ever. Puss is the observed of all observers who visit that sacred shrine, and it is said she seems specially to enjoy the attention of strangers. From here Miss Anthony drove round Grasmere, the romantic home of Wordsworth, wandered through the old church, sat in the pew he so often occupied and lingered near the last resting-place of the great poet. As the former residence of the anti-slavery agitator, Thomas Clarkson, was on Ulswater, another of the beautiful lakes in that region, Miss Anthony extended her excursion still further and learned from the people many pleasing characteristics of these celebrated personages. On her way to Ireland she stopped at Ulverston and visited Miss Hannah Goad, who was a descendant of the founder of Quakerism, George Fox. She was in the old house in which he was married[Pg 936] to Margaret Fell and where they lived many years; attended the quaint little church where he often spoke from the high seats, looked through his well-worn Bible, and the minutes of their monthly meetings, kept by Margaret Fell two centuries ago.

Returning to London we attended one of Miss Biggs' receptions and among others met Mr. Stansfeld, M. P., who had labored faithfully for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases acts, and in a measure been successful. We had the honor of an interview with Lord Shaftsbury at one of his crowded receptions, and found him a little uncertain as to the wisdom of allowing married women to vote, for fear of disturbing the peace of the family. I have often wondered if men see in this objection what fatal admissions they make as to their own selfishness and love of domination.

Miss Anthony was present at the great Liberal conference at Leeds on October 17, to which Mrs. Helen Bright Clark, Miss Jane Cobden, Mrs. Tanner, Mrs. Scatcherd and several other ladies were duly elected delegates from their respective Liberal leagues, and occupied seats on the floor. Mrs. Clark and Miss Cobden, daughters of the great Corn-law reformers, spoke eloquently in favor of the resolution to extend parliamentary suffrage to women, which was presented by Walter McLaren of Bradford. As these young women made their impassioned appeals for the recognition of woman's political equality in the next bill for the extension of suffrage, that immense gathering of 1,600 delegates was hushed into profound silence. For a daughter to speak thus in that great representative convention in direct opposition to her loved and honored father, the acknowledged leader of that party, was an act of heroism and fidelity to her own highest convictions almost without a parallel in English history, and the effect on the audience was as thrilling as it was surprising. The resolution was passed by a large majority. At the reception given to Mr. John Bright that evening, as Mrs. Clark approached the daïs on which her noble father stood shaking the hands of passing friends, she remarked to her husband, "I wonder if father has heard of my speech this morning, and if he will forgive me for thus publicly differing with him?" The query was soon answered. As he caught the first glimpse of his daughter he stepped down and, pressing her hand affectionately, kissed her with a fond father's warmth on either cheek in turn. The next evening the great[Pg 937] Quaker statesman was heard by the admiring thousands who could crowd into Victoria Hall, while thousands, equally desirous to hear, failed to get tickets of admission. It was a magnificent sight, and altogether a most impressive gathering of the people. Miss Anthony with her friends sat in the gallery opposite the great platform, where they had a fine view of the whole audience. When John Bright, escorted by Sir Wilfred Lawson, took his seat, the immense audience rose, waving hats and handkerchiefs and with the wildest enthusiasm giving cheer after cheer in honor of the great leader. Sir Wilfred Lawson in his introductory remarks facetiously alluded to the resolution adopted by the conference as somewhat in advance of the ideas of the speaker of the evening. The house broke into roars of laughter, while the father of Liberalism, perfectly convulsed, joined in the general merriment.

But when at length his time to speak had come, and Mr. Bright went over the many steps of progress that had been taken by the Liberal party, he cunningly dodged all in the direction of the emancipation of the women of England. He skipped round the agitation in 1867 and John Stuart Mill's amendment presented at that time in the House of Commons; the extension of the municipal suffrage in 1869; the participation of women in the establishment of national schools under the law of 1870, both as voters and members of school-boards; the Married Woman's Property bill of 1882; the large and increasing vote for the extension of parliamentary suffrage in the House of Commons, and the adoption of the resolution by that great conference the day before. All these successive steps towards woman's emancipation he carefully remembered to forget.

During Miss Anthony's stay in Leeds she and her cousin, Dr. Fannie Dickinson, were guests of Mrs. Hannah Ford at Adel Grange, an old and lovely suburban home, where she met many interesting women, members of the school-board, poor-law guardians and others. The three daughters of Mrs. Ford, though possessed of ample incomes, have each a purpose in life; one had gathered hundreds of factory girls into evening schools, where she taught them to cut and make their garments, as well as to read and write; one was an artist and the third a musician, having studied in London and Florence. It was during this ever-to-be-remembered week that Miss Anthony, escorted by Mrs. Ford, visited Haworth, the bleak and lonely home of the Brontés. It was a[Pg 938] dark, drizzly October day, intensifying all the gloomy memories of the place. She sat in the old church pew where those shivering girls endured such discomforts through the fearful services, with their benumbed feet on the very stone slab that from time to time was taken up to deposit in the earth beneath their loved dead! She was shown through the house, paused at the place under the stairs where the imperial Shirley had her fierce encounter with that almost human dog, Keeper; she stood in the drawing-room where the sainted three sisters, arm-in-arm, paced up and down plotting their weird stories. She walked through the same old gate, on the same single stone pavement and over the same stile out into the same heather fields, gazing on the same dreary sky above and the same desolate earth on every side. She dined in the same old "Black Bull"; sat in poor Branwell's chair and was served by the same person who dealt out the drinks to that poor unfortunate—then a young bar-maid, now the aged proprietor.

Miss Anthony crossed from Barrow to Belfast, where she was given a most cordial reception at the house of one of Ireland's distinguished orators, Miss Isabella M. Tod, who took her to one of her Ulster temperance meetings at Garvah, where they were the guests of Rev. Thomas Medill, a cousin of the distinguished Chicago editor. There, as Miss Anthony listened to the prayers and exhortations of the Presbyterian ministers and to the arguments of Miss Tod, and heard no appeals to the audience to join in the work of suppressing the traffic, a realizing sense of the utter powerlessness of the queen's subjects in Ireland dawned upon her for the first time. In all that crowd there was not one who had any voice in the decision of that question. The entire control of the matter rested with three magistrates appointed by the queen, who are in nowise responsible to the tax-paying people to whom they administer the laws. Had Miss Tod been addressing an American audience, she would have appealed to every man to vote only for candidates pledged to no-license. From Garvah they made a pilgrimage to the Giant's Causeway. Miss Anthony had, when at Oban, visited Fingal's Cave, and the two wonders that always fix themselves upon the imagination of the youthful student of the world's geography fully matched her expectations.

At Dublin she visited the Castle, the old parliament building, now a bank; Kings and Queens College, that gives diplomas to[Pg 939] women; the parks, the cemeteries, the tomb of Daniel O'Connell. She attended a meeting of the common council, of which Alfred Webb, the only surviving son of the old abolitionist, Richard D. Webb, was a member, and there she listened to a discussion on a petition to the queen that the people of Dublin might be allowed to elect their own tax-collector instead of having one placed over them by "the powers that be" at London, as the official thus appointed had just proved a defaulter. In listening to the outrages perpetrated upon a helpless people by foreign officials, the one wonder to her was, not that so many of Ireland's sons are discontented, but that they are not in open rebellion.

There Miss Anthony made the acquaintance of numbers of excellent Friends,[579] and with Mrs. Haslam visited their large free library and attended their First-day meeting. In Dublin, too, she met Michael Davitt, who seemed to her a most sincere champion of liberty for himself and his people. Miss Anthony spent a week with Mr. and Mrs. Haslam in Cork, visiting Blarney Castle, the old walled city of Youghal with its crumbling Quaker meeting-house and fine old mansion in which Sir Walter Raleigh lived, and thence to the beautiful Lakes of Killarney, and in a jaunting-car through the evicted tenants' district, entering the hovels and talking with the inmates. The sad stories poured into her ears, and the poverty and wretchedness she saw, proved to her that none of Mr. Redpath's revelations, so shocking to the humanity of our people, were in the least over-drawn. The circuit through Limerick, Galway, Clifton and Belfast was made in third-class cars, that she might talk with the people of the working class. This was the season for their county fairs, which gave her an opportunity to see the farmers driving their cattle and taking their meagre products to the fair. The women and girls were uniformly barefooted, while some of the men and boys wore shoes. In reply to her query why this was so, one man said, "It is all we can do to get shoes for them as airnes the money." The same old story; woman's work, however arduous, brings no price in the market.

While in London we attended several large and enthusiastic reform meetings. We heard Bradlaugh address his constituency on that memorable day at Trafalgar Square, at the opening of[Pg 940] parliament, when violence was anticipated and the parliament houses were surrounded by immense crowds, with the military and police in large numbers to maintain order. We heard Michael Davitt and Miss Helen Taylor at a great meeting in Exeter Hall, the former on home-rule for Ireland, and the latter on the nationalization of land, showing that in ancient times the people had many privileges long since denied. They even had forests and commons and the road-side, where their cows, sheep and geese could glean something. The facts and figures given in these two lectures as to the abject poverty of the people and the cruel system by which every inch of land had been grabbed by their oppressors, were indeed appalling. A few days before sailing we made our last visit to Ernestine L. Rose and found our noble coadjutor, though in delicate health, pleasantly situated in the heart of London, as deeply interested as ever in the struggles of the hour.

Dining one day with Mrs. Lucas, we were forcibly impressed with the growing liberality of people of all shades of belief and of all professions. The guests on that occasion were Mrs. Hallock, sister-in-law of Robert Dale Owen, thoroughly imbued with his religious and social ideas; Dr. Mary J. Hall, the only woman practicing homeopathy in England; Miss Henrietta Müller, member of the London school-board; Miss Clara Spence, a young actress from America, who gave us some fine recitations; and such liberals in politics and religion as Mrs. Stanton Blatch and myself, while our hostess was an orthodox Friend. However we were all agreed on one point, the right of women to full equality everywhere. In the evening we went to see Mrs. Hallock's daughter, Ella Deitz, in the play of "Impulse." We urged Mrs. Lucas to accompany us, but she said she had never been to a theater in her life.

A great discomfort in all English homes is the cold draughts through their halls and unoccupied rooms. A moderate fire in the grates in the family apartments is their only mode of heating, and they seem quite oblivious as to the danger of throwing a door open into a cold hall on one's back while the servants pass in and out with the various courses' at dinner. As we Americans were sorely tried under such circumstances, it was decided in the Basingstoke mansion to have a hall stove, which, after a prolonged search, was found in London and duly installed as a presiding deity to defy the dampness that pervades all those[Pg 941] ivy-covered habitations, as well as the neuralgia that wrings their possessors. What a blessing it proved, more than any one thing making the old English house seem like an American home! The delightful summer heat we in America enjoy in the coldest weather is quite unknown to our Saxon cousins. Although many came to see our stove in full working order, yet we could not persuade them to adopt the American system of heating the whole house at an even temperature. They cling to the customs of their fathers with an obstinacy that is incomprehensible to us, who are always ready to try experiments. Americans complain bitterly of the same freezing experiences in France and Germany, and in turn foreigners all criticise our over-heated houses and places of amusement.

An evening reception at Mrs. Richardson's, in the city of York, gave us an opportunity of a personal greeting with a large circle of ladies identified with the suffrage movement, and a large public meeting the next day in the Town Hall enabled us to judge still further of the merits of English women as speakers. Here I was entertained by Mrs. Lucretia Kendall Clarke, an American, who had spent five years as a student in Dresden, where she made the acquaintance of Mr. Clarke. It is said in England that the American girls capture all the choice young men; that our rich cattle-dealers get all their best horses, cows, sheep, dogs, and that in time we shall rob them of all that is best in the country. One thing is certain, we shall always regret our hospitable invitation to the sparrows, as they are making war on our native birds instead of fulfilling their mission to the "Diet of Worms." In company with Mrs. Scatcherd we spent an hour in that magnificent York cathedral, said to be one of the finest in England. Being there at the time for service we had the benefit of the music. To us, lost in admiration of the wonderful architecture and the beautiful carving in wood and stone, the solemn strains of the organ reverberating through those vast arches made the whole scene very impressive. As women in many of the churches are not permitted to take part in the sacred ceremonies, the choir is composed of men, and boys from ten to fifteen who sing the soprano and alto. But these old ideas, like the old Roman wall that still surrounds that city, time only can remove.

We had a merry trip from York to London. Miss Müller, Mrs. Chant, Mrs. Shearer, Miss Stackpole, in our compartment, discussed freely the silly objections to woman's enfranchisement[Pg 942] usually made by our legislators. We found on comparing notes that the arguments usually made were the same in the House of Commons as in the halls of Congress. If the honorable gentlemen could only have heard their stale platitudes with good imitations in voice and manner, I doubt whether they would ever again air their absurdities. I regretted that our Caroline Gilkey Rogers had not been there to have given her admirable impersonation of a Massachusetts legislator.

A few days later I attended another meeting in Birmingham and stayed with a relative of Joseph Sturge, at whose home I had visited forty years before. This was called to discuss the degradation of women under the Contagious Diseases acts. Led by Josephine Butler, the women of England have been deeply stirred on the question of repeal, and are very active in their opposition to the law. We heard Mrs. Butler speak in many of her society meetings, as well as on several public occasions. Her style is not unlike that we hear in Methodist class-meetings from the best cultivated of that sect; her power grows out of her deeply religious enthusiasm.

In London we met Emily Faithful, who had just returned from a lecturing-tour in the United States, and were much amused with her experiences. Having taken prolonged trips over the whole country from Maine to Texas for many successive years, Miss Anthony and I could easily add the superlative to all her narrations. She dined with us one day at Mrs. Mellen's, where we also had the pleasure of meeting Miss Jane Cobden, a daughter of the great Corn-law reformer, who was much interested in forming Liberal leagues, to encourage the Liberal party and interest women in the political questions under consideration. She passed a day with us at Basingstoke, and together we visited Mrs. Caird, the author of "Whom Nature Leadeth," an interesting story of English life. I found the author a charming woman, but in spite of the title I really could not find one character in the three volumes that seemed to follow the teachings of nature.

Two weeks again in London, visiting picture-galleries, museums, libraries, going to teas, dinners, receptions, concerts, theaters and reform-meetings; it is enough to turn one's head to think of all the different clubs and associations managed by women. It was a source of constant pleasure to me to drive about in hansoms and try to take in the vastness of that wonderful city; to see the[Pg 943] beautiful equipages, fine saddle-horses and riders and the skill with which the bicycles were so rapidly engineered through the crowded streets. The general use of bicycles and tricycles all over England, even for long journeys, is fast becoming the favorite mode of locomotion both for ladies and gentlemen.

It was a pleasant surprise to meet the large number of Americans usually at the receptions of Mrs. Peter Taylor.[580] Graceful and beautiful in full dress, standing beside her husband, who evidently idolizes her, Mrs. Taylor appeared quite as refined in her drawing-room as if she had never been "exposed to the public gaze," while presiding over a suffrage convention. Mr. Peter Taylor, M. P., has been untiring in his endeavors to get a bill through parliament against "compulsory vaccination." Mrs. Taylor is called the mother of the suffrage movement. The engraving of her sweet face which adorns the English chapter will give the reader a good idea of her character. The reform has not been carried on in all respects to her taste, nor on what she considers the basis of high principle. Neither she nor Mrs. Jacob Bright has ever been satisfied with the bill asking the right of suffrage for "widows and spinsters" only. To have asked this right "for all women duly qualified," as but few married women are qualified by possessing property in their own right, the result would have been substantially the same without making any invidious distinctions. Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. Bright felt that as married women were the greatest sufferers under the law, they should be the first rather than the last to be enfranchised. The others, led by Miss Becker, claimed that it was good policy to make the demand for "spinsters and widows," and thus exclude the "family unit" and "man's headship" from the discussion; and yet these were the very points on which the objections were invariably based. They claimed that if "spinsters and widows" were enfranchised they would be an added power to secure to married women their rights. But the history of the past gives no such assurance. It is not certain that women would be more just than men, and a small privileged class of aristocrats have long governed their fellow-countrymen. The fact that the spinsters in the movement advocated such a bill shows that they are not to be trusted in[Pg 944] extending it. John Stuart Mill, too, was always opposed to the exclusion of married women in the demand for suffrage.

If our English friends had our system of conventions and discussions in which every resolution is subject to criticism, changes could be more readily effected. But as their meetings are now conducted, a motion to amend a resolution would throw the platform into the wildest confusion and hopelessly bewilder the chairman. We saw this experiment made at the great demonstration in St. James' Hall the night before Mr. Mason's bill was to be acted on in the House of Commons. For its effect on their champions some were desirous that a resolution should be endorsed by that great audience proposing higher ground; that instead of "spinsters and widows," the demand should be for "all duly qualified women." After the reading of one of the resolutions Miss Jessie Craigen arose and proposed such an amendment. Mr. Woodhall, M. P., in the chair, seemed quite at a loss what to do. She was finally, after much debate and prolonged confusion, suppressed, whether in a parliamentary manner or not I am unable to say. Here we should have discussed the matter at length if it had taken us until midnight, or adjourned over until next day, "the spinsters and widows" having been the target for all our barbed arrows until completely annihilated.

Spending two months in traveling on the continent, Miss Anthony had many amusing experiences. While visiting our minister and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Sargent, at Berlin, she occupied some rainy days, when sight-seeing was out of the question, in doing up papers and writing a large number of letters on our official paper, bearing the revolutionary mottoes, "No just government can be formed without the consent of the governed," "Taxation without representation is tyranny." For a brief period she was in the full enjoyment of that freedom one has when a pressing duty to family and friends has been thoroughly discharged. But alas! her satisfaction was soon turned to disappointment. After a few days a dignified official appeared at the American Legation with a large package bearing the proscribed mottoes, saying, "such sentiments cannot pass through the post-office in Germany." So all that form of propagandism was nipped in the bud, and in modest, uncomplaining wraps the letters and papers started again for the land of the free and reached their destination.

But this experience did not satisfy the "Napoleon of our[Pg 945] movement" that the rulers in the old world could securely guard their subjects from those inflammable mottoes to which from long use we are so indifferent. She continued to sow the seeds of rebellion as she had opportunity, in Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy. It is well for us that she did not experiment in Russia, or we should now be mourning her loss as an exile in Siberia. At all points of interest books are kept for visitors to register their names; Miss Anthony uniformly added some of our Pilgrim Fathers' heroic ejaculations in their struggle for liberty, which friends visiting the same places afterwards informed us were carefully crossed out so as to be quite illegible. But we may hope for their restoration in the near future and that they may yet do an effective work. Thus circumscribed with her pen and not being able to speak a foreign language, happily no rebellions were fomented by her rapid transit through their borders.

My sense of justice was severely tried with all I heard of the persecutions of Mrs. Besant and Mr. Bradlaugh for their publications on the right and duty of parents to limit population. Who can contemplate the sad condition of multitudes of young children in the old world whose fate is to be brought up in ignorance and vice—a swarming, seething mass whom nobody owns—without seeing the need of free discussion of the philosophical principles that underlie these tangled social problems. The trials of Foote and Ramsey, too, for blasphemy, seemed unworthy a great nation in the nineteenth century. Think of well-educated men of good moral standing, thrown into prison in solitary confinement for speaking lightly of the Hebrew idea of Jehovah and the New Testament account of the birth of Jesus! Our Protestant clergy never hesitate to make the dogmas and superstitions of the Catholic church seem as absurd as possible, and why should not those who imagine they have outgrown Protestant superstitions make them equally ridiculous? Whatever is true can stand investigation and ridicule.

The last of April, when the wild-flowers were in their glory, Mrs. Mellen and her lovely daughter, Daisy, came down to Basingstoke to enjoy its beauty. As Mrs. Mellen had known Charles Kingsley and entertained him at her residence in Colorado, she felt a desire to see his former home. Accordingly, one bright morning Mr. Blatch drove us through Stralfieldsage over the grounds of the Duke of Wellington, well stocked with fine[Pg 946] cattle, sheep and deer. This magnificent place was given him by the English government after the battle of Waterloo. A lofty statue of the duke that can be seen for miles around stands at the entrance. A drive of a few miles further brought us to Eversley, the home of Canon Kingsley, where he preached many years and where all that is mortal of him now lies buried. We wandered through the old church, among the moss-covered tombstones and into the once happy home, now silent and deserted, his loved ones scattered in different quarters of the globe. Standing near the last resting-place of the author of "Hypatia," his warning words for woman, in a letter to John Stuart Mill, seemed like a voice from the clouds, saying with new inspiration and power, "This will never be a good world for woman until the last remnant of the canon law is civilized off the face of the earth."

Mrs. Mellen's spacious home in Pembroke Gardens, Kensington, was thrown open for her American friends in London to celebrate the Fourth of July. A large number of our English acquaintances were also present, who very kindly congratulated us on the stirring events of that day in 1776. Of the Americans assembled, many contributed to the general entertainment. Grace Greenwood, Miss Rachel Foster, Miss Kate Hillard and Miss Mildred Conway gave recitations. Miss Lippincott, daughter of Grace Greenwood, sang some fine operatic music; Mrs. Carpenter of Chicago sang sweetly, playing her own accompaniment; Mr. Frank Lincoln gave some of his amusing impersonations; Miss Maud Powell of Chicago, only fourteen years of age, who had been taking lessons in France and Germany for some years, played exquisite airs on the violin; Mrs. Flora Stark, Miss Alice Blatch and Miss Conway gave us some fine classical music on the piano, and Nathaniel Mellen sang some pathetic negro melodies.[581] Altogether it was a pleasant occasion and I felt quite proud of the varied talents manifested by our young people. Some English friends remarked on their cleverness and readiness, all spontaneously called out without any time for preparation.

We heard Mr. Fawcett speak to his Hackney constituents at[Pg 947] one of his campaign meetings. In the course of his remarks he mentioned with evident favor as one of the coming measures the disestablishment of the church, and was greeted with loud applause. Soon after he spoke of woman suffrage as another question demanding consideration, but this was received with laughter and jeers, although the platform was crowded with advocates of the measure, among whom were the wife of the speaker and her sister, Dr. Garrett Anderson, who sat just behind him. The audience were evidently in favor of releasing themselves from being taxed to support the church, forgetting that women were taxed also not only to support the church, in which they had no voice, but the State, too, with its army and navy. Mr. Fawcett was not an orator, but a simple, straightforward speaker. He made but one gesture, striking his right clenched fist into the palm of the left hand at the close of all his strongest assertions; but being sound and liberal, he was a great favorite with his constituents.

A pleasant trip southward through Bath to Bristol brought us to the home of the Misses Priestman and Mrs. Tanner, sisters-in-law of John Bright. I had stayed at their father's house forty years before, so we felt like old friends. I found them all charming, liberal women, and we enjoyed a few days together, talking over our mutual struggles, and admiring the beautiful scenery for which that part of the country is quite celebrated. The women of England were just then organizing political clubs, and I was invited to speak before the one in Bristol. They are composed of men and women alike, for the discussion of all political questions. The next day I spoke to women alone in the church on the Bible view of woman's creation and destiny. It is strange that those who pretend to be well-versed in Scripture do not see that the simultaneous creation of man and woman and the complete equality of the sexes are as clearly taught in the first chapter of Genesis as the reverse is in the allegorical garden-scene in the second. The drive over the suspension-bridge by moonlight to dine with Mrs. Garnet, a sister of John Thomasson, M. P., was a pleasant episode to public speaking and more serious conversation. There, too, we had an evening reception. There is an earnestness of purpose among English women that is very encouraging under the prolonged disappointments reformers inevitably suffer. There is something so determined and heroic in what Mary Priestman does and says that one would readily follow[Pg 948] her through all dangers. It added much to my comfort in this visit to have an escort in Mrs. Lucas.

Later Miss Anthony visited Bristol and had a complimentary reception at the Misses Priestman's. She was the guest of Miss Mary Estlin, who had spent some time in America, a dear friend of Sarah Pugh and Parker Pillsbury. Miss Estlin was from home during my visit, so that I did not see her while in England. The order of English homes among the wealthy classes is very enjoyable. All goes on from year to year with the same servants, the same surroundings, no changes, no moving, no building even; in delightful contrast with our periodical upheavings, always uncertain where we shall go next, or how long our main dependents will stand by us.

From Bristol we went to Greenbank to visit Mrs. Helen Bright Clark, a daughter of the great orator. In the evening the parlors were crowded, and I was asked to give an account of the suffrage movement in America. Some clergymen questioned me in regard to the Bible position of woman, whereupon I gave quite an exposition of its general principles in favor of liberty and equality. As two quite distinct lines of argument can be woven out of those pages on any subject, on this occasion I selected all the most favorable texts for justice to woman, and closed by stating the limits of its authority. Mrs. Clarke, though thoroughly in sympathy with the views I had expressed, feared lest my very liberal utterances might have shocked some of the strictest of the laymen and clergy. "Well," I said, "if we who do see the absurdities of the old superstitions never unveil them to others, how is the world to make any progress in the theologies? I am now in the sunset of life, and I feel it to be my special mission to tell people what they are not prepared to hear, instead of echoing worn-out opinions." The result showed the wisdom of my speaking out of my own soul. To the surprise of Mrs. Clark, the primitive Methodist clergyman called on Sunday morning to invite me to occupy his pulpit in the afternoon and present the same line of thought I had the previous evening. I accepted his invitation. He led the services and I took my text from Genesis i., 27, 28, showing that man and woman were a simultaneous creation, endowed with equal power in starting.

Mr. and Mrs. Clark I found very agreeable, progressive people, with a nice family of boys and girls. Like all English children, they suffered too much repression, while our American children[Pg 949] have too much latitude. If we could strike the happy medium between the two systems, it would be a great benefit to the children of both countries. The next day we drove down to see Glastonbury cathedral. England is full of these beautiful ruins, covered with flowers and ivy, but the saddest spectacles, with all this fading glory, are the men, women and children whose nakedness neither man nor nature seeks to drape.

Returning to London we accepted an invitation to take tea with Mrs. Jacob Bright. A choice circle of three it was, and a large server of tempting viands was placed on a small table before us. Mrs. Bright, in earnest conversation, had helped us each to a cup of tea, and was turning to help us to something more, when over went table and all, tea, bread and butter, cake, strawberries and cream, silver, china, in one conglomerate mass. Silence reigned. No one started; no one said "Oh!" Mrs. Bright went on with what she was saying as if nothing unusual had occurred, rang the bell, and when the servant appeared, pointing to the débris, she said, "Charles, remove this." I was filled with admiration at her coolness, and devoutly thankful that we Americans maintained an equally dignified silence.

At a grand reception given in our honor by the National Central Committee, in Princess' Hall, Mr. Jacob Bright, M. P., presided and made an admirable opening speech, followed by his sister, Mrs. McLaren, with a highly complimentary address of welcome. By particular request Miss Anthony gave a presentation of the industrial, legal and political status of American women; while I set forth their educational, social and religious limitations. Mr. John P. Thomasson, M. P., made the closing address, expressing his satisfaction with the addresses of the ladies and the progress made in both countries.[582]

Mrs. Thomasson, daughter of Mrs. Lucas, gave several delightful evening parties,[583] receptions and dinners, some for ladies alone, where an abundant opportunity was offered for a critical analysis of the idiosyncracies of the superior sex, especially in[Pg 950] their political dealings with women. The patience of even such heroic souls as Lydia Becker and Caroline Biggs was almost exhausted with the tergiversations of members of the House of Commons. Alas for the many fair promises broken, the hopes deferred, the votes fully relied on and counted, all missing in the hour of action. One crack of Mr. Gladstone's whip put a hundred Liberals to flight in a twinkling, members whom these noble women had spent years in educating. I never visited the House of Commons that I did not see Miss Becker and Miss Biggs trying to elucidate the fundamental principles of just government to some of them. Verily their divine faith and patience merited more worthy action on the part of their representatives.

We formed very pleasant friendships with Miss Frances Lord and Miss Henrietta Müller, spending several days with the latter at 58 Cadogan square, and both alike visited us at different times in Basingstoke. Miss Lord has translated some of Ibsen's plays very creditably to herself, and, we understand, to the satisfaction of the Swedish poet. Miss Lord is a cultured, charming woman, attractive in society, and has a rare gift in conversation; she is rather shrinking in her feelings. Miss Müller, her devoted friend, is just the opposite; fearless, aggressive and self-centered. Miss Lord discharged her duties as poor-law guardian faithfully, and Miss Müller, as member of the London school-board, claimed her rights when infringed upon, and maintained the dignity of her position with a good degree of tact and heroism. We met Miss Whitehead, another poor-law guardian, at Miss Müller's, and had a long talk on the sad condition of the London poor and the grand work Octavia Hill had done among them. Miss Müller read us a paper on the dignity and office of single women. Her idea seems to be very much like that expressed by St. Paul in his epistles, that it is better for those who have a genius for public work in the church or State not to marry; and Miss Müller carries her theory into practice thus far. She has a luxurious establishment of her own, is fully occupied in politics and reform, and though she lives by herself she entertains her friends generously, and does whatever it seems good to her to do. As she is bright and entertaining and has many worshipers, she may fall a victim to the usual fate in spite of her admirable essay, which has been printed in tract form and circulated extensively in England and America. Miss Müller gave Miss Anthony and myself a farewell reception on the eve of our departure for America, when we had[Pg 951] the opportunity of meeting once more most of the pleasant acquaintances we had made in London. Although it was announced for the afternoon, we did in fact receive all day as many as could not come at the hour appointed. Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell took breakfast with us; Mrs. Fawcett, Mrs. Seville[584] and Miss Lord were with us at luncheon; Harriet Hosmer and Olive Logan soon after; Mrs. Peter Taylor later, and from three to six o'clock the parlors were crowded.

Returning from London I passed my birthday, November 12, in Basingstoke. It was a sad day to us all, knowing that it was the last before my departure for America. When I imprinted the farewell kiss on the soft cheek of little Nora in the cradle, she in the dawn and I in the sunset of life, I realized how widely the long years and the broad ocean would separate us forever. Miss Anthony, who had been visiting Mrs. Parker, near Warrington, met me at Alderly Edge, where we spent a few days in the charming home of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Bright. There we found their noble sisters, Mrs. McLaren and Mrs. Lucas, young Walter McLaren and his lovely bride, Eva Müller, whom we had heard several times on the suffrage platform. We rallied her on the step she had lately taken, notwithstanding her sister's able paper on the blessedness of a single life. While here we visited Dean Stanley's birthplace; but on his death the light and joy went out, and the atmosphere of the old church whose walls had once echoed to his voice, and the house where he had spent so many useful years, seemed sad and deserted. But the day was bright and warm, the scenery all around was beautiful, cows and sheep were still grazing in the meadows, the grass as green as in June. This is England's chief charm, forever green, some compensation for the many cloudy days. An evening reception in Mrs. Bright's spacious parlors, with friends from Manchester and other adjoining towns, with speeches of welcome and farewell, finished our visit at Alderly Edge.

As our good friends Mrs. McLaren and Mrs. Lucas had determined to see us safely on board the Servia, they escorted us to Liverpool, where we met Mrs. Margaret Parker, Mrs. Scatcherd and Dr. Fanny Dickinson of Chicago. Another reception was[Pg 952] given us at the residence of Dr. Ewing Whittle. Several short speeches were made, all cheering the parting guests with words of hope and encouragement for the good cause.

Here the wisdom of forming an international association was considered. The proposition met with such favor from those present that a committee was appointed to correspond with the friends in different nations. As Miss Anthony and myself are members of that committee,[585] now that these volumes are finished and we are at liberty once more, we shall ascertain as soon as possible the feasibility of a grand international conference in New York in 1888, to celebrate the fourth decade of our movement for woman's enfranchisement. Such conventions have been held by the friends of anti-slavery, peace, temperance, social purity and evangelical christianity, and why may not the suffrage cause, too, receive a new impetus from the united efforts of its friends in all countries.

On the broad Atlantic for ten days we had many opportunities to review all we had seen and heard. There we met our noble friends, Mr. and Mrs. Hussey of New Jersey; also Mrs. Margaret Buchanan Sullivan of Chicago, just returning from an extended tour in Ireland, who gave us many of her rich experiences. Sitting on deck hour after hour, how often I queried with myself as to the significance of the boon for which women were so earnestly struggling. In asking for a voice in the government under which we live, have we been pursuing a shadow for forty years? In seeking political power, are we abdicating that social throne where they tell us our influence is unbounded? No! no! the right of suffrage is no shadow, but a substantial entity that[Pg 953] the citizen can seize and hold for his own protection and his country's welfare. A direct power over one's own person and property, an individual opinion to be counted on all questions of public interest, is better than indirect influence, be it ever so far-reaching.

Though influence, like the pure white light, is all-pervading, yet it is oft-times obscured with passing clouds and nights of darkness; like the sun's rays, it may be healthy, genial, inspiring, though sometimes too direct for comfort, too oblique for warmth, too scattered for any given purpose. But as the prism by dividing the rays of light reveals to us the brilliant coloring of the atmosphere, and as the burning-glass by concentrating them in a focus intensifies their heat, so does the right of suffrage reveal the beauty and power of individual sovereignty in the great drama of national life, while on a vital measure of public interest it combines the many voices of the people in a grand chorus of protest or applause.

After an unusually calm, pleasant voyage, for November, we sailed up our beautiful New York harbor just as the sun was rising in all his glory, gilding every hill-top and distant spire in the landscape, and with grateful hearts we celebrated the national Thanksgiving-day once more with loving friends in the great Republic.

[Pg 955]

APPENDIX.

[Pg 985]

INDEX
to
The History of Woman Suffrage.

Compiled by John Weinheimer of The New York Tribune.

A.