xt70rx937t9n_485 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/mets.xml https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/46m4.dao.xml unknown 13.63 Cubic Feet 34 boxes, 2 folders, 3 items In safe - drawer 3 archival material 46m4 English University of Kentucky The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.  Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Laura Clay papers Temperance. Women -- Political activity -- Kentucky. Women's rights -- Kentucky. Women's rights -- United States -- History. Women -- Suffrage -- Kentucky. Women -- Suffrage -- United States. Woman's Era text Woman's Era 2020 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt70rx937t9n/data/46m4/Box_30/Folder_27/Multipage20865.pdf 1895 1895 1895 section false xt70rx937t9n_485 xt70rx937t9n l
l

, ~ ‘Farhgasfifi 31.09. “A“?

THE woMAN’s ERA.

VOL. I.

The Woman’s Era.

CURRY 8: MURPHY, Publishers.

IWHERE ENTHUSIASM PREVAILS.

Will Ohio Be Ahead of New York in
Declaring for Free Suii'rage?

Mrs. S. Augusta Armstrong, of Buffalo
returned last week from a tour of summei-
schools and assemblies in the West where
she has been giving lectures in the iiiterests
of the Woman Suflrage clubs.

Mrs. Armstrong is very energetic in her
efforts to establish woman‘s rights to the
ballot. She was made manager of the con-
vention of the Lake Brady, 0., Association

and the press of. that vicinity has many

52 JOHN STREET, UTICA N Y
. , . .

MRS. AGNES HUDSON YOUNG, Editor.

A monthly journal devoted to the interests 0
woman; to her political equality, and to her

i

UTICA, N. Y., SEPTEMBER, 1895.

for the various woman’s societies proved
themselves worthy of theihigh hOnor be-
stowed upon them. l

Fourth. That the lecturers of the con-
vention, viz.: Rev. Henry Frank Mrs
Carrie Chapman Catt, and Mrs. Dr. Augusta
Armstrong, have fully sufstained the high
reputations already won in this cause.

Fifth. Thht we snall especially remem-
ber Mrs. Dr. Augusta Armstrong, man—
ager of the convention, for the energy in—
telligence, tact and executive ability'dis—'
played under trying situations; also for
furnishing us with the best talent that the

 

educational, industrial and general advance. charming things to say Of her eflicient man-

ment.

//'"MNOT“5:\\

WOMAN IN POLITIGS.

I

/

THE BUCKEYE STATE.

An Interesting Letter From the
lcdo W. S. A.

A spiritedland instructive meeting of our}
Suffrage Association was held last week,‘
the first after the summer nap. The busi-
ness transacted, local, State and National

. 7
ev1nced the greatest activity of the move-
ment for the enfranchisement of women.

The annual convention Of the Ohio
Woman Suffrage Association occurs next
month at Ashtabula.
Among many interesting reports pre-

T0-

Earnest and Eloquent Plea
For Equal Rights

BY A PROMINENT SUFFRAGIST.‘

 

Sufiragists’ ranks afford.

sent (1 ' '
e was that of Miss Mary E. Law, in Lida Calvert Obenchain of Bowling

Green, Ky" Presents an Unan-

 

o SUBSCRIPTION.
ne Year........................

Six Months ........................... W$lgg
Three Months............ ...... .25

.a-o-u

STRICTLY IN ADVANCE. '

 

AUTUMN LEAVES.
BY MARY MAC GBEGOR HASTINGS.

See how the leaves are growing, growing old
That in the spring were such a tender green
Dainty as any flower that can be seen, ,

When all May’s lovely host their flowers unfold.

Ah, yes; those leaves are growing, growing old
Which in the summer, cooling shadows made:
Shelt’rlng the nesting Birds, and not afraid ’

To meet the sun’s fierce rays with courage hold.

The leaves, the leaves are growing, growing
old;
The cricket sings a shrill and sad refrain;
All stubble are the fields where grew the
grain;
At morning now the wind blows sharp and cold.

How lovely are the leaves a-growing old.
Gainst the dark pine the oak’s rich crimson
shows,
scarlet maple glows,
-.v ‘1 gleam like mmne .- gold.
How braveig’fare the 10.. _ _ ”x .
Bright, like reflections from the glowing west; _
Dancing upon the breeze, they haste to rest;
Their little tale of life now fully told.

 

..
l,

 

‘ —-\nn~- 4

‘:-- ~:M.ium._q,’s» ..

the leaves be growing old,
Growing in beauty with life’s waning days.
Courageous, glad with those reflected rays
From that bright glory which the Heavens hold.
[4/

ANNUAL CONVENTION

Ah! could we like

0f the New York State Woman Suf-
frage Association.

The New York State Woman Sufi'rage As-
d its annual convention in
mber 8-12. Railroad rates
of a fare and a third have been secured.
A program of unusual interest is promised
and a large attendance is expected.

M

A WORK OF ART.

We have received a copy of the Illus-
trated Annual and Program of the New
York State Fair, published by W. F. Thur-
low of Syracuse. The annual contains 104:
pages and has a handsome embossed cover.
It is printed on calendered paper and. pro-
fusely illustrated, showing the prominent
residences and business houses of Syracuse.
It also contains half—tone illustrations of
the Ofiicers of the New York State Agricul-
tural Society, and a historical review of the
association. It is truly a work of art, and
reflects great credit on its publisher. The
Agricultural Society is to be congratulated
on haying secured the services of Mr.
Thurlow, who not only has a large ac-

aintance throughout the State, but is a . ‘
32W POPUIM young man and contributes In cons1deration of the fact that the dis-

lar ely toward making the State Fair at franchisement of women, the half of hu-
51150685 ' manity, is a standing disgrace to the intel-

ligence and civilization of the nine
A COMMENDABLE ENTERPRlSE.

century and that
We received a call, the other day, from here upon the above named dates, we there-
Col. J. T. Lamm of Pulaski, N. Y., who,

fore resolve,
together with D. E. Wager of Rome, and First, That the Lake Brady Association
others, is engaged in the preparation of a

was honored and benefitted by the presence
descriptive work on Oneida county entitled

of its respected guests,
"Our County and its People.”

The Colonel, who, by the way, is a very
interesting gentleman, expressed himself as
being heartily in favor of equal suffrage,
and ventured the prediction that the time
was not far distant when woman would re-
ceive her just deserts in this regard.

sociation will hol
Newburgh, Nove

agement. It is pleasant to record the fact

that new honors are bestowed upon
distinguished Buffalo woman,
while she gives freely of her time and abil-
ities t) the cause of Sufirage in other
States, that she does not fail to remember
the work in New York State. Mrs. Arm—
strong was the organizer of. the First Po-
litical Equality Club of Buffalo, and is
county president of the State Suffrage As-
sociation. '

At the Lake Brady Association, the com-
mittee on credits reported the following:

LAKE BRADY, 0., Aug. 30, 1894.
To the Officers and Members of the Lake
Brady Association, Greeting:

We, your committee on resoiutions re-
garding the Woman's Convention of Suf-
fragists, held here August 28th, 29th, an
30th respectfully submit the following:

this much needed reform.
Second. That We pledge ourselves to do
all in our power, individually and collec-

MISS FLORIDE C

this our sister in her chosen work. May the
owers of good overshadow her,
wisdom and strength for her labors, until
justice shall sit
holding scales of equality.

and that p

Messrs. Curry &

the sample copylof
me some days}; ago.
there is a paper started in the cause of
d Woman here infmy native State and so near
my birth placef—Herkimer.
the sheet-anch r of our struggling ship—
political equal, y—to prevent it from going
ashore, here iithe Empire State,
teenth it flourish likclthe green bay tree, until the

this convention was held need of a strictly
more. ii,“

a..,

a

UNNINGHAM, OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
[SEE “A VOICE FROM THE SOUTH,” PAGE 6.]

swerable Argument Based:
on Historical Facts.

It is a fixed idea in the popular mind
that woman in politics is a very modern in-
stitution, coeval with the advent of Susan
B. Anthony and Lucy Stone, a sort of dis-
agreeable phenomenon accompanying the
“woman movement” of this century; and
those who dislike this type of woman, and
who give their days and their nights to the
study of how to anihilate her, are joyously
confident of success because, as a matter
of course, a creature that has sprung into
existence within the last few decades can
have but a slender hold on life. Courage
my brothers! A little more patience, .a lit:
tle more persecution, and we shall get back
to the good old time, the dear old days,
when wives and daughters stayed in their
“sphere" and there were no women'in polw
itics. So runs their song. L

To consider woman in her. relation to '
“The science and the art of government'
. the administration of public or national af:
--..,- I\fairs,” is the Object of this, paper, and I

he 7' Shall ‘ - .; . . .
- n31..P?-I§Iflluoa V‘s-mm d3 :31? :_?.:W0 ways. First, histori-
_.:. Dr I - ‘

 

Yin
(I . _ Mfiaa’dv.
1 domain. Into this pea-:_w, ,

serpent comes,‘bent on the overthrow of
the r‘ghtful sovereign and the establish—
ment of Satan's kingdom on earth. With
this vast political plot in view, to whom
does he go? To Adam, the man? By no
means. The crafty enemy of souls laughs
at the idea of politics being out of woman’s
“sphere.” He knew too well the weak
points of both man and woman. Not Par—
adise itself could satisfy the woman’s soul.
“Ye shall become as God’s," he says, and

.ngiumx u

snow

 

 

Our love and good wishes shall follow
giving

jin the seat of government

illns. L. DIEBOLT,
Mrs. Dr. E. PIERCE,
Committee.

l
__—-—'-—~, - 5...”,—

l
A HEARlY ENDORSEMENT.
lilurphy, Publishers:
pleasure that I perused
THE WOMAN’S ERA sent
I am glad to know

It was with m'iich

May it prove

and may

woman's paper shall be no
3. AUGUSTA ARMSTRONG.
BUFFALO, N.‘iY., Sept. 23.

M
Mr. Crittenllen’founder of the Florence
representing the Crittenden M'lsions, has purchased a pri-
movement, and placing us enrapport With vate car, whihl he has named the “Good
the best thought of the age in reference to NeWS," in wiic‘h he purposes with a band

of assistants b lvisit all the large cities and

hold union gospel meetings,

homes for £1”le women. The car is fur—

tively, to aid in this much needed reform. nished with Living accommodations for four-
Third. That the representatives speaking teen perso i

and establish

relation to the summer school at Lakeside,
and the Ohio Federation of Women‘s
Clubs. Mrs. A. B. Cole also gave a highly
appreciated talk upon Ohio's Chautauqua.

of New York, earnestly praying for the
Mrs. M. MCCASLIN, pardon of Maria Barberi, now under sen-
tence of death.
ble provication she killed her seducer, and
being but fifteen years of age, an earnest
plea was made for
for avoidance of the great cruelty and in-
humanity of her judicial murder, espec-
ially as she stands committed for justifiable
homicide. Many other matters of moment
to women were considered.

were Miss
Mrs. L. C. Harmon,
R. L. Cegur, Dr. Munton,
A. B. Cole, Mrs. Law, 'Mrs. M. B. Eek,
Mrs.

others.

CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY CON NVENTION.

County
in Jamestown, October 17 and 18. Chau—

tauque county is the
State, having twenty
borders.

the spiritual ambition of true womanhood,
the longing for “something better than she
. has known,” fills the soul of Eve, and she
takes the apple and eats it.’ Adam would
have stood up manfully against this temp-
tation of the devil. He might have lived to
a green Old age in the Garden of Eden, and
eaten his twelve-o’clock lunch every day
under the shade of the tree of the knowl-
edge of good and evil. A wagon-load of
the forbidden fruit hanging from its boughs
would not have tempted his utilitarian soul.
He had Eve and Paradise, what more
cauld the heart of man desire? Man is
strong to resist the devil, but a single ap-
ple held out by the hand of the woman he
loved, and behold—a world in moral and
physical ruin, a lost Eden, an exiled pair—
“the trail of the serpent is over ‘us’ all,"
and the woman, whether for good or evil,
finds herself inextricably entangled in “the
administration of public or national af—

A petition was-sent to Governor Morton
Under the greatest possi-

her pardon, as well as

Among some of the members present
Mott, Miss Perigo, Miss Law,
Mrs. S. S. Bissell, Mrs.
Dr. Wyant, Mrs.
fairs.”

Think of the exodus from Egypt under
Moses, and at once we have a vision of the-
Hebrew mother bending over her child,
worshipping its beauty, concealing its
birth by every motherly art, and, when
concealment is no longer possible, resort-
ing to strategem to save the beloved life.
“The hand that rocks the cradle is'the hand
that rocks the world," and the hand that
wove that little ark of bulrushes and placed
it “in the flags by the river’s brink"is the
same hand that swayed the destinies of
two great nations, and the mother love of
this Hebrew woman makes her a powerful
factor in Egyptian and Hebrew politics.

Mrs, Nellie Bacon and
A. J. B.

Pomero y,

TOLEDO, 0., Sept. 20.
i

The annual convention of the Chautauqua
Political Equality Club will be held

 

 

 

 

 

banner county of the

local clubs within its
___.—H-——

THE BEST STRINGS mronrsn

For all kinds of string instruments,
At BUBTON’s, 50 Seneca St.

 

 

“‘1. .

 THE WOMAN ’S ERA.

 

When the Red Sea is crossed and the
deliverance from! Pharaoh is an accom-
plished fil3t, we find God's chosen people
in a great triumphal procession ' a scene
for poet and painter. The patriotism and
religious enthusiasm of a newly liberated
people expresses itself in inspired song.
As we read, we hear the magnificent chorus
rising and falling like the waves of the sea:
“I “fill. sing unto the Lord, for He hath
triumphed gloriously; the horse and his
rider hath He thrown into the sea. The
Lord is my strength and song, and He is
become my salvation; He is my God and I
will prepare Him an habitation; my father’s
God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a
man of war; the Lord is His name."

Now, if Moses had been fashioned after
the pattern of some of our modern law—giv-
ers, he would have said to Miriam: “My
sister, the publicity of a political procession
ill suits the gentle nature of woman. . Re-
tire to your'tents, you and the rest of the
women, and watch this thing from afar.
You were perfectly in your ‘sphere' when
you sat through the long, dark night and
the long, hot day, watching the little ark
Of bulrushes that held my infant. form.
But circumstances have changed. Your
place is no longer by my side. This is
politics, and women have nothing to do
with politics.”

Fortunately, Moses said nothing of the
sort, and the greatest of law-givers and
statesmen must go on record as an advo—
cate of woman in politics. For we are told
that “Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of
Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all
the women went out after her with timbrels
and with dances." So the second glimpse
we have of woman in Old Testament days
is as part and parcel of a great procession in
honor Of a political event which would
never have been but for the mother love
and sister love that guarded that little cra—
dle of bulrushes by the banks of the river
Nile.

The book of Esther is the story of a po-
litical intrigue involving a nation’s fate.
Here, again,lthe central figure is a woman
—-—a Jewish aiden, sundered from home
and friends, liendowed with the jewels and
the titles of r'clyalty, but surrounded by all
the restraints of an oriental harem, and in

" ""-"v.J.b.9...

 

 

231‘ “the instrument. “Ir‘hope

 

 

 

the diplomacy of a skilled politician, she
goes before the king, overthrows the base
designs of the' courtier, Haman, and raises
herself and her people to a plane of honor
and prosperity unknown before.

Turn the pages of your Bible and see
what an array of political women look forth
from its pages: Judith, who “walked with
the angels in her widow’s weeds;” Debo-
rah, who ruled Israel forty years; Bath-
sheba, who secured the succession of
Solomon to Davie‘s throne, and who sat on
the right hand of Solomon when he was
“on his throne,” and many others whose
influence was not wholly restricted to the
domain of the kitchen and the nursery. I
am not in favor of holding up the women
of any past day and generation as models
for the women of to-day. We must look
forward into the twentieth century to find
a fit model for the woman of the nineteenth
century. But if the women of the Bible
are to be held up as models for u-, let us
recognize the fact that the most admirable
and illustrious of these were political
women, women who concerned themselves
in “the administration of public affairs, the
art and science of government.”

’Iurning to secular history it seems hardly
an exaggeration to say that the history of
the world is the history of woman in po i-
tics.

We read of Aggrippina, the granddaugh-
ter of Augustus, who quelled mutinies,
commanded armies and "by her courage
and resolution showed herself worthy of
her descent from Augustusf’ of Aggrip-
pins, the mother of Nero and the wife of
Claudius, whose “vigorous guidance of the
reins of government’ made the last years
of her husband‘s reign “years of almost
unequalled prosperity in every respect;” of
Alexandra, Queen of J udea, who studied to
please her subjects and preserved peace
and prosperity during her reign of seven
years; of Artemisia, Queen of Daria, whom
Herodotius calls “one of the most distin-
guished women of antiquity,” who at-
tended Xerxes in.his expedition against
Greece, 480 B. C.,,-and displayed so much
courage that X;.—rxes said, “The men be-
have like womerfiland the women like men;"
of Cleopatra, the politician of politicians,

tics, the infamousngtherine de Medicis.

 

 

 

who conquered li'gingdoms as easily as she
,.,.__-;J . ~»~.uu .u 40,5' "’55“ ulnety-nwd,’

it isn’t Herschel died twenty-four years earlier at

Peter when we find him celebrating the
coronat on of his faithful wife and commit-
ting into her hands the work of carrying
out his imperial policy. “Meekly yet
humbly" he walks before her, places the
crown upon he ‘1 brow, "and in the pres—
ence of all thxjt great dignitaiies” of his
empire, express s his obligations to her
“able counsel” in all his political affairs.
It adds much to Peter's greatness that he
recognized wo an’s right to administer
“public and nati

In speaking of Isabella’s aid to Colum-
bus, Dr. Lord recalls Lamartine's remark,
that “truly immortal benefactors have sel-
dom been able td accomplish their mission
without encouragement of either saints or
women. " * * i‘ “It was the voice of
Ali and Cadijih that strengthened Moham-
med. It was Katherine Von Bore. who
sustained Luther in his gigantic task."
The overthrow of the Jesuits in the reign
of Louis XV was wrought by the hand of a
woman, Madame Pompadour, and, on the
other hand, the parsecution of the Protes—
tants and the massacre of St. Bartholomew
are likewise the work of a woman in poli-

The most reiEai-kable movement of
mediaeval time, fe dalism, with its accom-
paniment of chiva ry, is indissolubly con-
nected with WOmalP’S influence. “For the
first time in istory,” says Dr. Lord,
“woman became the equal partner of her
husband. She was his companion in the
chase, gayly mounted on her steed. She
was made regent of the kingdoms, heir of
crowns, and joint manager of great estates.
She had the supreme management of her
household, and was consulted on every
matter of importance."

Accounting for the reverence of women
in these days Dr; Lord further says: “It
was undoubtedly based on the noble quali—
ties and domestic virtues which feudal life
engendered. Women were heroines.
Queen Phillippi, in the absence of her
husband, stationed herself in the castle of
Barnborough and defied the whole power
of Douglas. The first military dispatch
ever written in, the middle ages was ad-

., -i. She even took David of
' ' oner wh‘ 11 4135-1913de Eng-

 

wii‘f M' unfi‘é’el‘éf a similar instruriigili‘f,
1 e 153 equal tension, are played upon..-

>LL£ _: .

A Terrible Hard Fall

In the price of Picture Frames, just now. To
see a fine line of beautiful, durable and cheap
mouldings, call at

\V. F. DALY & CO.’S,

232 BLEECKER ST., opp. New American Hotel

 

 

which then existed in every department of
state;” Lydia Darrah, who risked her life
by carrying to General Washington impor-
tant information of Howe’s movements.
The list becomes an endless one when we
attempt to enumerate the women who have
practiced “the science and the art of gov-
ernment,” or who have in one way or an
other profoundly influenced “the adminis-
tration of public and national affairs."

A woman’s reign is the crowning glory
of English history. Bacon says of Queen
Elizabeth: “She was a princess, that if
Plutarch were alive to write by parables, it
would puzzle him to find her equal among
women. She was endowed with learning
most singular and rare, and as for her gov-
ernment I do affirm that England never had
forty-five years of better times, and this not
through the calmness of the season, but the
wisdom of her regimes.”

If a woman is born to rule, she will rule,
though uncrowned and unthroned. It was
Madame de Maintenon, and not Louis XIV,
who ruled France during the latter part of
the King’s life. It was her hand. not
Louis’, that signed the Revocation of the
Edict of Nantes. It was the Duchess of
Marlborough, and not Anne, who ruled
England for the greater part of the latter’s
reign. “If ever a subject stood on the pin-
nacle of greatness, it was she,” says Dr.
Lord. “She was the dispenser of court
favors. * * * Statesmen craved her in—
fluence. * She was the main spring
of all political cabals and intrigues. The
Queen treated her with deference, and
Godolphin consulted her in all affairs of
State."

Deprived of the ballot woman's enthusi-
asm in political matters frequently leads
her into queer vagaries. The beautiful
Duchess of Devonshire kissed a burly
butcher in order to win a vote for Charles

- nm‘" 1‘1“" “" e

aving an

It *

.--.

, A-h

""“Sp'c "SLAM. iacrc‘i‘r’ ih‘EfigliSh politics.

 

”__ ,,§9_Ciel3Y. or Tempgpgjygfi,
JUST OPENF‘TW , Aqua; . *

cannot keep women out of politics, is there
anything that can? Do you think that the
spirit which animated Joan of Arc, Char-
lotte Corday and Madame Roland is dead?
It lives tO-day, it will live forever; and the
women whom we execrate to-day for med-
dling with politics, will stand in history a
century hence by the side of the inspired
maid and the heroines of the French Revo-
lution.

“Women ought not to be in politics
When one considers the part women have
played in the administration of public and
national affairs since the ve= y beginning of
the world, the wonder grows that such an
utterance as this does not stamp the speak-
er as an ignorant, uneducated vulgarian,
to whom the world’s history has been a
sealed book. Either we are a very Cheri-l
table people, or we are so accustomed to
verbal stupidities that they pass unnoticed.

He has read history to little purpose who
has not seen and recognized woman in
every age as the “power behind the throne
greater than the throne.” Her face gleams
through the smoke of battle; the rustle of
her draperies sounds above the clash and
clang of arms; her unuttered wish is more
powerful than the expressed mandate of
king or emperor; her faintest whisper is
heard above the eloquence of the statesman
and the clamor of the demagogue; when
kings and their ministers Sit in council she
is there, unseen perhaps, but, nevertheless
working her will. Seclude her in an east-
ern harem, and, in spite Of the ranks of
guarding eunochs, her influence goes forth,
viewless as the wind and equally powerful.

"But," says some objector, “we men are
not opposed to women taking part in poli-
tics in this way. What we do not like is
the spectacle of a woman voting and hold-
ing oflice.”

“Ah! there’s the rub." The attitude of
the church towards woman is paralleled by

A NOBLE LIFE-

4

Every Home, School, A‘i‘i‘ffyflfim‘f

‘n

 

 

m... FA-

the has ‘

 

'the Lira; and Work of 1*

hurt " sh ' ' 'n‘w
, e said, hardly %%eedh13%i the 1. “mug;

_ _]an thnrm‘h the “TAIL!“ “L .
lost girlhood, there come tidings of a term—
ble disaster that threatens her people.
What'dreams must have haunted the pillow
of the poor queen after Mordecai’s message
reached her ears. The groans other peo-
ple, the blood of kinsmen and kins-
women, the dead faces of father and
mother—all these cried aloud to her for
deliverance and help. And when Mor-
decai says: “Who knoweth whether thou
art come to the kingdom for such atime
as this?" it is no wonder that the spirit of
her forefathers, the intense race loyalty of
the Hebrew, rises in her girlish soul and
prompts he; to that immortal deed.

Yet if ever a woman might be excused
from listening to the voice of duty, that
woman was Esther. Beautiful, pathetic
figure! We see her standing in the “inner
court of the King's house," trembling, but
resolute, trusting in the God of her fathers
and in her own beauty, which she has in-
nocently heightened by her “royal apparel.”
And we tremble with her, for a nation’s
fate is in her hands, and the presence of
the king may prove to her the presence of
sw1ft and terrible death. Had Esther been
a conservative woman she might have said
to Mordecai: "This is a political matter,
my lord, and women have nothing to do
with politics. It would be an unwomanly
thing for me to go unbidden into the pres-
ence of Ahasuerus. True, I might save my
people, but my own womanliness is dearer
to me than the lives of a million people,
though among these were my brothers, my
sisters, my father and my mother. The
harem is my sphere; and if I venture one
step beyond its threshold, I am an ‘unsexed
creature.’ Give me my lute, myjewels, my
royal robes, my silken robes, my silken
couch; I have all the rights I want, and I
decline to meddle with any political matter
that concerns the rights of others.”

If Esther had said this, her name would
have perished with her mortal body. But
from the soul of the patriot and the hero—
ine comes her answer:

“For so will I go unto the king, which is
not according to the law, and if I perish, I
perish.”

Then with the tact of a true woman, and

 

Jl‘fi‘i‘ge gfginetv-eéi ‘u‘oay; ror her
temper and cogra'ge breathed only policy
and war," and th a, ‘Plutarch declared was
a woman, “not born for spinning or house-
wifery, not one that would be content with
ruling a private husband, but capable of
advising a magistrate or ruling the general
of an army;” of Semiramis, Queeen Of As—
syria, who “made Babylon the most mag-
nificent city of the world," who “viSited
every part of her dominions and left every-
where monuments of her greatness,” who
conquered Ethiopia and defeated the King
of India, and whose military prowess was
equal to her ability as an administrator of
“public and national afiairs."

And just here it should be noted that
while politics is a forbidden field to
women, the ancient historians have been
singularly neglectful of all women save
those who dabbled in politics and con-
cerned themselves in “the administration
of public affairs” either directly, in their
own persons, or indirectly, through hus-
bands, sons, brothers or lovers. The
“truly womanly" women who confined
themselves exclusively to house-keeping,
cooking, and nursing, have been consigned
to} oblivion without ceremony, while the
political women live forever on history’s
scroll, most of them with every epithet of
admiration and honor that language has to
bestow.

Reading the history of more modern
times we find the influence of women in
politics an increasing rather than ade-
creasing force. When the English were
ravaging France during the reign of
Charles VII it was a woman, Agnes Sorel,
who “roused Charles from enervating re-
pose to deeds of glory, and induced
him to attack the English.” When Peter
the Great was at war with the Turks he
one day found himself “in a hostile coun-
try beyond the Pruth, between an army of
Turks and an army of Tartars, With a deep
and rapid river in his rear.” At this crisis
he is saved by the wisdom of his wife,
Catherine. “She collects all herjewels and
all the valuables she can find, and sends
them to the Turkish general as a present,
and favorable terms are secured.” We feel
the deepest reverence and admiration for

were helpmat ,1; :1” y S‘SEseihoi the word.
The women of chiva ry seem indeed to
have known nothing of “woman's sphere.”
And reading the recor . of their military
prowess, the thought opcurs, that if fighting
is a necessary condition Of voting, the
mediaeval woman’s right to the ballot could
never have been disputed.

It is said of Isabelle of Castile that "with
the charms and graces of her sex she united
the courage of a hero and the sagacity of a
statesman or a legislator. She was always
present at the transaction of state affairs,
and her name was placed beside that of her
husband in public ordinances.”

We are told of J oanna, Countess of Flan-
ders, that she “governed with vigor and
judgment; that her political treaties were
made with a Sagacity rare at that period.
She had none of the tenderness of an
amiable woman, but wasl gifted with the
shrewd sense and hardnesé of a statesman."

Margaret of Denmark} known as the
Semiramis of the North, 3’is said to have
“equaled the most famous politicians.
He father, perceiving while she was yet a
child her surprising elev ion of soul and
mental resources, said thi nature had been
deceived in forming her, nd instead of a
woman had made a hero.’-.

The common law of Ehgland is derived
from laws established by artia, widow of
Guitiline, King of the ritons. These
were called the Martian st tutes and em-
braced trial by jury and t e “just descent
of property.”

Matilda, Countess of uscany, being
dispossessed of her' estate by Henry III,
recovered them “with vlst additions.”
“With rare heroism sheI ads and sus-
tained sieges, manoeuvred, oops, enlarged
her dominions, and exalted‘ler fame.”

Theodolinda, Queen of he Lombards;
Jeanne, Queen of Neva e; atherine II of
Russia; Margaret of Franc daughter of
Henry II, and Catherine. ~ ' Medicis, of
whom her mother saida “ argaret is a
living proof of the injustici‘ 0f the Salic
law: with her talents she
equaled the greatest king ;" Madame
Necker, who through her hut5 and and in
her own person accomplis'd many re—

'\:cight have

In American politics it was a woman who
defeated Ingalls; it was the votes of women
that gave Kansas to the Republican party
in the last election, and a leading Southern
newspaper attributed the election of Cleve-
land to the influence of women, who,
recognizing the results of a. high tariff, in-
duced their fathers, husbands and sons to
vote for the party favoring a tariff for reve-
enue only; and on the authority of the
Louisville Courier—Journal I venture to
assert that, as to the result of the
late contest in the Ashland District,
“the women did it," and I fancy it will be
some months before any Kentucky editor
will say that women have nothing to do
with politics.

We are accustomed to think of French
women as the most light—minded and frivo-
lous of their sex, yet it is to France we
must turn for the highest, purest, and
strongest type of the political woman.
Three names—Joan of Arc, Madame Ro-
land, Charlotte Corday-which call to mind
three women of heroic mould, who in life
and in death are fit companions for any
hero the world has ever known. Every
school girl knows their story. One was a
simple peasant girl, who spent her days
sewing, weaving, and tending cows. The
other two were women of high birth and
great beauty; one was a devoted wife and
mother, the other had declined many offers
of marriage. ‘

What was there in the outward circum-
Stances of either to lead her into the troubled
sea of politics? The voices that called the
Maid of Orleans to the deliverance of
France, foretold also her certain death.
When Charlotte Corday thrust her dagger
into heart of the tyrant Marat, and when
Madame Roland made herself the center of
the Girondist party during the Reign of
Terror, each knew that the stake or the
guillotine was her ' appointed end. Yet all
three went serenely on in “the administra-
tion of public and national affairs," and met
death as saints and martyrs and heroes
have met it since time began.

When we come to consider later on the
reasons for women being in politics, re-
member these women, and ask yourself if

JOHN NEWTON STELlBNS

This book of 64 pages, with portrait cover,
contains extracts from the writings of Mr.
Stearns himself.

Among those who contribtute to this Me-
morial Pamphlet are: Rev. DR. '1‘. L. CUYLER,
DR. T. DE Wi'rr TALMAGE, GEN. NEAL Dow,
JOSE