Woman Triumphant

Women in Modern Times. — WOMAN IN SLAVERY. — THE DAWNING OF BRIGHTER DAYS. — PIONEER WOMEN IN THE NEW WORLD. — WOMEN OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. — WOMAN’S ENTRY INTO INDUSTRY. — THE MOVEMENT FOR AN EIGHT-HOUR DAY. — EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK. — THE MEANING OF THE MINIMUM WAGE. — EFFORTS TO SECURE SAFE AND SANITARY WORKING CONDITIONS AND CLINICS FOR THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES RESULTING FROM INDUSTRIAL OCCUPATIONS. — WOMEN AS MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL. — WOMAN IN THE MEDICAL PROFESSION. — WOMAN IN THE PROFESSION OF THE LAW. — WOMEN AS INVENTORS. — EMINENT FEMALE SCIENTISTS. — NOTEWORTHY WOMEN IN WORLD LITERATURE. — WOMEN IN MUSIC AND DRAMA. — WHAT WOMEN HAVE ACCOMPLISHED IN ART. — GREAT MONUMENTS OF WOMAN’S PHILANTHROPY. — THE HUNDRED YEARS’ BATTLE FOR WOMAN SUFFRAGE. — WHY WOMEN WANT AND NEED THE VOTE. — WOMAN’S ACTIVITY DURING THE WORLD WAR. — I. WOMEN AND WAR. — II. ACTION TOWARDS PEACE. — III. PRINCIPLES OF A PERMANENT PEACE. — IV. INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION. — V. THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. — VI. WOMEN AND THE PEACE SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE. — VII. ACTION TO BE TAKEN. — WOMAN TRIUMPHANT. — WOMAN’S MISSION IN THE FUTURE.

113

DISPOSING OF EXHAUSTED CAPTIVES.

When our historians date the beginning of Modern Times from the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, they are fully justified, as no other event has caused so many radical changes in the thoughts of men as well as in all commercial and social conditions. The earlier views about our terrestrial globe and its relation to the universe gave place to new and far greater conceptions. Almost every day brought new and astonishing disclosures in natural history, physics and other spheres of science.

The end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th Century was also the time of the Renaissance as well as of the Reformation, of a revival of the wisdom of the classic past and of the rise and establishment of new sublime ideas about God and the destiny of man.

It could not fail that in this period of spiritual fermentation and inspiration the views about women, matrimony and woman’s rights likewise underwent considerable changes. But before these new conceptions found general acceptance many mediæval traditions, prejudices and customs had to be overcome and cleared away.

While the discovery of America brought incredible riches to various European nations, it caused nothing but misery and disaster to the aborigines of the New World. And to many million Africans as well.

It must not be forgotten that the conquest of Mexico, 114Peru and other rich parts of America inflamed the greed of inumerable adventurers, and that these men, in order to wring gold and other treasures from the natives, resorted to the most heartless cruelties. We also must call to mind, that in company with these conquerors went hosts of monks and priests of all orders, eager to convert the “heathen” to the “only true creed.” Ruthlessly invading the temples of the “infidels,” they turned the banner of the Cross, this beacon light of promise, into an awful oriflame of war, spreading destruction and disaster. The well known accounts, given by the Spanish bishop Las Casas, disclose among other horrible events the fact—heretofore unheard of in human history—that whole bands and tribes of American Indians, to evade the tyranny of their European oppressors, slaughtered their own children, and then committed suicide.

These Indians had been compelled not only to work in the gold mines and in the pearl fisheries, but to perform all other labor that white men were unable or unwilling to do. As under the cruel treatment of their oppressors the natives rapidly dwindled away and whole islands became depopulated the Portuguese as well as the Spaniards resorted to the importation of negro slaves, whom they captured in Africa and brought to America.

It was not long before the profits, derived from this trade, attracted the eyes of English adventurers. The first to become engaged in that new branch of business, was William Hawkins. It was he who undertook the first regular slave hunts to the coast of Guinea and opened that shameful traffic in which England was engaged for nearly three centuries. His son, John Hawkins, sailing under a charter of Queen Elizabeth, continued the lucrative business and grew rich.

That this men-hunter imagined himself under the special protection of the heavenly father appears from several entries in his log-book. When, invading a negro village near Sierra Leone, he almost fell into captivity himself and would have been exposed to the same fate that he inflicted, without compunction, upon thousands of other unfortunate men and women, he wrote: “God, who worketh all things for the best, would not have it so, and by Him all escaped without danger; His name be praised for it.” At another time, when his vessels were becalmed for a long time in midocean and great suffering ensued: “But Almighty God, who never suffereth His elect to perish, sent us the ordinarie Breeze, which is the northwest wind.”

To what extent the name of Christianity was abused, we see from the fact that Hawkins, when entering upon his greatest expedition with five ships in 1567 sacrilegiously named his flagship “Jesus Christ.”

115Because of the riches Hawkins brought to England, Queen Elizabeth knighted him and granted him a coat of arms, showing, on a black shield, a golden lion rampant over blue waves. Three golden doubloons above the lions represented the riches Hawkins had secured for England. To give due credit to the piety of this “nobleman,” there was in the upper quartering of the shield a pilgrim’s scallop-shell, flanked by two pilgrim’s staffs, indicating that Hawkins’ slave-hunts were genuine crusades, undertaken in the name of Christianity. For a crest this coat-of-arms shows the half-length figure of a negro, with golden armlets on his arms, but bound and captive.

In an article entitled “The American Slave,” published in “Pearson’s Magazine” for 1900, James S. Metcalf states that the slave trade quickly developed to tremendous extent and that from 1680 to 1786 there were carried from Africa to the British colonies in America 2,130,000 slaves, men as well as women. This does not include the number, vastly larger, taken to the Spanish and Portuguese colonies before, during and after the same period.

The same author states, that the traffic in human flesh was a recognized commerce at the London Exchange, and that, in 1771, the English alone sent to Africa 192 ships equipped for the trade and with a carrying capacity of 47,146 slaves per trip.

It was the tribal warfare among the aborigines of Africa that furnished the slave dealers with the greater part of their human merchandise. Small and unprotected villages were constantly in danger of being attacked by powerful roving bands. When in 1872 the famous explorer Nachtigal traveled through Central Africa, he witnessed a tragedy that happened at the shores of Chad Lake. Strong forces of Bagirmis made an assault on a negro village, to capture the inhabitants and carry them off for slaves. Alarmed by their guards, the negroes, terror-stricken, fled to some tree-huts, prepared for such emergency in a nearby forest. Here they considered themselves safe. But unfortunately the enemies were in possession of a few guns, with which they picked a number of the fugitives from the trees like birds. Falling from the dizzy heights, the wounded were hacked to pieces. After a while the cruel enemies succeeded in constructing some rough ladders, by which the trees were scaled. Unable to escape, many of the assaulted, preferring death to slavery, threw themselves upon the ground below, where they perished.

116

A RAID OF SLAVE-DEALERS IN CENTRAL AFRICA.

117

A SLAVE TRANSPORT IN CENTRAL AFRICA.

118The most desperate fight ensued for the tree-house of the chief. It took several hours, before the enemies succeeded in reaching the lower platform, where within a rude enclosure food, water, and even a few goats had been hidden. Unable to hold this place, the chief with his two wives and four children withdrew to the highest branches. From there he defended his family with such ability, that the foes, after having exhausted their supply in powder, were compelled to abandon the siege.—

The stronger portion of the captives made during such raids, were shackled hand and foot to prevent escape. The remainder often were killed and the flesh distributed among the victors, who, as a rule, after such a raid formed a small encampment, lighted their fires and gorged upon the human flesh. They then marched over to one of the numerous slave-markets on the rivers or the coasts, where they exchanged the captives with the slave-traders for beads, cloth, brass wire and other trinkets.

Woe to those who became sick or exhausted during the long march to the markets! If unable to stagger on any longer they were, to set an example for the others, either butchered on the spot, or left behind to perish by hunger and thirst, or to be torn by wild beasts.

In the further transportation of such kidnapped men and women no regard was paid to their comfort. In the best of slave-ships the height between decks in the quarters set aside for the living cargo was five feet and eight inches. Even in these not all the slaves had so much head room. Around the sides of the vessel, halfway up, ran a shelf, giving room for a double row of slaves, one above and one below. This was stowed with undersized negroes, including women, boys, and children. In the worst class of slavers the space between decks was no more than three feet, compelling the wretched occupants to make the entire journey in a sitting or crouching position, as they were oftentimes, in fact most of the times, so crowded together that lying down was an impossibility. In fact, the more ingenious traders often so figured out the available space that the slaves were packed in with their feet and legs across one another’s laps. To prevent revolt, the men were manacled in couples with leg irons and stowed below. The irons were fastened to the ceiling. As a rule the women were not handcuffed but crowded into compartments under grated hatches and locked doors. At sea there might be a faint possibility of a breath of air’s penetrating into those quarters, but under all circumstances the mortality among the slaves was frightful.

“In the literature of the slave trade,” says Metcalff, “the horrors of the path of commerce stand out as prominently as the persecutions of the Roman emperors in the history of Christianity. When the sea gives up its dead there will come from this highway of cruelty a prodigious army of martyrs to man’s inhumanity to man. The best authorities agree in 119estimating that of all the slaves taken from Africa at least one-eighth—some authorities say more than a quarter—died or were killed in transit. It staggers the imagination to think of how thickly the traffic in these helpless savages, continued through almost four centuries, must have strewn with corpses the lower depths of the Atlantic.

“Of course it was necessary, if any part of the cargo was to be delivered alive, that the negroes should occasionally be brought on deck and exercised. This was done with a few at a time, although their masters never went so far as to free even these from their irons. Often it was found when a couple was to be brought up that one of them had died and that his mate had spent hours, days even, in the stifling atmosphere of between-decks, manacled to and in constant contact with a corpse. It is small wonder that, as often happened, when the slaves were brought on deck they began jumping overboard in couples, sooner than return to the heat, thirst, stench, and filth of the hold, where the scalding perspiration of one ran to the body of another and where men were constantly dying in their full view. Sooner than endure these tortures even the savage Africans sought refuge in death by starvation. This was a contingency provided for in advance by the experienced trader, and if the gentle persuasion of the thumb-screw failed to cure the would-be suicide, the ships were always provided with a clever device to compel the human animal to take the nourishment which kept in him the life without which he ceased to possess any pecuniary value. This instrument consisted of a pair of iron compasses, the legs of which were driven into the mouth when closed and then forced open and held open by the action of a screw. Even the African negro, stoic to the pains incident to a life of savagery, would renounce the privilege of death by starvation to escape the immediate agony of forcibly distended jaws, especially when at the same time his thumbs were under the pressure of the screw with blood exuding from their ends.”

Branded like cattle, the negroes, after their arrival in the American harbor, were sold by auction. And now the slave was, as the Civil Code of Louisiana said, “subject to the power of his master in such a manner that the master may sell him, dispose of his person, and of his labor. He can do nothing, possess nothing, nor acquire anything but that may belong to his master.”

Of course this master had also the right to punish the slave for any neglect or wrong. To be sure, there were laws against excessive punishment, but as most of the plantations were far from the cities, such laws were practically ineffective against those who wished to violate them.

We quote once more J. S. Metcalff: “Almost every 120plantation had its whipping post, consisting of an upright set in the ground with a short crosspiece near the top. The thumbs or wrists of the negro to be whipped were securely tied together, and placed around the upright above the crosspiece, so that the toes barely touched the ground. Sometimes the offending slaves were sent to the nearest jail to be whipped by the jailor, who was an expert in his line of work, and provided with the right kind of whips as well as a strong arm and an accurate eye to make his blows inflict the most pain. In other cases, this official paid regular visits to the plantation, and inflicted the punishments accumulated since his preceding visit. Thus the terror of anticipation was often added to the agony of realization. These events were occasions on the plantations, and the other slaves were compelled to witness the punishments and sufferings of their fellows as a deterrent to wrongdoing on their own part. In the case of some offenders which seemed cardinal against the foundation principles of slavery, such as striking a master, engaging in a conspiracy with other slaves, or aiding a fugitive, the punishments were made extraordinarily severe, and slaves from surrounding plantations were obliged by their masters to gather to witness them.

“A case of this latter sort was the one of a negro and his wife, who had given their owner a severe beating. In spite of the fact that the first cause of the trouble was the rejection by the woman of the master’s advances, the offence was so flagrant that neighboring slave-owners feared to let it go by without severe and public punishment. At the time set the slaves from neighboring plantations were gathered, and the man and woman fastened to posts near each other. The man was to receive a hundred and fifty lashes and the woman a hundred. As the first strokes fell on the man’s back and loins he gave no sound, but the agony betrayed itself in the ashening of his dark skin, and in the involuntary contortion of his features. Meanwhile the woman encouraged him with crude expressions of pity and love. As the blows increased in number the torture became unbearable, and the sound of the regularly landing lash was punctuated with the shrieks of its agonized victim. Finally a blessed unconsciousness came to his relief, and he hung from the post a limp, unfeeling mass of bruised and bleeding flesh. While his back was being washed, the whipping of the woman began. The first blows brought shrieks of anguish from her lips, but as the whipping went on these subsided into a murmur of sobs, prayers, and appeals for mercy. With the exception of an occasional rest for the tired arm of the man wielding the whip, her punishment was carried to its end without her losing consciousness, although it was apparent that there had come some numbing 121influence to her faculties closely akin to insensibility. The man had now been restored to his senses and his punishment was resumed. When it was finished the wounds of both were washed with salt water, to intensify the effect of the blows, to prevent blood-poisoning and to heal the wounds more quickly, so that the slaves could resume their accustomed labor. This matter of the slave’s ability to work was always taken into account, and we have one instance of two economical lady slave-owners in Georgia who always inflicted their punishments Sunday mornings, so that by Monday the slaves would be able to go into the fields.”

As the slave-holders were absolute masters over the negroes, they made their dusky female slaves only too often the objects of their passions. The effects of this intermingling were soon seen in all slave-holding countries of America in the mixed character of the population, which, gradually extending itself as time wore on, resulted in the race of the mulattoes. From the intercourse of these again with the whites or among themselves, innumerable shades of color sprang up, giving rise to the distinctions of octoroons, quadroons, terceroons, quinteroons, etc. To all these people, regular or irregular in birth, light or dark in color, were given the various names of “people of color,” “sang melée,” or “mulattoes.” Notwithstanding the fact, that some of these quadroons and octoroons could hardly be distinguished from white people in appearance, their condition followed always that of their mothers, and they were therefore chattels to be bought or sold.

“On the plantations where negro children were brought up to be sold, it was,” as Metcalff states, “not an unheard-of thing for a master to sell his own son or daughter. In the break-up of family estates it sometimes happened that the heir was compelled to sell his own half-brother or half-sister. These relationships were seldom or never recognized.”

In the slave-markets of New Orleans and the other large cities the personal appearance of the younger women was a decided element in fixing their value. The languorous beauty of the Southern quadroon and octoroon is famous the world over, and on the auction block and at private sale they brought the highest prices.

The glory of having written the first formal protest against slavery and its countless cruelties, belongs to a small band of Mennonites from Germany, who arrived in Philadelphia in 1683, in the neighborhood of which city they started a settlement called Germantown.

Becoming aware that in the colonies slaves were sold without the disapproval of the Puritans and Quakers, who claimed to be defenders of human rights, the Mennonites drew up a protest against slavery on February 18th, 1688. It was 122the first written in any language. This remarkable document, still preserved in the archives of the “Society of Friends” in Philadelphia, was directed to the Quakers and reads as follows:

“This is to ye Monthly Meeting at Richard Warrel’s. These are the reasons why we are against the traffic of men Body, as followeth: Is there any that would be done or handled at this manner? to be sold or made a slave for all time of his life? How fearfull and fainthearted are many on sea when they see a strange vessel, being afraid it should be a Turk, and they should be taken and sold for slaves into Turkey. Now what is this better done as Turks do? Yea rather it is worse for them, which say they are Christians; for we hear that ye most part of such Negers are brought hither against their will and consent; and that many of them are stollen. Now, tho’ they are black, we cannot conceive there is more liberty to have them slaves, as it is to have other white ones. There is a saying, that we shall doe to all men, like as we will be done our selves; making no difference of what generation, descent or colour they are. And those who steal or robb men, and those who buy or purchase them, are they not alike? Here is liberty of conscience, which is right and reasonable; here ought to be likewise liberty of ye body, except of evil-doers, which is another case. But to bring men hither or to robb and sell them against their will, we stand against. In Europe there are many oppressed for conscience sake; and here there are those oppressed which are of a black colour. And we, who know that men must not commit adultery, some doe commit adultery in others, separating wifes from their husbands and giving them to others; and some sell the children of those poor creatures to other men. Oh! doe consider well this things, you who doe it, if you would be done at this manner, and if it is done according Christianity? You surpass Holland and Germany in this thing. This makes an ill report in all those countries of Europe, where they hear off, that ye Quakers doe here handel men like they handel there ye cattel. And for that reason some have no mind or inclination to come hither, and who shall maintain this your cause or plaid for it? Truly we can not do so, except you shall inform us better hereof, that Christians have liberty to practice this things. Pray! What thing on this world can be done worse towards us, then if men should robb or steal us away, and sell us for slaves to strange countries, separating husbands from their wifes and children. Being now this is not done at that manner, we will be done at, therefore we contradict and are against this traffick of menbody. And we who profess that it is not lawful to steal, must likewise avoid to purchase such things as are stollen, but rather help to stop this robbing and stealing if possible; and such men 123ought to be delivered out of ye hands of ye Robbers and sett free as well as in Europe. Then is Pennsylvania to have a good report, instead it hath now a bad one for this sake in other countries. Especially whereas ye Europeans are desirous to know in what manner ye Quackers doe rule in their Province; and most of them doe look upon us with an envious eye. But if this is done, well, what shall we say is done evil?

“If once these slaves (which they say are so wicked and stubborn men) should joint themselves, fight for their freedom and handel their masters and mastrisses as they did handel them before, will these masters and mastrisses tacke the sword at hand and warr against these poor slaves, like we are able to believe, some will not refuse to doe? Or have these Negers not as much right to fight for their freedom, as you have to keep them slaves?

“Now consider well this thing, if it is good or bad? and in case you find it to be good to handel these blacks at that manner, we desire and require you hereby lovingly, that you may inform us here in, which at this time never was done, that Christians have such a liberty to do so, to the end we shall be satisfied in this point, and satisfie likewise our good friends and acquaintances in our natif country, to whom it is a terrour or fairfull thing that men should be handeld so in Pennsylvania.

“This is from our Meeting at Germantown held ye 18. of the 2. month 1688. to be delivered to the monthly meeting at Richard Warrel’s.

This document, set up by the humble inhabitants of Germantown, compelled the Quakers to think. Becoming aware that the traffic in human beings did not harmonize with the Christian religion, they introduced in 1711 an act to prevent the importation of negroes and Indians into Pennsylvania. Later on they also declared themselves against the slave trade. But as the Government found such laws inadmissible, the question dragged along, until 150 years later, by Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, this black spot on the escutcheon of the United States was wiped out.

The Germans of Pennsylvania were also compelled to protest against other gross abuses, of which white men and women had become the victims. To review early immigration into America means to open one of the blackest pages of Colonial history. The constant wars, prevailing in Europe, 124the horrible persecutions to which the followers of certain religious sects were exposed, the frequent times of famine and pestilence led many thousands of unhappy beings to sail for the New World, where such sufferings would not be encountered. But the means of travel, then existing, did not meet the demands. Vessels, fit for the transportation of large numbers, were few and their accommodations extremely poor. Authorities took no interest in the proper treatment of the emigrants. Everything was left to the owners of the ships, who were responsible to nobody.

What sort of people were these shippers? Many were smugglers and pirates, always on the lookout for prey. Others were slave-dealers, making fortunes in trading negro-slaves. No doubt, the moral standard of these gentlemen was very low. Do we wonder that many of these unscrupulous men established also a regular trade in white slaves, for which the increasing exodus from Europe to America opened most alluring inducements. If smart enough, they would amass great wealth and would no longer have to make the perilous voyage to Guinea, to kidnap black people at the risk of their own lives. For the white slaves could be seduced by a bait that had a flavor of high-spirited benevolence.

Pretending willingness to help all persons without means, the ship-owners offered to give such persons credit for their passage across the ocean, on condition that they would work for it after their arrival in America, by hiring out as servants for a certain length of time to colonists, who would advance their wages by paying the passage money to the ship-owners. As the persons were redeeming themselves by performing this service, they were therefore called “Redemptioners.”

With this harmless-looking decoy many thousands of men and women were lured on to sign contracts, only to find out later that they had become victims of villainous knaves and had to pay for their inexperience with the best years of their lives.

The voyage across the ocean took as many weeks as it takes days at present. The ship-holds were in such horrible condition that words fail to describe them. And these dirty rooms were always packed beyond capacity. The food was poor and insufficient. Some captains kept their passengers on half rations from the day of the start, pretending that it was necessary to prevent famine. In consequence of the poor nourishment and the overcrowded quarters, all sorts of sickness prevailed and the mortality was terrific. For medical help and all other services excessive prices were charged. So it came that at the end of the journey almost all the passengers were deeply in debt. According to their amount and the physical condition of each immigrant the length of time was 125fixed for which he or she should serve any person, willing to pay the captain the amount of the immigrant’s debt. This servitude extended always from four to eight years, and sometimes to more. The captains had no difficulty in turning the bonds, signed by redemptioners, into cash. Cheaper labor could be obtained nowhere, and for this reason the colonists were always eager to secure the services of redemptioners. The offers were made through the newspapers or at the “Vendu,” the place where negroes were bought and sold. When applicants came, the redemptioner was not allowed to choose a master or to express wishes about the kind of work that would suit him. Members of the same family must not object to separation. So it happened frequently that a husband became parted from his wife or children, or children from their parents for many years or for life. As soon as the applicant paid the debt of a redemptioner, the latter was obliged to follow him. In case this master did not need his servant any longer, he could hire, transfer or sell him like chattel to someone else.

As in such a case the redemptioner received no duplicate of his contract, the poor creature depended entirely upon the good will of his new master, who had it in his power to keep him or her in servitude far beyond the expiration of the true contract time. If any dispute arose, a redemptioner enjoyed no greater protection than a negro, like whom he was treated in many respects. If found ten miles away from home without the written consent of his master, he would be regarded as a run-away and submitted to heavy physical punishment. Persons guilty of hiding or assisting such fugitives were fined 500 pounds of tobacco for each twenty-four hours such fugitive had remained under their roof. Who captured a run-away was entitled to a reward of 200 pounds of tobacco or 50 dollars. And to the run-away’s servitude ten days were added for every twenty-four hours absent, to say nothing of the severe whipping he was liable to get.

The redemptioners went through all sorts of experiences, according to the different tempers of their masters. Some were lucky enough to find good homes, where they were well treated. But many fell into the hands of heartless, selfish people, who in their eagerness to get as much as possible out of the redemptioners, literally worked them to death, to say nothing of providing insufficient food, scanty clothing and poor lodging. Many owners made use of the right to punish redemptioners so frequently and so cruelly, that a law became necessary whereby it was forbidden to apply to a servant more than ten lashes for each “fault.”

Female redemptioners were quite often exposed to lives of shame, which some of the laws seemed to invite. For 126instance in Maryland a law was passed in 1663 providing that any freeborn white woman, who married a colored slave, should together with her offspring become the property of the owner of that slave.

Originally this abominable law was intended to deter white women from intermarriage with colored men. But many depraved colonists misused this law purposely and compelled their white female servants by threat or deceit to marry colored slaves, as the master then would legally secure permanent possession of the white freeborn woman as well as the children she might bear. Though everybody knew that such devilish tricks were practiced extensively, this law remained in force until 1721, when a peculiar incident led to its repeal. When Lord Baltimore, the founder of Maryland, visited his province in 1681, he brought over an Irish girl, Nellie, who had agreed to redeem the cost of passage to America by doing service. Before her time ended, Lord Baltimore returned to England. Prior to his departure he sold the unexpired term of Nellie’s service to a resident of Maryland, who some weeks thereafter gave Nellie to one of his negroes, making her thereby, together with two children that were born, forever his slave. When Lord Baltimore heard of this, he caused the abolishment of the law of 1663. But all efforts to release his former servant and her children were in vain. The case dragged along for years, until the courts decided, that Nellie and her children must remain slaves, as the latter were born before the annulment of the law.

Incidents of similar character stirred the German citizens of Philadelphia to revolt against the unjust treatment to which their immigrant countrymen and women were subjected. At a meeting on Christmas Day of 1764, they formed “The German Society of Pennsylvania,” with the purpose of securing laws for the abolishment of all abuses which had grown out of the treatment of immigrants. Such a law was secured on May 18th of the following year.

The “German Society of Pennsylvania” became the model for many similar institutions in all parts of America. By uncovering evils and by vigorous persecutions of guilty persons, by continuously framing and recommending effective laws, these societies secured at last a better treatment of the immigrants on the ocean as well as after landing. With full justice these societies may be called the true originators of our modern immigration laws.—

They also established the “Legal Aid Societies,” to assist poor people in need of legal advice and help. As these institutions spread over hundreds of cities of America as well as of Europe, we see that since the Christmas meeting in Philadelphia in 1764 untold millions of people have profited 127by the earnest work, begun by that small band of Germans, who had the welfare of their poor countrymen at heart, and showed what genuine Christmas spirit can do for humanity, if it is only put to a proper purpose.

There existed yet another form of female slavery, the worst of all. With the development of the feudal system in mediæval Europe, which made the poor man, especially the peasant, dependent on the lord or owner of the land he cultivated, the lords appropriated in time unlimited sway over their vassals. Among other rights they claimed not only that to marry him or her to whomsoever the lord might chose, but also absolute control of the vassal’s newly wedded bride for the first three days and nights. This custom, known by a variety of names, as “jus primæ noctis, droit de cuissage,” “marchetta” or “marquette,” had the sanction of the state as well as of the church and compelled newly married women to the most dishonorable servitude. If the female serf pleased the lord he enjoyed her, and it was from this custom, that the eldest son of the serf was always held as the son of the lord, “as perchance it was he, who begot him.”

If it should happen that the young bride did not meet the fancy of the lord, he let her alone, but in such case the husband had to redeem her by paying the lord a certain amount of money, the name of which betrayed its nature.

Matilde Joslyn Gage in her able book “Woman, Church and State” has devoted a whole chapter to the history of marquette and says:

“The seigneural tenure of the feudal period was a law of Christian Europe more dishonorable than the worship of Astarte at Babylon. In order to fully comprehend the vileness of marquette we must remember that it did not originate in the pagan country many thousand years since; that it was not a heathen custom transplanted to Europe with many others adopted by the church, but that it arose in Christian countries a thousand years after the origin of that religion, continuing in existence until within the last century.”

She further states that in France even the Bishops of Amiens and the canons of the cathedral of Lyons possessed the right over the women of their vassals, and that in several counties of the Piccardy the curés imitated the bishops and took the right of cuissage, when the bishop had become too old to take his right. She also states, that “marquette began to be abolished in France toward the end of the 16th Century, but still existed in the 19th Century in the County of Auvergne, and that the lower orders of the clergy were very unwilling to relinquish this usage, vigorously protesting to their archbishops against the deprivation of this right, declaring they could not be dispossessed.

128“But finally the reproach and infamy connected with the ‘droit de cuissage’ became so great, and the peasants became so recalcitrant over this nefarious exaction, that ultimately both lords spiritual and lords temporal, fearing for their own safety, commenced to lessen their demands.”

From a letter, reproduced in the same book, it appears that instances of the survival of the feudal idea as to the right of the lord to the persons of his vassal woman occurred within the last decenniums of the Nineteenth Century. This letter, written by Mr. D. R. Locke, and dated December, 1891, reads: “One of the Landlords was shot a few years ago and a great ado was made about it. In this case as in most of the others it was not a question of rent. My Lord had visited his estates to see how much more money could be taken out of his tenants, and his lecherous eyes happened to rest upon a very beautiful girl, the eldest daughter of a widow with seven children. Now this girl was betrothed to a nice sort of boy, who, having been in America, knew a thing or two. My Lord, through his agent, who is always a pimp as well as a brigand, ordered Kitty to come to the castle. Kitty, knowing very well what that means, refused. “Very well,” says the agent, “yer mother is in arrear for rent, and you had better see My Lord, or I shall be compelled to evict her.”—Kitty knew what that meant also. It meant that her gray-haired mother, her six helpless brothers and sisters would be pitched out by the roadside to die of starvation and exposure, and so Kitty, without saying a word to her mother or anyone else, went to the castle and was kept there three days, till My Lord was tired of her, when she was permitted to go. She went to her lover, like an honest girl as she was, and told him she would not marry him, but refused to give any reason. Finally the truth was wrenched out of her, and Mike went and found a shot-gun that had escaped the eye of the royal constabulary, and he got powder and shot and old nails, and he lay behind a hedge under a tree for several days. Finally one day My Lord came riding by all so gay, and that gun went off. There was a hole, a blessed hole, clear through him, and he never was so good a man as before because there was less of him. Then Mike went out and told Kitty to be of good cheer and not to be cast down, that the little difference between him and My Lord had been settled, and that they would be married as soon as possible. And they were married, and I had the pleasure of taking in my hand the very hand that fired the blessed shot, and of seeing the wife, to avenge whose cruel wrongs the shot was fired.”

In the same work we read that another of these British lords in Ireland, Leitram, was noted for his attempts to dishonor the wives and daughters of the peasantry upon his vast 129estate. His character was equal to that of the worst feudal barons, and like these he used his power as magistrate and noble, in addition to that of landlord, to accomplish his purpose. After an assault upon a beautiful and intelligent girl, by a brutal retainer of his lordship, his tenantry finally declared it necessary to resort to the last means in their power to preserve the honor of their wives and daughters. Six men were chosen as the instruments of their crude justice. They took an oath to be true to the end, in life or death, purchased arms, and seeking a convenient opportunity shot the tyrant to death. Nor were those firing the fatal shots ever discovered.

As the Reformation aimed at the restitution of the purity and simplicity of the first Christian communities, the position of woman in the Church as well as in private life was of course also considered.

As has been shown in former chapters, the authorities of the mediæval Christian Church regarded the daughters of Eve not only as creatures inferior to man, but also as the medium preferred by Satan above all others to lead man astray. Seeing in woman nothing but a necessary evil, they claimed also that a nun is purer than a mother, just as a celibate monk is holier than a father. This prejudice of benighted theologians against woman had influenced the conduct of the State toward the woman and made her everywhere the victim of unjust laws. For a long time in certain countries to ask rights for women exposed one to the suspicion of infidelity.

Therefore it must be regarded as an event of greatest importance in the history of woman, when Martin Luther, the most prominent figure in the Reformation, decided to take a wife. He married Catherine von Bora, a lady twenty-four years of age, of a noble Saxon family.

She had left the convent of Nimbschen together with eight other nuns in order to worship Christ without being compelled to observe endless ceremonies, which gave neither light to the mind nor peace to the soul. Protected by pious citizens of Torgau, the former nuns had lived together in retirement. Luther married his betrothed on June 11, 1525, with Lucas Cranach and another friend as witnesses. The ceremony was performed by Melanchton.

The marriage, blessed with six children, was a very happy one. Catherine proved to be a congenial mate, of whom Luther always spoke as “his heartily beloved house-frau.” The great reformer himself was a tender husband, and the most loving of fathers. Nothing he liked better than to sit amidst his dear ones, enjoying a glass of wine and those beautiful folk-songs, in which German literature is so rich.

Many of these little poems breathe the sincere respect and high appreciation, in which woman was held by the Germans since time immemorial. There is for instance Simon Dach’s well known poem “Anne of Tharau.” Written in 1637, it reads:

131

THE WEDDING OF MARTIN LUTHER TO CATHERINE VON BORA.

After a painting by P. Thumann.

And who would be able to pay to female virtues a higher tribute than did Paul Fleming in a poem, directed to his betrothed:

This poem was written at the time, when the tempests of the Thirty Years’ War swept over Germany, ruining that 133country beyond recognition. Hundreds of cities and villages were burned by Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Dutch and Swedish soldiers, who made the unfortunate country their battleground. Of the seventeen million inhabitants thirteen millions were killed or swept away by starvation and the pest. Agriculture, commerce, industries and arts were annihilated. Of many villages nothing remained but their names. According to the chronicles of these times, one could wander for many miles without seeing a living creature except wolves and raven. All joy and happiness, in which the German people had been so rich, were extinguished. To women the cup of sorrow would never become empty, as hate, revenge, cruelty, and the lowest passions combined to fill their lives with endless mental and physical agonies.

During these dreadful times such social gatherings as had become the fashion among the refined people of Italy during the period of the Renaissance, were of course out of the question. Far happier in this respect was France, where the era of the “Salons” began, many of which became known throughout Europe, for the inspiration and refinement that spread out from them.

It was to the exceptional qualities of a young and noble-minded woman of Italian birth, that the first salon in France owed its origin and its distinctive character. This lady was Catherine Pisani, the daughter of Jean de Vivonne, Marquis of Pisani. Born at Rome in 1588, she married the French Marquis of Rambouillet, with whom she moved to Paris. Repelled by the gilded hollowness and license of the court of King Henry IV. she retired, about the year 1608, to her husband’s stately palace, which became famous as the “Hotel Rambouillet.” Its pride was a suite of salons or parlors, arranged for purposes of reception and so devised as to allow many visitors to move easily. With their draperies in blue and gold, their cozy corners, choice works of art, Venetian lamps, and crystal vases always filled with fragrant flowers, these rooms were indeed ideal places for social and literary gatherings.

As Amelia Gere Mason has described in a series of articles about the French Salons, written for the “Century Magazine” of 1890, Mm. de Rambouillet “sought to assemble here all that was most distinguished, whether for wit, beauty, talent, or birth, into an atmosphere of refinement and simple elegance which would tone down all discordant elements and raise life to the level of a fine art. There was a strongly intellectual flavor in the amusements, as well as in the discussions of this salon, and the place of honor was given to genius, learning, and good manners, rather than to rank. But the spirit was by no means purely literary. The exclusive 134spirit of the old aristocracy, with its hauteur and its lofty patronage, found itself face to face with fresh ideals. The position of the hostess enabled her to break the traditional barriers and form a society upon a new basis, but, in spite of the mingling of classes hitherto separated, the dominant life was that of the noblesse. Women of rank gave the tone and made the laws. Their code of etiquette was severe. They aimed to combine the graces of Italy with the chivalry of Spain. The model man must have a keen sense of honor and wit without pedantry; he must be brave, heroic, generous, gallant, but he must also possess good breeding and gentle courtesy. The coarse passions and depraved manners which had disgraced the gay court of Henry IV. were refined into subtle sentiments, and women were raised upon a pedestal to be respectfully and platonically adored. In this reaction from extreme license familiarity was forbidden, and language was subjected to a critical censorship.”

This definition of the salon of “the incomparable Arthenice”—an anagram for Mme. de Rambouillet, devised by two poets of renown—we find confirmed by the words of many distinguished men, who were fortunate enough to be admitted to this circle. Among them were Corneille, Descartes, and all the founders of the Académie Française.

“Do you remember,” so said the eminent Abbé Fléchier many years later, “the salons which are still regarded with so much veneration, where the spirit was purified, where virtue was revered under the name of the ‘incomparable Arthenice’; where people of merit and quality assembled who composed a select court, numerous without confusion, modest without constraint, learned without pride, polished without affectation?”—

The salon of Mme. de Rambouillet continued till the death of its mistress, the 27th of December, 1665, having been, as Saint-Simon writes, “a tribunal with which it was necessary to count, and whose decisions upon the conduct and reputation of people of the court and the world had great weight.”

There were other salons, modeled more or less after the present one. When the Hotel de Rambouillet was closed, Mademoiselle Madeleine de Scudéry held regular reunions by receiving her friends on Saturdays. Among this “Société du Samedi” were many authors and artists, who conversed upon all topics of the day, from fashion to politics, from literature and the arts to the last item of gossip. They read their works and vied with one another in improvising verses.

About the personality of Mlle. de Scudéry Abbé de Pure wrote: “One may call her the muse of our age and the prodigy of her sex. It is not only her goodness and her sweetness, 135but her intellect shines with so much modesty, her sentiments are expressed with so much reserve, she speaks with so much discretion, and all that she says is so fit and reasonable, that one cannot help both admiring and loving her. Comparing what one sees of her, and what one owes to her personally, with what she writes, one prefers, without hesitation, her conversation to her works. Although her mind is wonderfully great, her heart outweighs it. It is in the heart of this illustrious woman that one finds true and pure generosity, an immovable constancy, a sincere and solid friendship.”

Fearing to lose her liberty Mlle. de Scudéry never married. “I know,” she writes, “that there are many estimable men who merit all my esteem and who can retain a part of my friendship; but as soon as I regard them as husbands I regard them as masters, and so apt to become tyrants that I must hate them from that moment; and I thank the gods for giving me an inclination very much averse to marriage.”

Under the pseudonym of “Sappho” Mlle. de Scudéry was acknowledged as the first “blue-stocking” of France and of the world. Several of her novels, in which she aimed at universal accomplishments, were the delight of all Europe. Having studied mankind in her contemporaries, she knew how to analyze and describe their characters with fidelity and point.

Another noteworthy salon of the 17th Century was that of the beautiful and amiable Marquise de Sablé, one of the favorites of Mme. de Rambouillet. It was she who set the fashion, at that time, of condensing the thoughts and experiences of life into maxims and epigrams. While this was her special gift to literature, her influence became also felt through what she inspired others to do. A few of her maxims, as proven in Mrs. Mason’s articles about the French Salons, are worth copying, as they show the estimate Mme. De Sablé placed upon form and measure in the conduct of life.

“A bad manner spoils everything, even justice and reason. The how constitutes the best part of things; and the air which one gives thoughts, gilds, modifies and softens the most disagreeable.”—

“There is a certain command in the manner of speaking and acting which makes itself felt everywhere, and which gains, in advance, consideration and respect.”—

“Wherever it is, love is always the master. It seems truly that it is to the soul of the one who loves, what the soul is to the body it animates.”—

With the death of the Marquise de Sablé in 1678 the last salon of the brilliant era of the Renaissance was closed. With the approach of that period of affected and artificial life, known as the Rococo, new types of women came to 136the surface, gay, witty, piquant and amusing, but lax and without great moral sense or spiritual aspiration. The dangerous influence of the many mistresses of Louis XIV. and Louis XV., of Mesdames de Montespan, Maintenon and Pompadour pervaded the atmosphere, and turned the salons into headquarters of intrigue and political conspiracy. Especially at the time of the clever Mme. de Pompadour women were everywhere the power, without which no movement could be carried through successfully. “These women,” said the famous philosophical historian Montesquieu, “form a kind of republic, whose members, always active, aid and serve one another. It is a new state within the state; and whoever observes the action of those in power, if he does not know the women who govern them, is like a man who sees the action of a machine but does not know its secret springs.”

Montesquieu himself, when in Paris, made the salons of Madame de Tencin and Madame d’Aiguillon his favorite resorts.

Here he discussed with other brilliant thinkers of the time literary and political questions, and those theories, which he embodied in the most famous of his works: “Esprit des Lois” (the Spirit of the Laws). This book, dealing with law in general, with forms of government, military arrangements, taxation, economic matters, religion and individual liberty, was the first open attack on absolutism. Put on the Index by the Pope it was nevertheless eagerly read and discussed everywhere, and thus it became one of the factors leading to the French Revolution.—

Among the salons of the 18th Century, known for their influence on scientific and political life, the most remarkable was that of the Marquise de Lambert. Her magnificent apartments in the famous Palais Mazarin, decorated by artists like Watteau, were a rendezvous for the most eminent men and women, among them the best of the “Forty Immortals,” or members of the Académie Française. As candidates for vacant chairs in this body were often proposed here the Salon Lambert was called “the Antechamber to Immortality.”

The quality of the character and intellect of the hostess of this salon may be judged from a few of the bits of advice she wrote to her son. “I exhort you much more to cultivate your heart than to perfect your mind; the true greatness of the man is in the heart.”—“Let your studies flow into your manners, and your readings show themselves in your virtues.”—“It is merit which should separate you from the people, not dignity nor pride.”—“Too much modesty is a languor of the soul, which prevents it from taking flight and carrying itself rapidly towards glory.”—“Seek the society of your 137superiors, in order to accustom yourself to respect and politeness. With equals one grows negligent; the mind falls asleep.” She urged her daughter to treat servants with kindness. “One of the ancients says they should be regarded as unfortunate friends. Think that humanity and Christianity equalize all.”—

Up to the latter half of the 18th Century the salon had become the most characteristic feature of Parisian society. Having multiplied indefinitely, they catered to all tastes and thoughts. Besides the rallying points for philosophers, literateurs and femmes d’esprit, there were other salons, where sly maitresses and political adventurers met the corrupt officials of the Government. Still other salons served as meeting places of fiery spirits, who, disgusted with the debauchery and unrestrained immorality of the ruling classes, made the discussion of politics and the deliverance of the oppressed people their chief topic.

Like the French Renaissance so the English Renaissance received its first impulse from Italy. But less concerned with culture as such, it was more practical in England and distinguished itself chiefly by the greater attention given to education. While the sons and daughters of the nobility were carefully trained by tutors, the children of the middle class received an education in grammar schools founded during the reign of King Henry VIII.

This interest in education was greatly stimulated by the doctrines of the Reformation, which had spread from Germany to England, and which were favored by the king, as they served his political interests as well as his passion for the beautiful Anne Boleyn, one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting. That he divorced his wife and married Anne Boleyn, and that she, on September 7th, 1533, gave birth to a girl, are facts familiar to everyone acquainted with English history.

This girl later on ascended the throne and as Queen Elizabeth became famous as one of the most remarkable and illustrious of all female sovereigns.

Most remarkable was her attitude toward Rome. When the “Virgin Queen” in her twenty-fifth year ascended the throne, it was not only as queen, but also as the head of the rebellious Church. Religious strife had already passed the point of reconciliation and Elizabeth’s position was extremely difficult, as the Catholic party was still very strong and was bent on maintaining the connection with Rome. Aware of this fact, the Pope, claiming England as a fief of the Holy See, refused to recognize Elizabeth’s title to the crown, and demanded that she should renounce all her pretensions so much the more since she was an illegitimate child. But whereas many monarchs would have cringed before the Pope, 138Elizabeth ignored his demands and answered the subsequent bull by Pope Pius V., by which all Catholics were released from their allegiance to the queen, by the famous Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity. Striking directly at the papal power, these acts compelled all clergymen and public functionaries to renounce the temporal and spiritual jurisdiction of every foreign prince and prelate; and all ministers, whether beneficed or not, were forbidden to use any but the established liturgy. These statutes were carried out with considerable severity, and many Catholics suffered death. Thus bending priests and prelates to her fiery will, the queen made England a bulwark of Protestantism.

That the long reign of Elizabeth, which lasted from 1558 to 1603, was also a period of brilliant prosperity and advancement, during which England put forth her brightest genius, valor, and enterprise, has been recorded by history. It is also a well-known fact that the learning of Elizabeth was considerable, even in that age of learned ladies. Horace Walpole has assigned her a place in his “Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors,” and a list of thirteen literary productions, chiefly translations from the Greek, Latin, and French, are attached to her name.

There were quite a number of English ladies interested in literature and poetry. The most remarkable was Mary Astell, born in 1668 at Newcastle-on-Tyne. Having received a careful education by her uncle, a clergyman, she continued her studies in London. Here her attention and efforts were especially directed to the mental uplift of her own sex, and in 1697 she published a work entitled, “A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, Wherein a Method is Offered for the Improvement of Their Minds.” With the same end in view she elaborated a scheme for a ladies’ college, which was favorably entertained by Queen Anne, and would have been carried out had not Bishop Burnet interfered.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth England was called “the Paradise of Women,” on account of the great liberty, granted to them in all social affairs. There exists an interesting account of a Dutch traveller, Van Meteren, who spent some time in England. With surprise he saw that here the members of the fair sex enjoyed considerable freedom. “They are,” so he says, “not shut up as in Spain and elsewhere, and yet the young girls are better behaved than in the Netherlands. Having fine complexions, they also do not paint like the Italians and others. They sit before their doors, decked in fine clothes, in order to see and be seen by the passers-by. In all banquets and feasts they are shown the greatest honor: they are placed at the upper end of the table where they are the first served. All the rest of their time they employ 139in walking and riding, in playing cards, or visiting their friends and keeping company, conversing with their equals and neighbors, and making merry with them at child-birth, christening, churchings and funerals. And all this with the permission and knowledge of their husbands.”

In strange contrast herewith was the legal position of women. It was, as D. Staars says in his interesting book “The English Woman,” “entirely detrimental. They were under the absolute authority of their husbands. In regard to property, husband and wife were considered by the law as forming one indivisible person. Therefore a husband could not make a deed of gift to his wife, or make a contract with her. The subordinate position of the married women was evident in the whole of her existence. The husband was his wife’s guardian, and if anyone carried her off he had a right to claim damages. He could also inflict corporal punishment on her sufficient to correct her. All the property which she might afterwards acquire, became by her marriage the common property of husband and wife, but only the husband had a right to the income, because he alone had control and administration of the property. Not only lands, but also funds, furniture, plate, and even the bed and ornaments of a woman, all became the husband’s property on the wedding day, and he could sell or dispose of it as he pleased. A married woman could not even make a will. Only when she became a widow, her clothes and personal possessions again became her own property, provided, however, that her husband had not otherwise disposed of them in his will. Furthermore, she had a right to the income of a third of all the husband’s property.”

These unsatisfactory conditions later on caused the English women to join their American sisters in the struggle for emancipation.

At the same time that ladies and gentlemen of refinement discussed human rights and liberty in the elegant salons of Italy and France, a race of hardy men and women amid the wilderness of the New World was engaged in establishing crude settlements, from which later on the spirit of genuine freedom should radiate throughout the world.

When toward the end of the 16th Century European explorers arrived on the eastern coast of the North American continent, they found what later times demonstrated beyond dispute: the richest and finest land on the face of the globe. The unsurpassed beauty and grandeur of the scenery stirred their hearts with surprise and admiration. They became enthusiastic about everything, and in their reports described the newly discovered country as the most wonderful they had ever seen.

The more these explorers saw of America, the more their amazement increased. When Henry Hudson in 1609 discovered that noble river which now bears his name, its magnificent shores were a revelation to him, who was accustomed to the modest surroundings of the Netherlands.

The French, who entered North America by the way of the St. Lawrence River, met with still greater surprises. The Great Lakes, stretching like oceans toward the setting sun, thundering Niagara, the royal Ohio, the majestic Mississippi, and the beautiful forests girding these shores, made their hearts beat with wonder and delight and filled their imagination with dreams of vast empires full of wealth. Beyond the “Father of Waters” and the regions of forest, the explorers found the “Prairies,” boundless seas of fragrant grass and beautiful flowers. Beyond these plains rose majestic mountain-chains, with lovely valleys and parks, and snow-capped domes, towering above the clouds.

Such majestic nature must of necessity exert a most powerful influence on all who came in contact with it. Many of those immigrants who in their native countries had been restrained by narrow traditions and customs, and oppressed by despotic rulers, were here given the first chance to develop and prove their abilities. The unlimited freedom of the boundless forests, plains, and mountains stimulated their energy and imbued them with a spirit of enterprise, hitherto unknown.

New types of heroic men, such as never had lived in Europe, sprang into existence: the trappers, traders and “voyageurs,” who in the pursuit of the lucrative fur trade penetrated the vast continent in all directions, fighting their way through countless hardships and dangers.

141

PIONEERS.

Modeled by A. Jaegers.

142Later on these daring forerunners of civilization were followed by settlers, who, with their families, established the first permanent homes: single log houses and hamlets, like little islands in the vast ocean of the primeval forest.

THE FIRST CABIN.

These “backwoodsmen,” completely isolated from the civilized world and compelled to wage constant battle with hostile nature as well as with ferocious savages and wild animals, have been justly glorified as heroes. They were at once explorers, carpenters, builders, woodmen, farmers, breeders, trappers, hunters and fighters,—in short, everything. But their wives and daughters, who accompanied them, certainly deserve to be honored too, as one can hardly conceive situations more trying than those which these courageous women had to face.

First of all there were the daily labors of the household and farm, the unceasing cares of motherhood, the toils and sufferings in times of drought or sickness. Because of the isolation of their homesteads, void of even the slightest comforts and improvements, these women had to toil from early morning till late in the night. They worked with their husbands, clearing the lands. They planted and raised the vegetables in the little kitchen gardens. They prepared the meals, baked the bread, did the washing and scrubbing, the milking, preserving, pickling, churning and brewing. They also broke and heckled the flax, from which they spun the linens. They sheared the sheep and transformed the wool into yarn and cloth, which they dyed, cut and turned into suits and dresses. They knitted the socks and underwear, made the candles and many of the furnishings, in short, they produced whatever the family needed and consumed, giving all and asking little. They even helped to defend the cabin and the settlement in times of danger.

143

DEFENDING A SETTLEMENT.

After an old engraving.

144In the days of the Indian wars and of the Revolution such danger was always imminent, particularly when the men were working in the fields, or out hunting to provide food for the family. Then the women, with loaded guns, stood guard to protect the home and children from lurking enemies.

The chronicles relating incidents of border warfare abound with stories of heroines who played conspicuous parts in the defense of single log houses, as well as of stations and forts. Moulding the bullets and loading the guns, they handed them to the men, who could consequently fire three times where they otherwise could have fired but once. If there happened to be a lull during the fight, the women carried water and food to the smoke-blackened fighters, tended the wounded, baked bread and cared for the children. In cases of emergency, they stood at the loop-holes, firing the rifles with all the skill and precision of men.

When, during the War of Independence, the Mohawk Valley became the scene of many horrible ravages by the Indians and Tories, Christian Schell, a Palatine, together with his wife and six sons, occupied a lonely log house. It was in the early hours of August 6, 1781, when 48 Indians and 16 Tories made a sudden raid upon this family. Schell and his sons were working in the field, but detected the enemy soon enough to make their escape to the house. All succeeded in reaching it, except the two youngest lads, who were captured by an Indian. The latter was shot by Schell, but it was impossible to free the boys, as they were hurried off by other Indians.

Then the battle commenced and an almost incessant firing was kept up until night, Mrs. Schell assisting her husband and sons in loading the guns. Several times the attacks of the enemy were repelled. But when darkness had set in, McDonald, the leader of the Tories, succeeded in reaching the door of the cabin and attempted to force an entrance by using a crowbar he had found in front of the house. Suddenly a shot from Schell hit him in the leg and brought him down. Quick as lightning the bold German unbarred the door, grasped the wounded man and dragged him in a prisoner, thus saving the house from being set fire to, for in such a case the leader of the attacking party within, would likewise have perished in the flames.

Enraged by the capture of their leader, the enemy made several furious assaults. Jumping close to the house, they thrust their guns through the loop-holes and began to fire into the building. But Mrs. Schell, cool and courageous, seized an axe and by well-directed blows spoiled every gun by destroying the barrels. As the men opened a terrific fire from above at the same time, the besiegers fell back in a hurry, 145and the following morning disappeared, having suffered a loss of twenty-three dead and wounded.

Another example of noble-spirited womanhood is that of Elizabeth Zane, a young girl of seventeen years, living near Fort Henry in West Virginia. When in November, 1782, the fort was besieged by several hundred Indians and the little garrison of forty-two men had been reduced to only twelve, the situation became extremely desperate, as the supply of powder was nearly exhausted.

There was a full keg of powder hidden in the cabin of the Zanes, but this hut stood some ninety yards from the gate of the fort and could be reached only by passing the whole distance under fire of the Indians, a feat which seemed altogether hopeless. But the perilous attempt had to be made. When the commander of the fort called for volunteers, several responded, among them, to the general surprise, Elizabeth Zane. She argued that the garrison of the fort was already too weak for the life of one of the soldiers to be risked. As her own life was of no importance, she claimed the privilege of attempting the dangerous task. Refusing to listen to any objection, Miss Zane slipped out of the gate and strolled leisurely to her home, as though there were no redskins in the whole world. The Indians, wondering what it meant, made no attempt to molest the girl.

Entering the cabin, she found the keg of powder, and a few minutes later reappeared with the keg concealed under a tablecloth. Not before the girl had gone some distance did the Indians realize the meaning of the girl’s mission and at once opened a brisk fire on her. But the girl sped with the fleetness of a fawn and reached the fort in safety amid a shower of bullets, several of which passed through her clothes. By this daring act the little garrison was so inspired and fought with such tenacity that the Indians despaired of capturing the fort and finally retreated.—

In 1787 John Merrill, a settler in Nelson County, Kentucky, was awakened one night by the furious barking of his dogs. Opening the door of his cabin to reconnoitre, he was shot by several Indians, but managed to bar the door, before sinking dead to the floor. His wife, a woman of great energy and strength, jumped out of bed, grasped a large axe and sprang forward to be prepared for the coming attack. Scarcely had she reached the door when the Indians began to chop it down with their tomahawks. But as soon as the savages sought to enter the breach, the woman, making a terrific effort, killed or badly wounded four of the enemy.

Foiled in their attempt to force the door, some of the redskins climbed onto the roof of the cabin and tried to enter by way of the chimney. But again the solitary woman confronted 146them. Snatching her featherbed and hastily ripping it open, she flung its contents upon the still glowing embers. At once a furious blaze and stifling smoke ascended the chimney, overcoming two of the Indians. Dazed, they fell down into the fire, where they were instantly dispatched with the axe. Then, with a quick side stroke, the woman inflicted a terrible gash in the cheek of the only remaining savage, whose head just appeared in the breach of the door. With a horrible yell the intruder withdrew, to be seen no more.

In Western Pennsylvania, in the year 1792, there stood some twenty-five miles from Pittsburgh the crude cabin of a settler, named Harbisson. One day, during his absence, the home was attacked by Indians, who, after ransacking the house, carried off the wife prisoner. But there were three children, two boys aged five and three respectively, and an infant. As the mother had no hand for the little fellow of three, one of the savages relieved her from this embarrassment by grasping the child, whirling it through the air and smashing his head against a tree. And when the older brother began to weep, his crying was stopped forever by cutting his throat. The mother fainted at the horrible sight, but the savages brought her back to consciousness again by giving her a few blows across the face. At night the poor woman noticed one of the savages busying himself with making two small hoops. The captive watched him with languid curiosity and saw that he had something in his hand. Then a flash of horror-struck recognition flickered in the woman’s eyes. She saw the bloody scalps of her children, which the savage was stretching on the hoops to dry. “Few mothers,” so the unfortunate woman said afterwards, “have been subjected to such dreadful trials. Those who did not see the scalps of their own children torn from their heads and handled in such a way, cannot imagine the horrible pain that tortured my heart!”

In the dark of the second night the poor mother managed to make her escape. It rained in torrents, but hugging the baby to her breast, she entered the endless forest and wandered the whole night and the next days, making her way to the settlements. She arrived there on the sixth day after incredible sufferings and almost starved. So changed was she by the many hardships, that her nearest neighbors failed to recognize her. The skin and flesh of her feet and legs was hanging in pieces, pierced by hundreds of thorns, some of which went through her feet and came out a long time afterwards at the top.—

147

SLAUGHTERED.

A scene during the Seminole Indian War.

148Such were the hardships and dangers the women of the settlers had to brave. But they endured their sufferings like heroines. In recognition of this fact it may justly be said that the establishment of the Republic of the United States of America, one of the grandest achievements in all history, would not have been possible without their aid. For it was among these hardy men and women that the spirit of American liberty was born. Their surroundings and manner of life compelled them to rely on themselves in everything. And while they assisted one another in all embarrassments and perils, they made their own regulations and selected their own officials, fully aware, that the laws of England would never suffice for the wilderness.

From those autonomous settlements the spirit of independence spread in time to all the towns and cities on the coast, inspiring many of their inhabitants with the same enthusiasm for liberty. In New York and other places the People’s Party was organized, which strongly opposed the insolence and encroachments of the Government and aristocrats. Among its members was Peter Zenger, the fearless printer, whose caustic articles in the “New York Weekly Journal” in 1735 led to that famous trial, whereby one of the highest privileges—the freedom of the press—became established in America. And when in complete disregard of this significant omen England continued in her selfish policies toward the colonies, curtailing all privileges which had been granted to them by their charters, the spirit of rebellion spread like wildfire, and the great struggle for independence began.

When a Declaration of Independence was considered, the men, selected to draw up such a document, were greatly influenced by two noble-minded women, whose names should not be omitted in a history of remarkable women: Mrs. Mercy Otis Warren, and Abigail Smith Adams. Mrs. Warren was a sister of James Otis, the famous lawyer, whose fiery words did so much to arouse the colonists against British aggression. She was one of the first persons who advocated separation, and she energetically impressed this view upon John Adams before the opening of the first Congress. With Abigail Smith Adams, the wife of John Adams, she shared the belief, that the declaration should not consider the freedom of man alone, but that of woman also.

How outspoken Mrs. Adams was in her views about this question, appears in a letter she wrote in March, 1776, to her husband, who was then attending the Continental Congress. In this letter she says: “I long to hear you have declared an independency; and, by the way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention are not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound to obey any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”—

149

STRUGGLING FOR INDEPENDENCE.

150The Declaration of Independence, accepted on July 4th, 1776, in Philadelphia, by an assembly of delegates from all the colonies, is the greatest and most important political document that was ever set up and signed by men. Although the representatives knew that it would produce a long and terrific war against the most powerful and most inconsiderate government of the world, they solemnly agreed to choose liberty or death. Liberty to make their own laws and to elect their own officials, liberty of religion, liberty of speech and press, liberty of trade and commerce, liberty for man, woman and child.

The eminent significance of the declaration becomes apparent from the following sentences: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.”

While the Declaration of Independence is silent in regard to women, there are, however, positive proofs of the fact, that the men of 1776 regarded their faithful partners in all struggles and danger decidedly as their equals and entitled to the same rights and privileges. Two days before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, on July 2, 1776, the Provincial Assembly of New Jersey, when writing the constitution of that province, adopted the provision, that “all inhabitants of this colony, of full age, who are worth fifty pounds money clear estate in the same, and have resided within the county in which they claim to vote for twelve months immediately preceding the election, shall be entitled to vote for representatives in council and assembly, and also for all other public officers that shall be elected by the people of the county at large.”—

Under this provision, women and free colored men of property exercised the electoral franchise for thirty years, voting also in the Presidential election of 1804, when Thomas Jefferson was re-elected for a second term. The acts of the New Jersey Legislature of 1790 clearly recognized the women, voters, saying:

151“No person shall be entitled to vote in any other town-house or precinct than that in which he or she doth actually reside at the time of election.”

At first the law was construed to admit single women only, but afterward it was made to include females eighteen years old, married or single, without distinction of race. But as most of the women were on the side of the Federation and always delivered a heavy vote, a Democratic legislature, to defranchise Federalists, passed in 1807 an act defining the qualifications of electors, excluding women and free colored men by the use of the words “White male citizens.” This was a partisan piece of legislature, clearly in violation of the constitutional guarantee, and made under the pretext that male voters, by disguising themselves as women and negroes, had voted several times. It was on the strength of this pretext that the unconstitutional act was passed and upheld.

It is on record that in Virginia likewise women at an early day exercised the right of voting. But it is unknown, for what reason this right was not preserved.

There are few events in history that created such world-wide interest as the triumphant success of the American War for Liberation. The deepest impression was made on the French nation, which for centuries had suffered under the tyranny and coercion of extravagant kings, corrupt officials, greedy clergy and feudal nobility. In sharp contrast to the prodigality and lasciviousness of the court and its armies of courtiers and courtesans, who all revelled in luxuries, there was among the people a general feeling of misery and despair. Finances were in a frightful condition; public scandals were every-day occurrences; famines were frequent; the old creeds had lost their power to arouse enthusiasm, while out-worn institutions and customs still encumbered the land, and with their dead weight pressed men down. The deep longing to be delivered from all these parasites and encumbrances, the urgent need of reforms and relief was evident everywhere. In the streets, in all cafés, clubs and salons the discussion of politics was the foremost topic.

The most conspicuous among such political salons were those of Théroigne de Méricourt, Marie Olympe de Gouges, and Madame Roland.

The first of these three ladies was a quick-witted, strikingly handsome woman, intensely passionate in temper, and commanding an almost volcanic power of eloquence. Her salon was the birth-place of the “Club des Amis de la Loi,” the most noteworthy members of which were Jerome Pétion, author of “Les Lois Civiles,” and Camille Desmoulins, author of “La France Libre.” Both writers were among the leaders of the revolution, and it was Desmoulins, who in July, 1789, inflamed the people by his violent speeches to take up arms and storm the Bastille. At the fall of this ill-reputed prison Théroigne de Méricourt came prominently into notice and it was she who proposed to erect a temple for the National Assembly on the site of the razed fortress.

With her friends she also had a hand in framing the “Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme,” which, together with the American Declaration of Independence, ranks among the greatest human documents of history. The most important points of this charter of the French Revolution are: that all men are born and continue free and equal in rights; that Society is an association of men to preserve the natural rights of men; that Sovereignty is vested in the nation; that all Authority, held by an individual or a body of men, comes expressly from the nation; that Liberty is the power of doing 153what we will, so long as it does not injure the same right of others; that the law can forbid only such actions as are mischievous to society; that Law is the expression of the general will; that all citizens have a right to take part, through their representatives, in the making of laws; that laws must be equal to all; that all citizens have equal rights to fulfill all offices in the state; that society has a right to demand from every public servant an account of his administration; that all men are free to hold what religious views they will, provided that they are not subversive of public order; that freedom of speech, of writing and printing is one of the most precious of the rights of man and that public force is needed to guarantee these rights; that property is an inviolable and sacred right, of which no one can be deprived, save when public necessity, legally established, evidently demands it, and then only with the condition of a just and previously determined indemnity.

With the adoption of this declaration by the national assembly, all hereditary distinctions, such as nobility and peerage, feudal regime, titles, and orders of chivalry were abolished, also venality or hereditary succession in offices, feudal privileges, religious vows or other engagements which might be at variance with natural rights or the constitution.—

Early in October, 1789, Théroigne de Méricourt also took a leading part in the march of the women to Versailles and it was she who by the violence of her speech won the royalist soldiers over to the revolution and so enforced the return of the royal family to Paris.

Being accused of dangerous conduct and of having been engaged in a plot against the life of the queen Marie Antoinette, the daughter of Empress Maria Theresia of Austria, during a visit to Liége she was seized by warrant of the Austrian Government and for some time interned at the fortress of Kufstein. After her release in January, 1792, she returned to Paris, where she was hailed as a martyr of liberty. Resuming her former role she again became very active in all public affairs. On June 20, 1792, she even commanded in person the 3d Corps of the so-called army of the Faubourges, and marched with them to the palace, where the king, wearing the red cap, met the revolutionists and assured them “that he would do whatever the constitution ordained that he should do.” But as soon afterwards the king’s secret connections with Austria and Prussia became public, the insurrection broke loose again, resulting in the massacre of the national guard on August 10th, in the Place Véndome. It was here, that Théroigne sprang at Suleau, a pamphleteer in royal service, and dragged him among the infuriated mob, where he was instantly killed.—

154It was a year before these incidents that Madame Roland opened a salon in Paris, whither her husband had been sent as the deputy from Lyons to the constituent assembly. Her salon had nothing in common with those frequented by people seeking recreation in conversation and belle esprit. Generally there were no women present except the hostess. But her salon was the rendezvous of such fiery spirits as Mirabeau, Brissot, Vergniaud, Robespierre and others, interested in the great movement, which was soon to reach its climax. It was in this salon that Madame Roland impressed her enthusiasm for a republic upon those men who likewise strove for progress and liberty. Here also she conceived the plan of a journal, entitled “The Republican,” which, however, was suppressed after its second issue. Here she penned that famous letter to the king, which, as it remained unanswered, was read aloud by her husband, the king’s appointed Minister of the Interior, in full council and in the king’s presence. Containing many terrible truths as to the royal refusal to sanction the decrees of the national assembly and as to the king’s position in the state, this letter initiated the dethronement of the king and the abolition of royalty.—

It was in these troubled times, also, that another remarkable woman attracted great attention by matching the “Declaration of the rights of man” with a “Declaration des Droits de la Femme,” a declaration of the rights of women. In this document she preached for the first time not only the principle of equality of both sexes but she also demanded the right of women to vote and to hold public offices. This document was published just at the time when the equality of both sexes before the law and the guillotine had become a recognized fact, when not only the head of the king but also that of the queen Marie Antoinette had rolled into the dust. Pointing to these events Olympe de Gouges closed her manifesto with the flaming words: “When women have the right to ascend the scaffold then they must have the right to mount the platform of the orator!”

When Olympe de Gouges wrote these lines, she hardly anticipated her own fate. Provoking in some way the anger of Robespierre, this rabid tyrant did send her also to the guillotine.—

Théroigne de Méricourt likewise fell a victim of the furious hostility, which in 1793 arose between the two leading parties, the Girondists and the Montagnards, the latter party led by those most extreme autocrats as Marat, Danton and Robespierre. When Théroigne, being aware that her own party, the Gironde, was in peril at the hands of these bloodthirsty men, one day urged the mob to moderate their courses, she was seized, stripped naked and flogged in the public garden of the Tuilleries. This infamous affront affected her so that she became a raving maniac, never recovering her reason.—

155

THE ROLL-CALL FOR THE GUILLOTINE.

After the painting by C. L. Mueller.

156For Madame Roland and her husband too the day of darkness was soon to come. They found that they could no longer control those passions which they had helped to call forth. Repulsed by the incredible excesses, which were committed during the progress of the revolution, Mr. Roland sent in his resignation on January 22, 1793, the day after the execution of the king. But all his and his wife’s efforts to regulate and elevate the Revolution failed. Both became more and more the butt of calumny and the object of increasing dislike on the part of the ultra-revolutionists, whose leaders, Marat and Danton, heaped the foulest falsehoods upon them. At the instigation of these men Madame Roland was arrested early on the morning of the last of July, 1793, and thrown into the same prison cell, that had been occupied by Charlotte Corday a short time before. On November the 8th she was conveyed to the guillotine. Before yielding her head to the block, she bowed before the statue of Liberty, erected in the Place de la Revolution, uttering her famous apostrophe: “O Liberty! what crimes are committed in thy name!”—

After the elimination of the three leading spirits of woman’s emancipation all attempts to claim political rights for women were sternly repressed. The bold deed of Charlotte Corday, who on July 17th, 1793, killed Marat, the chief of the Mountain party, had given to his followers a warning of what resolute women were able to do. And so all female clubs and political meetings were forbidden by the Convention. Women were even excluded from the galleries of the hall where it sat, and Chaumette warned them that by entering into politics they would violate the law of nature and would be punished accordingly. French girls were also entirely excluded from all educational reforms that were instituted by the Convention and, later on, by Napoleon, who always maintained that female education should be of the most rudimentary description.

At the same time that Olympe de Gouges, Théroigne de Méricourt and Madame Roland took such a conspicuous part in the French Revolution, there appeared in England a most remarkable book, which might be called the first comprehensive attempt to establish the equality of the sexes. Its authoress was Mary Wollstonecraft, a woman of Irish extraction, born at Hoxton on April 27, 1759. Compelled to earn her own living, she, together with her sisters, had conducted a school for girls. Later on she held a position as governess in the family of Lord Kingsborough, in Ireland. Among her early 157publications are “Thoughts on the Education of Daughters” (1787) and “The Female Reader” (1789). That she followed the events of the French Revolution with the utmost interest, appears from her book: “An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution, and the Effects it has Produced in Europe.” It was intended to comprise several volumes, but after the first one had been published in 1790, the work remained unfinished. Two years later, in 1792, appeared the work with which the name of Mary Wollstonecraft is always associated, as from this book was born one of the grandest movements which exists in the world to-day—the Woman Suffrage Movement.

This book, entitled “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman,” was a sharp protest against the assumption that woman is only a plaything of man. It is also a demand on her to become his equal and his companion.

In the preface the authoress states the “main argument” of her work, “built on this simple principle that, if woman be not prepared by education to become the companion of man, she will stop the progress of knowledge, for truth must be common to all, or it will be inefficacious with respect to its influence or general practice.” In carrying out this argument she explains that woman can never be free until she is free economically; it makes no difference how poetic, romantic and chivalrous we become,—the fact is, there can be little equality between the sexes as long as the male partner has entire charge of the purse. Woman may be free socially; she may get rid of all sexual superstition, and she may crack and cast from her all theological trammels: but of what value is all this if she is still dependent upon man for food, raiment and shelter? What good does it do her to say “My body is my own, subject to the whims and lusts of no man,” if upon that very man depends her livelihood? Woman’s economic dependence is the root of that tree which nourishes the poisonous fruits of her subjection and abject slavery. Only when woman is on equal terms with man, can she be really virtuous and useful. But this result can only be obtained by rejecting the fallacious idea of weakness and refusing man’s help.

After that the authoress states, that woman by open air exercise can become healthy and strong. By study she can acquire a solid education and useful knowledge, and thus become fit to earn her own living. Marriage will then cease to be her sole hope of salvation. If she marries she must not expect infinite romantic love from her husband, that would be an endeavor to perpetuate what is transitory in its very essence. From her husband she should require esteem and friendship. But before she can ask for or inspire these sentiments 158she must have shown herself a lofty mind and a sincere, benevolent, and independent temper.

“But this ideal will remain a myth unless the system of education is entirely changed. It is the duty of the Government to organize schools and colleges, for boys and girls, both rich and poor, and of all ages.”

Mary Wollstonecraft recommends that boys and girls should study together. She does not regard as an evil the attachment which might result under these conditions. On the contrary, she is an advocate of early marriage, and believes that the physical and moral health of young people would be greatly benefited thereby. “Do not separate the sexes, but accustom them to each other from infancy!” she demands. “By this plan such a degree of equality should be established between the sexes as would break up gallantry and coquetry, yet allow friendship and love to temper the heart for the discharge of higher duties.”

Thus asking the widest opportunities of education for women, she demands also her participation in industry, political knowledge, and the rights of representation.

While Mary Wollstonecraft in this manner advanced progressive ideas, she also discussed several questions, dangerous and explosive at that time. In regard to marriage she recommended emancipation from the coercions and ceremonies imposed upon all Christians by the Church. And where love had ceased, divorce should be made easy. These points, together with her extraordinary plainness of speech and her denial of the eternity of the torments of hell, caused an outcry of all classes, to whom the dust of tradition was sacred, or who saw their assumed authority endangered. The air grew thick with insults and insinuations, hurled at the champion of such principles by churchmen feeding on their worn-out thistle-creeds. There were also the shrill, polished shrieks of society, whose antiquated dogmas Mary Wollstonecraft had repudiated. But the impulse, given by her, did not die. It became the heritage of later and more advanced generations, who have tried to realize the ideas of this most remarkable woman of the 18th Century.

Since the stirring years of the American War of Independence and of the French Revolution the question of woman’s rights and woman suffrage has remained constantly before the public. Its significance greatly increased when with the invention of steam-engines, with the rapid growth and extension of trade and commerce, and with the introduction of modern methods all conditions of industrial life likewise became revolutionized. Many of those industries in which women participated, were transferred from the homes to factories, where the workmen and women were placed at machines, producing within one day greater quantities of goods than the laborers formerly had manufactured within weeks or months.

With this industrial revolution came, however, also many evils. The laborers remained no longer masters of their own time and efforts. While hitherto they had been the owners of their little industry, now the factory owners and the great industries began to own them. They found themselves bound by strict rules, not of their own making, but prescribed and enforced by their employers, many of whom had not the slightest consideration for the people that worked for them. Just as soulless as their machines, and thinking only of gain, they abused their employees wherever possible, and in doing so often resorted to the meanest tricks.

Nowhere did such evils become so appalling as in England, where the politicians subordinated all other considerations to industry. It was here that in order to reduce the small wages of the workman cheap woman- and child-labor was first introduced on a large scale, and feeble, defenseless creatures, without experience and organization, were subjected to the most cruel oppression and exploitation.

At the end of the 18th and during the first half of the 19th Century large numbers of women and pauper children were shipped from the agricultural districts of Southern England to the northern districts to work in the factories which had been established there in consequence of the superior water-power.

Tender women and girls, and even children from six to ten years were placed in cotton mills, where they were compelled to work in overcrowded rooms thirteen to fourteen hours daily. Robert Mackenzie in his book “The Nineteenth Century,” p. 77, states, that the accommodations provided for these people were of the most wretched nature. “If such children became over-tired and fell asleep they were flogged. Sometimes through exhaustion they fell upon the machinery 160and were injured—possibly crushed,—an occurrence which caused little concern to any except the mothers, who had learned to bear their pangs in silence. These children, who were stunted in size and disposed to various acute diseases, were often scrofulous and consumptive.”

The Encyclopædia Britannica, in an article on Socialism, describes the conditions of the working people in England at that time as follows: “The English worker had no fixed interest in the soil. He had no voice either in local or national government. He had little education or none at all. His dwelling was wretched in the extreme. The right even of combination was denied him. The wages of the agricultural laborer were miserably low. The workman’s share in the benefits of the industrial revolution was doubtful. Great numbers of his class were reduced to utter poverty and ruin by the great changes consequent to the introduction of improved machinery; the tendency to readjustment was slow and continually disturbed by fresh change. The hours of work were mercilessly long. He had to compete against the labor of women, and of children brought frequently at the age of five or six from the workhouses. These children had to work the same long hours as the adults, and they were sometimes strapped by the overseers till the blood came. Destitute as they so often were of parental protection and oversight, with both sexes huddled together under immoral and unsanitary conditions, it was only natural that they should fall into the worst habits and that their offspring should to such a lamentable degree be vicious, improvident, and physically degenerate.”

A report, delivered at the “International Congress of Women,” held in July, 1899, at London, states that the weak legs of those children, which were not strong enough to support the body for hours, were sustained by boots of wood and lead, in which they were obliged to stand. Hence the high scale of mortality among the children.

Most revolting conditions prevailed in the English coal mines. Married women, girls and children worked here, harnessed to trucks and nearly naked, dragging on their hands and knees loads of coal through long low galleries to the pit mouth.

When some philanthropists made complaints about these conditions, Parliament instituted a commission to inquire into the state of working women in these mines and the wages paid them. From its official report we quote the following: “Betty Harris, one of the numerous persons examined, aged thirty-seven, drawer in the coal-pit, said: ‘I have a belt around my waist and a chain between my legs to the truck, and I go on my hands and feet. The road is very steep and we 161have to hold by a rope, and when there is no rope, by anything we can catch hold of. There are six women and about six boys and girls in the pit I work in; it is very wet, and the water comes over our clog-tops always, and I have seen it up to my thighs; my clothes are always wet.’—

“Margaret Hibbs, aged eighteen, said: ‘My employment after reaching the wall-face (the place where the coal is broken) is to fill my bagie or stype with two and a half or three hundred-weight of coal; I then hook it on to my chain and drag it through the seam, which is from twenty-six to twenty-eight inches high, till I get to the main road, a good distance, probably two hundred to four hundred yards. The pavement I drag over is wet, and I am obliged at all times to crawl on my hands and feet with my bagie hung to the chain and ropes. It is sad, sweating, sore and fatiguing work, and frequently maims the women.’

“Robert Bald, the government coal-viewer, stated: In surveying the workings of an extensive colliery underground a married woman came forward groaning under an excessive weight of coal, trembling in every nerve, and almost unable to keep her knees from sinking under her. On coming up she said in a plaintive and melancholy voice: ‘Oh sir, this is sore, sore, sore work!’

“And a sub-commissioner said: ‘It is almost incredible that human beings can submit to such employment—crawling on hands and knees, harnessed like horses, over soft, slushy floors, more difficult than dragging the same weight through our lowest sewers.’”—

Mackenzie, in his above mentioned book, states that “there was no machinery in these English coal-pits to drag the coal to the surface, and women climbed long wooden stairs with baskets of coal upon their backs. Children of six were habitually employed. Their hours of labor were fourteen to sixteen daily. The horrors among which they lived induced disease and early death. Law did not seem to reach to the depths of a coal-pit, and the hapless children were often mutilated and occasionally killed with perfect impunity by the brutalized miners among whom they labored.”

Other authorities state that the women were paid less than 20 cents per day! For the same kind of work men got three times as much pay; but the employers preferred girls and women to do the work “because of their lower wages and greater docility!” In the iron districts of the Midlands women earned for very hard work 4 to 5 shillings a week, (=$1.25) while the men received 14 shillings.

These small wages, which forced upon the laborers the most barren mode of living, were, however, taken away again from them through the meanest tricks, devised by the 162employers particularly through the so-called Truck System. Under this abominable system the employers, instead of paying the wages in cash, forced their employees to take checks or orders, redeemable in all kinds of necessities and goods, but valid only in those “truck stores” or “tommy shops” run by the employers, or in which they had an interest. By cheating the workmen with goods of inferior quality, by overcharging them at the same time, by pressing them to take goods far beyond their need and wages, and by making long intervals—often from 40 to 60 days—between the real pay days, they forced the laborers into debt and absolute slavery.

The situation of many thousands of those women who tried to make a living as seamstresses was also desperate. Always put off with wages far below the demands of a modest existence, they were real martyrs of labor. Thomas Hood, one of the foremost English poets of the first half of the 19th Century, gave in his famous “Song of the Shirt” a most touching picture of such woman’s toil and misery, of woman in her wasted life and in her hurried death. His poem reads:

Constantly struggling with want and poverty and seeing health menaced by the machines, the working classes of England were filled with bitterness, when they found that their complaints brought no relief, while the law-makers, sitting in Parliament, favored any demands of the employers and of the big interests. To forget for a few hours their hopeless existence, large numbers of men and women resorted to liquor, hereby hastening their final collapse and ruin.

Such was the life led by English laborers during the greater part of the Nineteenth Century. Feeble attempts to improve these deplorable conditions were made through a series of “Factory Acts,” the immediate cause for which was the fearful spread of epidemic diseases which wrought dreadful havoc among the laborers, especially among the women and children. If we glance over these factory acts, as they are sketched in the Encyclopædia Britannica, we find that even under these acts children below the age of nine were permitted in silk factories, and that they were required to work twelve hours a day, exclusive of an hour and a half for meal times. An act of 1833 provided that young persons from thirteen to eighteen and women were restricted to 68 hours a week. Ten years later a mining act was passed which prohibited underground work for children under ten and for women. In 1867 the Workshop Regulation Act fixed the working day for children from 6 a. m. to 8 p. m. = 14 hours, and for young persons and women from 5 a. m. to 9 p. m. = 16 hours! After having made such sad disclosures, the Encyclopædia Britannica dared to say: “By these various enactments the state has emphatically taken under its protection 165the whole class of children and young persons employed in manufacturing industries. It has done this in the name of the moral and physical health of the community.”

The despicable methods employed by the British mine and factory owners in their dealings with the working classes spread to the Continent as well as to America. In France, Germany and Austria they led to those desperate struggles between capital and labor, out of which was born that most remarkable movement of the 19th Century called “Socialism.”

In the United States soon enough attempts were made to imitate the detestable methods of the British mine and factory owners. But as the character of the population was quite different, the abuse of the working men and women never became so appalling as in Great Britain.

The first industry to be established in factories was the weaving of cotton in the New England States, where a number of rapid streams, among them the Merrimac, the Connecticut and the Housatonic, furnished excellent water-power. And as during the pioneer and colonial times the housewives and daughters had spun and woven all the cloth and linen for family use, there was an ample number of expert workers at hand. After the first weaving machines were brought over from Europe, in 1814, Dover, Lowell, Waltham, Great Falls and Newmarket became the principal centers of the cotton industry.

Here the daughters of the farmers and settlers did the work that formerly their mothers had done at home. Only they did it faster, by tending the machines all day long. At first the girls did not know that the employers might try to make the people in the factories work longer hours without any rest and adequate pay. Soon enough they found this out. But as the girls had inherited the independent spirit of their fathers and grandfathers, trouble began to brew. In December, 1828, four hundred girls in Dover, New Hampshire, formed a procession and marched out of the factory, in order to show their indignation at the growing oppression by their employers. They clad their complaints in verses, one of which ran:

Unorganized as they were at that time, they did not succeed in gaining all they desired. But five years later they walked out again, eight hundred strong, adopting resolutions stating that they had not been treated as “daughters of freemen” by their employers and the unfriendly newspapers. At the same time in Lowell, Mass., at a signal given by a Dover 166girl, two thousand girls, who had formed a “Factory Girls’ Association,” joined in a sympathy strike, marched around town and issued the following proclamation:

SPINNERS IN THE COLONIAL TIMES.

After a painting by Carl Marr, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

“Union Is Power.”

“Our present object is to have union and exertion, and we remain in possession of our own unquestionable rights. We circulate this paper, wishing to obtain the names of all who imbibe the spirit of our patriotic ancestors, who preferred privation to bondage and parted with all that renders life desirable—and even life itself—to produce independence for their children. The oppressing hand of avarice would enslave us, and to gain their object they very gravely tell us of the pressure of the times; this we are already sensible of and deplore it. If any are in want of assistance, the ladies will be compassionate and assist them, but we prefer to have the disposing of our charities in our own hands, and, as we 167are free, we would remain in possession of what kind Providence has bestowed upon us, and remain daughters of freemen still.

“All who patronize this effort we wish to have discontinue their labor until terms of reconciliation are made.

“Resolved. That we will not go back into the mills to work unless our wages are continued to us as they have been.

“Resolved, That none of us will go back unless they receive us all as one.

“Resolved, That if any have not money enough to carry them home they shall be supplied.

In 1843 the girls in the cotton mills of Pittsburg, Pa., whose working hours had been from five o’clock in the morning till a quarter of seven in the evening, rebelled also, when their employers attempted to increase the time one hour each day without extra pay. Two years later they co-operated with the factory girls of New England, concurring in the proposal to “declare their independence of the oppressive manufacturing power” unless the work day was limited to ten hours.

The policy of these fighters for better conditions is outlined in the constitution of the “Lowell Female Labor Reform Association,” which had been organized in 1845. Article IX says:

“The members of this association disapprove of all hostile measures, strikes and turn-outs until all pacific measures prove abortive, and then that it is the imperious duty of everyone to assert and maintain that independence which our brave ancestors bequeathed to us and sealed with their blood.”

The spirit of these working women is likewise shown in the preamble adopted at the annual meeting of the association in January, 1846. It reads:

“It now only remains for us to throw off the shackles which are binding us in ignorance and servitude and which prevent us from rising to that scale of being for which God designed us. With the present system of labor it is impossible. There must be reasonable hours for manual labor and a just portion of time allowed for the cultivation of the mental and moral faculties, and no other way can the great work be 168accomplished. It is evident that with the present system of labor the minds of the mass must remain uncultivated, their morals unimproved. Shall we, operatives of America, the land where democracy claims to be the principle by which we live and by which we are governed, see the evil daily increasing which separates more widely and more effectually the favored few and the unfortunate many without one exertion to stay the progress? God forbid! Let the daughters of New England kindle the spark of Philanthropy in every heart till its brightness shall fill the whole earth.”

Not satisfied with securing thousands of signatures of factory operatives, who petitioned the legislature for a ten-hour day, prominent members of the union went before the Massachusetts legislative committee early in 1845 and testified as to the conditions in textile mills. This was the first American governmental investigation of labor conditions, and it was due almost solely to the petitions of the working women. About the same time the union appointed a committee to investigate and expose false statements published in newspapers concerning the factory operatives. Nor was this all. In their work of publicity they did not hesitate to call public men to account for assailing or ignoring their movement.

The chairman of the legislative committee, before whom the working girls had testified, was the representative from the Lowell district, and should, therefore, have shown special interest in the complaints of the girls. Instead, he had treated them in a high-handed manner, withholding at the same time from the Legislature some of the most important facts presented by the Lowell girls. The latter expressed their just indignation in the following resolution, which was circulated before the elections of that year:

“Resolved, That the Female Labor Reform Labor Association deeply deplore the lack of independence, honesty and humanity in the committee to whom were referred sundry petitions relative to the hours of labor, especially in the chairman of that committee; and as he is merely a corporation machine, or tool, we will use our best endeavors and influence to keep him in the “City of Spindles,” where he belongs, and not trouble Boston folks with him.”

That the “endeavors” of the girls met with full success is evident from a second resolution published after election day:

“Resolved, That the members of this association tender their grateful acknowledgments to the voters of Lowell for consigning William Schouler to the obscurity he so justly deserves for treating so ungentlemanly the defense made by the delegates of this association before the special committee of the legislature, to whom was referred petitions for the 169reduction of the hours of labor, of which he was chairman.”

The result of all this agitation against long hours of work was that in 1847, 1848, and 1851 the first ten-hour laws were passed in New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

The success, won by the textile workers, inspired women workers in the tailoring and sewing trade, in the manufacture of shoes, cigars, and other necessities to similar efforts. In the tailoring and sewing trade wages were extremely low, as sweat-shop conditions existed from the beginning, and the trade was overcrowded.

In 1845 New York City alone had over 10,000 sewing women, the majority of whom worked from twelve to sixteen hours a day to earn only from two to three dollars a week!

As similar conditions prevailed in other occupations, the number of poorly paid women wage-earners in New York City in 1865 was between 50,000 to 70,000, of whom 20,000 were in a constant fight with starvation, and of whom 7,000 lived in cellars. Their situation grew from bad to worse, as at the same time that they were falling into a state of physical and mental deterioration, the improvements in many machines made greater and greater demands on the capability of those who were operating them.

Thus the situation became such as was sketched by W. I. Thomas in an article written some fifteen years ago for the “American Magazine,” in which he said:

“The machine is a wonderful expression of man’s ingenuity, of his effort to create an artificial workman, to whom no wages have to be paid, but it falls just short of human intelligence. It has no discriminative judgment, no control of the work as a whole. It can only finish the work handed out to it, but it does this with superhuman energy. The manufacturer has, then, to purchase enough intelligence to supplement the machine, and he secures as low a grade of this as the nature of the machine will permit. The child, the woman and the immigrant are frequently adequate to furnish that oversight and judgment necessary to supplement the activity of the machine, and the more ignorant and necessitous the human being the more the profit to the industry. But now comes the ironical and pitiful part. The machine which was invented to save human energy, and which is so great a boon when the individual controls it, is a terrible thing when it controls the individual. Power-driven, it has almost no limit to its speed, and no limit whatever to its endurance, and it has no nerves. When, therefore, under the pressure of business competition the machine is speeded up and the girl operating it is speeded up to its pace, we have finally a situation in which the machine destroys the worker.”

170The rapidly increasing misery among such exhausted women workers aroused public attention and led to the formation of a number of woman’s organizations with the purpose to investigate abuses among such women workers, to teach them the value of trade unions, to agitate equal pay for equal work, to shorten the number of working hours, and to abolish child labor and prison work. The first national women’s trade union, formed in the United States, was that of the “Daughters of St. Crispin.” It held its first convention on July 28, 1869, at Lynn, Massachusetts. The delegates represented not only the local lodges of that state, but also lodges of Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and California.

With the organization of the “Knights of Labor” in 1869, and the “American Federation of Labor” the position of woman in the American labor movement became more firmly established, as both federations made it one of their principal objects “to secure for both sexes equal pay for equal work.” They also appointed special committees to investigate the conditions of working women, and to organize them for concerted action.

Other potent factors arising in this line were the “National Consumers’ League” and the “Women’s Trade Union League.” The founding of the first federation was due to efforts to better the conditions of women in department stores. In 1890 a group of saleswomen of New York City pointed to the fact that girls in fashionable department stores were receiving wages too low to allow them a decent living. They also complained that these girls were forced to stand from ten to fourteen hours a day, and that sanitary conditions in the cloak and lunch rooms were such as to endanger health and life. While the plan of these saleswomen, to unite all women clerks of the city into a labor union, failed, their complaints, however, attracted the attention of a number of influential ladies interested in philanthropic efforts. They investigated the charges against the department stores, and what they discovered made them resolve that conditions demanded radical changes. In May, 1890, they called a mass meeting of prominent women and proposed a constructive plan for raising the standard in shop conditions, not by blacklisting any firm guilty of bad conduct, but by white-listing those firms which treated their employees humanely. “We can make and publish,” so the presiding lady said, “a list of all the shops where employees receive fair treatment, and we can agree to patronize only those shops. By acting openly, and publishing our White List we shall be able to create an immense public opinion in favor of just employers.” In other words, it was by the spirit of praise rather than condemnation 171that these ladies sought to stimulate stores to raise their standards.

Adopting the name “Consumers’ League of New York,” the society organized on January 1, 1891, and published its first White List. It was a disappointingly small one, as it contained the names of only eight firms. Still more disappointing was the indifference of the many hundred other firms toward this reform movement. But soon enough these firms found that the League had also introduced into the New York Assembly a bill which became known as the “Mercantile Employers Bill.” It aimed to regulate the employment of women and children in all mercantile establishments, and to place all retail stores, from the smallest to the largest, under the inspection of the State Factory Department.

Of course the merchants took prompt steps to defeat this obnoxious bill, and they were most complacent when their representatives in the Assembly succeeded in strangling it. But the bill appeared again and again, finally resulting in the appointment of a State Commission for the investigation of the conditions. As Reta Childe Dorr in her book “What Eight Million Women Want” graphically relates, “The findings of this Commission were sensational enough. Merchants reluctantly testified to employing grown women at a salary of thirty-three cents a day. They confessed to employing little girls of eleven and twelve years, in defiance of the child-labor law. They declared that pasteboard and wooden stock boxes were good enough seats for saleswomen; that they should not expect to sit down in business hours, anyhow. They defended, on what they called economic grounds, their long hours and uncompensated overtime. They defended their system of fines, which sometimes took away from a girl almost the entire amount of her weekly salary. They threatened, if a ten-hour law for women under twenty-one years old were passed, to employ older women. Thus thousands of young and helpless girls would be thrown out of employment, and forced to appeal to charity.”

The Senate heard the report of the Commission, and in spite of the merchants’ protests, the women’s bill was passed without a dissenting vote. Its most important provision was the ten-hour limit which it placed on the work of women under twenty-one. The bill also provided seats for saleswomen, and specified the number of seats, one to every three clerks. It forbade the employment of children, except those holding working-certificates from the authorities.

But soon it was found that the smart representatives of the merchants had succeeded in attaching to the bill a so-called “joker,” by which the inspection of the stores was entrusted to the local boards of health. As the officials of 172these boards, supposedly experts, proved, in fact, ignorant of industrial conditions and their relation to health and sanitation, the true objects of the bill could not be enforced. So the Consumers’ League was compelled to wage another tedious war, until it finally succeeded in convincing the Legislature that the inspection of all department and retail stores should be turned over to the State Factory Department. When this was done, there were reported in the first three months of the enforcement of the Mercantile Law over 1200 violations in Greater New York. At the same time 923 under-age children were taken out of their positions as cash girls, stock girls, and wrappers, and sent back to school.

It was natural that the good results and the purely benevolent motives of the Consumers’ League attracted wide attention. Similar Associations were formed in many other cities and states. The movement spread so rapidly, that in 1899 it was possible to organize “The National Consumers’ League,” with branches in twenty-two states.

Encouraged by such success, the league now began to study the working conditions of girls employed in restaurants. It was found that in many cases these conditions were even worse than in the department stores. Girls of twenty years were found working as cooks from 6:30 in the morning to 11:30 at night, with no time off on Sundays or holidays! This meant 119 hours a week, more than twice the time the law permits for factory employees. Other girls, employed as waitresses, were serving every day from 7:30 a. m. to 10:30 p. m., or 105 hours each week! In going back and forth, they walked several miles a day, carrying heavy trays at the same time. In rush hours they worked at a constant nervous tension, for speed is one of their requirements. And they must not only remember a dizzying list of orders, but must fill them quickly and keep their temper under the exactions of the most rasping customer.

Based on such findings, the Consumers’ League of New York caused the framing of a bill by which the hours of women in restaurants were limited to 54 hours weekly, which gave the girls one day of rest in seven, and prohibited their working between 10 p. m. and 6 a. m. In October, 1917, this bill became a law. In a number of other states minimum wage laws have also been secured.

The Consumers’ League of Philadelphia took pains to investigate conditions in the silk mills of Pennsylvania. It was found that besides overwork and underpay there were often other evils, due to an erring as well as inhuman policy on the part of the employers. Like the owners of the department stores many of these men were possessed by the idea that the right to sit down would encourage slow work and 173laziness. Accordingly the girls in these mills were forced to stand from early morning till late at night, day after day, and month after month.

The secretary of the Consumers’ League, who, under an assumed name, worked for some time in various mills, in order to study conditions, wrote:

“The harmful effect of continuous standing, upon young and growing girls, is too well established a fact to require any elaboration. In addition to the permanent ill effects, much immediate and unnecessary suffering, especially in hot weather, is inflicted by the prohibition of sitting. I could always detect the existence of this rule by a glance at the stocking-feet of the workers, and at the rows of discarded shoes beneath the frames. For after a few hours the strain upon the swollen feet becomes intolerable, and one girl after another discards her shoes.”—

Another harsh and very common practice of employers is to cover the lower sashes of the windows with paint, and to fasten them so that they cannot be raised in hot weather. This is done “so that the girls don’t waste time looking out.”

The cruelty of these unnecessary rules is often aggravated by a most amazing lack of the common decencies and necessities of cleanliness.

One of the most difficult tasks of the Consumers’ League was to overcome the absolute unwillingness of storekeepers to compensate their saleswomen for overtime. If it would be possible to compute the amount of such unpaid labor performed after the regular hours in many stores as well as in the bookkeeping and auditing departments, especially during the Christmas season, the sum would be startling indeed. A circular issued by the Women’s Trade Union League of Chicago some years ago stated that the 3000 clerks in only one department store of that city had been required to work during the holiday season overtime to the total amount of 96,000 hours, without receiving any compensation. At the rate of only ten cents an hour these clerks suffered a loss of $9,600, at the rate of 25 cents an hour a loss of $24,000.

The first “Women’s Trade Union League” was organized in 1875 by Mrs. Emma Paterson, the wife of an English trade unionist. While travelling in America, she had observed that women workers of various trades had formed unions, among which the “Umbrella Makers’ Union,” the “Women’s Typographical Union” and the “Women’s Protective Union” were the most prominent. Convinced that the utility of such combinations could be still more increased, Mrs. Paterson, after her return to England, organized a federation of such women’s unions, the “British Women’s Trade Union League,” which 174later on became the model for a similar organization in America. It was founded on November 14th, 1903, for the one main purpose to organize all women workers into trade unions, in order to protect them from exploitation, to help them raise their wages, shorten their hours, and improve sanitary conditions of the work shops. Becoming affiliated with the “American Federation of Labor,” the league gained a splendid victory during the years 1909 to 1911, when a series of huge strikes in the sewing trades spread over the East and the Middle West. Also an agreement was arrived at, that the principle of preference to unionists, first enforced in Australia, should be acknowledged. Under this plan manufacturers, when hiring help, must give to union workers of the necessary qualifications and degree of skill precedence over non-union workers.

At all times ready to express the sentiments and voice the aspirations of those who toil, the “Women s Trade Union League” represents to-day over 100,000 working women. While it has had a wonderful effect in improving standards of wages, hours and sanitary conditions in what was originally an underpaid and unhealthy industry, it also has become the pioneer in another direction, that of education in the labor movement. At the initiative of a group of girls an educational movement was started which has extended into organizations including some half a million workers, men as well as women. In public schools of New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and other cities educators of national reputation are co-operating with teachers and delegates from labor unions in giving lecture courses for adults on such subjects as social interpretation of literature, evolution of the labor movement, problems of reconstruction, social problems, trade unionism and co-operation, etc. At the same time a movement for co-operative housing has been developing. “The New York Ladies’ Waist and Dressmaker’s Union” for instance has bought in 1919 at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars a magnificent summer home for the exclusive use of its members. This “Unity House” at Forest Park, Pennsylvania, has accommodations for 500 guests. Situated at a beautiful lake, surrounded by shady forests and green lawns, provided with tennis courts, a library and reading rooms, it is an ideal recreation ground of first order. The money for this estate was brought up by the 30,000 members of the union, each contributing one day’s wages.

In New York City also a co-operative “Unity House” has been established with quarters for fifty girls. A great extension of this movement in the city is planned. The Philadelphia group of the same union is following these examples and has acquired a fine estate worth $40,000.

175At present the various woman’s organizations of the United States as well as of other countries aim at the following issues:

1.

To limit the working day for women to eight hours.

2.

To demand for women equal pay with men for equal work.

3.

To establish for all the various occupations minimum wage scales, sufficient to grant all women workers an adequate living.

4.

To secure safe and sanitary working conditions, and clinics for the treatment of diseases resulting from certain industrial occupations.

5.

To secure industrial insurance laws.

6.

To secure for all women full citizenship with the right to vote in all municipal and national elections.

As woman’s future position will depend on the realization of these demands, their discussion is of utmost importance.

As has been shown in a former chapter, innumerable valuable lives of workmen, women and, in former years, children have been sacrificed through the unreasonable exploitation by employers, who in their greed for profits had lost all consideration for the welfare of their fellow-men. Hundreds of thousands of laborers have been slowly worked to death as no sufficient amount of time for recuperation was granted them.

The only possible excuse for such incredible waste of human lives is that neither the employers nor the law-makers of those bygone days realized that the physical and mental abilities of the large laboring classes belong to the resources of a nation just as truly as do the water-power, the soil, the mineral deposits, the forests, and other natural means. Moreover, nobody was aware of the fact that it is one of the supreme duties of a wise government to guard these resources, so fundamentally necessary to the prosperity of a nation, from unscrupulous exploitation and possible destruction.

The danger of the reckless exploitation of laborers, especially of women workers, has increased considerably with the improvement of many machines, the greater speed and output of which demand far greater attention and strain than before on the part of the men or women operating them.

This is what Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War, said in 1917 at the annual meeting of the National Consumers’ League:

“Machinery has given us one great delusion. People 176have imagined that when a machine was operated by a steam engine or by an electric motor, the steam engine or the electric motor actually did all the work, and the people who were attending it while it operated were more or less negligible. As a consequence, we indulged in the very unfortunate and often fatal belief that unlimited hours of labor were possible because it was the machines which were doing the work. We overlooked the fact, which we have lately begun to appreciate, that the person who tends the power-driven machine is far more susceptible to exhaustion, is far more open to fatigue and to the poisons that affect the system and that come from over-exertion than ever before.”

Mrs. Florence Kelley, the able General Secretary of the National Consumers’ League, who studied woman’s occupation in the sewing trade, states that of late years the speed of the sewing machines has been increased so that girls using these improved machines are now responsible for twenty times as many stitches as twenty years ago, and that many girls and women, not capable of the sustained speed involved in this improvement, are no longer eligible for this occupation. Those who continue in the trade are required to feed twice as many garments to the machine as were required five years ago. The strain upon their eyes is, however, far more than twice what it was before the improvement. In the case of machines carrying multiple needles this is obvious; but it is true of the single needle machines as well.

When a girl cannot keep the pace she is thrown out. A comment frequently made by the girls about such an unfortunate comrade is: “She got too slow. She couldn’t keep up with her machine any longer.” It amounts to this, that the girl can earn a living wage, if she is unusually gifted, until she is worn out.

The nerve strain caused by innumerable rapid-working machines of the present day has become obvious in many cases. As the compressed air-hammer has shattered the nerves of many robust men, so the latest machines used in the sewing and other trades have impaired the health of many women. “Such nerve strain,” says Rheta Childe Dorr, “cannot be regulated. It is a Gordian knot that cannot be untied. The only thing to do is to cut it. The only solution of it is a shortened work-day. This is true for men as well as for women, but, in all probability, not to the same degree. Nerve strain affects men, certainly, and it demands, even in their case, a progressively shortened work-day as an alternative to a progressively shortened work-life. But with women the case becomes infinitely more urgent, infinitely more tragic, in exact proportion as woman’s nervous system is more unstable than man’s and more easily shaken from its equilibrium.”

177The advantages of an eight-hour day with rest at night for women and children have been summed up as follows:

1.—Where the working day is short, the workers are less predisposed to diseases arising from fatigue. They are correspondingly less in danger of being out of work, for sickness is in turn one of the great causes of unemployment.

2.—Accidents have diminished conspicuously wherever working hours have been reduced.

3.—The workers have better opportunity for continuing their education out of working hours. Where they do this intelligently they become more valuable and are correspondingly less likely to become victims of unemployment.

4.—A short working day established by law tends automatically to regularize work. The interest of the employer is to have all hands continuously active, and no one sitting idly waiting for needles, or thread, or materials, or for machines to be repaired. Every effort is bent towards having work ready for every hour of every working day in the year. In unregulated industry, on the contrary, there are cruel alternations of idleness and overwork.

5.—For married women wage-earners it is especially necessary to have the working day short and work regular. For when they leave their workplace it is to cook, sew, and clean at home, sometimes even to care for the sick.—

In the movement for an eight-hour day for the women workers its advocates have already succeeded in Australia, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, Porto Rico, and Mexico. The eight-hour day has also been secured for all employees of the U. S. Government and for the women and workmen of a large number of the states.

That women are entitled to equal pay with men for equal work, was recognized by the ancient Babylonians five or six thousand years ago. The justice of this demand is so self-evident, that it would hardly seem to need any discussion. Notwithstanding all labor organizations have been compelled to place it on their program, as many factory owners employed the cheaper woman- and child-labor only in order to underbid and reduce the wages of the male laborers. As female laborers have been much more poorly organized than men, they have been less capable of maintaining their claims.

The first equal opportunity and equal pay laws were passed in the State of Washington. In 1890 a section was added to her Labor Laws reading as follows: “Hereafter in this state every avenue of employment shall be open to 178women; and any business, vocation, profession, and calling followed and pursued by men may be followed and pursued by women, and no person shall be disqualified from engaging in or pursuing any business, vocation, profession, calling or employment on account of sex.”

Section 5 of Industrial Welfare Commission of the State of Washington, Order of September 10, 1918, is the first general equal pay law: “That women doing equal work with men in any occupation, trade, or industry in this state shall receive the same compensation therefor as men during work of the same character and of like quantity and quality, the determination of what constitutes equal work to rest with the Industrial Welfare Commission.”

The interests of every community demand that all workers, male as well as female, shall receive a fair living wage, to save them from pernicious effects upon their health and morals. The dangers to the health of women have been found to be twofold: lack of adequate nourishment and lack of medical care in sickness. Careful investigations as well as statistics have proven that with insufficient wages food is necessarily cut down below the requirements of subsistence, and health inevitably suffers. In order to meet unavoidable expenses for lodging and clothing, workingwomen reduce their diet to the lowest possible point.

On the moral side, authorities agree in the opinion that, while underpayment and the consequent struggle to live may not be the primary cause for entering upon an immoral life, it is inevitably a highly important factor. When wages are too low to supply nourishment and other human needs, temptation is more readily yielded to.

The discovery that inadequate wages menace the morals of women and through them the interests and the good name of the community in which they work, has had much to do with the adoption of minimum-wage laws in America as well as in other parts of the world.

In the United States the first minimum-wage orders were those of the Oregon Industrial Commission, which fixed $8.64 as the legal weekly minimum for manufacturing establishments, and $9.25 for mercantile establishments, in the City of Portland. These rates were based upon the testimony of workers and employers gathered by the Oregon Consumers’ League. The testimony had shown that the prevailing wage for beginners in department stores was $3.00 a week; that nearly half of these girls and women employed were receiving less than $9.00, and that female clerks never received above $10.00 179a week, no matter how long the term of their service.

After learning from the employers what wages were actually paid, the Oregon investigators sought to determine the amount necessary to protect the health and morals of the women workers through an examination of market prices and a careful study of the actual expenditures of the workers. One hundred and sixteen department-store workers furnished the information for the following table of averages:

These figures show that a majority of these women actually received less than it cost them to live.

Investigations carried on in order to find how these women met the difference, disclosed that many of them, whether living at home or boarding, did extra chores in the morning before going to work and after work-hours in the evening. Others went into debt. And still others became “charity girls”—that is, they kept company with “gentlemen friends,” who came up for the balance, sometimes under promise of marriage when these “friends” should feel able to set up a household. That such promises are not always kept and that the girls quite often sink to lower levels, are facts well known.

The first law embodying the principle of the minimum wage was enacted in New Zealand 25 years ago. From there it spread gradually to the other Australian States. In 1896 Victoria, the largest industrial State of Australia, passed the first act providing for special boards to fix minimum wages in different trades. Beginning with a few sweat-shop industries, the movement has grown by successive special acts, until, in 1916, there were about 150 trades or occupations in which minimum wages were set by special wage boards.

180The same general plan was followed by Great Britain in the trade boards act of 1909. This bill, introduced in Parliament by delegates of the English Anti-sweating League and of the National Consumers’ League in January, 1909, was passed and signed in time to take effect at New Years, 1910.

In the United States, up to the end of 1918, minimum-wage laws had been enacted in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and in the District of Columbia, guaranteeing a living wage to women workers, especially in unorganized trades.

When in the industries human power began to be supplanted by steam-driven machines, when competition grew fierce and fiercer, it was found that with the ever increasing speed of the whirling wheels the dangers that threatened the workmen increased enormously. The use of almost every machine has brought with it some peculiar peril, this one crushing a finger or cutting a limb of the person in charge; that one tearing out an arm or killing the operator if for a fraction of a second his thoughts strayed from his work, or if he became drowsy after long hours of work.

It was also found that many persons, engaged in certain occupations, became afflicted by peculiar diseases, unknown before and strictly confined to the persons doing that special work.

According to conservative estimates, of the 38,000,000 wage earners of the United States, in every year 30,000 to 33,000 are killed by industrial accidents. In addition, there are approximately 2,000,000 non-fatal accidents.

Imagine a plain strewn with 35,000 corpses and two million men and women crying out under the pain of severe lacerations, burns, cuts, bruises, dislocations and fractures! Imagine the horrible sight of so many human beings with limbs torn into shreds, with faces having empty eye-holes, with breasts heaving from the effect of poisonous gases! If such numbers of men and women were killed and wounded in one day at one place, the whole world would be terrified, and register the day as the most dreadful in history. But as these losses extend over a whole year and a large territory, our nation takes only slight notice of them, hardly thinking of the fact, that these immense losses and sufferings are terrible 181realities, which affect the economic wealth of our nation as a whole in a very serious way.

These conditions are the more deplorable as the majority of such accidents could be avoided by intelligent and rational methods, as is done in other civilized countries, where the possibilities for successful prevention of accidents have been clearly demonstrated.

Granting that many of such industrial accidents are the result of ignorance, reckless indifference or carelessness, the fact remains that much that could be done in our country for the protection of working people is neglected.

When in Europe with the increase of industries the number of accidents and “professional diseases” swelled in proportion, some philanthropists and economists, interested in the welfare of their fellow-citizens and convinced that every life saved is a national asset, became alarmed and searched for means to prevent such calamities. When in 1855 the first World’s Exposition was held at Paris, it had a special department in which were exhibited inventions for the safety of working people. Later on a permanent “Musée social” was established.

Since then similar institutions have been opened in Berlin, Munich, Vienna, Amsterdam, Brussels, Zurich, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Budapest, Milan, Moscow, and several other places. These museums contain the latest and most select inventions for the restriction of accidents and in the interest of industrial hygiene. And as all exhibits are arranged in separate groups according to the various professions, every manufacturer and every working man and woman can inform himself without loss of time about all new inventions relating to his special trade.

Perhaps the most comprehensive and most scientific of these museums is that of Charlottenburg, a suburb of Berlin. Its wonderfully interesting character is evident from the moment one enters the magnificent building, which occupies a whole city block. There are long rows of figures equipped with the various types of masks and helmets used by miners, divers, fire-fighters, and laborers, working in rooms filled with poisonous gases, dust, or irrespirable smoke. There are all the implements and attachments for the protection of persons working on men-killing machines.

There are casts in plaster and reproductions in wax illustrating all the dreadful skin diseases and deformities of the limbs, by which the laborers engaged in certain industries become afflicted. Other exhibits illustrate what measures should be taken for the improvement of the conditions of the working classes; how to furnish the best nourishment at the lowest cost; how to settle laborers in pleasant colonies, 182and how to treat those, who have become sick or afflicted with industrial diseases.

Among the most important exhibits are the statistics of three institutions provided for all persons employed in workshops and factories.

Germany was first among the nations to recognize the need of reforms in the social conditions of the working classes. Before 1870 wages had been low, and many of the evils that developed in other industrial countries had spread to Germany. Believing that the working classes have a right to be considered by the State the Government in 1881 initiated the era of “State social politics,” which brought about an enormous change in the condition of the working classes. Besides many reforms in regard to the length of the working hours and to women’s and children’s labor, this State socialism provided for three important institutions: first, a compulsory insurance against sickness; second, a compulsory insurance against accidents; third, a compulsory insurance against invalidity and old age.

To the funds of the first class all laborers earning less than 2000 marks a year must pay two-thirds, and the employer one-third of the weekly premiums. In case of sickness, the insured person receives half the amount for twenty-six weeks. Doctors, hospitals and medicines are free. In 1913 14,555,609 laborers, men and women, were protected in this way. Many poor mothers were supported for several weeks before and after confinement. To prevent sickness, especially tuberculosis, the institution supported numbers of sanitariums and recreation homes, where thousands of people, who would otherwise have perished, regained their health.

The insurance fees against accidents had to be paid entirely by the employer. In case of an accident, it was not the employer in whose factory it had happened who was held responsible, but the whole group of employers in the same branch of industry. Every group was compelled to establish an insurance company. In 1913 there were 25,800,000 men and women thus protected. An injured laborer received, during the time of his disability, two-thirds of his wages, also free medical treatment. In case of his death the family received at once fifteen per cent. of his annual wages and an annual support of sixty per cent. As the employers naturally wish to keep the amount of expenses as low as possible, this kind of compulsory insurance greatly stimulated the invention and institution of measures by which accidents may be prevented.

The premiums for the insurance against invalidity and old age were paid half by the employees and half by the employer. Support was given to invalids without regard to age, and to persons above seventy years. To every lawful 183pension the Government contributed 50 marks. In 1914 16,551,500 people were protected by this insurance. In the one year of 1913, the amount distributed among needy people by these three branches of insurance was 775,000,000 marks. The miners of Germany were protected by similar institutions. The splendid results of such compulsory insurance induced the Government to prepare a special insurance for widows and orphans. It may be mentioned that the management of these insurance companies was entirely in the hands of the working classes and the employers.

All in all, the “Permanent Expositions for the Welfare of the Working Classes,” as they exist in Berlin and in other European capitals, demonstrate what intelligent nations can do for the protection and the welfare of their laborers. How many millions of useful lives have been saved by the inventions brought here to the knowledge of the public, and what vast amounts of suffering, sorrow and tears have been averted, we can only guess.

In view of these facts it must be stated that our United States, which of all countries is the greatest in industry and suffers most heavily through industrial accidents and diseases, is among the most backward in regard to social legislation as well as in the effort to interest employers and employees in these welfare institutions which are of such vital value for both parties.

Yes, there was in 1910 a “Museum of Safety” established in New York, but so far it has remained the only one in the entire western hemisphere. And, as it is housed in the lower floors of an insignificant building in 24th Street, it has failed to attract the attention and the support of the masses.

In my opinion, every state should have a permanent museum which brings to public knowledge all inventions relating to the special industries and trades followed by its population. The agricultural states may confine themselves to exhibits by which accidents connected with the pursuit of agriculture can be prevented. The mining states may give preference to everything that increases safety in the mines. The states bordering our oceans and great lakes should collect all devices that make navigation safer; our industrial states must direct their efforts to collect such inventions as may restrict accidents in workshops and factories. If this should be done, and if our governments, legislators and factory inspectors would demand the installation of such inventions, the terrific number of victims that perish every year upon our industrial battlefields would most assuredly be greatly diminished. It is to these aims that our statesmen as well as our male and female workers should direct their utmost endeavors.

Perhaps in no other field of human activity has the disinclination of Christian men to make any concessions to women been so strong as in all matters regarding the church. While women were permitted to sit on thrones and rule vast empires, theological prejudice would not allow them to officiate at the altar or to occupy the pulpit. This vehement opposition was due to mediæval traditions and customs. The saying of the Apostle Paul: “I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence,” had been an inviolable law to all Catholic and Protestant dignitaries of the church. And so during the whole Middle Ages the idea was prevalent that a masculine priesthood alone was acceptable to God.

The first attempt to overthrow these views was made in 1634 by Anne Hutchinson, who came from Lincolnshire to Boston. Joining a church there she found that the male members used to meet every week to discuss the sermon they had heard the preceding Sunday. Believing that the power of the Holy Ghost dwells in every believer, and that the inward revelations of the spirit, the conscious judgment of the mind, are a paramount authority. Mrs. Hutchinson established similar meetings for the women. Soon she had large audiences, in which she set forth sentiments of her own. But disputes arose among her followers and their opponents, which grew so hot, that the continued existence of the two opposing parties was considered inconsistent with public peace. A convention of ministers, the first synod in America, was called in 1637, which condemned the opinions of Mrs. Hutchinson, and caused her to be summoned before the General Court. After a trial of two days, she was convicted of censuring the ministers and advancing errors, and sentenced to banishment from Massachusetts. She found refuge in Rhode Island, but moved later on to the Dutch settlements, where she as well as her children were killed by Indians.

In 1774 another English woman, Anne Lee, immigrated to New York. Professing to have received a special persuasion, she organized at Watervliet, N. Y., the first community of Shakers, to which she promulgated a doctrine of celibacy. Their previous training had led members of this sect to expect that the second coming of Christ would be in the form of a woman; as Eve was the mother of all living, so in their new leader the Shakers recognized “the first mother or spiritual parent in the line of the female.” These Shakers gave their women an equal share with men in the service and government of their society.

With the history of the “Salvation Army” likewise the 185names of several women are closely connected. This religious body was organized in 1865 on military lines by Rev. William Booth. In his revival and mission work among the lower classes of England he found in his wife Catherine a perfect helpmate. Together they conquered with their revivals first London, then the province, then the United Kingdom, and afterwards country after country in every part of the world.

CATHERINE BOOTH, THE “MOTHER OF THE SALVATION ARMY.”

In England Mrs. Booth was the first woman preacher, and if she had done nothing else but vindicate the right of woman to speak in public and preach the Gospel, she would have done great work. But she did far more than this. By making her whole life, and every thought and action subservient to the cause of the Salvation Army, she brought comfort and happiness to many thousands of poor souls.

The work of this “Mother of the Army” was continued by her daughter, Evangeline Booth, known in the history of the organization as “The Commander”; by Emma Booth-Tucker, known as “The Consul”; by Mrs. W. Branwell Booth, “The General,” and by Elizabeth Swift Brengle, known as “The Colonel.”

The first woman in the Christian world to be ecclesiastically ordained was Antoinette Brown Blackwell, an American 186woman who had graduated from Oberlin, Ohio. She was ordained in 1852 in South Butler, N. Y., by a council called by the First Congregational Church. Rev. Olympia Brown was the next woman ordained ten years later. In December, 1863, the Rev. Augusta J. Chapin was the first woman to receive the title of Doctor of Divinity.

Since the ordination of these women the number of female “clergymen” in the various denominations has increased rapidly. According to the Census of 1910 their number within the United States was 7395 in that year. The success of woman in the pulpit is no longer a question but an affirmation. This is what Rev. Phebe A. Hanford said on the subject:

“Other things being equal, why may not a woman preach and pray and perform pastoral duty as well as a man? Why should she not preside at the Lord’s table, consecrate in baptism the child whose parents would dedicate their choicest possessions to God, or the adult who would thus express his faith in Christ and his determination that “whatever others may do he will serve the Lord”? When two loving hearts desire to join hands and walk the earthly pathway side by side, why should not a woman minister pronounce the sacred formula and convey the sanction of the Law and the Gospel to their matrimonial purpose? And when the voice of consolation is sorely needed, and the solemn words are to be spoken which consign the silent dust to its last resting-place, why should not a womanly woman officiate as well as any tender-hearted and eloquent man? Surely woman is proverbially compassionate; and that she is often eloquent with voice and pen, and with poetic expression and the fervor of truth which can reach the heart, who can deny?”

It is hard to realize in these days of professional equality between the sexes that only half a century ago a woman who desired to study medicine was considered such a phenomenon that her morality and the purity of her motives were questioned. And yet this desire is only natural, as the life of every woman has moments when she has to call for medical help. There are especially the transition to womanhood, all the experiences of motherhood, and the many ailments peculiar to women. To be compelled to consult in these cases a male physician, is for many bashful girls and women such a repellant thought, that they quite often postpone it from week to week, until too late.

No doubt such were the reasons and experiences which caused Agnodice, an Athenian girl, born about 300 B. C., to disguise her sex in order that she might study medicine. Like Dr. Mary Walker in the 19th Century, she donned male attire and became a disciple of Herophilus, an eminent physician and anatomist of the Alexandrian School. Her specialty was midwifery and women’s diseases, and when she started to practice herself, she met with such great success that her male colleagues became jealous and tried to prevent her from practicing by accusing her of corruption before the Areopagus. But the result of the proceedings was quite contrary to their expectations, as a law was immediately passed allowing all freeborn women to learn midwifery.

Since then female physicians practiced in Hellas as well as in Alexandria and in Rome. And when in the 9th Century after Christ the famous Schola Salernitana was established at Salerno, a department for women’s diseases was included, with a number of female professors as teachers. The names of several of these professors are still known; the most noted was the celebrated Tortula, who lived in the 11th Century. Abella, Constanza, Calendas, and Hildegarde too have been praised for their great ability.

This eminent position held by women in the medical profession declined slowly after the 12th Century, and practically disappeared after the 16th Century. The cause for this relapse was undoubtedly the increasing hostility of the Christian Church toward any occupation of women with sciences. This prejudice remained alive up to modern times. It was dominant in 1845 when a young American woman, Elizabeth Blackwell, decided to study medicine. The same motives as had moved the Athenian Agnodice and the loss of a dear woman friend caused the young American to write to various physicians asking as to the wisdom and possibility of a woman becoming a doctor. The answers she received 188were unanimously to the effect that while the idea was a valuable one it was impossible of accomplishment for many reasons. This verdict only served to intensify her determination to accomplish her purpose. After two years of private study she went to Philadelphia, which in those days, 1847, was considered the seat of medical learning in this country, and made application to the four medical colleges for admission as a regular student. But such a revolutionary idea was not to be entertained, and all the doors remained closed to her. One kindly Quaker adviser said to her: “Elizabeth, it is of no use trying. Thee cannot gain admission to these schools. Thee must go to Paris and don masculine attire to gain the necessary knowledge.”

It had now become a moral crusade with Miss Blackwell, and the justice and common sense of her undertaking seemed so supreme that she determined to push the warfare to the farthest limit. After similarly unsuccessful attempts in New York, she obtained a complete list of all the smaller institutions of the Northern States, examined their prospectuses, and sent applications for admission to twelve of the most promising. After long delay an answer came from the medical department of the small university at Geneva, in the western part of New York State. It seems that the faculty had submitted Miss Blackwell’s letter to the medical class, who adopted the following resolutions:

“Resolved—That one of the radical principles of a republican government is the universal education of both sexes; that to every branch of scientific education the door should be open equally to all; that the application of Elizabeth Blackwell to become a member of our class meets our entire approbation; and in extending our unanimous invitation we pledge ourselves that no conduct of ours shall cause her to regret her attendance at this institution.”

Their gallantry won the day, the faculty cordially opened the doors of the institution, and she began her studies there at once.

Being the first female student in the small place her appearance of course gave rise to many comments. Many people looked at this new woman in wonder; some even inclined to regard her as a lunatic, or a disorderly person. But her behavior and seriousness compelled respect, and when in 1849 she received her degree, the public press very generally commented upon the event in favorable terms and even in Europe some notice of it was taken. She found fewer obstacles in her path in her studies abroad, especially in Paris. After her return to America she began practice in New York City, and here again she had to do pioneer work. The medical fraternity stood aloof, refusing to consult with her, and society 189in general somewhat distrusted the innovation. But in time her work received just recognition and the status of women in the profession became fully established. In 1868 Dr. Blackwell founded the “Woman’s Medical College of New York.” The later years of her life were spent in England, where she also did much in moulding public opinion along the lines of philanthropy, especially in opening hospitals and dispensaries for women and children.

A few years after Miss Blackwell had received her diploma, another remarkable woman, Florence Nightingale, aroused world-wide admiration by her noble service during the Crimean war of 1853–56. Intensely devoted to the alleviation of suffering, she had since 1849 paid great attention to the sanitary conditions of civilian as well as military hospitals, which in many cases she found rather poor. In 1851 she went into training as a nurse, and when in 1853 war was declared with Russia, and the hospitals on the Bosphorus were soon crowded with the sick and wounded, she offered the English Government to go out and organize a nursing department at Scutari. Starting with a unit of thirty-seven nurses, she arrived at Constantinople when the mortality in the hospitals had become appalling. Seeing clearly the cause for this frightful state in the bad sanitary arrangements of the hospitals, Miss Nightingale devoted incessant labor to the removal of these causes, as well as to the mitigation of their effects, with such success, that in the English army the death-rate fell from 22¼% to only 2¼%.

After her return to England, in 1856, the Government as well as Queen Victoria and the public were not slow to acknowledge her splendid services. While the Queen presented her with a cross set with diamonds, the people subscribed a fund of several hundred thousand dollars for the purpose of enabling her to found an institution for the training of a superior order of nurses in connection with the St. Thomas’s and King’s College Hospitals. Miss Nightingale also enriched the medical literature by two valuable books, “Notes on Nursing” and “Notes on Hospitals,” in which she gave the results of her lifelong observations.

The example of Miss Nightingale had much to do with calling forth the exertions of American women during the Civil War. As soon as there were wounded soldiers to heal, and military hospitals to serve, the patriotic and benevolent women of America remembered the great work of Florence Nightingale, and hastened to the front. As A. W. Calhoun states in his “Social History of the American Family,” by 1864 there were busy in the North 250 women physicians. Women planned and organized also the “U. S. Sanitary Commission,” for the alleviation of the sufferings of the battlefield. Its pre-eminent 190utility was universally recognized. It caused likewise several great charity fairs, the last two of which were held in New York and Philadelphia and yielded $1,000,000 and $1,200,000 respectively.

Among the female physicians, who did service during the Civil War, the most noteworthy was Dr. Mary E. Walker. Having studied medicine at the Medical College in Syracuse, N. Y., she was the first woman commissioned to serve on the surgical staff of any army in time of war. On assuming her duties as surgeon in the war, she found hospital efficiency and hoopskirts incompatible; so she sacrificed the skirt and donned a man’s coat and trousers. In recognition of her able services Congress not only awarded her a Medal of Honor, but also allowed her—the only instance in history—by a special act to continue to wear male attire. Dr. Walker declared many times that her sole reason for advocating dress reform for women were hygienic ones. A real pioneer in her profession, she also maintained for many years a farm for sufferers from tuberculosis and carried on a school for prevention of that disease modelled after a plan of her own.

Among the women, whose names appear in the history of the Civil War, one of the most brilliant was Miss Clara Barton. Devoting herself to the care of the wounded soldiers, she won for herself as superintendent of the hospitals in the army of the James the surname “the Florence Nightingale of America.” During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 she joined the German branch of the Red Cross Society, that noble institution, which in 1859 had been founded by Henry Durant, a citizen of Geneva, Switzerland.

Inspired by the example of Miss Nightingale, and horrified by the ghastly scenes of the Italian battlefields, he resolved to work for the proper treatment and nursing of wounded soldiers, while still on the ground. At his strong appeal the Swiss Federal Council invited all European nations to a convention in order to discuss proper steps to be taken in this direction. Attended by delegates from Baden, Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Prussia, Switzerland and Wurtemberg, the convention met on August 22, 1864, in Geneva, and decided, that henceforth not only all places where wounded soldiers are treated, but also all persons, engaged in this samaritan service, should be regarded as neutrals and distinguished by white flags or white bands showing a red cross. Such places must not be attacked, but protected by the soldiers of all combating armies.

In the further history and evolution of this international Society of the Red Cross women have played a most prominent part. Miss Barton established during the Franco-Prussian War several military hospitals and, by conducting them, 191distinguished herself so that she was decorated with the Iron Cross. After her return to the United States she organized in 1882 the “American Red Cross Society,” of which she became the first president. The work of Miss Barton and the Red Cross in the Spanish-American War and the great help given to the sufferers after the great tidal wave in Galveston, Texas, caused the United States Senate and the Texas Legislature to adopt resolutions of thanks.

All these great efforts of women could not fail to create a most favorable impression toward woman’s activity in medicine. In England an act of 1868 for the first time opened the study of pharmacy to women; and after a long struggle they obtained their footing as physicians. In 1874 a special medical school was opened for women in London. In 1876 an act authorized every recognized medical body to open its doors to women. In 1878 a supplemental charter enabled the University of London to grant degrees to women in all its faculties, including medicine. As a result up to the close of 1895 264 women had been placed on the British register as duly qualified medical practitioners.

In the United States similar progress was made.

According to the census of 1910, there were 7399 women physicians and surgeons in the United States.

Whereas fifty years ago there was great objection to admitting women to the medical societies, now the men of the profession welcome women physicians to the societies and to their discussions, and are more than willing to consult with them. The advantage of employing women physicians has been recognized likewise by many hospitals, sanitariums and insane asylums; the courts too recognize the justice of women’s preferring women in the physical examination required by law. There can be no doubt, that the 20th Century opens to women physicians undreamed-of possibilities in science and in the art of healing.

When in the year of our Lord 1869 American papers reported that in Iowa a woman had been admitted to the bar, most readers were inclined to regard this “bit of news” as one of the many jokes, sprung occasionally upon credulous people in order to warn them what the “new woman” might be able to do. But in this case the “joke” turned out to be a fact. And if people had been somewhat better acquainted with their Bibles, they would have known that the woman lawyer of Iowa was only another confirmation of Rabbi Ben Akiba’s famous saying: “There is nothing new under the sun!”

Open your Bible and read in Chapter 4 of the Judges IV about Deborah, the Joan of Arc of the Hebrews. Of this most extraordinary woman recorded in Jewish history it is stated that she was a prophetess as well as a judge, “to whom the children of Israel came for judgment.”

The Greeks and Romans too had female lawyers. From writers of the classic past we know that Aspasia pleaded causes in the Athenian forum, and Amenia Sentia and Hortensia in the Roman forum. And Valerius Maximus (Hist. lib. VIII, Chapter 3) states that the right of Roman women to follow the profession of advocate was taken away in consequence of the obnoxious conduct of Caliphurnia, who, from “excess of boldness” and “by reason of making the tribunals resound with howlings uncommon in the forum,” was forbidden to plead. The law, made to meet the especial case of Caliphurnia, ultimately “under the influence of the anti-feministic tendencies” of the period, was converted into a general one. In its wording the law sets forth that the original reason for woman’s exclusion “rested solely on the doings of said person.”

The “howlings of Caliphurnia” furnished the legislators of all later periods with a welcome pretext to exclude women from practice of the law, and it was not till 1869 that a woman again obtained admission to the bar. This pioneer was Miss Arabella A. Mansfield of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, who was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1869, under the statute providing only for admission of “white male citizens.”

The next female lawyer was Mrs. Belva Ann Lockwood, a graduate of the Law School of the National University at Washington, D. C. Having been admitted in 1873 to practice before the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, she applied in October, 1876, for admission as practitioner of the Supreme Court of the United States, but was rejected under the following decision: “By the uniform practice of the Court from its organization to the present time, and by the fair construction of its rules, none but men are admitted to practice before it as attorneys and counselors. This is in 193accordance with immemorial usage in England, and the law and practice in all the States, until within a recent period; and the Court does not feel called upon to make a change until such a change is required by statute or a more extended practice in the highest courts of the States.”

BELVA A. LOCKWOOD.

But if the members of the Supreme Court had entertained the hope of scaring away women once and for all, they soon enough found that they were mistaken. Mrs. Lockwood drafted a bill and secured its passage in Congress, providing “that any woman who shall have been a member of the bar of the highest court of any State or Territory, or of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, for the space of three years, and shall have maintained a good standing before such court, and who shall be a person of good moral character, shall, on motion, and the production of such record, be admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States.” This bill was approved on February 15th, 1879. Since then Mrs. Lockwood as well as a 194number of other female lawyers have been admitted under this law to practice before the highest court of the United States.

A “Woman’s International Bar Association” was organized in 1888, for the purpose of establishing law schools for women and of promoting the interests of female lawyers as well as of securing better legal conditions for women.

According to the Census of 1910 there were 1010 woman lawyers in the United States.

“Having taken up the law,” so said Miss Edith J. Griswold, herself a counsellor-at-law, “woman will not rest until she stands on a level with man, and the end of the Twentieth Century will probably find an equilibrium in the United States Government that can only be obtained (as in the home government) by the equal balancing of the different propensities of male and female mind in the making and enforcing of laws. The prophecy that the time is coming when woman will govern seems ludicrous, and yet it is no more ludicrous than the present lopsided arrangement whereby man has the exclusive power of government. With the rapid advance of woman conditions are being manifested that require woman’s judgment, and to obtain true justice in matters relating to both sexes an equal number of men and women should compose both the court and the jury. By the end of the Twentieth Century, I believe, a woman’s judgment will carry as much weight as a man’s, and the opinions handed down from our higher courts will have to be concurred in by an equal number of male and female judges.”

Sometimes, when the merits of the woman movement were discussed, its opponents made it their trump that the female sex is without any inventive spirit and that this want should be regarded as a convincing evidence for the inferiority of woman s mind. That this assertion was never true at all, but made in absolute ignorance of the real facts, becomes evident, when we recall, that primeval and aboriginal women have been the inventors of our most important industries, of agriculture, weaving, basketry, pottery, tannery, brewing, and many other peaceful arts. And there is not the slightest doubt, that during the times of Antiquity and the Middle Ages women have been the greatest factor in the evolution of these industries, in which they remained constantly busy.

Among the few instances of which records have been preserved, is that of Barbara Uttmann, a German woman of Annaberg, Saxony, who in 1561 invented the Cluny-lace. Herewith she opened, for the extremely poor people of the Erzgebirge, at the most critical time, a new and well paying industry, in which in 1800 about 35,000 girls and women were busy.

Another important invention was made in 1792 in America by the widow of General Nathaniel Green. It was the so-called cotton gin by which the difficult work to separate the seed from the lint was greatly simplified. To pick the seed from one pound of cotton had been formerly considered a good day’s work. With the aid of the cotton gin, which consists of a series of saws revolving between the interstices of an iron bed upon which the cotton is placed so as to be drawn through whilst the seeds are left behind, several hundred pounds of cotton can be cleaned in the same time. This invention stimulated enormously the cultivation of cotton and the manufacture of cotton goods in America. In the South, where so far cotton had been produced only in small quantities, it now became the main product. While in 1792 the quantity exported from the United States was 138,324 pounds, it increased by the year 1800 to nearly 18,000,000 pounds. In the North it led to the establishment of cotton mills and factories on a large scale.

As only few countries have taken the trouble to prepare statistics about inventions made by women it is impossible to give reliable facts about what women have contributed to human culture in this line.

Their most intensive activity has been observed in the 196United States, especially since with the founding of woman’s colleges and the opening of the universities, the education of the female sex became a more careful and broader one.

The U. S. Patent Office at Washington, D. C., has published “Lists of Women Inventors,” in three volumes, covering the period from 1790 to March 1, 1895. From these lists it appears that till 1849 only 32 inventions by women have been registered at the Patent Office. This number increased to 290 during the period from 1850 to 1870; during 1870–1890 to 2568, and up to 1910 to 7942. These numbers prove that with the increase of woman’s knowledge and with the closer contact with modern industrial life her inventive spirit has likewise developed. Also the inventions became more manifold. While prior to 1850 they were almost exclusively confined to dress and household, they now cover all fields of human activity.

This fact became most evident during the terrible years of the World War. Some time ago the “Women Lawyer Journal” reported that of all the many inventions registered since 1914, fifty per cent. have been entered by women. Among these inventions have been such for the better protection of soldiers and aeronauts as well as for the greater comfort of the wounded and crippled. Other inventions meant improvement in wireless telegraphy, gas masks, submarine boats and hundreds of other objects.

Just as hostile as had been the clergy to the admission of women to ecclesiastical office, so unwilling were many prejudiced scholars to admit women into the sacred realms of science. By hundreds of arguments they tried to prove the inability of women to do any deeply scientific work. They explained that the hard study would impair their health, their chances of marriage, and their true destination as mothers. Higher education would make women unfit for domestic life, and, besides, they would hardly produce anything of real scientific value.

If these learned gentlemen would have taken the trouble to make themselves somewhat more acquainted with the history of science they would have found the names of numerous women on record, who, at their time, were among the leaders in the most abstruse sciences. Several centuries before Christ Hellas as well as Rome had a number of brilliant female philosophers, among them Damo, the daughter of Pythagoras, who lived about 580–500 B. C. She was one of his favorite disciples, and to her the great savant entrusted all his writings, enjoining her not to make public all the secrets of his philosophy. This command she strictly obeyed, though tempted by large offers while she was struggling with poverty.

Socrates, the great philosopher, declares that he learned of a woman, Diotima, the “divine philosophy,” how to find from corporeal beauty the beauty of the soul, the angelical mind. Diotima lived in Greece, about 468 B. C.

Arete is known as the daughter of Aristippus of Cyrene, the founder of the Cyrenaic system of philosophy, who flourished about 380 B. C. She was carefully instructed by her father, and after his death taught his system with great success. Leontium, living about 350 B. C., was a disciple of Epicure, and wrote in defense of his philosophy. Tymicha, a Lacedaemonian, was the most celebrated female philosopher of the Pythagorean school. When she, in 330 B. C., was brought before Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, as a prisoner, he made her very advantageous offers, if she would reveal the mysteries of Pythagorean science; but she rejected them all with scorn and contempt. And when he threatened her with torture, she instantly bit off her tongue, and spat it in the tyrant’s face, to show him that no pain could make her violate the pledge of secrecy.

Of Hipparchia, a lady of Thrace, who lived about 328 B. C., it is known that her attachment to learning was so great, 198that having attended several lectures of Crates, the cynic, she resolved to marry him though he was old, ugly, and deformed. She accompanied him everywhere to public entertainments and other places, which was not customary with Greecian women. She also wrote several philosophical theses, and reasonings and questions proposed to Theodorus, the atheist; but none of her writings are extant.

Ancient Rome too had a number of female philosophers, among them Cornelia, “the mother of the Gracchi.” She frequently gave public lectures and was more fortunate with her disciples than with her sons. It was Cicero, who said of her that, had she not been a woman, she would have deserved the first place among philosophers. In what esteem she was held is shown by the fact that a statue was erected to her with the inscription, “Cornelia, Mater Gracchorum.” She died about 230 B. C.

The most renowned female philosopher of the classic times was Hypatia, the lovely daughter of Theon, the head of the famous Alexandrian School in Alexandria, Egypt. Born in 370 A. D., Hypatia was taught by her father and acquired such extensive knowledge and learning, that the Bycantine Church historian Socrates, as well as Nicephorus placed her far above all the philosophers of her time. Several other learned contemporaries praise her in similar terms. Sinesius, bishop of Ptolemais, never mentions her without the profoundest respect, and in terms of affection little short of adoration. In a letter to his brother Euoptius he writes: “Salute the most honored and the most beloved of God, the Philosopher Hypatia, and that happy society, which enjoys the blessing of her divine voice.” And in a long epistle he sends her with the manuscript of a book, he asks her opinion and states his resolution not to publish the book without her approbation.

Hypatia succeeded her father in the government of the Alexandrian School, teaching from the chair where Ammonius, Hieracles, and other celebrated philosophers had taught; and this at a time, when men of immense learning abounded in Alexandria and in other parts of the Roman empire. In fact her renown was so universally acknowledged, that she had always a crowded auditorium. What a subject for an able artist, to present this beautiful woman in her chair, with the flower of all the youth of Africa, Asia and Europe sitting at her feet, eagerly imbibing knowledge from this oracle of wisdom.

Socrates states that she was consulted by the magistrates of Alexandria in all important cases. This frequently brought her among the greatest assemblages of men without causing the least censure of her manners. “Considering the confidence 199and authority which she had acquired by her learning,” says Socrates, “she sometimes came to the judges with singular modesty. Nor was she anything abashed to appear thus among a crowd of men; for all persons, by reason of her extraordinary discretion, did at the same time both reverence and admire her.”

Unfortunately this wonderful woman was to become a martyr of science. The population of Alexandria was split into three hostile groups—the Pagans, the Jews, and the Christians. The latter, under the leadership of the patriarch Cyril, assailed in violent zeal Jews as well as pagans, and heretics or supposed heretics alike, driving them by thousands from the city, destroying their synagogues and temples, and pillaging their houses. It was during one of these riots, that the illustrious Hypatia was attacked by a mob of vicious monks, torn from her carriage, dragged into a church, stripped naked and clubbed to death. Then the murderers in fanatic frenzy tore the body to pieces, carried the limbs to a public square and burnt them to ashes. This happened in Lent 415.

All the writings of Hypatia, among them her treatise “On the Astronomical Canon of Diophantus” and another “On the Conics of Apollonius” are lost. Most probably they too were destroyed by the fanatic Christian mobs, who, after the murder of Hypatia, extinguished the Greek School of philosophers and scientists at Alexandria.—

Astronomy, probably the most ancient of the sciences, has since early days exerted a singular attraction on women.

Herman Davis, in his essay “Women Astronomers,” published in the reports of Columbia University, New York, gives the names of a large number of women astronomers, beginning with several of classic times. Of the Egyptians he mentions Aganice, Athyrta, Berenice, Hipparchia and Occelo, who were connected with the Alexandrian School. Of the Greeks he names Aristocle and Athenais, and of Thessaly Aglaonice. But nothing definite is known about their achievement.

Davis likewise gives an account of Hildegarde, abbess of the monastery on Mount St. Rupert near Bingen on the Rhine. This learned woman, who lived from 1099 to 1180, wrote a book in Latin, in which some marvelous statements are claimed to have been made: 1. that the Sun is in the midst of the firmament retaining by its force the stars which move around it; 2. that when it is cold in the Northern hemisphere it is warm in the Southern, that the celestial temperature may thus be in equilibrium; 3. that the stars not only shine with unequal brilliancy but are themselves really unequal in magnitude; 4. that as blood moves in the veins and makes them pulsate, so do the stars move and send forth 200pulsations of light. “If even one-half of these marvelous statements are found in Hildegarde’s writings as early as the 12th Century,” says Davis, “then this woman may well be classed with the great forerunners of modern astronomy, with Copernicus, Galileo and Newton, for she was three centuries earlier than the first of them.”

The first female astronomer of whom we have more intimate information, was Marie Cunitz, born in 1610 as the eldest daughter of a physician in Silesia. Commanding an extraordinary general culture, her principal study was mathematics and astronomy. Her tables, published under the title “Urania Propitia, sive Tabulæ Astronomicæ,” gained for her a great reputation, and the by-name “the Silesian Pallas.” Dedicated to the Emperor Ferdinand III. the book was published in Latin and in German in 1650 and 1651.

Another noted astronomer was Caroline Lucretia Herschel, born in 1750 at Hanover, Germany. In 1772 she accompanied her brother William to England, and when he accepted the office of astronomer-royal, she became his constant assistant in his observations. In this capacity she succeeded in discovering independently eight comets, five of which had not been observed before. Also she discovered many of the small stellar nebulæ which were included in her brother’s catalogue. For her many contributions to astronomy in 1835 she was presented by the Astronomical Society with their gold medal, and was also elected an honorary member.

When the memoirs of Miss Herschel were published, the editor, in describing her character, said: “Great men and great causes have always some helper of whom the outside world knows but little. These helpers and sustainers have the same quality in common—absolute devotion and unwavering faith in the individual or the cause. Seeking nothing for themselves, thinking nothing of themselves, they have all the intense power of sympathy, a noble love of giving themselves for the service of others. Of this noble company of unknown helpers Caroline Herschel was one.”—

This capacity of self-denial distinguished likewise a number of other women, whose names are known in the history of astronomy, as for instance Theresa and Madeline Manfredi, the daughters of Eustachio Manfredi, from 1674 to 1739 director of the observatory of Bologna. Further, Marie Margarethe Kirch, who assisted her husband, the astronomer Kirch, in the upper Lausatia; Madame Lepante, the wife of the famous clock-maker Jean Andre Lepante; and nearer our own time, there is Maria Mitchell, born 1818 at Nantucket, Mass., who at an early age became the assistant of her father. Carrying on a series of independent observations, she was in 1865 appointed professor of astronomy in Vassar College.

201Emilie de Bréteuil, Antonie C. Asher, Elizabeth von Matt, Wilhelmine Witte and Agnes Mary Clerke likewise distinguished themselves in astronomy. The last named lady published in 1885 a “History of Astronomy” and in 1890 “The System of the Stars.” These writings, conspicuous for a careful sifting and due assimilation of facts, with a happy diction that is at the same time both popular and scientific, place the author in the foremost rank of writers on astronomy.—

As an eminent mathematician, linguist and philosopher Maria Gaetana Agnesi is known to every student of science. Born 1718 at Milan, she gave early indication of extraordinary ability and devoted herself to the abstract sciences. In mathematics she attained such consummate skill, that, when her father, professor of mathematics at Bologna, died, the Pope allowed her to succeed him. In this capacity she wrote her famous work: “Instituzions Analitiche ad Uso Gioventu Italiana,” which was published at Milan in 1748. Its first volume treats of the analysis of finite quantities, and the second of the analysis of infinitesimals. The able mathematician John Colson, professor at the University of Cambridge, considered this work so excellent, that he studied Italian in order to translate it into English. Under the title “Analytical Institutions” this translation was published in 1801, to do honor to Maria Agnesi, and also to prove that women have minds capable of comprehending the most abstruse studies.

Another female mathematician, Sophie Germain, born in 1776 in Paris, won the grand prize, offered by the Institute of France for the best memoir giving the mathematical theory of elastic surfaces and comparing it with experience. This question had come up in 1808. Great mathematicians were not wanting in Paris at that time—Lagrange, Laplace, Poisson, Fourier, and others, but none of them were inclined to tackle the question. Lagrange, in fact, had said that it could not be solved by any of the then known mathematical methods. The offer was twice renewed by the Institute, and in 1816 the prize was conferred upon Sophie Germain, who in 1808 as well as in 1810 had made two unsuccessful attempts to solve the difficult question. The same woman distinguished herself by a number of other valuable papers and philosophical writings.

In more recent years Sonja Kowalewska, a Russian, who had studied mathematics at the universities of Berlin and Goettingen, became famous as the winner of the Prix Bordin, offered by the Academy of Paris. Later on, as a professor of mathematics in Stockholm, she wrote a number of excellent professional works, but died there in her fortieth year.

Among the British scientific writers of the 19th Century the most famous was Mary Somerville, whom Laplace called 202the most learned woman of her age and the only woman who understood his works. In translating his brilliant work “Mécanique Celeste,” she greatly popularized its form. Its publication in 1831 under the title of “The Mechanism of the Heavens” at once made her famous. Her own works: “Connections of Physical Science,” “Physical Geography” and “Molecular and Microscopic Science” have been declared masterworks, distinguished by a clear and crisp style, and the underlying enthusiasm for the subject.

In the history of chemistry the name of Marie Curie will be forever connected with the wonderful discovery of Radium and Radio-activity. Born on November 7, 1867, at Warsaw as Marja Sklodowska she came to Paris in 1888 and studied at the Faculté des Sciences. In 1895 she married Professor Pierre Curie and joined him in his chemical investigations. It was in 1898 that she published a most valuable work on metals in solution. Her investigations in collaboration with her husband led to the discovery of two new bodies: Polonium and Radium, which are found in certain minerals, especially in pitch blende in a state of extreme solution; as a matter of fact, to the extent only of a few decigrammes to the ton of mineral for Radium, and much less in the case of Polonium. The separation of these elements presented extreme difficulties.

Further investigations led to the observation of most interesting phenomena in connection with these bodies—chemical effects, luminous effects, effects of heating, etc. New realms of science were disclosed—the science of Radio-active phenomena. In recognition of these discoveries in 1903 the Nobel Prize was awarded to Professor Curie and his wife. And when Mrs. Curie, after the tragic death of her husband, accomplished the “isolation” of Radium and also determined its atomic weight, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for a second time in 1911. At present Mrs. Curie is Director of the Physico-Chemical Department of the University of Paris.

For valuable research work in bacteriology Dr. Rhoda Erdmann, a former assistant of the famous professor Robert Koch in Berlin, became most favorably known. Having published several excellent treatises on the amoeba and protozoa, she followed in 1913 a call to the Sheffield-Institute of Yale University.

In the wide fields of archæology and ethnology likewise several women have achieved remarkable results. Among those scientists who devoted themselves to the study of archæology and the ancient history of America the name of Zelia Nuttall is well known. She is the author of many interesting essays on the relics left by the Aztecs, Toltecs, and Mayas. Science is also indebted to her for the so-called “Codex Nuttall,” now preserved in the Peabody-Museum at Cambridge, Mass.

203Another noteworthy ethnologist was Erminnie Adele Smith, who, as compiler of the famous Iroquois-English Dictionary, was distinguished by being elected the first woman member of the New York Academy of Science.

Alice Cunningham Fletcher made most valuable investigations about the religious and social conditions of several Indian tribes of the Far West, especially of the Sioux, Omaha, and Pawnee Indians. Her very exhaustive studies have been published in the Annual Reports of the Bureau of American Ethnology.

The same reports contain highly interesting papers by Matilda Cox Stevenson and Tilly E. Stevenson about the mythology, esoteric societies and sociology of the Zuni Indians.

Miss Elsie Clews Parsons in New York has published valuable monographs about the folk-lore of the Pueblo Indians and the Negroes of the Bahama Islands. A. M. Czaplicka, Mary Kingsley, Barbara Freire-Marreco, Adele Breton, Mrs. Jochelson-Brodsky, and Maria Tubino are likewise most favorably known as writers on archæology and ethnology.

For a number of years Johanna Mestorf has held the position of director of the Museum of Antiquities of Schleswig-Holstein.

Cornelia Horsford, the learned daughter of the late Professor Eben Horsford of Cambridge, Mass., made great efforts to settle many questions in regard to the early voyages of discovery by the Norsemen to Greenland and Vinland. In the pursuit of these studies she sent several scientific expeditions to Iceland as well as to Greenland and published a number of valuable essays, among them “Graves of the Northmen”; “Dwellings of the Saga Time in Iceland, Greenland and Vinland”; “Vinland and its Ruins”; and “Ruins of the Saga-Times.”

Anne Pratt is known as an able botanist. And Eleanor Anne Ormerod has been hailed in England as “the Protector of Agriculture,” as she organized the valuable “Annual Series of Reports on Injurious Insects and Pests,” distributed by the Government.

Among the explorers of the Dark Continent a Dutch lady, Miss Alexandrine Tinné, created a sensation by her daring journeys in the upper Nile regions. During her first expedition, which lasted from 1861 to 1864, she penetrated great stretches of unknown territory, and was the first to enter the land of the Niam Niam. Several members of her expedition died from the terrible hardships that had to be overcome. After her return to Cairo Miss Tinné started in January, 1869, on a still more hazardous expedition, which was to proceed from Tripoli to Lake Tchad, and from there by way of Wadai, Darfur, and Kordofan to the Upper Nile. But while her 204caravan was on the route from Murzuk to Rhat, the daring explorer was murdered by her own escort.

An English lady, Florence Caroline Dixie, explored the wilderness of Central Patagonia. Isabelle Bishop became known for her extensive travels through Asia, and the masterful descriptions of those countries she had traversed. Her best work is “Korea and Her Neighbors.”

Therese, Princess of Bavaria, wrote several highly interesting works about her extensive travels in Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, and the tropical regions of Brazil. Cecilie Seler, the wife of the famous archæologist Eduard Seler, is the author of the valuable book “On Ancient Roads in Mexico and Guatemala.”

While these examples—which might be increased by many others—give ample proof of woman’s ability in regard to scientific work, it must be stated, that, up to the middle of the 19th Century, men did very little to encourage their struggling sisters in this line of activity. Indeed, there are not a few instances of strong disinclination on the part of statesmen as well as of scientists, to smooth woman’s road to higher education. Centuries passed before women succeeded in gaining the right to follow their studies in colleges and universities, a right they had enjoyed in Italy during the 10th and 11th Centuries as well as during the Renaissance.

The first institution of modern times, that admitted women on the same footing with men, was Oberlin College in Ohio, founded in 1833 and open to all irrespective of sex and color. The first woman who graduated here was Miss Zerniah Porter, who in 1838 received her diploma in the so-called literary course. The State universities of the West that were founded later on all followed the example set by Oberlin College and gradually the older ones adopted the same policy, so that all over the West and South, where the State university is a strong influence, these institutions are open to women. Throughout these regions women’s education is for this reason almost synonymous with co-education. In the Eastern part of the United States, however, the private college predominates, and there is a greater degree of separation. But even here the restrictions are gradually being removed, and most of the men’s colleges and universities admit women to some departments with some restrictions, or have an affiliated woman’s college.

America has also a number of independent colleges exclusively for women. The best known among them are Vassar College, at Poughkeepsie, New York, organized in 1861, with 1124 students and 144 teachers in 1918; Wellesley College in Massachusetts, organized in 1875, and with 1612 students and 138 teachers in 1918; Bryn Mawr in Pennsylvania 205organized in 1880, and with 489 students and 63 teachers in 1918; Smith College at Northampton, Mass.

France began to open its universities to women in 1858; England followed in 1864; Switzerland in 1866; Sweden in 1870; Denmark, Holland, Finland and India in 1875; Italy and Belgium in 1876; Australia in 1878; Norway in 1884; Iceland in 1886; Hungary in 1895; Austria in 1897; Prussia in 1899, and Germany in 1900.

To-day no one clings any longer to the old prejudices against the abilities of women. College education among women has become so common as to attract little or no attention. It is regarded as the essential training for intellectual, professional and business life, and it is no longer an effort to secure it, but rather to make it of the greatest possible value to the students and to the community. As women do a large proportion of the teaching in public schools as well as in colleges for both sexes, the education of the citizens of the 20th Century depends largely upon the opportunities available to women in the past, present and future.—

As educators as well as founders of learned institutions large numbers of women became most favorably known. There was for instance Jeanne Louise Henriette Campan. When the tempests of the French Revolution began to rage, she held a position at the royal court as reader to the young princesses. Thrown on her own resources after the dethronement and execution of the King and the Queen she established a school at Saint-Germain. The institution prospered, and was patronized by Mme. Beauharnais, whose influence led to the appointment of Mme. Campan as superintendent of the Academy founded by Napoleon at Ecouen, for the education of the daughters and sisters of members of the Legion of Honor. While in this position Mme. Campan wrote a treatise “De l’Education des Femmes.”

Emmy Hart Willard in 1823 founded Troy Female Seminary at Troy, N. Y., over which she presided until 1838. Mary Mason Lyon established in 1836 Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, of which she was president until her death in 1849.

Elizabeth Palmer Peabody in Boston was largely instrumental in introducing Froebel’s kindergarten system in the United States. She likewise wrote a number of educational works. In England Emily Anne Shireff was active as President of the Froebel Society of England. Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, who worked for the extension of university education to women, aided in 1868 in establishing Girton College, at Cambridge, England. Anne Jemima Clough founded in 1867 the North of England Council for Promoting the Higher Education of Women, and in 1875 the Newnham College for Women.

206The name of Sophie Smith is remembered as the founder of Smith College at Northampton, Mass., the first woman’s college in New England; the name of Annie N. Meyer as the founder of Barnard College, the woman’s department of Columbia University in New York.

Marie Montessori was the inventor of a new system of teaching.

Reviewing the countless contributions women have made to literature is a task that can be mastered only by devoting to this subject several ponderous volumes. Whether such an attempt has even been made we are unable to say. But the theme is so attractive that I hope that some competent woman author may be inspired to undertake this task. What more beautiful mission could she have than to study and analyze all the scattered evidences of brilliant intellect, rich in imagination, deep emotion, power of expression, soaring enthusiasm, scintillating wit, and profound sorrow, to be found in many of the books written by women since the days of Sappho and Erinna.

Only fragments remain of the beautiful odes, hymns and love-songs produced by the poetesses of the classic past. But that they inspired all Hellas and Rome we know from the testimony of the foremost authors and critics of their time. When Meleager of Gadara, the famous sophist and poet, selected the choicest poems of his predecessors and wove them into that delicious “Garland,” to be hung outside the gate of the Gardens of the Hesperides, he did not forget Sappho, because “though her flowers were few, they were all roses.” And a critic, writing five hundred years after Erinna’s death, speaks of still hearing her swan-note clear above the jangling chatter of the jays, and of still thinking those three hundred hexameter verses sung by this girl of nineteen in “The Distaff” as lovely as the loveliest of Homer. There is also a report, that Corinna, a native of Tanagra, in Bœotia, won five times in poetical contests the prize in competition with Pindar, the greatest lyric poet of Greece.

With greater kindness fate treated the works of Alphaizuli, a Moorish poetess, who lived in Seville during the 8th Century A. D. Of her, who was called “the Arabian Sappho,” two volumes of excellent verses are preserved in the library of the Escurial. Likewise Labana and Leela, two Moorish poetesses, were famous throughout beautiful Andalusia during the 10th and the 13th Century. Of Valada, the daughter of the Moorish King Almostakeph, of Corduba, her contemporaries report that she several times contended with scholars noted for their eloquence and knowledge, and quite often bore away the palm.

That such contests were held in great favor by learned ladies, appears from the institution of those famous poetical festivals known as “Jeux Floraux” or Floral Games. They are said to have been established in the 11th or the 12th 208Century by a gay company of French minstrels, called “the seven troubadours.” But in time they had become forgotten. It is due to Clemence Isaure, a poetess born in 1464 at Toulouse, that these festivals were renewed. Fixing the first of May as the day of these Floral Games, she invited all poets and poetesses to participate in peaceful contest, assigning as prizes for the victors five different flowers, wrought in gold and silver. There was an amaranth of gold for the best ode; a silver violet for a poem of from sixty to one hundred Alexandrine lines; a silver eglantine for the best prose composition; a silver marigold for an elegy, and a silver lily for a hymn.

These contests have been held in Toulouse through all the centuries. They were recognized by the French Government in 1694, and confirmed by letters-patent from the king. Some twenty-five years ago they were likewise introduced into Germany, and held first in Cologne.

The brilliant age of the Renaissance produced several women writers and poets, whose works are still read. The literary annals of Italy shine with such illustrious names as Cassandra Fidelis, the Venetian; Veronica Gambara, of Brescia; Lucia Bertana, of Bologna; Tarquenia Molza, of Modena; Gaspara Stampa, of Padua; and the great Vittoria Colonna, of Marino, whose sonnets as well as her beauty and virtues were extolled by all contemporaries.

In Spain Marianne de Carbajal and Maria de Zayas, during the 17th Century, the classic period of Spanish literature, became the pride of their country.

In France Marguerite d’Angouleme wrote a delightful book, “the Heptameron,” similar in plan to the famous “Decamerone” by Boccaccio. In the middle of the 16th Century Louise Labbé, known in French literature as “La belle cordière,” produced her “Debat de Folie et d’Amour,” a work full of wit, originality and beauty. Erasmus and La Fontaine were both indebted to it; the former for the idea of “The Praise of Folly,” and the latter for “L’Amour et la Folie.” In truth, La Fontaine’s poem is only a versification of the prose story of Louise Labbé.

Of the illustrious French women, who during the 16th, 17th and 18th Centuries made their “salons” the gathering-places for men and women of letters, several became widely known for their own poems and works of fiction. As for instance Madeline de Scudéry, Anne de Seguier, Claudine de Tencin, Madame de la Sabliére, Madeline de Souvré, and Anne Dacier, of whom Voltaire said, that no woman ever rendered greater services to literature.

209

A FLORAL GAME DURING THE 14TH CENTURY.

After a painting by F. Padilla.

210In the literature of the 19th Century Anne Louise Germaine Necker, Baroness de Stael-Holstein, held a singular position. Many of her contemporaries exalted her as “the founder of the romantic movement” who gave “ideas” to the world. To-day she is almost forgotten, and her novels and plays, among them “Corinne” and “Sophie and Jane Grey” lie undisturbed and dusty on the library shelves.

Perhaps her most remarkable contribution to literature was her book “L’Allemagne,” which was announced in 1810. It gave a most intelligent exposition of the science, literature, arts, philosophy, and other characteristics of the Germans, gathered from the author’s own observations. The work, written with a spirited independence, quite at variance with the deadening political influence of Napoleon, irritated the emperor to such a degree that he ordered the minister of police to seize and destroy the whole edition of 10,000 copies. Besides this he exiled the author from France. When, after the overthrow of Napoleon, she returned to Paris, she had her book printed again, and had the satisfaction of seeing it eagerly read by millions of Frenchmen.

Of all French authoresses of the 19th Century Armantine Lucile Aurore Dudevant, or “George Sand,” holds the supreme rank. In the long line of her thoughtful, concentrated and meditative novels “Valentine,” “Indiana,” “Lelia,” “Mauprat,” and “Le Meunier d’ Angibault” are real gems of fiction, whose influence can be traced in many later works by writers of France and other nations.

Of her contemporaries Louise Révoil Colet, Eugenie de Guérin, Pauline de la Ferronay Craven, and, above all, Delphine de Girardin must be mentioned, whose “Letters Parisiennes” as well as her poems, novels, dramas and comedies belong to the most excellent productions of the 19th Century. By her dramatic pieces “L’Ecole des Journalistes,” “Judith,” “Cleopatra,” “C’est la faute du mari,” “Lady Tartufe,” and others she reaped a wide popularity. In the literary society of her time she exercised no small personal influence. Balzac, Alfred de Musset, Gautier, and Victor Hugo were among the frequenters of her salon.

Among the British woman writers of the latter part of the 18th Century Jane Austen was the most distinguished. Her novels “Sense and Sensibility,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “Emma,” “Northanger Abbey” and “Persuasion” have been likened to the carefully-executed paintings of the Dutch masters for their charming pictures of quiet, natural life.

Ann Ward Radcliffe wrote three novels unsurpassed of their kind in English literature: “The Romance of the Forest,” “The Mysteries of Udolpho,” and “The Italian.” They are distinguished for originality, ingenuity of plot, fertility of incident, and skill in devising apparently supernatural occurrences 211capable of explanation by human agency and natural coincidence.

Mary Russell Mitford edited several volumes of sketches of rural character and scenery, delightful and finished in style, and unrivalled in her manner of description. It is by these sketches of English life that she obtained the greatest share of her popularity. She wrote also an opera called “Sadak and Kalasrade,” and four tragedies, “Julian,” “Foscari,” “Rienzi,” and “Charles the First.” All were successful; “Rienzi,” in particular, long continued a favorite.

Elizabeth Inchbald’s two novels “The Simple Story” and “Nature and Art,” have long ranked among standard works. Besides novels she wrote a number of dramas, some of which were very successful.

Maria Edgeworth published a new work almost every year from the beginning of the 19th Century to 1825. The novels “Castle Rackrent,” “Belinda,” “Vivian.” “Harrington and Ormond,” and many others followed each other rapidly, and all were welcomed and approved by the public. Her best and last work of fiction, “Helen,” appeared in 1834.

Mary Shelley, the wife of the famous poet Percy Shelley, is renowned as the author of the romances “Frankenstein,” “Valperga, or the Life and Adventures of Castruccio, Prince of Lucca”; “Falkner”; “Lodore,” and “The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck.” A most peculiar work is “The Last Men,” a fiction of the final agonies of human society owing to the universal spread of pestilence.

Among the dramatists of the 19th Century Joanna Baillie was the foremost. In her “Plays of Passion” she illustrates each of the deepest and strongest passions of the human mind, such as Hate, Love, Jealousy, Fear, by a tragedy and a comedy. Other dramas were “The Family Legend”; “Henriquez”; “The Separation,” and other plays, which show remarkable power of analysis, and observation. They are all written in vigorous style.

Of the numerous novelists of the 19th Century Charlotte Bronté was received with universal delight. Her novels “Jane Eyre,” “Shirley” and “Villette” have all the vigor and individuality of poetic genius. She was “a star-like soul, whose genius followed no tradition and left no successors.”

Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell will be remembered for her intensely interesting books “Mary Barton,” “North and South,” the exquisitely humorous “Cranford,” and “Cousin Phyllis,” which has been fitly called an idyll in prose.

The prolific Catherine Grace Gore gives in the novels “The Banker’s Wife,” “Cecil, or the Adventures of a Coxcomb,” “Greville,” and “Ormington,” masterful pictures of the life and pursuits of the English upper classes.

212Caroline Elizabeth Norton, after having given in her novel “The Undying One” a version of the legend of the Wandering Jew, became in her book “A voice from the Factories” a most eloquent priestess of reforms. She condemned especially child labor, the darkest blot on the social conditions of England.

In the middle of the 19th Century Mary A. Evans became famous under her nom de plume “George Eliot.” Having translated in 1844 David Strauss’ brilliant work “Das Leben Jesu,” and Spinoza’s “Ethics,” she published in 1858 her novel “Adam Bede,” which placed her at once in the front rank of modern authors. Her later novels “The Mill on the Floss,” “Silas Marner,” “Romola” and “Felix Holt” proved so many contributions to her fame.

In recent times the works of Mary Edgeworth, Charlotte R. Lenox, Anne M. Fielding Hall, Mary Braddon, Elizabeth Sheppard, Louise de la Ramée (Ouida), Matilde Blind, Anna Seward and Charlotte M. Younge have won much appreciation.

Of the woman-authors born in Scotland, Margaret Oliphant wrote “Chronicles of Carlingford” and the charming novels “Merkland”; “The Quiet Heart”; “Zaidee,” all of which are exquisite delineations of Scottish life and character. Another Scottish woman-author deserving of mention is Mary Ferrier, whose novels “Marriage,” “The Inheritance,” and “Destiny” breathe much originality and humor.

Of the Irish novelists Julia Kavanagh and Margaret Hamilton Hungerford must be mentioned, the former for her volumes “French Women of Letters”; and “English Women of Letters,” as well as for her novels “Adele”; “The Pearl Fountain”; “Sibyl’s Second Love”; and “Daisy Burns.” Marg. Hungerford’s novel “Molly Brown” has been much admired.

Mary Augusta Ward, born in Tasmania, became favorably known through her principal novel “Robert Elsmere,” which delineates effectively the modern spiritual unrest and attempts to proclaim an ideal religion.

Another noteworthy author of Tasmania is Louisa Anne Meredith.

England has of course also a long roll of able poetesses, among them Sarah Flower Adams, who wrote the beautiful hymn “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” Alison Cockburn, Anne Barnard and Caroline Oliphant are the authors of many fine Scotch songs and ballads, among them the famous poems “Flowers of the Forest” and “Auld Robin Gray.”

In recognition of the grace and delicacy of her lyrics Elizabeth Barrett Browning has been called “the most distinguished poet of her sex that England ever produced,” but at the same time “the most unreadable.” Her fame rests 213chiefly on her “Drama of Exile,” the “Casa Guidi Windows,” and “Aurora Leigh.” The latter is a social epic, which contains many noble passages that give evidence of great originality and power.

Sarah Coleridge has been much admired for the gracefulness and the beautiful language of her poems “Phantasmion, a Fairy Tale”; “Sylvan Stay,” and “One Face Alone.”

The poems of Felicia Hemans have been the result of a fine imagination and temperament, and of a life spent in romantic seclusion. Many of them, as for instance “Homes of England,” “The Treasures of the Deep,” “The Better Land,” and “The Wreck” rank among the best ever produced.

Adelaide Ann Proctor, Catherine Fowler Philips, Christina Rosetti, Mary Blackford Tighe, and Caroline Oliphant have been the authoresses of many poems, still cherished for their beauty and nobility of thought.

The United Kingdom has also several woman historians, among them Catharine Macaulay, whose “History of England,” in six volumes, appeared in 1763.

The love and reverence she was taught from childhood to cherish for the queens of her country induced Miss Agnes Strickland, of Roydon Hall, Suffolk, to write her great work “The Lives of the Queens of England.” Its twelve volumes appeared at intervals from 1840 till 1848. In 1850 she began to publish a similar series about the “Lives of the Queens of Scotland,” completing it in eight volumes in 1859. Unresting in her industry, she wrote likewise “The Lives of the Last Four Stuart Princesses,” published in 1872.

Harriet Martineau too deserves an honorable place among English women of letters. Her series of tales designed as “Illustrations of Political Economy” and “Illustrations of Taxation” brought her at once into great prominence. Later on she produced an amazing quantity of works, relating to the laws of man’s nature and development, mesmerism, travel, and other subjects.

In American literature woman’s activity began with Anne Bradstreet, the daughter of Governor Bradstreet of Massachusetts. To him she dedicated the first volume of poetry published on the Western hemisphere. Printed in 1642, it had the somewhat verbose title: “Several Poems, compiled with great variety of wit and learning, full of delight; wherein especially is contained a complete discourse and description of the four elements, constitutions, ages of man, seasons of the year, together with an exact epitome of the three first monarchies, viz.: the Assyrian, Persian, Greecian, and Roman Commonwealth, from the beginning to the end of their last king, with divers other pleasant and serious poems. By a 214Gentlewoman of New England.” Three editions of this collection appeared.

Of several poems, directed to her husband, we give the following lines:

Hannah Adams, born in 1755, was the first American woman who made literature her profession. Interested in religious controversy she compiled a “View of Religions,” in three parts. After that she wrote “Evidences of Christianity,” a “History of the Jews,” and a “History of New England.” As far as pecuniary matters went, she was, however, singularly unsuccessful, probably from her want of knowledge of business, and ignorance in worldly matters. At the time when she was engaged in compiling her books, so rare were woman-writers in America, that she was looked upon as one of the wonders of her age.

In 1790 appeared a novel, “Charlotte Temple,” a story of love, betrayal, and desertion, by Mrs. Susanna Haswell Rowson, a book of which more than a hundred editions are known.

With the beginning of the 19th Century the number of American authoresses increased rapidly. Catharine and Susan Sedgwick wrote their “New England Tales,” which were received with such favor, that Catharine in 1824 published a novel in two volumes, entitled “Redwood,” a work which met with great success, was republished in England, and translated into French and Italian. It was followed by a large number of other novels, which were greatly appreciated for their purity of language and grace of style.

Somewhat later Lydia Maria Child developed as one of the first and foremost progressive writers. Having commenced her literary life with “Hobomok, a Story of the Pilgrims,” she later on devoted herself to the cause of woman and the abolition of slavery. She wrote a “History of Woman,” which was followed in 1833 by a strong “Appeal for that Class of Americans Called Africans,” the first anti-slavery work ever printed in book form in America. In 1841 she moved to New York and assisted her husband in editing “The National Anti-Slavery Standard.”

As is very generally known, her contemporary, Harriet Beecher Stowe, too, was interested in the question of abolition. In 1850 she wrote for the “National Era,” an anti-slavery paper, a serial entitled “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” When this 215novel was republished in book form it met with tremendous success. In the United States between 300,000 and 400,000 copies were sold within three years, and the printing press had to run day in and out to meet the demand. In Europe the book was devoured with the same deep interest. There are thirty-five different editions in English, and translations in at least twenty different languages. As the novel was also dramatized in various forms, it became a great factor in the abolishment of slavery.

Of the later stories by Mrs. Stowe “The Minister’s Wooing,” a tale of New England life in the latter part of the 18th Century, has been pronounced to be her best. But her reputation, while it lasts, will rest chiefly upon “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

Sarah Margaret Fuller too belongs to those authors who espoused the cause of woman’s rights. In “The Dial,” a little quarterly journal, the organ of the transcendentalists and of the famous community at Brook Farm, she first published “The Great Lawsuit.” It formed the nucleus of a larger volume entitled “Woman in the Nineteenth Century.” Far in advance of the ideas of her times, it is with its noble sentiments and valuable hints a spirited plea for the rights of the female sex.

Elizabeth Ellet is favorably known for her valuable work “The Women of the American Revolution,” published in 1848 in three volumes. It was followed in 1850 by the “Domestic History of the American Revolution,” designed to give an inside view into the spirit of that period, and to describe the social and domestic conditions of the colonists and their feelings during the war.

Ann Sophia Stephens, and Emma D. Southworth were likewise immensely popular fiction writers during the first half of the 19th Century. So was Maria S. Cummins, who in “The Lamplighter” achieved a success comparable to that of Mrs. Stowe’s “Uncle Tom.”

The many short stories and novels of Mary Virginia Terhune, who wrote under the pseudonym of Marion Harland; the romances of Harriet Prescott Spofford, Miriam Coles Harris, Elizabeth Barstow Stoddard, and Adeline Whitney, are now almost forgotten. Also the novels of Lydia Sigourney of Norwich, Connecticut, who holds the record of being one of the most prolific female writers in America. She produced not less than fifty-seven volumes, among them “Letters to Mothers”; “Water-Drops,” a contribution to the temperance-cause; “Pleasant Memories in Pleasant Lands”; “Pocahontas”; and “Traits of the Aborigines of America,” a descriptive poem in five cantos.

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps enjoyed with her “Sunny Side” 216and other tales a phenomenal success. Her daughter, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward, was in her time regarded as the greatest American woman novelist, who has most influenced the women of the United States. “The Silent Partner”; “Hedged In”; “Dr. Zay”; “The Story of Avis” as almost all other stories of the Phelps are laid in New England and exquisitely describe its nature, past, and present conditions.

Jane Goodwin Austin, Rose Terry Cooke, Annie Trumbull Slosson, Clara Louise Burnham, Alice Brown and Mary E. Wilkins Freeman belong also to the woman-authors whose works deal with colonial and present-day life in the New England States.

Of the woman-authors, who realized the possibilities of the romantic life and history of the early settlers and pioneers, Mary Johnston and Mary Hartwell Catherwood were the most successful. To the former we are indebted for the romances “Prisoners of Hope,” and “To Have and to Hold”; to the latter for the novels “The Lady of Fort St. John,” “The White Islander,” “Old Kaskaskia,” “Lazarre” and others.

Under the pen name of Charles Egbert Craddock Mary Noailles Murfree published a series of highly interesting short stories “In the Tennessee Mountains.” Displaying an intimate knowledge of the mountaineers of Eastern Tennessee, and full of life, these stories attracted at once wide attention. They were followed later on by a large number of other novels, of which “The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains,” “In the Clouds,” “The Frontiersmen” and “The Storm Centre” have secured to Miss Murfree a place of honor among present-day writers.

Alice French under her well-known pen name Octave Thanet sketched in her short stories life in Iowa and Arkansas; Ruth McEnery Stuart wrote amusing stories of negro life in Louisiana.

Gertrude Franklin Atherton achieved a wide reputation with her charming romances of early Californian life, among which “The Doomswoman” and “The Californians” are the most remarkable. Of her later novels “The Conqueror” and “A Whirl Asunder” need to be mentioned.

Mary Hallock Foote, having likewise studied the conditions of the Far West, in her admirable stories “The Led-Horse Claim,” “Cœur d’Alene,” and “The Chosen Valley” carries the reader into the romance of Western mining camps and of the virgin wilderness.

Helen Hunt Jackson, whose literary productions, over the signature “H. H.,” began to attract attention about 1870, offered a truly native flower to American literature in her poetic book “Ramona.” Intensely alive and involving the reader in its movement, it yet contains an idyl of singular 217loveliness. “Ramona,” says Helen J. Cone in an essay about American literature, “stands as the most finished, though not the most striking, example that what American women have done notably in literature they have done nobly.”

The various works of Constance Fenimore Woolson, a grand-niece of Fenimore Cooper, also enjoyed general approval. In her best known novels: “East Angels,” “Jupiter Lights,” and “Horace Chase” she attained a high standard of excellence.

Frances Hodgson Burnett created in her book “Through One Administration” a pathetic story of the intricate political life in Washington. Furthermore she gave in “Louisiana” and in “The Pretty Sister of José” charming pictures of Southern conditions.

Mrs. Burton N. Harrison and Edith Wharton delighted their many readers with highly interesting novels and short stories of New York City Life, full of local color. Of the former author’s works “The Anglomaniacs,” “Golden Rod,” and “The Circle of a Century” show her great skill in the dialogue. Of the many novels and short stories of Miss Wharton “The House of Mirth,”, “The Greater Inclination,” “Sanctuary,” and “Crucial Instances” are perhaps the best.

Among the American novelists of our present days Margaret Deland is without question one of the most popular. Her novels “John Ward,” “Sidney,” “Tommy Dove,” “Philip and His Wife,” “The Wisdom of Fools,” “Dr. Lavendar’s People,” and “The Awakening of Helen Richie” rank among the best in American fiction.

The literary work of Anna Katherine Green, Kate Douglas Wiggins, Molly Elliot Seawell, Ellen Glasgow, Mary Shipman Andrews, Leona Dalrymple, Margaret Sherwood, and many other woman authors, excellent as much as it is, can only be referred to summarily.

To enrol the names of those American women who since the days of Anne Bradstreet have expressed their thoughts and emotions in poetry, would be a task far exceeding the limits of this volume. Confining ourselves to the most noteworthy, we mention first the sisters Alice and Phœbe Cary. Among their many splendid poems and novels “Hualco, a Romance of the Golden Age of Tezcuco,” is founded upon adventures of a young Mexican chief, as related by several Spanish historians of the time of the conquest. Of Alice Cary exist several hymns, one of which is almost a classic in the purity of its sentiment.

The poetic spirit of Julia Ward Howe found expression in “Passion Flowers” (1854) and “Lyrics” (1866). Her most memorable poem is the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” which breathes fervent patriotism and gives expression to the deep moral purpose of the Civil War.

218The poetry of Helen Jackson unquestionably takes rank above that of any American woman. Emerson rated it above that of almost all American men. Her works include simple poetry of domestic life as well as love-poems of extraordinary intensity and imaginative fullness, furthermore, verses showing most intimate sympathy with external nature; and lastly, a few poems of the highest dignity and melody in the nature of odes, such as “A Christmas Symphony” and “A Funeral March.”

The numerous lyrics of Elizabeth Oakes Smith, E. O. Kinney, Frances S. Osgood, Anne L. Botta, Sarah Helen Whitman, Maria Lowell, Harriet W. Sewall, Emily Judson and many other women poets of the last half century show a development corresponding to that traceable in the field of American fiction.

In recent times a large number of gifted women have contributed to the general chorus new notes of unusual strength and beauty. Many names deserve a place upon the honor roll; among them Margaret J. Preston, Elizabeth Allen, Julia Dorr, Mary E. Bradley, Nora Perry, Mary C. Hudson, Margaret Sangster, Charlotte Bates, May Riley Smith, Edna Dean Proctor, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Alice Wellington Rollins, Edith Thomas, Emma Lazarus, Kate Osgood, and Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

In other branches of literature, to which comparatively few women have chosen to devote themselves, as for instance in history, several American women have shown remarkable talent and thoroughness.

First among these historians stands Mrs. Mercy Otis Warren, the same who with Mrs. Abigail Smith Adams, the wife of President John Adams, shared the belief that the Declaration of Independence should consider not the freedom of man alone, but that of woman also. Having warmly entered the contest between England and America, Mrs. Warren had corresponded with many of the leading men of the time; these often consulted her, and acknowledged the soundness of her judgment on many of the important events before and after the war. The most valuable of her writings appeared in 1805, under the title “The History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution, interspersed with Biographical, Political, and Moral Observations.” The three volumes of this work, dedicated to George Washington, are valuable as a true record of the events and feelings of those great times.

To Martha Lamb the citizens of the metropolis on the Hudson River are indebted for a comprehensive “History of New York City.” Agnes Laut penned a series of articles about the discovery of the farthest Northwest. Ellen Mackay 219Hutchinson compiled with Edmund Clarence Stedman “A Library of American Literature,” which in 1888 appeared in ten volumes; it shows excellent judgment, knowledge and care. Ida Tarbell produced among many other works a “Life of Abraham Lincoln” and an exceedingly interesting “History of the Standard Oil Company.” Katherine Coman published the “Industrial History of the United States.”

“A Century of Dishonor” is the title of a sensational book, written by Helen Hunt Jackson, and published in 1881. During her extensive travels in the Far West the author became deeply interested in the much maltreated Indians. Disgusted by the shameless robberies and lawless acts committed by many Indian Agents on the reservations, Mrs. Jackson wrote her book, which is one of the strongest indictments ever directed against the Government. Through this volume she succeeded in doing much to ameliorate the unfortunate conditions of the Red Race.

Mrs. John A. Logan compiled a valuable volume, entitled “The Part taken by Women in American History.”

Woman’s status in the laws of the forty-eight states belonging to the United States of America has been treated by Rose Falls Bres in the valuable book “The Law and the Woman,” published in 1917 at New York.

The great movement for Women Suffrage found of course likewise its historians. Four of the most prominent leaders and best authorities: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, and Ida Husted Harper combined for the difficult task of collecting, sifting, and putting together the immense mass of material. Their “History of Woman Suffrage,” published in five huge volumes, is not only a noble record, but at the same time a magnificent monument to women’s courage, indefatigability and perseverance.

A considerable number of women have also contributed to the literature about suffrage, social culture, labor questions, and kindred subjects. Anna G. Spencer produced the book “Woman’s Share in Social Culture”; Charlotte P. Gilman devoted a volume to “Home” and a second volume to “Woman and Economics”; Alice M. Earle described “Childlife in Colonial Times”; Ellen Key gave a study of “Love and Marriage”; Mary Eastman published “Woman’s Work in America”; Olive Schreiner wrote “Woman and Labor,” and Elisabeth Butler “Woman in the Trades.” To Jane Addams the world is indebted for several well written works, among them: “Democracy and Social Ethics”; “The Spirit of Youth”; “An Ancient Evil and a New Conscience,” and “New Ideals of Peace.” She gave a record of her great settlement work in Chicago in her delightful book “Twenty Years at Hull House.”

220For many centuries the Germans have been known as great writers, poets and philosophers. Perhaps no other nation has contributed so much to the world’s literature. Before the unfortunate year of 1914 the annual output of Germany in works of science, art, philosophy, technics and fiction far surpassed that of any other country, even that of France, Great Britain and America combined.

In these contributions German women have a conspicuous share. Their great interest in this line of activity can be traced back to the early days of the Middle Ages, when nuns like Hroswitha glorified the deeds of great emperors, or, like the Abbess of Hohenburg, undertook the bold enterprise of compiling a cyclopædia of general knowledge.

Germany had also the first periodicals for women, the earliest dating back to 1644, much read and patronized by the members of the gentle sex. Its title “Frauenzimmer-Gesprächspiele” (“Playful discussion for ladies”) indicates that it was devoted exclusively to matters of the “eternal feminine.”

A similar periodical was “Die vernünftigen Tadlerinnen” (“The reasonable fault-finders”), edited by Johann Christoph Gottsched, professor of philosophy and poetry at the University at Leipzig. The most faithful of his assistants and collaborators was his wife, known in German literature as Louise Adelgunde Gottschedin. To the “Deutsche Schaubühne,” likewise published by her husband, she contributed several translations of French Dramas and five comedies of her own, which are still of interest as they illustrate the manners of the time, the middle of the 18th Century.

Meta Moller, the wife of the famous poet Klopstock, Friedericke C. Neuber, and Rahel Levin, the wife of the historian Varnhagen von Ense, made similar use of their great literary abilities. The salon of Mrs. Varnhagen in Berlin from 1814 to 1830 was the meeting place for the most celebrated intellects of Germany, among them Humboldt, Fichte, Schleiermacher, von Kleist, and Heinrich Heine.

The great poetess Annette von Droste-Hülshoff (1797–1848) wrote a most powerful novel, “Die Judenbuche”, which is based on the belief that murderers are forced by a mysterious power to return to the scene of their crimes.

The prolific but now almost forgotten writers Karoline Pichler, Henriette Paalzow, Otilie Wildermut, Countess Ida Hahn-Hahn, Fanny Lewald and Louise Mühlbach were followed in the second part of the 19th Century by Eugenie John, better known under her nom de plume Marlitt. Her novels “Das Geheimniss der alten Mamsell” (“Old Mamselle’s Secret”), “Heideprinzesschen” (“The Princess of the Moor”), “Gold Else” (“Gold Elsie”) and others met with tremendous 221success and have been in translations also enjoyed by many English and American readers.

With like enthusiasm the women of Germany read the novels of Wilhelmine Heimburg, Louise von Francois (“Die letzte Reckenburgerin”) and Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach. The latter is regarded as the greatest of all modern novelists of Germany, Paul Heyse not excepted. When the University in Vienna bestowed upon her the degree of Doctor phil. honoris causa, the enormous body of her readers heartily rejoiced. Her most famous novel is “Das Gemeindekind” (“The child of the Parish”). She also published a volume of “Aphorisms.”

Wilhelmine von Hillern’s once much read novel “Die Geierwally” has been surpassed by far more valuable works of Ilse Frapan, Ida Boy-Ed, Helene Pichler, Margarete von Bülow, Bianca Bobertag, Ossip Schubin, Helene Böhlau, Emma Vely, Emmy von Dinklage, Dora Dunker, Marie von Bunsen, Sophie Junghans, Louise Westkirch, Clara Blüthgen, Olga Wohlbrück, Carry Brachvogel and a number of other modern writers.

Among them Enrica von Handel-Mazetti and Ricarda Huch are distinguished by their great ability in drawing strong characters as well as deeply affecting situations. The first of the two authors transports her readers in the two novels “Meinrad Helmpergers denkwürdiges Jahr” and “Jesse und Maria” to the turbulent times of the 17th and 18th Centuries, when a superstitious world was upset by cruel warfare between Catholics and Protestants. Ricarda Huch created works of equal value in the novels “Erinnerungen von Ludolf Urslen dem Jüngeren” (“Reminiscences of Ludolf Urslen, Junior”), “Aus der Triumphgasse” (“From the Alley of Triumph”) and “The Verteidigung Roms” (“The Defense of Rome”).

Elizabeth von Heyking carried the reader to the more recent times of the Chinese Boxer War with her admirable novel “Briefe die ihn nicht erreichten” (“Letters he did not get”).

Clara Viebig belongs likewise to the great novelists of modern times. Having manifested in her first collection of short stories, “Kinder der Eifel” (“Children of the Eifel Plateau”), a most extraordinary gift of observation and description, she brought this talent to full development in her splendid novels “Rheinlandstoechter” (“Daughters of the Rhein”), “Das schlafende Heer” (“The sleeping army”) and “Absolve te.”

Gabriele Reuter treated in her novels “Aus guter Familie” (“Of good family”), “Frau Bürgelin und ihre Söhne,” “Ellen von der Weiden,” and “Liselotte von Reckling” various phases of the woman’s question. In the first book she protests against 222the injustice created by custom and tradition, which allows men to propose, while women are condemned to remain silent.

Finally we must mention the noble woman who, most intensely realizing the deep longing of mankind for peace, with her famous book “Die Waffen nieder!” (“Lay down your arms!”) exerted probably the greatest influence any author ever had through a single volume: the Austrian Bertha von Suttner. The powerful appeal of this great book, which was translated into more than twenty different languages, led Alfred B. Nobel, a rich Swedish scientist and the inventor of dynamite, to bequeath the annual interest of his great fortune to whoever has contributed most to the peaceful progress of mankind during the year immediately preceding. It was not more than just that the great merit of Madame von Suttner was acknowledged by awarding to her in 1905 the Nobel Prize for peace.

Having devoted her whole life to the cause of peace, Bertha von Suttner died in June, 1914, while engaged in preparations for an International Peace Congress to be held in September of that same year in Vienna. Fate spared her the bitter disappointment to see the outbreak of the most cruel and destructive war in history. But her call “Lay down your arms!” will live. It will remain the watchword and summons of all who with this high-priestess of peace believe that war is the most unreasonable and most criminal act men can commit.

Of course, German women have also contributed to the literature about the woman’s question. Perhaps the most valuable work in this line is Dr. Kaethe Schirmacher’s book “Die moderne Frauenbewegung,” giving a history of the woman’s rights movement in all countries of the world. As there has been no English book covering this broad subject, it was translated by C. C. Eckhardt and in 1912 published at New York under the title “The Modern Woman’s Rights Movement.”

Rich as German literature is in prose works of women writers, its poems and lyrics written by women are no less noteworthy. There can be no doubt that many of the beautiful folk songs of the Middle Ages were created by women. For instance the following was discovered in a collection of songs of the 13th Century, compiled by the nuns of a convent at Blaubeuren, Bavaria:

That women took deep interest in folk-songs we know from the fact that several of the most valuable collections of mediæval songs came down to us through women like Clara Haetzler, a nun in Augsburg, and Katharine Zell. The latter states that these lovely poems were sung by workmen and vintages as well as by the mothers at the cradle, and by the servants while they were washing the dishes.

It is not before the 17th Century that women authors of poems begin to write under their names. Among them we find the countesses Anna Sophie von Hesse-Darmstadt (1638–1683) and Amalia Juliane von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. The latter was the author of about six hundred songs, of which the funeral-hymn “Wer weiss wie nahe mir mein Ende” is sung in all Protestant churches of Germany to-day.

The 18th Century produced a number of other women poets, among them Louise Adelgunde Gottsched, Dorothea, Countess von Zinzendorf, Anna Louise Karsch, Sidonie Zäunemann, and Christine Marianne von Ziegler. The last two enjoyed the special patronage of the Emperor, who bestowed upon them the title “Kayserlich gekrönte Poetinnen.”

With the beginning of the 19th Century appeared new groups of women poets, among them Bettina von Arnim, Karoline von Günderode, Elisabeth Kulmann, Louise Brachmann, Betty Paoli, Louise von Ploennies and Adelheid von Stolterfoth, the “Philomele of the Rhine,” so called for her lovely songs and tales in praise of that noble river. In 1797 one of the greatest female poets of all times was born: Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, a native of Westphalia. Compelled to lead a quiet, secluded life by the delicate state of her health, she devoted herself to study and literature, and wrote a number of masterful ballads of which “The Battle in Loenerbruch” has few equals in powerful and realistic description. Her poem “Die beschränkte Frau” is one of the gems of German poetry.

Among the large numbers of German poets of the latter part of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th Century Isolde Kurz, Lulu von Strauss, Margarete Beutler, Agnes Miegel, Tekla Lingen, Ricarda Huch, Frieda Schanz, Anna Ritter, Hedwig Dransfeld, Wilhelmine Wickenburg-Almasy, Hermione von Preuschen, Klara Müller-Jahnke, Hedda Sauer, Maria Eugenie delle Grazie, Angelika von Hörmann, Marie Janitschek, Ada Christen, Mia Holm, Alberta von Puttkammer, Anna Klie, are the names of a few of the many distinguished poets of our present days.

224Among American women of German descent we find likewise a number of gifted poets. The two anthologies “Deutsch in Amerika” (Chicago, 1892) and “Vom Lande des Sternenbanners” (Ellenville, N. Y., 1905) contain many contributions of Dorothea Boettcher, Elizabeth Mesch, Edna Fern, Amalie von Ende, Marianne Kuenhold, Maria Raible, Minna Kleeberg, Bella Fiebing, Henni Hubel, Martha Toeplitz, and others, distinguished in form as well as rich in imagination and powerful in expression. Several German-American women also became favorably known by valuable works in prose, as for instance Therese Albertine Louise Jacob, the wife of Professor Robinson, of New York. Under the name of Talvj, she wrote historical works about Captain John Smith and the colonization of New England, and a “Historical Review of the Language and Literature of the Slavic Nations, with a Sketch of their Popular Poetry.” Of her many poems and translations Goethe spoke with great admiration. Her novels are far superior to the average in style and interest.

In the Netherlands the novels of Elizabeth Bekker were extremely popular at the end of the 18th Century. She ranks high among Dutch authors. Her “Historie van William Levend,” the “Historie van Sara Burgerhart,” “Abraham Blankaart” and “Cornelia Wildshut” are her greatest works. The poems of Agathe Dekken are to this day esteemed masterpieces of Dutch poetry. During the 19th Century Mrs. Bosboom-Toussaint’s novels, and Helen Swarth’s poems “Passiebloemen” have been widely read.

The most eminent woman writer of Denmark was Thomasine Kristine Baroness Gyllembourg-Ehrensvärd, who introduced into Danish literature a novel vein of realism and domestic humor. Although she has had many imitators, she is still without a rival. Hadda Raonkilde has exerted a powerful influence upon Scandinavian literature.

The two most successful women-novelists of Norway are Anna Magdalene Thoresen and Jacobine Camilla Collet, author of the excellent novel “Amtmandens Döttre” (“The Governor’s Daughters”). In 1894 all Norway celebrated her eightieth birthday as a national holiday.

The most eminent Swedish novelist of the 19th Century was Frederika Bremer. Her “Sketches of Every Day Life” attracted immediate attention. But this success was far surpassed by the novels “The H—— Family” and “The Neighbors.” Both manifest the author’s purity, simplicity, and love of domestic life. These books as well as almost all of the author’s later works have been translated into English, German and French.

Another Swedish author of note was Anne Charlotte 225Edgren. Of Emily Carlen’s novels “The Rose of Thistle Island” and “The Magic Goblet” are most appreciated. Anna Maria Lenngren belongs likewise to the most popular Swedish writers. The Swedish Academy ordered a medal cast in her honor. And of the Swedish authors of the 20th Century Selma Lagerloef was in 1909 awarded the Nobel Prize for her beautiful modern saga “Goesta Berling.”

Finland and Poland too have noteworthy women-writers. Finland, “Country of the thousand lakes,” was the birth-place of Sarah Wacklin, Wilhelmina Nordström and Helen Westermark. The literature of Poland was enriched by the poems and novels of Elizabeth Jaraczewska, Lucya Rautenstrauss, Narcyza Zwichowska and Comtesse Mostowska.

Spain has produced in modern times several remarkable woman authors: Gertrudis de Avellaneda, Maria de Pinar-Sinues, and Angela Grassi. Italy has the excellent novelists Rosa Taddei, Francesca Lutti, Matilda Serao, Grazia Pierantoni-Mancini, Fanny Zampini-Salazar, and the Marchesa Vincenza de Felice-Lancellotti. Furthermore Ada Negri, one of the most powerful poets of all times.

Having glanced at woman’s part in world’s literature, a few words should be said about women journalists. During the middle of the last century the publishers of several leading newspapers of England and America, desiring to infuse new life into their papers, added a number of women to their staffs. The complete success of this experiment was confirmed by the rapid increase in the number of such women journalists. Whereas in 1845 England had only 15 of them, this number grew to more than 800 in 1891. In the United States the number increased from 350 in 1889 to 2193 in 1910. Many of these women journalists received careful training in the special schools of journalism at the universities of New York, Philadelphia, and elsewhere.

Jeannette Gilder, herself a journalist, writes about her profession: “Woman as a mere fashion writer is a thing of the past. To-day she expects to rank with the man writer. In the future she will expect to be his superior, for a woman is not stationary in her ambitions, she likes variety. A man is wedded to his old clothes. He sighs when he has to throw aside the old and comfortably fitting coat for a new one not so comfortably fitting. A woman sighs when she has to wear an old dress. She would like fashions to change every week instead of every three months, as they do now. This love for variety in personal matters is carried into her professional life. If she reports a Salvation Army meeting to-day she hails with glee an opportunity to report an automobile race to-morrow. With boundless ambition, with adaptability, energy and a 226pleasing style, there is nothing to keep women from monopolizing the journalistic profession if they put their minds to it. The only trouble is they are apt to marry and leave the ranks. But, then there are others standing ready to fill the vacant places. In the next hundred years why may we not see all newspapers owned by women, edited by women, written by women, with women compositors and women pressmen. Already there is one such in France.”

The prejudice which excluded women for centuries from the realms of science, interfered likewise with their participation in music and art. Up to the midst of the 19th Century almost all European conservatories and art academies were closed to female students. Previous to 1876 no women students of the violin were allowed at the High School in London, and for a long time they could not compete for prizes or receive diplomas. When Elizabeth Sterling presented her beautiful CXXX Psalm for five voices and orchestra to the university at Oxford for the degree of Mus. Bac., the degree, although the work was accepted and its merits acknowledged, could not be given for want of power to confer this degree upon a woman!

As the views of publishers of music and of conductors of orchestras were influenced by similar prejudices, nobody should wonder that women’s work in music has shown comparatively unsatisfactory results.

Yet, in spite of all these obstacles, there have been a number of women composers, whose works were appreciated by all their contemporaries. During the glorious time of the Renaissance Francesca Caccini, born in 1581 at Florence, was the pride of her city because of her magnificent church music and madrigals. Compositions of Vittoria Aleotti, a native of Argenta, were likewise much admired, especially her great opus, which was published at Venice, in 1593, under the flowery title “Ghirlanda dei Madrigali a 4 voci.” Maddalena Casulana of Brescia, produced also a number of fine madrigals, which were issued in two volumes in 1568 and 1583. Cornelia Calegari, of Bergamo, Barbara Strozzi, of Venice, belong also to the Italian composers of the Renaissance. Maria Teresa Agnesi, born during the 18th Century, produced a number of cantatas, and three operas, “Sophonisbe,” “Ciro in Armenia,” and “Nitocri,” which were the delight of all Italy.

In Austria at the same time appeared Maria Teresa Paradies, born at Vienna in 1759. Notwithstanding her blindness, dating from her fourth year, she had become a most remarkable pianist and composer, dictating her cantatas and several operettas. In 1784 she set out on a concert tour through Germany and England, everywhere exciting admiration by her rare endowments. She often moved her audiences to tears by a cantata, the words of which were written by the blind poet Pfeffel, in which her own fate was depicted. During the later part of her life she presided over an excellent musical institute in Vienna.

228In another native of Vienna, Marianne Martinez, the qualities of many distinguished artists were combined. Not only did she sing beautifully, but she was likewise an excellent pianist; her compositions showed a vigor of conception together with extensive learning. She composed several cantatas, and a miserere, with orchestral accompaniment. Her oratorio “Isacca” was in 1788 produced by the Tonkuenstler Gesellschaft. Her salons, in which she gave weekly concerts, were the rendezvous of many musical celebrities.

Foremost among the women-composers of Germany was Clara Josephine Wieck-Schumann, the accomplished pianist and unexcelled interpreter of her husband’s, Robert Schumann’s, splendid works. She also produced a large number of songs of great merit, many of which have been published.

Francesca Lebrun, born 1756 at Mannheim, wrote several sonatas for piano, and trios for piano, violin and cello. Louise Reichard, of Berlin, Corona Schroeter, the famous artist of the 18th Century, Fanny Cecilia Hensel, born 1805 in Hamburg, and Josephine Lang, born 1815 in Munich, composed very beautiful songs. A “Suite for Pianoforte” (Op. 2) by Adele aus der Ohe has likewise received highest praise.

Among the women composers of France Elizabeth Claude Guerre, born at Paris in 1669; Edme Sophie Gail Garré, born in 1775, and Louise Bertin were the pioneers. Elizabeth Guerre’s opera “Cephale et Pœris” was performed at the Royal Academie. She also composed a Te Deum, and a number of cantatas.

The most successful composer of recent years was Cécile Louise Stephanie Chaminade, born at Paris in 1861. Her most ambitious compositions are “Les Amazones,” a lyric symphony with choruses; “La Sevillane”; “Callirhœ”; “Etude Symphonique,” and a large number of compositions for piano, many of which became very popular.

Of Augusta Mary Ann Holmes, likewise a native of Paris, the opera “Hero et Leandre” had great success.

Of the women composers of England M. Virginia Gabriel was very popular. She wrote the cantatas “Evangeline” and “Dreamland,” and the operettas “Grass Widows,” “Widows Bewitched” and “Who’s the Heir?” Leza Lehman was the author of the song cycle “In a Persian Garden,” and of “Nonsense Songs.” Clara Angela Macirone’s anthem “By the Waters of Babylon” has been sung in all the cathedrals of Great Britain.

Lady Helen Dufferin is known principally for her songs and ballads, which, both for comic humor and pathos, rank among the best in the English language. “The Irish Emigrant’s Lament” compares favorably with any English lyric. Charlotte Sainton Dolby, Elizabeth Mounsey and Harriet Abrams composed 229likewise numerous songs, and Kate Fanny Loder the operette “Fleur d’Epine.”

There exist also many splendid compositions by American women. When in 1893 the Woman’s Building at the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicago was dedicated, Mrs. H. A. Beach’s “Jubilate” was received with greatest enthusiasm. Also her “Gaelic Symphony” was played by many famous orchestras.

The “Dramatic Overture” (Op. 12) of Miss Margaret Ruthven Lang has been frequently performed by the famous Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Of the innumerable virtuosos, who interpreted works of the above-named composers and others, the American violinists Arma Senkrah and Maud Powell, the Italian Teresina Tua, the German Maria Soldat, and the South-American pianists Terese Careno and Giomar Novaez, not to forget the Hungarian Sophie Menter and the Russian Annette Essipoff have been the most eminent.

“Dem Mimen flicht die Nachwelt keine Kränze,” the great German poet Schiller has said in one of his poems, pointing out that, while the painter, sculptor, composer and writer transmit their works to remote generations, the glory won by the actor and singer exhales with their disappearance from the stage as quickly as does the fragrance of a delicate flower. The record of the performer’s and singer’s gift remains only as a tradition, as a legend.

So it is. The majority of those actors and singers, who in bygone times held large audiences spellbound, are forgotten. There are only few exceptions which in the history of dramatic art and music will remain. So for instance with the history of the English stage of the latter part of the 17th Century the names of two great actresses are inseparably connected: Gwynn and Elizabeth Barry. The former especially was the darling of the people, and much favored by King Charles II. During the following century Anne Oldfield, Mary Porter, Elizabeth Billington, Anne Spranger Barry, Hannah Pritchard, Mary Robinson, Jane Pope, Susanne Cibber, Frances Abington and Margaret Woffington were celebrated for their talent, charm, and elegance. Of Sarah Siddons, called “the Incomparable,” it has been reported that by means of her excellent art as well as by her beauty, dignity and personal distinction she reduced her audiences to an awe-struck reverence. Edmund Gosse, in an article devoted to the memory of Sarah Siddons says: “Under the effect she produced, women as well as men lost all command over themselves, and sobbed, moaned, and even howled with emotion. Young ladies used 230suddenly to shriek; men were carried out, gibbering, in hysterics.”

Of the many excellent English actresses of the 19th Century and of our present days Louise Nisbett, Mary Stirling, Elizabeth O’Neill, Helen Faucit, Lillian Neilson, Deborah Lacy, Frances Kemble, Adelaide Kemble-Sartoris, Charlotte Dolby, Ellen Terry, Gertrude and Rose Coghlan have to be mentioned. Also we must remember the great triumphs of Nellie Melba, a native of Australia, but at home on the stages and in the concert halls of Europe as well as of America.

The United States produced likewise a number of brilliant actresses and opera stars. Among the former were Clara Fisher, Mary Vincent, Laura Keene, Anna Gilbert, Anna and Cora Ritshie, not to forget Mary Ann Dyke-Duff, whom the elder Booth declared to be “the greatest actress in the world.” Furthermore, there was the classic Mary Anderson, who was followed later on by such eminent performers as Ida Conquest, Adelaide Phillips, Julia Marlowe, Leslie Carter, Maud Adams, and Ethel Barrymore.

Our United States have been also the native land of the famous opera stars Minni Hauck, Lillian Nordica, Emma Eames, Olive Fremstadt, Florence Macbeth, Mary Garden, Anna Case and Geraldine Farrar.

Germany and Austria too have produced numbers of accomplished actresses and singers who stood high in public esteem and thrilled vast audiences by splendid revelations of their art. The name of Charlotte Wolter is forever connected with the famous Burgtheater in Vienna as the greatest tragedienne in the history of that famous institution. To the many actresses, whose fame is not limited to their native countries but has extended to America as well, belong the following stars of the 19th Century: Marie Seebach, Ottilie Genee, Kathie Schratt, Hedwig Niemann-Rabe, Fanny Janauschek, Magda Irschik, Anna Haverland, Marie Geistinger, Agnes Sorma, Helene Odilon, Francisca Ellmenreich, Fanny Eysolt, Irene Triebsch and Else Lehmann.

As stars in grand opera and concert singers the most famous of the former century have been Henriette Sontag, Pauline Lucca, Marie Schroeder-Hanfstängl, Teresa Tietiens, Etelka Gerster, Lilli Lehmann, Fanny Moran-Olden, Rosa Sucher, Amalie Materna, Marie Brema, Katharine Klaffsky and Marianne Brand. Our present generation has paid tribute to Milka Ternina, Marie Rappold, Alma Gluck, Elene Gerhard, Johanna Gadski, Julia Culp, Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Melanie Kurt, Margarete Ober, and Frida Hempel.

With the history of the French drama the names of the great tragediennes Elizabeth Rachel and Sarah Bernhardt are inseparably connected, while in opera Madeline Arnould, 231Magdalene Marie Desgarcins, Louise Françoise Contat, Marie Felicite Malibran, Louise Angelique Bertin, Sophie Cruvelli, Emma Calvé, Lucienne Breval, Felia Litvinne and Desiré Artot have been stars of the first order.

Italy gave birth to the famous actresses and singers Guilia Grisi, Marietta Alboni, Angelica Catalani, Adelaide Ristori, Eleonora Duse, L. Scalchi, Louisa Tetrazzina, and Amelia Galli-Curci.

Poland had her superb Helena Modjeska and Marcella Sembrich; Bohemia the marvelous Emmy Destinn.

Sweden treasures the memory of Jenny Lind and Christine Nilsson as superlative artists. Jenny Lind was called “the Swedish Nightingale,” and was famous for her great charm as well as for her musical gifts. Her splendid tour in America under the management of P. T. Barnum in 1849 was one of the greatest artistic and financial triumphs ever achieved by one single artist.

A somewhat international position has been held by the famous Adelina Patti, born in 1843 at Madrid, as the daughter of a Sicilian tenor and the Spanish Signora Barilli. Taught singing by the Moravian Maurice Strakosch, she commanded an unusually high soprano of rich bell-like tone and remarkable evenness, and was equally at home in the tenderness of deep passion and the sprightly vivacity of comedy, and in oratorio. For these reasons she has been regarded as one of the greatest singers of all times. That her reputation was founded on her rare qualities, is best shown by the testimony of two of her fellow-artists, Marcella Sembrich and Lilli Lehmann. The former expressed her admiration in the words: “When one speaks of Patti one speaks of something that occurred only once in the history of the world.” The latter, famous in a totally different school of her art, wrote the following lines: “In Adelaine Patti everything was united—the splendid voice, paired with great talent for singing. All was absolutely good, correct and flawless, the voice like a bell that you seemed to hear long after the singing had ceased.”

As is familiar to every student of the classic past the Greeks and Romans hailed a female deity, Pallas Athene, or Minerva, as the protectress of their arts and industries. She was believed to have invented spinning, weaving, embroidering, painting, and every other handicraft that has brought mankind comfort and happiness.

Of course this goddess had many eager women disciples. There was hardly any Greek or Roman woman without a thorough command of the above named crafts. Since the days of Homer, who praised Penelope, the beautiful wife of Ulysses, for her skill in tapestry-weaving, all women devoted themselves to useful arts. In Ephesus Pliny admired a picture of Diana, painted by Timarata, the gifted daughter of an able artist. He also praises Laya for her excellent miniature portraits on ivory, which were held in great favor by the rich ladies of Rome. The names of several other female artists are known, but unfortunately none of their works have come down to us.

Enthusiastic authors of the Middle Ages glorify Agnes, Abbess of Quedlinburg, for her great skill in illuminating manuscripts with figures, beautiful initial letters and elaborate border ornaments, which she enriched with all the splendor of color and gilding.

It was only natural, that the magnificent works of art, produced by Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Correggio, Tintoretto and other great masters of the Italian Renaissance, inspired the women who came in daily contact with these men; especially their daughters, many of whom inherited their fathers’ enthusiasm for beauty and art. Constantly witnessing the origin and progress of the products of their fathers’ genius, it could not fail that such women likewise devoted themselves to art. As did Lavinia Fontana, the daughter of Prospero Fontana of Bologna, whom Michael Angelo recommended to Pope Julius III., in whose service he remained for many years. Lavinia was born in Rome in 1552. Inspired by her father’s art, she too won great fame. The old patrician palaces of Rome, Bologna, and other Italian cities still contain many portraits of beautiful women and illustrious men, who once were among her sitters. She likewise painted various other works which show great care and delicacy.

Among her most admired works are a Venus, now in the Museum at Berlin; the Virgin lifting a veil from the sleeping infant Christ, now in the Escurial; and the Queen of Sheba visiting Solomon. Her masterpiece, however, is her own portrait, which shows her in all her radiant beauty.

233Sofonisba Anguisciola, born in 1533 at Cremona, likewise ranks high among the foremost portrait painters of the 16th Century. On recommendation of the Duke of Alba, Philippe II., King of Spain, invited her to his court in Madrid, where she was received with extraordinary honors. Here she painted numerous portraits of the king as well as of the queen, the infantas and the members of the court. A few specimens of her art are still to be seen in the Escurial at Madrid and at Florence. Van Dyck acknowledged himself more benefited by her than by his study of all other masters.

Marietta Tintoretto, born in 1560, a daughter of the great Venetian artist Jacopo Robusti, commonly called Tintoretto, was one of the most appreciated portrait painters in the “Queen City of the Adriatic.” She was so favorably known for the beauty of her work and the exactness of resemblance that she was solicited by Emperor Maximilian as well as by Philippe II., King of Spain, to visit their courts. But her affectionate attachment to her father was so great that she declined these honors, and remained in Venice, where she died in 1590.

The 17th Century likewise produced a number of excellent women artists. Bologna, the birth-place of so many famous men and women, was also the native town of Elizabeth Sirani, who, born in 1638 to Gian Andrea Sirani, a painter of some reputation, attracted attention to her attempts at drawing when scarcely more than an infant. Her rare talents developed as she grew older. Before she had attained her eighteenth year, she had finished several paintings, which were greatly admired and given places of honor in various churches. Her most admired work, a Lord’s Supper, grand in conception, is in the church of the Certosini, and is considered one of the best examples of the Bolognesian School of art. Unfortunately this promising woman died suddenly when only twenty-seven years of age.

Rosalba Carriera, a Venetian, born in 1675, became famous over all Europe for her admirable miniature- and crayon- or pastel-portraits, which, through her, became the fashion of the 18th Century.

Among the Dutch artists of the 17th Century Maria van Osterwyck and Rachel Ruisch excelled in painting flowers and fruits. Elisabeth Cheron, a French woman, born in Paris in 1648, was famous for her miniatures and historical subjects.

England too had some fine women artists: Mary Beale, born 1632 in Suffolk, and Anne Killigrew, born in London. Both are known for excellent portraits of notable persons. The National Portrait Gallery in London contains for instance Mary Beale’s portraits of King Charles II., of the Duke of Norfolk, and of Cowley.

234

MARIE S. LeBRUN WITH HER DAUGHTER.

After her own painting.

235The 18th Century produced two women artists, who were among the leaders of their time: Angelica Kauffmann and Marie LeBrun. Angelica Kauffmann, the daughter of an artist, was born in 1740 at Coire in Switzerland, from where she went later on to Italy, to study the great masters. In 1765 she came to London. Here she painted many excellent portraits as well as numerous classic and allegorical subjects. In 1781 she returned to Italy. Here she was always much feted and admired for her talents as well as for her personal charm. Goethe, who met Angelica Kauffmann in Rome, admired her works very much. “No living painter,” so he wrote in a letter, “excels her in dignity or in the delicate taste with which she handles the pencil.” And Raphael Mengs, one of the most brilliant artists of the Rococo, praised her in the following words: “As an artist Angelica Kauffmann is the pride of the female sex in all times and all nations. Nothing is wanting; composition, coloring, fancy, all are here.” When she died in November, 1807, she was honored by a splendid funeral under the direction of Canova. The entire Academy of St. Luke at Rome with numerous ecclesiastics and virtuosi followed her funeral train and, as at the burial of Raphael, two of her latest paintings were carried behind her coffin in the procession.

Of Madame LeBrun, who was born in 1755 in France, it has been said that “a more ideal artist never lived.” The well-known portrait of herself and her daughter has been termed “the tenderest of all pictures.” She also painted several portraits of the unfortunate Queen Marie Antoinette. The Louvre has one of her best paintings: “Peace bringing back Abundance.”

Madame LeBrun was one of the most prolific artists of all times. In her autobiography, entitled “Souvenirs,” she states that she finished six hundred and sixty-two portraits, fifteen large compositions, and two hundred landscapes, the latter sketched during her travels in Switzerland and England.

During the 18th Century Germany was the scene of the greatest activity of women artists. France held the second place and Italy the third, thus reversing the conditions of preceding centuries. Flanders and Antwerp too were famous for women artists, some of whom went to other countries where they were recognized for their talent and attainments.

The most famous woman artist of the 19th Century was Rosa Bonheur, born in 1832 at Bordeaux, the daughter of Raymond Bonheur, an artist of merit. From him she received her first instructions. In 1841 she began exhibiting in the Paris Salon, with several small animal paintings, indicating the direction in which she was to attain her future eminence. Her great success in painting animals was due to her conscientious study of living subjects. One of her masterpieces, “Plowing with Oxen,” ranks among the gems of the Luxembourg. Another excellent painting, “The Horse Fair,” was the chief attraction of the Paris Salon in 1853, and later on became the property of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. Of all animal paintings ever executed, this one is perhaps the most animated, and the best in composition as well as in color. Another canvass, “Horses Threshing Corn,” shows the same merits. Containing ten horses in full life size, it is the largest animal picture ever produced.

236

THE HORSE FAIR.

After the painting by Rosa Bonheur in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

237Another painting, “The Monarch of the Glen,” received much praise at the World’s Columbian Exposition.

In just appreciation of her genius Rosa Bonheur was proposed in 1853 for the Cross of the Legion of Honor, but because of her sex the decoration was withheld until 1865.—

One of the four daughters of an early German pioneer of California, who distinguished themselves in different lines of activity, Anne Elizabeth Klumpke followed in the footsteps of Rosa Bonheur, of whom she became a close friend, and who, in appreciation of her great talent, bequeathed to her her beautiful chateau as well as her entire fortune.

The second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th Century produced a surprising abundance of women artists, some of whom gained the most coveted prizes and medals offered by the great annual exhibitions in Paris, London, Berlin, Munich and other centers of art. Clara Erskine Clemens in her book “Women in the Fine Arts” has compiled notes about several hundred of them, without enumerating them all. To mention a few of the most excellent, we name of the German artists Louise Parmentier Begas, Tina Blau, Dora Hitz, Lucia von Gelder, Herminie von Janda, Countess Marie Kalckreuth, Minna Stock, Toni Stadler, Frieda Ritter, Margarethe von Schack, Vilma Parlaghy, and Margarethe Waldau.

Italy names among its best modern painters Alceste Campriani, Ada Negri, Juana Romani, Erminia de Sanctis, and Clelia Bompiani.

The French extol the genius of Louise Labé, Marceline Desbordes-Valmore and Louise Ackermann.

Belgium and Holland number among their women artists Therese Schwartze, Adele Kindt and Henriette Ronner; Spain points with pride to the works of Fernanda Frances y Arribas, Adele Gines and Antonia de Banuelos. Denmark’s famous artist, Elizabet Jerichau Baumann, is remembered especially for her magnificent painting “Christian Martyrs in the Catacombs”; Switzerland has two portraitists of the first order, Louise Catherine Breslau and Aimée Rapin, while Russia produced in Marie Bashkirttseff an artist of rare ability.

Perhaps in no other country is the number of female artists so large as in England. We will name only a few of them. Laura Alma Tadema was the gifted daughter of the famous artist Laurenz Alma Tadema. Margaret Sarah Carpenter 238won wide reputation as a gifted portrait painter. Ethel Wright’s beautiful painting “The Song of the Ages” belongs to the best examples of English art. Clara Montalba is favorably known for her splendid scenes of Venice, and landscapes of the Adriatic coasts. Elizabeth Thompson demonstrated by many excellent sketches and pictures that women are not afraid to make a specialty of battle scenes.

Ambitious American women are likewise hard at work gaining honor and laurels in the various fields of art. The morning promises fair, as there are already many shining names upon the scroll. To begin with one of the middle of the last century, we mention Cornelia Adele Facett, whose chief work, “The Election Commission in Open Session,” contains 258 portraits of men and women, prominent in the political, literary, scientific and social circles of their time. It adorns the Senate Chamber in the Capitol at Washington.

The most brilliant woman artist of the United States is without question Cecilia Beaux, a Philadelphian, who, as a portrait painter, compares with the very best of any nation. Her portrait of a “Girl in White,” owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, verifies what a critic said about her: “Miss Beaux has approached the task of painting the society woman of to-day, not as one to whom this type is known only by exterior, but with a sympathy as complete as a similar tradition and artistic temperament will allow. Thus she starts with an advantage denied to all but a very few American portrait painters, and this explains the instinctive way in which she gives to her pictured subjects an air of natural ease and good breeding.”

Sadie Waters, born in St. Louis, produced a number of religious paintings, her best and largest showing the Madonna in a bower of roses.

Violet Oakley of New Jersey had a prominent part in decorating the new Capitol at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, one of the most elaborate and costly public buildings in America. The mural painting “The Romance of the Founding of the State” in the Governor’s room is her work.

Anna Mary Richards excelled as a marine painter. Her large canvass “The Wild Horses of the Sea” has been especially admired.

Anny Shaw, Grace Hudson, Lucie Fairchild Fuller, Mary Cassatt, and Matilde Lotz are among the latest women artists of America, favorably known for many creditable works.

Although comparatively few women have devoted themselves to sculpture, there are several among them well worth mentioning.

The first female sculptor of whom anything is known, was Sabina von Steinbach, a daughter of Erwin von Steinbach, 239the famous architect of the magnificent cathedral at Strassburg, in Alsace. After the southern portal of this minster had been erected, Sabina adorned it with the statues of the apostles, one of which, that of John, held in his hands a scroll with the following inscription:

Nothing further is known about this artist of the end of the 13th Century.

Properzia de Rossi was an Italian woman sculptor, born near the end of the 15th Century at Bologna or Modena. The first-named city cherishes still a number of her works, among them a fine marble statue of Count Guido de Pepoli, and several figures that adorn the three gates of the facade of St. Petroneus. Vasari in his biographies of celebrated artists calls her “a virtuous maiden, possessing every merit of her sex, together with science and learning all men may envy.” And when she died in 1530, the following epitaph was written in her praise:

In modern Germany Anna von Kahle, Marie Schlafhorst, Dora Beer, Helene Quitmann, Henny Geyer Spiegel and Lilly Finzelberg have done much excellent work.

In France several statues by Jeanne Hasse, a Parisian, have been purchased by the government and presented to various provincial museums.

In England Mary Thornycroft, daughter and pupil of John Francis, the sculptor, has won the praise of the severest critics.

In America Annie Whitney’s statue of “Lady Godiva” as well as her “Africa” and “Roma” have been much praised.

Helen Farnworth Mears is well known for her “Fountain of Life.” Vinnie Ream Hoxie modelled a life-size statue of Lincoln, which stands in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington. A statue of Farragut in Farragut Square is by the same artist.

Another American woman sculptor of renown was Harriet Hosmer, born in 1830 in Watertown, Mass. Having received her first instruction in Boston and St. Louis, she went to Rome in 1852 where she became a pupil of Gibson. Of her various works, the best known are “Beatrice Cenci in Her Cell”; “Willo’-the-Wisp”; 240“The Sleeping and the Waking Faun”; and a colossal statue of “Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, in Chains.” She exhibited a statue of Queen Isabella of Spain at the World’s Columbian Exposition. A statue of “Puck” was so spirited and original, that it was ordered more than thirty times, is also her work.

Emma Stebbins (1815–1882) produced a statue of Horace Mann for Boston, and a large fountain for Central Park, New York, the subject being “The Angel of the Waters.”

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has in its collections several works by Frances Grimes, Laura Gardin, Malvina Hoffman, and Evelyn Longman. Miss Hoffman’s best known work, “The Russian Bachanale,” showing two almost nude dancing figures in bronze, was in 1919 presented by an American connoisseur to the famous Gardens of the Luxembourg in Paris.

The United States of America produced also the first women architects. In 1881 Louise Bethune took the lead. Somewhat later the New York firm Hands & Gannon, both members of which were women, designed the plans for numerous schools, hospitals, and model homes for the working people. Elizabeth Holman in Philadelphia became favorably known for her excellent designs for theatres, hotels, and cottages. Mrs. Wagner in Pittsburgh made a specialty of university buildings, churches and chapels.

Miss Sophie G. Hayden of Boston, a graduate of the architectural school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was the architect of the beautiful Women’s Pavilion at the World’s Columbian Exposition. The task of adorning this building with sculptures, emblematic of woman’s great work in the world, was after an extremely vigorous contest awarded to Miss Alice Rideout, of San Francisco. Women architects likewise designed the imposing woman’s palaces at the expositions in St. Louis, Atlanta, and San Francisco. Since then the number of women in this line of activity has steadily increased. According to the Census of 1910 the United States had in that year 1037 women architects, designers and draftsmen.

Thus we find woman hard at work in all the various realms of art. And since her joy in beauty is supreme, we may well expect that her expression of the highest beauty, the spiritual, will in time favorably compare with that of her brother-artists.

Woman and philanthropy have always been inseparably connected, for charity has been regarded in all ages as one of the noblest virtues of the gentle sex.

There is scarcely any country which does not cherish the memory of some women for great works of charity. Germany, for instance, has the lovely story of Elizabeth, the wife of Ludwig IV., landgrave of Thuringia, who reigned during the first half of the 13th Century. Feeling an aversion to worldly pleasures, and making the early Christians her example, Elizabeth devoted herself to works of benevolence. In these she was so liberal, that her husband became uneasy, fearing she might impoverish his estate by her alms-giving. He accordingly bade her to give less to the poor. But secretly she spent just as much. One day, while she was carrying a heavy load of bread in her basket, she was stopped by her husband, who inquired what she was hiding. “Roses, my Lord, roses!” she said, hoping that he would not investigate. But when he insisted on seeing them, she was forced to open her basket and, oh wonder! all the loaves of bread had turned into the most beautiful roses.—

America remembers Dorothea Dix as one of the most distinguished women it ever has produced. Compelled by declining health to go to Europe from 1834 to 1837, she had ample opportunity to study in Liverpool and other cities of England the terrible conditions of the poor, especially of the inmates of poor-houses and insane-asylums. As at that time similar institutions in America were just as bad, she gave after her return to the United States all her time, strength and influence to ameliorate suffering, and to persuade the public to furnish suitable asylums, also to improve the moral discipline of prisons and penitentiaries. For this purpose she visited every State east of the Rocky Mountains, seeking out intelligent and benevolent people, and trying to kindle in their hearts the same enthusiasm that filled her own.

Fearless in lifting her voice against abuses, she was so persistent in reiterating her protests and in pleading needed reforms, that attention had to be given her. The founding of many state hospitals and insane-asylums in the United States as well as in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland is due to her indefatigable work.

A similar case is that of Margaret Fuller, the famous author. Warmly espousing the cause of reform in many directions and making herself the champion of truth and human rights at any cost, she visited prisons and charitable 242institutions and talked freely with the female inmates. It was on the common ground of womanhood that she approached these degraded of her own sex, true to her unalterable faith in awakening whatever divine spark might be there. She was surprised herself at the results—the touching traits and the possibilities that still survived in beings so forlorn and degraded. Many of them expressed a wish to see her alone, in order to confide to her the secrets of their ruined lives, and their ardent desire to enter a new course whereby they might regain respectability. Thus making herself the friend of the friendless, Margaret Fuller began what we call to-day “settlement work.”

In the matter of prison reform the name of Elizabeth Guerney Fry (1780–1845) will likewise be remembered as one of the first women promoters in this line of charity. An accidental visit to Newgate Prison in London disclosed to her the horrible conditions prevailing in this ill-reputed dungeon. Like most prisons at the time it was dark, damp, and cold in winter. The prisoners were usually half-starved, and clad in rags; often loaded with chains, and oftener yet pestered by vermin and rats. The ward, into which Miss Fry penetrated, although strongly dissuaded by the officials, was like a den of wild beasts. It was filled with a hundred and sixty women and children, gambling, fighting, swearing, yelling, dancing. It justly deserved its name of “hell above ground.” The general disorder and abject misery of the women confined there so impressed Miss Fry, that she took immediate and effectual means to relieve them. The first step in the great public work of her life was the forming of “The Association for the Improvement of the Female Prisoners in Newgate,” in April, 1817. Its aim was the establishment of what is now regarded as “prison discipline,” such as entire separation of the sexes, classification of criminals, female supervision for the women, and adequate provision for their religious and secular instruction, as also for their useful employment. Disregarding sarcastic critics, who protested against the “ultra-humanitarianism which sought to make jails too comfortable and tended to pamper criminals,” Miss Fry pursued her way and finally brought about the passing of Acts (1823–24), in which it was laid down that over and above safe custody it was essential to preserve health, improve morals, and enforce useful labor in all prisons. Not content with these results, Miss Fry likewise inspected during the time from 1818 to 1841 the principal prisons of Scotland, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Southern Germany, and Denmark, everywhere conferring personally with the leading prison officials. By keeping up a constant correspondence with them she had the satisfaction of hearing from almost 243every quarter of Europe that the authorities were giving an ever increasing consideration to her suggestions.—

Following the example set by Miss Fry, women in many countries aided in forming societies for the improvement of prison-discipline. They also established reformatories for women and juvenile delinquents. For instance Mrs. Abbey Hopper Gibbons assisted in founding the “Women’s Prison Association of New York” in 1844 and the “Isaac T. Hopper Home.” Its objects were: “First, the improvement of the condition of the prisoners, whether detained on trial or finally convicted, or as witnesses; secondly, the support and encouragement of reformed convicts after their discharge, by affording them an opportunity of obtaining an honest livelihood, and sustaining them in their efforts to reform.”

The association employs an executive secretary who visits all the places where women are detained in the State or City of New York, keeps track of the housing conditions and studies the treatment of the prisoners. On the basis of this exact knowledge, the Association has proposed various reforms; for example the establishment of Bedford Reformatory was largely due to the efforts of this society, and the appointment of police matrons in the city station houses. Through the instrumentality of Mrs. Hopper Gibbons the “New York State Reformatory for Women and Girls” was established by the Legislature.

Through the efforts of Linda Gilbert various prisons throughout the country were provided with libraries. She also secured the incorporation of the “Gilbert Library and Prisoners’ Aid Society” under the laws of the State of New York. Furthermore she procured employment for thousands of ex-convicts, and aided others in establishing in business in a small way.—

To enumerate what women have contributed to culture as founders and patronesses of infant homes, foundling and orphan asylums, industrial schools and homes for boys and girls, of refuges for unfortunate women, invalids and the aged, of hospitals for destitute children and for people afflicted with tuberculosis, cancer, and incurable diseases, is a task impossible for the limited space of this book. Besides, all information is fragmentary and far too insufficient to give a true idea of the vast sums and immense amount of time, labor, and effort, devoted by women to these works of charity. Constantly on the lookout to alleviate sorrow and provide comfort, they have not forgotten even those lonely men, who do duty in remote light houses and life-saving stations. It was through the efforts of women that these involuntary hermits, who often do not come in touch with other human beings for several months, are regularly provided with interesting books and entertaining games.

244Mrs. Matilde Ziegler of New York has taken a special interest in the blind. Mrs. Ziegler, at an expense of $20,000 a year, founded a monthly magazine for the blind, which has a printing press of double the capacity of any printing plant for the blind in any other country. Blind girls do all the work connected with this magazine.

Georgia Trader in Cincinnati established school classes for the blind and a library with over 25,000 volumes, from which books in raised type are sent to the blind all over the country, free of any charge. She also founded a working-home for blind girls, where they are profitably employed in weaving rugs, and in various artistic work and handicraft.

Jane Addams in 1889 opened in Chicago a social settlement, known as “Hull House.” Wonderful work in sociology is done there. Many thousands of men, women and children are instructed in all kinds of handicraft, and directed to places, where they can make an honest and profitable living. They have also access to an excellent library, comfortable club rooms, lecture-halls, kindergarten, play-grounds and other institutions.

Miss Addams is to-day recognized as one of the foremost women in her line of work, and by her example as well as through her public lectures and able books, has probably done more than anybody else for the extension of practical sociology.

Women have also taken charge of thousands of tired working-girls and sent them to the country for a short rest during the summer, thus enabling them to take up their lives of toil with renewed vigor and courage.

Similar organizations have established vacation schools to save children from the demoralization of the long summer idleness, and to secure for them fresh air vacations.

Moved by a sincere desire to improve the conditions of the despised and maltreated American Indians, Helen Hunt Jackson, Alice Fletcher, and Mary L. Bonney succeeded after indefatigable efforts in awakening interest among the legislators in their work. Miss Fletcher, in her valuable book “Indian Civilization and Education,” gave such ample proof of her special qualifications that she was appointed by President Cleveland in 1887 as a special agent of the Government, to allot lands to various Indian tribes. Mary L. Bonney devoted herself principally to educational work and, in 1881, was foremost in the task of organizing the “Indian Treaty-Keeping and Protective Association” by which the many unlawful encroachments of white settlers, and the oppression of the Red Men by government agents were stopped.

In their efforts to alleviate the hard lot of negro slaves, Lucretia Mott, Sarah and Angelica Grimke, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and many others, braved criticism, insults and social ostracism.

245By organizing societies for the prevention of cruelty to children and animals, women have taken care of those who cannot speak for themselves. In many cities they have likewise provided drinking fountains for men and for animals.

All women members of the “National Association of the Audubon Societies,” that protect bird-life in America, bind themselves never to decorate their hats with plumes and feathers. They have also secured laws that forbid hunters to kill useful birds, and prevent milliners from buying or exhibiting feathers and stuffed skins of such birds.

As generous patronesses of education, science and art many women have set themselves lasting monuments.

Catherine L. Wolfe donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York not only her magnificent collection of paintings, but likewise a fund of $200,000 for its preservation and increase. A million dollars was also bequeathed by her to several educational institutions founded by her father and herself. She is also known as the founder of the New York Home for Incurables.

Mary Tileston Hemenway supported the so-called Hemenway Expeditions for the archæological exploration of certain regions of Arizona and New Mexico.

Jane Lathrop Stanford, wife of Leland Stanford, railway constructor, and U. S. Senator from California, founded in memory of her son the “Leland Stanford Jr. University” at Palo Alto, near San Francisco. At her own expense Mrs. Stanford established a museum, connected with the university, containing objects of art, and many things she had collected during her extensive travels. At her death the entire estate of the Stanfords, amounting to about $50,000,000, was left to endow this great university. Her San Francisco home, on Nob Hill, became an art gallery and museum.

Phœbe Hearst, wife of George Hearst, and mother of William Randolph Hearst, made large donations to the University of California. These included $800,000 for the erection and equipment of the Hearst Memorial Mining Building. She also made provision for twenty scholarships for women, and founded a number of free libraries in mining towns with which her husband had been associated. Mrs. Hearst was also actively interested in every kind of organization for the welfare of women. Furthermore she established and maintained two kindergarten schools in San Francisco, and three in Washington, one of which is for colored children. Her most important gift to the District of Columbia was the National Cathedral School for Girls, erected on a beautiful site on the outskirts of the city.

Margaret Olivia Sage, the widow of Russell Sage, donated between seventy-five and eighty million dollars for charitable 246and educational purposes. With ten millions she established in 1907 the “Sage Foundation for Social Betterment.” Its purpose is the improvement of social and living conditions in the United States. It does not attempt to relieve individual or family need, but tries to seek out and eliminate causes of this evil. It furthers education that more directly affects social and living conditions, such as industrial education, education in household arts, and the training of social workers. In the pursuit of these aims the Sage Foundation subsidized worthy activities and organizations; it has established investigational and propagandist departments of its own; invested its funds in activities with a social purpose; and published extensively books and pamphlets on social subjects. Since the work of the Russell Sage Foundation aids social advance for people of every nation, Mrs. Sage became one of the benefactors not only of this country, but of the world.

Among the many donations Mrs. Sage made to other institutions, were $600,000 to the Troy Female Seminary, which was one of the first schools in America for the higher education of girls; $1,600,000 to the Woman’s Hospital of New York; $1,600,000 to the Children’s Aid Society; $1,600,000 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art; $1,600,000 to the American Museum of Natural History; and $1,600,000 to Syracuse University.

The list here given mentions only a few of the innumerable philanthropic works of American women. Similar lists could be made for all other countries, but the material has never been properly collected. Besides, by far the greatest number of such benevolent acts have been performed without public knowledge. But wherever we go, we find women active, helpful, and persevering, always rejoicing in the accomplishment of good.

“If particular care and attention are not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound to obey any laws in which we have no voice or representation.”—This was the warning directed by Mrs. John Adams in March, 1776, to her husband while he was attending the Continental Congress, assembled in Philadelphia to consider the Declaration of Independence.

When this document was framed and adopted without recognizing the rights of women, Mrs. Adams and a number of other women, deeply indignant, made good the threat of Mrs. Adams and opened that most remarkable warfare, which has lasted for more than a hundred years and may be called “Woman’s Battle for Suffrage.”

That they were deeply disappointed by the inattention of Congress, may be inferred from a letter by Hannah Lee, the sister of General Lee, in which she asks her brother to demand from Congress suffrage for women, as otherwise they would not pay any taxes. The same request was made by various other prominent women, who pointed to the fact that, while their husbands and sons had fought for the inherent rights of men, they had likewise fought for the rights of women. But as at that time American women were not organized their demands failed to make the necessary impression and remained unheeded. Besides, the majority of American women receiving only a very limited education, took little interest in the question, because of their ignorance of its importance. Thus, the subject of woman’s rights and suffrage dragged on until women had discovered, that there is strength in numbers, in federation, and that federation is the preliminary requirement to make victory possible.

The evolution of women’s clubs during the 19th Century is one of the most striking and most important phenomena in woman’s history. The movement began with the sewing or spinning circles of long ago, and made a great stride when the custom was initiated of some members reading while the others sewed. Later on these circles evolved into reading-clubs, which again developed into literary societies and associations for public improvement, aiming at the establishment of public schools and libraries, the erection of hospitals, orphan asylums, the sanitation of the streets, and other public works.

Such women’s clubs were not even afraid to tackle such 248most difficult problems as the abolition of slavery, which, at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th Century, became the burning question of the time. The hot discussion of this problem split the population of the United States into two hostile factions, of which the South with its partisans in the North made desperate efforts to prevent the free expression of opinion respecting the institution of slavery. In the slave States even the Christian churches used their influence in favor of the maintenance of slavery.

Among the first and strongest advocates of abolition were Sarah and Angelina Grimke, the daughters of a family of Salzburgers, who during the 18th Century had immigrated into South Carolina and Georgia. Shocked by the inhuman treatment and cruelties inflicted upon the slaves all round, and suffering intensely from the stand taken by their own relatives, the sisters resolved to fight these abuses.

While visiting Philadelphia, Sarah came under the influence of the Quakers, and read the strong protest against slavery, which Pastorius and the settlers of Germantown in 1688 had directed to the Quaker meeting. Returning to her home, Sarah besought her relatives to free their slaves. Failing in this effort, she left her home, joined the Quaker society of the “Friends” in Philadelphia, and in 1835 directed an “Appeal to the Christian Women of the South,” imploring them to become active on behalf of the slaves. This pamphlet aroused such a profound sensation wherever it was read, that when some time afterward Miss Grimke expressed a desire to visit her former home, the mayor of Charleston called upon her mother and informed her that the police had been instructed to prevent her daughter’s landing when the steamer should come into port. He also would see to it that she might not communicate with any person, by letter or otherwise, and that, if she should elude the vigilance of the police and go ashore, she was to be arrested and imprisoned until the return of the vessel. As threats of personal violence were also made, Miss Grimke abandoned her visit, but published soon afterward “An Epistle to the Clergy of the Southern States,” and, at the same time, began to address meetings in Pennsylvania as well as in the New England States, in order to rouse the dormant moral sense of the hearers to protest against the colossal sin of the nation. She was assisted by her sister Angelina and such eloquent speakers as Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Stanton, William Lloyd Garrison and others. These agitators finally created such a stir, that the conservatives and opponents of abolition decided that they must be silenced. Quite often their meetings were disturbed by mobs; halls were refused them, and violence was threatened. The General Association of Congregational Ministers of Massachusetts 249passed a resolution censuring the Grimke sisters, and issued a pastoral letter containing a tirade against “female preachers.” But in spite of all efforts, public sentiment in the North in favor of abolition steadily grew, until it became evident that the question could not be settled without an armed conflict.

At a gathering of abolitionists, held on July 19th, 1848, at the home of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton in Seneca, N.Y., the question of women’s rights was eagerly discussed. Mrs. Stanton, the daughter of a lawyer, had found by frequent visits to her father’s office that according to the then existing laws, which had been adopted from England, married women had no right of disposal over their own inherited property, their own income, or their own children, no matter how unfit, degraded, and cruel their husbands might be. There was even no redress for corporal punishment which the husbands might inflict on their wives.

ELIZABETH CADY STANTON.

Another woman, present at the gathering, was Lucretia Mott, a Quaker teacher. It had been her experience, that 250female teachers, having paid for their education just as much as the males, obtained, when teaching, only half of the compensation granted to male teachers.

But the indignation of the two women over the inferior position of woman had been especially excited while attending the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention, held in 1840 at London. Both women, together with Mrs. Wendell Phillips, had been appointed delegates by the abolitionists of America, and as they were able speakers, much had been expected from their eloquence. But when the women submitted their credentials, they discovered that the English abolitionists had not reformed their antiquated views of male predominance and would not admit any woman as delegate nor on the platform. When the question was submitted to vote, the women were excluded by a large majority. This flat refusal to recognize woman’s right to an equal participation in all social, political, and religious affairs brought what is termed “the Woman Question” into greater prominence than ever before. The gathering in the Wesleyan chapel, at Seneca Falls, N.Y., Mrs. Stanton’s home, is known as the First Woman’s Rights Convention. Held on the 19th and 20th of July, 1848, it was attended by 68 women and 38 men. The simultaneous discussion of the subject of slavery and the natural rights of man had as their logical consequence, on the part of women, the demand of a privilege exercised in many cases by persons far below them in intelligence and education. They asserted that many of their number were taxpayers, that all were interested in good government, and that it would be unjust for women of intelligence to be deprived of a vote while ignorant negroes could have a voice in the government. Furthermore they asserted that the participation of women would have a purifying effect on politics.

At the close of the second day the convention adopted the following:

“The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

“He has never permitted her to exercise her inalienable right to the elective franchise.

“He has compelled her to submit to laws in the formation of which she had no voice.

“He has withheld from her rights which are given to the most ignorant and degraded men—both natives and foreigners.

“Having deprived her of this first right of a citizen, the 251elective franchise, thereby leaving her without representation in the halls of legislation, he has oppressed her on all sides.

“He has made her, if married, in the eye of the law, civilly dead.

“He has taken from her all right in property, even to the wages she earns.

“He has so framed the laws of divorce as to what shall be the proper causes, and, in case of separation, to whom the guardianship of the children shall be given, as to be wholly regardless of the happiness of women—the law in all cases going upon a false supposition of the supremacy of man, and giving all power into his hands.

“After depriving her of all rights as a married woman, if single and the owner of property, he has taxed her to support a government which recognizes her only when her property can be made profitable to it.

“He has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those she is permitted to follow she receives but a scanty remuneration. He closes against her all the avenues of wealth and distinction which he considers most honorable to himself. As a teacher of theology, medicine, or law, she is not known.

“He allows her in church, as well as state, but a subordinate position, claiming Apostolic authority for her exclusion from the ministry and, with some exceptions, from any public participation in the affairs of the church.

“He has created a false public sentiment by giving to the world a different code of morals for men and women, by which moral delinquencies which exclude women from society are not only tolerated but deemed of little account in man.

“He has usurped the prerogative of Jehovah himself, claiming it as his right to assign for her a sphere of action, when that belongs to her conscience and God.

“He has endeavored, in every way that he could, to destroy her confidence in her own powers, to lessen her self-respect, and to make her willing to lead a dependent and abject life.

“Now, in view of this disfranchisement of one-half the people of this country, their social and religious degradation; in view of the unjust laws mentioned, and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed and fraudulently deprived of their most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the United States.”

Of course, this declaration, modeled after the immortal Declaration of 1776, did not fail to create a sensation everywhere. Other conventions were held in Rochester and Syracuse, N.Y., and in Salem, Ohio. They brought to the front 252a number of wonderful women, whose names were henceforth connected with this movement, first among them Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Paulina Wright Davis and Anna Howard Shaw. In October, 1850, the First National Woman’s Rights Convention was held at Worcester, Mass. Attended by delegates from nine states it was distinguished by addresses and papers of the highest character, which filled the audiences with enthusiasm. A National Committee was formed, under whose management conventions were held annually in various cities. An account of the convention, written by Mrs. John Stuart Mill, in the “Westminster Review,” London, marked the beginning of the movement for woman suffrage in Great Britain. But in spite of all efforts and agitation, progress was but slow. The first result was not gained before 1861, when Kansas granted school suffrage to women, a step that was not followed by other states for many years afterwards.

How averse the stronger sex was to grant women suffrage became evident, when in 1868 the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution of the United States were adopted. These amendments abolished slavery and gave the freed negroes of the South all privileges of citizenship, including the right to vote. Section 1 of the 15th amendment reads:

“The right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

As the advocates of woman suffrage were American citizens, they held themselves entitled to the same rights as granted to the negroes. But their demands to be registered as legal voters were denied by the registrars of elections. Now the women appealed to the courts, to see if their claim would be sustained by invoking the aid of those constitutional amendments above cited. But the uniform decision in each court was that these amendments had in no way changed or abridged the right of each State to restrict suffrage to males, and that they applied only to the men of color and to existing rights and privileges. An appeal to the Supreme Court resulted in the decision that this body was in accordance with the decisions of the State courts.

To test the application of the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution Susan B. Anthony,—who in 1860 with others had been successful in securing the passage of an Act of the New York Legislation, giving to married women the possession of their earnings, as well as the guardianship of their children,—cast in 1872 ballots at the State and Congressional elections in New York. Miss Anthony was indicted and in 1873 found guilty of criminal offense against the 253United States for knowingly voting for congressmen without having a lawful right to vote, which offense was punishable, under Act of Congress, by a heavy fine or imprisonment. Fined $100 for illegal voting, Miss Anthony declared that she would never pay the penalty, and in fact it has never been collected.

SUSAN B. ANTHONY.

Undaunted by the decision of the Court, Miss Anthony in 1875 proposed the following amendment to Article 1 of the Constitution:

“Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

“Section 2. Congress shall have power by appropriate legislation to enforce the provisions of this article.”

This resolution was introduced by Senator Sargent of California in 1878, but was rejected several times. In 1887 it secured in the Senate only 14 affirmative to 34 negative votes.

But several years before the indictment of Miss Anthony 254woman suffrage had already won its first victory, in the Territory of Wyoming. The Organic Act for the regulation of the Territorial governments provides that at the first election in any Territory male citizens of the age of twenty-one years shall vote, but

“at all subsequent elections the qualifications of voters and for holding office shall be such as may be prescribed by the legislative assembly of each Territory.”

Under this act the first legislative assembly of Wyoming, in 1869, granted women the right to vote and to hold office upon the same terms as men. An effort made in 1871, to repeal this statute, failed, and to the men of Wyoming belongs the honor, of having been first to recognize the rights of women.

A further gain was made when the Republican National Convention of 1872 and 1876 resolved that “the honest demands” of women for additional rights should be treated with respectful consideration.

Of still greater importance was the organization of two national Woman Suffrage Associations, the one with headquarters in New York, the other in Boston. A union of these two bodies was effected in 1890 under the title of “The National American Woman Suffrage Association.”

Mrs. Stanton was elected president of the new organization. When in 1892 she resigned from her office because of advancing age, she was followed by Miss Anthony, who in 1900 resigned at the age of 80. Her successors were Miss Anna Howard Shaw and Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt.

Under the able leadership of these brilliant women victory was now followed by victory. Up to 1914 Colorado, Idaho, Washington, California, Arizona, Kansas, Oregon, Nevada, Utah and Montana had joined the ranks of Woman Suffrage States; also the Territory of Alaska.

To these Western regions the Eastern and Southern States formed a strange contrast, as so far the suffragists had been unable to conquer one of them. For this surprising fact I fail to find any other explanation but that the Western men are much more conscious of a great historical truth, which the men in the East and South seem to have almost forgotten, namely: that to the women the founding of real culture in America is due. Having heroically shared with their husbands all hardships and dangers, having gone with them on their hazardous journeys into the wilderness, even on their long voyages across the prairies and Rocky Mountains to far Oregon and California, the women provided the first permanent homes and filled them with comfort, sunshine and happiness. In recognition of these facts the Western men granted their partners only a well deserved tribute of gratitude.

255In many places the men expressed their respect for the gentler sex by electing women to important public offices, and in almost all cases these positions have been filled to the fullest satisfaction.

The steady progress of woman suffrage in the United States was followed by the women of other countries with intense interest, especially by those of Great Britain and Australia. Encouraged to like activity, they demonstrated with convincing clearness the injustice of the legislatures toward women and thus prepared the way for a similar movement in favor of woman suffrage. The result was that the English government in 1869 adopted the Municipal Reform Act, which permits women to vote in all municipal elections. An Act of 1870 gave them the school vote. The Act of 1888 made them voters for the county councils. An Act of 1894 abolished in all departments of local government the qualification of sex.

DR. ANNA HOWARD SHAW.

New Zealand, one of the most progressive of all countries, went even farther. The women there were granted suffrage in 1893 on the same basis with men. A similar step was taken in the following year by South Australia. And when in 1901 the Commonwealth of Australia was formed by the federation of the six provinces, or states, of New South Wales, 256Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, one of the first steps was to give all women full national suffrage.

In the countries of continental Europe the evolution of local women’s organizations to State- and National Unions had been the same as in the United States and in England. But the majority of these societies remained conservative in regard to woman suffrage. Germany since 1813 has had the “Vaterlaendische Frauenverein” (Patriotic Women’s League), a union of wonderful helpers for suffering humanity, both in peace and in war. Since 1865 a “General Association of German Women” tried to secure new rights for women, both along political and economic lines. A “Society for Woman Suffrage” was not formed before 1902. But only two years later the “International Suffrage Alliance” was formed in Berlin, with Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, of New York, as president. The progressive movement in Germany took largely the form of educational and industrial training. And the women shared the national belief that education precedes every good, and that for their legal and political protection from injustice they might rely upon their male relatives.

CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT.

In certain districts of Germany, Austria, Denmark, Hungary and Russia women who owned property, were permitted 257to cast their votes on various communal matters, either by proxy or in person. In Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Switzerland, Roumania and Bulgaria women had no political rights whatever, but were permitted to vote for certain state boards—educational, philanthropic, correctional and industrial. In France, women as a rule showed little sympathy with suffrage, retaining their racial instinct that they might accomplish more through social influence, personal suasion and the special charms of their sex than by working openly through the ballot.

In Switzerland few women had the courage to seek emancipation, as those who favored the movement were looked upon as disreputable persons without regard for social laws. In Portugal and Spain women remained absolutely indifferent. Sweden had given women the right to vote in all elections, except for representatives, while Finland and Norway in 1906 and 1907 granted full suffrage rights and eligibility to women upon exceedingly generous terms.

Since the beginning of the 20th Century the Modern Woman’s Rights Movement has also caused significant changes in the status of the women of the Balkan States, and of the countries of the Orient and the Far East. Restrictions and obstacles, placed on woman by tradition and religious rules, have been abolished. Many Mohammedan women for instance appear to-day on the streets without veils, a thing that no prominent woman could do formerly. The establishment of girls’ schools, woman’s colleges, universities, woman clubs and journals mark likewise the progress of the movement. And in Servia, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Japan exist federations of women’s clubs, which can be regarded as political organizations.

Thus, at the beginning of the memorable year of 1914 woman throughout the civilized world had gained various degrees of freedom in the exercise of her political rights.

Few questions have been so universally and intensely discussed as the right and expediency of Woman Suffrage. Its opponents assert that the true woman needs no governing authority conferred upon her by law. While discussing this question one “gentleman” said “that the highest evidence of respect that man could exhibit toward woman, and the noblest service he could perform for her, were to vote Nay to the proposition that would take from her the diadem of pearls, the talisman of faith, hope and love, by which all other requests are won from men, and substitute for it the iron crown of authority.”

The chief arguments brought forward against woman suffrage are: that the majority of the women never desired it, because they were already represented by their husbands, fathers and brothers; that there were already too many voters, and that by admitting women to suffrage the whole machinery and cost of voting would be doubled without changing the result; that women would not have time to perform their political duties without neglecting their higher duties at home; that women were too emotional and sentimental to be entrusted with the ballot; that women would cease to vote after the novelty had worn off; that the introduction of women into political life would increase its bitterness, and would abolish chivalry with its refining influence on men; that the franchise, in a large majority of instances, would be exercised under the influence of priests, parsons, and ministers, under the power of religious prejudice, and that religious feuds would affect political life much more than under present circumstances. And finally it has been asserted that woman suffrage would place a new and terrible strain upon family relations as the introduction of political disputes into domestic life would lead to quarrels and divorce.

These arguments were answered in an editorial of the “New York American” of October 6, 1912, as follows:

“The ballot is the weapon that men use in defending their rights. It is the voice with which men express their opinions, their wishes, as to law, in the more settled civilization where the ballot is the recognized power. Little by little the mass of the people—that is to say, of the men—have got the ballot. Originally there was no ballot. Savage tribes held disorganized meetings, and shouted their opinions. The loudest shouters won, and the man who could hit the hardest led the others. Little by little the big man formed his own opinions, alone reached his own decisions, and the others had 259nothing to say. The expression of opinion was confined to one, or to a few leaders, gathered under a chief, or, where religion ruled, opinion was controlled by the priests in the old temples making up their minds what would be good for them, and forcing their will on ignorant people. For many centuries the kings, the nobles and the priests ruled—and the people had nothing to say. Men and women alike were without the vote.

“Little by little, the men got the vote, and now, in civilized countries, universal suffrage became the rule, as regards men. The women were shut out because men always have had the idea that voting was in some way connected with fighting. Their thoughts went back to the old savage mob shouting its determination to attack and kill—leaving the women at home. And the ignoring of women persists, although little by little the voting power has been used, not to make war, but to prevent war.

“Now, in every country calling itself civilized, the chief use of the ballot is to express ideas of peace—justice. The ballot that was once the expression of man’s fighting quality is now the expression of his better nature, and for that reason it is time to give that ballot to the better half of the human race, to the women that have civilized it.

“Supporters of women suffrage are, and for many years have been, the best men in the country. Men that are unselfish, just, scorning ridicule, and proud to vindicate the rights of their own mothers and sisters, have long demanded votes for women. The women that have worked and fought for the suffrage have been, beyond all comparison, the best women of this and other countries. Humorists used to talk of “short-haired women and long-haired men” as the advocates of woman suffrage. That is a foolish and false division. The women with good foreheads, earnest, gentle and dignified faces have been the advocates of votes for women. The women with low foreheads, plastered with hair, the women with their faces painted, the women with a hundred thoughts for dress and no thought for anything else, have been the opponents of women suffrage. And the men, brutal, conceited, looking upon woman as a piece of property, created for man’s pleasure or for his service, have been the men that opposed suffrage. Another class opposed to woman suffrage is the most dangerous class of all. That is the class that would keep in ignorance women, and men, too, if it could. Those that prey upon the ignorance and superstition of women are anxious that women shall know as little as possible. They do not want the women to vote, for voting means thinking, and thinking means freedom. Wherever women have voted they have bettered conditions.”—

260Lecky in his valuable book “Democracy and Liberty” writes on page 547: “It has been gravely alleged that the whole character of the female sex would be revolutionized, or at least seriously impaired, if they were brought by the suffrage into public life. There is perhaps no subject in which exaggerations so enormous and so grotesque may be found in the writings of considerable men. Considered in itself, the process of voting is now merely that of marking once in several years a ballot-paper in a quiet room, and it may be easily accomplished in five minutes. And can it reasonably be said that the time or thought which an average male elector bestows on the formation of his political opinions is such as to interfere in any appreciable degree with the currents of his thoughts, with the tendencies of his character or life? Men wrote on this subject as if public life and interests formed the main occupation of an ordinary voter. It is said that domestic life should be the one sphere of woman. Very many women—especially those to whom the vote would be conceded—have no domestic, or but few domestic duties to attend to, and are compelled, if they are not wholly frivolous or wholly apathic, to seek spheres of useful activity beyond their homes. Even a full domestic life is scarcely more absorbing to a woman than professional life to a man. Scarcely any woman is so engrossed in it that she cannot bestow on public affairs an amount of time and intelligence equal to that which is bestowed on it by thousands of masculine voters. Nothing can be more fantastic than to argue as if electors were a select body, mainly occupied with political studies and public interests.

“Women form a great section of the community, and they have many special interests. The opening to them of employments, professions and endowments; the regulation of their labor; questions of women’s property and succession; the punishment of crimes against women; female education; laws relating to marriage, guardianship, and divorce, may all be cited; and in the great drink question they are even more interested than men, for though they are the more sober sex, they are also the sex which suffers most from the consequences of intemperance. With such a catalogue of special interests it is impossible to say that they have not a claim to representation.”—

Among the arguments in favor of woman suffrage the most important are the following: As women are citizens of a Government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and as women are people, who wish to do their civic duty, it is unfair that they should be governed by laws in the making of which they have no voice. As women are equally concerned with men in good and bad government, and equally 261responsible for civic righteousness, and as they must obey the laws just as men do, they should vote equally with men.

If it is true that “taxation without representation is tyranny” then tax-paying women who support the government by paying taxes, should have the right to vote to elect such representatives, who protect them against unjust taxation.

Working women need the ballot to regulate the conditions under which they work. Millions of women are wage-earners and their health is often endangered by bad working conditions and sweat-shop methods that can only be remedied by legislation.

Business women need the ballot to secure for themselves a fair opportunity in their business, and to protect themselves against adverse legislation.

Mothers and housekeepers need the vote to regulate the moral and sanitary conditions under which their families must live. Women are forever told that their place is in the home. But what do men expect of them in the home? Merely to stay there is not enough. They are a failure unless they do certain things for the home. They must minister, as far as their means allow, to the health and welfare, moral as well as physical, of their family, and especially of the children. They, more than anybody else, are held responsible for what becomes of the children. Women are responsible for the cleanliness of the house, for the wholesomeness of the food, for their children’s health and morals. But mothers cannot control these things, if the neighbors are allowed to live in filth, if dealers are permitted to sell poor or adulterated food, if the plumbing in the house is unsanitary, if garbage accumulates and the halls and stairs are left dirty. They can take every care to avoid fire, but if the house has been badly built, if the fire-escapes are insufficient or not fire-proof, they cannot guard their children from the horrors of being maimed or killed by fire. They can open the windows to give the children the air that we are told is so necessary. But if the air is laden with infection and contagious diseases, they cannot protect the children from this danger. They can send the children out for air and exercise, but if the conditions that surround them in the streets are immoral and degrading, they cannot protect them from these influences. Women alone cannot make these things right. But the City administration can do it. The administration is elected by the people, to protect the interests of the people. As men hold women responsible for the conditions under which the children live, the women should have something to say about the city’s housekeeping, even if they must introduce an occasional house-cleaning.

What enormous influence women are able to exert in vital questions has been demonstrated in the Temperance Movement; 262which originated in the United States. Since the beginning of the colonization of the Western Hemisphere Americans have been heavy consumers of rum, whiskey, and other intoxicating liquors. “Everybody drank, and on all occasions,” says a writer who has left us a pen picture of these bibulous days. Drunkenness and all the evils resulting from it increased with the gradual development of the “saloon” and the habit of “treating,” two institutions peculiar to America and almost unknown in Europe.

For generations the women were the greatest sufferers from the intemperance of the men, because many husbands came home besotted, their faculties benumbed to an unconsciousness of their own degradation, with wages gone, and employment forfeited. The purer and gentler the wife in such case, the more intense her suffering. So it was but natural, that when the first “Anti-Spirits Association” was formed in 1808 in Greenfield, Saratoga County, New York, several women should join it. The movement made rapid progress, and in 1826 the “American Temperance Society” was founded. In 1829 and 1830 similar associations were started in Ireland and England; and in 1846 the first “World’s Temperance Convention” was held at London. In 1873 women became a real force in the field when the women inhabitants of Hillsborough, a small town in Ohio, started what became known as “The Women’s Crusade.”

Frances E. Willard, one of its principal leaders, described the proceedings in the following graphic manner: “Usually the women came in a long procession from their rendezvous at some church, where they had held a morning prayer meeting. Marching two and two in a column, they entered the saloon with kind faces, and the sweet songs of church and home upon their lips, while some Madonna-like leader with the Gospel in her looks, took her stand beside the bar and gently asked if she might read God’s word and offer prayer. After that the ladies seated themselves, took their knitting or embroidery, and watched the men who patronized the saloons. While some of them cursed the women openly, and some quietly slunk out of sight, others began to sign the pledge these women brought with them. In the meantime one of the ladies pleaded with the proprietor to give up his business. Many of these liquor dealers surrendered and then followed stirring scenes, and amid songs and the ringing of the church bells the contents of barrels and bottles were gurgling into the gutter, while the whole town assembled to rejoice in this new fashion of exorcising the evil spirits.

“Not everywhere the ladies met with success. In Cincinnati such a procession of women, including the wives of leading pastors, were arrested and locked up in jail; at other 263places dogs were set on the crusaders, or they were smoked out, or had the hose turned on them.”

The movement, wholly emotional, and in many cases hysterical, spread throughout the country like a prairie fire. In 1874 it led to the organization of “The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union,” and, in 1883, to the founding of “The World’s Women’s Temperance Union,” the members of which wear a white ribbon and have the motto: “Woman will bless and brighten every place she enters, and she will enter every place.”

Since the founding of this world’s union the movement has extended over many countries and has branched out into a multitude of organizations. Their influence has been widely felt in legislatures, and in all elections in which laws have been voted upon for the regulation of the production and sale of liquors.—

Another question in which women are deeply concerned is that of Child-labor, the reckless exploitation of children in the interest of industry. Evidences that in England the dreadful abuses, committed by unscrupulous mine- and factory-owners, as described in a former chapter, have continued to the present times, were submitted to the International Women’s Congress, held in 1899 in London. It was reported that at that time 144,026 children below the age of 12 years were employed in workshops, mines, factories and warehouses. Of these children 131 had not yet reached the age of 7 years; 1120 were under 8; 4211 under 9; 11,027 under 10, and 122,131 under 11 years of age. Miss Montessori, the Italian delegate to the Congress, described the hard work of the children employed in the sulphur mines of Sicily. As they have to carry heavy loads on their shoulders through low gangways and over steep ladders and stairways, they are compelled to walk in a stooped position, and therefore in time become deformed and crippled.

In the United States the question of child-labor is likewise a matter of deep concern to men as well as to women. As every State has its own Legislature, there exists a varied assortment of child-labor laws. Ten or fifteen years ago several states had none whatever. Others prohibited the employment of children under ten years, while still others had an age limit of twelve or fourteen years. The same diversity prevailed in regard to the hours of labor. Some states had no legislation in this direction, while others forbade any child to work longer than ten hours daily.

During the year 1890 there was a total of 860,786 children between the ages of ten and fifteen years at work in various occupations in the United States. A report of the Bureau of Mines of Pennsylvania for 1901 stated 24,023 of 264the employees of the anthracite coal mines in Pennsylvania were children.

In 1918 investigators of the children’s bureau of the Department of Labor reported that the number of minors employed in factories, mines and quarries has increased at a rapid rate since the U. S. Supreme Court, on June 5th, 1918, nullified the child-labor act of 1916 as unconstitutional. Not only are a greatly increased number of children employed, but they are kept at work longer hours than before. Since the future of such children as well as the future of the country depend to a very great extent upon what legislators do in regard to children, it is obvious that women are deeply concerned in this question.—

The need of women’s participation in government and of an “occasional house-cleaning” in the Legislatures as well as in the Municipal Administrations becomes evident, when we realize that one of the most revolting crimes is committed daily in our communities, quite often with the silent protection of corrupt officials and politicians. We refer to the White Slave Trade. As few people have any definite idea of its extent and terrors, some authentic facts are here given, which, at the same time, demonstrate men’s indifference as well as the urgent need of woman’s interference for its suppression.

As everybody knows, the traffic in young girls for purposes of prostitution is as old as humanity. It has flourished in all ages and in all countries. But it was during the 19th Century that it found its systematic organization and its most extensive development.

With alarming frequency, the papers report that some young woman or girl is “missing,” having stepped out of her home on some household errand, and from this moment having vanished as though swallowed by the earth. Such was the case of Dorothy Arnold, who some years ago left her cosy home in New York, to do some shopping in a department store. She never returned and no trace of her was ever discovered. This particular case attracted wide attention all over the United States, as Miss Arnold, a beautiful girl of eighteen, was the daughter of wealthy parents, who spent a fortune in desperate but futile attempts to recover their child.—

Every year hundreds of similar cases occur in our country, some in San Francisco, some in New York, Baltimore, St. Louis, Chicago and elsewhere. If the exact number of such missing girls could be known, the public might well be shocked; and horrified if it would know the sad lot that befalls the majority of these unfortunate girls. Where efforts to ascertain their fate have met with success, it was found that in ninety out of a hundred cases such girls became victims of the most detestable fiends on earth, human ghouls, who make fortunes 265by luring innocent and inexperienced women into the most degrading slavery.

There were many events that favored the development of the white slave trade. The discovery of gold in California and the construction of many transcontinental railroads were followed by the opening of the rich mining- and lumber-districts in the northwestern and western parts of the United States, and in Canada. In more recent years came the opening of the gold and diamond fields in South Africa, of the gold grounds in Alaska, the construction of the Panama Canal and the great transcontinental railroads through Siberia and Africa. All these great undertakings attracted many thousands of men, who were ready to squander their earnings in gambling, drinking and any other kind of dissipation. Women, of course, stood at the head of things in demand. And as there are always people eager to profit by catering to such passions, the white slave trade assumed most threatening proportions.

To ensnare victims, the slave dealers insert enticing advertisements offering profitable positions to waitresses, chambermaids, servants, governesses, and other female help in hotels, boarding houses and private families. They send their “procurers” or agents to the dance-halls and cheap pleasure resorts, and to those industrial towns, where large numbers of poorly paid young girls toil in mills and factories. Here they approach their prey under all kinds of disguises and pretenses. One especially ingenious procurer of New York has been credited with gaining the acquaintance of young girls in the garb of a priest. And George Kibbe Turner in an article “The Daughters of the Poor” (published in 1910 in McClure’s Magazine) made the statement that a gang of such fiends worked under the name “The New York Independent Benevolent Association”!

However, the chief recruiting-grounds for the white slave trade are the miserable Jewish Ghettos of Poland, Russia, Galicia, Hungary, Austria and Roumania, where always numbers of degraded men can be found, ready to sell their own kindred for any price offered. With the help of such procurers four principal centers of the white slave trade were created: Lemberg, London, Paris and New York, with branches in all parts of America, Africa and Asia.

Of course such a villainous trade would not be possible without the silent protection of corrupt officials and political machines, who share in its enormous profits. Inside information on this subject was received through the disclosures, made during the latter parts of the last century about conditions in the mining and lumber regions of Michigan and Wisconsin. In January, 1887, Representative Breen appeared before the House Judiciary Committee of the legislature of Michigan 266and stated the existence of a regular trade in young and innocent girls for purposes of prostitution between Chicago, Duluth and other cities with the mining and lumber districts south of Lake Superior. As he said that the horrors of the camps into which these girls were lured beggared description, several newspapers, among them the “Chicago Herald” and “The New York World,” dispatched representatives, disguised as woodmen, to those regions to investigate the truth of these statements. They found that almost without exception the girls, kept in these camps, had been secured under promise of respectable employment. The houses, in which they were imprisoned, were surrounded by stockades twenty or thirty feet in height, the one door guarded night and day by a man with a rifle, while within were a number of bulldogs to prevent the girls from escaping. In the largest of such lumber camps dens from twenty to seventy-five girls were found.

On January 24, 1887, the “New York World” published the story of an unfortunate girl, who had been lured by an advertisement to work in a lumberman’s hotel in the North. Believing the position to be respectable, she went there, but after her arrival at the place she was taken to a rough two-story building surrounded by a slab fence twenty feet high, within which was a cordon of bulldogs, thirteen in number, chained to iron stakes driven into the ground. In this place she was compelled, like all the other girls, of which there were always from eleven to thirty, to drink and dance with the men of the mining and lumber camps. They were not permitted to refuse any request of those visitors. A complaint of any kind, even of sickness, meant a whipping, frequently with a rawhide upon the naked body, sometimes with the butt of a revolver. When the log drives were going on, there would be hundreds of men there night and day, not human beings, but fiends.

“Oh, it was awful, awful!” cried the girl after her release. “I would rather stay in prison until I die than go back there for one day. I tried to escape three times and was caught. They unchained the dogs and let them get so near me that I cried out in terror and begged them to take the dogs away and I would go back. Then, of course, I was beaten. I tried, too, to smuggle out notes to the Sheriff through visitors, but they would take them to the proprietor instead, and he would pay for them. Once I did get a note to the Deputy Sheriff at Florence, Wisconsin, and he came and inquired. But the proprietor gave him $50, and he went away. I was awfully beaten then. While I lived this life, from March until September, two inmates died, both from brutal treatment. They were as good as murdered. Nearly all the girls came without knowing the character of the house, and first implored to get 267away. The county officers came to the places to drink and dance with the girls. They are controlled by a rich man in Iron Mountain, who owns these houses and rents them for $100 a month.”

That the den keepers were always on good terms with the officials, appears also from the following report of the “Chicago Herald” of April 17, 1892, in which attention is called to the continuance of the horrible conditions in the mining- and lumber-camps. “Four years ago, when “The Herald” exposed the pinery dens, Marinette was known as the wickedest city in the country. It was the rendezvous of every species of bad men. Thugs, thieves and gamblers practically held possession of the town. Their influence was felt in all municipal affairs. Certain officers of the law seemed in active sympathy with them, and it was almost impossible to secure the arrest and conviction of men guilty of infamous crimes. Dives of the vilest character ran open on the outskirts of the town. Their inmates, recruited from all parts of the country by the subtle arts of well known procurers, were kept in a state of abject slavery. Iron balls and chains, suffocating cords and the whistling lash were used on refractory girls and women. Bodies of ill-starred victims were sometimes found in the woods, but the discovery was rarely followed by investigation. The dive keepers were wealthy and knew how to ease the conscience of any over-zealous officer.”

Another report states: “Many den-keepers wield a powerful influence in the local elections; one of the worst of such, after paying the constable $12 for the return of a girl who had tried to escape, beat her with a revolver until tired and was then only prevented by a woodman from turning loose a bulldog upon her; but such was his political influence that he was elected justice of the peace the following spring!”—

About the same time, at a session of the National Social Purity Congress held in Baltimore, the following statement was made: “Of the 230,000 erring girls in this country, over half have been snared or sold into their lives of shame. Their average life is five years. Forty-six thousand are carted out to Potters Field every year. Over one hundred American homes have to be desolated every day to recruit the ranks of shame. Isn’t it time for somebody to try to save these girls from falling into those dens of iniquity? Twenty million Christians can rescue 230,000 erring girls, or surely the religion of Jesus Christ is a failure.”

Terrible happenings, as for instance the murder of Ruth Cruger of New York in 1917, and similar cases in February and March, 1919, have disclosed that gangs of white slave traders still exist in America and do a flourishing business. 268The prices paid to agents depend upon the girl’s youth and beauty, ranging from $20 to $1000, and even more.

The enormous and thoroughly organized traffic in girl-children in England was exposed by the revelations of the “Pall Mall Gazette,” which roused the people to earnest efforts against this commerce and secured the formation of the “Society for the Prevention of Traffic in English Girls.” In giving details of this traffic the paper said:

“London, the great metropolis of Christian England, the largest city of ancient and modern times, is acknowledged by statisticians and sociologists to be the point where crime, vice, despair, and misery are found in their deepest depth and greatest diversity. Not Babylon of old, whose name is the synonym of all that is vile; not Rome, “Mother of Harlots,” not Corinth, in whose temple a thousand girls were kept for prostitution in service of God, not the most savage lands in all their barbarity have ever shown a thousandth part of the human woe to be found in the city of London, that culmination of modern Christian civilization. The nameless crimes of Sodom and Gomorrah, the vileness of ancient Greece, which garnered its most heroic men, its most profound philosophers, are but amusements among young men of the highest rank in England; West End, the home of rank and wealth, of university education, being the central hell of this extended radius of vice.”

As in many countries priests and police departments have failed to stop this heinous traffic in young girls, women must step in, and, by their votes, must place such legislators and police commissioners in office, that proper laws and their strict enforcement can be expected.

In Germany the “white slave trade” is practically unknown. For many years two women associations have existed,—a Protestant and a Catholic,—whose representatives, recognizable by distinct arm bands, patrol all important railway stations, in order to furnish correct information to incoming girls who are looking for positions, and to escort them to the homes of the associations, where they may stay till respectable places have been found for them.

It is obvious, that the problems connected with the temperance question, child-labor and the white slave trade are of vital importance to every woman and mother. Salvation must come through the woman’s ballot. They must defend themselves and their children as men have done: by co-operating in the elections, by controlling those that make the laws, and by controlling those who are appointed to enforce them.

A few words may be said in regard to the claim that woman would cease to vote “after the novelty of her new 269toy had worn off.” Statistics as well as the testimony of competent observers confute this claim. In all states where women enjoy full suffrage, they have shown themselves eager to vote. In Idaho the Chief Justice and all the justices of the State Supreme Court signed a statement that “the large vote cast by the women establishes the fact that they take a lively interest.” In Wyoming, Colorado and other full suffrage states it has been observed that 90 per cent. of the women vote.

In Australia, in 1903, at the first national election in which women took part, 359,315 women voted; in 1906, 431,033; in 1910, 601,946.

In New Zealand the number has increased at each triennial parliamentary election. In 1893 90,290 women voted; in 1896, 108,793; in 1899, 119,550; in 1902, 138,565; in 1905, 175,046; in 1908, 190,114; in 1911, 221,858.

The following is a testimonial from Sir Joseph Ward, Prime Minister of New Zealand, in regard to Woman Suffrage in practice:

Woman Suffrage exists in New Zealand because it dawned upon the minds of thinking men that they were daily wasting an almost unlimited supply of mental and moral force. From the time their baby hands had found support and safety by holding the folds of their mother’s gowns, they had trusted the happiness of their lives hourly to the common sense, the purity and the sympathy of women. Strange to say, in one department of life alone, and that perhaps the most important, viz.: the political, had they denied the right of speech and of direct influence to women. Men of different countries had for centuries preached and written of evils which deformed their systems of Government and even tainted the aspirations of statesmen for just laws within the state, and equitable relations abroad. Nevertheless these men neglected, or refused to avail themselves of the support and counsel of women’s hearts and women’s brains, which they accepted on other matters. Indeed, they were ready to listen to foolish arguments against the idea of women entering political life; such as: women would lose their grace, modesty, and love of home if they voted; since they could not be soldiers, they had no right to control questions of peace and war.

In New Zealand we have not found that making a “pencil mark on a voting paper” once in three years has resulted in any loss of grace or beauty among our women, or even in neglect of home duties. On the contrary the women’s vote has had a distinctly clarifying effect on the process of elections. The old evil memories of election day, the ribaldry, the fighting, have been succeeded by a decorous gravity befitting 270people exercising their highest national privilege. When the contention, that women should not be entitled to vote because they cannot bear arms, is used by one whose mother could only make his life and citizenship possible by passing through pain and danger greater than the average soldier has to face, it becomes inconsistently ridiculous. Besides, many men (clergymen, government officials, etc., etc.), are exempt from actual military service, and that fact has never been used to deprive them of a vote. The main argument, however, which weighed with us, was that of right, of abstract right. If the foundation of government is the consent of the governed, it appears monstrously unfair that one half of the population should not be represented or have any share in it. Therefore, after long and grave consideration, we gave our women an equal right with men in deciding on the qualifications of candidates to represent them in Parliament.

We have no reason to regret the decision. I feel confident that if any great crisis in national morals should arise, the women’s vote would press with irresistable weight in the direction of clean, honest and efficient legislation. New Zealand has not repented having abolished set disqualifications among those men and women who have unitedly helped to build the foundations of a nation. I write as one who advocated the extension of the franchise to women before my entry into Parliament twenty years ago. I have always supported it in Parliament, and, while closely watching its effect, have never seen any genuine cause for believing that it has not worked for the good of the Dominion.

Similar testimonials have been given by the governors of all Western States of the Union.

Governor Bryant B. Brooks of Wyoming said: “Nothing can be so far from the truth as the idea that Woman Suffrage has the slightest tendency to disrupt the home. Indeed it has the very opposite effect. As a result of it politics is talked freely in the family circle, and political questions are settled by intelligent discussion. This has a great and good influence on the growing generation. The children grow up in an atmosphere that encourages intelligent consideration and debate of public problems, and are thus better equipped to deal with public questions when they reach voting age.”

Governor Shafroth of Colorado said: “Our State has Woman Suffrage for many years, and has found it of inestimable benefit to her people,” and Governor James H. Brady of Idaho said: “Woman Suffrage has been an unqualified success, not only in Idaho, but in all Western States adopting the principle.”

271

PREPARING BANDAGES.

When in August, 1914, the most dreadful disaster that ever befell humanity burst upon the European nations, women at first stood paralyzed with fear and terror, foreseeing the tremendous burden and sacrifices they would have to bear. But after every hope for a peaceful solution had vanished and nothing remained but to face the inevitable, they rallied and prepared to weather the coming hurricane.

The manner in which they met it during the long and terrible years of 1914, 1915, 1916, 1917 and 1918 was perhaps the greatest revelation the world has ever experienced. Never before have members of the “weaker sex” braved such a catastrophe more heroically and made such supreme sacrifices. In fact, woman’s activity during the World War has been a grand manifestation, which stands out in glorious colors from a black background of man’s hatred, revengefulness, slander, calumniation, treason, avarice, atrocities, and murder.

When the vast armies were mobilized it became necessary to close the innumerable gaps caused by the sudden drafting and departure of so many million men. To refill the positions they had occupied, was the most urgent necessity, as otherwise the whole machinery of national life would become disorganized, and that at the most critical time.

272At once immense numbers of women and girls responded to the call. They went into the tramway and railway service to act as ticket sellers and punchers, as conductors, brakemen and motormen. They replaced the letter carriers and chauffeurs; they climbed the lofty seats formerly occupied by cab-drivers and postilions. Mounting motor-cycles they delivered telegrams and performed other urgent errands. They formed street-cleaning and fire-brigades and took care of the sanitation and protection of the cities. In the offices and stores they assumed the duties of the bookkeeper and floor-walker; in the schools they substituted for male teachers who had followed the call of the war trumpet. They repaired telegraph-wires and installed telephones; they became blacksmiths and repaired the roofs of houses. They cleaned windows and chimneys, delivered newspapers and carried the coal from the wagon into the bins and bunkers. They acted as “ice-men” and collected the garbage and ashes. They tilled the fields and vegetable gardens, and brought in the crops and the harvests. They thrashed the wheat and served in the mills as well as in the bakeries. They furnished clothes, and made and mended shoes. They finished the public roads and other works that had been left uncompleted. They built houses and tore down others. In Berlin the excavation for a new underground railway, badly needed, was done by women, and half of the gangs that worked on the railroad tracks were made up of girls.

WOMEN FILLING SHELLS IN A BRITISH AMMUNITION FACTORY.

273In England as well as in France and Germany thousands of women could be seen in the ship-yards working side by side with men on the scaffolds, at bolting and riveting, forging and casting, as if they had always done this work. In fact, women did everything that heretofore had been regarded as “man’s work.”

But they did much more. Hundreds of thousands of women entered the gun- and ammunition factories in order that the armies might not lack ample means for the defense of the country.

WOMEN IN A SHELL FACTORY.

Donning overalls, oil-cloth caps and gas masks they became engaged in the hazardous manufacture of high explosives, of filling and packing the deadly gas-shells and other projectiles. At the same time millions of busy hands prepared the bandages and other necessities for the treatment of the wounded. Whole brigades of Red Cross nurses were formed and went to the battlefields and hospitals, to attend those who in the grim conflict might lose their limbs, their eye-sight, or become sufferers from the effect of poisonous gases.

All too soon long trains and hospital-ships brought in 274such unfortunates, at first a few hundred, then in ever increasing numbers, by the thousands and by tens of thousands. Within a few months most of the countries engaged in the dreadful struggle were turned into immense hospitals, filled with moaning and suffering. What noble and indefatigable women did here to alleviate this misery and distress, can never be fully told and will never be forgotten. Whoever was witness of the self-control and perseverance shown year after year by many Red Cross nurses will always think of them with reverence.

There is not a single Army Medical Corps of the many nations engaged in the World War, which does not freely admit, that the immense amount of work could not have been done without the help of women. In a tribute to the Red Cross Major-General Merritte W. Ireland, Surgeon-General U. S. Army, said:

“Probably the greatest single service rendered by the Red Cross home forces was the supply of trained nurses it furnished our hospitals. The Army Medical Corps trains a few nurses, but could never hope to turn out the large number provided through Miss Delano’s department. If we needed a thousand nurses for a given work, we telegraphed the War Department. The War Department notified Miss Delano. And the nurses arrived on schedule.

“An especially notable service rendered by Red Cross nurses occurred during the early American campaign when our men were brigaded with French divisions. When wounded, they were, of course, taken to French hospitals. Unable to answer questions or tell their needs, they were in a very unhappy plight. Scores of Red Cross nurses speaking both French and English were immediately sent to these hospitals—and the problem was solved.

“The work of the Red Cross was often the theme of discussions at American General Headquarters at Chaumont. I remember that it was enlarged upon there in a conversation between General Pershing, Mr. H. P. Davison, the Chairman of the War Council of the American Red Cross, and myself. We were speaking of the value of the service rendered by the millions of our women and how they helped keep the influence of home about the boys at the front. And General Pershing said: “The women of the United States deserve a large share of the credit for the success of the American forces.”

“Our Army officers have often admired not only the spirit but the efficiency of the American Red Cross organization. It provided an inexhaustible store of supplies; it possessed a remarkable facility for adapting itself to any emergency, however unexpected; and its personnel always evinced the finest readiness for co-operation. The millions of surgical 275dressings, knitted articles, refugee garments, and other supplies it contributed—for these things alone it would have deserved the Army’s unstinted praise. All the splints used in all our hospitals in France, both of the Army and of the Red Cross, came from the Red Cross. It furnished more than a quarter of a billion surgical dressings. It sent over enough sweaters for every man in our overseas forces to possess one.”

Similar tributes have been freely extended to the nurses of all other Red Cross branches, which co-operated with the Medical Corps of the various powers engaged in the terrible war.

A GOOD SAMARITAN.

While performing their merciful work, many women had to bear the depressing anxiety caused by husbands, sons, or brothers, fighting in the trenches or on the ocean; or for those unfortunates who as prisoners had fallen into the hands of the enemy.

The women of the Central powers had to face many additional problems of the most perplexing nature. As the soil of Germany and Austria does not yield enough to support the whole population, and as all imports of foodstuffs were cut off by hostile fleets, provisions became more scarce and more expensive from day to day. There was not sufficient milk to keep the millions of babies alive; and not enough food to save adults from slow starvation. To stretch the scant supplies the most careful and rigid methods of administration 276had to be invented and applied. Public kitchens were established to reduce the cost of living to the lowest point possible. In Berlin twenty-three committees of the National Women’s Service with several thousand voluntary workers were running such charitable kitchens, from which tens of thousands regularly received their daily meals. The same organizations later on supervised the system of bread-, milk-, grocery- and butter-cards, when the increasing shortage of food forced the governments to the severest restrictions.

Among the many German relief organizations those of the Red Cross took the leading place. Originally divided into five main sections under the general control of a central committee and designed to combat of sickness and destitution in the civil population, it now was increased to twenty-three divisions. Their welfare work assumed such importance during the progress of the war that it had to be subdivided into three groups, the first of which became engaged in fighting tuberculosis and contagious diseases, the second in the protection of infancy and motherhood, the third in family welfare work in the narrower meaning of the term. In all these branches the organization of the Red Cross provided the framework within which the numerous national, state and local social activities of the country grouped themselves naturally in accordance with their separate functions.

The activity of the organizations during the years 1917, 1918, and 1919, the dreadful years of general distress and starvation, forms one of the most pathetic chapters in woman’s history. Not only the food, but the cotton, wool, leather, rubber, fat, oil, soap, and hundreds of other necessities gave out completely. People were compelled to live on substitutes. And as these became too scarce or too expensive, they lived on substitutes for these substitutes. Imagine the heartrending pain mothers were bearing when at the end of 1918 and in 1919 large numbers of mayors of German cities and numerous professors of medicine were compelled to send urgent appeals for help to all medical faculties of the world, stating that since the signing of the truce 800,000 people in Germany had died from starvation. “Many millions of human beings,” one of the appeals reads, “are living on only half or even less than half the quantity of food necessary to sustain life. Utterly exhausted they have lost all power of resistance and succumb to any kind of sickness that may befall them. The worst sufferers are the children and those mothers, who fast for the sake of their children. There are too the neurasthenics of all kinds, the numbers of which have, for four years, increased immensely. Furthermore, there are the overworked, and those who have become sick through the unheard-of monotony of food and from the absolute absence of every 277stimulant. Their existence becomes more unbearable from day to day. While the physicians of Germany are profoundly impressed with the terrible ravages caused by hunger, they have absolutely no means of combating them.”

While during these dreadful times millions of women devoted themselves to the noble work of healing the terrible wounds and sufferings, other groups eagerly tried to bring about a cessation of hostilities. Immediately after the first declaration of war, the “International Woman Suffrage Alliance” directed an urgent appeal to the British Foreign Office as well as to all Foreign Embassies in London, to leave untried no method of conciliation or arbitration to avert the threatening disaster. Numerous women’s societies in Holland, Sweden, Germany and Switzerland arose simultaneously and joined the good cause. Soon a great movement for peace began to sweep through the women of the entire world.

But women’s efforts to bring the conflict to a standstill lacked as yet the necessary strength. They were overpowered by the influence and machinations of those statesmen, financiers, publishers of newspapers and countless others, who wanted war. And so nothing remained for women but to repeat ever and again their protests against the madness of men.

When in December, 1914, suffering Christianity prepared to celebrate the natal day of the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, a noble-minded woman of London, Miss Emily Hobhouse, wrote the following letter:

“Friends:—May I appeal to you in the name of Humanity, on behalf of the children of Europe, before whom suffering or death has already taken place, and whose future is fraught with pain? In you lies our hope of help for them, for you are free to speak and act.

“Will you not come to our troubled world, unite with the women of other neutral lands and initiate a crusade—a real ‘holy’ war, fought with the swords of the Spirit?

“Appalling as is this massacre of the manhood of Europe, that is not the worst. As long as men adopt barbaric methods of settling disputes they must abide by the consequences; but for those innocent victims, the non-combatants—women, babes, old and sick—I crave your help. Their names and numbers will never be known. They are multiplying in Poland and Galicia, in Belgium and France, in East Prussia and Holland, and elsewhere. Ponder this vast host, voiceless, suffering, dying, crouching beside their blackened ruins or fleeing from the devastated areas both east and west. Think of disease let loose, of the horrors of cold and famine!

“I know it is not easy to visualize details of conditions 278so foreign to average experience. It needs a mental effort few can make. It is because I was daily witness of such things in the South African War that I dare not be silent. Disease, devastation, starvation and death were words I then learned as war interprets them. I saw a country burnt and devastated as large parts of Europe are to-day; I saw old and sick, women and children turned out of house and home; I saw them, half clad, starving, lying sick to death upon the bare earth; I saw babies that were born in open, crowded trucks; I saw haggard, endless sick, gaunt skeletons, hourly deaths. There in the Boer States death swept away non-combatants in the proportion of five to one of those who fell in the field.

“It is because I know the brunt of this war, too, is falling and must fall, heaviest upon the weak and young, that I appeal now on their behalf, not merely to those who love peace, but to the great body of women who love children. Little children, more sensitive to exposure, to extremes of heat and cold, to tainted food, to starvation, and to the stench, the poisonous stench of war, quickly fade, quickly die.

“Will you not arise and work for peace?—For peace alone can save the children. It would be, I well know, a struggle against powers of darkness and will need the whole armor of God. Yet every sentiment of pity and of civilization, leave alone Christianity, demands the effort. The victims cannot help themselves; succor must come from without.

“Relief, we know, you pour most generously, but relief cannot meet a want so colossal, neither can it touch the worst ills. Cut at the root of the evil—the war itself. A strong lead is needed. Myriads want peace; they never wanted war. In each country this is true; constant proofs reach us from Germany and France, as well as various parts of England. The press of each nation asserts that the people are unanimous for war. It is not so, but those who have the means of speaking, and who swim with their governmental streams, can speak the loudest and alone are heard. Many dare not, many cannot speak. Others make a truce and save thousands of human lives and receive the blessings of thousands of wives and mothers.

“A union of neutral women could investigate the facts of the sufferings amongst non-combatants, and founded upon acquired personal knowledge they could in the name of Humanity formulate demands persistent, cogent, irresistible, not in favor of any one party or nation, but simply for Peace.

“It seems futile to turn to statesmen, governments or prelates for aid. They are tied and bound by position, custom and mutual fear. They await propitious movements. Famine, disease and death do not wait.

“Women have this advantage: they are still unfettered 279by custom and expediency; they need consult only the dictates of humanity. If ever the world needed their intervention on a vast scale, it needs it now!

“Failure in such a task would have no fears for them; failure in a noble effort is often a measure to success! The greatest have seemed to fail. Judged by human standards, Christ’s life on earth was a failure. The effort in any case would leave its mark upon the thought and history of the world. Womanhood will have arisen in vindication of a higher humanity—to avenge desolated motherhood and protect martyred children; it will have asserted its right to shield the weak and young from the fatal results of the organized murder called war.”

MISS JANE ADDAMS.

The appeal was not made in vain. The day after its receipt a number of prominent American women called a convention in Washington, D. C., on January 10th, 1915. Miss Jane Addams of Chicago acted as chairman. The result of 280this meeting was the organization of the “Woman’s Peace Party,” which adopted the following

“We women of the United States, assembled in behalf of World Peace, grateful for the security of our own country, but sorrowing for the misery of all involved in the present struggle among warring nations, do hereby band ourselves together to demand that war be abolished.

“Equally with men pacifists, we understand that planned-for, legalized, wholesale, human slaughter is to-day the sum of all villainies.

“As women, we feel a peculiar moral passion of revolt against both the cruelty and the waste of war. As women, we are especially the custodians of the life of the ages. We will not longer consent to its reckless destruction.

“As women, we are particularly charged with the future of childhood and with the care of the helpless and the unfortunate. We will not longer endure without protest that added burden of maimed and invalid men and poverty-stricken widows and orphans which war places upon us.

“As women, we have builded by the patient drudgery of the past the basic foundation of the home and of peaceful industry. We will not longer accept without a protest, that must be heard and heeded by men, that hoary evil which in an hour destroys the social structure that centuries of toil have reared.

“As women, we are called upon to start each generation onward toward a better humanity. We will not longer tolerate without determined opposition that denial of the sovereignty of reason and justice by which war and all that makes war to-day render impotent the idealism of the race.

“Therefore, as human beings and the mother half of humanity, we demand that our right to be consulted in the settlement of questions concerning not alone the life of individuals but of nations be recognized and respected.

“We demand that women be given a share in deciding between war and peace in all the courts of high debate—within the home, the school, the church, the industrial order, and the state.

“So protesting, and so demanding, we hereby form ourselves into a national organization to be called the Woman’s Peace Party.

“We hereby adopt the following as our platform of principles, some of the items of which have been accepted by a majority vote, and more of which have been the unanimous choice of those attending the conference that initiated 281the formation of this organization. We have sunk all differences of opinion on minor matters and given freedom of expression to a wide divergence of opinion in the details of our platform and in our statement of explanation and information, in a common desire to make our woman’s protest against war and all that makes for war, vocal, commanding and effective. We welcome to our membership all who are in substantial sympathy with that fundamental purpose of our organization, whether or not they can accept in full our detailed statement of principles.

“The Purpose of this Organization is to enlist all American women in arousing the nations to respect the sacredness of human life and to abolish war. The following is adopted as our platform:

1.

The immediate calling of a convention of neutral nations in the interest of early peace.

2.

Limitation of armaments and the nationalization of their manufacture.

3.

Organized opposition to militarism in our own country.

4.

Education of youth in the ideals of peace.

5.

Democratic control of foreign policies.

6.

The further humanizing of governments by the extension of the franchise to women.

7.

“Concert of Nations” to supersede “Balance of Power.”

8.

Action toward the gradual organization of the world to substitute Law for War.

9.

The substitution of an international police for rival armies and navies.

10.

Removal of the economic causes of war.

11.

The appointment by our Government of a commission of men and women, with an adequate appropriation, to promote international peace.”

In the meantime women of other countries had not remained idle. Dr. Aletta H. Jacobs, President of the Dutch National Society for Woman Suffrage, directed a letter to the most prominent women societies of various nations, saying that it was of the greatest importance to bring those women, representing the women societies of the world, together in an international meeting in a neutral country, to show “that in these dreadful times, in which so much hate has been spread among the different nations, the women at least retained their solidarity and that they were able to maintain mutual friendship.” At the same time she suggested to hold this International Congress in Holland, and offered to make the necessary arrangements.

282While many women welcomed this first effort to renew international relations it was only natural that, especially in belligerent countries, a fierce criticism should be directed against this daring move. This criticism came even from some of the women’s organizations. “It was to be impossible to hold the Congress! No one would attend! Even if the Congress were held the nationalities would quarrel amongst themselves!” But those who had undertaken the work were not deterred by this criticism, but encouraged by many enthusiastic responses. The announcement that Miss Jane Addams had accepted the invitation to preside at the Congress gave courage to all who were working for it. And so the memorable “International Congress of Women for Permanent Peace” came to pass. It was held at the Hague from April 28 to May 1, 1915, and attended by 1136 delegates and a large number of visitors. The countries represented were Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United States of America.

In her address of Welcome, Dr. Aletta H. Jacobs, the President of the Executive Committee, said: “In arranging this International Congress we have naturally had to put aside all thoughts of a festive reception, we have simply endeavored to receive you in such a way that you may feel assured of our sympathy, our mutual sisterly feelings, our goodwill to link the nations together again in the bonds of fellowship and trustful co-operation.

“With mourning in our hearts we stand united here. We grieve for the many brave young men, who have lost their lives in barbaric fratricide before even attaining their full manhood; we mourn with the poor mothers bereft of their sons; with thousands and thousands of young widows and fatherless children; we will not endure in this Twentieth Century civilization, that governments shall longer tolerate brute force as the only method of solving their international disputes. The culture of centuries standing and the progress of science must no longer be recklessly employed to perfect the implements of modern warfare. The accumulated knowledge, handed down to us through the ages, must no longer be used to kill and to destroy and to annihilate the products of centuries of toil.

“Our cry of protest must be heard at last. Too long already has the mother-heart of woman suffered in silence. O, I know and feel most strongly, that it is impossible that a world-fire, such as has been blazing forth for the last nine months, can be extinguished, until the last bit of inflamable material has been reduced to ashes, but I also feel most strongly that we must raise our voices now, if the new era of civilization that will arise from these ashes is to rest upon a more substantial 283basis, a basis on which the women with their inherent conserving and pacific qualities shall have the opportunity to assist men in conducting the world’s affairs.

“We women judge war differently from men. Men consider in the first place its economic results. What it costs in money, its loss or its gain to national commerce and industries, the extension of power and so forth. But what is material loss to us women, in comparison to the number of fathers, brothers, husbands and sons who march out to war never to return. We women consider above all the damage to the race resulting from war, and the grief, the pain and misery it entails. We know only too well that whatever may be gained by a war, it is not worth the bloodshed and the tears, the cruel sufferings, the wasted lives, the agony and despair it has caused.

“Important as are the economic interests of a country, the interests of the race are more vital. And, since by virtue of our womanhood, these interests are to us of greater sanctity and value, women must have a voice in the governments of all countries.

“Not until women can bring direct influence to bear upon Governments, not until in the parliaments the voice of the women is heard mingling with that of the men, shall we have the power to prevent recurrence of such catastrophes.

“The Governments of the world, based on the insight of the half of humanity, have failed to find a right solution of how to settle international disputes. We therefore feel it more and more strongly, that it is the duty, the sacred duty of every woman, to stand up now and claim her share with men in the government of the world. Only when women are in the parliaments of all nations, only when women have a political voice and vote, will they have the power effectively to demand that international disputes shall be solved as they ought to be, by a court of arbitration or conciliation. Therefore on a programme of the conditions whereby wars in future may be avoided, the question of woman suffrage should not be lacking, on the contrary, it should have the foremost place.

“May this Congress be the dawn of a better world, a world in which each realizes that it is good to serve one’s own country, but that above the interests of one’s Country stand the interests of humanity, by serving which a still higher duty is fulfilled.”—

The business sessions, presided over by Miss Jane Addams, led to the adoption of the following resolutions:

1. Protest.

We women, in International Congress assembled, protest against the madness and the horror of war, involving as it does a reckless sacrifice of human life and the destruction of so much that humanity has labored through centuries to build up.

2. Women’s Sufferings in War.

This International Congress of Women opposes the assumption that women can be protected under the conditions of modern warfare. It protests vehemently against the odious wrongs of which women are the victims in time of war, and especially against the horrible violation of women which attends all war.

3. The Peace Settlement.

This International Congress of Women of different nations, classes, creeds and parties is united in expressing sympathy with the suffering of all, whatever their nationality, who are fighting for their country or laboring under the burden of war.

Since the mass of the people in each of the countries now at war believe themselves to be fighting, not as aggressors but in self-defence and for their national existence, there can be no irreconcilable differences between them, and their common ideals afford a basis upon which a magnanimous and honorable peace might be established. The Congress therefore urges the Governments of the world to put an end to this bloodshed, and to begin peace negotiations. It demands that the peace which follows shall be permanent and therefore based on principles of justice, including those laid down in the resolutions 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 adopted by this Congress.

4. Continuous Mediation.

This International Congress of Women resolves to ask the neutral countries to take immediate steps to create a conference of neutral nations which shall without delay offer continuous mediation. The Conference shall invite suggestions for settlement from each of the belligerent nations and in any case shall submit to all of them simultaneously, reasonable proposals as a basis of peace.

5. Respect for Nationality.

This International Congress of Women, recognizing the right of the people to self-government, affirms that there should be no transference of territory without the consent of 285the men and women residing therein, and urges that autonomy and a democratic parliament should not be refused to any people.

6. Arbitration and Conciliation.

This International Congress of Women, believing that war is the negation of progress and civilization, urges the governments of all nations to come to an agreement to refer future international disputes to arbitration and conciliation.

7. International Pressure.

This International Congress of Women urges the governments of all nations to come to an agreement to unite in bringing social, moral and economic pressure to bear upon any country, which resorts to arms instead of referring its case to arbitration or conciliation.

8. Democratic Control of Foreign Policy.

Since War is commonly brought about not by the mass of the people, who do not desire it, but by groups representing particular interests, this International Congress of Women urges that Foreign Politics shall be subject to Democratic Control; and declares that it can only recognize as democratic a system which includes the equal representation of men and women.

9. The Enfranchisement of Women.

Since the combined influence of the women of all countries is one of the strongest forces for the prevention of war, and since women can only have full responsibility and effective influence when they have equal political rights with men, this International Congress of Women demands their political enfranchisement.

10. Third Hague Conference.

This International Congress of Women urges that a third Hague Conference be convened immediately after the war.

11. International Organization.

This International Congress of Women urges that the organization of the Society of Nations should be further developed on the basis of a constructive peace, and that it should include:

a. As a development of the Hague Court of Arbitration, a permanent International Court of Justice to settle questions or differences of a justifyable character, such as arise on the interpretation of treaty rights or of the law of nations.

b. As a development of the constructive work of the Hague Conference, a permanent International Conference holding regular meetings in which women should take part, to deal not with the rules of warfare but with practical proposals 286for further International Co-operation among the States. This Conference should be so constituted that it could formulate and enforce those principles of justice, equity and goodwill in accordance with which the struggles of subject communities could be more fully recognized and the interests and rights not only of the great Powers and small Nations but also those of weaker countries and primitive peoples gradually adjusted under an enlightened international public opinion.

This International Conference shall appoint:

A permanent Council of Conciliation and Investigation for the settlement of international differences arising from economic competition, expanding commerce, increasing population and changes in social and political standards.

12. General Disarmament.

The International Congress of Women, advocating universal disarmament and realizing that it can only be secured by international agreement, urges, as a step to this end, that all countries should, by such an international agreement, take over the manufacture of arms and munitions of war and should control all international traffic in the same. It sees in the private profits accruing from the great armament factories a powerful hindrance to the abolition of war.

13. Commerce and Investments.

a. The International Congress of Women urges that in all countries there shall be liberty of commerce, that the seas shall be free and the trade routes open on equal terms to the shipping of all nations.

b. Inasmuch as the investment by capitalists of one country in the resources of another and the claims arising therefrom are a fertile source of international complications, this International Congress of Women urges the widest possible acceptance of the principle that such investments shall be made at the risk of the investor, without claim to the official protection of his government.

14. National Foreign Policy.

a. This International Congress of Women demands that all secret treaties shall be void and that for the ratification of future treaties, the participation of at least the legislature of every government shall be necessary.

b. This International Congress of Women recommends that National Commissions be created, and International Conferences convened for the scientific study and elaboration of the principles and conditions of permanent peace, which might contribute to the development of an International Federation.

These Commissions and Conferences should be recognized by the Governments and should include women in their deliberations.

This International Congress of Women declares it to be essential, both nationally and internationally, to put into practice the principle that women should share all civil and political rights and responsibilities on the same terms as men.

16. This International Congress of Women urges the necessity of so directing the education of children that their thoughts and desires may be directed towards the ideal of constructive peace.

17. This International Congress of Women urges, that in the interests of lasting peace and civilization the Conference which shall frame the Peace settlement after the war should pass a resolution affirming the need in all countries of extending the parliamentary franchise to women.

18. This International Congress of Women urges that representatives of the people should take part in the conference that shall frame the peace settlement after the war, and claims that amongst them women should be included.

19. Women’s Voice in the Peace Settlement.

This International Congress of Women resolves that an international meeting of women shall be held in the same place and at the same time as the Conference of the Powers which shall frame the terms of the peace settlement after the war for the purpose of presenting practical proposals to that Conference.

20. Envoys to the Governments.

In order to urge the Governments of the world to put an end to this bloodshed and to establish a just and lasting peace, this International Congress of Women delegates envoys to carry the message expressed in the Congress Resolutions to the rulers of the belligerent and neutral nations of Europe and to the President of the United States.

These Envoys shall be women of both neutral and belligerent nations, appointed by the International Committee of this Congress. They shall report the result of their missions to the International Women’s Committee for Constructive Peace as a basis for further action.

288The memorable Congress adjourned on May 1. In closing the sessions Miss Addams said: “This is the first International Congress of Women met in the cause of peace in the necessity brought about by the greatest war the world has ever seen. For three days we have met together, so conscious of the bloodshed and desolation surrounding us, that all irrelevant and temporary matters fell away and we spoke solemnly to each other of the great and eternal issues as to those who meet around the bedside of the dying. We have been able to preserve good will and good fellowship, we have considered in perfect harmony and straightforwardness the most difficult propositions, and we part better friends than we met. It seems to me most significant that women have been able to do this at this moment and that they have done it, in my opinion, extremely well.

“We have formulated our message and given it to the world to heed when it will, confident that at last the great Court of International Opinion will pass righteous judgment upon all human affairs.”—

In accordance with Paragraph 20 of the resolutions the members of the different delegations appointed to present the resolutions to the rulers of the belligerent and neutral nations of Europe and to the President of the United States of America began their work on May 7th. Various delegations with Miss Addams and Dr. Jacobs as speakers, were received on that day in the Hague by Prime Minister Cort van der Linden; on May 13th and 14th in London by Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey and Prime Minister Asquith; on May 21st and 22d in Berlin by Foreign Minister von Jagow and Chancellor von Bethmann Hollweg; on May 26th in Vienna by Foreign Minister von Burian; on May 30th in Buda Pest by Prime Minister von Tisza; on June 2d in Berne by Foreign Minister Hoffmann and President Motta; on June 4th and 5th in Rome by Foreign Minister Sonnino, and Prime Minister Salandra; on June 8th by the Pope; on June 12th and 14th in Paris by Foreign Minister Delcassé and Prime Minister Viviani; and on June 16th in Havre by the Foreign Minister of Belgium, M. d’Avignon. Other delegations submitted the resolutions to the Prime Ministers of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Russia. The resolutions were likewise sent to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of all countries not visited by the delegates, and to President Woodrow Wilson.—

That all these efforts by noble-minded women, to secure the cessation of hostilities, failed, is a grave reproach to those men who directed the war. Blinded by hate and revenge they insisted that the murderous struggle be carried on to the bitter end. And to do this unhindered and unmolested, they 289decried all “pacifists” as despicable creatures to whom no attention should be paid. To speak of peace was made a crime, equal to illoyalty and sedition, and so the resolutions of the Woman’s Peace Conference were drowned under waves of detraction and calumny.

One of the most glaring examples of this sort of warfare was that of Miss Jeanette Rankin, who in 1917 had been sent by the State of Montana as the first woman member to the House of Representatives. Her first act in this body was very dramatic. When on the memorable April 6th, 1917, the House voted on the question, if the United States should enter the World War, she answered the call with the words: “I love my country and I want to stand by it. But I cannot vote for war! No!” After these words she sank, tears in her eyes, into her chair. Although Miss Rankin had without doubt expressed the feeling of the overwhelming majority of American women, she nevertheless excited the wrath of the notorious “National Security League,” who in 1918 defeated the re-election of Miss Rankin by sending broadcast to Montana tons of literature in which her vote against the declaration of war was stigmatized as an “infamous and damning act.”

Undaunted by such persecutions the gallant women once more raised their voices when it became evident that the so-called Peace Congress of the allied delegates at Versailles, instead of giving quick relief to the starving millions, and instead of promoting good will and better understanding among the different nations, was degenerating into an orgy of autocracy, merciless extortion and land-grabbing, repudiating all the high-sounding phrases of humanity, democracy, self-government, political and economic liberty, with which the war had been carried on.

On May 12th, 1919, delegates of the “International Women’s Party for Permanent Peace” assembled at Zurich, Switzerland, to discuss the work of the Peace Congress in Versailles and the movement for a League of Nations. Sixteen countries were represented, the neutral with thirty-five, the countries of the Entente with forty-nine, and the Central Powers with thirty-six delegates. Among the twenty-three delegates of the United States were Jane Addams, and Jeanette Rankin, ex-member of Congress for Montana. Again Miss Addams acted as president.

The noble spirit, that had brought these women together, found expression first in the following address of the French delegates to the German women:

“To-day for the first time our hands which have sought each other in the night can be joined. We are a single humanity, we women. Our work, our joys, our children, are the same. French and Germans! The soldiers which have 290been killed between are for both of us alike victims. It is our brothers and our sisters who have suffered. We do not want vengeance. We hate all war. We push from us both the pride of victory and the rancor of defeat. United by the same faith, by the same sense of service, we agree to consecrate ourselves to the fight against war and to the struggle for everlasting peace.

“All women against all wars!

“Come, to work! Publicly, in the face of those who have vowed eternal hate, let us unite, let us love each other!”

To this address the German women made the following reply:

“We German women have heard the greetings of our French sisters with the deepest joy, and we respond to them from the depths of our souls. We too protest against the perpetuation of a hate which was always foreign to women’s hearts. Our French sisters! It is with joy that we grasp your extended hand. We will stand and march together, in common effort for the good of mankind. On the ruins of a materialist world, founded by force and violence, on misunderstanding and hate, we women will, through death and sorrow, clear the road to the new humanity. As mothers of the coming generations, we, women of all nations, want love and understanding and peace. Despite the dark gloom of the present we stumble, comforted, toward the sunshine of the future.”

On May the 14th the delegates passed the following resolution, which was sent to the Congress at Versailles:

“This International Congress of Women expresses its deep regret that the terms of peace proposed at Versailles should so seriously violate the principles upon which alone a just and lasting peace can be secured, and which the Democracies of the world had come to accept. By guaranteeing the fruits of the secret treaties to the conquerors the terms tacitly sanction secret diplomacy. They deny the principle of self-determination, recognize the right of the victors to the spoils of war, and create all over Europe discords and animosities, which can lead only to future wars. By the demand for the disarmament of one set of belligerents only, the principle of justice is violated and the rule of force is continued. By the financial and economic proposals a hundred million people of this generation in the heart of Europe are condemned to poverty, disease and despair, which must result in the spread of hatred and anarchy within each nation. With a deep sense of responsibility this Congress strongly urges the Allied Governments to accept such amendments of the terms as may be proposed to bring the peace into harmony with those principles first enunciated by President Wilson upon the faithful carrying out of which the honor of the Allied peoples depends.”

291This communication was proposed by Mrs. Philip Snowden of England and seconded by Miss Jeanette Rankin of the United States.

Another resolution protested against the prolongation of the blockade as bringing starvation and death to innumerable innocent women and children of the Central Powers. It also urged that all resources of the world, food, raw materials, finance, transport should be organized immediately for the relief of the peoples, in order to serve humanity and bring about the reconciliation and union of the peoples. A third resolution demanded representation in the League of Nations for women, and that Miss Addams be the first woman representative. At its concluding session the Congress voted unanimously to call a world-wide strike of women in the event another war be declared, even if such a war should be sanctioned by the League of Nations.

The wonderful spirit displayed by many millions of women during the World War gave foundation to the hope that universal suffrage would be an inevitable result of the war, and that the law-makers of all the belligerent countries would no longer deny this crowning privilege to those mothers, wives, and sisters, who had worked so nobly, suffered so keenly, and endured so patiently through the long years of this cruel catastrophe. In a large number of countries this expectation has been verified. To name them in chronological order, we begin with neutral Denmark, which in 1915 granted to her women full parliamentary suffrage and eligibility. Nine women were elected to Parliament. Iceland extended to her women the same rights, and one woman was sent to Parliament.

The next country was England, for many years the storm center of the suffrage movement. While in all other lands had been steps in evolution, England was the scene of a revolution. Not one with guns, and powder and bloodshed, but nevertheless with all other evidences of war. As Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, President of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, graphically described, “there were brave generals and well trained armies, and many a well-fought battle; there have been tactics and strategies, sorties, sieges, and even prisoners of war, many of whom had to be released as they went on a hunger-strike. But in time, by the restless activity of the leaders, every class, including women of the nobility, working girls, housewives and professional women, became engaged in the campaign, and not a man, woman or child in England was permitted to plead ignorance concerning the meaning of woman suffrage. Together, men and women suffragists carried their appeal into the byways and most hidden corners of the kingdom. They employed more original methods, enlisted a larger number of women workers, and grasped the situation in a bolder fashion than had been done elsewhere. In other countries persuasion had been the chief, if not the only, weapon relied upon; in England it was persuasion plus political methods.

“First, the world expressed disgust at the alleged unfeminine conduct of English suffragists. Editorial writers in many lands scourged the suffrage workers of their respective countries over the shoulders of these lively English militants. But time passed; comment ceased; and the world, which had ridiculed, watched the contest in silence, but with never an eye closed. It assumed the attitude of the referee who realizes 293he is watching a cleverly played game, with the chances hanging in the balance. Then came a laugh. The dispatches flashed the news to the remotest corners of the globe that English Cabinet Ministers were “protected” in the street by bodyguards; the houses of Cabinet Ministers were “protected” by relays of police, and even the great Houses of Parliament were “protected” by a powerful cordon of police. Protected! and from what? The embarrassing attack of unarmed women! In other lands police have protected emperors, czars, kings and presidents from the assaults of hidden foes, whose aim has been to kill. That there has been such need is tragic; and when, in contrast, the vision was presented of the Premier of England hiding behind locked doors, skulking along side streets, and guarded everywhere by officers, lest an encounter with a feminine interrogation point should put him to rout, it proved too much for the ordinary sense of humor.

“Again, the dispatches presented another view. Behold, they said, the magnificent and world-renowned House of Parliament surrounded by police, and every woman approaching that sacred precinct, halted, examined, and perhaps arrested! Behold all this elaborate precaution to save members of Parliament from inopportune tidings that women would have votes; yet, despite it all, the forbidden message is delivered, for over the Houses floats conspicuously and defiantly a huge “Votes for Women” kite. Perhaps England did not know the big world laughed then; but the world did laugh, and more, from that moment it conceded the victory to the suffragists. The only question remaining unanswered, was: ‘How will the Government surrender, and at the same time preserve its dignity and consistency?’”

Surrender came when in January, 1917, the Lower House of Commons adopted a resolution favoring a bill making women eligible as members of Parliament.

The bill was discussed again in October, 1918, and a vote of 274 to 25 on October 24th gave women the right to sit as members of Parliament.

Voting in the general elections on December 14th, 1918, for the first time, the British women enjoyed at last the victory for which they bravely fought. While they did not succeed to elect one of their women candidates for a seat in the Parliament, the election was nevertheless one of the most notable in years. Nearly in all districts the women voters made a satisfactory showing as compared to that of men. In Ireland one woman, Countess Georgina Markievicz, an Irish by birth and the leading female figure in the Sinn Fein movement, was elected to the House of Commons, the first woman ever sent to this body.

Canada likewise granted full suffrage to women. A bill 294passed the third reading on May 3d and received Royal Assent May 23d, 1918.

In Nova Scotia a bill was passed April 26th, 1919.

In South Africa Parliament accepted a Woman Suffrage Bill on April 1st, 1919, by 44 votes to 42.

When the revolution came in Russia, equal suffrage for women was accepted by the men of all parties without opposition. It has had, as Catherine Breshkovsky, the “Grandmother of the Russian Revolution,” explained, “a profound effect upon the minds of the peasant women. They used to be often beaten by their husbands. Now the idea of freedom and equal rights has taken firmer root among them. Instead of submitting to beatings from her husband the sturdy peasant woman defends herself, and sometimes she even beats him, especially if he is drunk. The fact that during the war the women have had to do every kind of work has also contributed to this sense of independence.”

When in November, 1918, the German Republic was declared, paragraph 31 of the Constitution provided that the representatives of the people be elected by all men as well as women over twenty years, and that women are eligible for all Federal and State Legislatures and municipal bodies. Under this regulation on January 19th, 1919, 36 women were elected to the Federal Parliament, and 22 to State Legislatures. Among the women elected to the Parliament were several of the most prominent leaders of the suffrage movement in Germany: Dr. Gertrud Bäumer, Dr. Käthe Schirmacher, and Dr. Alice Salomon.

In Austria the downfall of the monarchy nullified the law which forbade women to take part in political societies. The 12th of November, 1918, brought to the women universal, equal, direct, and secret suffrage and eligibility with the announcement of the republic. Seven women were elected, among them the well-known suffragist Adelheid Popp, who was also elected to the Vienna Municipal Council.

The Government of the Hungarian Republic likewise adopted a suffrage law which gives the vote to all men of 21 and to women of 24 if they can read and write. While this is not equality of the sexes yet, the government gave at the same time evidence of its profound respect for the abilities of women by taking one of the most important steps in the history of woman’s progress. It appointed Miss Rose Bédy Schwimmer, highly respected for her activity and literary works on suffrage and peace, as ambassador extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Switzerland. But the conservative members of the Federal Council of that country refused to accept a woman ambassador, and so Miss Bédy Schwimmer found it advisable to tender her resignation, a month after having accepted her difficult task.

295The new republic Czecho-Slovakia as well as the newly reconstituted state of Poland at once conceded full political citizenship to their women. In Czecho-Slovakia eight, and in Poland five women were elected to the Parliaments.

In Sweden full suffrage was accorded to women May 28th, 1919, when a bill was passed by large majorities in both houses of the National Parliament, according to which every subject, man or woman, who has attained his or her twenty-third year, is qualified to vote.

In France the “Union Française pour le Suffrage des Femmes” sent on January 24th, 1919, a proclamation to the Parliament demanding that French women be given the franchise. The proclamation pointed to the fact that the right to vote had been recognized in enemy and allied countries and that therefore France should not be backward. But in spite of this on April 4th two women suffrage amendments to the Electoral Reform Bill were killed in the Chamber of Deputies. The provision making women eligible for election to the Chamber was defeated, 302 votes to 187. The vote against transmission of the right to vote to the next of kin of heads of families, without distinction of sex, was defeated 335 to 134. But on May 20th the Chamber of Deputies adopted a bill granting women the right to vote in all elections for members of the Communal and Departmental Assemblies. The vote was 377 to 97. The measure then went to the Senate.

Switzerland, with the European spread of woman suffrage all around, may be expected to soon respond to the wave of democratic sentiment. On January 22, 1919, the delegates of the Swiss Union of Women’s Clubs adopted a resolution to request the Federal Council to order a radical revision of the Constitution, and grant to women equal political rights with men. On March 17th, the Grand Council of the Canton of Neuchâtel declared for the principle of Woman Suffrage, and likewise instructed the Government to prepare a suffrage bill. If passed this bill will probably be decided by referendum.

The Belgian Chamber of Deputies, by unanimous vote, adopted on April 11th, 1919, an Electoral Reform Bill, under the terms of which the right to vote is limited to widows who have not remarried, to the mothers of soldiers killed in battle and to the mothers of civilians shot by the enemy.

In Holland the first Chamber of the Dutch Parliament adopted on July 12th, 1919, a motion to introduce woman suffrage by a vote of 34 to 5.

In the United States of America the Western States have, as pointed out in a former chapter, never hesitated to acknowledge the rights of women to vote. But the Southern and Eastern States had remained reluctant in granting this privilege. And so the suffragists were compelled to conquer these regions step by step. The women of New York won full suffrage in 2961917, those of South Dakota, Michigan and Oklahoma in 1918. Presidential suffrage was secured in 1917 in North Dakota, Nebraska, and Rhode Island, and in 1919 in Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri and Maine.

For many years efforts had also been made by the friends of Woman Suffrage to induce Congress to act on the so-called “Susan Anthony Amendments to the Constitution,” reading as follows:

“Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

“Section 2. The Congress shall have power by appropriate legislation to enforce the provisions of this article.”

In 1914 the Senate again voted these amendments down by 11 votes. Again, in September, 1918, it was rejected by two votes, and again in February, 1919, by one vote. The House voted upon the resolution three times, rejecting it in 1915 by 78 votes, passing it in 1918 by a margin of one vote, and again, on May 21st, 1919, by a vote of 304 to 89. The fight ended on June 4, 1919, when the Senate adopted the resolution by a vote of 56 to 25.

“The credit of having won this victory,” so the “New York American” said in an editorial, “belongs chiefly to the resourceful women of the land who have, for generations, been pushing this issue to the front in spite of stupid opposition and almost as stupid indifference.

“Liberal-minded men, a few in the early days, many more recently, have helped. But, primarily, it is a woman’s victory, and no man will begrudge the acknowledment. Equal partners in the economic and social life of the nation, American women will now be equal sharers in its political life and in the responsibilities which this will involve.

“The joy of triumph will be of brief duration. The period of responsibility will be long and trying. But the women of America will certainly meet it equally with the men, and if they do that the men will have no just basis of complaint. Political rule by men has been full of blunders. Women, too, will blunder, but they will not be likely to make the same kind of blunders that men make. The blunders that men make will tend to be corrected by the superior insight and intuition of women; and probably in time the blunders to which women will be prone will have counteraction by the men. So instead of the blundering being increased by the widened circle of electoral responsibility it is more likely to be lessened, for the cure for the ills of democracy is always more democracy.

“Anyhow, the change is here. It is world-wide. It comes as a resultant of increased freedom and it presages more freedom.”

As woman now is man’s equal partner, she must share in the difficult task of solving the many problems connected with the economic, social and political life of that nation to which she belongs. That she will assume this obligation, fully aware of its significance, cannot be doubted; we need only recall the noble spirit, enthusiasm, intelligence and perseverance which have distinguished all the leaders in the great movement for woman’s emancipation.

Woman’s mission in the future will be many-sided. Paramount among all questions, that demand her utmost consideration, is the prevention of future wars. And it may be said right here that mankind, through the efforts of women, will most probably find the final realization of hopes cherished for centuries by all right-minded people. We hardly need point to the glaring contrasts between the Peace Congresses called together by women at the Hague and in Zurich, and the conferences held by men at Versailles to secure a League of Nations. While the former meetings were distinguished by the perfect harmony and cordiality among the delegates of all belligerent and neutral nations, and while their resolutions expressed the good will and lofty disinterestedness of all members, the wearisome discussions at Versailles were characterized by suspicion, avarice and merciless extortion. The “Allies” no longer spoke for a common cause, but were rivals over the spoils of war. Each clamored for an individual gain. And instead of extending brotherly hands to the conquered enemy, instead of instilling hope in the hearts of the desperate, and instead of feeding the starving, they increased the bitterness and sufferings by an unwarranted and cruel blockade, through which more than a million innocent children and women were condemned to agony and death.

Many far-seeing men have expressed grave doubts that the “Covenant of Peace” and the “League of Nations” can prevent future wars. So we hope that women, who would again become the greatest sufferers through such a catastrophe, will continue in their efforts to re-establish international good will and solidarity. Deep abysses of antagonism must be bridged; hate and the thirst for revenge must be quenched, and thousands of smarting wounds must be healed before humanity can hope for a better future. But women can perform these wonders. Since the organization of the “International Woman’s Peace Party” the voice of women will be heard in the council of nations, and their influence will be mighty, for the women outnumber the men.

298Most naturally the demands of women will also be directed to an international regulation of women’s relations to men, which in most countries are far from satisfactory. The World War has emphasized the fact that in almost all countries women, on marrying foreigners, forfeit their own nationality and are compelled to adopt that of their husbands. Thus it happened in 1914 that many French and English women, having married Germans or Austrians, residents or citizens in France or England, were deported from their native countries, at the same time losing all personal property that they were unable to take with them.

Under the laws of the United States a loyal American woman, who marries an alien enemy, becomes herself an alien enemy, while a woman enemy alien who marries an American becomes herself a loyal American. By allowing the woman no choice of allegiance this law works injustice both to her and to the country.

An international agreement has been proposed that women shall not be deprived of their own nationality against their will, irrespective of marriage, and, when deported into enemy territory, shall be restored to their own country.—

Full equality between husband and wife, father and mother is also desired in regard to property and responsibilities, especially parental. In some countries, as for instance in Great Britain, under the existing laws only the father is recognized as the guardian of the children. He is the sole judge of what shall be their maintenance and education; and he has, prima facie, the sole right to their custody.

Another important question which demands regulation through international agreement, is the suppression of the White Slave Trade, that horrible evil, which under the imperfect conditions of civilization has assumed such amazing proportions. To abolish it, women have presented to the League of Nations Commission resolutions saying, that States who enter into the League shall undertake to suppress the sale of women and children and to punish severely the traffic in women, whether under or over age, and of children of both sexes, for the purposes of prostitution.—

The suppression of tuberculosis, of syphilis and other venereal diseases is likewise a serious problem calling for international regulation. The energetic co-operation of women is of utmost importance, as far too often innocent women become sufferers from these horrible diseases through infection from their unscrupulous husbands, who have concealed from their wives the fact that they were afflicted with such maladies.

The supervision of such diseases by health officers, and the provision of clinics for all infected persons will be 299demanded by woman legislators; likewise penalizing for infecting with venereal diseases.

While in most countries no questions are asked in regard to the health of the candidates for marriage, it has been through the activity of women, that the new marriage law that came into force in Norway on January 1st, 1919, demands that both candidates must declare in writing that they are not suffering from epilepsy, leprosy, syphilis, tuberculosis, or other diseases in an infectious form. Written declarations must also be given as to previous marriages and to children born to them out of wedlock. As this new marriage law contains not less than eighty-one sections, it is evident that henceforth in Norway it will be difficult to marry in haste.

Such laws for the protection of women are nowhere more needed than in the forty-eight States which together form the American Union. As everyone of these States makes its own laws, there exists a variety of laws in regard to the “age of consent,” to marriage and divorce, far too intricate for any woman or lawyer to be thoroughly informed about them all. For instance the legislators of Florida have fixed the “age of consent” at 10 years (!), documenting herewith their utter ignorance in such a serious question. In other States it is 12 or 14 years, in Wyoming it is 18. How competent women think about this subject, may be judged by a resolution of the “Woman’s Political Association of Australia,” asking the Government to raise the age of consent to 21 years, and to extend this provision to cover girls as well as boys.

Very heterogeneous are also the marriage laws of the United States. In Tennessee girls may marry without their parents’ consent when only twelve years old, while in other states they must not do so before eighteen, or even twenty-one. Missouri is one of the few states which still recognize common law marriages. As this state sets no minimum legal age for marriage, a boy or girl of twelve may without their parents’ consent live together as man and wife.

Still more perplexing is the diversity in regard to the causes for absolute divorce. While South Carolina grants no divorce, other states are very liberal and acknowledge eight or ten different reasons as sufficient reasons for divorce. Marriages between Whites and Indians, or between Whites and Negroes or persons of negro descent, or between Whites and Chinese are prohibited and punishable in a number of states, while they are allowed in others.

Improvement in the status of the illegitimate child; child-labor and welfare; woman’s status in industries; mothers’ insurance during maternity; proper insurance for the invalid and aged; combating of alcoholism; the suppression of the traffic in opium and other injurious narcotics; the traffic in 300arms, especially with uncivilized or semi-civilized tribes and nations, and many other questions call for international regulation and the co-operation of women. To compare the laws of the various countries and to select the best and clearest laws to be used as a standard to which other states should be urged to raise their legislation, will be one of the great missions for the women lawyers connected with the various national leagues of women voters.

That women have the ability as well as the hearty desire to contribute in this way to the progress and welfare of the human race, needs no further explanation. It is for the men to accept and encourage their help and to utilize it to the fullest extent. The beneficial result of such co-operation can not be doubted. Women with their intuitive judgment, spiritual insight and knowledge of the needs of women, children, public education, sanitation, philanthropy, etc., will become a most important factor in the vast task of human betterment. And man, working with woman side by side in these noble endeavors, will not only profit, but learn that nature has given him nothing more sublime than woman.

CONTENTS.

The Story of American Prodigality and the Abuse of our National Resources.

The Land of Inexhaustible Resources—The Destruction of Our Forests—The Waste of Water—The Waste of Soil—The Waste of Our Mineral Resources—The Extermination of Our Game, Fur, and Great Marine Animals—Our Vanishing Birds—Our Decreasing Fish Supplies—The Waste of Public Lands and Privileges—The Waste of Public Money and of Property—The Waste of Human Lives—Conclusion.

One of the weightiest problems before the American nation is here treated in a most impressive manner. Based upon cold facts, the book shows conclusively that our nation suffers, by sheer carelessness and wasteful methods, losses amounting to many hundred millions of dollars annually.

“The book tells a story that is astounding. Some of the descriptions of the past are told in figures so great as to be beyond our comprehension.”

“This volume should be read, pondered and re-read by every individual in America who has reached the age of reasoning.”

“The book is a practical little sermon, much needed in this period.”

“There are but 134 pages in this book, but within the limited compass there is set forth the most terrific impeachment that was ever laid to the charge of a nation. This little volume should be scattered over the country in tens of thousands.”

“It is a book, that every person should be compelled to learn by heart.”

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