Chapter XVIII · (continued 2)

Lucy Stone.

Boston, May 5, 1867.

To the American Equal Rights Association:

Although not permitted to be present with you, yet, in spirit, I join you in all your efforts to secure justice and equality to all the children of God. I have so long felt deeply upon the subjects before you, that I wish to add my word to the voices of those who are more fortunate in being present. Since I was old enough to think upon important subjects, I have constantly felt the pressure of injustice that has borne so heavily upon my sex. At sixteen I earnestly desired to enter some college, that I might have the benefit of those helps to learning which were open to all boys, and I deeply felt the cruelty and injustice that closed the doors of the universities to me, who was longing and thirsting for knowledge, while they were invitingly open to the youth of the other sex, who often only used them to waste their time and give them the name of educated men. I could see no reason for this exclusion, nor could I imagine how it would harm any one to allow girls who desired to learn the privilege of going to the universities.

My next personal experience of the injustice done to women by the laws was, when a widow, I buried one of my little daughters, and found that I, who had borne her and nursed her and provided for all her wants, was not her heir, but her little sister, who had done nothing for her, and was still dependent on me for care, etc. This I felt very keenly, not on account of the property involved, for it was but little, but on account of the great injustice done to my maternal heart. My next personal lesson in the law's iniquity was, when about to marry the second time, both myself and husband desired to secure to me the property I possessed. I employed a great lawyer in Maine, Gov. Fessenden, the father of one of our senators, to make an instrument that would secure that end. After thinking on the subject a week, and doing the best he could, he handed me the paper, saying, "I have done my best; but I can not assure you that this instrument will secure to you your property if your husband should ever become insolvent!" This surely astonished me. The law not only did not protect women in their property rights, but did so much to prevent their getting or keeping them, that an able lawyer could not frame an instrument that would secure them even when signed by their intended husbands before marriage! This was more than thirty years ago, and some improvements have since been made in the laws in reference to women.

The next great wrong that pressed heavily upon me was when I again became a widow. I found myself yearly taxed for State and county, and later for revenue, without a voice in anything that concerned the raising of money, or in any of the elections to office in the great struggle that our country was passing through. With all the deep feeling of my brethren, a clear appreciation of the all-important issues at stake, and an intensely painful knowledge of the sin of slavery and its concomitant evils, I could not cast a vote in favor of the right, but must look on with folded hands, and give my money to support the Government, without a chance of giving it an impetus, however slight, in the direction of justice and liberty! In view of all these wrongs, I felt that the women of America had as just cause for rebellion against the Government as our fathers had against the British Government when they resisted, on the ground that taxation and representation were one and inseparable. The three great desires of my life have been: That the halls of learning should be universally open to all souls who desire to enter them; that the property rights of all, without regard to sex, color, or race, should stand on the same foundation, and be equal; that every person twenty-one years old, who is a citizen of the United States, should have the ballot, unless disfranchised by crime, idiocy, or insanity. When these three things are granted, all else will follow in due time. But until these things are assured to the citizens of America, our Government presents the anomaly of being professedly founded upon the consent of the governed, and yet shutting out two-thirds of its citizens from all voice in it.

. . . . . . . . . .

Mercy B. Jackson, M.D.

Chicago, March 22, 1867.

Dear Miss Anthony:—I feel that I must do something for the "Woman's Suffrage" movement in the West. There is much interest here concerning it, but no movement is yet made. Matters are being prepared, and when the movement is made in the West, it will sweep onward majestically. Kansas and Iowa will first give women the right to vote before any other States, East or West. "Man proposes, but God disposes." I have always had a theory of my own concerning this suffrage question. Ever since I began to think of it, and that has been since Dr. Harriot Hunt's first protest against woman being taxed when she had no representation, I have believed that, in my day, woman would vote. But I have thought they would first obtain the right to work and wages, and that the right to vote would naturally follow. For woman's right to work and wages I have labored indefatigably. But I see that my plan is not God's plan. The right to vote is to come first, and work and wages afterwards, and easily. I "stumped" the Northwest during the war. Two women of us, Mrs. Hoge and myself, organized over 1,000 Aid Societies, and raised, in money and supplies, nearly $100,000 for the soldiers; and to do it, we were compelled to get people together in masses, and tell our story and our plans, and make our appeals to hundreds at a time. So I can talk here, and can help you here, when you are ready to lead. In the meanwhile, I have begun to work for the cause through my husband's weekly paper, which has a large circulation in the Northwest. I have announced myself as henceforth committed to the cause of woman suffrage, and have become involved, instanter, in a controversy on the subject. I am associate editor of the paper, and have been these dozen years. I have just completed a reply to an objector to the doctrine, which goes into this week's issue. In my way, I am working with you. I have always believed in the ballot for woman at some future time—always, since reading Margaret Fuller's "Woman in the Nineteenth Century," which set me to thinking a quarter of a century ago. Boston is my native city, and I lived there till my marriage, and had one or two talks with Theodore Parker which helped me wonderfully.

Mary A. Livermore.

Yours truly,

Topeka, Kansas, April 5, 1867.

Dear Madam:—We are now arranging for a thorough canvass of our State for impartial suffrage, without regard to sex or color. We are satisfied that an argument in favor of colored suffrage is an argument in favor of woman suffrage. Both are based upon the same principle. It is the doctrine of our fathers "that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed." We "white men" have no right to ask privileges or demand rights for ourselves that we are unwilling to grant to the whole human family. There never has been, and never can be, an argument, based upon principle, against colored or woman suffrage. Sneers and attempts at ridicule are not arguments. Henry B. Blackwell, of New Jersey, and Mrs. Lucy Stone, are now canvassing our State for impartial suffrage. Some of the most eminent men and women of the United States have been invited, and promised to visit our State this summer and fall; and we shall succeed. Kansas will be free, and occupy the proudest place, in all time to come, in the history of the world.

We desire to extend our meetings to every neighborhood in Kansas; reach, if possible, the ear of every voter. For this purpose we must enlist every home speaker possible. We shall arrange series of meetings in all parts of the State, commencing about September 1st, and running through September and October. We desire speakers to advocate the broad doctrine of impartial suffrage, but welcome those who advocate either. Those who desire colored suffrage alone, are invited to take the field; also those who favor only female suffrage. Each help the other. I am instructed by the State Impartial Suffrage Executive Committee to ask you to aid us, and speak at as many of our meetings as possible. Please answer at once, and let us know how much time you can spend in the campaign, and what part of the State you prefer to speak in.

S. N. Wood, Cor. Sec'y Kansas Impartial Suffrage Association.

Yours truly,

Bangor, Me., May 9, 1867.

Dear Miss Anthony:—I should be truly glad to attend the Annual Meeting; but, as you see, I am far from New York. Mr. Davis and I are at work in another part of the great field of progress. While you and your noble friend, Mrs. Stanton, are endeavoring to move the adult population of our nation to just and righteous action, we are striving to establish on earth the beginning of the kingdom of heaven, by instituting a new and true method of moral and spiritual or religious education for the children and youth of the New Dispensation. Spiritualism, as a religious movement, has done more than any previous dispensation to give woman an equal career with man; and we trust that, through the influence of the "Children's Progressive Lyceums," the youth in our midst, rapidly advancing to the stage of action, will form a powerful phalanx on the side of "Equal Rights" and the elevation of humanity.

Mary F. Davis.

Yours fraternally,

Buffalo, April 14, 1867.

Dear Mrs. Stanton:—I thank you for your kind note.... I pray that God will bless you in the noble work you are in, and that woman will soon be admitted to her proper place where God intended she should be, and from which to exclude her must, like any other great wrong, bring misery and sorrow to the race.

Rufus Saxton.

Sincerely your friend,

148 Madison Avenue, Sunday Eve., April 14, 1867.

My Dear Mrs. Stanton:—your invitation to me to lift my voice at your Annual Convention in behalf of the cause for which you have worked so faithfully and so long, and, let me add, so efficiently, was duly received; but I have an universal excuse for neglect of duty in the multitudinous professional engagements that absorb my life and strength. Believing in the justice of your cause, and that better laws and better order would bless our race could they be submitted to the arbitrament of woman, I yet am not able, individually, to give the time to it now which would be requisite for an adequate public presentation of its claims, but must content myself with only such passing words of cheer as the moment calls forth in the daily intercourse of life. I am grateful that you thought me competent to advocate so great a principle; but he would be a bold man who would attempt to add anything to the masterly effort of Mr. Beecher at the last Convention.

Luther R. Marsh.

I am, as of old, your friend,

148 Madison Avenue, April 14, 1867.

Dear Mrs. Stanton:—Please accept the trifle enclosed, $20, as a token of my friendship to the good cause, whose mighty burden of enlightenment is to hold the growth of future cycles with an all-controlling destiny. I am glad to see that those who have been willing to wear the sackcloth and ashes are beginning to receive the crowns of the olive and the bay upon their consecrated heads. Many will find it very agreeable, now, to sail in upon the sunny and ardent tide of the rippling river, forgetting that once it was a darksome, sluggish stream, not pleasant to launch forth upon. My father's[208] early championship of a despised cause taught me to hold very sacred those pioneers in holy efforts, which to embrace was to suffer the pangs of a daily martyrdom.

Jeannie Marsh.

Your friend, as of old,

May 29, 1867.

It is foolish to say that the advocates of the "Woman Movement" demand "special legislation" for woman, or desire to array her in hostility to man. It is the enemies of this movement who have made special legislation necessary, since they declare woman not to be the equal of man. We desire nothing but one common law alike for each, with woman holding the ballot, not as the enemy, but as the peer and friend of man.

Anna E. Dickinson.

Kenosha, Wis., May 1, 1868.

I saw your notice of the meeting of the American Equal Rights Association in that banner of freedom, the Boston Investigator. A thousand times I wish you success. We, in this State, intend to make a determined fight next year for female suffrage. The resolution submitting it to the people passed the Assembly and Senate by more than two to one (57 against 24. and 19 against 9); yet you must not suppose that our cause is so favorable as that. I send a few extracts, copied from the Racine Advocate; and to that number I am pleased to add the Milwaukee News, the leading Democratic paper of the State. Mr. Sholes, one of the leading Republicans of the State (elector on the last Presidential ticket), is warmly in support of your cause. Certainly the great car of progress is under motion, and no bigoted, conservative fogyism can long stay its progress. In the meantime, I really hope to see some of your best speakers in the Wisconsin field before the election of 1868. Where can I get some pamphlets containing the best arguments for universal suffrage? Go bravely on. Let not the scoffs and sneers of the low, mean, and vulgar intimidate, defeat, or discourage you.

R. F. Mills.

Most respectfully,

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

Receipts at the Eleventh National Woman's Rights Convention, held in New York, May 10, 1866.

Abby Hutchinson Patton$50 00Mrs. F. Knapp$1 00

Jessie Benton Fremont50 00Mary M. Bingham1 00

Mrs. C. Lozier, M.D.20 00Harriet Clisby1 00

James and Lucretia Mott10 00Sarah E. Payson1 00

Anna Densmore, M.D.10 00Christiana T. Wallace1 00

Margaret E. Winchester5 00D. J. H. Wilcox1 00

Eliza Wright Osborn5 00Albert O. Wilcox1 00

Martha C. Wright8 00J. H. H. Wilcox1 00

Gerrit and Nancy Smith10 00Frances D. Gage1 00

Elizabeth Smith Miller5 00Louisa Humphrey1 00

C. C. Williams2 00A. M. Odell1 00

S. R. Ferris50Dr. J. E. Snodgrass1 00

Mrs. L. M. Ward. M.D.2 00Gustavus Muller1 00

M. P. Allen1 00Charles Lenox Remond1 00

M. A. Halsted1 00Mary Curtis1 00

Mrs. J. B. Mix1 00Jane P. Thurston1 00

H. Phelps1 00Martha T. Ketchum1 00

J. H. Smith1 00Sarah H. Hallock1 00

Frances V. Hallock1 00Elizabeth Barton1 00

Ella M. Clymer1 00Mrs. Geo. C. White1 00

Sarah S. White1 00A. Raymond1 00

Cordelia Curtis1 00Susan M. Davis1 00

Mrs. D. T. Tompkins1 00A. M. Powell1 00

Josephine S. Griffing1 00General collection46 50

Receipts at the Equal Rights Convention, held at Boston, May 27, 1866.

Anna E. Dickinson$100 00Sarah H. Young, M.D.$5 00

E. D. and Anna F. Draper50 00M. E. Woods1 00

Geo. J. and Mary B. H. Adams20 00M. E. Jameson1 00

Mr. and Mrs. A. M. McPhail20 00C. F. Haywood1 00

Anna Davis Hallowell10 00H. A. Comly2 00

C. Prince5 00Anna R. Southwick1 00

Mrs. M. P. Snow5 00H. E. Sawyer1 00

Caroline M. Severance5 00Richard Plummer1 00

R. H. Ober4 00R. Howland1 00

Mrs. L. Prang1 00S. R. Duzen1 00

A. E. Heywood2 00F. A. Green5 00

Parker Pillsbury1 00D. B. Morey1 00

Mrs. E. D. Cheney1 00J. Wetherbe1 00

L. H. Ober1 00Isaac H. Marshall1 00

Mrs. M. H. Prince3 00Maria B. Clapp1 00

John T. Sargent2 00J. E. Bruce50

R. P. Hallowell2 00A. J. Patterson50

Mrs. C. A. Baker1 00Cash3 05

E. H. Merrill1 00T. B. Rice50

Maria S. Page2 00Cash1 00

Mary C. Shannon50Frances H. Drake1 00

N. Allen1 00Kate C. Atkinson50

S. Reynolds50Wilmot Wilson1 00

R. T. Greene50Cash50

M. Halliburton50Mary C. Sawyer2 00

Harriet A. Foster2 00Elizabeth Mendum5 00

A. B. Morey50H. W. Carter50

C. S. Perry50L. F. Lalve, M.D.50

A. S. Sisson50K. E. Walker50

S. Boynton50Charles K. Whipple1 00

Henry Abbott2 00Ruth Buffum1 00

Lewis Ford1 00S. Cheney50

Sarah J. Nowell1 00K. C. Atkins50

Friend35Elizabeth M. F. Denton5 00

Col. Wm. B. Green5 00H. N. Green50

R. H. Morrill2 00M. E. Steward1 00

Mrs. M. A. Dotcher1 00Margaret N. Wood1 00

M. C. Wolson1 00Cash2 50

Mary Willey50Kate Reynolds2 00

Cash1 15John L. Whiting1 00

Abby H. Stephenson5 00Universal Suffrage1 00

Lewis McLaughlin1 00M. E. Darey1 00

Mrs. S. D. Young3 25General collection41 00

Receipts from June 1, 1866, to May 1, 1867.

Levi Coates$1 00Job Parker5 00

Mrs. A. C. L. Hyde1 00Aaron Stedman1 00

Jane Voorhees25 00Mrs. B. P. Markham50

Harriet V. Rice10 00Mrs. D. F. Rogers50

Mary F. Gilbert1 00Emily Rogers50

F. A. Hinckley1 50Maggie Clemmer25

Louisa Frost2 00James Eaton1 00

M. B. Linton10 00Addison B. Tuttle1 00

Olympia Brown5 00Anna H. McAvoy25

Mary E. Ranks1 00Isadore Harrison25

Mary E. Deuls2 00Joseph A. Sherman1 00

Sarah H. Hallock50Frank Conway25

Dansville E. R. Association (per James Mary Jackson25

C. Jackson, M.D.)105 00J. D. Cook50

Gerrit Smith100 00J. G. Howe2 00

James and Lucretia Mott53 00R. Lippis50

C. S. Lozier, M.D.50 00H. W. Hale25

Samuel E. Sewall40 00William Litch50

Sinclair Tousey10 00Sarah Willis1 00

G. P. Lowrey10 00Mrs. E. B. Judson10 00

Dr. Dio Lewis5 00S. J. May5 00

Martha C. Wright5 00Joseph Savage5 00

Eliza W. Osborn5 00H. Delano5 00

E. V. Dickey6 00T. G. White3 00

Edward M. Davis5 00Dr. H. S. Sparks2 00

Matilda E. J. Gage5 00Mr. and Mrs. L. Spalding2 00

E. D. Hudson5 00J. M. Wieting2 00

Mrs. W. H. Williams5 00Sarah Smith1 00

Anna Willets5 00J. N. Holmes1 00

Emily Jaques5 00M. Merrick1 00

Sarah E. Wall5 00Charles D. B. Mills1 00

James Freeman Clarke5 00A. P. Brown50

Parker Pillsbury4 00Mrs. F. L. Brown50

Mrs. S. M. Doty3 00E. C. Lewis1 00

Mary Grew2 00Mrs. L. H. Hinsdale50

Sarah Pugh2 00Mrs. B. Brook25

Margaret J. Burleigh2 00C. A. Abbott25

Geo. H. Sisson3 00Fayette Clark50

E. G. Folsom2 00Priscilla Clark50

Joseph Carpenter2 00Louisa J. Phelps1 00

Susan Ormsby1 00Lydia P. Savage1 00

Frances Ellen Burr1 00Mrs. Charles B. Sedgwick1 00

J. D. Stephenson1 00Mary A. Horton25

Paulina Gerry1 00J. T. Williams25

J. H. Root1 00Mrs. G. G. Sperry50

Mrs. Avery1 00A. D. Waters25

Martha Pierce1 00S. Brewer50

James Pierce1 00H. C. Todd25

A Friend1 00C. G. Alton50

Equal Rights1 00Mrs. L. A. Strowbridge3 00

Mrs. C. S. Lozier, M.D.10 00Martha C. Wright5 00

Mrs. E. Sanderson5 00Eliza W. Osborn5 00

Isaac Sherwood5 00Mrs. Dr. Hall1 00

Mrs. P. L. Upham5 00Abby Thayer Chase50

John B. Bassett2 00Philadelphia E. R. Convention28 00

H. T. Douley1 00Esther Cole1 00

Sarah F. Rice, M.D.1 00L. Kelsey1 00

Joseph Post1 00J. S. Northrup2 00

Huldah S. Warrington1 00Mrs. A. Leaton1 00

Mary Styles1 00Samuel Sutton50

M. Parish25Caroline Thompson2 00

Mrs. Field50Elizabeth M. Atwell2 00

Martha Hudson1 00Jacob and Eliza Powell10 00

Sarah E. Johonnet1 00Zenus Brackett10 00

John Lancaster1 00Mrs. Judge Owen1 00

Dr. and Mrs. A. L. Ward2 00Margaret Vanderpool75

Frances E. Smith1 00James McEntee5 00

Mrs. Whitley1 00H. M. Crane3 00

Mrs. D. B. Hontz50James G. Lindsley1 00

J. Sinclair50Walter B. Crane1 00

Anna Rice Powell1 00Horatio Falks1 00

Mrs. Mix, M.D.50J. E. Lasher1 00

Alice Hall50Mrs. Vantassell1 00

Ella Clymer1 00Jonathan Buffum10 00

Linda Dietz1 00Luther Melendy5 00

Mrs. Dietz50Anson Lapham40 00

Dr. James Burson25Mary S. Moses3 00

L. A. Van Cort25Mrs. Oliver Dennett10 00

William Russel1 00Mr. Armstrong5 00

Sarah B. Perry50Elisabeth J. Vail, M.D.1 00

D. H. Hoffman50Matilda T. Saxton5 00

P. A. Neale50Rosanna Thompson2 00

Edward Kingsley2 00Helen Philleo1 00

Fanny M. Callow2 00James Halleck1 10

L. Jenny Kellogg1 00P. H. Boyce50

Caroline H. Sherwood1 00Ellis Ellis1 00

Delia A. Barker1 00Charlotte M. Schofield25

Gustavus Muller3 00John Cadawalder10

William L. Jaycox25David Perry25

E. P. Bailey50Le Grand Marvin1 00

M. Newth1 00J. Van Vleck1 00

Cynthia DeLong5 00Cyrus P. Lee1 00

John Castor25Aaron R. Vail2 00

W. R. and M. H. Hallowell5 00E. Cumming31

Mary B. F. Curtis5 00Mrs. J. Watson5 00

Receipts at the First Anniversary, May 9 and 10, 1867.

Elizabeth B. Chace$25 00Lydia Mott25 00

Parker Pillsbury25 00Mrs. P. H. and M. Jones25 00

Mrs. Luther Marsh20 00Susan B. Anthony50 00

Cora A. Syme10 00A. Noble, Sr.1 00

Two Ladies, $5 each10 00C. B. Halsart1 00

Frances D. Gage13 00E. Underhill1 00

Samuel J. May10 00A. M. Powell1 00

L. Francis10 00J. E. Snodgrass1 00

Westchester E. R. Association (per Mrs. Hibbard1 00

E. A. Studwell)15 00Nellie Lord1 00

Jane Clegg15 00D. B. and A. Morey1 00

Joseph and Mary Post10 00R. Salmon1 00

Charlotte D. Lozier, M.D.5 00Adolphus O. Johnson1 00

Elizabeth W. Brown5 00Levi K. Joslin1 00

Oliver Johnson5 00Mary F. Davis1 00

A. O. Willcox5 00Wm. P. Bolles1 00

J. K. H. Wilcox5 00Cash1 00

E. Cummings5 00E. Ostrander1 00

Mary C. Sawyer5 00Esther Titus1 00

J. C. Fergusson5 00L. B. Humphrey1 00

Fred. H. Hernan5 00Martha Hudson1 00

Harry H. Hall5 00Susan M. Davis1 00

Charles P. Somerby5 00Sojourner Truth1 00

Robert J. Johnston5 00T. M. Newbold1 00

Mrs. S. M. Chickering5 00M. E. Woodson50

J. Miller McKim5 00Mrs. M. Johnson50

Sarah E. Wall3 00Ann Ellsworth Hunt50

R. F. Hudson2 00L. Blake50

Mrs. Gayno2 00J. L. Langworthy50

Mrs. Dodge2 00T. B. Pierce50

Mrs. L. Francis2 00Esther C. Pierce50

Mrs. Elmer Stone2 00E. Campbell50

Hannah W. Bell2 00M. H. McKinnon50

S. S. Foster1 00Mrs. J. B. Mix, M.D.50

Mrs. Brown5 00Samuel D. Moore25

T. W. Higginson1 00M. P. Allen25

S. D. White1 00R. Williams25

Cash1 00P. E. Kipp25

Pledges.

Anna E. Dickinson$100 00Mrs. C. E. Collins5 00

Margaret E. Winchester100 00Euphemia Cochrane5 00

A. O. Wilcox55 00Melissa Johnson5 00

C. and M. H. Prince25 00W. F. Douley2 00

Gillis, Harney & Co.25 00Mrs. H. P. Baldwin1 00

H. Hart20 00Dr. Chavau1 00

D. B. and A. B. Morey20 00S. A. Turner1 00

John Smith10 00Dio Lewis, M.D.50 00

C. F. Wallace5 00R. C. Browning30 00

C. E. Reason5 00George H. Taylor, M.D.5 00

SOJOURNER TRUTH ON THE PRESS.

To the Editor of the World:—We have had the pleasure of entertaining Mrs. Stowe's "Lybian Sybil" at our home for the last week, and can bear our testimony to the marvelous wisdom and goodness of this remarkable woman. She was a slave in this State for forty years, and has devoted forty years of freedom to the best interests of her race. Though eighty years of age, she is as active and clear-sighted as ever, and "understands the whole question of reconstruction, all its 'quagmires and pitfalls,' as she says, as well as any man does."

The morning after the Equal Rights Convention, as the daily journals one by one made their appearance, turning to the youngsters of the household, she said: "Children, as there is no school to-day, will you read Sojourner the reports of the Convention? I want to see whether these young sprigs of the press do me justice. You know, children, I don't read such small stuff as letters, I read men and nations. I can see through a millstone, though I can't see through a spelling-book. What a narrow idea a reading qualification is for a voter! I know and do what is right better than many big men who read. And there's that property qualification! just as bad. As if men and women themselves, who made money, were not of more value than the thing they made. If I were a delegate to the Constitutional Convention I could make suffrage as clear as daylight; but I am afraid these Republicans will 'purty, purty' about all manner of small things week out and week in, and never settle this foundation question after all." Sojourner then gathered up her bag and shawl, and walked into the parlor in a stately manner, and there, surrounded by the children, the papers were duly read and considered. The Express, the Post, the Commercial Advertiser, the World, the Times, the Herald, the Tribune, and the Sun, all passed in review. The World seemed to please Sojourner more than any other journal. She said she liked the wit of the World's reporter; all the little texts running through the speeches, such as "Sojourner on Popping Up," "No Grumbling," "Digging Stumps," "Biz," to show what is coming, so that one can get ready to cry or laugh, as the case may be—a kind of sign-board, a milestone, to tell where we are going, and how fast we go. The readers then call her attention to the solid columns of the other papers, and the versification of the World. She said she did not like the dead calm. She liked the breaking up into verses, like her songs. That is a good thing; it gives the reporter time to take breath and sharpen his pen, and think of some witty thing to say; for life is a hard battle anyway, and if we can laugh and sing a little as we fight the good fight of freedom, it makes it all go easier. "But, children, why did you not send for some of those wicked Democratic papers that abuse all good people and good things." "They are all here," said the readers in chorus. "We have read you all the Republicans and the Democrats say." "Why, children, I can't tell one from the other. The millennium must be here, when one can't tell saints from sinners, Republicans from Democrats. Is the World Horace Greeley's paper?" "Oh, no; the World is Democratic!" "Democratic! Why, children, the World does move! But there is one thing I don't exactly see; if the Democrats are all ready to give equal rights to all, what are the Republicans making such a fuss about? Mr. Greeley was ready for this twenty years ago; if he had gone on as fast as the Democrats he should have been on the platform, at the conventions, making speeches, and writing resolutions, long ago." "Oh," said some one of larger growth, "Mr. Greeley is busy with tariffs and protective duties. What do you think, Sojourner, of free trade? Do you not think if England and France have more dry-goods than they want that they had better send them to us, and we in turn send them our fruits and flowers and grains; our timber, iron, fish, and ice?" "Yes, I go for everything free. Let nature, like individuals, make the most of what God has given them, have their neighbors to do the same, and then do all they can to serve each other. There is no use in one man, or one nation, to try to do or be everything. It is a good thing to be dependent on each other for something, it makes us civil and peaceable. But," said Sojourner, "where is Theodore Tilton's paper?" "Oh, the Independent is a weekly, it came out before the Convention." "But Theodore is not a weekly; why did he not come to the Convention and tell us what he thought?" "Well, here is his last paper, with a grand editorial," and Sojourner listened to the end with interest. "That's good," said she, "but he don't say woman." "Oh, he is talking about sectarianism, not suffrage; the Church, not the State." "No matter, the Church wrongs woman as much as the State. 'Wives, obey your husbands,' is as bad as the common law. 'The husband and wife are one, and that one the husband.' I am afraid Theodore and Horace are playing bo-peep with their shadows. Did you tell me that Mr. Greeley is a delegate to the Constitutional Convention?" Yes, and I hope that he will soon wake up to the fact that the Democrats are going ahead of him, and instead of writing articles on 'Democracy run mad,' on tariffs and mining interests, it behooves him to be studying what genuine republicanism is, and whether we are to realize it in the Empire State this very year or not. "Speaking of shadows," said Sojourner, "I wish the World to know that when I go among fashionable people in the Church of the Puritans, I do not carry 'rations' in my bag; I keep my shadow there. I have good friends enough to give me clothes and rations. I stand on principle, always in one place, so everybody knows where to find Sojourner, and I don't want my shadow even to be dogging about here and there and everywhere, so I keep it in this bag." "I think," said one of the group, "the press should hereafter speak of you as Mrs. Stowe's Lybian Sybil, and not as 'old church woman.'" "Oh, child, that's good enough. The Herald used to call me 'old black nigger,' so this sounds respectable. Have you read the Herald too, children? Is that born again? Well, we are all walking the right way together. I'll tell you what I'm thinking. My speeches in the Convention read well. I should like to have the substance put together, improved a little, and published in tract form, headed 'Sojourner Truth on Suffrage;' for if these timid men, like Greeley, knew that Sojourner was out for 'universal suffrage,' they would not be so afraid to handle the question. Yes, children, I am going to rouse the people on equality. I must sojourn once to the ballot-box before I die. I hear the ballot-box is a beautiful glass globe, so you can see all the votes as they go in. Now, the first time I vote I'll see if a woman's vote looks any different from the rest—if it makes any stir or commotion. If it don't inside, it need not outside. That good speech of Henry Ward Beecher's made my heart leap for joy; he just hit the nail right on the head when he said you never lost anything by asking everything; if you bait the suffrage-hook with a woman you will certainly catch a black man. There is a great deal in that philosophy, children. Now I must go and take a smoke!" I tell you in confidence, Mr. Editor, Sojourner smokes!

E. C. S.

Yours respectfully,

P. S.—She says she has been sent into the smoking-car so often she smoked in self-defense—she would rather swallow her own smoke than another's.