CHAPTER FIFTH.

As intimated by Mrs. Bloomer in the preceding pages, the circulation of her paper was largely increased through the notoriety given to it by her adoption and defense of the new costume. Nearly every newspaper in the land had to have its comments on it, as well as upon those who had the courage to wear it. Some denounced, some ridiculed. Besides receiving numerous letters on the subject, many persons called to see how the little woman appeared in the short dress and trousers. Fortunately or otherwise, they became her very well; usually they were becoming when worn by small persons or those of medium stature. People generally retired well pleased with their interview with her. She said but little about it inher paper, as she had subjects of much greater importance to engage her attention and fill its columns. Occasionally a sharp article appeared in its defense. She had many offers to take the platform as a public speaker. Even the stage was suggested as a fit place for bringing the new costume before the public. The interest in the subject was not confined to this country only, but extended to England, also; the matter was commented on by the press of Great Britain very generally, and the LondonGraphiccontained pictures of the new costume more or less correct.

All these proposals for public action were declined by Mrs. Bloomer; but nevertheless the suggestion as to public speaking, the advocacy by woman of temperance and woman’s rights through the medium of the public platform and her own voice as a public speaker, were not forgotten by her and brought forth from her very much in these directions in future years. But for the time being she continued on in the even tenor of her work, transforming her paper steadily more and more, as the months wentby, into an advocate of woman’s enlargement in various directions. “Devoted to the interests of woman,” was now its motto, and she strove to faithfully carry out the legend. It was still the ardent advocate of temperance, but it insisted also that the evils of intemperance could only be effectually overthrown by giving to woman a more potent voice both in the making and enforcement of the laws designed to overthrow that great evil.

We now copy again from Mrs. Bloomer’s writings:

“In the Spring of 1852 a few of the daughters [of Temperance] celebrated an open two-days temperance meeting at Rochester, N. Y. It was very largely attended, between four and five hundred women being present at the first session. The numbers increased, and at the later sessions the large hall, which would contain 1,800, was packed to the platform with eager, earnest temperance men and women. This meeting was not only not secret,it was not exclusive,—men forming a large part of it and doing their share of talking. It was at this meeting that I first let my voice be heard in public after much persuasion. Able men came to our aid—among them I remember the Rev. William H. Channing (the younger), an eloquent divine of those days; and the meeting was very enthusiastic, and was the beginning of much in the same direction that followed. This convention resulted in organizing a woman’s state Temperance Society, which became very effective and had much to do in breaking down the barriers and introducing women into temperance and other work. Some half-dozen women were employed by the society as agents on salaries of twenty-five dollars per month and their expenses. These lecturers traveled through the state, holding meetings, and securing membership to the society and signatures to the pledge, and petitions to the legislature. They were well received on all sides, partly because of the novelty of a woman speaking, and partly because the principle of total abstinence and Washingtonian temperance was stirring all hearts. Up to these times no woman had thought of speaking in public outside a Quaker meeting-house. To have attempted such a thing at an earlierday would have called down upon her much censure, and St. Paul would have been freely quoted to silence her. Now, however, women took matters Into their own hands and acted as their own impulses prompted and their consciences approved. And it was surprising how public sentiment changed and how the zeal of temperance men and women helped on the new movement of women.”

Mrs. Bloomer and Miss Anthony were secretaries of this convention, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton president; in the final organization Mrs. Stanton was made president, Mrs. Bloomer corresponding secretary, and Miss Anthony and Mary C. Vaughan recording secretaries.

At this convention, Senator Gale used very strong language in regard to women who had petitioned the legislature for a Maine Law. Mrs. Bloomer criticised him for saying in a sneering way “that representatives were not accustomed to listen to the voice of women in legislating upon great public questions.” A resolution was proposed in the convention that“no woman should remain in the relation of wife to the confirmed drunkard, and that no drunkard should be father of her children.” On this Mrs. Bloomer said:

“We believe the teachings which have been given to the drunkard’s wife, inculcating duty—the commendable examples of angelic wives which she has been exhorted to follow—have done much to continue and aggravate the vices and crimes of society growing out of intemperance. Drunkenness is ground for divorce, and every woman who is tied to a confirmed drunkard should sunder the ties: and if she do it not otherwise, the law should compel it, especially if she have children.“We are told that such sentiments are exceptional, abhorrent, that the moral sense of society is shocked and outraged by their promulgation. Can it be possible that the moral sense of a people is more shocked at the idea of a pure-minded, gentle woman sundering the tie which binds her to a loathsome mass of corruption, than it is to see her dragging out her days in misery tied to his besotted and filthy carcass? Are the morals of society less endangered by the drunkard’s wife continuing to livein companionship with him, giving birth to a large family of children who inherit nothing but poverty and disgrace, and who will grow up criminal and vicious, filling our prisons and penitentiaries and corrupting and endangering the purity and peace of the community, than they would be should she separate from him and strive to win for herself and her children comfort and respectability? The statistics of our prisons, poorhouses, and lunatic asylums teach us a fearful lesson on this subject of morals!“The idea of living with a drunkard is so abhorrent, so revolting to all the finer feelings of our nature, that a woman must fall very low before she can endure such companionship. Every pure-minded person must look with loathing and disgust upon such a union of virtue and vice; and he who would compel her to it, or dissuade the drunkard’s wife from separating herself from such wretchedness and degradation, is doing much to perpetuate drunkenness and crime and is wanting in the noblest feelings of human nature. Thanks to our legislature, if they have not given us the Maine law they are deliberating on giving to wives of drunkards and tyrants a loophole of escape from the brutal cruelty of their self-styled lordsand masters. A bill of this kind has passed the house, but may be lost in the senate. Should it not pass now, it will be brought up again and passed at no distant day. Then, if women have any spirit, they will free themselves from much of the depression and wrong which they have hitherto by necessity borne.”

“We are told that such sentiments are exceptional, abhorrent, that the moral sense of society is shocked and outraged by their promulgation. Can it be possible that the moral sense of a people is more shocked at the idea of a pure-minded, gentle woman sundering the tie which binds her to a loathsome mass of corruption, than it is to see her dragging out her days in misery tied to his besotted and filthy carcass? Are the morals of society less endangered by the drunkard’s wife continuing to livein companionship with him, giving birth to a large family of children who inherit nothing but poverty and disgrace, and who will grow up criminal and vicious, filling our prisons and penitentiaries and corrupting and endangering the purity and peace of the community, than they would be should she separate from him and strive to win for herself and her children comfort and respectability? The statistics of our prisons, poorhouses, and lunatic asylums teach us a fearful lesson on this subject of morals!

“The idea of living with a drunkard is so abhorrent, so revolting to all the finer feelings of our nature, that a woman must fall very low before she can endure such companionship. Every pure-minded person must look with loathing and disgust upon such a union of virtue and vice; and he who would compel her to it, or dissuade the drunkard’s wife from separating herself from such wretchedness and degradation, is doing much to perpetuate drunkenness and crime and is wanting in the noblest feelings of human nature. Thanks to our legislature, if they have not given us the Maine law they are deliberating on giving to wives of drunkards and tyrants a loophole of escape from the brutal cruelty of their self-styled lordsand masters. A bill of this kind has passed the house, but may be lost in the senate. Should it not pass now, it will be brought up again and passed at no distant day. Then, if women have any spirit, they will free themselves from much of the depression and wrong which they have hitherto by necessity borne.”

Probably, no single event ever had so great an influence in promoting the cause of woman’s enlargement as this Rochester convention. It opened the door wide for women to enter. It brought out a number of faithful workers in that cause, as well as in the cause of Temperance, who from that time devoted their lives to the work. Some took a wider view of their work than others, but all devoted themselves with a singular fidelity and earnestness to the noble aims before them. Nor was the influence confined solely to women who took part in that convention. Others, in every part of the country, soon enlisted in the cause and became zealous advocates of woman’s redemption from the thralldom of evil habits and unjustlaws. Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony continued a tower of strength for half a century and upwards, and Mrs. Bloomer nearly as long, but in the latter years of her life not so prominently; and there came to their aid Lucy Stone, Frances D. Gage, Mrs. C. H. Nichols, Antoinette L. Brown, Mary A. Livermore, Lydia A. Fowler, and many more who might be mentioned.

Mrs. Bloomer, as corresponding secretary of the new society, was brought into immediate and close connection with its agents and friends. Her home was at all times open to them, and they often visited and consulted with her and Mrs. Stanton, who resided in the same village. Mrs. Vaughan, Mrs. Albro, and Miss Emily Clark, besides Miss Anthony, were earnest workers in the good cause. Mrs. Bloomer’s correspondence was also very extensive; but in her removals from place to place it has been mostly destroyed, and the death of nearly all her correspondents renders it impracticable to procure copies of her letters to them.

At the Rochester convention Gerrit Smith, Mrs. Bloomer, and Miss Anthony were appointed delegates to the state convention then soon to meet in Syracuse. The call was to all temperance organizations to send delegates to it, and clearly included the Woman’s Temperance Society. Mrs. Bloomer and Miss Anthony accepted the appointment and attended; but their simple appearance caused a tremendous hubbub, and after a whole day spent by the men in discussing the question of their admission they were excluded. Mrs. Bloomer describes the scene as follows:

“The women had friends in the convention who were as determined on their side that women should be recognized, and so they had it, each side determined to have it’s way—a dozen men talking at the same time all over the house, each claiming the floor, each insisting on being heard—till all became confusion, a perfect babel of noises. No order could be kept and the president left his chair in disgust.Time and words fail to give you the details of this disgraceful meeting. The ringleaders were prominent clergymen of Albany, Lockport, and Buffalo. Their names and faces are indelibly engraven on my memory. During this whole day’s quarrel of the men, no woman said a word, except once Miss Anthony addressed the chair intending to prefer a request for a donation of temperance tracts for distribution by our society. She got no farther than ‘Mr. President,’ when she was rudely called to order by one of the belligerent clergymen and told to sit down. She sat down and no other woman opened her mouth, though they really were entitled to all the rights of any delegate, under the call; and the treatment they received was not only an insult to the women present, but to the organization that sent them.”

In referring to this incident, on page 488 Vol. I. of History of Woman Suffrage, it is said: “Rev. Luther Lea offered his church just before adjournment, and Mr. May announced that Miss Anthony and Mrs. Bloomer would speak there in the evening. They had a crowded house, while the conservatives scarcely had fifty. The general feeling was hostile tothe action of the convention. The same battle on the temperance platform was fought over and over again in various parts of the state, and the most deadly opposition uniformly came from the clergy, though a few noble men in that profession ever remained true to principle through all the conflicts of those days in the anti-slavery, temperance, and woman’s rights movements.”

In the winter of 1852 and 1853, meetings of both the regular state Temperance societies were held in Albany for the purpose of influencing the legislature then in session to pass the Maine prohibitory law. Mrs. Bloomer attended the women’s convention, and delivered an elaborate speech in the Baptist church. She herself gives the following report of the proceedings at the convention:

“The ladies were there with their officers and lecturers. During the day they held meetings in the large Baptist church which was packed, seats and aisles, to its utmost capacity. Duringthe morning session a committee of three ladies, previously appointed, slipped out through a back entrance and wended their way to the capitol bearing between them a large basket filled with petitions from 30,000 women of the state, each petition neatly rolled and tied with ribbon and bearing upon it the name of the place from which it came, and the number of names it contained. We were met at the state-house door by Hon. Silas M. Burroughs, of Orleans, according to previous arrangement, and escorted by him within the bar of the house. Mr. Burroughs then said: ‘Mr. Speaker, there is a deputation of ladies in this house with a petition of 30,000 women for a prohibitory law, and I request that the deputation may present the petition in person.’ He moved a suspension of the rules for that purpose. Some objection was raised by two or three members who sneered at the idea of granting such privileges to women, but the vote was taken and carried; and then the committee and the big basket, carried by two of us by the handles at each end, passed up in front of the speaker’s desk, when one of our number made a little speech appealing for prohibition and protection from the rum power in the name of the 30,000 women of the state whomwe represented. The petitions were sent up to the clerk’s desk, while we retired again to the bar where we were surrounded and received congratulations of members. We soon after retired and returned to the meeting at the church. On the announcement being made to the meeting of what we had done and our success, it was received with a perfect shout of congratulation by the vast audience. It was an unheard-of thing for women to do, and our reception augured success to the hopes of temperance people for a prohibitory law. But alas! Our petitions availed us nothing, as we learned in due time. Those 30,000 petitioners were only women; and what cared our so-called representatives for the petitions of a disfranchised class? Our meetings were kept up during the day and evening, women doing all the talking though men composed full half the audience. In the evening, in addition to the Baptist church meetings were held in another church and in the representatives’ hall, the capitol having been placed at our service, our lady speakers separating and going by twos and threes to each house; and all were crowded, every foot of standing room being occupied.”

It should be added, that Mrs. Bloomer wasone of the Committee of Three who appeared before the legislature and presented the petitions. The other members were Miss Emily Clark and Mrs. Albro.

Mrs. Bloomer’s life during the latter part of 1853 was a very busy one. In addition to her duties as editor and publisher of theLilyand clerk in the post office, she was also frequently invited to deliver addresses on Temperance. A few of these invitations she accepted, and appeared before well-pleased audiences in villages of western New York. She never until later years acquired the habit of extemporaneous speaking, but all her addresses were carefully written out and delivered from manuscript. There is a big pile of her writings now before me. They are all characterized by great earnestness in appeal both to the reason and sympathies of her hearers.

Mrs. Bloomer’s appeals were mainly addressed to her own sex, but she never failed to call upon the men also to practise total abstinence andgive their influence in all proper ways for the overthrow of the liquor traffic. She also introduced other questions into her addresses. She insisted that the laws relating to women were narrow and unjust and should be changed. She thought that women should have a voice in making the laws and also in their enforcement. When this change should be brought around, she had hopes that woman would be relieved from the curse of drunkenness under which she suffered so keenly. And it so happened that it was frequently said of Mrs. Bloomer that “she talks on temperance, but she gives us a large supply of woman’s rights, also.” To this Mrs. Bloomer in theLilyin April, 1853, made the following reply:

“Some of the papers accuse me of mixing Woman’s Rights with our Temperance, as though it was possible for woman to speak on Temperance and Intemperance without also speaking of Woman’s Rights and Wrongs in connection therewith. That woman has rights, we think that none will deny; that she has been cruelly wronged by the law-sanctioned liquor traffic, must be admitted by all. Thenwhy should we not talk of woman’s rights and temperance together? Ah, how steadily do they who are guilty shrink from reproof! How ready they are to avoid answering our arguments by turning their attention to our personal appearance, and raising a bugbear about Woman’s Rights and Woman’s Wrongs! and a ready response to the truth we utter wells up from women’s hearts, and breaks forth in blessings and a hearty God-speed in our mission.”

We now quote from Mrs. Bloomer’s personal reminiscences:

“In February, 1853, in company with Miss Susan B. Anthony, Rev. Antoinette L. Brown, and Mrs. L. N. Fowler, I held three meetings in the city of New York. We had been attending a Temperance mass meeting in the city of Albany, where we had both day and evening been addressing the assembled temperance hosts that had come together from all parts of the state in response to a call for that purpose. At these meetings we were met by parties from New York, who invited us to visit that city and hold a series of meetings, assuring us thatevery preparation would be made and we should be received by good audiences. We accepted the invitation and in a few days went to New York to fill the engagement. Full notice had been given and all things put in readiness for us. These meetings were held in Metropolitan Hall, where Jennie Lind made herdébuton arriving in this country, which has since been burned down; and in the old Broadway Tabernacle; and in Knickerbocker Hall.“That was in the early days of the woman’s movement, and women speaking in public was a new thing outside of a Quaker meeting-house. We were the first to address an audience of New Yorkers from a public platform; and much curiosity was excited to hear and see the wonderful women who had outstepped their sphere and were turning the world upside down by preaching a new doctrine which claimed that women were human beings, endowed with inalienable rights, among which was the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.“The halls at each of these meetings were filled to their utmost capacity, from 3,000 to 5,000 persons being the estimated number in attendance. At the Metropolitan, Horace Greeley and wife, Dr. S. P. Townsend, Colonel Snow, and a number of others were seated withus on the platform; and in all the after meetings, Mr. Greeley was present and manifested much interest in our work, taking copious notes and giving columns of theTribuneto reports of our speeches. While in the city we were guests of the great phrenologist, L. N. Fowler, one of the editors of thePhrenological Journal, and his wife, and Mrs. S. P. Townsend; and the evening was spent at the home of the Greeleys.

“That was in the early days of the woman’s movement, and women speaking in public was a new thing outside of a Quaker meeting-house. We were the first to address an audience of New Yorkers from a public platform; and much curiosity was excited to hear and see the wonderful women who had outstepped their sphere and were turning the world upside down by preaching a new doctrine which claimed that women were human beings, endowed with inalienable rights, among which was the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

“The halls at each of these meetings were filled to their utmost capacity, from 3,000 to 5,000 persons being the estimated number in attendance. At the Metropolitan, Horace Greeley and wife, Dr. S. P. Townsend, Colonel Snow, and a number of others were seated withus on the platform; and in all the after meetings, Mr. Greeley was present and manifested much interest in our work, taking copious notes and giving columns of theTribuneto reports of our speeches. While in the city we were guests of the great phrenologist, L. N. Fowler, one of the editors of thePhrenological Journal, and his wife, and Mrs. S. P. Townsend; and the evening was spent at the home of the Greeleys.

“At the latter place we met about a dozen of New York’s literati. Of these I only remember Charles A. Dana, then on theTribunestaff; Mrs. E. F. Ellet, a prominent story writer of that time; and Alice and Phœbe Gary, the poet sisters. I remember the latter as dressed with very low necks and arms bared to the shoulders, while their skirts trailed upon the floor. Around their necks were hung huge boas, four feet long, the style of that day; as a protection, I suppose, from the cold. These being heaviest in the middle were continually sagging out of place, and kept the wearers quite busy adjusting them. I confess to a feeling short of admiration for this dress display at a little social gathering in midwinter, and myestimation of the good sense of the Cary sisters sank accordingly. And I never read of them to this day but those bare necks and shoulders and trailing skirts appear before me. They, no doubt, were as much disgusted with my short dress and trousers which left no part of the person exposed. Tastes differ, that is all; and I was not used to seeing women in company half-dressed.“It was in the early days of spiritualism, when the Rochester rappings had excited much wonder throughout the country. Horace Greeley was known to have taken a good deal of interest in the subject, to have given time to its investigation, and to have entertained its first propagandists, the Fox sisters, for days at his house. During the evening of our visit that subject came up and Mr. Greeley warmly espoused the side of the spiritualists. He said many things in confirmation of his belief in the new doctrine of spirit visitation. Standing midway of the two parlors and pointing to a table that stood against the wall between the front windows, he said: ‘I must believe what my eyes have seen. I have seen that table leave its place where it now stands, come forward and meet me here where I now stand, and then go back to its place without any onetouching it, or being near it. I have also seen that table rise from the floor, and the weight of a man sitting on it would not keep it down. I cannot deny the evidence of my own eyes.’ Miss Fox was in the house at the time of this occurrence, but not in the room. This he said in answer to questions.”

“It was in the early days of spiritualism, when the Rochester rappings had excited much wonder throughout the country. Horace Greeley was known to have taken a good deal of interest in the subject, to have given time to its investigation, and to have entertained its first propagandists, the Fox sisters, for days at his house. During the evening of our visit that subject came up and Mr. Greeley warmly espoused the side of the spiritualists. He said many things in confirmation of his belief in the new doctrine of spirit visitation. Standing midway of the two parlors and pointing to a table that stood against the wall between the front windows, he said: ‘I must believe what my eyes have seen. I have seen that table leave its place where it now stands, come forward and meet me here where I now stand, and then go back to its place without any onetouching it, or being near it. I have also seen that table rise from the floor, and the weight of a man sitting on it would not keep it down. I cannot deny the evidence of my own eyes.’ Miss Fox was in the house at the time of this occurrence, but not in the room. This he said in answer to questions.”

Of the meeting in Metropolitan Hall, the New YorkTribunestated that it was nearly as large and fully as respectable as the audiences which nightly greeted Jenny Lind and Catherine Hayes during their engagements in that hall. Mrs. Lydia N. Fowler presided, and delivered an address. TheTribunegave a full report of the meeting. It said: “Mrs. Bloomer was attired in a dark-brown changeable tunic, a kilt descending just below the knees, the skirt of which was trimmed with rows of black velvet. The pantaloons were of the same texture and trimmed in the same style. She wore gaiters. Her headdress was cherry and black. Her dress had a large open corsage, with bands ofvelvet over the white chemisette in which was a diamond-stud pin. She wore flowing sleeves, tight undersleeves and black lace mitts. Her whole attire was rich and plain in appearance. * * * She was introduced to the audience and proceeded to her address which occupied more than an hour.” And as giving a fair expression of Mrs. Bloomer’s then views on the subject of temperance and woman’s duty in reference to it, theTribune’sfull report of her address is here given:

“Mrs. Bloomer, of Seneca Falls, was introduced and proceeded to read an address which occupied nearly an hour. She commenced by remarking that, from the earliest agitation of the subject of temperance down through the whole past course of the cause, woman has had a great and important part to perform in the great struggle for freedom. And most nobly has she performed her part, according to the light she possessed. She has done all that the custom of the time permitted her to do. She has faithfully attended temperance meetingsand listened to many wise discourses from temperance lecturers. During all this woman has imagined that she was doing the cause good service. But lo! she still sees the great destroyer passing triumphantly on in his work of death; she sees poverty, wretchedness and despair still rampant in our midst; she sees that her prayers to rumsellers to desist from their murderous work have fallen upon hearts of stone; she sees that, in spite of her remonstrances, the stream of death still flows on and that thousands and tens of thousands are still going to destruction. But, though she is often weary, yet is she not hopeless; she still has faith to look beyond the clouds to the bright prospect beyond—still has faith to look beyond the efforts of man to One who is mighty for deliverance.“Yet, notwithstanding the efforts already put forth in this work, woman was not without guilt in this matter. While man endeavors to compel obedience to his laws, and make woman dependent upon him and an echo of his thoughts, while man has greatly sinned in thus usurping this great prerogative, woman has greatly sinned in submitting to this power. Woman has suffered her individuality to be merged in a name. She forgets that Godcreated them equal; she forgets that our Heavenly Father has not made one to rule over the other. She forgets that she is as necessary to his happiness as he is to hers. They are created to work hand in hand, bearing equally the burden of life; and though we may fail to do our duty on earth, yet will our individuality be recognized and held to account on the Last Day. The plea often raised that it is immodest and unladylike, that we are out of our sphere in thus battling against the evils of intemperance, will not avail in the sight of God who has commanded that even one talent should be put to a good use. He has created woman intelligent and responsible and given her a great work to do, and woe unto her if she does it not! Woe unto him who hinders her in its fulfillment! Her individuality must be recognized before the evils of intemperance can cease to exist. How absurd the idea, how degrading the thought, that before marriage woman can enjoy freedom of thought, but afterwards must endorse her husband’s sentiments be they good or bad! Call you not this slavery? But if she acts the part of true womanhood, the path of duty will be made so plain that she cannot err therein.“The speaker next said that she proposedto show how woman, by her own acts, had retarded the cause of temperance. And, first, woman had done much to retard the cause by herself partaking of stimulating drink during lactation, and thus transmitting it through the system of her infant. She imagines that this gives her stimulus and strength. But in this she sins from ignorance. As the child grows, his appetite grows perverted, and he will desire still stronger stimulus such as tobacco and cigars. Let mothers study the physiology of themselves and their children that they may know how to feed them so as to give them regular appetites. Woman has also done much to retard the cause of temperance by presenting the intoxicating cup to her guest. Not unfrequently does the first glass taken from the hands of woman destroy both body and soul forever. Home is said to be woman’s sphere; herein, at least, she should forbid the intoxicating cup to enter. Women, Christian women, as you hope for salvation, let not this guilt rest upon your souls!“Woman has also retarded the cause of temperance by using intoxicating drinks for culinary purposes. Such an one voluntarily yields up her children to the Moloch of intemperance. Let no woman think this a littlematter. Let no woman think that because she occupies a high place in society the destroyer will pass her by. Such is not his course. He delights to cut down the high and noble and trample them beneath his iron hoofs.“Another class who in my view greatly retard the cause of temperance principles are those who profess love for our cause and hope that it will triumph, but do nothing for it. They say we have men to attend to this work and that it is none of woman’s business. Deliver us from such dead weights on society and on the spirit of Progress! None of woman’s business, when she is subject to poverty and degradation and made an outcast from respectable society! None of woman’s business, when her starving, naked babes are compelled to suffer the horrors of the winter’s blast! None of woman’s business, when her children are stripped of their clothing and compelled to beg their bread from door to door! In the name of all that is sacred, what is woman’s business if this be no concern of hers? (Great applause.) None of woman’s business! What is woman? Is she a slave? Is she a mere toy? Is she formed, like a piece of fine porcelain, to be placed upon the shelf to be looked at? Is she a responsible being? or has she no soul? Alas, alas for the ignoranceand weakness of woman! Shame! Shame on woman when she refuses all elevating action and checks all high and holy aspirations for the good of others! (Applause.) Sisters, the liquor traffic does concern woman deeply; and it is her business to bring her influence to bear against it, both by private and public acts. Some mothers say it is as much as they can do to look after their own children without going to the trouble of looking after children of their neighbors. If all mothers would do this and train up their own children in the right way, it would be all well. But such is not the case; and therefore are we to go out into the world and help reclaim the children of poverty and crime around us.“Another obstacle to the progress of temperance principles is that women live in close companionship with drunken husbands. This may be a delicate point upon which to enter and many may object to mentioning it, but nevertheless the truth must be spoken. In my mind no greater sin is committed than by woman consenting to remain the wife of the drunkard, rearing children in poverty and wretchedness and thus transmitting his sins. A pure and virtuous woman tied to such a piece of corruption, and giving birth to childrenwho will grow up to be a curse to themselves and society! The drunkard knows that the gentle being is bound close to him and is literally his slave, and that she will remain with him be his conduct what it may. Thus are thousands surrounded by these gentle and loving creatures, when they are not worthy to have even a dog for a companion. (Applause.)“And yet public sentiment and law bid woman to submit to this degradation and to kiss the hand that smites her to the ground. Let things be reversed—let man be made subject to these various insults—and how long would he suffer anger, hunger, cold and nakedness! How many times would he allow himself to be thus trampled upon! (Applause.) Not long—not long—I think! With his right arm would he free himself from such degrading bondage. (Applause.) But thanks to a few brave hearts, the idea of relief to woman has been broached to society. She has dared to stand forth and disown any earthly master. (Applause.) Woman must banish the drunkard from her society. Let her utterly refuse to be the companion of a drunkard, or the man who puts the intoxicating cup to his lips, and we shall see a new order of society.“Woman must declare an unceasing war tothis great foe, at all times and upon every occasion that presents itself. She must not wait for man to help her; this is her business as much as his. Let her show to the world that she possesses somewhat of the spirit and the blood of the daughters of the Revolution! Such thoughts as these may be thought unladylike; but if they are so, they are not unwomanly. (Applause.)“Mrs. Bloomer then made a brief argument in favor of the Maine Law, and concluded her remarks amid long continued applause.“It will be seen that Mrs. Bloomer’s address was almost entirely confined to women, and marked out an entirely new field in temperance thought; and it therefore attracted not a little attention.”

“Yet, notwithstanding the efforts already put forth in this work, woman was not without guilt in this matter. While man endeavors to compel obedience to his laws, and make woman dependent upon him and an echo of his thoughts, while man has greatly sinned in thus usurping this great prerogative, woman has greatly sinned in submitting to this power. Woman has suffered her individuality to be merged in a name. She forgets that Godcreated them equal; she forgets that our Heavenly Father has not made one to rule over the other. She forgets that she is as necessary to his happiness as he is to hers. They are created to work hand in hand, bearing equally the burden of life; and though we may fail to do our duty on earth, yet will our individuality be recognized and held to account on the Last Day. The plea often raised that it is immodest and unladylike, that we are out of our sphere in thus battling against the evils of intemperance, will not avail in the sight of God who has commanded that even one talent should be put to a good use. He has created woman intelligent and responsible and given her a great work to do, and woe unto her if she does it not! Woe unto him who hinders her in its fulfillment! Her individuality must be recognized before the evils of intemperance can cease to exist. How absurd the idea, how degrading the thought, that before marriage woman can enjoy freedom of thought, but afterwards must endorse her husband’s sentiments be they good or bad! Call you not this slavery? But if she acts the part of true womanhood, the path of duty will be made so plain that she cannot err therein.

“The speaker next said that she proposedto show how woman, by her own acts, had retarded the cause of temperance. And, first, woman had done much to retard the cause by herself partaking of stimulating drink during lactation, and thus transmitting it through the system of her infant. She imagines that this gives her stimulus and strength. But in this she sins from ignorance. As the child grows, his appetite grows perverted, and he will desire still stronger stimulus such as tobacco and cigars. Let mothers study the physiology of themselves and their children that they may know how to feed them so as to give them regular appetites. Woman has also done much to retard the cause of temperance by presenting the intoxicating cup to her guest. Not unfrequently does the first glass taken from the hands of woman destroy both body and soul forever. Home is said to be woman’s sphere; herein, at least, she should forbid the intoxicating cup to enter. Women, Christian women, as you hope for salvation, let not this guilt rest upon your souls!

“Woman has also retarded the cause of temperance by using intoxicating drinks for culinary purposes. Such an one voluntarily yields up her children to the Moloch of intemperance. Let no woman think this a littlematter. Let no woman think that because she occupies a high place in society the destroyer will pass her by. Such is not his course. He delights to cut down the high and noble and trample them beneath his iron hoofs.

“Another class who in my view greatly retard the cause of temperance principles are those who profess love for our cause and hope that it will triumph, but do nothing for it. They say we have men to attend to this work and that it is none of woman’s business. Deliver us from such dead weights on society and on the spirit of Progress! None of woman’s business, when she is subject to poverty and degradation and made an outcast from respectable society! None of woman’s business, when her starving, naked babes are compelled to suffer the horrors of the winter’s blast! None of woman’s business, when her children are stripped of their clothing and compelled to beg their bread from door to door! In the name of all that is sacred, what is woman’s business if this be no concern of hers? (Great applause.) None of woman’s business! What is woman? Is she a slave? Is she a mere toy? Is she formed, like a piece of fine porcelain, to be placed upon the shelf to be looked at? Is she a responsible being? or has she no soul? Alas, alas for the ignoranceand weakness of woman! Shame! Shame on woman when she refuses all elevating action and checks all high and holy aspirations for the good of others! (Applause.) Sisters, the liquor traffic does concern woman deeply; and it is her business to bring her influence to bear against it, both by private and public acts. Some mothers say it is as much as they can do to look after their own children without going to the trouble of looking after children of their neighbors. If all mothers would do this and train up their own children in the right way, it would be all well. But such is not the case; and therefore are we to go out into the world and help reclaim the children of poverty and crime around us.

“Another obstacle to the progress of temperance principles is that women live in close companionship with drunken husbands. This may be a delicate point upon which to enter and many may object to mentioning it, but nevertheless the truth must be spoken. In my mind no greater sin is committed than by woman consenting to remain the wife of the drunkard, rearing children in poverty and wretchedness and thus transmitting his sins. A pure and virtuous woman tied to such a piece of corruption, and giving birth to childrenwho will grow up to be a curse to themselves and society! The drunkard knows that the gentle being is bound close to him and is literally his slave, and that she will remain with him be his conduct what it may. Thus are thousands surrounded by these gentle and loving creatures, when they are not worthy to have even a dog for a companion. (Applause.)

“And yet public sentiment and law bid woman to submit to this degradation and to kiss the hand that smites her to the ground. Let things be reversed—let man be made subject to these various insults—and how long would he suffer anger, hunger, cold and nakedness! How many times would he allow himself to be thus trampled upon! (Applause.) Not long—not long—I think! With his right arm would he free himself from such degrading bondage. (Applause.) But thanks to a few brave hearts, the idea of relief to woman has been broached to society. She has dared to stand forth and disown any earthly master. (Applause.) Woman must banish the drunkard from her society. Let her utterly refuse to be the companion of a drunkard, or the man who puts the intoxicating cup to his lips, and we shall see a new order of society.

“Woman must declare an unceasing war tothis great foe, at all times and upon every occasion that presents itself. She must not wait for man to help her; this is her business as much as his. Let her show to the world that she possesses somewhat of the spirit and the blood of the daughters of the Revolution! Such thoughts as these may be thought unladylike; but if they are so, they are not unwomanly. (Applause.)

“Mrs. Bloomer then made a brief argument in favor of the Maine Law, and concluded her remarks amid long continued applause.

“It will be seen that Mrs. Bloomer’s address was almost entirely confined to women, and marked out an entirely new field in temperance thought; and it therefore attracted not a little attention.”

The meeting in New York city did not end the work of the three ladies in the Temperance cause during the winter. They made a tour of the state, holding meetings in Brooklyn, Poughkeepsie, Sing Sing, Hudson, Troy, Cohoes, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Lockport, Buffalo, and other places along the Hudson River and the line of the Central Railroad. They were everywhere received by greatcrowds of people anxious to see the now famous speakers and listen to their words. It was a new thing for women to speak in public; and no doubt the fashion of the dresses worn by Mrs. Bloomer and Miss Anthony had something to do with calling out the people to their meetings.

Mrs. Bloomer described the closing meeting of the series at Buffalo as follows:

“Townsend Hall was crowded at an early hour by the curious and interested portions of the community, who came together to see the women who had made themselves notorious by their boldness in daring to face a city audience, and to listen to the strange and ‘funny things’ they might utter on the worn and rather unpopular subject of temperance. The capacity of the hall is said to be sufficient to seat 1,000. Every spot where a standing place could be had was occupied, and very many went away unable to gain admittance. Steps were immediately taken by some friends here to secure a hall for another meeting the next evening. Townsend Hall and American Hall were both engaged,and the Eagle-Street Theatre was secured; and last night, for the first time in many years, I attended a ‘theatre’ not as a looker-on but as an actor in the play. I don’t know the capacity of the theatre but it was estimated that fully 1,200 persons were present, the body of the house and lower gallery being densely filled, while many occupied the lower gallery and the rostrum. Seldom I think is a theatre put to better use, and pity it is that all its performances and performers are not as truthful and earnest in laboring for the good of humanity. The audience appeared interested, and was for the most part quiet and attentive.“We received calls from a large number of ladies of the city who were interested in our movement, and we hear from all the same expression of feeling and that is: ‘We must have the Maine law; what can we do to obtain this law?’ I find there is a strong woman’s-rights sentiment prevailing on the subject among those whom I have met here. All feel that the only way in which women can do anything effectually in this cause is through the ballot-box, and they feel themselves fettered by being denied the right to thus speak their sentiments in a manner that could not be misunderstood. If voters would but all do their duty,all would be well and we should soon have a prohibitory liquor-law; and methinks that if voters who claim to be temperance men could hear all comments made by women upon their actions, and see themselves in the light that women see them, they would blush and hang their heads in shame at their treachery and inefficiency.”

“We received calls from a large number of ladies of the city who were interested in our movement, and we hear from all the same expression of feeling and that is: ‘We must have the Maine law; what can we do to obtain this law?’ I find there is a strong woman’s-rights sentiment prevailing on the subject among those whom I have met here. All feel that the only way in which women can do anything effectually in this cause is through the ballot-box, and they feel themselves fettered by being denied the right to thus speak their sentiments in a manner that could not be misunderstood. If voters would but all do their duty,all would be well and we should soon have a prohibitory liquor-law; and methinks that if voters who claim to be temperance men could hear all comments made by women upon their actions, and see themselves in the light that women see them, they would blush and hang their heads in shame at their treachery and inefficiency.”

On returning home from one of her tours, Mrs. Bloomer wrote as follows:

“After an absence of two weeks, we again find ourselves in our own loved home, where we meet with a hearty welcome. Most forcibly do the words of the poet come before our mind as we enter our quiet sanctum, and from the depths of our heart we endorse them: ‘Home, sweet home! be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.’“During the two weeks spent in jaunting through some of the cities and villages of the beautiful Hudson, we have seen much of the grand and beautiful in nature and made the acquaintance of some of the choice spirits of that section of the state. It has been a relaxation from cares we much needed, and we trust willprove time profitably spent both to us and to those who listened to the message we bore them.”

“During the two weeks spent in jaunting through some of the cities and villages of the beautiful Hudson, we have seen much of the grand and beautiful in nature and made the acquaintance of some of the choice spirits of that section of the state. It has been a relaxation from cares we much needed, and we trust willprove time profitably spent both to us and to those who listened to the message we bore them.”

The editor of the UticaTelegraphhaving charged Mrs. Bloomer with “hating the men,” she replied to the insinuation as follows:

“Bless your soul, Mr.Telegraph! we dearly love them all—except rumsellers and those editors who patronize and sustain them in their ruin-and-death-dealing business. Hate the men? Why, such an idea never entered our head and we are sure our tongue never gave expression to such a thought! You must have had a curtain lecture before going to the meeting that night, Mr.Telegraph, which soured your feelings toward all womankind so that you saw through green glasses and heard through a cracked ear-tube; or else you must be a devotee to the wine cup, and are frightened lest the women are going to adopt some measure to make it unlawful and disreputable for you to gratify your low appetite. Oh, dear! how people are worried about our domestic relations. How much sympathy our ‘bigger half’ receives because of his sore domestictroubles! Strange that theTelegraphforgot to speak of our ‘five neglected children’! They have met with great sympathy from many people, but are entirely overlooked by this student of the ‘Natural Sciences.’ We do wish those editors who are so much interested in our domestic affairs would appoint a committee to investigate the matter and devise some plan of relief for our poor suffering husband and ‘five children.’ Ha, ha! we should like to see the workings of our ‘gude man’s’ face as they offered words of condolence and sympathy, and hear the kind and unruffled tones in which he would thank them for their tender solicitude and politely bid them return and bestow equal care on their own domestic relations.”

Up to 1852-3 women were excluded from the several temperance secret fraternities which had come into existence, such as the “Sons of Temperance” and similar societies. To give to women a chance to work for the cause in the same way the order of the “Daughters of Temperance” was organized, but Mrs. Bloomer persistently refused to connectherself with them for the reason that she believed that women and men should be admitted to all such societies on a footing of perfect equality. The church opened its doors to both alike; so she insisted the secret societies should do the same. But in the latter part of 1852, the order of “Good Templars” was organized in Onondaga County, and soon spread out over the adjacent counties. It admitted women to membership and to all offices on an entire equality with men. Mrs. Bloomer was greatly pleased with the idea, and when a lodge of the new order was established in the village she soon became an active member, took great interest in its work, and held various positions in the lodge. She believed that it furnished an opening for women’s work in the Temperance cause which should not be neglected. In a notice of this new temperance organization, in the July number of theLily, Mrs. Bloomer says:

“Of course, to those who believe that women should not work together with the men in the Temperance Cause this organization presents insuperable objections. No manwho is not willing to admit woman to entire equality with himself in labors, duties, honors and offices, who is not willing that her vote should be deposited with his in the same ballot-box, and her voice be raised with his on all questions relating to its affairs, need apply for membership in this order. But the number of such men is small, indeed, and is daily growing beautifully less. It has long been the desire of many Sons of Temperance to admit women into their doors, and the recent omission of the National Division of that order to comply with that desire has sadly disappointed many of its best members. But what the Sons of Temperance have refused to do, the Good Templars amply provided for, and this feature we believe to be one of its chief excellencies, and which more than any other will commend the order to the hearty approval of the high-minded and right-thinking portion of the temperance community.”

The first State gathering of the new order was held in Ithaca, in June, 1853. Mrs. Bloomer was appointed a delegate to it from her local lodge, along with her husband, and when the state grand-lodge was organized shewas admitted to that, also. A Rev. Mr. Wilson had been engaged to deliver the address, but he failed to attend. Mrs. Bloomer described the result as follows:

“They then selected me to take his place. On the morning of the public demonstration, an unthought-of trouble arose. The church which had been engaged to Mr. Bristol was now refused to a woman. Its trustees would not open it for a woman to speak in. This caused a great excitement among the men. They gathered in the lodge-room to consider the situation. They were puzzled to know what to do. They would not give up their speaker. There was talk of going to a grove, but it was too far; talk of speaking in the street, but there was no shade; and the lodge-room was not large enough. Finally the Baptists came to their relief and offered their church, and I did the talking to the immense throng who gathered there.”

At the time of the above occurrence it was a new thing indeed for women to appear in public, and especially to stand in the pulpit todeliver their thoughts. All this is now greatly changed. Mrs. Bloomer in writing on this subject in subsequent years says:

“The pulpit was sacred ground, that no woman’s foot must profane. One minister in Syracuse preached a sermon against us and had it printed in pamphlet form. These he sent out by hundreds to ministers of his church throughout the state for them to scatter among the women of their congregations, hoping to head off this new movement of women. Whether these determined opponents of other days who meant to crush the women’s movement in the bud ever became reconciled to the part she has since played in the world’s doings, I don’t know. Some of them, and probably all, have passed to their account where they have learned that God’s ways are not man’s ways. I suppose that we cannot greatly blame them when we remember that, up to that time, the world had been educated to believe woman an inferior creation; that she had been placed by her Creator in an inferior and subordinate position; and that St. Paul’s injunction to the uneducated women of his day to keep silence in the churches was intended for the women ofall time, included public halls as well as churches, and political, social, temperance and all other subjects as well as the gospel of Christ, of which women were to know nothing except what they learned from their husbands at home. We find a very different state of things in these days, when the clergy everywhere are ready to listen to women—nay, to welcome and invite them to their desks; and even dismiss their own services that the women may be heard. They must have learned a new gospel, or a new interpretation of the old one. In those early days, ministers before hearing us would refuse to open our meetings with prayer—feeling, I suppose, that we had gotten too far out of our sphere to be benefited by their prayers. Now, they hesitate not to lend us all the aid in their power. There may be here and there one who turns the cold shoulder, but the cause is too far advanced to be affected by anything such can bring against it.”

In May, 1853, the annual meeting of the Woman’s State-Temperance Society convened in the city of Rochester. It was verylargely attended by many of the prominent Temperance workers in the state. Mrs. Bloomer was present and took an active part in the proceedings. At the convention, the question of admitting men as members came up and excited a great deal of interest. It was agreed that, as both sexes were equally interested in the work, they should all bear an equal responsibility in guiding the doings and sharing in the labor of the society. Those who took this view insisted that it should be placed on the broad grounds of equal rights and equal duties for all. Others thought the time had not yet come for so radical a change in the constitution, but preferred that it should continue to be an exclusively feminine organization. Mrs. Bloomer took this view and so the majority decided, with the result that Mrs. Stanton declined a reëlection as president and Miss Anthony also declined a reëlection as secretary.

In their places, Mrs. Mary C. Vaughan was elected president; Mrs. Angelina Fish, secretary; Mrs. Albro, chairman of the executivecommittee, and Mrs. Bloomer corresponding secretary. These ladies continued the work of the society with great zeal and fidelity. It kept its lecturers in the field and continued to labor earnestly in promoting its temperance work. Mrs. Bloomer’s connection with it ended with her removal from the state at the end of the year. She always exceedingly regretted that this divergence of views occurred between her and Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony, but their old-time friendship continued on as of old and Mrs. Stanton continued her interesting contributions to the columns of theLily.

The proceedings of this convention, as also of the Good-Templars meeting at Ithaca, were printed as a double number of theLilysoon after the adjournment of these bodies. Many extra copies were also printed, for which there was a very active demand. Mrs. Bloomer insisted that the work of the Woman’s Temperance Society should go on vigorously, as in the preceding years, and she exerted all her influence to that end as one of its officers.She however did not long remain a resident of New York, and after leaving the state she was no longer responsible for the work. The zeal of some of the workers may have become cold, or rather (which seems to have been the fact) was turned into other channels. Mrs. Bloomer always looked upon her connection with the society as one of the most useful and interesting events of her life.

After the close of the convention Mrs. Bloomer visited Niagara Falls for the first time, accompanied by her husband, spending a couple of days of much needed rest and recreation. While there they looked over nearly all the most noted points, including a visit to Termination Rock under the mighty cataract itself, passing on their way under Table Rock, which has since disappeared.

Of one of her lecturing tours, Mrs. Bloomer gives the following report:

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