Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-11-25

ates of the high school which, both in man
ner of delivery and originality of ideas would
compare favorably with some of our most
popular public speakers, without being i'm
pressed with the conviction that there must
ere long be an outlet for the practical exercise
of those intellectual powers. That hour is
fast approaching. Its advent is heralded by
the startling events of the last two years
which have carried us forward half century.
If it was only Il question of expediency be-
fore, it is a question Of conscience now, how
far we may be relieved of the responsibility
which incurs such fearful results, the burden
and sorrow of which fall equally heavy on wO-
man, while her cheerful sacrifices and heroic
self-denial prove her to be inspired with the
highest patriotism.
1t is said why should you not pay taxes as
well as others? Certainly l should, but their
contentment with paying them does not Satisfy
me with its justice.
| have never encouraged any one to refuse,
and never shall, regarding it as no light mat
ter to resist the time honored pretensions of
the law, a step in which no one would be jus
tilted in doing who has not investigated it in
all its bearings and counted the cost. know
the dissatisfaction existing in many minds
with Mr.. Wheelers long forbearance, but it
needs not the gift of prophecy to venture the
assertion that twenty years hence, when every
woman shall be admitted to the rights of citi-
zenship, and every Massachusetts man will
blush that he ever opposed it, it will be re-
| garded as one of the most honorable acts Of
his public career.
Now that he is issuing his writs thick and
! fast around me, demand his authority for
so doing. Behind ordinances and statutes
| there is a higher tribunal to which have the
right of appeal. What right has he to issue
against me writ summoning me to appear
before Charles A. HolbroOk at nine o'clock
on Saturday next to answer to him in an ac-
ton of contract with the city of Worcester
which | never made, because never had the
privilege? Or if he regards it in the light of
dollars and cents, which do not, owe moth
ing to the city of Worcester, so that on NOR
al as well as constitutional grounds it is equal
ly illegal If for the petty sum of dollar
and half, or two dollars a year | sur
render unto it all the rights and privileges
| should enjoy as voter, she may well af-
ford to protect me and my property. Let
him keep on sending them, if he wishes
they do not terrify me. The principle that
lies beyond he cannot touch. That will live
when we shall be numbered with the dead,
and our names shall be obliterated from the
memory of mankind. Let him take a thou
sand dollars, if he wishes, for he has Just as
much right as to take hundred; it shall re-
main forever as a standing trophy of the
genius of republican institutions. 1t is to
you, legal voters of the city-you, who, rath-
er than surrender the sacred right Of suffrage,
would see our beautiful streets bathed in
crimson gore-that now appeal. There is
no doubt what your verdict would be, intelli-
gently and conscientiously given, not even
exempting the city treasurer himself, if unfet-
tered by the trammels of war.
At one session of our legislature, those
high dignitaries that compose it, on one dav
voted against admitting woman to the quiet
and orderly exercise of the ballot; and on the
next, applauded that heroic act of those noble
women of Concord, who by physical force
defended Frank B. Sanborn from the hands of
lawless marauders. 1t was a tribute to the
unerring instincts of the soul, which for the
moment outweighed the conservative tenden-
cies of the legislator. 1t is to that instinct
surrender this cause.
There come moments to individuals, as
well as nations, when property and all its ac-
compartments, every item Of worldly consid-
Grafton, vanishes in the presence of that great
hereafter for which this life was created :;
when the transient interests of the present are
merged into the glorious future which with Il
prophets eye opens before us. Such is the
crisis through which this nation is now pass
ing, such is the inspiration which prompts for
ward our brave young heroes to face danger
and death on the battle field. If, without
seeming arrogant, the humble individual who
now addresses you may lay claim to such an
Junction. such is the spirit that animates me to-
day. Take my property if you want it, this
year and next-I patiently wait the issue-but
never, until this hand is paralyzed and this
spirit returns to Him who gave it, will cease
to protest against the uurighteous act in the
name of woman, who for ages long has in adj
dition to other wrongs, suffered from a
crampcd, dwarfed intellect; in the name OF
humanity, which, when the flames of civil
war are bursting around us, summons to the
rescue the energies of all, not only of the
hands but of the heart, male and female,
white and black in the name of God, who
created the human soul and babe it range the
infinite, alone possessing the power to limit
its capacities, and who, when its wanderings
on this earth shall have ceased, will take it
home to rest in the bosom of his tender love,
after rendering an account of its stewardship.
SARAH E. WALL.
Worcester, Nov. %.