Litchfield enquirer., 1872-01-11
WoicottvillS.

THE WOMAN SUFFRAGE CONVENTION On Monday Evening ! Woman Suffrage Convention was held at the Town Hall under the auspices of the State Associa- ton. The room was crowded to overflow ling; the doorway and aisles were crammed
 and consequently considerable noise and ! confusion were unavoidable for it must be super-humanly patient crowd who
 can stand quietly during three hour dis tcussion Mrs. Walter Hungerford, of I this place, was president of the meeting,
 and an excellent presiding officer shemade. The first speaker was Mrs. Sarah E. Strickland, of Vineland, N. J. This lady's voice was weak, she was not much aecus- toned to public speaking, and consequent ly the manner of her address hardly did justice to it's matter. Her theme was the
 necessity of giving woman something bet ter than dress, display aud matchmaking, for hfe-business. She pictured MT. Horace Greeley in such sphere, giving his time to the. accomplishments, the po- htenesses and the frivolities offashionable life, and devoting his whole mind to the business of pleasing the opposite sex with view to matrimonial connection. It is doubtful whether the editor of the Fri bune would have been success in such a sphere; and Mrs. Strickland presented. with much force the injustice of his at-
 tempting to force others to lead an exis-
 tence for which many of them are fully as unfit by nature as himself.
 Mrs. Strickland was followed by MT. G. A. Hickox, of Litchfeld. Miss F. E.. Burr, of Hartford, ssc'y of the State As sociation, then read an address calling on women to arouse themselves to independ- ence of thought and action, entreating them to think for themselves rather than to allow men to think for them MT. FL more Sharp, of Norwich, N. Y, followed with written address on the educational uses of the ballot, closing with extempore remarks on the same subject. s
 The speech of the evening, however, was delivered by the Rev. Olympia Brown of Bridgeport. She commenced with statement regarding Mrs. Woodruff simi- lar to that embodied in a letter to the Bridgeport Farmer copied by us short time since. She showed conclusively that the prominence given that person of late was not owing to any recognition of her leadership by any Woman Suffrage As sociation. of none of which was she even a member, but from the action of Congress and of that portion of the press opposed to the movement. She said that Congress had granted her favor denied to every other woman sufragist in giving her hearing before the House Judiciary Con- mittee, and that the press had been busy giving her an undue prominence with the sole view of bringing discredit upon those of pure life and unblemished character who advocated the reform. Miss Brown then spoke of the great necessity of the purifying influence of woman in politics She referred to the prevalence, unchecked, of intemperance, of unchastity, and of kindred gross vices, because the present body of electors viewed them with indif- ference or with secret favor. The speaker also made an extremely good point against the ladies who opposed the suffrage on the ground of the publicity to which it might expose them, yet some- hoy permitted, their names with all their titles (derived from their husbands) at- tached to get into the papers. .. {. Our space will not permit us to do any sort of justice to the many telling argu- ments, home thrusts, and shrewd hits of Miss Browns speech. She was listened to with unvarying attention and frequent applause throughout. Whatever may be the natural sphere of most women, it is evident to all who have ever heard Miss Brown speak, that dependence could nev- CT be hers. A more self-reliant, shrewd, hard hitting disputant never appeared on platform.
 After the speaking was over several la- dies and gentlemen came forward and signed the woman suffrage petition.
 A blacksmith shop, owned by Harry Wells and occupied by John Healy, was burned, Tuesday night, Jan. 2d; boss $1 ,000; no insurance.
 Wadhams' Hall, now the property of MT. A. F. Migeon, was dedicated Christmas week by ball which was grand suc-
 cess from all accounts. --s....
 An Episcopal Sunday School festival
 was held on the evening of Friday last.
 The Hibernians disported themselves all New Years night. ... -Gen. E. M. Lee, late of Wyoming Ter, lectures. on his cavalry experiences, tonight.
 - The Masonic reception of Jan. ?, at Wadhams' Hall, followed by supper and
 ball at the Allen House, was greatly en-
 joyed by the crafty crowd assembled thereat 2 s1tt Cornwall.