The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-11-14
Ane women's Convention.

choose to style themselves, thu
Association for the Advance
ment of Women" 1t is probable
that never in this country hal
there been convened an assem-
blage of women representing sc
much OF intellectual culture anC
native talent as this one now il
session at the corner of Twenty
sixth street and Madison avenue
In proof of this it is only neces
sary to mention a few of the
names present, all of whom have
a national and some Of them a
worldwide reputation. Among
these may be noted DR.. A. G.
Alvey, Miss Minnie Swayze and
Prot. Maria Mitchell, all of Vas.
sar College I; Revs. Mrs. Hanna.
ford, Bristol and Blackwell Mrs
Cady Stanton; Phebe Cozzens
counsellor at law; DR.. Black
well, Of this city; Rev. Celia
Burleigh, of Brooklyn, Conn;
DR.. H. N. Cutler, of Cincinnati
Isabella Beecher Hooker, DR.. Fl,
NJ. Jacobs, of New York, and
very many others. The papers
submitted thus far have been of a
very high order. These ladies
differ from the sufrage-seekers
pure and simple in this. that
they believe if they CEN elevate
the moral and intellectual condi-
ton OF women-if they can in
troduea her to the pulpit and the
Bar and the professors chair
she will take the ballot as a mat
ter OF course by simply reaching
out for it. The Others believe
that if they can get the ballot,
the Introduction to the pulpit
and the bar, aud the chair of the
professor, will follow as a matter
Of course. Thus each faction is
striving for the same ends, but
by different means. The audi
ence yesterday morning was
composed exclusively of ladies,
not single man being present
at the commencement of the pro-
ceedings. The door upon the
previous day was guarded bv
policeman, and no memh~ a
sterner sex was allo~ ,er OF Tie
but this prohlh; wed TO enter !;
was not r. Luton, which really
at tb~ tended, was taken Oft
- e close of the session, and
NE president said that, while the
association did not invite the
presence of men, they would not
refuse them admittance. But
there were no men present, nor
was there any room for them,
the hall being filled to the ut
most capacity by the women.
The first paper read was by
Augusta Cooper Bristol upon
enlightened Motherhood" This
subject, which appealed SO near
~ to the personal sympathies OF
the audience, was listened to
with the deepest attention, and
frequently interrupted by the
most hearty applause. The ba-
by, she said, was the savior of
the mother it educated her
while she supported it. Men
put their love and science into
the soil, but it is the prerogative
of woman alone to put her love
and science into blood and into
being.
Mrs. F. G. Lowering, of Concord,
n. H, read a paper upon the
subject. But few mothers, she
thought, informed themselves of
the laws of health which should
govern them during the period
of pregnancy. No child should
be brought into the world which
was not the product of perfect
love; the damage to the race
from the birth of children, the
product of an overburdened and
unwilling motherhood, or of an
exhausted vitality on the part of
either of the parents, was meal
culable. Many of the evils that
occur during the early training
of the children would be avoid
ed by q more enlightened mother
hood.
This subject was further dis
cussed by Mrs. Elizabeth
Churchill, Of Rhode Island, and
Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
The latter lady said that men
did not come into the world like
blank pieces of paper on which
anything could be stamped. On
the contrary, the character of
the child was given to it before
birth. She had often thought,
when inspecting the different
charitable asylums, what should
we say of an artist who should
spend all day in filling a gallery
full of miserable daubs or misera-
bic pieces of statuary; yet we
have been filling the world with
men and women with crooked
legs and crooked brains, and
everything crooked about them
altogether. II want to have wo-
men," she said, "think on these
things. They must not take the
teaching of men that have taught
women that their whole duty
was to multiply and replenish
the earth. This was a mistake !;
we have too many children al
ready. 1t is in vain that Bishop
Cox Hopkins talks from the pull
pit aginst the crime of intan-
ticide -; there are laws deeper
down than anything we know.
Every woman knows we are
bringing into the world moral
monstrosities. When physical
monstrosiues are born the
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