The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-04-21
LETTER PROM MRS. LouaBARY.

To THE EDITOR OF THE NEW NORTHWEST:
For two weeks past, have been so
busily engaged in looking up, working
up, and talking up the interest in the
woman's cause, that correspondence,
except of a business nature, bas been
omitted. You can travel, do business,
visit, and write all at the same time;
but 1 am not yet schooled into doing
more than one thing at time, and per-
haps never will be.
But now, after brief rest at home,
will pick up the thread of correspond
ence, dropped by you where we parted,
you to spend few days in Salem, and
to go on to Albany, in response to an
invitation from the Linn County w. S.
Association. This place reached at
midnight, and was escorted to the very
popular st. Charles hotel, which, by the
way, 1 can most cheerfully recommend
to those who are fortunate enough to
visit the liUe town of the Willamette
Valley
The following morning dawned beau
tifully; everything had assumed a
lively business aspect, as l appeared for
the first time on the streets of Albany.
had not ventured far until 1 noticed
on various corners bills which had been
posted prior to my coming, announcing
an address that evening at the Court
house from the president of the State
Woman Suffrage Association" which
reminded me that had something more
to do than to stroll about sightseeing.
My headquarters during the brief stay
in the city had been fixed at the cozy
little home of Mrs. DR.. Crawford, a real
woman who knows how to make stran-
gers feel at ease and welcome there.
The lecture in the evening to a very
good audience, was on "Reasons why
woman should have the ballot" At
the close, the Association tarried to take
into consideration some work of i'm
portance. On the following morning I
called on numerous friends of the cause.
Many of the most ardent and faithful
workers that have found are here. I
feel that it will be almost unjust to par
ticularize, but still cannot forbear to
mention the name of Mrs. DR.. Nichols,
a late graduate of a Boston medical
school, a woman of no ordinary ability,
who has stemmed the current of public
opinion aud fought inch by inch for the
position which she so honorably fills.
1t is burning shame that until within
a very few years woman has been de-
barred from the practice of that profess
sion to which she is so specially adapted,
and which so many women desire to
fill. Could 1 have been admitted to a
medical school ten or fifteen years ago,
as was my great and one desire, could
feel to-day that I was a benefactor of
my sex, besides being in possession of a
competency, Instead of travelling at my
own expense for the unsolicited yet
very desirable business of elevating
woman to that plane of usefulness that
I so much desired to reach while life
was yet comparatively before me. How
long, oh how long, must women en-
dure all this? While 1 am uttering
these feelings of disappointment, some
thing whispers-yea, speaks aloud, "The
time is coming, yea, is even at the door,
when our daughters will step upon that
equal plane that has been denied to us. -
Addressed a very respectable and ap-
! preciative audience on the second even
ing on some of the practical features of
orr organized work. Owing to the very
extensive preparation that was being
made for the "Old Folks Centennial
Exhibition" many were detained in
other places. Thursday mornings train
took me to Salem, where the evening
and following morning was given to
some special work in the Marion County
Association. In the afternoon took the
stage for Dallas and in due time brought
up at the only hotel in the place, cold,
tired, and hungry, to be informed that
they "were full" The Democratic
County Convention was in full blast.
Therefore every available place was in
demand; so the woman asking shelter
was told to "look up friends" so as to
leave more room for the protectors" of
womankind. Truth to tell, was in no
mood to ''look up friends" nor to enjoy
their society when found, but 1 have
already learned to submit to the trials
of an itinerant lecturer with toIerable
composure.
All that l could do the following day
was to wait for the adjournment of the
Convention, canvass for the woman's
paper, and secure place to speak when
the political cauldron had ceased to
bubble and sputter. I was informed
that it would not be very agreeable for
me to speak in the Court-hou yet it
is very agreeable for myself and hus-
band to pay our yearly taxes to keep
the house and the county officials in
running order. But as I have always
been law-abiding citizen, 1 yielded
without a word, and finally secured the
Baptist Church too late for an adver-
tisement that day. But patience and
perseverance will often adjust what
nothing else will. The Sabbath came,
the day of rest, and was glad to forget
bo o,1 10 20 slo i