Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1876-11-08
Mrs. LivermOre at BrattlebOrO.

Mrs. Livermore spoke at Brattleboro
the evening after she spoke here, and the
reporter of the Phenir thus writes of her
lecture:
Mrs. Mary \. Livcrmore opened andc7os
ed the regular course of entertainments
before our Citizens Lyceum on Thursday
evening. Oct. Goth. The interest in the
course and the inaugural lecture was man
lfested by IN attendance of about 24O peO-
pie. The audienc was excellent in mate
rial, but shamefully small, considering the
occasion and the we'll understood merits
and abilities of the speaker. AS the lee
ture announced. "Superf1uous Women"
had been substantially given here two
years since, Mrs. Livermore took the lib
erty to introduce instead 4 fresh discourse,
entitled "Concerning Husbands" No
one could possibly take exception to the
change. The essay was 4 spirited, preg-
nant and eloquent review Of the marital
relation from prehistoric times up to the
present day. 1t evinced deep research.
profound study, "A practical knowledge of
human nature and the influences that have
moulded it in all ages, and 4 tender. pure
solicitude for the best welfare of both
sexes. While it threw out in bold relief
the wrong done to woman in the past, it
recognized with earnest pathos the noble
qualities Of the men of to-day, giving the
palm for gallantry, dignity, chivalry and
all the grandcr qualities of manhood to
American men. From a woman's stand
point-from any w%ell-balanced standpoint.
indeed, the lecture must be pronounced
utterly free from glaring and high-colored
cxAggerationS. 1t was a strong, tervcnt.
argumentative plea for the sweetest and
truest development and education of both
sexes in their mutual relations. In some
passages 1t was intensely interesting and
IN others thrllllnSly eloquent, and through
out, with rare exceptions, it riveted the
closest and most sympathetic attention of
the audience. Ii there was Il lack of APP
plause it was because the listeners in their
absorption forgot to make any outward
demonstration of tn il qualification or
hesitated to break the spell of the speak
er's unsteady vibrant voice. No words
can be eXtravagant in characterizing this
lecture rs an effort worthy any orator in
the laud.
f Ant yet there are newspaper writers,
as well rs those in other professions, who
possess in 4 most understandable degree
The unhappy faculty of calling white, black,
and rice rtrst. The critic of the Mont
pelier Journal, for instance, reviews this
l. lecture, which was delivered in Montpe-
+ lier the evening before we heard it here.
with such narrow-mindedness as is sell
dom exhibited in the columns of :: provin-
= cial paper. Compelled, with too evident
reluctance, to acknowledge Mrs. Liver
, more's merit and erulition, he does his
best 10 snub and belittle her oratorv and
intellectually in every line of his critique.
IIa say :: Iln lnnt ~. fnpnl nnnasj,r
bv inference ut least, to disavow all sym
p,thv with some of those loose doctrines
which the more advanced OF the sorosis so
boldly announced eight years since" The
facts are that Mrs. Livtrmore has always
d~isavowed these doctrines plainly and
without any differences, and that Sorosi>
never harborcd them for an instant. The
anlmu> of his aStute criticism may be
found in the concluding ~paragraph:-
The lecture was barren Of rhetoric
, and from Il man would not have been con
sidered 4 great success. We remember
. DIR. Johnson said that people focked TO
! hear a woman speak, not because she
; spoke we'll. but because she spoke at all
: Just a> they were surprised to see Il doc
i walk on two legs, not because he walked
better 50, but because he walked SO at
all"
This is the old masculine slur upon
. feminine cndeavor. 1t belongs to Il past
age Of superstition and bigotry. Woman
on the ro>trum has long since ceased to be
u novelty. She meets man Oh terms OF
equality upon his own ground and PEG
I PIE 90 to hear her because they believe
or know, as in Mrs. ~Livcrmore's case, thai
She has something pertinent to say and
will say it pertinently and we'll.
MEI;CUTIO.