The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1877-03-08
Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

/
town. New York-forty miles north ol
| Albany
Elizaheths birthplace was famous half
a century ago; though small. it was a
marked intellectual center. 1t was the
vice ducal seat OF Sir William Johnson.
the famous negotiator with the Indians.
During her girlhOod, il was an arena for
the intellectual wrestlinEs OF Kent. TOmp.
kins, Spencer. Elisha Williams and Abra-
ham Van Vechten. who as lawyers, were
among the chieiest OF their time. IL is
/ now devoted mainly to the fabrication OF
steel springs and buckskin gloves. So,
| like Wordsworth's early star, 1T has fad
ed into the light Of common day"
A yankee said that his chief ambition
was to become more famous than his ma
| live town. Mrs Stanton has lived TO see
her historic birthplace sink into a mere
lncal repute, while she herself has Ma
tional fame
Tie one person who, more than any
other, gave an intellectual bent to her
early life, even more than her father aud
mother. was her minister. This was the
R~v. Simon Hosack-a good old Scotch
MAJ. pastor for iorty years Of a Presby.
terian Church in which the Cady family
nad always been members, and OF which
Mrs Stanton (though she has long resid
I'd elsewhsre) is a member to this very
lay The venerable Scotch parson-
-nowy- haired, heavy browed and boDy-
cheeked-was generally cold to most of
mis- parishioners, but always cordial to
Elizabeth. A great affection existed be
tween this shepherd and his lamb What
he could not say TO either father or mo
ther she uubosomed to him. Full of the
snri ows which all imaginative natures
uffrr keenly i'm childhood, she found ia
.nIs patriarch fatherly coniessor who
tenderly taught her how to bear her lit
IL burdens OF great weight, or. still bet
ter, how TO suffer them and be strong
The iavorte subject, both for reading
and talking, was rrligion-never the dark
tut always the bright side Of it. Indeed.
religion has no dark side. The iancied
shadow is not in the thing seen, but in
he eye seeing. Seeking TO fill the girls
mind with sunshine aud glory, her minis
'rr kept always painting, TO her young
fancy iair pictures OF paradise and happy
saints The childless old man, lathering
,hls soulful child, taught her that the
way to heaven was as lovely as a country
Dad liringrd with wild roses and arched
with summer blue.
",ly fatner,' she says in one Of her let
tiers, was truly great and goOd-an ideal
judge; aud TO hIs sober, taciturn, and
majestic bearing, he added the tender
ness, purity and refinement Of a true wo.
man My mother was the soul OF indr-
pendence and self reliance--cool in the
hour Of danger, aud never knowing fear.
She was inclined TO a stern military rule
Of the household queenly and magnl-
fcent sway; but my fathers great sense
of Justice, and the superior weight OF his
greater age (ior he was many years her
,enior). 80 modified the domestic govern
ment that the children had, in the main,
a pleasant childhood"
The child is not only father Of the
man, but also mother of the woman
This large Drained. inquisitive and ambi
tious girl, who early manifested a medi
tatIve tendency, soon found her whole
nature sensibly Jared with the first in
ward and prophetic strings toward the
great problem to which she has devoted
her alter years-the elevation and en-
franchisement OF woman.
"In my earliest childhood" she says
spent much time in my fathers office
There, before | could understand much
OF the talk OF the older people. | heUd
many sad complaints, made by women,
OF the Injustice of the laws. We lived
in a Scotch neighborhood, where many
OF the men still retained the old ieudal
IDEAS Of women and property Thus. al
| a man death his property would descend
to his eldest son, and the mother would
/ be left with nothing in her own right IL
/ was not unusual, therefore, tor the moth
/ er, who had probably brought all the
property into the family. to be made an
! unhappy dependent on the bounty of
/ dissipated son. The tears and complaints
/ Of 4 urnU ~ A IN taf s4F
for legal advice, touched my heiat; aud
would often childishly inquire INTO the
| particulars of their sorrow, and would
appeal to my father for some prompt
| remedy On one occasion he took down
| a law book and tried to show me that
something called the laws prevented
him from putting u stop to these cruel
and Just things. In this way, my head
was filled with a great anger against
those cruel and atrocious laws. After
which the students in the Office to amuse
themselves by exciting my feelings, would
always tell me OF any unjust laws which
they found during their studies. My
mind was thus so aroused against the
barbarism OF the laws thus pointed out,
that | one day marked them with pen
Gil, and decided to take pair OF scissors
and cut them out of the bOok-supposing
l luab my ldAhel anu MS AAOi@ig WIZ 'hS
beginning and end OF the law! l thought
that if | could only destroy those laws,
those poor woman would have no iurth
er trouble. But when the students in
formed my father OF my proposed mutt
latlon OF his volumes, he explained tC
me how iruitless my childish vengeance
would have been, and taught me the
bad laws were to be abolished in quite a
different way. As soon as i fairly under
stood how the thing could be accomplish
ed, | vowed that, when became old
enough, ! would have such abominabl,
laws changed. Aud have kept III!
vow"
Alter the failure of Elizaheth's uoYe