The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1884-03-08
Notes from Washington.
Woman Suffragists-NOfes Concerning
Their Convention Description Of Some
of the More Noted Members.

Their Convention Description Of Some
of the More Noted Members.
Special Correspondence of the Press.l
WASHINGTON, Mar. 7.
The woman suffragists who have been In
session at Lincoln Hall this week are not the
short-haired, strong-minded looking lot Of
women, and long-haired weak-minded look
inS lot of men that is generally supposed. The
women do use some very strong statements,
and the msn some very weak ones but as a
class they size up about as well, as far as mem
bers go, as any Washington gathering that
you find. The more prominent members of
the association occupied places on the front Of
the stage during the sessions, ard there was
abundant opportunity to study them. Miss
Anthony was the central figure. She as the
presiding officer occupies an easy chair well at
tue front of the stage, while the sisters who
occupy subordinate positions sit modestly
back, Susan does not pres 1e with very much
dignity or with the grace for which her sex is
noted. She is tall and angular and thin, her
gold-rimmed specs are awry, she sits twisting
and uneasy iD her chair, which is very large
aud she very thin. She wears her bonnet snd
shawl in the chair, and the aspect of presid-
ing officer thus attired does not impress one
With Inc DrOtOunQokt reverence. lb l6 ike
she" president presiding in an cvercoat and
hat. 1t must be rather painful, however, to
ba president OF a woman suffrage association.
The ladies are proverbiAlly modest, and to sit
the cynosnre of ell eyes and to have some
well-me aning but inexperienced sister strike
an attitude in the middle OF a speech and
point to the presiding officer and in tragic
tones Call attention to her as the grandest
woman Of the nineteenth century, must be
rather embarrassing to an aged female on
high platform. After all, however, Miss An-
thony is highly regarded by those who know
her best 1t is really touching to see the affec-
tion and almost veneratiOn with which these
women who are battling for equal rights under
her leadership regard her. Her word Is law
among them and no leader was ever served
with better or more willing obedience. So
cially and intellectually she is a woman OF
many charms Intelligent on all the topics
of the day. well read, and accustomed to the
sound OF her own voice, she makes q friend of
every one she meets. She appears upon the
platform in well-ftting and well-made black
dress with ruf1as at the sleeves and band
OF lace at the throat, an old-fashioned gold
breast-pin, gold chain, gold eyeglasses and
csmels' hair shawl in quiet colors, and bon
net more striking for the value of the mate
rials T. an for any striking display. She is a
good talker on the platform as we'll as of, but
as presiding officer is obliged to turn most OF
her remarks into exhortations TO come forward
and subscribe for woman's rights papers, books
and magazines, or some other begging scheme,
which especially initiates against her popu-
larity as platform speaker.
Perhaps the most noticeable popularity In
the appearance of these women, while study
ing the group upon the stage Is the absence OF
bangs. Oat of thirty or forty women who con-
gregate upon the stage daily, only about
three or four are provided with that universal
appendage of femininity bangs. Whether their
presence is regarded by the stroug-minded as
an evidence of weakness or whether, as was
suggested by lady at one of the meetings,
they are too old 10 wear them, Is uncertain, at
least they do not wear them. They are not,
however, as class "old." The average age
of the average woman suffragSt is perhaps
forty or forty-five and of course nobody will
say that is old. Miss Anthony is probably
somewhat beyond that and there are half
dozen in the stage group whose heads are like
March snow storms which have visited WASH
ington during their presence, yet it is not in all
Cases age which has brought these white hairs.
Helen M. Cougar of Indiana, for instance, has
grown within the past year from young look
Ing and handsome woman to one with white
hairs, but a face still fresh and rosy. Miss
Cougar, who has spent almost the entire year
in a fight against her traducers in La Fayette
was almost unrecognized bv her friends by rsa-
SOD OF this change, her hair having throu ugh
the troubles and mental labors of the year
turned from brown to gray. One-fourth of the
year has been spent in the courtroom prosecu-
ting her slandertrs. Another whose head Is
stronglv marked with grey is DIR. Clemena Lo-
zier of New York. she is short and fat and red
faced and wears her hair in high bunches at the
side and back of her head SGT off with short
black curls which drop down beside her full
round face. Her lar ,podgy 6gure,gray head and
fulLface make her an imposing figure in the
stage property on an occasion of this sort She
has great faculty for emp'ying the, hall and
is put up at the end of the meetings whether
with that object in view is not known.
Belva Lockwood ia an Interesting figure In
the group upon the stage, though her modesty
induces her to sit we'll back, aud only those IA
mliar with her horid face aud iron grew hair
would perhaps discover her presence. She
wears black dress, set off with lace, and her
iron grey hair set off with a black ribbon, and
conducts herself in a very ladylike manner.
She Is woman OF perhaps 40, with strongly
marked features, and face rather f1orid largely
so from much outdoor life upon her tricycle.
iron grey hair rather fluffy, aud which refuses
TO be held in subjection, except by a bandoline,
with moderately high forehead, a well de-
veloped hand and not very small foot; she
speaks well upon the platform, having had
much experience in court,
Abigail Scott DuDniway is a notable figure
In the group. She is editress of a woman suf-
fragist paper in Oregon, has been for thirteen
years, and has made good living at il too.
She is good, sharp, clear orator, and boasts OF
having lectured and grated on woman suffrage
and kindred topics more than 700 times in
the past decade. AS might be supposed she is
platform orator of more than ordinary at
rapidly, with a nervous gesticulation and ner-
vnus manner, aud an entire freedom from en-
barrassment.
L,lie Devereux Blake of New York who
spoke nearly every day during the session is
not good platform orator. Her speeches
sound as though they had been written and
committed to memory and her occasional
rests as though to remember what came next
are rather painful to the average auditor. Her
gestures are bad, her arguments weak and the
whole style OF her addresses more in the nature
of whine than a dignified demand for recog-
milton such as that made by others of the sis
terhood. She is not especially unhandsome
having good figure and face with regular
features, dark hair mixed with grey and be-
ing one of the few who affect bangs
Martha Mcclellan Brown of Cincinnati is
one of the most forcible and withal one OF the
most pleasing speakers OF the convention. Her
arguments are clear, concise and strongly put;
her sentences well-rounded, though she has
bad habit of saying one word two or three
times in the same sentence; her gestures
GRACEFUL her manner digni6ed yet pleasing:
and her voice and dress that Of person Of
calture and intellect
Phoebe Cousins is also central figure in
this group which gathers here annually. She
knows how to dress we'll and make herself at
tractive and at the same time read and Ie-
best platform orators in the party and one Of
the most thoughtful. There is a tendency
with many OF these people to whine and COM
plain aud hurl ont small innuendoes at the
opposite sex and the greater liberties awarded
By society. With Phoebe, and Mrs. Brown
and Mrs. Shaddock of Boston and few Others
this is omitted and the arguments ara from n