The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-04-16
THE CRAFTSMANSHIP OF WOMAN.
Lecture of Mrs. Elizabeth BoyntOn Harbert
Before the Equal Suffrage Society.

Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, of Evans
ton H., spoke yesterday afternoon in Chosen
Friends hail. to the friends of woman suffrage
on the Craftsmanship of Woman" Her lecture
was ingenious, forceful and instructive, and de-
served a much larger audience. As to the claim
made as to the statesmanlike qualities of women
she cited numerous illustrations, among them
the mother of the Gracchi; Aspasa, the instruct
ress of Socrates; Hypatia who arrived at such a
pitch of learning as to excel all the philosophers
of her time; Laura Bassi, Deborah, Miriam and
Esther, Carmenta, Marcia who was the author
of trial by jury and laws relating to
property afterward collated by the Saxon King
Alfred; Catherine II, of Russia, everywhere
recognized as one of the foremost in statesman
ship in the world, Notwithstanding the stain
that rests upon her name in the Remembering
of Poland, who abolished the secret nqusition
of chancery, who made Russia In her time the
only refuge in Europe where political offenders
could find safety, and who proposed the liberia
ton of the serfs, which could not be done in her
day. but was carried to fruition by her great
grandson, Alexander Ii.
Mrs. Harbert cited numerous others, among
whom were Catharine, of Sweden Eliza
beth, of England Victoria, and others In
American history she mentioned Abigail Adams,
Mercy Otis Warren, Lydia Maria Childs, Anna
riet Beecher Stowe, who wrote, a nation agon-
lied, and the slave was free Con
siderable time was devoted to Anna Ella
Carroll, in support of her claim to having
furnished to President Lincoln and his Cabinet
the suggestion and plan of the Tennessee cam
padgn, which struck the Confederacy in its vital
part, and was the beginning of the operations
that resulted in the subjugaton of the rebellion.
Mrs. Harbert showed that her claim to the
craftsmanship of woman was one substantially
founded, being based upon the mother instinct
for government She believed that if the moth
ers of the country could realize the crime that
might be repressed or averted if their influence
were felt in government, they would not main
tain the apathy many Of them now do. The
woman question is the question of humanity, it
is the solicitude of the mothers of the nation for
the sons and daughters of the country
Mrs. Harbert is a woman of force and intellec-
tuahty, of great earnestness and ready
speaker Il am not, she said to the reporter,
las l was characterized by newspaper the
other day, "a woman of fine education ] am
native of Charlottesville, and when was girl
although desired to attend the college there, l
was not admitted on account of the sex distinc-
ton that prevailed at that day"
Mrs. Harbert will speak to the young ladies at
the indianapolis Seminary this morning at 8
O'Clock. In the afternoon, from 2 to 4:30 o'clock,
she will be the guest of Mrs. May Wright
Sewall, No. 405 North Pennsylvania street,
where the friends of womans work are invited
to meet her informally. Mrs. Harbert will leave
for Charlottesville at D o'clock