The Monitor., 1889-04-12
Address TO salem County w. g. H. L. by
Laura NJ. LippincoftPa Pancoasf, Couh.
~ superintendent Franchise.

~ superintendent Franchise.
The nineteenth century is womans CEN
| tury. and from the endeavor to free the
colored slaves of the south, came womans
first impetus into the broader life of pub
lie Speaking. more independent thinking
and power which plainly proved that
within her God had provided the coming
reformer and enlightener of our human
race.
/ The Grimke sisters headed the woman's
movement by first speaking in parlors to
women alone on behalf of the slaves.
Finally a church was loaned them by a
minister more progressive in his views than
most, and he kindly offered TO make a
prayer for them before leaving the church
to the women. Later few men crept in
and heard this new innovation on Old time
honored customs-"Womenw were actually
speaking in public!"
| Then came ersecution-remenstran
from personal friends, the ieering mob,
the stones east at these two martyrs for
| women's sake-but they boldly held their
| ground and proclaimed the right. which
was questioned, of women to speak to
| women in public. Yes, and they went
further and dared to assert woman's right
| to speak to mixed audiences.
| What terrible things they suffered. The
New England clergy hurled pastoral
| letter at them. Even our John Greenleaf
| Whittier, as strong suffragist as he is
to-day. advised them to refrain, and they
| followed his advice only because OF being
| compelled to. Public sentiment was too
strong against them. But the little seed
had been sown; the little cloud against the
rule of man alone had appeared upon the
horizon and ''w oman's rights set in mo-
| ton to receive additional strength at the
great anti-slayery meeting in London, in
the first Harrison campaign, when brave
| Lucretia Mott and grand Elizabeth Cady
Stanton planned out the great suffrage
movement which has done so much for the
women of to-day.
1t seems a strange thing, my sisters, to
go over all this ground to you and endeavol
to plead to you the cause of women, the
cause of right and truth and justice, the
cause of freedom for which our grand
fathers fought and died. But | will try to
do it because l love the work, but most OF
all because God S temperance work, which
makes us sisters, and all great reforms are
checked by women's political slavery, and
until they are freed our nation can never
be free, and justice is chained amongst us
Let us turn to nature and see what shs
The upspringing grain, the freshly turuet
sod, the return of our birds. the budding
trees, and busy husbandman all tell O
the spring time, the great promise time o
watching the birds in the trees, the bud
ding and blooming, the season and granC
old mother nature tells of more.
Stoop and let us gather or dainty nationa
symbol, the trailing arbutus. Note wha
a welcome it peeps from under our yer,
feet in its shy, sweet way. With tende
reverence We greet it for its trusting faitl
which has shielded its buds through til,
winters cold, ready for its mission in thu
spring to you and me- Even it has sex
my friends, as all natare has about us
yet ''God maketh His sun TO shine upol
all alike" male and female, from th
grasses in the field TO His most perfec
creation, man and woman.
Can you not see that the feminine in ma
ture rules at least equally with the mascu
line? That perfectness cannot come with
out the presence of both together? Tha
this copartnership is of Gods own plan
ming, and that it man tried to change til
order of things, chaos would follow?
Whatsoever is creative partakes both o
the feminine and of the masculine attrib
utes, although of the two the feminine
the stronger power. God is not NOR
father than mother. not more maseulin
than feminine Jehovah was taken from
Jah- Eve, meaning both male aud female
and so the Jews always spoke of God.
From the open book of nature let II
turn to the pages of history, the history q
our human race. In Rome at one time
f the women of the empire had achieved S
muehSf independence that the historia
Maine says: 1.-THE Jurisconsuls had evi
IDENTIFY at this time assumed the equalit
, of the sexes as a principle of the code G
equity. The situation OF Roman woman
whether married or single, became one G
; great personal and property independence.
Corneilia, Volumni and Hortensia ha
wide influence on the destinies of thei
day, and Augusta for awhile was Empires
/ in all but name. Among both the Greek
and Romans, as well as the Egyptians
women exercised the sacerdotal function
and these priestly offices, which are dc
MED them now, they filled for Thousand
of years in the ancient world
When the star of the East appeared owe
Bethlehem, declaring Tie Christ, cam
women's greatest emancipation.
BY Jacobs well Jesus first announce,
His sacred mission as the Messiah, and I
a sronaan.
f Side by side with the men lie called t.
, His service, worked women.
Paul speaks Of many as his co. o.laborer
, i'll the Lord-Priscilla, Phoebe, Persi
|