, 1891-01-13
what Elizabeth oady stanton Think. 4

what Elizabeth Cady stanton Thinks of
Annie BesAnt-
Elizabeth Cady Stanton writes in The
New York Herald a letter about Annie
Besant. and it is worth while to note
what this clear headed woman and
Shrewd observer has to say Of the most
famous woman Radical in England. Mrs.
Besant is one Of the busiest persons in
Great Britain, TO begin. She is identi-
fed closely with two chsses of move
ments-one the working peoples cause
in general, the other the progress and
rights Of women Besides this she is a
socialist, a ~theosophist, and a very active
member Of the London School board.
She manages a house for poor working
girls where the cost of living is so calcu-
lated that for a small sum honest girls
who work for low wages can have a
pretty and comfortable home in a re-
spectacle neighborhOod. Annie Besant's
history is remarkable. Her radicalism
was driven into her by a process
of slow torture - driven so thor
oughiy that now not the rack or
the stake should force it from her; no,
not even wealth and fashion could
tempt her to resign it. She was married
very young to clergyman of the Church
of England, a man whose violent temper
and gloomy bigotry made her first ques-
ton the saving grace of the theol ogy he
preached. But this questioning was
subversiye Of all proper domestic dis
cipline, and the Rev. Frank Besant in
the name of Christianity turned his free
thinking wife outdoors and took her
children away from her because thelaws
OF England did not consider n mother
who doubted the creed of the Church of
England a proper person TO train the
young mind. So, widowed and desc
late, she went out to work for human
ity. When her children were old
enough to choose they went to her of
their own accord. Mrs. Stanton writes
Of the famous Radical, 'She is one OF
those rare characters, purified and ele-
waited by every sorrow, whose learning
has passed from her memory to her
judgment, and made her wiser in all the
practical details Of life"
1 have always had a sly suspicion that
there were a good many fools in the
world, but at present the most hopeless
fools seem to me to be those superine
individuals who base their claim to gen
tility on the fact that they wear hand
made underclothing and scorn the ma
chine made Undertaking. Let those
wear the hand made gear, of course, who
prefer clothing which some woman has
darned her fingers off and bored her eyes
out to make, and after she has done it
her seams are neither so handsome,
strong nor even as those made by the tire
less little iron fingers. Machine made
clothing is very nice and very pretty,
and thousands of lovely women will con-
to wear it. Cranks can wear what
they like, but let them not presume to
those who do not agree with
their nonsense. If they must wear hand
made clothing as n mark of gentility, let
them. They probably need it.
The Catholic archbishop of Santiago
must have drawn very doleful conclu-
from his observations on the estate
of matrimony in his archdiocese. He
directed that hereafter all bride
maids shall wear at weddings black
dresses. Marriage is a grave business in
Chill.
There is one state in the Union that
has no college for women, and the
thought of a coed college would
brighten her put Of her Rip Van Wrinkle
sleep of a century. That state is Vir-
ginia-old Virginia. 1t is easy to under-
stand why Virginia is no longer the
of presidents.
A woman, Mrs. Annie Baxter, has
been elected in due form clerk of Jasper
county, Mo. This is the county Of which
the hourishing and growing town Of
Carthage is the county seat.
The Women's union of Boston has
inaugurated a series of Sunday meetings
exclusively for ome The speakers
are always women. The topics dis
cussed are not necessarily religious, but
are usually of an ethical nature, and dis
tinguished and able women in all the
walks of life address the meetings, which
are full of interest. Women's societies
ought TO have meetings of this sort in all
the cities and large towns.
The voting in the Methodist church
for the admission of women AS delegates
to the general conference amount to
this: 1t is simply a popular expression
of the sentiment of the church members
in general. The church in general has
voted in favor of it. The authoritative
vote-that which will decide the matter
fnally-will be taken by the ministers
of the church next year. The preachers
will vote not only on the admission of
women to the general conference, but
on their eligibility rs delegates to the
ordinary conferences of the separate
districts and divisions of the Methodist
church. There is little reason to doubt
that the result will be in favor of the
women, however, since among the
Methodist clergy are some of the most
enlightened and liberal men ON the wo-
man question to be found in America.
Well they may be, too. for it Is women
who support the church.
Bishop Vincent prophecies that women
will be admitted as delegates to the
Methodist general conference.
Professor Lester F. Ward says in The
Forum; MAN has displayed more
genius than woman largely because he
has been in possession of n wider n
of facts" Therefore, oh, womenl get
facts, not about things that happened in
some foreign country :, 200 years ago, but
facts about the science, history, govern
ment, industries and social and political
economy of your own time. The wo-
man who understands thoroughly a sin
gle one of the vital questions of the day
is worth more TO mankind than if she
had at her tongues end the history of
all the poets and painters of past ages.
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