Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-12-15
EARNEST LUCY STONE
A LIFE FULL OF ROMANCE AND PUR-
POSE AND STRUGGLE.

tion-Dinlcultles She Encountered as n
Leoturer-odd Things About Her Mar
rIuge-Gone over to the Bright slide.
seycnty-hve years ago a baby girl was
born In West Brookfeld, Mass, and when
they told the mother she sighed and said
VI am sorry the baby IA girl. A womGn's
life is so hard" But the child grew and
fourished despite the calamity OF the sex,
and they named her Lucy-Lucy Stone
a short time ago Lucy Stone died In the
happy consciousness that womAn's life was
easier and broader, her opportunities great
err aud her outlook brighter, because the
baby born so many years ago was a woman
child, great OF heart and brain, and had de
voted her time and talent TO tho advance
ment Of her SEX
The personality OF Lucy Stone was little
known, and the general idea Of the woman
was that she was masculine in appearance,
Of stridcnt voice, Hssertiyc manners aud
pronounced eccentHcity in dress. 10 those
who had seen the small, gentle Indy with
the soft white cap over tho snowy hair the
low, gentle voice, the simple, unRssuming
manner. this champion Of all things strong
minded in womnnhood seemed the embodi-
mcnt Of perfect peace
When Lucy Stone was tiny maid, she
read In the Bible, 'lhy desire shall be to
thy husband, and he shall rule over thee
At first SHE wanted to die Then she made
up her mind to go 10 college, study Greek
and Hebrew, read the Bible and see for her
self whether the texts were rightly trans.
lated.
She did 20 to college, despite the fact
that her father, who had helped his son
through college, called her crazy aud would
have nothing to do with the project. She
picked berries and ehcstnuts and sold them
TO buy books. She taught school, studying
during the time and saving her money 10
the grent end. Work as she would, she
was % before she could accumulate suhi-
Client means to take her TO Oberlin, the
only college that would receive her She
crossed Lake Erie RB deck passenger to
save her money and slept at night on
| pile OF grain sacks In the open air.
At Oberlin she taught, did housework
| for cents an hour, cooked her food In her
\ room and lived ON 30 cents q week. She
had only ono new dress, aud that cheap
| print, during the college course She
| graduated with honOrs, losing neither her
health nor her self respect, and wns appoint
! ed to write commencement essay, Per
haps nothing more suggestive OF woman $
progress can DO told than this fact, that be.
cause IL was considered unwomnnly for a
woman to appear on the platform aud read
hor own work, she declined to write the
essay rather than consent to hayoa professor
| rcnd II for her,
Lucy stone began her public work lcctur-
ing for the abolition party, but presently
she mixed the subject dearest to her heart
that Of equal rights for men aud women
80 much with that OF freedom for the
i uln4sa huF Nhn ah.ltftpV,tgV
stratcd with her
II cannot Lelp Il, she answered "Iwai
woman before was an abolitiouist, and
must speak for women.n
When she begun to labor for woman'i
cause, there were no suffrage associations IN
existence aud she had no backing. She tray
eled through the country, putting up hpi
own handhllls with tacka, and, woman
fashion, using stunu for hammer Some
times the boys followed her 10 tear dowt
the bills, but she usually won them over /,
leave tho bills uuhnrmed. Once, when sh,
was speaking at an antislavery meeting
tho boys broke out a pane OF glass an,
turned the hose on her She put on he
shawl aud calmly went on with her speech
AZ another time mob broke up tn
meeting and roughs climbed upon the plat
form Every one lied but Lucy Stone. a
| wv hAlNk nINNAtAa IaAl NloN hhAtu Atf VIVA
she was going to do, ~ am going TO asl
this gentleman she said, turning to th
leader Of the mob, ITO protect me" IL
5 did IL. She went through the mob un
harmed, her hand on his arm.
Lucy Stone did not mean to marry, hu,
like ordinary women. she fell Ia love, am
making him promise 10 devote his life no
to herself, but To her cause she marrie
, Henry u. Blackwell They drove 30 mile
, to find munster 80 unorthodox as 10 b
willing 20 marry them and leave out th
word "ohey.n At the time OF their maj
riage they p blished joint protest agalns
the injustice Of the laws which gave m
husband control Of tho wifes property
earnings, children aud person This pr,
test made great stir at the timo aud ha
much TO do with getting the laws amende,
Lucy Stone looked upon the loss OF
woman's name at marriage rs symbol
. the loss OF hor legal personality and pc
Y sonRl rights, and with the full consent ,
her husband with whom her relation
/, were always peculiarly happy, retained b,
= maiden nRmo and was known rs I.uc
i Stone. Her one daughter IS called All,
Stone Blackwell,
Her later years have been devoted towor
a in tho American WomRn's Suffrage ass
e, citation, OF which she and William Lloy
Garrison and Julia Ward Howe were Il
founders, and in the editorship Of tho Bo
ton Woman's journal. in which Mr.
Blackstone and her daughter were assoc
ated also as editonl Her home In DO
chester was an ideal establishments, and Il
was the pink OF New ENGLAND houselSeepeJ
Just before her death she said, Il loo
q. forward to the other side As the brighte
side, and expect still to be busy for gOy
r. things, New York sun