Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1893-05-04


Lucy Stone was born August Is. ISIS.
on a farm near West Brookheld, Mass
! She was the daughter of Francis Stone and
! Hannah Matthews, and was the eighth Of
! nine children. She came of good New
! England stock. Her great grandfather
| fought in the French and Indian War her
I grandfather was an officer In the Wsr uf
| the Revolution, and afterwards captain OF
| four hundred men In Shays Rebellion.
4 Her father was a prosperpu. farmsr, much
| respected by his neighbors. but fully i'm
| bucd with the idea uf the right of hus
/ bands to rule over their wives A. were
most men of his generation.
Little Lucy grew up a htathy. vigor us
child, noted for fearle-suess and truth
funess, good scholar, aud a hard worker
In the house aud on the farm. sometimes
driving the cows barrfooted by starlight
before the sun was mp. when The dew uu
the grass Wa. SO cold that She would stop
On fiat stone and curl one small bare
foot N, against the other leg to warm IL
Every onr on the farm worked The
mother MIXED eight cows the night before
Lucy MAS born. and said regrrtfu!iy, wten
Informed OF the sex of The new baby. "Dh.
dear am sorry it l. a girl \ ~omau'-
life j. SO hard,'
The lt,le eirl early became Indignant st
the way she saw her mother and other
women treated by their husbands and by
the laws. aud She made up her childish
mind that those laws must be chaLgcd
Reading the Bible one day, while ,tlli n
child, she came upon the text, Thy desire
shall be to thy husband. and he shall rue
over thee. Al first She wanted 70 die
Then she resolved 10 20 to college study
Greek and Hebrew. read the Bible in The
original aud satisfy herself whethe. such
texts were correctly translated.
Her father helped his son through col
/ lcg- but when his daughter wanted 20 90.
he said 10 his wife Is the child crazy!-
The young girl had - earn The muury
herself. Snc picked berries and Chestnut-.
and sold them to buy books. For years
she taught district schools, studying and
teaching alternately. She soon became
known ~ a successful teacher. once she
VAS engaged 10 teach winter school"
which had been broken up by the big
boys throwing the master hesd foremost
out OF the window into II deep snowdrIft.
As rule. women were not thought com
petent to teach the winter term OF school.
/ because then the big boys were released
from farm work and were able to attend
/
in perfect order and the big BOYS who
hsd made the trouble became her most de
voted lieutenants vet she received only
q fraction Of the salary paid to her uu-
successful predecessor. Al the low wsges
Z paid to women teachers, il took her until
she va, twenty-d dve 70 earn the money to
carry her TO Obrrln, then the only college
in the country that admitted women.
7 Crossing Lake Eiie from Buffalo to Clcve-
\ land, she could not afford a stateroon, but
slept on deck on pile of grain sacks,
among horses and freight, with few 9th
/ er women who, like herself. could only pay
for deck passage"
\ AT Oberlin she earned her way by teach
( ing in the preparatory department Of the
/ college, and by doing homework in the
/ Ladies Boarding Hall al three cents an
4 hour. Most of the students We're poor.
and the college furnished them board at
7 dollar week. But she could not afford
/ even this small sum, and during most OF
her course she cooked her food in her own
room. boarding herself al cost of less
: than ffty cents q week. She had only
one new dress during her college course, a
/ cheap print, and she did not 20 home once
/ during the four years; but She thoroughly
enjoyed her college life and found liile
also for good works
Oberlin was 4 station on the under
| ground railroad, a town of strong anti
| slavery sympsthies, and many fugitive
slaves settled there A school was started
| to teach them to read. and Lucy Stone
was asked to take charge of it. The
colored men, fresh from slavery and
densely ignorant, still felt it beneath their
dignity to be taught by woman. With
out letting her know this, the committee
took her to the school aud introduced her
to them as their teacher, thinking they
would not like to express their objections
in her presence. But there was d mur-
mur of dissatisfaction, and presently a
tall man. very black. stood up and said he
had nothing against Miss Stone personally,
but be was free to confess that he did not
like the idea of being taught by woman.
She persuaded them, however. that it
would he for their advantage to learn from
anybody who could teach them to read
and her dusky pupils soon became much
attached to her. When the Ladies Board
ing Hall took fire, during her temporary
, absence, many members of her colored
class rushed to the fire, bent on saving
, her effects She was told on her return
that whole string of colored men had
arrived upon the scene one after another
each demanding breathlessly, Where i.
Miss Stones trunk!'
Her first public speech was made during
her college course. The colored people
got up a celebration Of the anniversary OF
: West Indian emancipation, and inviteC
her to be one of the speakers. The presi
dent of the college and some of the pro
fessors were invited 10 speak. She gave
her address among the rest, and though
nothing of it. The next day she wa.
4 t1of a. T
represented to her that it was unwomanly
t and unscriptural for her to speak in public
The presidents wife said: Did you no
0 feel yourself very much out of place uI
b there on the platform among all thos'
men? Were you not embarrassed anC
4 frightenedy why. no, Mrs. MahaD.
I she answered "Those men were Presi
dent Mahan and my professors, whom
meet every day in the classroom. | wa
not afraid of them at all! She was al
lowed to 60, with an admonition.
At the end of her course, she was sp
pointed to write an essay to be read a
commencement, but was notified tina
o one of the professors would have to reat
i 1t for her, as it would not be proper for
woman to read her own essay in public
y Rather than not read it herself. she de
q clined to write it. Nearly forty year
4 semi centennial, she was invited to be on
!. of the speakers at that great gathering
i. So the world moves.
She graduated in ls47. and gave he
first woman's rights lecture the sam
year, In the pulpit of her brothers churcl
l. at Gardner, Mass. Soon after, she was en-
gagged to lecture regularly for the Anti
y Slavery Society. She mixed q great dea
d Of woman's rights with Ter aDti-slaver
+ lectures. One night, after her heart ha
been particularly stirred on the wona