The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-04-29
A CrayOn Portrait.

first street. L was met by the statement |
made with an air Of sympathy and regret |
by the negro servant that his mistress |
would see no visitors as she was writing |
q piece" But l sent up my card with
request for an appointment. The man re-
turned directly to say that his mistress
would receive me at once. / was ushered
into room full of suggestions of the pur-
suits and tastes Of the woman who occu
pied it-books, pictures, piano, newspa-
pers periodicals, large desk with neat
piles of manuscript and files of correspond
enoe and a small writing table with the
pretty appointments and trifles which be-
long to ones social letter writing
had hardly settled myself when maid
entered with large orayon portrait of a
young girl, which Mrs. Stanton directed
her to place In a good light before the WIS.,
itor.
"what do you think of itH' was the
question after moments pause.
at is charming face-brimful Of char
aoter and determination and courage.
also discover strong family likeness"
"That is not strange" replied my host
ess, evidently much amused, for it is my
own portrait at the age of 20. You can
trace all the features, but the short, curly
hair was brown then, though even at that
y
II was married at "a. During our en-
gagement my fanoe wrote begging me for
q lock of hair, when one Of my girl friends,
In pure spirit of mischief, pulled out Of
my head enough white hairs to form a
very respectable little curl, which I tied
up with a blue ribbon and sent to my
sweetheart"
She was silent moment, and little
slow smile crept over her countenance as
she gazed at the youthful face in the pic
ture. Then she said softly:
II love to look at that girl like to
study her and to think how she has full
filled herself"
"Had she any distinct idea then of what
her career would bep'
Eyes She had resolved upon that long
years before. I was only little child
when my attention was drawn to those
conditions of women which l have spent
my life seeking to improve. 1t happened
In this way;
"My father was lawyer, Judge Cady,
and had great many young men in his
office who came to him as students. They
used to sit at their books in large room
adjoining the office and library. was a
child of 8 or years, brimful of mischief,
life and activity, with three sisters youn-
ger than myself who readily followed my
lead. Often when our noise and fun and
| pranks became uncomfortable in the house,
my mother restored peace by banishing
| the ringleader to the office. There / al
| ways became perfectly quiet, but 1t was
| because took the keenest interest in what
I heard. 1t gradually dawned upon me
that of all the clients who came there the
women alone got no comfort When they
took down the law books and read from
them what related to each particular case,
the women went away sorrowful. My
evident interest in the legal rights of my
sex greatly entertained those students, and
they let me pore over the laws myself,
thinking 1t one of the funniest Of sights
to see such o young child so occupied.
was taking 1t all much more seriously
than any one imagined
"By and by had birthday, and my
father gave me set of corals-necklace
bracelets and earrings I was enchanted
and that day loved those corals better
than anything else in the world. OF course
I rushed to show them to my student
friends, among whom was young man
from Delaware, named Bayard, an uncle
of Minister Bayard. He was always in
clined to tease me and discerned an oppor-
tunity on this occasion. So he said, If
you were my wife, those would belong to
me-
WHAT gasped.
"'Yes, they would be mine. You could
not even wear them unless I gave you
leave, and could take them from you al
together and give them to some one else II
chose
"This nearly finished me. But one
straw more remained to be added. There
was an old Scotchwoman, Flora Campbell,
who used to come to our house every Sat
urday to bring chickens, eggs, sweet flag,
maple sugar and herbs. We children were
all very fond of Flora She had been In
good circumstances once and was SUI
perior woman. Her husband had died,
leaving all he possessed to his son. Then
the son s wife came into Floras house and
turned her out. There was no redress.
This story came to my ears, and 1 resolved
to act.
"The next Saturday followed Flora to
the gate and babe her be of good cheer, as
those wicked laws were about to be abol-
ished and she would soon be able to enter
upon life of peace and plenty. The plan
l unfolded to her was to avail myself OF
the absence of the family at church the
next morning, to go to the library and
there to cut from the books every line OF
those dreadful laws against women. 1 as
sured Flora that could do this in very
short time, as 1 had already put a mark
upon the back of each doomed volume In
order that I might lay my hands on II
readily.
"Of course Flora told my father But
he did not betray her. That evening he
took me on his knee and explained the en-
actment Of laws, remarking quite casually
that even If his library CHANGED to take fire
and every volume was consumed it would
not make the slightest difference in the
condition of anybody beyond the loss to
himself. The only way to remedy unsat-
isfactory laws was to go before the legis-
lature and get new ones passed to replace
them. THAT is what will do' cried.
II was only 10 years old, but from that
moment never forgot my purpose-never
abandoned it for an instant until it was
carried out. When l went before the leg
islature with the womans property bill,
women had known well before crossed
the street to avoid meeting me. 1 suppose
their Samoa Of DrOnrietv WAC nutrauad