The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-05-20

When. the suffragist hosts marched through the streets of. New York this
 month, the place of honor was given Blackwell, D.. D.. the first, American woman to be ordained to the minis try, and a pioneer in the cause of equal political rights. for the fair sex. Male spectators Of the parade rever- ently removed their hats as the car riage containing the venerable little lady came within their range of vis- ion. The lovely girls Of her body guard were but a foil for the greater
 beauty Of the sweet-faced woman
 with the sunny smile and the silvery
 hair. The demonstration was a per- sonal triumph for the beloved leader
 whose eighty-seventh birthday will be
 celebra ted today by all friends of the cause to which she has devoted her life
 The personification of idealized grandmotherhood is Dr. Blackwell, and grandmother she is. but one who can write learned books and dis cuss obscure philosophies as well as knit and darn and cook goodies for tally, and physically active despite her advanced age. and not long ago made a. trip to Panama and the West In- dies. She has opinions, and every wise ones, too, on every vital subject, as I discovered wheneI called on her in in Elizabeth. N.s J. Not far away is little Unitarian church where she breaches when the spirit moves her. Occasionally she is called upon to per- form marriage ceremonies, and she declares that the couples she has united, have been universally happ@ "A man broad-minded and liberal or, fr. .onYa aenY2 .ffH married by woman Is certain to make an. ideal husband,'' is the way she explains it. Sincerity and hon. esty, she declares, are among the most important of human svirtues,- hence she omits the word sobey'' from the mits that she proposes to be actually obedient to. her husband. (Which is very seldom,'' said Mrs. Blackwell, with a twinkle in her eyes.
 The popular conception of a suffra- gist as a. stern and masculine trump applies not at all to Mrs. Blackwell. Sweetness and refinement and femin- and her gown, beautifully draped with real lace, looked to my masculine eyes very much like Paris.
 Antoinette Louisa Brown was born at Henrietta, M. Y., May 2O,f 1925, AS a girl she determined to become a
 
 that the clerical profession for a wo- man was without precedent and in de- f1ance of St. Paul, she went to Oberlin Theological Seminary. The trip to the Ohio college town was made by canal boat and stage. As a result of. her studies she was ordained in the Congregational ministry in 1853. La- ter she became minister of the Uni tarian church.
 When the first Woman's Rights con- vention met in Worcester, Mass, sin 1849. Miss Brown was one Of the speakers. Later she 1ectnred on abo- lition, suffrage, temperance, the social evil and other reforms in churches and halls at Boston, worcester. Cin- cinnati, and other cities. Herr first important literary work was 'iShad- ows of Our Social System" the result of personal ' investigation into the causes and character of vice in New York
 In 1856 she became the wife of sam uel c. Blackwell, and thus became ai- lied with the famous family of stuff rage workers which included the late Dr.. Elizabeth Blackwell, the first wo- man physician in America. About ten years ago Mrs. Blackwell went alone to Palestine and returned with bottle of water from the Jordan to baptize her grandsons.