The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-11-12
Suffragists Plan
 Celebration of Elizabeth
 Cady Stanton Gentleman


 American suffragtsts have already commenced preparations for & con- tinent-wide observance of the cente nary of the birth of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the great pioneer of the 'tcause,'' just one year from today. Nov. 12, 1915. Elizabeth Cady was born in Johnstown, N. Y., the daugh- ter of Daniel Cady. At the age of twenty-five she became the bride of Henry Brewster Stanton, a distin- guished newspaper editor and reform worker.
 It was in 1S48, when she was resid-- ing in Seneca Falls. N. Y., that Mrs Stanton and Lucretia. Mott called the first wonaan's suffrage convention in history. Mrs Stanton. like her hus- band had been prominent in the anti slavery movement, and the agitation for the political enfgranchisement of the fair sex was to a large extent an outgrowth of the crusade for the abolition of negro slavery. The pioneer convention of suffrag1sts was a very small affair, and all the delegates were comfortably accommodated in Mrs. Stanton's home, where the ses- sfons were held. The platform of the convention was so radical as to star tie the whole world, and it was greet ed with shouts of .rancous laughter by. the mere men of America. The
 
 parlor demanded equal rights in edu- cation, the trades and professions universal suffrage, and the right to hold any and all political offices sNowadays the suffragists are more moderate and diplomatic in their de- mands, and they profess a willingness to permit the men to hold most. of the offices. provided women are per m1tted to help elect them.
 From that convention until her death in 1902, Mrs stanton was the recognized leader of the American suffrage movement. At first greeted with jeers, and denounced as an i'm modest agitator Mrs stanton per- severed in her chosen course and at last won the respect, sand even the admiration, of her bitterest oppon- ents. Kindly, charitable, ever ready to help any good cause, she was a true woman as well as a suffragette. she was often called 'tthe grand old woman of, America"
 Mrs Stanton firmly believed that women were qualified to i'll offices as well as to vote, and in 1868 she was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress. She wrote many books and articles, and her autobiography, 'sIzighty Years and More,''Is 8 history of the woman suffrage movement in America
 In the matter of religion Mrs Stan ten was far from being an orthodox Christfan One of her hrmest friends and admirers was the late Col. Robert ! G. IngersoII, and to some extent Mrs. Stanton shared the religious, or ir- religious views. to which the giftef orator gave such eloquent expression.
 Henry Brewster Stanton, the hus- band of the pioneer suffragist, died 1 in 1887, in his eighty-second year. He began his newspaper career on the ] staff of the Rochester Monroe Tele- graph Afterward for many years he was interested in the anti-sIayery movement, and with Mrs. stanton he 1 toured America and England. deliver ing abolition addresses While in Englahd he gained the material for his famous work Sketches of Re- forms and Reformers in Great Brit ain and Ireland.'' After the triumph l of the abolition movement he return | ed to journalism, as editor of the New York Sun.
 I While Susan B. Anthony, Matilda J. Gaze. Lucy Stone Blackwell. Mrs. An | toinette Blackwell and many others were prominent among the pioneers of the suffrage movement, Mrs. Stan l ton is generally recognized as the l leader of that small but gallant band 1 of women who braved the scorn and opprobriurn of the multitude in de- fending cause they considered just.