Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-08-27
BLUE STOCKINGS"
NOLONGER SHOCK US
Learned Women Are Not Called I'm
modest, and Their Claim of
Equality With Men Is Not
Seriously Disputed
BY ST. GEORGE BOLTON

Slutftu lNnOutSl IoF n woman 10 uUucT-
stand Greek. The Bryn Mawr graduates may
even know sanscrt, or be able TO read the
cuneiform inscriptions on the Sumeran
tablets, without bringing the blush OF shame
to the cheeks OF their friends. And they
! and all other young middle aged and mature
women may display all the learning with
which they are blessed without being
! grouped in n class by themselves as their
sisters Of the latter part of the 18th and
! the first part Of the 10Th centuries were set
! apart from the rest by a special designation.
The Blue Stockings Of our ancestors
! formed delightful company of charming
women. It is possible to find a company as
delightful here in Philadelphia, and as
learned also, though they do not attract
so much attention as was drawn TO their
predecessors at a time when the general
opinion Of women who disregarded prec-
edents was contained in Johnson's famous.
remark about the preaching of Quaker
women.
"A womans preaching" said the man
who made Boswell famous lis like a dogs
walking on his hind legs. 1t is not done
well, but you are surprised to find it done
at all"
Astonishment at a Woman Who Knew Greek
Not only were people shocked by the con-
duct of the modest and devout Quaker
women but they were astounded at the
manifestation of learning by Elizabeth Car
ter, a country parsons daughter who trans
lated Epictetus from the Greek into Eng
lsh. An edition of 1000 copies was offered
for sale at a guinea a copy and there was
so great demand for the book that $50
more copies had to be printed at once The
curious spent their money for the volume
nc IL.
enormous sums four or five years ago for
the privilege of going up in an airship.
And Miss Carter was one of the Blue
Stockings. Why she and other members of
the coterie were so designated has not been
established to the satisfaction of everyone
There are two favorite theories One is that
Madame de Polignac, leader of French So
ciety appeared at a reception given by Mrs.
Montagu, in London, wearing blue stock
ings, which were then in vogue in Paris.
The English ladies, struck by the novelty, at
once adopted the fashion. AS Mrs. Mon
tagu's drawing room was the gathering
place Of a company of witty and learned
women, they soon were called Blue Stock
ings. Another theory is that an unconven-
tional Englishman of brilliant parts per-
sited in wearing the blue worsted stockings
of morning dress on all occasions instead of
the black silk of formal evening costume
when he went out Whichever derivation is
correct matters little. The Blue Stockings
in any event, were given to the unconven-
tionality of displaying all the wit and all the
learning that they possessed instead of hid
ing both under a cloak of submission to the
superior wisdom of men,
Miss Carter who might be called the
Anna Howard Shaw of her day. was not
afraid TO pit her knowledge against that of
the Archbishop of Canterbury and the trans
lators of the King James version of the
Bible. In the course of argument on the
rights of women with the Archbishop she
charged that the men, in order to show the
superiority OF the husband over the wife.
had distorted the 18th and 18th verses of the
seventh chapter of the First Epistle to the
Corinthians, where they had translated the
same verb in two different ways AS APP
piled to the husband they made the text say
that he should not put away" his wife, but
as to the wife, they made it read that she
must not "leave" her husband. The Arch
bishop denied her charge, but when he con-
suited the original Greek had to admit that
she right.
Protest Against the Double Standard
And these Blue Stockings were audacious
also. One has only to recall the state of
morals of the eighteenth century to appreci-
ate the courage that was needed to lead
Mrs. Delaney, one of the most interesting of
the group, to protest against the double
standard, a protest that some modern
women have thought they were the first to
make against the custom by which the men
demanded of their wives a course of conduct
which would make it impossible to foist upon
the family a spurious heir to the titles and
estates of the husband She objected vgor-
ously, mot against the restraint we are un-
der-for that ! extremely approve of-but
the unreasonable license tolerated in the
men"
Mrs. Montagu, the queen of the group
might have been a goth century woman,
so far in advance of her time she was No
modern employer of labor had more selfish
enlightenment than she, for she was in the
habit Of treating the families working
in her colliery in Northumberland with hu-
man consideration, feasting them periodi-
cally and distributing toys and clothing
among them. She pursued this policy, she
admitted, because benefits Of this sort land
a general kind behavior give good deal of
advantage TO the coal owners as well as TO
the colliers!"
Space is lacking to tell of Mrs. Thrale
Hannah More Fanny Burney, Mrs Vesey
and the rest. These women, with their de-
termination to interest themselves In what
ever was interesting and not merely in what
men thought the weaker sex should be con-
cerned with, We're the forerunners Of the
broad-mnded women who are still engaged
! in the fight for complete emancipation for
themselves and theiB sisters. But they were
not the originators Of the movement At the
close of the nth century, about a
hundred years before the Blue Stockings
were asserting themselves most eharmingly
| in London and in the country houses round =