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"Woman's cause, is man's cause,

We rise and fall together."

And because they have learned that, they have come to be co-workers in this cause, which is to me one of the most sacred that is now moving upon the great deep of the human soul.

The Rev. MR. HIGGINSON, whose letter I hold, and who has taken this cause to his heart as though it were his sister, is desirous that we should devise some practical measures by which we may work out a pathway to more rapid progress-and, by the way, it is the same Mr. Higginson, who, when the meeting assembled last spring in N. Y., at the Brick Chapel, and when Revs. John Chambers, and Marsh, and Crampton, and Ex Mayor Barstow of Providence, and I don't know how many other would-be-called worthies, were there, utterly denying that in the deliberations of the convention, woman should have any place; when they ruled us out of order, although we were in order; when, I say, every woman was gagged, and only men were heard,—and not even they, if they were expected to speak on the side of woman,-it is the same Mr. Higginson who proposed that we should all withdraw and make arrangements for a whole world's convention, one that would be large enough to admit men and women; and the letter I hold in my hand is from him, and he is a clergy

man too.

MR. BARKER :-But he is a heretic!

LUCY STONE :-Yes, men call him so now, but he believes that "all things which ye would that men should do unto you, do ye even so to them ;" and I do not believe therefore, that the great Master whom he obeys, will write him down an heretic, at last. But we will hear the letter:

WORCESTER, Sept. 15. 1853.

DEAR FRIEND : In writing to the New York Woman's Rights' Convention, I mentioned some few points of argument which no opponents of this movement have ever attempted to meet. Suffer me, in addressing the Cleveland Convention, to pursue a different course, and mention some things which the friends of the cause have not yet attempted to do.

I am of a practical habit of mind, and have noticed with some

regret that most of the friends of the cause have rested their hopes, thus far, chiefly upon abstract reasoning. This is doubtless of great importance, and these reasonings have already made many converts; because the argument is so entirely on one side that every one who really listens to it begins instantly to be convinced. The difficulty is, that the majority have not yet begun to listen to it, and this, in great measure, because their attention has not been called to the facts upon which it is founded.

Suppose, now, that an effort were made to develop the facts of woman's wrongs. For instance :

1st. We say that the laws of every state of this Union do great wrong to woman, married and single, as to her person and property, in her private and public relations. Why not procure a digest of the laws on these subjects, then; prepared carefully, arranged systematically, corrected up to the latest improvements, and accompanied by brief and judicious commentaries? No such work exists, except that by Mansfield, which is now obsolete and in many respects defective. 2d. We complain of the great educational inequalities between the Why not have a report, elaborate, statistical, and accurate, on the provision for female education, public and private, throughout the free States of this Union, at least? No such work now exists.

sexes.

3d. We complain of the industrial disadvantages of women, and indicate at the same time, their capacities for a greater variety of pursuits. Why not obtain a statement, on as large a scale as possible, first, of what women are doing now, commercially and mechanically, throughout the Union (thus indicating their powers;) and secondly, of the embarrassments with which they meet, the inequality of their wages, and all the other peculiarities of their position, in these respects? An essay, in short, on the Business Employments and Interests of Women; such an essay as Mr. Hunt has expressed to me his willingness to publish in his "Merchants' Magazine." No such essay now exists.

Each of these three documents would be an arsenal of arms for the Women's Rights Advocate. A hundred dollars, appropriated to each of these, would more than repay itself in the increased subscriptions it would soon bring into the treasury of the cause. That sum

would, however, be hardly sufficient to repay even the expenses of correspondence and traveling necessary for the two last essays; or the legal knowledge necessary for the first.

If there is, however, known to the Convention at Cleveland any person qualified and ready to undertake either of the above duties for the above sum; (no person should undertake more than one of the three investigations)-I would urge you to make the appointment. It will require, however, an accurate, clear. headed and industrious person, with plenty of time to bestow. Better not have it done at all, than not have it done thoroughly, carefully and dispassionately. Let me say distinctly, that I cannot be a candidate for either duty, in my own person, for want of time to do it in; though I think I could render some assistance, especially in preparing materials for the third essay. I would also gladly subscribe towards a fund for getting the work done.

Permit me, finally, to congratulate you on the valuable results of every Convention yet held to consider this question. I find the fact everywhere remarked, that so large a number of women of talent and character have suddenly come forward into a public sphere. This phenomenon distinguishes this reform from all others that have appeared in America, and illustrates with new meaning the Greek myth of Minerva, born full-grown from the head of Jove. And if, (as some late facts indicate) this step forward only promotes the Woman's Rights movement from the sphere of contempt into the sphere of hostility and persecution-it is a step forward, none the less. And I would respectfully suggest to the noble women who are thus attacked, that they will only be the gainers by such opposition, unless it lead to dissensions or jealousies among themselves.

Yours cordially,

MISS LUCY STONE.

THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON.

This letter, you see, proposes that we shall find some way if possible, by which our complaints may be spread before the people. We find men and women in our conventions, earnest and thoughtful, who are not drawn by mere curiosity, but are drawn by a conscious want of

just such a movement as this. They go away, and carry to their villages and hamlets, the ideas they have gatherered here; and it is a cause for thankfulness to God that so many go away to repeat what they have heard. But we have wanted the documents to scatter among the people, as the Tract Society scatters its sheets. And now Mr. Higginson proposes that we have these essays. The first he proposes shall gather up all the Laws in any way relating to woman.

Now we have a great many women who laugh at the proposition for woman's filling public offices. They laugh at nor sharing in the elective franchise. The women who do it, are mainly those around whom so much of sunshine has gathered, that they have not known that woman suffers from disabilities in these respects; and yet it is a sad fact. The law so weighs against those who sustain the position of wife and mother, that no married woman has a right to any of her earnings in any single state of all this Union. I was in New Jersey the other day and made this statement, when a lawyer, very politely, handed up a copy of their law, which he thought contradictory to what I had said; but it only secured to woman what property might fall to her before marriage. The product of her pen is not hers, because she has not acquired it under the definition of the word "acquired," which the law of New Jersey will allow to her.

It has been proved by sad experience, in too many instances, that a man may watch where his wife's earnings are accumulated and if he can lay his hands upon them, unless by cunning she can keep them away from him, he can and does take them to pay the drunkard's bill, and to squander upon abandoned women I was told by a worthy physician within a month, how a wife kept her own earningsand I want the women who don't wish to meddle with politics, to listen to me, and I want the men who ask us to trust them, to listen. In New York City there is a noble woman who is unfortunately the wife of a mean man,—and there are too many such. He lives to smoke cigars and drink rum, and revel in unworthy pleasures. He earns nothing. His wife, an energetic woman, keeps a millinery establishment, which she managed so well, as to enable her to keep on from year to year and accumulate in the Bank, a few hundred dollars. Her husband seduced the daughter of his neighbor, and when the fact

came to be known, the father prosecuted to recover money of the villain, for the world has not yet learned that money cannot pay for a deed so dastardly and devilish. By the Law this man had a right to the earnings of his wife, and he went to the Bank and drew the money that she, by her long toil had earned, and paid it for his lust! The Law allows this all over the Union; and while such statutes exist, it is important for women to know just what they are, and how they effect their interests. So I say in regard to the suggestion of Mr. Higginson that such a document be prepared, that it is exceedingly important, and that whoever gives his time to it, ought to be paid, for time is money; though I am happy to say, that on that topic, we have a worthy lawyer in Boston, who is doing it, and we have another noble brother, Wendell Phillips, who is pledged to pay him for his labor upon it.

Then the object of the other essay will be to examine and state the inequalities of education, and I wish Mr. Higginson had added, of opportunity to learn from other sources than books alone. The right education from those, we are coming nearer to recognize, and the tendency of the age is to set that matter right; but while the admission is come to be made on all hands, I shall be glad when the other item is added also; when liberty will be given woman to learn not from books alone, but from the freedom to go out into the world's highway, and by actual conflict with life, learn the lessons that do not come from books.

But, consider the results that grow out of the fact, that when a woman has obtained an education such as Oberlin and McGrawville can give her, the world won't let her use it. Oberlin will let Antoinette Brown study Theology, but they won't let her preach. The young man gets his knowledge, and "the world is all before him where to choose," and Providence is his guide. I thank God that it is so. I thank God that our brothers never knew what their sisters have had to know by sad, stern experience.

I would, therefore, make an addition to the suggestion of Mr. Higginson on this topic, that the results also be embodied in the essay, of excluding woman from the liberty of using her knowledge in just the way she chooses, after she gets it. We are not asking liberty to

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