THE FIRST NEW WOMAN

Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

Cortland Evening Standard, Wednesday, November 13, 1895.

THE FIRST NEW WOMAN.

Eightieth Birthday of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

CELEBRATED BY HER FRIENDS.

Touching Tributes Paid to the Veteran Advocate of Woman's Rights at a

Rousing Meeting of Distinguished People at New York.

   NEW YORK, Nov. 13.—The 80th anniversary of the birth of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the pioneer of woman's rights, was celebrated with great pomp and splendor at the Metropolitan Opera House last night.

   The celebration was conducted under the auspices of the National Council of Women of the United States—a council embracing 20 organizations and including a membership of 700,000 women.

   The boxes were gorgeously decorated, the most beautiful being that occupied by members of the Professional Women's league where Mrs. A. M. Palmer, Mrs. Rachael McCauley and "Aunt" Louise Eldridge were prominent.

   The Press club box was one vast bank of flowers behind which sat President Jennie Juno Croly, Mrs. Lotta Crabtree, Mrs. Bertha Welby, Mrs. Balcom, Miss Catherine G. Foote and Mrs. Alice Maddock.

   Among the other prominent persons present were John W. Hutchinson, Elizabeth Sheldon, Susan B. Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, Isabella Beecher Hooker, Mrs. Louisa Southworth, Catherine A. F. Stebbins, Charles B. Wart, Mrs. W. B. Skidmore, M. Louise Thomas, Rev. Phoebe A. Hanaford, Mrs. I. C. Maucher, Elizabeth B. Grannis, Amelia B. Quinton, Dr. Hannah Longshose, Dr. Jane V. Myers, Mrs. Mary Clement Leavitt, W. Lloyd Garrison, Ellen Wright Garrison, Martha Mott Lord, Elizabeth Wright Osborn and Frances Garrison Villard.

   When Mrs. Stanton appeared on the stage she sat while a photographer took her picture by searchlight. On being escorted to the front of the stage she was received with great enthusiasm by the occupants of the brilliantly decorated boxes.

   Mrs. Mary Lowe Dickinson, president of the council, said there never had been predicted such a day as this when women should rise from the North and the South, the East and the West, and countries over the sea to make their mutual recognition of each others work and worth, and unitedly to bring their tribute to women like Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony, women whose thoughts and labor run like a vital undercurrent below every stream of womanly effort and influence. To that shrine of noble womanhood pilgrimages are made, she said, by men and women from widely separated fields of work and varied views of responsibility and with diverse theories, all moved by the same resistless force.

   [New York City] Mayor Strong was to have followed Mrs. Dickinson, but on account of illness he was absent, and his private secretary, Job E. Hedges, represented him. The mayor, he said, had bade him express his most profound respect for the life work and services of the distinguished woman whom they were gathered to honor there, also to express his deepest sympathy with the object of the gathering.

   Mr. Hedges then delivered a brief eulogy of Mrs. Stanton who, he said, had written the declaration of independence on every heart throughout the land.

   Then Mrs. M. Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr college, delivered an address on "Education." She was followed by Miss Susan B. Anthony, who read greetings from sympathizers all over the country.

   Mrs. Stanton's speech was read by Miss Helen Potter. Among other things she said: "I would say to one and all that in demanding justice and equality for others I have found new liberty myself. I am aware that these demonstrations are not so many tributes to me as an individual as to the great idea I represent—the enfranchisement of women."

   Addresses were also delivered by Rev. Anna Howard Shaw, Madame Antonionette Stirling, Clara Barton, Mrs. Mary T. Burt, president of the New York Women's Christian Temperance union, Mrs. Emiline Burlingame Cheney, Mrs. Fannie Barrie Williams, Harriette A. Keyser, C. Chapman Cott, Mrs. Elizabeth Rietz Clymer, Mrs. Lillie Dovereau Blake, Susan B. Anthony and Mrs. May Wright Sewall.

THE FIRST NEW WOMAN.

On Nov. 12 Mrs. Stanton Will Become an Octogenarian and the Representatives of 700,000 Women Will Assemble to Do Her Honor and to Celebrate the Progress Which Their Sex Has Made—Famous Women of the Day Who Are to Speak. Mrs. Stanton's Early Life and What Has Been Accomplished Since She Struck the First Blow.

   Elizabeth Cady Stanton was only 10 years old when she began her life work of securing for women equal rights with man. She will be 80 years old on Nov. 13, and her birthday anniversary is to be made the occasion of a most remarkable gathering. Delegates representing 700,000 women are to gather at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York city and speeches will be made by some of the foremost women in the land.

   Mrs. Stanton, with her glorious crown of silver white hair and her pink cheeks, will be there herself. She is one of the most beautiful old ladies in the country and has done more for the cause she advocates by simply growing old gracefully than many of her coworkers have done by all their speeches. She is to make the first speech of the evening.

   The affair is in charge of a committee representing the National Council of Women of the United States, which is composed of 200 national organizations. Delegates from the majority of these organizations will attend. On the stage will be women whose names are known in many lands. Miss Kate Bond is chairman of committee.

Famous Women Will Be There.

   Susan B. Anthony, who shares with Mrs. Stanton the glory of a long fight for suffrage, will have something to say which is sure to be worth hearing and reading.

   Miss Frances E. Willard, whose work in the interests of temperance has taken her into nearly every country in the world, will tell what has been accomplished by that great organization, the Women's Christian Temperance union.

   Miss Clara Barton, who for half a century has been bringing relief wherever war or flood or fire or pestilence has left helpless sufferers, will probably tell something about how the organization of the American Association of the Red Cross was completed.

   Among the literary women who expect to be present are Julia Ward Howe, Mrs. Amelia E. Barr, Mrs. James K. Field and a long list of other well known authors. Harriet Hosmer, the sculptor, will speak of the advance made by her sex in art, and several presidents of women's colleges will be present to tell what has been done in educational matters.

   Mrs. Emeline Burlingame Cheney, for more than ten years the president of a foreign mission society, will speak concerning the extent to which the present stage of mission work is due to the efforts of early workers in this field.

   Mrs. J. Ellen Foster will talk of the relation of women's progress to human progress. Charities and industries will receive their full share of attention.

   Women in medicine will be represented by Dr. Emily Blackwell, and representatives of some of the women's medical schools will be present in a body.

   Elizabeth Cady Stanton, America's pioneer champion for her sex, was born in Johnstown, N. Y., Nov. 12, 1815, and the same year that saw the downfall of a man at Waterloo who knew only the bloody lust of a military ambition gave to the world a woman who was from her cradle destined to help the world toward a more altruistic civilization. Her family was a distinguished one. Her father, Judge Daniel Cady, was a man who attained distinction in jurisprudence, and her mother, Margaret Livingston Cady, was a brilliant representative of the historic Livingstons of the Knickerbocker days. Mrs. Stanton was graduated from the Emma Willard Female Seminary at Troy, N. Y., in 1833, having gained what was at that day considered the highest education for a woman. Her mind refused to be satisfied with this, and she attempted to enter Union college, but could not do so, as that institution, in common with others, declined to open its doors to women.

Her Early Life.

   She then studied Latin and Greek at home, and under her father's tuition attained an excellent knowledge of law. In 1840, in the full glow of superb physical charms and the attraction of a cultivated intellect, she married Henry Brewster Stanton, a man of versatile accomplishments, who was all his life a sympathetic and helpful companion. Their union was a rarely beautiful one, and all the diversified occupations of a busy life never deterred Mrs. Stanton from the duties of a wife and mother.

   The events which have crowded into this memorable life are almost legion. A bare recapitulation of them would fill columns, and to detail them in sequence would be to epitomize all the important movements in favor of women in the United States within the present century.

   It was in 1840 at the world's antislavery convention, held in London, that Mrs. Stanton, who had gone thither on her wedding trip, was fully aroused to her life's work. The convention was thunderstruck at the unexpected appearance of the women delegates, who were Lucretia Mott, Sarah Pugh, Abby Kimber, Elizalieth Neal, Mary Grew, Ann Green Phillips, Abby Southwick and Emily Winslow. A solemn discussion by the men ended in an overwhelming vote excluding the women from the convention, but permitting them as an especial favor to sit behind a curtain and listen without being either seen or heard! William Lloyd Garrison and Nathaniel P. Rogers refused their seats as delegates on account of this decision and sat in silence throughout the ten days' convention, although the discussions were agitating two continents.

   It was on the 19th and 20th of July, 1848, that the first woman's rights convention ever held in the United States convened at Seneca Falls, N. Y., on the call of Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Martha C. Wright and Mary Ann McClintock. The ninth resolution was introduced by Mrs. Stanton, and after great discussion was adopted by a small majority. It read:

   "Resolved, That it is the duty of the women of this country to secure to themselves their right to the elective franchise."

   Elizabeth Cady Stanton is the first woman in America who dared to place on record a request for the enfranchisement of women. Lucretia Mott and others of her associates at that time considered such a resolution too radical.

The Results of Her Life Work.

   Almost half a century has passed since that memorable meeting. Since then, what?

   Lucy Stone has lived and died. William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Abraham Lincoln, George William Curtis and a host of other distinguished men have lifted up their voices for the cause, and the number of women actually enlisted in it even here in America is so large as to be difficult to compute, while there are great hosts in England, France, Canada, the Australian lands and other foreign countries.

   Mrs. Stanton has lived to see Cornell, Oberlin and Johns Hopkins open their doors to women and graduate them on equal terms with men; she has seen Radcliffe, Wellesley, Vassar, Smith, Barnard and other institutions for the higher education of women rise and flourish; she saw Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell, the first woman minister in the United States, early in the fifties, and she sees today, by official statistics at Washington, 1,235.

   In other professions and higher occupations the growth has been equally remarkable and the women physicians are numbered by scores of thousands in America. In England the way is now almost entirely clear for them. The degrees at the universities of London, Durham, Ireland, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St. Andrews, the medical colleges of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Ireland and the license of Apothecaries' Hall are now all open to women.

   Such are a few signs of progress which Mrs. Stanton has lived to see blazed along the world's highway. Science, religion, art, philosophy, philanthropy and statecraft all show a tendency toward converging into a force in the twentieth century which will bring the dawn of a higher civilization in which women will represent half of the political power.

PAGE TWO—EDITORIALS.

Monroe Doctrine a British Idea.

   The New York Sun reminds the American people that the Monroe doctrine as a matter of fact originated nowhere else than in England. When Spain tried through the aid of the so called holy alliance to reconquer her South American provinces, Mr. Canning, British minister, made the proposition that England and the United States should join hands and prevent it. The idea was received with much satisfaction in America. Thomas Jefferson understood Canning as proposing nothing less than that Great Britain should help the United States to keep off the American continent all European powers. Both Canning and Jefferson thought this alliance would prevent war in Europe and America. Now, in trying to grab some 50,000 square miles of territory from the American republic of Venezuela, England finds it convenient to go back on her own doctrine.

   The Sun says:

   If those English journals of today that wonder why the United States should pretend to interfere in the dealings of Europe with South America would take the trouble to look up the diplomatic history of their own country, at least their ignorance would be less dense. It is true that England's interests 70 years ago were special, and that when some of her statesmen then welcomed the Monroe doctrine their eyes were fixed upon France and Spain. But obviously it cannot alter the essential principle of the doctrine that it was made broad enough to include her with other European powers. She practically invited its promulgation, and it still remains, as it was then, a doctrine she is bound to respect.

HELD FOR GRAND JURY.

Matthew Graham and Wife Charged With Perjury in the Rowe Case.

   Matthew Graham and Elizabeth Graham, his wife, who were arrested yesterday afternoon at East Homer by Chief of Police Linderman on a warrant swore out by Dr. E. M. Santee on the charge of perjury in the Rowe excise case, were brought at once before Police Justice Bull. They retained James Dougherty as their counsel. They waived examination and Justice Bull entered an order holding them to await the action of the grand jury. Justice Bull could not admit them to bail, as the penalty for the offense charged is beyond jurisdiction of his court. The police court can admit to bail only in cases where the maximum penalty of the offense charged does not exceed five years. The maximum penalty for the offense of perjury is ten years. Accordingly the defendants took Justice Bull's commitment order to Judge Eggleston of the county court who admitted them to bail in the sum $1,000 each. John Hodgson and I. Whiteson signed the bail bonds.

Linderman Excise Case.

   The case of The People vs. R. Burns Linderman is on trial in police court this afternoon. The defendant is charged with the illegal sale of liquor. I. H. Palmer appears for the plaintiff and James Dougherty for the defendant.

   The case was called at 10 o'clock. The defendant moved an adjournment on the ground that they could not find their witnesses. Denied.

   A jury was then called and was finally secured this afternoon as follows: N. J. Parsons, A. M. Schemerhorn, O. A. Brazie, John Parks, J. D. Fish, W. G. McKinney.

   As The STANDARD goes to press the case had been opened by Attorney Palmer and M. L. Munson had been called as the first witness for the prosecution.

A BEAUTIFUL SOUVENIR.

One of Forty-two Whose Fathers Were in the Revolutionary War.

   Miss Sarah Gridley, who lives at 40 Greenbush-st., has recently come into possession of a beautiful and highly prized souvenir spoon from the National Society of the Daughters of the Revolution of which she recently became a member. The spoon is of gold and is beautifully engraved. Miss Gridley is the daughter of Isaiah Gridley, who enlisted in the Revolution from Hartford, Ct., Dec. 4, 1780, and served three years.

   Miss Gridley is a member of the Cazenovia chapter and bears the distinction of being one of the forty-two members of the society in the United States whose own father served in the Revolution. It is also believed that she is the only lady living in New York state whose father served in this war. She is a remarkably bright and active lady, eighty-six years of age and may well be proud of the distinction which she bears.

BREVITIES.

   —One drunk occupied the cooler last night and was this morning discharged.

   —New advertisements to-day are—Case, Ruggles and Bristol, page 6; Kellogg & Curtis, page 6.

   —There will be a rehearsal of the Mikado chorus at the Clover club rooms this evening at 7:30 o'clock.

   —The Mothers' meeting (west) will be held at the home of Mrs. Johnson, 16 Duane-st. All ladies are cordially invited to attend.

   —The body of the infant child of Mr. and Mrs. William Marr was this morning taken from the vault in the cemetery and removed to Syracuse for burial.

   —The STANDARD is in receipt of a very fine article upon Hon. Allen G. Thurman which was published in a recent number of a Columbus, O., paper and which was sent by Mr. C. W. Wiles of Delaware, O.

   —The Y. M. C. A. prayer-meeting will be held at 8 o'clock to-night and will be conducted by Rev, M. J. Wells, pastor of the Homer-ave. M. E. church. The subject will be "An Unwilling Messenger," Jonah i:1-19, iii, iv.

   —This morning Mr. Emmet Clark, who was very low with consumption was moved in Beard & Peck's ambulance from 36 Pomeroy-st. to 38 Hubbard-st. As we go to press word comes to this office that Mr. Clark had just died.

   —The first forms of the Industrial Edition of The STANDARD went to press to-day. It will take about two weeks to print it all. The delay, though annoying to the subscribers, has really made the work more valuable, as it has been caused by the introduction of additional cuts.

   —The High school football team will play the Cortland Normal team at Bingo park Saturday afternoon. Although the boys were overwhelmingly defeated last Saturday by the Cortland team they are determined to make the embryonic teachers chew the dust this week and in preparation for this act are spending every spare moment in practice. The game will be a hard fought one.—Binghamton Herald.