Part 9 (1/2)
Under the rules this resolution had to lie over.
Fearing that I could not be heard, I had proposed that Mr. Jas. B.
Guthrie, my son-in-law, should read my speech. But Mrs. Saxon said: ”You do not wish a man to represent you at the polls; represent yourself now, if you only stand up and move your lips.” ”I will,” I said. ”You are right.” The following is my address in part:
”Mr. President and Delegates of the Convention:
”When we remember the persistent and aggressive efforts which our energetic sisters of the North have exerted for so many years in their struggle before they could obtain a hearing from any legislative a.s.sembly, we find ourselves lost in a pleasing astonishment at the graciousness which beams upon us here from all quarters. Should we even now be remanded to our places, and our pet.i.tion meet with an utter refusal, we should be grieved to the heart, we should be sorely disappointed, but we never could cherish the least feeling of rebellious spite toward this convention of men, who have shown themselves so respectful and considerate toward the women of Louisiana.
”Perhaps some of the gentlemen thought we did not possess the moral courage to venture even thus far from the retirement in which we have always preferred to dwell. Be a.s.sured that a resolute and conscientious woman can put aside her individual preferences at the call of duty, and act unselfishly for the good of others.
”The ladies who have already addressed you have given you unanswerable arguments, and in eloquent language have made their appeal, to which you could not have been insensible or indifferent. It only remains for me to give you some of my own individual views in the few words which are to conclude this interview.
”The laws on the statute books permit us to own property and enjoy its revenues, but do not permit us to say who shall collect the taxes. We are thus compelled to a.s.sist in the support of the State in an enforced way, when we ourselves would greatly prefer to do the same thing with our own intelligent, free consent.
”We know this Republic has been lauded in the old times of the Fourth of July orations as the freest, best government the world ever saw. If women, the better half of humanity, were allowed a voice and influence in its councils, I believe it would be restored to its purity and ancient glory; and a n.o.bler patriotism would be brought to life in the heart of this nation.
”It seems to me that there ought to be a time, to which we may look forward with satisfaction, when we shall cease to be minors, when the sympathy and a.s.sistance we are so capable of furnis.h.i.+ng in the domestic relation, may in a smaller degree be available for the good and economical management of public affairs. It really appears strange to us, after we have brought up children and regulated our houses, where often we have the entire responsibility, with money and valuables placed in our charge, that a man can be found who would humiliate us by expressing an absolute fear to trust us with the ballot.
”In many nations there is an army of earnest, thoughtful, large-hearted women, working day and night to elevate their s.e.x; for their higher education; to open new avenues for their industrious hands; trying to make women helpers to man, instead of millstones round his neck to sink him in his life struggle.
”Ah, if we could only infuse into your souls the courage which we, const.i.tutionally timid as we are, now feel on this subject, you would not only dare but hasten to perform this act of justice and inaugurate the beginning of the end which all but the blind can see is surely and steadily approaching. We are willing to accept anything. We have always been in the position of beggars, as now, and cannot be choosers if we wished. We shall gladly accept the franchise on any terms, provided they be wholly and entirely honorable. If you should see proper to subject us to an educational test, even of a high order, we would try to attain it; if you require a considerable property qualification, we would not complain. We would be only too grateful for any amelioration of our legal disabilities. Allow me to ask, are we less prepared for the intelligent exercise of the right of suffrage than were the freedmen when it was suddenly conferred upon them?
”Perhaps you think only a few of us desire the ballot. Even if this were true, we think it would not be any sufficient reason for withholding it.
In old times most of our slaves were happy and contented. Under the rule of good and humane masters, they gave themselves no trouble to grasp after the unattainable freedom which was beyond their reach. So it is with us to-day. We are happy and kindly treated (as witness our reception to-night), and in the enjoyment of the numerous privileges which our chivalrous gentlemen are so ready to accord; many of us who feel a wish for freedom do not venture even to whisper a single word about our rights.
For the last twenty-five years I have occasionally expressed a wish to vote, and it was always received with surprise; but the sort of effect produced was as different as the characters of the individuals with whom I conversed. I cannot see how the simple act of voting can hurt or injure a true and n.o.ble woman any more than it degrades the brave and honorable man.
”Gentlemen of the Convention, we now leave our cause in your hands, and commend it to your favorable consideration. We have pointed out to you the signs of the dawning of a better day for woman, which are so plain before our eyes, and implore you to reach out your hands and help us to establish that free and equal companions.h.i.+p which G.o.d ordained in the beginning in the Garden of Eden before the serpent came and curses fell.”
Mrs. Sarah A. Dorsey was prevented by illness, which terminated fatally, from appearing personally, but sent a letter which was read before the Convention by Col. John M. Sandige. She advanced, among others, the following ideas: ”Being left by the fiat of G.o.d entirely alone in the world, with no man to represent me; having large interests in the State, and no voice either in representation or taxation, while hundreds of my negro lessees vote and control my life and property, I feel that I ought to say one word that may aid many other women whom fate has left equally dest.i.tute. I ask representation for taxation--for my sisters and for the future race. We do not expect to do men's work, we can never pa.s.s the limits which nature herself has set. But we ask for justice; we ask for the removal of unnatural restrictions that are contrary to the elemental spirit of the civil law; we do not ask for rights, but for permission to a.s.sume our natural responsibilities.”
Mrs. Dorsey was a native of Mississippi, and became widely conspicuous by reason of the bequest of her home, Beauvoir, and other personal property, to Mr. Jefferson Davis. She made this will because, as mentioned in the doc.u.ment, ”I do not intend to share in the ingrat.i.tude of my country toward the man who is, in my eyes, the highest and n.o.blest in existence.”
Mrs. Elisha Warfield, of Kentucky, was the aunt of Mrs. Dorsey, and the author of the novel ”Beauvoir,” from which the plantation was named, and which estate Mrs. Dorsey devoted to the cultivation of oranges. She was a rarely gifted woman. Besides the usual accomplishments of women of her day, she possessed remarkable musical skill, and was a pupil of Bochsa, owning the harp which he had taught her to handle as a master. She was a writer of power and had studied law and book-keeping. A friend who was present in her last illness wrote me: ”She appeared to greater advantage in her home than anywhere else. She was of those whom one comes to know soon and to love; and is one of the many who have pa.s.sed on, with whom the meeting again is looked forward to with true delight.”
When the new Const.i.tution was promulgated it contained but one little concession to women: ”Art. 232.--Women twenty-one years of age and upwards shall be eligible to any office of control or management under the school laws of the State.”
The women of Louisiana have realized no advantage from this law. Their first demand was for a place on the school board of New Orleans, in 1885.
The governor fills by appointment all school offices. Gov. McEnery ruled that Art. 232 of the Const.i.tution was inoperative until there should be legislation to enforce it, the existing statutes of Louisiana barring a woman from acting independent of her husband, and would make the husband of a married woman a co-appointee to any public office; that a repeal of this _in solido_ statute was necessary before he could place a woman on the school board.
Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton's seventieth birthday was on Nov. 12 of this year. In her honor a special reception was held by the Woman's Club of New Orleans. I here reviewed the action of the governor in a paper which set forth the following points: First, that the Const.i.tution is imperative; that legislation for its self-acting and absolute provisions would be to place the creature in control of the creator. Second, that the legislature had no jurisdiction over the eligibility of women to appointment on school boards, as the Const.i.tution had explicitly declared that ”women twenty-one and upwards shall be eligible.” Third, if the governor's objection against married women were valid it had no force against unmarried women and widows.
Protest, however, proved futile. No succeeding governor appointed a woman, so no test case was ever made, and the Const.i.tutional Convention of 1898 repealed this little shadow of justice to women, even in the face of the fact that at the time the small concession was made one-half of the 80,000 children in the public schools of New Orleans were girls, and 368 out of the 389 teachers were women.
In 1880 I met General and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, at a private reception given at the home of Hon. Walker Fearn, in New Orleans. The General was a handsome, soldierly man. I told him that we had mutual friends, and named Bishop Simpson, whom, with his wife, I had entertained, and liked because of his liberal views toward women. ”That,” said General Grant, ”is what I object to.” ”Oh, General,” I answered, ”I hope that you would not be unwilling that we should have the ballot?” ”No, Mrs. Merrick, I should not be unwilling that you and Mrs. Grant should vote, but I should seriously object to confer that responsibility on Bridget, your cook.” I had always heard that General Grant could not talk, and was surprised to find him so genial and agreeable. Knowing me to be a Southern woman, he questioned me keenly and intelligently about the people of my section. I had a half-hour of delightful conversation with him, which he, equally with myself, seemed to enjoy.
During the year 1881 Miss Genevieve Ward was filling an engagement at the Grand Opera House in New Orleans. This winning actress was a descendant of Jonathan Edwards, the renowned Puritan preacher, and at that time was in her prime. At the request of her husband's relatives in New York, my daughter entertained this famous lady at a lunch party, where I was present. We found her a dignified, modest woman, and, like Charlotte Cushman, above reproach. She was an intimate friend of the great Ristori.
Among our twelve guests was Geo. W. Cable, already become famous. His last book, with all of our autographs in it, was given to Miss Ward as a souvenir of the occasion.