USA > Ohio > The Western Reserve of Ohio and some of its pioneers, places and women's clubs, Vol. II > Part 5
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The next speaker was Mrs. Myra K. Fenton. She took for her text "Caps and Handicaps of Women," and her address was both humorous and instructive. Mrs. A. A. F. Johnston, of Oberlin College, was then introduced, the topic assigned to her being "Co-Education." Mrs. Johnston began by defining co- education. She said it was not two colleges at separate ends of a common property, but yet so near together that one fac- ulty, one library and one laboratory served for both institu- tions. That was separate education. Co-education was not to be found in a college intended for men only, but forced by circumstances to open its doors to women. "Co-education," she continued, "means a college which, from its foundation to its topmost stone, in all its regulations, methods and appointments, is prepared to educate both men and women, giving each the same mental discipline and the same broad culture, but never forgetting that men are men and women are women. You ask, what does this method have in its favor as compared with other methods? I answer that I am not here to compare meth- ods, but to tell you what is intrinsically good in co-education. And, first, it seems to be a national and a rational method. It does not take a boy and girl, and for four, six or eight years, give them a life that seems to have nothing in common with what has gone before in their lives, or with what is to come after. It says to parents, give us your boy and girl and we will not only educate them, but they shall have, as nearly as possible, the same relations to each other as they enjoyed at home, and which they will meet in the world when they become men and women. If it is contended that there are dangers in this method, I answer that there are also dangers in the home and in society. The successful home is the regulated home. Society is governed by laws, and so must the college be.
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"In the second place, co-education is the most economical method. There are colleges enough already founded to educate all the men and women who will go to college during the next fifty years. There is not a well-equipped college in this country. Every college needs enlarged libraries, enlarged laboratories, and stronger faculties. There are a great many good teachers, but very few eminent ones. No college has more than one or two of the latter class, many never had one. Colleges for women only, therefore, cannot hope to command teachers of eminence. I read an aphorism the other day that ought to make its author immortal. It was: 'On a round world two may stand face to face who stand back to back.' Do you get the full meaning of this? It means that in order to look into each other's faces they must circle the world. If one of them is a woman, to meet her opposite where she ought to meet him she must travel as far as he; her step must be as firm, her eye as well trained, her heart as brave as his. Then the meeting will have in it all the beauty and promise of that mystic hour in the far northern latitude, where dawn joins hands with twilight in the promise of a day that has no night, for its light has the softness of the moon, the brilliancy of the stars, and the strength of the sun."
Mrs. Johnston was loudly applauded as she sat down. The women of Sorosis are always lavish in their applause at these gatherings, and the speakers invariably meet with the measure of commendation that they deserve. Miss Ethelyn Seymour sang "Answer," Miss Hessler again playing the accompaniment. "Women and the Press," was the next toast, and it was re- sponded to by Mrs. Sarah E. Bierce, of the Ohio Women's Press Club. Mrs. Bierce said that there were sixty-two women's press associations in existence, and at least fifty of the most prominent women writers were Ohioans.
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Mrs. Ingham then read a number of letters of congratula- tion and regret. Mrs. Potter Palmer, the President of the Women's Department of the Columbian Exposition, wrote en- couragingly to the members of Sorosis, and called to their remembrance that it was owing to the enterprise and generosity of Queen Isabella, of Spain, that this continent was discovered. Led by the toastmistress, the assembled guests gave the Chau- tauqua salute in honor of Mrs. Elroy M. Avery, who was then to leave for California with the National Press Association. A letter from Mrs. Charles Henroten, the vice president of the woman's department of the exposition, announced that she expected to be in Cleveland this month. Other letters read were from Miss Eliza Hardy Lord, the dean of the College for Women, and Miss Luella Varney, the well-known sculptor of Rome, Italy, and regrets for their inability to be present from Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton and Mrs. Lydia Hoyt Farmer. The fol- lowing were unanimously elected honorary members of Sorosis: Mrs. Mary S. Cary, Mrs. A. A. F. Johnston, Miss Luella Varney, and Mrs. Cornelia Lossing Tilden.
Mrs. F. A. Kendall spoke to the theme, "Business Women." Her address was highly entertaining and tinged with humor. She said she had asked a certain gentleman what she could say about "Business Women," and he replied that he didn't know of any. Mrs. Kendall told more than one story at the ex- pense of her sex, but did not close without paying a high tribute to their business ability.
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TOAST Woman, Her Caps and Handicaps MRS. MYRA K. FENTON.
Allow me to illustrate the subject of my toast by telling a story which seems to me to be a propos. There is a town in Michigan called Fruitport, and a resident was once asked what gave it the name. "It is called Fruitport," said he, "because there is no port here, and blamed little fruit."
Now, as to "caps," they are all out of date, and so there are none. They have evolved into bonnets, the multitude of which no man can number, and the price of which is also in- computable.
Handicaps, to borrow the phrase of the Michigan man, are growing "blamed little;" neither are the lords of creation al together to blame for those we have.
Woman has handicapped herself by her conformity to cus- tom, and by her adherence to social conventionalities. It is easier for her to conform than to reform, and so, when she is "with the Romans she does as the Romans do," and she is pretty much all of her time with the Romans. Many a woman has sat down with herself and seriously faced the question of profit and loss in the existing order of things, and she has set her rebellious heart against the iron hand that handicaps her thought, her strength and her time, all to so little purpose. She feels that she is socially enthralled; society hampers her dress, entangles her; her household goods are subjects of her care, or doomed to chaos, and so the days and years go by, and with all the force she has expended, what has she gained? Little, but a knowledge of the fact that she has been handi- capped by custom, and that she, herself, is in great measure responsible for it.
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In this work-a-day world, there is no excellence without striving, and when woman has broken a few more of her own fetters, then she shall walk forth unhindered where she will.
With all her faults, woman "is here to stay," and you cannot abolish nor extinguish her. She is a fixed fact, and she is here for a purpose. She is going to reform and remodel the world one day-with the help of her husband, her brother, her son and her grandfather. She is going to reform them, and when she gets them well reformed they will try to reform her.
TOAST WOMEN'S PRESS CLUBS
MRS. S. E. BIERCE.
Madam President and Members of Sorosis:
I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak for my sis- ters of the press before this goodly company of women, "engaged in literary, artistic, scientific and philanthropic pursuits, with the view of rendering them helpful to each other and useful to society," for to such, as represented by Sorosis are Plato's words justly true: "In these cities, there are not only men who pride themselves on learning, but women too."
May the work of Sorosis be as successful as its aims are high. There never was a time when women were as devoted to the uplifting of the sex as to-day.
While we are not all working in the same line, it is delight- ful to clasp hands, look into each other's eyes, and feel that the same purpose animates our hearts.
Pen women have found no royal road to fortune or distinc- tion. Alps on Alps of pride, prejudice, poor work and poor pay, have confronted them at every step, until it has seemed
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that Pandora's box of evils had been reserved for their aspiring heads. They are beginning to learn, after much bitter experi- ence, that no sowing of dragon's teeth will yield a crop of well- equipped writers, whose pens shall do good service in the moral conflicts of this restless age. There is a demand for the work that women can do in the newspaper world, and every day adds to the number of women workers.
Three soldiers were gathered about a camp-fire, in the old days, when the great arteries of the Nation's heart beat to the dread alarm of civil war. One of these boys in blue was a grey-haired veteran, who had just returned from the hospital, where gentle, heroic women had nursed him from the very bor- der of the grave, to send him back again to defend the flag they loved so well.
The rough old soldier had evidently found woman as much in the way as Mark Twain finds the weather. But he had had an awakening from his experience in the hospital, which he was explaining to his comrades, in language less elegant than forcible : "Afore the war, boys," said he, "I didn't reckon much on wimmin folks. For me, they was kinder in the way somehow, even though they could cook corn bread an' taters an' mend, tend ter sick uns, make soap an' do chores when the men are hayin' and the like o' that. But, boys, a spell in the hospital, with death a-starin' me in the face, put some new ideas inter my head. Women hain't what I thunk um at all. I don't make no bones a sayin' they's been a bustin' surprise ter me. Why, Bill, wimmin's the whole book of Revelations, with the Psalms thrown in. Now, I hain't no wife, nor sister; boys, but I believe in wimmin, I do, an' if the millennium ever comes she'll fetch it!"
Now, I more than half agree with the chivalric old soldier, for I do believe in woman, the work of her hands, her heart and
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her brain. How grandly she has come up to places of honor that were believed, until recently, to belong exclusively to men. How eagerly she has availed herself of the higher educational advantages. There is no line along which this has shown better results than amongst women writers, and the hope of the future largely depends upon the younger women, who find out in the schools that they may have literary aspirations, and put themselves to training for it.
We all know that there is much poor work done. The public demand it, and the dear public must have what it calls for, or the woman who wins her bread by her pen will go supperless to bed.
Time, experience, and the fitness of things, regulate much. Every year brings to the front women, whose aspirations are high, whose talents are good, whose training has been by hard work, who believe that the pen is mightier than the sword, and take it up, not as a diversion but as an instrument of their life- work, which they mean to do with all the loving womanliness, the grace, the power and the genius that God has given them. Thirty years ago it was a very rare thing for a woman to be directly connected with a newspaper. Today there is scarcely a paper of any importance-from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf-that has not women upon its staff. Many of these women are well paid. Press Associations have sprung up in many states, showing that pen women are begin- ning to avail themselves of organized efforts. It was a proud and happy day for some of us, when, just a year ago, sixty- two press associations met by delegates at Pittsburgh for the purpose of forming an International League of Press Clubs, and six women's clubs were admitted to equal fellowship, with- out a hint of an annex. The President, Foster Coates, of the
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New York Mail and Express, in his opening speech, paid a beau- tiful tribute to woman, from which I take one sentence: "This is the woman's golden hour. She is toiling as women never toiled before to make fame and fortune in a profession that rec- ognizes no sex in work."
One who has not given particular attention to the matter can hardly realize how many women there are, who "live to write, or write to live."
During Ohio's Centennial year it was my privilege, as Sec- retary of the O. W. P. A., to hunt up and collect for the woman's department, as far as possible, all books, pamphlets, scrap- books of correspondents, music, etc., written by Ohio women. When my work was done, I had 300 names of women writers upon my list, and I have since learned of many more. Like Tam O'Shanter, I was "right sair astonished." I had known what Ohio could do for Presidents and Governors and Supreme Judges, but I had no idea of what sort of material she had given the world in her famous daughters.
Right here in Cleveland there are names of which we may well be proud. Constance Fenemore Woolson and Susan Cool- edge, spent their girlhood in Cleveland, and a host of younger members are working their way to the front.
These women of the Ohio press do not mean to be behind you, members of Sorosis. Their aims, too, are high, and their pens are ever ready in every good cause.
PAPER
Outline of a Lecture on Color, at Regular Meeting of Sorosis
Certain principles underlie the harmonies of color, and it is with these principles, rather than with the correct use of color in particular cases, that this lecture has to do. There are three fundamental colors-red, yellow and blue; all others
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are combinations of these. White light is the union of these colors in certain fixed proportions, hence all colors are con- tained in white. All bodies absorb some rays of light and reflect others. Color is caused by the reflected rays. A poppy is red, because it reflects red rays and absorbs blue and yellow. Leaves are green, because they reflect blue and yellow rays, which combined, produce green.
Light, like sound, is the result of vibrations of the air. Certain vibrations are in accord, and please the eye, just as some combinations of sound vibrations please the ear. In color, as in music, the rarest harmonies lie close to the edge of discord.
Of the two important groups of harmonies, those of analogy and those of contrast.
The harmony of contrasting colors depends directly upon the law of complementaries, of which Charles Blanc gives this explanation. The eye, being made for white light, needs to complete it when it receives only a part. If the eye receives blue rays, yellow and red will be needed to complete the white light. Hence their union, or green, will be the complementary color.
A faded blue is improved by placing near it a vase of yellow flowers. A pale complexion is given color by wearing green, and a sallow color is increased by wearing lavender. A handsome blue may be much injured by the presence of red.
Colors are warm or cool, according to the predominance of warm yellow or red, or of cool blue in their composition. There are cool blue-greens, and warm yellow-greens. As a room may be cold and need warmth, or a cool effect may be desired, this quality of color should always be taken into consideration,
The prevailing color in any scheme of decoration, like the key-note in a piece of music, gives it a certain tone, which is de-
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scribed by its effect on the feelings, as grave or gay, sad ox sunny, refreshing, gloomy, etc. These tones creep into our rooms without our knowledge, and in harmony with our natures. The life of the home finds expression in the color tones, and will do more than aught else to render them bright and beau- tiful.
It may be we are only beginning to enter into the mysteries of color, and that some future century may see the art so de- veloped that it will take from the land of dreams the wonderful color symphony, so vividly pictured by Mrs. Ward, in her story of life, "Beyond the Gates."
MARY KEFFER, Lake Erie Seminary, Painesville, Ohio.
TEMPERANCE
The First National W. C. T. U. Convention
The Cleveland Crusade closed May 1st, 1874. Two im- portant conventions of women and men interested in Temper- ance work took place in Cincinnati and Springfield during June and September of that year. For the history of those, and of the name, Woman's Christian Temperance Union, we must look to later print. Mrs. H. C. M'Cabe, of Delaware, Ohio, Mrs. G. W. Manley, of Akron, and Mrs. W. A. Ingham, of Cleveland, prepared, jointly, an interesting manuscript, which has never yet been printed, but which we hope will be given to the world as early as May 1, 1894. For the present we may briefly review the origin of the National.
The hand full of corn upon the tops of the mountains grew apace, after its wonderful planting in Ohio, during the winter and spring of 1873-4. The fruit thereof shook like Lebanon throughout the Middle and Western States, and in August of
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that year many of the seed-sowers had gathered upon the shore of Lake Chautauqua, for a fortnight in the woods. İn primi- tive fashion we dwelt in tents, or sat in the open air about the watch fires kindled at the first National Sunday School As- sembly, for this was the beginning, too, of the open air Univer- sity. Women who had drawn near to God in saloon prayer meetings felt their hearts aflame again, as they recounted the wonders of the great uprising and temperance crusade. It was at Chautauqua-the birthplace of grand ideas -- that our Union originated, and it is full time that the story of its inception were written. One bright day a very few ladies were in con- versation upon the subject that filled their hearts, inspiring the thought that the temperance cause needs the united effort of all the women of the country. That very evening, at a prayer meeting a Good Templar and Prohibitionist, Mrs. Mattie M'Clellan Brown, of Alliance, O., whispered to Mrs. Russell, of Chicago, that a National Temperance League ought to be formed then and there, because so many ladies interested in the cru- sade were on the ground from various States.
Her suggestion was accepted next day by Mrs. G. W. Manley, leader of the praying band of Akron, and it was de- cided to take steps toward the formation of such a League. Mrs. Manley wrote the notice of a meeting to be held, with that object in view, which was read from the platform of the Audi- torium by Rev. Dr. Vincent, now Bishop. Mrs. Jennie F. Willing, of Illinois, a guest of the Assembly, maintained that so important a movement should be controlled by women en- gaged in active Christian work. In order to arrange the pre- liminaries of the announced meeting, Mrs. Willing invited Mrs. Brown, Mrs. Manley, Miss Emma Janes, of Oakland, California, and Mrs. Ingham, of Cleveland, to meet her in a new board
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shanty on Asbury avenue. Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Manley failed to appear at the appointed place, so the Women's National Temperance League was born with four witnesses, not in a manger, but on a floor of straw, in an apartment into which the daylight shone through holes and crevices.
In a half hour's space every detail was prepared by the three ladies, Mrs. Willing, Mrs. Ingham, and her sister, Miss Janes. This detail included a proposed formation of a Com- mittee of Organization, to take place that very afternoon, suc- ceeding the regular 3 o'clock session of the Assembly. At the temperance prayer meeting at 4 o'clock p. m., under the canvas tabernacle, were perhaps fifty earnest Christian women; of them were several from Ohio; also Mrs. H. H. Otis, of Buffalo, Mrs. Niles, of Hornellsville, and Mrs. W. E. Knox, of Elmira, New York. Mrs. Willing was leader of the prayer service, and acted as presiding officer of the business session, convened afterward. At this conference women were chosen to represent various States, an adjournment being had for the following day. At the hour appointed, Aug. 15, 1874, a large audience had gathered. Mrs. Jennie F. Willing was in the chair, and Mrs. Emily Huntington Miller, Secretary. As results of the delib- eration the Committee of Organization was formed, and the chairman and secretary of the Chautauqua meeting were authorized to issue a circular letter asking the Women's Tem- perance Leagues of the North to hold conventions for the pur- pose of electing one woman from each Congressional district, as delegate to an organizing convention, to be held in Cleveland, Ohio, November 18, 19 and 20, 1874, Mrs. W. A. Ingham to act as Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements.
The call duly appeared, to which the following names were appended, preceded by the names of the Chairman and Secre-
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tary: Mrs. Dr. Gauze, Philadelphia; Mrs. E. J. Knowles, New- ark, N. J .; Mrs. M. M. Brown, Alliance, O .; Mrs. W. D. Bar- nett, Hiawatha, Kansas; Miss Auretta Hoyt, Indianapolis, Ind .; Mrs. Ingham Stanton, Le Roy, N. Y .; Mrs. Francis Crook, Bal- timore, Md .; Miss Emma Janes, Oakland, Cal. (The conven- tion assembled at Cleveland in the Second Presbyterian Church, on Superior Street (since burned). Mrs. Willing was chosen President. Sixteen States were represented by grand women. Lovely crusaders of Cleveland, prominent among whom were Mrs. R. F. Smith and Mrs. Geo. E. Hall, secured entertainment for 300 persons. Sarah Knowles Bolton looked after the bag- gage of delegates and visitors. That lady and myself know something of the fatigues incident to preparations for conven- tions. Addresses of welcome were delivered by Mrs. H. C. M'Cabe, of Delaware, Ohio, President of the State Union, organized June 17, 1874.)
The daily press pronounced the executive ability of the women to be of high order, all unused, as we were, to delibera- tive assemblies. Universal comment was excited by the re- markable and thorough administration of the presiding officer through three difficult days. (Miss Willard lectured on the third evening in the First Presbyterian Church, Dr. H. C. Haydn having met her in European travel. The following ladies were chosen to serve during the year: President, Mrs. Anne Wittenmeyer, of Pennsylvania; Vice-Presidents, one from each State represented; Mrs. Eliza J. Thompson, V. P. for Ohio. Recording Secretary, Mrs. Mary C. Johnson, of New York; Corresponding Secretary, Miss Frances E. Willard, of Illinois; Treasurer, Mrs. W. A. Ingham, of Ohio. The bene- diction was pronounced at the close of the final session by Mary T. Lathrop, of Michigan.)
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The Twentieth Anniversary of this important event will be here before we know it-Nov. 18, 19 and 20, 1894. Vicissi- tudes have occurred during the eighteen years passed, but all tend, in our onward march to the fore-front of the battle, to bring nearer that which, overcoming by faith and labor we are sure to win-Victory !
SECOND LUNCHEON AND TOASTS As Reported in the Cleveland Plain Dealer
The luncheon of the Cleveland Sorosis, at the Hollenden, yesterday, proved to be a most delightful affair. About 150 ladies partook of the repast and listened to the entertaining addresses of the speakers. The luncheon was served in the main dining room at 1 o'clock. The tables were prettily adorned with fresh flowers, which, with the animated faces and tasteful afternoon toilettes of the ladies, made a most attractive scene. Shortly after 2 o'clock the president, Mrs. W. G. Rose, made the opening address. She expressed gratitude to all who had contributed to the pleasure and growth of the society, and especially to the committee who had charge of the banquet. She said that the labors of women in various charitable and church organizations had led them to desire to investigate the problems that menaced this glorious republic, and that now women's clubs systematized this study by various com- mittees, and by papers and talks gave the results of their re- searches. She referred to the women's Biennial meeting, to be held in Chicago the 11th, 12th and 13th of May, and hoped that Cleveland would send a large delegation. She urged her hearers to be prepared to comprehend the conventions to be held in 1893, in the auxiliary work of the Columbian Exposi- tion, for out of that might grow, a new method of dealing with
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pauperism, idiocy, insanity, and the homeless, parentless class which absorbed the attention and demanded the money of the best citizens. The speaker said she knew of no sin that de- served greater punishment than to bring into the world home- less wanderers, yet that parentless class was constantly increas- ing, adding to the number of those who must be fed, clothed and schooled by charity. Vast institutions were built for them, with the result that those cared for became more and more fond of such places, and willing to return to them, even when otherwise provided for. The speaker thought there was a better method, that of making it possible for men and women to earn their own homes, first, by taking an interest in the wages they received, which should be in proportion to the amount they earned for their employers, also aid them by having places where food and clothing could be purchased at wholesale rates, and trades, and workshops put in the com- mon schools. Mrs. Rose said there was need of persons of leisure and thoughtfulness to explain to the public why there were blackened walls, dusty, microbic streets, and careworn and pallid tradeswomen. Taxes were often placed on that which women could not approve. The city did not grow in beauty and improvements, and the people continued to pay for that which should come to them in lieu of their tax money. She concluded with asking for a discussion of these subjects, and expressing the belief that right would prevail. When the president con- cluded her address each member of the reception committee advanced and presented a rose, and Mrs. Leopold Dautel placed in their centre a handsome basket of flowers, amid great ap- plause from other members of the society.
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