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390 & 2. SBA was just recovering. The previous night she wrote, “Got up—took tub bath—dressed & went down to breakfast for first since 8 of January—& felt a good deal better—but my nose began to run—as if I had taken cold.”(SBA diary,7 March 1901.) Textual Notes¶2 ll. 3–4 proved the opening wedge nsessamep l. 10 if that was the ncausep difficulty, l. 12 from February 15th n1900p ••••••••• 179 • ECS to the Editors, WOMAN’S JOURNAL [New York, before 9 March 1901] Editors Woman’s Journal: The sentiments of men in high places are responsible for the terrible outrages on woman in the haunts of vice and on the highway. We cannot estimate the widespread demoralization, when a man like Dr. Abbott 1 travels to another State to deprive women of their inalienable rights, of all those blessings which he prizes so highly for himself. It would have been bad enough for Dr. Abbott to have gone before the Legislature of his own State, to deprive his own mother, wife, sister, or daughter of justice, liberty, and equality; but to face the highly educated women of Massachusetts, his peers in virtue and intelligence, and in their own capitol, under their own flag, to protest against their admission to the most sacred rights of citizens, is as bad as going into a neighbor’s home,and denying him an honored seat at his own table. Suppose Dr. Abbott had appealed to the Legislature of New York for the restitution of some sacred right, what would he have thought and said if Julia Ward Howe, Mary A. Livermore, Ednah D. Cheney, 2 and Alice Stone Blackwell had come in hot haste from Massachusetts to implore the legislators of New York to refuse his appeal as unreasonable and dangerous to the public good? Where did Dr. Abbott get his inalienable rights? Precisely where these ladies got theirs,in the necessities of his being.They need all these rights, just as he does, for their growth and development. The outrages against woman, of daily occurrence, are sufficient proof that she must hold the means of protection and defence in her own hands. It is 8 march 1901 ^ 391 a wild and guilty fantasy to suppose that all women’s interests are safe in the hands of all men. Individual conscience and judgment are the foundation stones of a republican government and a true civilization. Whatever lessens woman’s self-respect, or the respect of others for her, is demoralizing to the entire race. The following item, now going the rounds of the press, illustrates the opinion of another man in a high place; and the want of self-respect in her who would bury the woman beneath the Queen: At the services yesterday morning in the Temple EmanuEl , Rabbi Joseph Silverman spoke on “The Lessons from the Life of the Late Queen Victoria—the Royalty of True Womanhood .” 3 “Victoria was the uncrowned Queen of the whole world,” said the speaker. “Ascending the throne in her teens, she then displayed the qualities which have marked her entire reign— the simplicity, modesty, graciousness, and veracity of true womanhood. Victoria never forgot the woman in the Queen. She presented in her life not the royalty of a monarch, but the royalty of true womanhood.” At the time of her marriage, the speaker went on to say, an incident had occurred which was illustrative of her whole life. The Archbishop of Canterbury had approached her just before the service, and suggested that in view of her place it might be well to omit the word “obey” from the ceremony. “My lord, omit nothing,” she had replied. “I wish to be married as a woman, not as a Queen.” This one act of Victoria,and of Wilhelmina 4 also,has been more praised by churchmen than any other. But it is not an evidence of simplicity, modesty , or true womanhood willingly to accept a position of subjection, to be given away like a piece of merchandise, or to promise to obey, like a slave, another imperfect mortal. This part of the marriage ceremony should be abolished altogether by the authorities of the Church,out of respect for the dignity and honor of the mothers of the race. U Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Y Woman’s Journal, 9 March 1901. 1. Lyman Abbott (1835–1922), a former Congregational minister, found a new 9 march 1901 [18.223.106.232] Project MUSE (2024-04-25 00:02 GMT...

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