Volume 1, Number 8

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Enlarged Number Twenty Pages

The Woman’s Era.

VOL. 1. NO. 8.

BOSTON, MASS., NOV., 1894, PRICE 10 CENTS.

THE WOMAN’S ERA.

THE WOMAN’S ERA, the organ of the National Federation of Afro-American Women, and devoted to the Interests of the Women’s Clubs, Leagues and Societies throughout the country.

Published monthly, in Boston, by JOSEPHINE ST. P. RUFFIN, FLORIDA R. RIDLEY, Editors and Publishers, 103 Charles Street.

SUBSCRIPTIONS.

  • Per Annum, – – – – – – – -$1.00
  • Single Copies, – – – – – – – -.10
  • Club Rates, one hundred copies, – 7.00
  • Subscriptions Payable in Advance.

NEW DEPARTMENTS.

Conducted by Mrs. W.E. Matthews, New York; Mrs. Mary Church Terrell, Washington; Mrs. Fannie Barrier Williams, Chicago; Mrs. J. Silome Yates, Kansas City; Elizabeth P. Ensley, Denver; Alice Ruth Moore, New Orleans.

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

All loyal club women will patronize our advertisers, and so help to make our paper a valuable advertising medium. We are happy to be able to personally endorse nearly all the advertisers. In this connection, we would like to call especial attention to some of our advertisements.

Mrs. Casneau makes and furnishes materials for a walking or visiting dress for $23.00. This hardly needs comment. A stylish, well-made cloth dress at $23.00 is a bargain, as the average woman must know.

Harvey, on Temple Place, trims hats and bonnets for 50 cents; makes and trims for $1.00. This is something for the economical woman, who wishes to dress well, to know.

Libby’s millinery rooms, on Temple Place, are well known, as is also the beauty and style of the bonnets and hats which come from there. A unique department of the business is the making of bonnets through mail orders. If a description of hair, eyes and complexion is furnished, satisfactory head wear is guaranteed.

At Roberts’, 578 Washington street, can be had fifty kinds of candy for 12 cents per pound. This is something for women who get up sales, fairs, etc., to remember.

Ray, on Chatham Row, sells a prepared icing which is so good it is called “Perfect Icing.” What an advantage to have an icing which does not spoil or foment, all prepared for use. Ray also has a splendid complexion soap, “Mealine,” which we can personally recommend. It is what few perfumed soaps seem to be–pure and efficacious.

H.W. Berry, 646 Washington street, is agent for all the first-class pianos, Steinways, Chickerings, Kranich & Bach, H.F. Miller, etc., which he sells on easy terms; and if slightly used, at great reduction. Choosing a piano is an important matter, and it is well to know of a place to go where you can make no mistake.

Baldwin & Dorsey, real estate agents, 555 Main street, Cambridge, are doing a business of which we ought to be proud. They have a well-equipped office, command all kinds of property in this city and suburbs, place mortgages, loan money, and build houses. They are young men of good business ability. It is an advantage which we hope our readers will embrace, to have the use of such an office as this.

West End day at the World’s Food Fair was one of the most successful of the month. The demonstrative lecture in the Home Department was by Mrs. Carrie Dearborn on “Chafing Dish Dainties.” Nearly four hundred ladies were in attendance, closely following the preparations of devilled chestnuts, cheese foudu [sic] fondu, and that last piece de resistance oyster rare-bit. The hygienic lunch, which followed the lecture, had been prepared in an Aladdin oven. The banquet table display was that for a bachelor’s dinner.

Why cannot the Domestic Science committee get up a course of lectures for the W. E. C.? Old methods in cooking, which considered only the palate, are becoming obsolete; nowadays, no cook is a cook unless she knows how to cook economically and healthfully, as well as palatably.

NEW YORK.

Victoria Earle

Greeting.

Victoria Earle

VICTORIA EARLE, EDITOR.

In entering upon the work of associate editor of the ERA, I do so with a firm faith in the power, responsibility and unlimited scope of woman’s work, and its ennobling influence, when rightly placed and practically supported. I am proud to be associated with the splendid array of womanly women who will labor in the future for the success of this woman’s venture, THE ERA, and with deep emotions of anxiety and hope, look to the women of my section to stand by me and hold up my hands. I beg their interest; I desire their support and sympathy. With it lies success; without it, failure and all its attendant humiliation. There is a great work to be done, but no one woman, or no ten women can carry the weight of this great undertaking–the successful establishment of a woman’s high-class paper–without [tape – 6] ressive masses with them. My experi- [tape – 6] the past has taught me that women can [tape – 6] together, when drawn together by something pure and noble, and I know that the one demand of the women of my section journalistically, is matter that shall appeal to the noblest sentiments and the most exalted ideals. I pledge my pen to all such as will aid in making this column the forum of discussion for all that shall interest, encourage and develop the highest type woman and the purest class of matter.

CEDAR HILL AND ITS MASTER.

Victoria Earle

A Sketch of Frederick Douglass in his Home.

After a pleasant drive through the Capitol grounds, and through the wide, tree-bordered streets and avenues of the city, we crossed a bridge spanning the eastern portion of the Potomac, and threaded our way through the modest village of Anacostia,–historic, as containing “Cedar Hill,” the “House of the Hon. Frederick Douglass.” Long before the wide, hospitable portals were reached the house could be seen nestling, as it were, in slumberous quiet ‘neath great sighing trees.

It sets north and south, planned after the typical southern fashion of more than a generation ago; a two-story and garret brick house painted white, green window blinds, a bay-window in the centre of the second story, two more at the eastern side of the large drawing-room. A wide, old-fashioned piazza runs the entire length of the front, the centre of which is decorated by open latticework, and the whole supported by four large white columns; wide steps running the limit of the piazza, which is fitted up with hammock, rustic seat and rockers – the very picture of repose, comfort, and all that is peaceful. The trees about seem to mark and emphasize the most attractive individuality of the place–retirement ‘mid soft, shadowy lovliness [sic] loveliness, the silent dispenser of rest,–“rest to the weary.” So irresistible is this soothing atmosphere that one instinctively feels the charm of silence and meditative environment ere he has passed beyond the wide entrance of the spacious old mansion; but when in the imposing presence of its white-haired master everything seems absorbed by the stirring, fiery personality of a most wonderful man; not only wonderful among a class of people, but all men of the earth regardless of creed or condition — he stands a living monument of the possibilities of man, a monument to the cause and principles that strong men have died for. The earth holds no nobler, no more truly great, none more worthy universal love and venerated esteem than this gentle-voiced, kindly-mannered, uncrowned king, whose reign and kingdom is the hearts of millions of men!

There’s a splendid slope on the western side of the house where he delights in standing, and well he might, for it has no equal in all the district. It commands an uninterrupted view of the city of Washington from an altitude of 133 feet, the gleaming waters of the placid Potomac shimmering between. From this point the great white dome of the Capitol can be seen and, close by, the beautiful structure, designed and now in course of building for the Congressional Library, of pure white marble in strong contrast to the Capitol. It is crowned with a massive golden dome –like the sun and silver of youth and age together they stand surrounded by every condition of human life and progress; and still, beyond to the west, the great Washington monument towers over 550 feet mid-air. A clear morning, the scene unfolds before the observers on Cedar Hill like a dream city born of inspiration, and established by enchantment; and peculiarly impressive it all is when Frederick Douglass stands there with uncovered bead, his fine white hair blowing with the breeze, his massive form erect, standing out in bold relief with his beloved trees as a back-

ground. Marvelous changes of time and state, time-honored gradations of earthly power, inspired touch of Poesy and Romance, when compared with the meed of his experience, pale into feebleness, for no character known to authentic history has encompassed more of the extremes of life than his, and will in time prove, if it has not already proven, the beautiful source of inspiration to not only the emotional muse of poetry, but the fiery realms of heroic tragedy as, well. His course from the beginning stands forth to the world as America’s great epic. Who has conquered and vanquished greater foes and obstacles, single-handed, than he? Nobly he wears the weight of three-score and ten years of active usefulness, his vision clear, and his step as active as most men twenty years younger, The great parts he has played in the most tragic scenes of American life have not, as one might have supposed, left him shorn of the faculty of enjoying quiet; not so; he has emerged from the din of battle grateful for the quiet meditative silence of his beloved home.

 

His home life is simple and altogether free from restraint. The world of good people is made welcome at his portals, character and worth being the passports required. No distinctions are made socially ; it is man and woman, regardless of color, past condition or inheritance, and daily there are pictures seen and enacted here rarely met with beyond the limits of a grand stage.

I call to mind one gem-like evening when, in the ordinary course of neighbors dropping in, a beautiful golden-haired maiden presided at the piano; and among the company were two elderly gentlemen, father and son, the latter an artist of great merit, — Messer, I think, is the name — the elder, like Mr. Douglass, is a performer on the violin. After considerable music, vocal and instrumental, with a kindly twinkle in his eyes, the elder Mr. Messer passed to Mr. Douglass’ side with his mellow-toned instrument, and awakened the familiar strains of “Auld Lang Syne.” Bending low, with his eyes fixed upon the “Sage of Anacostia,” his whitened hair in picturesque harmony with Mr. Douglass’ snowy locks, as the sweet familiar tones vibratedon the air, about the works were sung with thrilling effect by “Our Douglass,” the picture they made was worthy a painter’s brush. Few eyes in that room were undimmed with tears when the music ceased; but such is of ordinary occurrence at Cedar Hill. I have said his home life is simple; well, it is. He rises very early, and before breakfast it is his habit to stroll about his grounds, which consist in all about sixteen acres of undulating land, partly under cultivation, raising sufficient fruit and vegetables for the family use, and flowers for the dainty decoration of table and parlors. I felt very proud, on my first morning stroll, to be rewarded by a cluster of white southern lilies culled and presented me by my honored and revered host, whose mind and heart has caused lilies of thought and resolution to spring into rich growth in every clime where’er civilization extends. He breakfasts with the family at 7 A. M., after which he retires to a quaint retreat in the rear of the mansion, a tiny structure looking more like a fine “mi lady ” doll house than anything else; it is Mr. Douglass’ “sanctum sanctorum,” however, known as the “Growlery ” (from Dickens). It is almost covered with vines and embowered by tall lilac shrubs. The Growlery is sufficiently removed from the house to insure absolute quiet; it contains, besides a comfortable lounge, a brick hearth and modern grate for winter use, a tall desk, where Mr. Douglass does his writing standing there’s just room enough for the books and papers of immediate necessity, and himself, and, what is dearer to him than strangers can at first understand, his croquet set. To say that he is an ardent admirer of the game is to express it mildly–he is more–an enthusiast, and as everyone is aware who knows, even slightly, the domestic side of his nature, that he is an expert player. After spending the morning in his Growlery (as if he ever needed a place in which to growl !)he emerges in answer to the midday dinner-bell, after which he watches the sun gradually recede from his croquet lawn, and so soon as it is sufficiently shady, and the work dress of blue is replaced by it fine white flannel, he is ready for his game. The ladies of the house are all good players, Mrs. Douglass and Miss Fog particularly so. Frequently such men as the Hon. John R. Lynch, Mr. Bailey, president of the Capitol Savings Bank, Mr. Robt. Terrell and many others, find relaxation from business cares in this absorbing diversion. Mr. Douglass’ grandson, Joselph Douglass, the gifted violinist, is spoken of as a most excellent shot; Mrs. Robt. Terrell and Mrs. Lewis Douglass are particularly noted not only for thier skill, but for certain charming qualities, which tend to enliven and make wonderfully entertaining the game, even for losers. It is very amusing to watch a contest between Mr. Douglass and the above mentioned gentlemen, they are all so

serious. They do not regard their bost’s career in their contests; they play seriously to win. But Mr. Douglass rarely misses an aim, and his superior skill is best evidenced by his unerring field shots. To watch his lively interest in following the game and the course of a ball, his field being large, one could easily fancy him a score younger than his own figures testify; his vitality is a constant source of happy amazement to all who enjoy the privilege of either taking sides with or against him. As a rule the tea-bell ends the contests, and after a light repast the evening is given over to the most pleasurable diversion offering itself–sometimes quiet chat, in which reminiscences take the lead, a game of checkers or music. Just before retiring, after “good night ” has been said to guests in general, ’tis his regular custom to smoke one segar, sitting in a big rocker on the piazza, listening to the murmuring sound of insect life, or wandering up and down the grounds watching with quiet interest the myriads of twinkling lights, that mark the pathway of the gently gliding Potomac and’ stretching around and through the city beyond ; and now that skill and science has succeeded in illuminating the headdress of the Goddess of Liberty on the Capitol, it is indeed an uplifting picture.

 

The family habits are about the same day after day; the most notable changes being the guests that journey over long distances to stand in the presence of Frederick Douglass; and the tide is largely like that one, known to poesy, that goes on forever.

Men of affairs, women too, come for guidance; and minds, restless with the fires of ambition, journey here for inspiration, and to all he is, in the purest sense, sire, brother, and Pythian friend. Though his voice may not often be heard from the public rostrum, yet, watchful and alert, he dwells upon his beloved Hill living the theory of manhood he advocated in the very beginning of his struggles for freedom — that manhood, womanhood, in its truest sense is not, cannot be, confined to caste, race or nation.

“We ask not for his lineage,
We ask not for his name
If manliness be in his heart,
He noble birth may claim.
We ask not from what land he came,
Nor where his youth was nursed,
If from the stream, it matters not,
The spot from whence it burst.”

VICTORIA EARLE.

WASHINGTON.

Mary Church Terrell

MARY CHURCH TERRELL.

Prologue.

To one and all we bow,
And solemnly do vow
To do our level best,
But you must do the rest.
Though critics laugh and rail
We’ll neither quake nor quail.
No poet Keats are we,
As you can plainly see.
And if we entertain,
In sad or mirthful strain,
Sufficient is the meed,
To know that we succeed.

Prospectus.

The news found on the page devoted to the Nation’s Capital will be social, literary, philosophical and otherwise, particularly the latter, when the others fail. Not so much social as to make those of a literary turn of mind wish there was no such thing as society; not so much literary as to make those of a social nature sigh, with Solomon that “Of making many books there is no end;” and much study is a weariness of the flesh; not so much philosophy as to impress the reader with the hopeless ignorance of the writer. So much for good intentions, which pave the way to success, as well as to other places of which we have all heard.

We shall not be slaves to the grammar of the English language–what there is of it. We shall say “we,” when it suits our purpose, and “I” when occasion requires, rules for the agreement of the pronoun to the contrary, notwithstanding. The fashion to ruthlessly ignore rules and principles of English Grammar was inaugurated by a certain Saxon Gamaliel, prominent in school circles here, when he boldly declared “It is me ” to be both correct and elegant. It is natural, then, that we lesser lights, following in the light of the leader, feel encouraged to commit manifold infractions of grammatical rules, not sanctioned outside of our progressive literary circles.

Washington schemes reserve the right to be as impracticable as they are illogical. Living in a city whose atmosphere is surcharged with

the virulent germs of congressional theory, we object to having any plan or project that may hereafter appear subjected to the cold, hard test of logic or common sense.

 

Miss Ida A. Gibbs, a graduate of the classical course of Oberlin College, has recently been appointed teacher in the High School here.

The first colored woman who received the degree of A.B. in the United States was Mary J. Patterson, who graduated from Oberlin College in ’62. The schools of the district have sustained an irreparable loss in the death of Miss Patterson, who, for twenty-five years, rendered valuable service as a teacher. When Oberlin College opened its doors to women, she was courageous, indeed, who dared to brave public opinion by taking what was commonly called the gentleman’s course, on the principle that it belonged exclusively to the lords of creation, and no women need apply. only 3-oan ‘g women of the loftiest ambition and the keenest thirst, for knowledge presented themselves -,is candidates for the degree of A. B. Miss Patterson was among the first to prove to the world that Greek and the higher mathematics could be mastered not only by young women of the favored race, but by their sisters of the oppressed race as well. Nothing better reveals the fine spirit, the resolute will, and the strong intellectuality of Miss Patterson than her decision to take and complete the classical course at that period.

The Colored Woman’s League has been invited to send delegates to the National Council of Women of the United States, to convene them from Feb. 17 to March 2, 1895. One spokesman will be elected to bring greetings from the League to the Council. Only national Organizations are invited to participate in the meetings, on account of the large number of societies of which the Council is composed. Such an invitation from such an important body as the Council furnishes another proof of the advantage of a national organization of colored women. If they are to become an important factor in solving the knotty problems of race and sex, they must get a hearing, and play a conspicuous part in the deliberations which look toward that end. Let them unite themselves into one grand national organization which shall extend from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and from Maine to the Gulf.

Mrs. A.J. Cooper, Mrs. Grimke and Mr. John Wesley Cromwell read papers on Negro Folk Music at the last meeting of the Washington Folk Lore Society. This organization has not allied itself to the American Folk Lore Society, although it has been cordially invited to do so, because it sees fit to work alone. While they plod alone, they will also profit alone, when the results of their researches are given to the public. This is by no means a bad idea. With Rev. Alex. Crummell as president, Mrs. A. J. Cooper as corresponding secretary, and Miss Clara Smith its recording secretary, the success of the society is assured.

The reception given by the Misses Welsh to Miss Blanche Songo of Philadelphia and Miss McKinley of Columbia, S. C. , was a brilliant success from all points of view. Nothing, could have been daintier and sweeter than the ladies who graced the occasion, and nothing more courtly and chivalrous than the gentlemen in attendance.

Mr. Gerrett S. Wormley, Jr., grandson of Wormley of hotel fame, recently wedded Miss Rebecca Webster. By the way, speaking of brides and grooms, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Downing, recently married in Brooklyn, are spending part of their honeymoon in our city, and are the recipients of much social attention.

A mending bureau has been started here with every prospect of success. Mending of all kinds is done with neatness and dispatch. What a boon such a bureau must be to our friends, the bachelors! But — will it encourage them to prolong their single blessedness? If so, can the mending bureau really be encouraged and countenanced by benevolent beings? Verily, there’s no rose without some thorn on this mundane sphere.

“What do you think our Washington men admire most and can tolerate least in a woman?” asked a young lady of an inquiring turn of mind, not long since. “Now, that’s hard to tell,” said a wise sister some years her Senior. “I believe beauty is the surest road to success,” said a friend who overheard the conversation. “By no means,” said the wiseacre to whom the first question was propounded; “there are more exceptions to the rule of beauty than can be found in an English spelling-book.” “Is it intelligence?” persisted

the young lady, more anxious and more interrogative than ever. “Just the faintest suspicion of that; just enough to be a bit witty and able to see the point of a stray joke which the hero of the hour sees fit to perpetrate,” continued the Minerva of the group. “The young men seem to forgive a lack of brain more easily than they can the absence of other qualities,” she continued; “no, no, child, don’t give too much time to the cultivation of the brain, if you want to be a reigning belle here. Spend your extra time and money in adorning the person, and let your mind take care of itself, if you want the men to admire you. Be known as a power in the world of fashion. Always be fin de siecle in the matter of hats, gowns and all the appointments of dress, and the victory is yours. There are several cases to prove the point. There was Miss”– But here the interesting conversation on the peculiarities of the Washington beaux was interrupted by one of the very species upon whom so much philosophy and logic had been brought to bear. This conversation set me to thinking. I wonder what Washington men really admire most and can tolerate least in a woman? Will someone answer this weighty question?

 

“How can young women enjoy foot-ball so much?” queried it friend of a college graduate, not long since. “To me it seems a brutal sport, in spite of the sanction given it by English and American universities. It gives me a chill to hear a young woman rhapsodize over the game, for it seems incongruous with womanly delicacy. Yes, I know some very fine women enthuse over the game, but if they are sound on other points, I explain this little weakness by ascribing it to a mental obliquity in the first stage of development!” “It is it fad to rave over foot-ball,” explained a young co-ed in a tone of horror and disgust. “If you can not thrill over center-rushes, halfbacks and touch-downs, you label yourself a relic of the candle and bird-cage crinoline period.” “It is a brutal sport,” persisted the first speaker, just as firm and as far from conversion to the new regime as ever. “Harvard is to be congratulated upon having a sensible president, who discourages foot-ball, as it is now played, and is doing his utmost to have the brutality and barbarity eliminated from it.”

Read our advertisements.

LOUISIANA.

Alice Ruth Moore

ALICE RUTH MOORE, EDITOR.

How few of us,
In all the world’s great ceaseless struggling strife,
Go to our work with gladsome, buoyant step,
And love it for its sake, whate’er it be.
Because it is a labor, or, mayhap,
Some sweet, peculiar art of God’s own gift,
And not the promise of the world’s slow smile
Of recognition, or of Mammon’s gilded grasp,
Alas, how few, in inspirations dazzling flash,
Or spiritual sense of worlds beyond the dome
Of circling blue around this weary earth,
Can bask, and know the God given grace
Of genius’ fire that flows and permeates
The virgin mind alone, the soul in which
The love of earth hath tainted not,
The love of art, and art alone.

After many years of waiting, the colored women of New Orleans have at last organized a Woman’s Club. New Orleans has her Portia Club, her Quarantes and Geographic, but their doors are opened only to the more favored sisters. For a long while there were faint hints of it following in this line, but it was not until the 6th of October that nineteen women, old and young, met in the basement of the Tulane Ave. Baptist church to discuss the plans for a woman’s club. The gathering, as a whole, seemed ripe for the movement, and without further parley, the organization was effected, and officers elected as follows: Mrs. Sylvanie F. Williams, president; Mrs. Odalie Morse-Jackson, vice-president; Mrs. Hattie Jackson-Moore secretary ; Miss H. V. Feger, treasurer.

A committee composed of Mrs. M. A. Williams, Miss Arabella Kennedy, Miss Clara J. Isabelle, and Miss Alice Ruth Moore, was appointed to draw up a constitution. The club met on the 17th again, with a much increased membership, and adopted the name of the Phyllis Wheatley Club, adopted the constitution, and declared the WOMAN’S ERA its official organ.

Mrs. Williams outlined the work of the club as follows: It should be divided into a certain number of committees on different subjects, each committee to be devoted exclusively to its line of work, the general work to be arranged and outlined by the executive committee. As they now stand, the committees are:

    • Executive, Mrs. M. A. Williams, Miss Arabella Kennedy, Mrs. Annie Whittaker.
    • Temperance, Miss Emma Rose Williams, chairman.
    • Hospitals, Miss Adele J. Townsend, chairman.
    • Literature, Miss Elvise Bibb, chairman.
    • History and Law, Miss Emma Maria Williams, chairman.
    • Newspaper and Current Events, Miss Alice Ruth Moore, chairman.
  • Philanthropy, Prisons, etc., Mrs. M. C. Tumer, chairman.
  • Anti-Pugilistic, Anti-Cigarette, Miss Arabella Kennedy, chairman.
  • Health vs. Filth, Mrs. Alice B. Clarke, chairman.
  • Free Night Schools, Mrs. S. A. Gates, chairman.
  • Self-help, Miss Maria M. Wicker, chairman.
  • Social Purity, Mrs. Mena McNeal, chairman.
  • But for the twelfth committee, and, in some respects, the most important, Suffrage, the brave mortal has not yet been found to stand at its mast-head.

The Colored Teachers’ League of New Orleans is not a woman’s affair, by any means. No, it is redeemed from the flatness and general unprofitableness of a gathering in petticoats by three real, live, flesh and blood, healthy men, principals in the public schools. After a three months’ vacation, the League began its winter session on the 20th, and held the annual election of officers, Mrs. S.A. Gates being elected president; vice-president, Miss Emma V. Lopez; secretary, Miss Sarah Allen ; assistant-secretary, Miss Clara M. Holland; treasurer, Mrs. F. E. Chester.

There is growing up in this city a musical circle as interesting and as absorbing as any that ever clustered about the confines of a rare old town, with a conservatory in the distance, and the melodious chime of cathedral bells, and violin tones quivering in the fragrant air. While music has always found its home here, music of the sweetest and rarest kind, yet it is only lately that a real atmosphere of the scientific study of the art has found its way among us; and now it has progressed so rapidly and so completely that for many of the gayest votaries of society, there is nothing so supremely important as the alternation of lesson and study. Orchestras and quartettes and trios, violins, cornets, violas, violoncellos, mandolins, men and women, boys and girls, enthusiastically push our city forward as one of the great musical centres of the south.

For two months it hasn’t rained here, and New Orleans is very warm and thirsty. Her clothes look gray and her linen is yellow from being washed in bad and insufficient water. Her face is breaking out in pimples from drinking and bathing in unaccustomed river water. The big cisterns stand dry and empty and cracked. The heated, stifling air chokes with its blinding, suffocating whirls and eddies of smoke. The sky hangs blue, brightly, dazzlingly blue overhead, and the sun, as he sinks to rest, is buried in clouds of dust vapors, and New Orleans chokes and coughs and gasps, and execrates the Public Works Commissioner. Houses are barred tightly, dungeon-like, to keep out the insidious dust. The teeth grit upon mouthfuls of it. The universal prayer and cry is rain, rain!

Down in Frenchtown, pilgrimages and nouvenas are made to St. Avegne, and candles burned at the altar of the gracious saint. The children kill spiders and drown many a hapless snail in order to induce rain, and even tie the old red rag around the cistern faucet and dance the rain-song, but in vain.

In school, the 9.30 bell has rung, and three or four boys struggle in, warm from running to school, tired and listless-looking. But how can one reprimand them for tardiness, when the invariable answer will be:

“Well, teacher, wha’ fo’ I come to school late? Wha’ I go do? Ma mere, she wash and de cistern empty. Den I got tote water, eh? I run fast, but no use. You call me up.”

Or a note from the mother:

To
Teacher (Mrs. —-

Dr Mrs:

Plese oxcose my son Emile. I need him home this monin to tote de 1’eau.

From

His Mother.

In one of our newspaper offices here, an enthusiastic young McKinleyite–girl, of course–has decorated the Protectionist’s picture with red ink, in profusion, about the coat, neck, checks and nose; the bright, bright blue of the editorial pencil adorns his eyes and cravat, and stuck sundry green card-board mascot bows about the corners of the picture; and written under it all, in letters of blue and red, tipsily askew, thus:

O R E
U N XT

P E
R SIDENT.

She says she “didn’t go to do it, but they came that way.”

The Claremont, Va., Institute.–The W.E.C. Cannot Endorse It.

A short time ago it came to the knowledge of the Woman’s Era Club that the institute at Claremont, Va., Rev. John J. Smallwood, president, needed assistance. With the view of giving what aid it could, the Club instituted inquiries as to the condition of this school. At its last regular meeting, the Club decided that, unless some very damaging disclosures recently made, as to the moral conduct of the school, are explained away, they can neither aid nor endorse that, nor any other educational work projected and carried on by John J. Smallwood.

ADVERTISE IN THE WOMAN’S ERA

THE ONLY PAPER IN AMERICA PUBLISHED IN THE INTEREST OF WOMEN’S CLUBS.

The WOMAN’S ERA, as the organ of the colored women’s clubs, has a large circulation in many of the large cities, notably Boston, New Bedford, Providence, New York, Chicago, Washington and Kansas City.

The Literary, Musical, and Domestic Departments are under the control of competent writers and critics.

With its large circulation among women, and particularly among women of the refined and educated classes, it offers peculiar advantages to advertisers of household articles, wearing apparel, books, magazines, musical instruments, and so forth.

Its rates are exceedingly liberal.

Try it, and you will not regret it.

EDITORIAL.

A Word to the A. A. W.

The A.A.W. (Association for the Advancement, of Women) holds its twenty-second congress October 31st, November 1st and 2nd, at Knoxville, Tenn.

The deliberations of this body are always of great importance to women. With Julia Ward Howe as its president, and the representative women of America composing its body, it has grown to be one of the greatest factors of the day in the development. and progress of woman.

The association stands now in an enviable position; it sees its labors crowned with much success, and very little standing in the way of future efforts; it sees–as we all see–the almost boundless possibilities of the American white woman; it sees the especial consideration which she enjoys in this country, anything being possible to her except the act of voting, and her growing influence now almost unlimited.

Realizing, as it must, all this, we want to say a word to the A.A.W. on the responsibility of the white women for the wrongs and outrages done the black race in this country. Most of these have been and are of a nature that little more than a word from a white woman would have effectually stopped numberless acts of annoyance, injustice, and even outrage. Think of the refined, sensitive colored girls who have been literally thrown out of first-class cars in the south without it protest, when a protest would have been so effectual; think of the ambitious, noble-minded women of the south who are shut out from every elevating influence in the shape of lectures, libraries, etc.; think of the lynchings incited by white women, and not one ever prevented by them.

Policy and expediency are supposed to be unknown to bodies of women in their deliberations, and from this man has raised one of his chief arguments against woman suffrage. In spite of this, it has been one of woman’s strong points that she has put right before expediency, and we would suggest to the A. A. W. that they cast aside policy and expediency, and boldly face this race question. It is it question which they can not longer evade. We thoroughly believe that it is the women of America–black and white–who are to solve this race problem, and we do not ignore the duty of the black women in the matter. They must arouse, educate and advance themselves; they are to exert that influence through the homes, the schools and the churches that will build up an intelligent, industrious and moral people. Their duty is plain and must be done. But the white woman has a duty in the matter also; she must see to it that no obstructions are placed in the way of a weak, struggling people; She must no longer consent to be passive. We call upon her to take her stand.

The National Council of Women.

The National Council of Women, which convenes in Washington, D.C., in February, has invited the Colored Women’s League of Washington to be represented at the Convention. The Washington League, with broad-minded courtesy, has made its committee so large as to be able to include delegates front other colored women’s leagues, and has invited such leagues to send delegates.

Unfortunately, a majority of the members of the Woman’s Era Club of Boston did not see the advantages of being so represented, and voted not to send a delegate. In spite of this fact, which we regret very much, we hope to see the colored women of all sections represented at the coming council. In any event, Washington is prepared to ably represent the race.

Again the Convention.

With our new departure, we again bring forward our suggestion of a convention. We hope our readers will open the matter again with renewed interest, and that the summer of ’95 will see a great congress of the colored women of America.

The Woman’s Leagues are opening the season with new enthusiasm and energy. They are inaugurating their work along their own especial lines, and the year is full of promise. It is hoped that the clubs will not fail of a coming together at the close or the season, with all that means of helpfulness, inspiration and broadening. Let us all work together to bring it about.

We as a race, have been so cramped that we women have unavoidably grown narrow and selfish to an extent. It is for this reason we pray for a convention, with its widening effect on the mental, moral and physical vision.

St. Thomas Celebration.

The centennial celebration of St. Thomas P. E. church, in Philadelphia, in October, was an event of great importance. After one hundred years, the church is still in a most flourishing condition. A celebration of this kind stamps us completely American. Think of this, and the talk of naturalized foreigners of sending us back to Africa “where we belong!”

As the editor of this paper has been unable to attend the Congress of the A. A. W., now in session al Knoxville, Tenn., as was her intention, she has sent, as a substitute, a large number of ERAs to be distributed among the delegates.

The Association of Educators of Colored Youth will hold their next congress in London, Eng., and will arrange tours on the continent, of Europe.

This is an excellent idea, and we have no doubt that it will be a brilliant success.

Aside from the value of having so fine a body of colored People conduct their deliberations among the friendly English, there will be many colored people to take advantage of this opportunity of a European tour with congenial company. It is a splendid thing in every way.

In introducing our associates to our readers, we need hardly to say a word. They speak for themselves. We are proud to present to our people such an array of fine women and writers. With such a force, the possibilities of the ERA are unlimited in the way of intellectual tone and strength, and only limited to the extent that people are willing to support the paper. There is yet to be found the person who will not acknowledge that the ERA is a necessity, and a necessity well met; there is yet to be found the person who, knowing of it, is not anxious to read it, even if she does not buy it, The ERA should he twice its present size–everything warrants it–except its financial returns. A thousand new subscribers–two hundred front each of the cities directly represented in the paper would warrant a larger paper. Only this number in a country where a million women read the paper! We believe our women are loyal; when individually appealed to, they have given us enthusiastic support; but they need to be aroused. No other paper in America does for our women just what the ERA does; no other paper is so entirely their medium. Let them realize this and do their duty like, no, not like men, but like women. Do not be content to subscribe yourself, but urge your friends to subscribe.

Miss Baldwin, whose offer of a home for a girl while studying, was made through these columns last month, has received and is still receiving numbers of letters from worthy girls. It is Miss Baldwin’s desire to secure a girl of more than ordinary promise, one who would be especially responsive to the especial advantages to be obtained here in New England; for such a girl as this, Miss Baldwin would so use her influence that nothing need stand in the way of her protegee’s intellectual advancement, not even the doors of Radcliffe College. While choosing, Miss Baldwin receives many eloquent letters. It has occurred to us, while reading letters from girls well-endorsed as to character, capability and industriousness, that there might be many families in the north who would be glad to receive in their midst such girls, and who, in exchange for the companionship and services such a girl could give, would give her a good home while going to school. It is quite as well to state in this connection that the offer made by Miss Baldwin is entirely one-sided; all she asks or desires in return is the intellectual progress of her protegee.

It is the desire of this paper to be a medium

between people who could be mutually helpful. We will be glad to find homes for good girls and girls for good homes. Anyone desiring either are invited to correspond with us on the matter.

 

Where You Can Get the Era.

THE WOMAN’S ERA can always be had at the following places:

BOSTON.

103 Charles St.
Miss Stewart, 37 Buckingham St.
Car Station, corner Charles and Cambridge Sts.
Reed’s, Cambridge St.
Crawford’s, Phillips St.
Miss Grandison, 17 Hovey Ave., Cambridge.

NEW YORK.

Mrs. Victoria Matthews, 9 Murray St.

PHILADELPHIA.

Church Supply Co., 254 South Eleventh St.

WASHINGTON.

Mrs. Mary Church Terrell, 1936 4th. St.
The Colored American, 906 E St.

CHICAGO.

Mrs. Fannie Barrier Williams, 377 42nd St.

DENVER.

Mrs. Elizabeth P. Ensley, 1755 Ogden Ave.

KANSAS CITY, MO.

Mrs. J. Silome Yates 3116 E. 19th St.

NEW ORLEANS

Miss Alice Ruth Moore, 55 Palmyra St.

ST. JOHN, N.B.

Mrs. Whetsel.

Editorial

Mr. Richings has been heard from in England, where he is supplementing Miss Wells’ work in behalf of the colored people of America, with his illustrated lecture. At the close of a recent lecture given in Pembroke Chapel, Liverpool, a cordial vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Richings for his interesting lecture, general agreement being expressed with him in the great progress made by the colored people.

The Domestic Science committees of the women’s clubs should be made up of some of the brightest, most up-to-date members. Their opportunities for helpfulness are greater than all others.

SOCIAL NOTES.

NEW YORK.

“Such a time I always have hat hunting!”

“Do you? You poor thing! Where do you go?”

“Everywhere, anywhere,” the most tired-looking “poor thing,” wearily drawled on a car making for 14th st. I am sure I wish we didn’t have to wear hats.”

“Why don’t you let Leon buy and make them?”

“Leon–make–my hats!” she gasped.

“Mine are specimens,” she gurgled.

“Oh, how lovely! A dream thought! Oh, you sweet! I am younger immediately.”

The car stopped and the “poor thing” and the “sweet” disappeared. Match1ess woman! who’d ever have thought of calling a hat a “dream thought?” Splendid woman! As they passed from my gaze I could see billowy lace lightly resting on raven tresses, held in place by a gleaming comblet. Ah, my masters, strange things go to make up dreams.

A bright ray of light has fallen aslant the great Downing patronymic, and all society is busily engaged in recherche anticipations of the event. The bride that is to be is one of the sweetest little maidens in all the “city of churches,” and “gallant Frank,” as the hoys call him at times, is a prime favorite. When the 17th arrives, brilliants will flash and sparkle and soft silks will lend elegance to a scene that happy hearts and beautiful faces will make one to be long remembered. ‘Tis a real love match.

Judging by thoughts culled from many sources, the school question is still reckoned among explosives.

Speaking of the school question, according to the Brooklyn member of the board, our young girls will have to be cooks and scullions in the future, unless colored schools are nurtured.

It is understood on good authority that the schools known as Mrs. Garnet’s and Mr. Reason’s are to be consolidated on one count. It is a pity, for Mrs. Garnet tried so hard to get Miss Eato made principal as successor to the late Charles L. Reason.

There is not a teacher in Our midst more deserving of such promotion than Miss Eato, from many points of view. She is one whom New Yorkers –Knickerbockers– are truly proud of; she is

the essence of cultured constancy and a most unswerving adherent to duty. Her presence, while strong and reliant, is one of the most restful known to me.

 

Counsellor Stewart wore rather a concerned expression when Mr. Braxton finally concluded the transactions that made him counsellor for St. Philips corporation. It’s a good move. Mr. Stewart has demonstrated many times that he possesses the ability that St. Philips needs, and the vestrymen have proved their race royalty by securing his services. Such procedure will inevitably vanquish the so-called race problem.

The saddest event to chronicle is the death of Mrs. Chas. Boyd, nee Delia Washington.

“Leaves have their time to fall,
And flowers wither at the north wind’s breath
And stars to set, and all
Thou hast all seasons for thine own, O death!”

The bereaved family have the sympathy of hosts of friends.

Messrs. V. A. Montgomery and “our” Harry Burleigh go to Philadelphia on the 18th to take part in the Bergen concert.

St. Philips Guild is by far the most dignified body of men in the public gaze just now. Its ever genial master, J. J. Atwell, has been sent as a delegate to the Episcopal convention sitting in Philadelphia, having the courtly vice-Guild Master, F. H. Carmand, to preside and deliver the address on the 18th.

The Centennial celebration at St. Thomas P. E. church in Philadelphia bids fair to assume most interesting proportions. All Gotham is waiting to hear all about St. Philips’ choir; the boys are working hard and Mr. Kenney looks a little “oldish,” but of course they’ll do finely. A special car will take them over. Among those who will accompany them will be Messrs. Mars, Braxton, Smith, Barrows, Ray, Anthony, Attwell, Burleigh, Gray, Mrs. Annie Dias, Mesdames Francis Attwell, Hymen Dorsey, Miss Imogen Howard, Mrs. F. H. Carmand and son Frankie. Victoria Earle also journeyed to the Quaker City.

The venerable-looking Frederick Barbadoes passed through Gotham a few days ago, looking as frisky as ever, on his way in search of matter for a book. This column will endeavor to secure a first volume.

The Woman’s Loyal Union seem to be up and doing; they are not only flooding New York and Brooklyn with petitions for the enactment of the Blair Joint Resolution, but will manage for the benefit of their treasury a large reception on the 13th of November, at Lyric Hall, at which ex-minister John Durham and Mrs. Fanny Jackson Coppin will make -addresses. They deserve the patronage of the people.

The Woman’s Loyal Union have succeeded in stirring up the preachers of this city and were the inspiration that led to the organization of a preachers’ meeting. They will manage a grand union meeting for the purpose of endorsing the Woman’s Loyal Union’s efforts in arousing the people to the necessity of acting at once on the Blair Joint Resolution.

The pastor of Bethel Church is one of the brainiest men in town. In a quiet way he is talking and some of the biggest men in his church are quaking. Truly the breath of reform is abroad.

Bethel’s progressive minds have decided to have a “Brooklyn Literary Union.” They will associate Victoria Earle, T. T. Fortune, T. McCantz Stewart, L. H. Latimer, J. C. Carter, and many others. Quite a tally-ho.

One of the prettiest girls in town is the black-eyed miss who occasionally officiates at the organ at St. Bartholomew’s mission; in fact, she has most beautiful eyes.

How funny! Our Bob’s chum eats his weeds instead of smoking them. Its too costly a luxury for most of us.

Sometime in the future we will all give a party for

ANNO DOMINO 1894.

BOSTON.

The B.M.C. of the I.O.O.F. made quite a big ripple in Boston’s social life; besides those large affairs given in honor of the convention there have been numerous small functions incidental to the presence of distinguished people in the city.

The grand ball at Music Hall was a crush, and consequently a success of the biggest kind; the hall packed, the costumes exceedingly fine, the music and supper good. Among the attractive ladies here because of the convention, were Mrs. Van Dusen (who accompanied her husband) and Miss Dickson of Erie, Pa. These ladies were taken in charge by Mrs. E. E. Brown and Mrs. J. H. Lewis, who devoted themselves to showing the people and sights of Boston to the visitors.

During the week Mrs. U.A. Ridley gave a reception, Mrs. Joseph Lee a dinner, and Mrs. P.A. Glover a dance in honor of Miss Mollie Durham and the Hon. John S. Durham of Philadelphia.

The week following Mrs. E.E. Brown gave a card party for Mrs. Van Dusen and Miss Dickson.

Dr. and Mrs. Grant’s “at homes” bring together a goodly number of friends on Monday nights.

Mrs. B. R. Wilson gave a dinner on the 13th which was delightful in every way; the exquisite silver, china and glass received by her as wedding gifts set the table off to perfection.

Mrs. Harriet Bell of New York made a short visit to Boston the latter part of October, the guest of Mrs. Ransom.

The friends of Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Terry are daily expecting to be called upon for congratulations.

Dr. Milton Brown went on to Baltimore to take the examinations necessary for admission to practice in that City.

KANSAS CITY.

Madame Watson Griffin is doing for Kansas City’s vocal talent what Prof. Lee has done in an instrumental line. Both are possessed of excellent professional merit and are meeting with great success.

The members of the Attucks Club entertained their lady friends on the 17th ult. in their new parlors, corner of Sixth and Charlotte.

The Rev. Marshall of St. Augustine’s Mission will be ordained at Grace Church, Nov. 21st.

Miss Anna H. Jones, of Lincoln High School, has received a call to occupy a position in the High School of Washington, D.C.

Miss Rice, the new supervisor or teacher of drawing, is giving complete satisfaction.

Miss Frances Willard, during her recent talk in Philadelphia, made an urgent plea for funds to be used in the work of organizing colored women of the South in the interests of temperance and social purity.

J.S.Y.

 

Mrs. Fannie Barrier Williams, our Chicago editor, has been seriously ill, but she has rallied to send us the timely article published in this number.

ILLINOIS.

Fannie Barrier Williams

FANNIE BARRIER WILLIAMS, EDITOR.

Women in Politics.

American women are beginning to see the end of their years of struggle for equality of suffrage. The arguments are nearly all in and the signs of a favorable verdict are every where apparent to those who understand the trend of things.

Fragmentary suffrage, now possessed by women in nearly all the states of the union, carries with it the triumph of the principal contended for, and its extension to complete and national suffrage is as logically certain as any thing can be. Just how soon the complete enfranchisement of women will be realized depends largely upon the use we make of our present gains. The false reasoning of the opposition having been overcome, we have now to fight only the prejudices in opposition. When the opposing man sees women actually voting, and looks in vain for the evils predicted, his prejudices will yield and he will gladly join the forces that are fast making for their complete emancipation.

Nothing in the whole social progress of humanity is more interesting and more suggestive of the persistency of rightness than the steady gain of womankind in those larger relationships of human life and civilization, in which the stronger, as well as the gentler virtues, are tending to increase her importance.

Are women ready to assume the of this new recognition of their worth? This question is of immense importance to colored women. For the first time in our history we are to receive public attention and have our womanly worth tested by the high standards of important public duties.

Must we begin our political duties with no better or higher conceptions of our citizenship than that shown by our men when they were first enfranchised? Are we to bring any refinement of individuality to the ballot box? Shall we learn our politics from spoilsmen and bigoted partisans, or shall we learn it from the school of patriotism and an enlightened self-interest? If our enfranchisement means only a few more votes added to the republican and democratic sides, respectively, of political issues, there certainly has been no gain for the cause of principle in American politics. If our enfranchisement is to contribute nothing to the corrective forces of independence in American

politics, there will be much disappointment among those who believed that the cause of temperance, municipal reform and better education would be more surely advanced when the finer virtues of women became a part of the political forces of the country.

 

Our women in Chicago are now, for the first time, getting a taste of politics. By virtue of a recent act of wholesome generosity of our legislators, women are permitted to vote for trustees of the state university. Two women have been duly nominated on the republican and democratic tickets respectively for this office. Fortunately, the nominees are equally meritorious candidates. Although the offices to be filled are purely nonpartisan, our newly fledged suffragists are ranging themselves eagerly in the democratic and republican camps and are campaigning for their respective sides on purely party grounds. So far the campaign speeches and methods have not been elevated in the least degree above the dead level of partisanship. Our own women, too, have gone into the fight with a party zeal that would be satisfactory to the most exacting “boss.” Without wishing to discredit the good motives of our women, or to criticise captiously their conduct in the campaign, I believe this new opportunity for self-help and advancement ought, not to be lost sight of in our thirst for public favors, or in our eagerness to help any grand old “party.” We ought not to put ourselves in the humiliating position of being loved only for the votes we have. The sincerity of white women, who have heretofore so scorned our ambitions and held themselves aloof from us in all our struggles for advancement, should be, to a degree, questioned. It would be much more to our credit if we would seek, by all possible uses of our franchise, to force these ambitious women candidates and women party managers to relent their cruel opposition to our girls and women in the matter of employment and the enjoyment of civil privileges. We should never forget that the exclusion of colored women and girls from nearly all places of respectable employment is due mostly to the meanness of American women, and in every way that we can check this unkindness by the force of our franchise should be religiously done. If, however, we burden our hearts and minds solely with the anxiety for the success of a party ticket for party reasons, we shall be guilty of the same folly and neglect of self-interest that have made colored men for the past twenty years vote persistently more for the special interests of white men than for the peculiar interests of the colored race.

There is no good reason why our women should not be made to feel sufficiently independent not only to make their peculiar interests a motive in the exercise of the franchise, but also to array themselves, when possible, on the side of the best, whether that best be inside or outside of party lines. Much more ought to be expected of colored women in 1894 in the exercise of their suffrage than was expected of the colored men who first voted under the 15th Amendment.

It is now a good time in woman’s clubs and organizations of all kinds for women to prepare themselves, by the best lessons of citizenship, to exert a wholesome influence in the politics of the future. The importance of the suffrage, as a means to complete emancipation from the impositions of prejudice should be eagerly taught, and brought home to the conscience of our women everywhere. It is more than probable that issues of immeasurable importance to the weal of our country, and requiring for their adjustment a larger amount of intelligent patriotism than has yet been exacted from the American conscience, will make demands on us by the time universal suffrage becomes one of the organic laws of the land.

COLORADO.

Elizabeth Piper Ensley

ELIZABETH PIPER ENSLEY, EDITOR.

What Equal Suffrage has done for Colorado.

Among the many objections met with during our suffrage campaign, were that the best women would not vote, only the bad would exercise the right, and that women would not purify politics.

None of these arguments have proven true. The best women have been the ones most interested. They have formed themselves into different clubs and are the indefatigable workers in the political party with which they affiliate.

During the special canvas for registration it was found that only one out of twenty immoral women was willing to register. Since then they have been waited upon by our most corrupt politicians and urged to register and vote in order to defeat the bettter [sic] better class of voters. This call have no effect. The good women are in the majority.

Before the opening, of the present political campaign the Equal Suffrage Association formed a Campaign for Good Government Committee with

auxiliaries throughout the state. This committee is composed of six women from each of the four political parties. They were divided into three committees; one, a press committee of sixteen to furnish articles relating to their work for every paper in the state; the other two consist of four members each, one for primaries, the other for conventions. The duty of the former was to urge all women to attend the primaries; that of the latter, to see that important resolutions were introduced into the conventions of all the parties.

 

The first work of this committee was to draw up resolutions demanding that the age of consent be raised front sixteen to eighteen years, favoring the Initiative and Referendum, so successful in Switzerland, and that, resolving themselves into a committee of the whole, they use every effort to arouse public sentiment to the great need of civil service reform.

These resolutions were passed by the E. S. A., and endorsed by all labor organizations, as well as by the women’s clubs.

The first successful result attained in the interest of good government will benefit a large number of people.

Our city charter is a most intricate one. Some of the officials are appointed by the governor, some by the mayor, while others are elected by popular vote. Thus state, and therefore party politics, are brought into our city government.

The present board of public works is composed of men of one party, while the boards of aldermen and supervisors are of two other parties.

According to the charter the board of public works has the authority to employ labor for public improvements.

During the great financial depression, when so many men were out of employment, it was suggested to the board of public works that it much needed sewer be built, thus giving work to hundreds of men having families dependent upon them–especially since three hundred thousand dollars of the city improvement appropriation remained in the bank.

Those men began work late in August, but did not receive a cent, of money due them until the 16th of October, owing to the fact that the supervisors and aldermen refused to allow the warrants tendered the men to be cashed. They declared that the city charter did not sustain the board of public works in the carrying on of public improvements. This, too, in direct defiance of the decision rendered by the courts.

As soon as the campaign for good government committee received an intimation of the existing state of affairs, a committee was appointed to wait upon the board of public works and ascertain the exact truth of the matter. From what the ladies learned, they believed the action to be dictated by a wholly partisan spirit, and therefore to be condemned.

A mass indignation meeting was called. Our largest hall was packed. The women pleaded eloquently for the wronged, and a resolution was adopted providing for the payment of the Delgany Street sewer employees. After that the supervisors readily adopted the resolution. Only the concurrent vote of the aldermen was now needed to enable the treasurer to cash the warrants. A special meeting was called for that purpose at which the resolution was unanimously adopted. When the women crowded around the city clerk to get his approval many of the men to whom the money was due awaited in the lobby. It was a touching sight to witness their joy as they surrounded the women on their way out. They felt that it was all owing to the influence of these good women that their pay was not longer withheld from them.

The women are among the most effective of the campaign speakers. All the political parties have acknowledged their worth and ability by nominating them on the several tickets as representatives to the legislature, superintendent of public instruction, and even as lieutenant governor. An ardent suffragist, whose work during the campaign brought her much in contact with the city officials, says that, in contrasting the deference paid to women now with the indifference then shown, she is constrained to exclaim: “Look here upon this picture, and on this.”

For the Investigation of Acts of Unlawful Violence.

The Woman’s Loyal Union of N.Y. and Brooklyn, are energetically pushing this petition to Congress for the enactment of the Blair Resolution. The Woman’s Era Club of Boston will help on the good work by sending an independent one from New England.

McKenzie, the optician, near the Infirmary on Charles street, examines your eyes and fits glasses. He is centrally situated for all club members, and always willing to give advice and information.

MISSOURI.

Josephine Silome Yates

JOSEPHINE SILOME YATES, EDITOR.

TO-DAY.

Today, the princely child of yesterday,
Emerges from the parent’s regal brow,
For action fully armed, in rich array,
Like Pallas from the head of Zeus great.
Apollo bows before his royal face,
And floods of light dispersed o’er hill and vale.
The land is bathed in majesty and grace
By him who sits, enthroned by right divine.
How beautiful, in light and joyous mood,
Art thou, O day but when thy god-like breast
Is stirred by passion’s dire and angry brood,
Then terrible art thou with Wrath divine.
And yet to make it year and sphere repay,
The seer says all sorts of days it takes.
Let us, therefore, rejoice in light today,
Or, light denied, rejoice in life itself.
For while we idly weep, or wish, or wait,
The day declines; across the massive brow
A pallid shadow steals; we are too late!
Behold the dying day is father of tomorrow.

Modern Education as Influenced by the Reformation

Three stages of intellectual development swept along with the reformation and were coincident with its progress.

Humanism, grounded upon the study of the classics, came first as a natural result of the revival of learning; realism, or the education of the mind through the eye and hand, succeeded; while naturalism, or an attempt to develop first the body, then the character; lastly, the mind grew out of realism, and modern education is tacitly understood to be all unconscious compromise of these three aims.

Humanism had gained something of a foothold in German universities by the middle of the fifteenth century, but the professors, although they waged continual war with the more ignorant and intolerant of the clergy, failed to see the greatness of the mother tongue as an instrument of culture; like the schoolmen they wrote solely in Latin, making no effort to fix the German language by unifying its dialects, and giving little or no attention to popular literature.

The literature of an age expressed quite accurately the high-water mark of its education, and a glance at the history of this art in Germany, during the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries inclusive, is sufficient to reveal a great literary depression, the causes of which were numerous. It was it period of transitions in language, of religious disturbance, of discontent, among the masses, yet in a low stage of development.

There was, however, a bright side to this dark picture,–a mental activity which was preparing the way for a higher development, not only of the entire German nation, but of all the nations influenced by its civilization; and while Luther was kindling the fires of the reformation by the publication of theses, sermons and tracts, the scholarly Erasmus and Von Hutten were writing, polished satires exposing the abuses of the Church, the vices of the clergy and the greed of monastic orders.

Albert Durer, the greatest German painter of his time, was publishing treatises on art which have stood the test of the centuries; Paracelsus, in the German language, was lecturing on chemistry and medicine; later, Gerhardt and Fleming were writing poems which placed them in the front rank among lyrists.

Dramatic art, encouraged both by Luther and the Jesuists, made considerable progress during the period of the reformation, although the plays were still coarse and offensive at a time when English audiences were appreciating the beauties of Shakespeare’s masterpieces.

Maximillian I. interested himself in popular literature to a certain extent, but his tastes inclined him more especially toward the court romances of early medieval days. In the teaching profession the humanists were still overshadowed by the schoolmen, the leading educators of the period, and they (the schoolmen) devoted themselves and their pupils to the most unprofitable questions of metaphysics and theology.

The seven years’ course of study, which represented the high aims of the best part of the middle ages, was a noble plan of education, but the church considered no form of knowledge as worthy of recognition which did not directly contribute to its aggrandizement, hence the course had been limited and formalized until only the husk remained. Methods of teaching had been corrupted, memory was substituted for thought. The renaissance, however, which appeared in Europe as the forerunner and a leading cause of the reformation, wrought a change in both subject and method. Pupils were now brought face to face

with Virgil and Horace, Plato and Cicero, and with classic models from all departments of art; but this great intellectual revival was not fully developed in Germany, when that religious movement invaded northern Europe which separated the culture of the reformation from that of the church; and we who are accustomed to look upon Protestantism as the key to independence and originality of thought, as an expression itself of the highest intelligence, can hardly realize the primary results of the separation, the loss in philosophic and artistic culture which the iconoclastic and insurrectionary spirit, attending the reformation in the early years of its development, occasioned in those countries most deeply affected by its onward march.

 

Those who broke with the church had to create a philosophy, educational forms, and a culture of their own. As the mind, no longer in thraldom, for the church had assumed absolute control of the intellect, began to assert itself, the loss was more than sustained,–by the principles of Bacon, Des Cartes and Kant, by the discoveries of Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, and by the hosts of brilliant thinkers who, in spite of the warfare so long and so bitterly waged between science and religion, did originate and establish a new philosophy, a new education, a new culture.

The instruction which Luther received in the Latin school at Mansfield, in the Francisan school at Madgeburg, the High School of Erfurt and lastly, in the Augustinian convent of Erfurt, was identical with the training of the age; Aristotelian philosophy, classics and theology forming the bulk of the course, and these subjects taught in a narrow and spiritless manner; but with this knowledge as a foundation Luther became the commanding spirit, no less in literature and education than in religion.

The composition or poetry and music was a recreation in which he indulged during moments of leisure, yet who questions whether the soul of a poet ran through the thrilling lines of–

“Ein feste Burg ist Iunser Gott,
Ein gutes Wehr und Waffen;
Er hilft uns frey ans aller Noth,
Die uns jetzt hat betroffen, etc.

Luther, generally speaking, cared little for the form of his composition as compared with the effect it produced, although his greatest literary achievement, the translation of the Bible into German, was attended by such simplicity of style and perfect comprehension of the numerous German dialects, that for the first time in the history of the Germanic people they possessed a common speech and to this Augustinian monk Germany owes the most essential of all the conditions of a truly national life and literature–a common vehicle of thought, intelligent and commanding.

Education, previous to the reformation as conducted by Luther, was entirely under the control of the church; the church trained its children to fill the ranks of Catholicism, and Lather soon recognized that the success of his religious reforms depended largely upon the organization of schools for the people, in which the principles underlying his position might be taught, and thus popularized; and the study of the mother tongue through the German Bible, which, published in complete form in 1541, represented the work of the best years of his life, accompanied by the singing of those stirring hymns, contributed by Gerhardt, Luther, Fleming and others, was in itself a new education, and created a mutual interest in instruction and religion, in knowledge and faith.

The reformer especially emphasized the value of the primary school, and so influenced the genius of modern education, by the methods which he advocated in that direction, that for three hundred years Protestant nations have moulded universal opinion in matters of primary instruction. He severely criticized the schools of the period, which were mainly designed for the favored few; complains of the brutality of the teachers, who, he says, “Behaved toward their pupils as if they were thieves.” According to Luther’s testimony, he, himself, was beaten fifteen times in one afternoon.

Aiming at a practical solution of the difficulties surrounding the cause of popular education, in 1524, he addressed a forcible manifesto to the municipal authorities of all the German towns, appealing to the highest considerations of virtue and religion in behalf of public instruction. He would have the state support its schools on the same principle that it supports a standing army; he would make education compulsory, since military service is such, and for the former, the reasons are higher and stronger.

The divorcement of education from the control of the church, and the public work, he found an able assistant in Melanchthon, who was a brilliant humanist, an influential teacher, and a successful writer of school books. Melanchthon’s appointment in 1518 as professor of Greek in the University of Wittenberg marks an epoch of German university education. Scholastic methods of teaching were summarily dropped, Wittenberg became the national school, and from this time, the revival of letters, as influenced by the reformation, began to assert itself on German soil.

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FREE!
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The first premium offered last March having been won the publishers of the ERA take pleasure in announcing another which, if possible, surpasses the first.

READ!
FIRST PREMIUM.

For the boy or girl, man or woman who in the next 3 months brings in the largest number of paid up subscribers (over one hundred in number) we will give a course in Mr. Eastman’s School of Carving and Modelling.

N.B.–This course taken at its full value is worth two hundred dollars; it extends over a term of nine months, and at the end of that time pupils are prepared to become teachers of the art. No more valuable premium could be offered; in return for a little energy a splendid trade is given and a position to teach almost assured, or if teaching is not preferred, and the premium winner prefers actual work, good and paying positions are assured.

SECOND PREMIUM.

To the one bringing in the next largest number of subscribers, half a term at the above school will be given.

THIRD PREMIUM.

To the one bringing in the third largest number of subscribers a New World Type-writer will be given.

FOURTH PREMIUM.

To the four boys or girls (beginners in music) bringing in each ten subscribers in the next three months, a year’s course in the Boston Training School of Music will be given.

Do not pass this over lightly. The WOMAN’S ERA makes a specialty of preparing openings for young colored people; it realizes the difficulties they encounter in obtaining such openings and is prepared to do well by ambitious, earnest and determined young people. Don’t complain of lack of chances if you let such as these pass you by.

All contestants not receiving premiums will be allowed twenty-five per cent on all paid yearly subscriptions received.

The time allowed is short, but people who are in earnest act at once.

For further particulars, address

THE WOMAN’S ERA,
103 Charles Street, Boston.

 

SCHOOL OF MODELLING AND CARVING.

TEACHERS AND CRAFTSMEN TRAINED IN THE FOLLOWING INDUSTRIAL ARTS.

MODELLING for Stone and Plaster.
MODELLING for metals. etc.
CASTING for Stucco and metals.
FIGURE CUTTING in Piece and Mould.
STONE CARVING, Buildings, monuments and Ecclesiastical Works.
WOOD CARVING, for Metals, Internal and External Decoration.
PUPILS PREPARED to teach the above in one term of nine months.
CRAFTSMEN PUSHED in special branches and situations secured upon completion of term; or work secured while studying.

For terms apply to
CLAVENGER A. EASTMAN,
St. Augustine’s Trade Schools,
Corner Cambridge and Grove Sts., Boston.

 

GEORGE L. RUFFIN,
LESSONS IN SINGING.

Lamperti Method.

After October 1st, 103 Charles Street.

Dates for Cecilia Wage Earner’s Concerts, are Nov. 27, Jan. 16, Mar. 17, May 1.

TICKETS, 25 and 15c.
Apply for Tickets one week before each Concert, at above address.

 

Help In Choosing a School.

The publishers of the WOMEN’S ERA will, on application of any of its subscribers, send catalogues and all informations easily obtainable, concerning any academy, college, normal, music, or art school in New England, on receipt of stamped and directed envelope. Address,

WOMAN’S ERA, 103 Charles St.

 

EDGAR P. BENJAMIN,

Attorney and Counsellor-at-Law

Room 22,
34 SCHOOL STREET, BOSTON.

 

– TRY –
A PERFECT ICING FOR YOUR CAKES,

Will not spoil or foment in heat or cold, covered or exposed to the air.

PERFECT ICING never dries out or crumbles, all other Icings draw the moisture from the cake and dry it up. A PERFECT ICING will keep your cake from drying out.

PERFECT ICING should be put on in a very thin coating, like a varnish; it will give your cakes a beautiful gloss as well as flavor. Can be cut soon as put on by dipping your knive in cold water.

A 25c. Jar of PERFECT ICING will go further than 25 cents in Egg and Sugar Icing as you use it, is more healthful, and gives a superior flavor.

PERFECT ICINGS are put up in Screw Top Jars, also in Mason quarts, and in wooden pails of 25 lbs. each.

DIRECTIONS.

Remove the top, set the Jar in a moderate oven or warm place, until the contents are thin enough to spread. Take your knife, stir it up and spread on a cold cake, just as thin as possible. Set your jar away to use again.

Ask your Grocer for PERFECT ICING.
Almond, Coffee, Wild Grape, Orange, Strawberry, Vanilla, Chocolate, Pistash.

Prepared only by A.H. Peloubet & Co., New York.
See our Trade Mark A.H.P. is on every Label.

PERFECT ICINGS used in making Sherbets or Water Ices, Ice Creams, Sauces, Home Confections, etc. Will give their rich flavors and save work.

B.P. Ray, Agent. 2 Chatham Row, Boston, Mass.

 

THE CELEBRATED
Witch-Hazel Velvet Cream

Does not contain corrosive sublimate, lead, arsenic, mercury, or any poison. As a toilet article for tan, sunburn, moth, freckles, etc., its excellence cannot be too well recommended.
Put up in 60c. and $1.00 Sizes, sent postpaid on receipt of Price.
AGENTS WANTED EVERYWHERE.

For Sale by Druggists and Dealers in Toilet Supplies.

All correspondence should be addressed to the New England Agents.

W. F. & J. S. KINGSBERY
RANDOLPH, – – MASS.

 

THE KRANICH & BACH PIANOS

Again took only Gold Medal at last Mechanical Fair for their unequalled patent Upright and Grands. Also Silver medal on Mehlin & Sons, and Stultz & Bauer Pianos. Also slightly used Steinway Grand for $400, Steinway Square $250, McPhail $190, nearly new Haynes Bros. Upright $325, new Ivers & Pond $225, H. F. Miller Parlor Grand $400, and fifty square Pianos from $50 to $200. Organs from $30 to $100.

TERMS EASY.

H. W. BERRY,

 

646 Washington Street, – BOSTON
Over Pray & Sons Carpet Store.

Material furnished and a Stylish Walking or Visiting Dress made to order for $23.00, warranted to fit perfectly and finished in the best manner.

Ladies can select material from any of the large dry goods houses, I will buy and be responsible for a handsome gown, at this extremely low figure.

MRS. A.A. CASNEAU,

Near Hammond St. 9 Greenwich St., Boston.

 

ATTENTION LADIES.
Our Dress and Garment making is perfect; Prices reasonable; Fit, Style and Finish unsurpassed.
MILLINERY:
Hats and Bonnets made and Trimmed, 50c. to $1.00.
Our Millinery and Dress Cutting Schools are the best in the world. Young Ladies should come at once and learn.
HARVEY, 29 Temple Place, Boston.

 

E.A. LIBBY,
New goods received by steamer every week. We never have an opening.
Always ready to show goods.
-MILLINERY-
The old reliable house retains the same stand,
19 Temple Place, – – Boston.

 

H.B. McDERMOTT & CO.

Dealers in and Manufacturers of
ALL KINDS OF WHALEBONE.
Dress and Corset Bone constantly on hand or
Made to order.

Bone by the Ounce a Specialty.
673 Washington St., Boston
Opposite Beach Street.

 

-THE-
NEW WORLD
TYPEWRITER.

Price, $15.00
A useful and elegant present for ladies and gentlemen. Over 100,000 in use.
Perfectly simple, practical and durable.
No $100 machine can do better work.
Writes 77 characters. Capitals and small letters.
Never gets out of order. Perfect alignment always.
No Instruction required.
SEND FOR ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE.
The Typewriter Improvement Co.
4 K Post Office Square, – BOSTON, Mass.
Agents Wanted.

 

DR. GEORGE LANG.

Hair and Scalp Specialist,
28 Temple Place,
Boston, Mass.
Hours, 9 to 4. Rooms 6 and 7.

 

50 DIFFERENT KINDS OF CANDY
AT 12c. Per Lb.
All others charge from 20c. to 40c. for the
Same Article.
J. W. ROBERTS,
578 Washington St., Cor. Hayward Place.

 

ATLANTA UNIVERSITY, ALTANTA [sic] ATLANTA, GA.
REV. HORACE BUMSTEAD, D. D. President.
THIS Institution trains and sends out a superior class of teachers and leaders for work among the Freedom of the South. It solicits the attendance of intelligent and earnest young men and women, and contributions from those who are willing to help towards their education. Write to the President.

 

BOSTON TRAINING SCHOOL OF MUSIC

INCORPORATED
Vocal and Instrumental Music,
Harmony, Theory and Composition.
Pupils thoroughly Prepared for Teaching and Public Performance.
Central Location. CATALOGUE FREE.
GEORGE H. HOWARD, A. M., Director,
Music Hall Building, Boston, Mass.

 

A.G. McKenzie
OPTICIAN.
Artificial Eyes a Specialty.
156 CHARLES ST., BOSTON
Three Doors From Eye Infirmary.
TELEPHONE, 219-3 TREMONT.

 

BOSTON
Condensed Milk Co.’s
Plain condensed (unsweetened) Milk Is the best known food for infants. Best article in the world for a cup of coffee. Sold in jars at the office, 2 1/2 Park Sq., Boston. Delivered three times per week.
ENDORSEMENT.
I have used the plain condensed milk and found it worked like a miracle in transforming my weak, puny baby into a strong, plump one, after all other foods had failed.
MRS. MCGILL.
10 Lindall Place, Boston.

 

PRIVATE BOARD.

MRS. ELIZABETH E. COOLEY will accommodate a few select boarders.
Transient or permanent,
AT 62 PHILLIPS ST., BOSTON.

 

For Every Kind of PRINTING Go to
Chas. Alexander,
Publisher of THE MONTHLY REVIEW,
36 Columbus Avenue. BOSTON.

 

THE AMERICAN WRINGER CO.
Branch Store
13 & 15 BROADWAY EXTENSION. Boston, Mass.
Manufacturers of Clothes Wringers.
All kinds of Wringers and Sweepers repaired.
Orders by mail promptly attended to.

 

LESSONS BY MAIL.
Instructions in English Composition, Grammar, Use of Capitals, Punctuation, Formation of Sentences, etc. Address,
Miss M. W. GOULD, Box 165. Readville, Mass.

 

Robert L. Carter, M D.
PHYSICIAN & SURGEON,
No. 722 Kempton Street,
NEW BEDFORD.
Diseases of Women a Specialty.
Telephone 329-4

 

What is this
A.P.A. ?
What its Plans?
Who its Candidates?
What its Principles?
Where can we join?
For full information, send 2-ct. stamp for –or ask your newsdealer for–or send 50 cts. for 3 mos. trial subscription of–the paper which advocates straight A. P. A. principles–THE AMERICAN CITIZEN,
7 Bromfield St., Boston.

 

DO YOU WANT
TO OWN YOUR OWN HOME?
THEN READ THIS!

IF YOU WANT TO BUY A HOUSE IN CAMBRIDGE, SOMERVILLE, DORCHESTER OR EVERETT . . . IT WILL PAY YOU TO CALL ON

BALDWIN & DORSEY, Real Estate, Mortgage and Insurance Brokers,

They make a specialty of property in the suburbs.
They furnish purchase money at low rates of interest.
They will lend you money to build a house on your own land.

Stop! Pay no more Rent! Begin now to buy your own home!

BALDWIN & DORSEY,
Real Estate, Mortgages and Insurance,
555 MAIN STREET, CAMBRIDGEPORT.

 

INCORPORATED UNDER THE LAWS OF MASSACHUSETTS.
EASTERN CONSTRUCTION COMPANY,
OF BOSTON

Street Railway Builders and Contractors for Public Works.

ESTIMATES MADE FOR A COMPLETE UNDERGROUND SYSTEM.

GEO. S. BARNES. President.
STANLEY RUFFIN, Sec’y and Treas.
34 School Street, Boston.

 

BUTLER R. WILSON,
ATTORNEY and COUNSELLOR AT LAW,
NOTARY PUBLIC.
34 School Street, (Room 33)
BOSTON.

 

D. A. NEWCOMB & SON,
DEALER in
Fresh, Salt and Smoked Fish.
Fresh opened Oysters and Clams.
194 Cambridge St., Boston, Mass.
Orders called for and delivered promptly.

 

Frank S. Murphy
Grocer.
61 Charles Street & Mt. Vernon St.
BOSTON, MASS.