TIME AND "THE FEMALE MONSTER"

...I would simply point out one measure, against which the boldest enemy of improvement in this country dare not openly object...

...Among others General Lafayette read the book and wrote her a congratulatory letter in which he expressed the hope that he might some day meet the author...

...Such a statement reads like an extract from a progressive political speech, and a conservative newspaper editor of today would not even give it headlines, much less denounce its author as a "female monster...

...Her interpretation of course appealtd strongly to the liberal minded, and her book brought her into association with many distinguished individuals of this same persuasion...

...Hundreds of thousands of other women will do the same thing, and no one will think it strange or unnatural in this year of our Lord 1926...

...She in turn adopted him as her hero, friend and father...

...At that time Europe regarded the experiment in the United States much as present day nations regard Russia...

...But when one thus shamefully obtrudes herself upon the public, waiving alike modesty, gentleness, and every amiable attribute of her sex, she also waives all claims to its privileges...

...Are they free...

...The United States was to her the land of promise, "a country consecrated to freedom in which man might awake to the full knowledge and exercise of his powers...

...One admires the courageous spirit of this young woman who dared thus to challenge the then powerful institution of human slavery in so concrete a fashion...

...On Tuesday morning I shall go to the election booth and cast my vote...

...So is society polished and enlight- ened...

...For three years she spent a great part of her time in France following closely the political complications of that period...

...As an editor and speaker she was an active and effective worker in the early days of the New York Labor movement...

...that we could learn the advantage of just practice and consistent principles...

...She came as a young woman looking for the realization of her humanitarian dreams...

...For, though she had an extrordinary capacity for-in-spiring and directing propaganda activities, she was less successful in dealing with the detailed organization necessary for practical experiments...

...Although always deeply interested in the special problems of her own sex, Frances Wright was not primarily a "feminist...

...From that time forth she courageously advocated the freeing of the slaves...

...Her enthusiasm for the hero of the American Revolution was unbounded and she soon became an intimate in his household...

...General Lafayette made her his confidante and aide in the Carbonari conspiracies, addressing her in a letter as "Ma bien aimee, adoree Fanny, la tendre fille de man choix" (My beloved and adored Fanny, my darling adopted daughter...

...It was at the age of twenty-three that Frances Wright first came to this country with no other companion than her younger sister...

...Gently born, and of independent means, she was cordially welcomed in exclusive homes which in later years, when she became a more radical propagandist, were closed to her...

...She returned to England and published in 1821 a book entitled, "Views of Society and Manners in America," which was translated into various continental languages, and contributed greatly toward changing the tone of British periodicals regarding the United States...

...I would exhort them to study, until they discover their real interests, and then to send men to their legislative assemblies who will represent those interests, men who shall be interested to devote the people's funds to the people's benefit...

...And Frances Wright's book contributed greatly toward creating the impression that the "radical" experiment in America was not a failure...

...Many of the ideas for which she was reviled and persecuted are now woven into our current thought...

...The book gave an enthusiastic and rosy account of the American scene...

...If they exert it not for good, they will for evil...

...Let women stand where they may in the scale of improvement, their position decides that of the race...

...Are they enslaved...

...This "female monster" was the brilliant and gifted Frances Wright who was born in Scotland in 1795, and belongs in spirit and activity to the humanitarians of the early nineteenth century...

...Her vigorous and inquiring mind questioned the established attitudes regarding race, religion, property, and sex...

...It is in vain that we would circumscribe the power of one half of our race, and that by faT the most important and influential...

...Was Fanny Wright in love with the French Revolution or with a French revolutionist ? While in Paris she had a salon which was described in one of her sister Camilla's letters as a gathering of "such public characters as liberal foreigners most wish to stare at...

...So is the human character elevated...

...In fact her occasional over-stressing of the paternal note makes one wonder what may have been the subconscious currents of her feeling...

...Although she never abandoned either of her earlier convictions, she cam to the conclusion that the most fundamental corrective for all those inequalities of condition which she so deplored in society was education...

...she ceases to be a woman, and is no longer aught else than what we have taken the liberty of calling her—a female monster...

...Are they cultivated...

...Are they wise...

...So is it gross and insipid...

...Are they ignorant...

...Today it is almost incredible that the appearance of a woman as a public speaker should have evoked the following commentary from a New York newspaper in 1828: "It may be thought that * * * there is a degree of generous courtesy which should never be withheld from woman...

...So is the whole human race degraded...

...but an intrepid, unconventional, pioneering type of individual...

...if they advance not knowledge, they will perpetuate ignorance...

...So is it unstable and uncompromising...

...I would call on them, in my writings as in my popular discourses, to prepare their minds for a judicious exercise of the elective franchise...

...many of the reforms which she advocated are now an unquestioned part of our laws...

...At first she placed her faith for social regeneration in the instrument of political action: later she concentrated on economic reorganization...

...She believed in the perfectability of human kind, and at different periods of her life faith in methods for achieving the ultimate Utopia varied...

...Although many of her ideas seem mild enough now, it took courage in the early Nineteenth century for a woman publicly to advocate votes for women, and to protest against a legal system which deprived women of their property at marriage...

...That old laggard, Time, has caught up with Frances Wright, and that respectable editor who designated her a "female monster" to the tune of conservative approbation in 1828, becomes a ludicrous figure in 1926...

...She had a play produced in New York which was well received, and her whole sojourn was in the nature of a triumphal pilgrimage...

...men, who, instead of sanctifying facts, protecting sabbaths, chartering theological seminaries, and endowing exclusive colleges, shall organize a system of equal and universal education, supported by public money, and protected by the public care...

...It was at this time that she first visited the South and became interested in the slavery problem...

...In fact she undertook at her own expense an experiment of gradual emancipation in a community which she established at Nash-oba, Tennesee...

...She was one of the exceptional women of her period, and was so w«ll known both in this country and in Europe that one marvels her name should be so comparatively obscure today...

...Frances Wright outraged the sensitive ears of the conservative editors of her day by announcting from the public platform such doctrines as these: "Until women assume the place in society which good sense and good feeling alike assign to them, human improvement must advance but feebly...

...With characteristic initiative Francs Wright promptly went to France to gratify the General's wish...

...However, it was undoubtedly the very diversity of her interests and enthusiasms which has militated against any one cause bringing her forward as its pioneer heroine, lest it be obliged to carry the burden of her advocacy of other unpopular ideas...

...She was a hero worshipper and these transitions in her thought seem to have been in some degree influenced by her successive association with various intellectual men...

...I would call on the people to bestir themselves, to enquire and examine how they may best be fitted to exercise the rights secured to them by their political institutions...

...Like most travelers in foreign lands, this adventurous, liberty loving young woman found what she was seeking...

...She was far in advance of her day, and she suffered the inevitable destiny of the pioneer...

...For ten days now my mail box has been filled with sample ballots and innumerable appeals to cast my vote for various candidates...

...It is difficult to realize that less than a hundred years ago women were ridiculed and reviled for even daring to suggest that females should be allowed to vote...

...But this particular venture was an unfortunate and ill-considered undertaking on her part...

...In 1826 Frances Wright returned to America and followed Lafayette throughout his pilgrimage here...