WHITHER AND WOMEN.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 104, 25 January 1908, Page 11

WHITHER AND WOMEN.

i t , v ! *1 lie widespread preparations made for tho ififelebration of tlio. Whittier centennial on December 17 show how much tho Quaker poet is beloved by the American people. I'or U generation'his poems have been the watchword of reformers. Among the causes deal' to bis heart were civil service reform and woman snlFrago. J.n exhorting his. country to tlio tasks that still lie before her, ho wrote-:— "Alone (o such as fitly bear Thy civic honours, bid thmn.fall; And call thy daughters forth, to share '~ The. lights and duties pledged to a 11.".. ' When fear was expressed in his presence I that, if womenjiud the ballot they would •neglect their 'lionfcs, Whittier pointed out that- , the Quaker women most notable as preachfcrs, such as Lunretia Jlott, had, as a rule, been also notable housekeepers. ' . Whittier . ridiculed -the efforts .to keep "ivoincii from speaking ill public; - When the. Congregational. Ministers' • Association published their Pastoral Letter against it, declaring that tho female character was threatened with' " wide-spread and. permanent injury" in consequence, i.ind that'philanthropic causes:' cquld never. bo roaliy' promoted by s ■" the: harangues of female orators " (a manifesto aimed especially' at ,-tlio. women who were, speaking .. against slavery), Whittier. published his famous' p.oeni, beginning:— '' "So this is all—the utmost reach .' Of priestly power the mind to fetter! When laymen think—when women preach— A war of Words—a.''Past-oral,Letter!' " Moro than twenty-five years ago, a sharp dispute arose in tho Boston University Medical School as to whether the young -yvomen medical students should have equal rights with the young men —I think the question was whether they should he eligible to certain hospital positions that gave spseial fac; ilities for study. All tho yonng-n;en,-in the"' class but one voted against the women. At a recentipn given by the University .soon after, Whittier v/as the guest of honour, and ho asked to be introduced to Mr. Lord, the one young man who. had voted on the side, of.-fair play.- ~ Referring to th«%'* " Antis," Whittier also maintained that the nieri who w;ero themselves opposed to equal rights for women merely used the opposition of a "very few women as a cloak for their, own unwillingness. ■ He was an officer of- the ''Massachusetts 1 Woman Suffrage Association' up" to tlio time of his death.—Boston "Women's Journal.",