so vivacious, so
fresh, so full of joy of life that it was delightful to be with her.
She was so witty that no one wanted to leave the room a minute for
fear of losing something she might say. I used to love to see her
after she took a nap; though so advanced in years she would always
awaken with a look of wonder and pleasure like a child just gazing out
upon life."[28]
Tributes also were paid to Mrs. Alice Freeman Palmer of Massachusetts;
Mrs. Thomas M. Patterson of Colorado; the Hon. Albert H. Horton of
Kansas; Mrs. Addie M. Johnson of Missouri; Miss Anna C. Mott of Ohio;
the Hon. Lester H. Humphrey and Mrs. Hannah L. Howland of New York;
Dr. Marie Zakrzewska of Massachusetts and other workers in the cause.
Mrs. Gilman closed the services by reading her beautiful memorial
poem, In Honor, written for the occasion.
A unique feature of the convention which lightened its serious tone
was Dr. Shaw's "question box," into which any one might drop a
question and at intervals she would take them out and answer them on
the spur of the moment to the delight of her audience. "If women
voted," was one of them, "would they not have to sit on juries?" "Many
women would be glad of a chance to sit on anything," she answered with
a smile. "There are women who stand up and wash six days in the week
at 75 cents a day who would like to take a vacation and sit on a jury
at $1.50. Some women would like to sit on a jury at the trial of the
sharks that live by corrupting boys and girls. It would be easier for
a woman to sit on a jury and send to the penitentiary the men who are
trying to ruin her boy than to be always watching the boy." Another
question was: "Have not men a better right to the suffrage because
they have to support the family?" She answered: "It is fallacy to say
that the men support the women. The men by their industry provide the
raw material and the women by their industry turn it into clothing and
nourishment. When my father sent home a barrel of flour my mother did
not lead us eight youngsters up to that barrel of raw flour at
mealtime and say, 'Children, here is your dinner.' When he bought a
bolt of cloth she did not take that bolt of cloth and wind it around
us and say, 'Children, here are the clothes your father has sent you.'
The woman has always done her full share of supporting the family. In
the South under the old regime she bore more than an equal part of the
care, for the planter could hire an overseer for
|