her, with only here and there a voice, like
Count Tolstoi's in the Russian wilderness, crying in heedless ears that
the gospel of Christ is peace, not war, and love, not hatred.
The overture which comes to us from English advocates of arbitration is a
cheering assurance that the tide of sentiment is turning in favor of
peace among English speaking peoples. I cannot doubt that whatever stump
orators and newspapers may say for party purposes, the heart of America
will respond to the generous proposal of our kinsfolk across the water.
No two nations could be more favorably conditioned than England and the
United States for making the "holy experiment of arbitration."
In our associations and kinship, our aims and interests, our common
claims in the great names and achievements of a common ancestry, we are
essentially one people. Whatever other nations may do, we at least
should be friends. God grant that the noble and generous attempt shall
not be in vain! May it hasten the time when the only rivalry between us
shall be the peaceful rivalry of progress and the gracious interchange of
good.
"When closer strand shall lean to strand,
Till meet beneath saluting flags,
The eagle of our mountain crags,
The lion of our mother land!"
SUFFRAGE FOR WOMEN.
Read at the Woman's Convention at Washington.
OAK KNOLL, DANVERS, MASS., Third Mo., 8, 1888.
I THANK thee for thy kind letter. It would be a great satisfaction to be
able to be present at the fortieth anniversary of the Woman's Suffrage
Association. But, as that is not possible, I can only reiterate my
hearty sympathy with the object of the association, and bid it take heart
and assurance in view of all that has been accomplished. There is no
easy royal road to a reform of this kind, but if the progress has been
slow there has been no step backward. The barriers which at first seemed
impregnable in the shape of custom and prejudice have been undermined and
their fall is certain. A prophecy of your triumph at no distant day is
in the air; your opponents feel it and believe it. They know that yours
is a gaining and theirs a losing cause. The work still before you
demands on your part great patience, steady perseverance, a firm,
dignified, and self-respecting protest against the injustice of which you
have so much reason to complain, and of serene confidence which is not
discouraged by temporary
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