od and womanhood, the true masculine and feminine elements.
Dio Lewis is rapidly changing our ideas of feminine beauty. In
the large waists and strong arms of the girls under his training,
some dilettante gentleman may mourn a loss of feminine delicacy.
So in the wise, virtuous, self-supporting, common-sense women we
propose as the mothers of the future republic, the reverend
gentleman may see a lack of what he considers the feminine
element. In the development of sufficient moral force to entrench
herself on principle, need a woman necessarily lose any grace,
dignity, or perfection of character? Are not those who have
advocated the rights of women in this country for the last twenty
years as delicate and refined, as moral, high-toned, educated,
just, and generous as any women in the land? I have seen women in
many countries and classes, in public and private; but have found
none more pure and noble than those I meet on this platform. I
have seen our venerable President in converse with the highest of
English nobility, and even the Duchess of Sutherland did not
eclipse her in grace, dignity, and conversational power. Where
are there any women, as wives and mothers, more beautiful in
their home life than Lucretia Mott and Lucy Stone, or Antoinette
Brown Blackwell? Let the freedmen of the South Sea Islands
testify to the faithfulness, the devotion, the patience, and
tender mercy of Frances D. Gage, who watched over their
interests, teaching them to read and work for two long years.
Some on our platform have struggled with hardship and
poverty--been slaves even in "the land of the free and the home
of the brave," and bear the scars of life's battle. But is a
self-made woman less honorable than a self-made man? Answer our
arguments. When the Republic is in danger, no matter for our
manners. When our soldiers came back from the war, wan, weary,
and worn, maimed, halt, blind, wrinkled, and decrepit--their
banners torn, their garments stained with blood--who, with a soul
to feel, thought of anything but the glorious work they had done?
What if their mothers on this platform be angular, old, wrinkled,
and gray? They, too, have fought a good fight for freedom, and
proudly bear the scars of the battle. We alone have struck the
key-note of reconstruction.