e
yet to see the first mention of her political degradation, which she
so keenly felt and so often deplored on our platform. Why are the
press and the pulpit, with all their eulogiums of her virtues, so
oblivious to the humiliating fact of her disfranchisement? Are
political disabilities, accounted such grievous wrongs to the Southern
aristocrat, to the emancipated slave, to the proud Anglo-Saxon man in
every latitude, of so little value to woman that when a nation mourns
the loss of the grandest representative of our sex, no tear is shed,
no regret expressed, no mention even made of her political
degradation?
We might ask the question why this universal outpouring of tributes to
our venerated friend, exceeding all honors hitherto paid to the great
women of our nation, who, one by one, have passed away It is because
Lucretia Mott was a philanthropist; her life was dedicated to the
rights of humanity. When the poet, the novelist, the philosopher, and
the metaphysican have been forgotten, the memory of the true reformer
will remain engraven on the hearts of the multitude. Behold! the
beauty of yonder fountain, after its upward flight, is where it turns
again to earth, so is the life of one morally beautiful, ever drawn by
a law of its being from the clouds of speculation to the common
interests of humanity.
The question is often asked of us on this platform, will the children
of these reformers take up the work that falls from their hands? It is
more than probable they will not. It is with reformers' children as
others, they seldom follow in the footsteps of their parents. As a
general thing the son of a farmer hates the plow, the son of a lawyer
is not attracted to the bar, nor the son of a clergyman to the pulpit.
The daughter of the pattern housekeeper turns to literature or art,
and the child of the reformer has no heart for martyrdom. It is
philosophical that our sons and daughters should not be here. To a
certain extent they have shared the odium and persecution we have
provoked, they have been ostracised and ignored for heresies they have
never accepted. The humiliation of our children has been the bitterest
drop in the cup of reformers. Look around our platform, not one
representative of the brave band of women who inaugurated this
movement is here! Not one of our kindred has ever yet in these
conventions echoed our demands. Nevertheless we are, and shall be
represented! We see bright new faces; we hear eloqu
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