Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910Richards, Laura Elizabeth Howe
History
Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910
Richards, Laura Elizabeth Howe
Authors, American -- 19th century -- Biography; Feminists -- United States -- Biography; Howe, Julia Ward, 1819-1910
"My first visit to Leavenworth was a stay of a couple of hours between
trains, on my way to southern Kansas. Short as this was, it yet brought
to my acquaintance two new friends, and to my remembrance two old ones.
Of the new friends, the first seen was Rev. Edward Sanborn, the
Unitarian minister of the place. Mr. Sanborn met me at the comfortless
depot, and insisted upon taking me to his lodgings, where Friend Number
Two, in the shape of his amiable wife, added herself to the list of my
well-wishers. Mr. Sanborn had just been burned out. His house took fire
while he and his wife were spending Christmas Day with a neighbor, and
burned so quickly that no article in it could be saved. He had found in
the ashes the charred remains of his manuscript sermons, and had good
hope of being able to decipher them. As the pleasant minutes passed in
easy conversation, I could not help reflecting on the instinctive
hospitality of Western life. This cosy corner in a mere hired bedroom
had given me a rest and a shelter which I should have been unwilling to
ask for in some streets of palaces which have been familiar to me from
my youth up."
The Association for the Advancement of Women was a pioneer society, and
did vital work for twenty-five years. During the greater part of that
time she was its president. She never missed (save when in Europe) one
of its annual congresses, or one of the mid-year conferences (of
officers only) which she considered of high moment. She worked for the
Association with a loving enthusiasm that never varied or faltered; and
it was a real grief to her when the changing of the old order resolved
it into its elements, to take new shape in the larger and
farther-reaching work of the General Federation of Clubs, and other
kindred societies.
Many of these may be called the children of "A.A.W." The greatest
service of the latter was in founding women's clubs throughout the
country. Wherever they went, to conferences or conventions, its leaders
called about them the thoughtful women of the neighborhood, and helped
them to plan local associations for study and work.
* * * * *
There was still another aspect of the Woman Question, dearer to her even
than "A.A.W."
A woman minister once said: "My conviction that Mrs. Howe was a divinely
ordained preacher was gained the first time that she publicly espoused
the question of woman suffrage in 1869."
We have seen that little Julia Ward began her ministrations in the
nursery. At eight years old she was adjuring her little cousin to love
God and he would see death approaching with joy. At eleven she was
writing her "Invitation to Youth":--
Oh! let thy meditations be of God,
Who guides thy footsteps with unerring eye;
And who, until the path of life is trod,
Will never leave thee by thyself to die.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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