Life and writings of Amelia BloomerBloomer, D. C. (Dexter C.)
History
Life and writings of Amelia Bloomer
Bloomer, D. C. (Dexter C.)
Bloomer, Amelia Jenks, 1818-1894; Women's rights -- United States
And so the months moved quietly along during that eventful year,
and the first of October found Mr. and Mrs. Bloomer settled down to
housekeeping in a modest dwelling in Seneca Falls. The great election
contest terminated in November, and they both rejoiced most heartily
in the result, although what particular benefit it would be to either
of them, except the satisfaction of being on the winning side, it
would have been very difficult for either to very fully explain.
A WRITER FOR NEWSPAPERS.
As has already been stated, Mr. Bloomer was one of the editors of
a village paper printed in Seneca Falls. He was a great reader
of books and newspapers, and sought to inspire in his young wife
a similar love for the current literature of the day. This was no
difficult task, for she also was fond of books and sought in all
suitable ways to store her mind with useful knowledge. But Mr.
Bloomer desired her to go further and become a writer for the papers
also. He had got the idea well fixed in his mind, from letters
received from her during the years preceding their marriage, that she
possessed the power of expressing her thoughts on paper with both
ease and grace. But from the natural modesty of her character, she
was quite unwilling to embark in this to her new and untried field
of mental experience. Nevertheless, through the kind and persuasive
appeals of the husband the young wife began to commit her thoughts to
paper, and from time to time there appeared in the newspapers of the
town various articles bearing upon the social, moral and political
questions of those times. They all appeared anonymously, sometimes
written over one signature and then over another, but they all came
from Mrs. Bloomer’s pen and excited no little curiosity among the
people of the town as to their real author. It was in this way that
Mrs. Bloomer acquired that easy and pleasant style of writing for
publication which so marked her career in later years.
WASHINGTONIANISM.
Meantime, the great Washingtonian Temperance Reformation of 1840
and 1841 made its appearance, led by the six reformed drunkards of
Baltimore. It swept over the country like a whirlwind; thousands of
men under its influence were led to abandon their drinking habits
and become useful and sober citizens, while thousands more attached
their name to the Temperance pledge of total abstinence from all
intoxicating liquors. This movement reached Seneca Falls and produced
a great sensation, almost revolutionizing public sentiment on the
subject. Pollard and Wright, two of the reformed men of Baltimore,
visited the town and held public meetings in halls and parks and were
listened to by great crowds of people. An “Independent Temperance
Total-Abstinence Society” was formed headed by reformed men, and the
current topics of the time nearly all turned upon this all-absorbing
subject.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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