Page:Heroines of freethought (IA cu31924031228699).pdf/279

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
ERNESTINE L. ROSE
271

Charleston. So she advertised that she would publicly lecture the Charlestonians. The novelty of a woman appearing in public attracted a large audience, who were amazed and overwhelmed to hear her rate them about slavery in a way that could hardly have been surpassed by that Mr. Garrison on whose head they had set a price. It was due partly to her sex, and partly to the paralysis caused by her audacity, that she was not torn to pieces; as it was, it required considerable influence to get her safely out of the city.”

A letter written by John Wattles during the Woman's Rights Convention, held in the Tabernacle, New York city, September 10, 1853, mentions the presence of Mrs. Rose, and speaks of her in this wise:

“Ernestine L. Rose —eloquent, pungent, cogent, and clear-sighted; before her thought, oppression recoils like demons before the armies of light, shrieking for help, and crying ‘torment us not.'"