meetings[1] were held at Robinson Hall during the winter, and at Apollo Hall in May, and in different localities about New York.
July 2, 1873, an indignation meeting was held by the City Society to protest against the sentence pronounced by Judge Hunt in the case of Susan B. Anthony. De Garmo Hall was crowded. The platform was decorated with the United States flag draped with black bunting, while on each side were banners, one bearing the inscription, "Respectful Consideration for a Loyal Woman's Vote! $100 Fine!" the other, "Shall One Federal Judge Abolish Trial by Jury?" Dr. Clemence Lozier presided, and Mrs. Devereux Blake made a stirring speech reviewing Miss Anthony's trial and Judge Hunt's decision.For Judge Hunt's.decision, see Volume II., page 677. Mr. Hamilton Wilcox made a manly protest against Judge Hunt's high-handed act of oppression, and Mrs. Marie Rachel made another, in behalf of the German association.
In October, 1873, Mrs. Devereux Blake made an effort to open the doors of Columbia College to women. A class of four young ladies [2] united in asking admission. Taking them with her, Mrs. Blake went before the president and faculty, who gave her a respectful hearing. She argued that the charter of the college itself declared that it was founded for "the education of the youth of the city, and that the word youth was defined in all dictionaries as "young persons of both sexes," so that by its very foundation it was intended that girls as well as boys should enjoy the benefits of the university, and it was no more than just that they should, seeing that the original endowment was by the "rectors and inhabitants of the city of New York," one-half of these inhabitants being women. Mrs. Blake's[3] application was referred to "the Committee on the Course of Instruction," and after some weeks of consideration was refused, on the ground that "it was inexpedient," the Rev. Morgan Dix being especially
- ↑ Addressed by Mrs. Wilbour, Mrs. Blake, Mrs. Lozier, Mrs. Hallock, Hamilton Wilcox and Dr. Hallock.
- ↑ Miss Charlotte C. Jackson, the valedictorian of the Normal College of New York; Miss Mary Hussey of Orange, New Jersey, Miss Mosher of Ann Arbor, Michigan; Miss Emma Wendt, daughter of Mathilde Wendt. In 1867, Mrs. Stanton had made a similar application to Theodore D. Dwight, that the law school might be opened to young women. In the course of their conversation Professor Dwight said: "Do you think girls know enough to study law?" Mrs. Stanton replied: "All the liberal laws for women that have been passed in the last twenty years are the results of the protests of women; surely, if they know enough to protest against bad laws, they know enough to study our whole system of jurisprudence."
- ↑ It was peculiarly fitting that this application should be made by Mrs. Blake, as two of her ancestors had been presidents of the college. The first it ever had, when founded as King's College in 1700, was the Rev. Samuel Johnson, D. D., her great-great-grandfather. His son, the Hon. Samuel William Johnson, was the first president after the Revolution, when the name was changed to Columbia College.
