Is Polite Society Polite?
And Other Essays
BY
MRS. JULIA WARD HOWE
BOSTON & NEW YORK
Lamson, Wolffe, & Company
1895
Copyright, 1895,
By Lamson, Wolffe, & Co.
All rights reserved
Preface
I REMEMBER that, quite late in the fifties, I mentioned to TheodoreParker the desire which I began to feel to give living expression to mythoughts, and to lend to my written words the interpretation of myvoice.
Parker, who had taken a friendly interest in the publication of my firstvolumes, "Passion Flowers" and "Words for the Hour," gave his approvalalso to this new project of mine. "The great desire of the age," hesaid, "is for vocal expression. People are scarcely satisfied with theprinted page alone: they crave for their instruction the living voiceand the living presence."
At the time of which I write, no names of women were found in the listsof lecture courses. Lucy Stone had graduated from Oberlin, and wasbeginning to be known as an advocate of temperance, and as anantislavery speaker. Lucretia Mott had carried her eloquent pleadingoutside the limits of her Quaker belonging. Antoinette Brown Blackwelloccupied the pulpit of a Congregational church, while Abby Kelly Fosterand the Grimke Sisters stood forth as strenuous pleaders for theabolition of slavery. Of these ladies I knew little at the time of whichI speak, and my studies and endeavors occupied a field remote from thatin which they fought the good fight of faith. My thoughts ran upon theimportance of a helpful philosophy of life, and my heart's desire was toassist the efforts of those who sought for this philosophy.
Gradually these wishes took shape in some essays, which I read tocompanies of invited friends. Somewhat later, I entered the lecturefield, and journeyed hither and yon, as I was invited.
The papers collected in the present volume have been heard in many partsof our vast country. As is evident, they have been written for popularaudiences, with a sense of the limitations which such audiencesnecessarily impose. With the burthen of increasing years, the freedom oflocomotion naturally tends to diminish, and I must be thankful to beread where I have in other days been heard. I shall be glad indeed if itmay be granted to these pages to carry the message which I myself havebeen glad to bear,—the message of the good hope of humanity, despitethe faults and limitations of individuals.
That hope casts its light over the efforts of years that are past