ABSTRACT
The name of Lucy Stone is probably not so familiar on this side of the Atlantic as in America; yet among all the courageous and steadfast pioneers in the woman’s cause, whose life and labours have made possible such reforms as we enjoy to-day, or such progress as we hope to make in the future, hers is deserving of special remembrance as one of the most truly brave and persevering. Her life is almost one unbroken record, at least in its earliest portions, of struggle against nearly every disadvantage it is possible to name; poverty, which in itself, seems as if it should have been prohibitive of all independent or non-remunerative work; prejudice, which it is not easy for us to imagine at the present day, and not seldom even personal risk. Few even of the early abolitionists—of whom she was also one—had a harder experience, or a harder battle to fight in support of the principles they felt it their duty to inculcate. It is, however, remarkable that with all this fearless courage, and perfect carelessness as to what personal consequences she incurred, she never allowed herself to be carried into any course of action doubtful, or ill-judged, as is too often the case with many possessing very likely an equal share of courage and principle, but less tact and discretion, alike in serious matters and in trivial ones.
