,,biography ,,of ,illustration3 ,victoria ,c4 ,woodhull1 ,,by ,,theodore ,,tilton4 ,illustration3 ,the ,golden ,age ,,tracts4 ,no4 #c4 ,victoria ,c4 ,woodhull4 ,a ,,biographical ,,sketch4 ,,by ,,theodore ,,tilton4 ,he that uttereth a slander is a fool4 --,,solomon3 ,prov4 x4 #ah4 ,,published ,,at ,,the ,,office ,,of ,,the ,,golden ,,age1 #i ,spruce ,st41 ,new ,york4 #ahga4 ,entered according to ,act of ,congress1 in the year #ahga1 by ,theodore ,tilton in the ,office of the ,librarian of ,congress at ,washington4 ,,mr4 ,,tilton',s ,,account ,,of ,,mrs4 ,,woodhull4 ,he that uttereth a slander is a fool4 --,,solomon3 ,prov4 x4 #ah4 ,i shall swiftly sketch the life of ,victoria ,claflin ,woodhull2 a young woman whose career has been as singular as any heroine's in a romance2 whose ability is of a rare and whose character of the rarest type2 whose personal sufferings are of themselves a whole drama of pathos2 whose name 7through the malice of some and the ignorance of others7 has caught a shadow in strange contrast with the whiteness of her life2 whose position as a representative of her sex in the greatest reform of modern times renders her an object of peculiar interest to her fellow-citizens2 and whose character 7inasmuch as ,i know her well7 ,i can portray without color or tinge from any other partiality save that ,i hold her in uncommon respect4 ,in ,homer1 ,ohio1 in a small cottage1 white-painted and high-peaked1 with a porch running round it and a flower garden in front1 this daughter1 the seventh of ten children of ,roxana and ,buckman ,claflin1 was born ,september #bc;d1 #ahch4 ,as this was the year when ,queen ,victoria was crowned1 the new-born babe1 though clad neither in purple nor fine linen1 but comfortably swaddled in respectable poverty1 was immediately christened 7though without chrism7 as the ,queen's namesake2 her parents little dreaming that their daughter would one day aspire to a higher seat than the ,english throne4 ,the ,queen1 with that early matronly predilection which her subsequent life did so much to illustrate1 foresaw that many glad mothers1 who were to bring babes into the world during that coronation year1 would name them after the chief lady of the earth2 and accordingly she ordained a gift to all her little namesakes of ,anno ,domini #ahch4 ,as ,victoria ,claflin was one of these1 she has lately been urged to make a trip to ,windsor ,castle1 to see the illustrious giver of these gifts1 and to receive the special souvenir which the ,queen's bounty is supposed to hold still in store for the ,ohio babe that uttered its first cry as if to say ,long live the ,queen6 ,mrs4 ,woodhull1 who is now a candidate for the ,presidency of the ,united ,states1 should defer this visit till after her election1 when she will have a beautiful opportunity to invite her elder sister in sovereignty--the mother of our mother country--to visit her fairest daughter1 the ,republic of the ,west4 ,it is pitiful to be a child without a childhood4 ,such was she4 ,not a sunbeam gilded the morning of her life4 ,her girlish career was a continuous bitterness--an unbroken heart-break4 ,she was worked like a slave--whipped like a convict4 ,her father was impartial in his cruelty to all his children2 her mother1 with a fickleness of spirit that renders her one of the most erratic of mortals1 sometimes abetted him in his scourgings1 and at other times shielded the little ones from his blows4 ,in a barrel of rain-water he kept a number of braided green withes made of willow or walnut twigs1 and with these stinging weapons1 never with an ordinary whip1 he would cut the quivering flesh of the children till their tears and blood melted him into mercy4 ,sometimes he took a handsaw or a stick of firewood as the instrument of his savagery4 ,coming home after the children were in bed1 on learning of some offence which they had committed1 he has been known to waken them out of sleep1 and to whip them till morning4 ,in consequence of these brutalities1 one of the sons1 in his thirteenth year1 burst away from home1 went to sea1 and still bears in a shattered constitution the damning memorial of his father's wrath4 ,i have no remembrance of a father's kiss1 says ,victoria4 ,her mother has on occasions tormented and harried her children until they would be thrown into spasms1 whereat she would hysterically laugh1 clap her hands1 and look as fiercely delighted as a cat in playing with a mouse4 ,at other times1 her tenderness toward her offspring would appear almost angelic4 ,she would fondle them1 weep over them1 lift her arms and thank ,god for such children1 caress them with ecstatic joy1 and then smite them as if seeking to destroy at a blow both body and soul4 ,this eccentric old lady1 compounded in equal parts of heaven and hell1 will pray till her eyes are full of tears1 and in the same hour curse till her lips are white with foam4 ,the father exhibits a more tranquil bitterness1 with fewer spasms4 ,these parental peculiarities were lately made witnesses against their possessors in a court of justice4 ,if ,i must account for what seems unaccountable1 ,i may say that with these parents1 these traits are not only constitutional but have been further developed by circumstances4 ,the mother1 who has never in her life learned to read1 was during her maidenhood the petted heiress of one of the richest ,german families of ,pennsylvania1 and was brought up not to serve but to be served1 until in her ignorance and vanity she fancied all things her own1 and all people her ministers4 ,the father1 partly bred to the law and partly to real-estate speculations1 early in life acquired affluence1 but during ,victoria's third year suddenly lost all that he had gained1 and sat down like a beggar in the dust of despair4 ,the mother1 from her youth1 had been a religious monomaniac--a spiritualist before the name of spiritualism was coined1 and before the ,rochester knockings had noised themselves into the public ear4 ,she saw visions and dreamed dreams4 ,during the half year preceding ,victoria's birth1 the mother became powerfully excited by a religious revival1 and went through the process known as sanctification4 ,she would rise in prayer-meetings and pour forth passionate hallelujahs that sometimes electrified the worshippers4 ,the father1 colder in temperament1 yet equally inclined to the supernatural1 was her partner in these excitements4 ,when the stroke of poverty felled them to the earth1 these exultations were quenched in grief4 ,the father1 in the opinion of some1 became partially crazed2 he would take long and rapid walks1 sometimes of twenty miles1 and come home with bleeding feet and haggard face4 ,the mother1 never wholly sane1 would huddle her children together as a hen her chickens1 and wringing her hands above them1 would pray by the hour that ,god would protect her little brood4 ,intense melancholy--a misanthropic gloom thick as a sea-fog--seized jointly upon both their minds1 and at intervals ever since has blighted them with its mildew4 ,it is said that a fountain cannot send forth at the same time sweet waters and bitter1 and yet affection and enmity will proceed from this couple almost at the same moment4 ,at times1 they are full of craftiness1 low cunning1 and malevolence2 at other times1 they beam with sunshine1 sweetness1 and sincerity4 ,i have seen many strange people1 but the strangest of all are the two parents whose commingled essence constitutes the spiritual principle of the heroine of this tale4 ,just here1 if any one asks1 ,how is it that such parents should not have reproduced their eccentricities in their children8 ,i answer1 ,this is exactly what they have done4 ,the whole brood are of the same feather--except ,victoria and ,tennie4 ,what language shall describe them8 ,such another family-circle of cats and kits1 with soft fur and sharp claws1 purring at one moment and fighting the next1 never before filled one house with their clamors since ,babel began4 ,they love and hate--they do good and evil--they bless and smite each other4 ,they are a sisterhood of furies1 tempered with love's melancholy4 ,here and there one will drop on her knees and invoke ,god's vengeance on the rest4 ,but for years there has been one common sentiment sweetly pervading the breasts of a majority towards a minority of the offspring1 namely1 a determination that ,victoria and ,tennie should earn all the money for the support of the numerous remainder of the ,claflin tribe--wives1 husbands1 children1 servants1 and all4 ,being daughters of the horse-leech1 they cry give4 ,it is the common law of the ,claflin clan that the idle many shall eat up the substance of the thrifty few4 ,victoria is a green leaf1 and her legion of relatives are caterpillars who devour her4 ,their sin is that they return no thanks after meat2 they curse the hand that feeds them4 ,they are what my friend ,mr4 ,greeley calls a bad crowd4 ,i am a little rough in saying this1 ,i admit2 but ,i have a rude prejudice in favor of the plain truth4 ,victoria's school-days comprised1 all told1 less than three years--stretching with broken intervals between her eighth and eleventh4 ,the aptest learner of her class1 she was the pet alike of scholars and teacher4 ,called ,the ,little ,queen 7not only from her name but her demeanor7 she bore herself with mimic royalty1 like one born to command4 ,fresh and beautiful1 her countenance being famed throughout the neighborhood for its striking spirituality1 modest1 yet energetic1 and restive from the over-fulness of an inward energy such as quickened the young blood of ,joan of ,arc1 she was a child of genius1 toil1 and grief4 ,the little old head on the little young shoulders was often bent over her school-book at the midnight hour4 ,outside of the school-room1 she was a household drudge1 serving others so long as they were awake1 and serving herself only when they slept4 ,had she been born black1 or been chained to a cart-wheel in ,alabama1 she could not have been a more enslaved slave4 ,during these school-years1 child as she was1 she was the many-burdened maid-of-all-work in the large family of a married sister2 she made fires1 she washed and ironed1 she baked bread1 she cut wood1 she spaded a vegetable garden1 she went on errands1 she tended infants1 she did everything4 ,victoria6 ,victoria6 was the call in the morning before the cock-crowing2 when1 bouncing out of bed1 the little steam engine1 as she was styled1 began her buzzing activities for the day4 ,light and fleet of step1 she ran like a deer4 ,she was everybody's favorite--loved1 petted1 and by some marveled at as a semi-supernatural being4 ,only in her own home 7not a sweet but bitter home7 was she treated with the cruelty that still beclouds the memory of her early days4 ,i must now let out a secret4 ,she acquired her studies1 performed her work1 and lived her life by the help 7as she believes7 of heavenly spirits4 ,from her childhood till now 7having reached her thirty-third year7 her anticipation of the other world has been more vivid than her realization of this4 ,she has entertained angels1 and not unawares4 ,these gracious guests have been her constant companions4 ,they abide with her night and day4 ,they dictate her life with daily revelation2 and like ,st4 ,paul1 she is not disobedient to the heavenly vision4 ,she goes and comes at their behest4 ,her enterprises are not the coinage of her own brain1 but of their divine invention4 ,her writings and speeches are the products1 not only of their indwelling in her soul1 but of their absolute control of her brain and tongue4 ,like a good ,greek of the olden time1 she does nothing without consulting her oracles4 ,never1 as she avers1 have they deceived her1 nor ever will she neglect their decrees4 ,one-third of human life is passed in sleep2 and in her case1 a goodly fragment of this third is spent in trance4 ,seldom a day goes by but she enters into this fairy-land1 or rather into this spirit-realm4 ,in pleasant weather1 she has a habit of sitting on the roof of her stately mansion on ,murray ,hill1 and there communing hour by hour with the spirits4 ,she as a religious devotee--her simple theology being an absorbing faith in ,god and the angels4 ,moreover1 ,i may as well mention here as later1 that every characteristic utterance which she gives to the world is dictated while under spirit-influence1 and most often in a totally unconscious state4 ,the words that fall from her lips are garnered by the swift pen of her husband1 and published almost verbatim as she gets and gives them4 ,to take an illustration1 after her recent nomination to the ,presidency by ,the ,victoria ,league1 she sent to that committee a letter of superior dignity and moral weight4 ,it was a composition which she had dictated while so outwardly oblivious to the dictation1 that when she ended and awoke1 she had no memory at all of what she had just done4 ,the product of that strange and weird mood was a beautiful piece of ,english1 not unworthy of ,macaulay2 and to prove what ,i say1 ,i adduce the following eloquent passage1 which 7,i repeat7 was published without change as it fell from her unconscious lips3 ,i ought not to pass unnoticed1 she says1 your courteous and graceful allusion to what you deem the favoring omen of my name4 ,it is true that a ,victoria rules the great rival nation opposite to us on the other shore of the ,atlantic1 and it might grace the amity just sealed between the two nations1 and be a new security of peace1 if a twin sisterhood of ,victorias were to preside over the two nations4 ,it is true1 also1 that in its mere etymology the name signifies ,victory6 and the victory for the right is what we are bent on securing4 ,it is again true1 also1 that to some minds there is a consonant harmony between the idea and the word1 so that its euphonious utterance seems to their imaginations to be itself a genius of success4 ,however this may be1 ,i have sometimes imagined that there is perhaps something providential and prophetic in the fact that my parents were prompted to confer on me a name which forbids the very thought of failure2 and1 as the great ,napoleon believed the star of his destiny1 you will at least excuse me1 and charge it to the credulity of the woman1 if ,i believe also in fatality of triumph as somehow inhering in my name4 ,in quoting this passage1 ,i wish to add that its author is a person of no special literary training2 indeed1 so averse to the pen that1 of her own will1 she rarely dips it into ink1 except to sign her business autograph2 nor would she ever write at all except for those spirit-promptings which she dare not disobey2 and she could not possibly have produced the above peroration except by some strange intellectual quickening--some over-brooding moral help4 ,this 7as she says7 she derives from the spirit-world4 ,one of her texts is1 ,i will lift up mine eyes unto the hills whence cometh my help--my help cometh from the ,lord who made ,heaven and ,earth4 ,she reminds me of the old engraving of ,st4 ,gregory dictating his homilies under the outspread wing of the ,holy ,dove4 ,it has been so from her childhood4 ,so that her school studies were1 literally1 a daily miracle4 ,she would glance at a page1 and know it by heart4 ,the tough little mysteries which bother the bewildered brains of country-school dullards were always to her as vivid as the sunshine4 ,and when sent on long and weary errands1 she believes that she has been lifted over the ground by her angelic helpers--lest she should dash her feet against a stone4 ,when she had too heavy a basket to carry1 an unseen hand would sometimes carry it for her4 ,digging in the garden as if her back would break1 occasionally a strange restfulness would refresh her1 and she knew that the spirits were toiling in her stead4 ,all this may seem an illusion to everybody else1 but will never be other than a reality to her4 ,let me cite some details of these spiritual phenomena1 curious in themselves1 and illustrating the forces that impel her career4 ,my spiritual vision1 she says1 dates back as early as my third year4 ,in ,victoria's birth place1 a young woman named ,rachel ,scribner1 about twenty-five years of age1 who had been ,victoria's nurse1 suddenly died4 ,on the day of her death1 ,victoria was picked up by her departing spirit1 and borne off into the spirit-world4 ,to this day ,mrs4 ,woodhull describes vividly her childish sensations as she felt herself gliding through the air--like ,st4 ,catharine winged away by the angels4 ,her mother testifies that while this scene was enacting to the child's inner consciousness1 her little body lay as if dead for three hours4 ,two of her sisters1 who had died in childhood1 were constantly present with her4 ,she would talk to them as a girl tattles to her dolls4 ,they were her most fascinating playmates1 and she never cared for any others while she had their invisible society4 ,in her tenth year1 one day while sitting by the side of a cradle rocking a sick babe to sleep1 she says that two angels came1 and gently pushing her away1 began to fan the child with their white hands1 until its face grew fresh and rosy4 ,her mother then suddenly entered the chamber1 and beheld in amazement the little nurse lying in a trance on the floor1 her face turned upward toward the ceiling1 and the pining babe apparently in the bloom of health4 ,the chief among her spiritual visitants1 and one who has been a majestic guardian to her from the earliest years of her remembrance1 she describes as a matured man of stately figure1 clad in a ,greek tunic1 solemn and graceful in his aspect1 strong in his influence1 and altogether dominant over her life4 ,for many years1 notwithstanding an almost daily visit to her vision1 he withheld his name1 nor would her most importunate questionings induce him to utter it4 ,but he always promised that in due time he would reveal his identity4 ,meanwhile he prophecied to her that she would rise to great distinction2 that she would emerge from her poverty and live in a stately house2 that she would win great wealth in a city which he pictured as crowded with ships2 that she would publish and conduct a journal2 and that finally1 to crown her career1 she would become the ruler of her people4 ,at length1 after patiently waiting on this spirit-guide for twenty years1 one day in #ahfh1 during a temporary sojourn in ,pittsburgh1 and while she was sitting at a marble table1 he suddenly appeared to her1 and wrote on the table in ,english letters the name ,demosthenes4 ,at first the writing was indistinct1 but grew to such a luster that the brightness filled the room4 ,the apparition1 familiar as it had been before1 now affrighted her to trembling4 ,the stately and commanding spirit told her to journey to ,new ,york1 where she would find at ,no4 #ag ,great ,jones street a house in readiness for her1 equipped in all things to her use and taste4 ,she unhesitatingly obeyed1 although she never before had heard of ,great ,jones street1 nor until that revelatory moment had entertained an intention of taking such a residence4 ,on entering the house1 it fulfilled in reality the picture which she saw of it in her vision--the self-same hall1 stairways1 rooms1 and furniture4 ,entering with some bewilderment into the library1 she reached out her hand by chance1 and without knowing what she did1 took up a book which1 on idly looking at its title1 she saw 7to her blood-chilling astonishment7 to be ,the ,orations of ,demosthenes4 ,from that time onward1 the ,greek statesman has been even more palpably than in her earlier years her prophetic monitor1 mapping out the life which she must follow1 as a chart for a ship sailing the sea4 ,she believes him to be her familiar spirit--the author of her public policy1 and the inspirer of her published words4 ,without intruding my own opinion as to the authenticity of this inspiration1 ,i have often thought that if ,demosthenes could arise and speak ,english1 he could hardly excel the fierce light and heat of some of the sentences which ,i have heard from this singular woman in her glowing hours4 ,i now turn back to her first marriage4 ,the bride 7pitiful to tell7 was in her fourteenth year1 the bridegroom in his twenty-eighth4 ,it was a fellowship of misery--and her parents1 who abetted it1 ought to have prevented it4 ,the ,haytians speak of escaping out of the river by leaping into the sea4 ,from the endurable cruelty of her parents1 she fled to the unendurable cruelty of her husband4 ,she had been from her twelfth to her fourteenth year a double victim1 first to chills and fever1 and then to rheumatism1 which had jointly played equal havoc with her beauty and health1 until she was brought within a step of the iron door4 ,dr4 ,canning ,woodhull1 a gay rake1 but whose habits were kept hid from her under the general respectability of his family connections 7his father being an eminent judge1 and his uncle the mayor of ,new ,york71 was professionally summoned to visit the child1 and being a trained physician arrested her decline4 ,something about her artless manners and vivacious mind captivated his fancy4 ,coming as a prince1 he found her as ,cinderella--a child of the ashes4 ,before she entirely recovered1 and while looking haggard and sad1 one day he stopped her in the street1 and said1 ,my little chick1 ,i want you to go with me to the pic-nic--referring to a projected ,fourth of ,july excursion then at hand4 ,the promise of a little pleasure acted like a charm on the house-worn and sorrow-stricken child4 ,she obtained her mother's assent to her going1 but her father coupled it with the condition that she should first earn money enough to buy herself a pair of shoes4 ,so the little fourteen-year-old drudge became for the nonce an apple-merchant1 and with characteristic business energy sold her apples and bought her shoes4 ,she went to the pic-nic with ,dr4 ,woodhull1 like a ticket-of-leave juvenile-delinquent on a furlough4 ,on coming home from the festival1 the brilliant fop who1 tired of the demi-monde ladies whom he could purchase for his pleasure1 and inspired with a sudden and romantic interest in this artless maid1 said to her1 ,my little puss1 tell your father and mother that ,i want you for a wife4 ,the startled girl quivered with anger at this announcement1 and with timorous speed fled to her mother and repeated the tale1 feeling as if some injury was threatened her1 and some danger impended4 ,but the parents1 as if not unwilling to be rid of a daughter whose sorrow was ripening her into a woman before her time1 were delighted at the unexpected offer4 ,they thought it a grand match4 ,they helped the young man's suit1 and augmented their persecutions of the child4 ,ignorant1 innocent1 and simple1 the girl's chief thought of the proffered marriage was as an escape from the parental yoke4 ,four months later she accepted the change--flying from the ills she had to others that she knew not of4 ,her captor1 once possessed of his treasure1 ceased to value it4 ,on the third night after taking his child-wife to his lodgings1 he broke her heart by remaining away all night at a house of ill-repute4 ,then for the first time she learned1 to her dismay1 that he was habitually unchaste1 and given to long fits of intoxication4 ,she was stung to the quick4 ,the shock awoke all her womanhood4 ,she grew ten years older in a single day4 ,a tumult of thoughts swept like a whirlwind through her mind1 ending at last in one predominant purpose1 namely1 to reclaim her husband4 ,she set herself religiously to this pious task--calling on ,god and the spirits to help her in it4 ,six weeks after her marriage 7during which time her husband was mostly with his cups and his mistresses71 she discovered a letter addressed to him in a lady's elegant penmanship1 saying1 ,did you marry that child because she too was en famille8 ,this was an additional thunderbolt4 ,the fact was that her husband1 on the day of his marriage1 had sent away into the country a mistress who a few months later gave birth to a child4 ,squandering his money like a prodigal1 he suddenly put his wife into the humblest quarters1 where1 left mostly to herself1 she dwelt in bitterness of spirit1 aggravated from time to time by learning of his ordering baskets of champagne and drinking himself drunk in the company of harlots4 ,sometimes1 with uncommon courage1 through rain and sleet1 half clad and shivering1 she would track him to his dens1 and by the energy of her spirit compel him to return4 ,at other times1 all night long she would watch at the window1 waiting for his footsteps1 until she heard them languidly shuffling along the pavement with the staggering reel of a drunken man1 in the shameless hours of the morning4 ,during all this time1 she passionately prayed ,heaven to give her the heart of her husband1 but ,heaven1 decreeing otherwise1 withheld it from her1 and for her good4 ,in fifteen months after her marriage1 while living in a little low frame-house in ,chicago1 in the dead of winter1 with icicles clinging to her bed-post1 and attended only by her half-drunken husband1 she brought forth in almost mortal agony her first-born child4 ,in her ensuing helplessness1 she became an object of pity to a next-door neighbor who1 with a kindness which the sufferer's unhomelike home did not afford1 brought her day by day some nourishing dish4 ,this same ministering hand would then wrap the babe in a blanket1 and take it to a happier mother in the near neighborhood1 who was at the same time nursing a new-born son4 ,in this way ,victoria and her child--themselves both children--were cared for with mingled gentleness and neglect4 ,at the end of six days1 the little invalid attempted to rise and put her sick-room in order1 when she was taken with delirium1 during which her mother visited her just in time to save her life4 ,on her recovery1 and after a visit to her father's house1 she returned to her own to be horror-struck at discovering that her bed had been occupied the night before by her husband in company with a wanton of the streets1 and that the room was littered with the remains of their drunken feast4 ,once1 after a month's desertion by him1 until she had no money and little to eat1 she learned that he was keeping a mistress at a fashionable boarding-house1 under the title of wife4 ,the true wife1 still wrestling with ,god for the renegade1 sallied forth into the wintry street1 clad in a calico dress without undergarments1 and shod only with india-rubbers without shoes or stockings1 entered the house1 confronted the household as they sat at table1 told her story to the confusion of the paramour and his mistress1 and drew tears from all the company till1 by a common movement1 the listeners compelled the harlot to pack her trunk and flee the city1 and shamed the husband into creeping like a spaniel back into the kennel which his wife still cherished as her home4 ,to add to her misery1 she discovered that her child1 begotten in drunkenness1 and born in squalor1 was a half idiot2 predestined to be a hopeless imbecile for life2 endowed with just enough intelligence to exhibit the light of reason in dim eclipse3--a sad and pitiful spectacle in his mother's house to-day1 where he roams from room to room1 muttering noises more sepulchral than human2 a daily agony to the woman who bore him1 hoping more of her burden2 and heightening the pathos of the perpetual scene by the uncommon sweetness of his temper which1 by winning every one's love1 doubles every one's pity4 ,journeying to ,california as a region where she might inspire her husband to begin a new life freed from old associations1 she there found herself and her little family strangers in a strange city--beggars in a land of plenty4 ,change of sky is not change of mind4 ,dr4 ,woodhull took his habits1 his wife took her necessities1 and both took their misery1 from ,east to ,west4 ,in ,san ,francisco1 the girlish woman1 with unrelaxed energy1 and as part of that life-long heroism which will one day have its monument1 set herself to supporting the man by whom she ought to have been supported4 ,a morning journal had an advertisement--,a cigar girl wanted4 ,the wife1 with her face of sweet sixteen1 presented herself as the first candidate1 and was accepted on the spot4 ,the proprietor was a stalwart ,californian--one of those men who catch from a new country something of the liberality which the sailor brings from the sea4 ,she served for one day behind his counter--blushing1 modest1 and sensitive1 her ears tingling at every rude remark by every uncouth customer--and at nightfall her employer1 who had noticed the blood coming and going in her cheeks1 said to her1 ,my little lady1 you are not the clerk ,i want2 ,i must have somebody who can rough it2 you are too fine4 ,inquiring into her case1 he was surprised to find her married and a mother4 ,at first he discredited this information1 but there was no denying the truth of her story4 ,he accompanied her to her husband1 and as the two men discovered themselves to each other as brother free-masons1 he gave his fair clerk of a day a twenty-dollar gold piece1 and dismissed her with his blessing4 ,and ,i hope this has been revisited on his own head4 ,resorting to her needle1 she carried from house to house this only weapon which many women possess wherewith to fight the battle of life4 ,she chanced to come upon ,anna ,cogswell1 the actress1 who wanted a sempstress to make her a theatrical wardrobe4 ,the winsome dressmaker was engaged at once4 ,but her earnings at this new calling did not keep pace with her expenses4 ,it is no use1 said she to her dramatic friend2 ,i am running behindhand4 ,i must do something better4 ,then1 replied the actress1 you too must be an actress4 ,and1 nothing loth to undertake anything new and difficult1 ,victoria1 who never before had dreamed of such a possibility1 was engaged as a lesser light to the ,cogswell star4 ,for a first appearance1 she was cast in the part of the ,country ,cousin in ,new ,york by ,gaslight4 ,the text was given to her in the morning1 she learned and rehearsed it during the day1 and made a fair hit in it at night4 ,for six weeks thereafter1 she earned fifty-two dollars a week as an actress4 ,never leave the stage1 said some of her fellow-performers1 all of whom admired her simplicity and spirituality4 ,but ,i do not care for the stage1 she said1 and ,i shall leave it at the first opportunity4 ,i am meant for some other fate4 ,but what it is1 ,i know not4 ,it came--as all things have came to her--through the agency of spirits4 ,one night while on the boards1 clad in a pink silk dress and slippers1 acting in the ballroom scene in the ,corsican ,brothers1 suddenly a spirit-voice addressed her1 saying1 ,victoria1 come home6 ,thrown instantly into clairvoyant condition1 she saw a vision of her young sister ,tennie1 then a mere child--standing by her mother1 and both calling the absent one to return4 ,her mother and ,tennie were then in ,columbus1 ,ohio4 ,she saw ,tennie distinctly enough to notice that she wore a striped ,french calico frock4 ,victoria come home6 said the little messenger1 beckoning with her childish forefinger4 ,the apparition would not be denied4 ,victoria1 thrilled and chilled by the vision and voice1 burst away at a bound behind the scenes1 and without waiting to change her dress1 ran1 clad with all her dramatic adornments1 through a foggy rain to her hotel1 and packing up her few things that night1 betook herself with her husband and child next morning to the steamer bound for ,new ,york4 ,on the voyage she was thrown into such vivid spiritual states1 that she produced a profound excitement among the passengers4 ,on reaching her mother's home1 she came upon ,tennie dressed in the same dress as in the vision2 and on inquiring the meaning of the message1 ,victoria1 come home6 was told that at the time it was uttered1 her mother had said to ,tennie1 ,my dear1 send the spirits after ,victoria to bring her home2 and moreover the ,french calico dress had appeared to her spirit-sight at the very first moment its wearer had put it on4 ,this homeward trip1 and its consequences1 marked a new phase in her career--a turning point in her life4 ,hitherto her clairvoyant faculty had been put to no pecuniary use1 but she was now directed by the spirits to repair to ,indianapolis1 there to announce herself as a medium1 and to treat patients for the cure of disease4 ,taking rooms in the ,bates ,house1 and publishing a card in the journals1 she found herself able1 on saluting her callers1 to tell by inspiration their names1 their residences1 and their maladies4 ,in a few days she became the town's talk4 ,her marvellous performances in clairvoyance being noised abroad1 people flocked to her from a distance4 ,her rooms were crowded and her purse grew fat4 ,she reaped a golden harvest--including1 as its worthiest part1 golden opinions from all sorts of people4 ,her countenance would often glow as with a sacred light1 and she became an object of religious awe to many wonder-stricken people whose inward lives she had revealed4 ,moreover1 her unpretentious modesty1 and her perpetual disclaimer of any merit or power of her own1 and the entire crediting of this to spirit-influence1 augmented the interest with which all spectators regarded the amiable prodigy4 ,first at ,indianapolis1 and afterward at ,terre ,haute1 she wrought some apparently miraculous cures4 ,she straightened the feet of the lame2 she opened the ears of the deaf2 she detected the robbers of a bank2 she brought to light hidden crimes2 she solved physiological problems2 she unveiled business secrets2 she prophecied future events4 ,knowing the wonders which she wrought1 certain citizens disguised themselves and came to her purporting to be strangers from a distant town1 but she instantly said1 ,oh1 no2 you all live here4 ,how can you tell8 they asked4 ,the spirits say so1 she replied4 ,benedictions followed her2 gifts were lavished upon her2 money flowed in a stream toward her4 ,journeying from city to city in the practice of her spiritual art1 she thereby supported all her relatives far and near4 ,her income in one year reached nearly a hundred thousand dollars4 ,she received in one day1 simply as fees for cures which she had wrought1 five thousand dollars4 ,the sum total of the receipts of her practice1 and of her investments growing out of it1 up to the time of its discontinuance by direction of the spirits in #ahfi1 was #gjj1jjj4 ,the age of wonders has not ceased6 ,during all this period1 though outwardly prosperous1 she was inwardly wretched4 ,the dismal fact of her son's half-idiocy so preyed upon her mind that1 in a heat of morbid feeling1 she fell to accusing her innocent self for his misfortunes4 ,the sight of his face rebuked her1 until1 in brokenness of spirit1 she prayed to ,god for another child--a daughter1 to be born with a fair body and a sound mind4 ,her prayer was granted1 but not without many accompaniments of inhumanity4 ,once during her carriage of her unborn charge1 she was kicked by its father in a fit of drunkenness--inflicting a bruise on her body and a greater bruise to her spirit4 ,profound as her double suffering was1 in its lowest depth there was a deeper still4 ,she was plunged into this at the child's birth4 ,this event occurred at ,no4 #ec ,bond ,street1 ,new ,york1 ,april #bc;d1 #ahfa4 ,she and her husband were at the time the only occupants of the house--her trial coming upon her while no nurse1 or servant1 or other human helper was under the roof4 ,the babe entered the world at four o'clock in the morning1 handled by the feverish and unsteady hands of its intoxicated father1 who1 only half in possession of his professional skill1 cut the umbilical cord too near the flesh and tied it so loose that the string came off--laid the babe in its mother's arms--in an hour afterward left them asleep and alone--and then staggered out of the house4 ,nor did he remember to return4 ,meanwhile1 the mother1 on waking1 was startled to find that her head on the side next to her babe's body was in a pool of blood--that her hair was soaked and clotted in a little red stream oozing drop by drop from the bowels of the child4 ,in her motherly agony1 reaching a broken chair-rung which happened to be lying near1 she pounded against the wall to summon help from the next house4 ,at intervals for several hours she continued this pounding1 no one answering--until at length one of the neighbors1 a resolute woman1 who was attracted toward the noise1 but unable to get in at the front-door1 removed the grating of the basement1 and made her way up stairs to the rescue of the mother and her babe4 ,on the third day after1 the mother1 on sitting propped in her bed and looking out of the window1 caught sight of her husband staggering up the steps of a house across the way1 mistaking it for his own6 ,it was this horrible experience that first awoke her mind to the question1 ,why should ,i any longer live with this man8 ,hitherto she had entertained an almost superstitious idea of the devotion with which a wife should cling to her husband4 ,she had always been so faithful to him that1 in his cups1 he would mock and jeer at her fidelity1 and call her a fool for maintaining it4 ,at length the fool grew wiser1 and after eleven years of what1 with conventional mockery1 was called a marriage--during which time her husband had never spent an evening with her at home1 had seldom drawn a sober breath1 and had spent on other women1 not herself1 all the money he had ever earned--she applied in ,chicago for a divorce1 and obtained it4 ,previous to this crisis1 there had occurred a remarkable incident which more than ever confirmed her faith in the guardianship of spirits4 ,one day1 during a severe illness of her son1 she left him to visit her patients1 and on her return was startled with the news that the boy had died two hours before4 ,no1 she exclaimed1 ,i will not permit his death4 ,and with frantic energy she stripped her bosom naked1 caught up his lifeless form1 pressed it to her own1 and sitting thus1 flesh to flesh1 glided insensibly into a trance in which she remained seven hours2 at the end of which time she awoke1 a perspiration started from his clammy skin1 and the child that had been thought dead was brought back again to life--and lives to this day in sad half-death4 ,it is her belief that the spirit of ,jesus ,christ brooded over the lifeless form1 and re-wrought the miracle of ,lazarus for a sorrowing woman's sake4 ,victoria's father and mother1 growing still more fanatical with their advancing years1 had all along subjected her to a series of singular vexations4 ,and the elder sisters had joined in the mischief-making1 outdoing the parents4 ,sometimes they would burst in upon ,mrs4 ,woodhull's house1 and attempt to govern its internal economy2 sometimes they would carry off the furniture1 or garments1 or pictures2 sometimes they would crown her with eulogies as the greatest of human beings1 and in the same breath defame her as an agent of the devil4 ,but their great cause of persecution grew out of her younger sister ,tennie's career4 ,this young woman developed1 while a child in her father's house1 a similar power to ,victoria's4 ,it was a penetrating spiritual insight applied to the cure of disease4 ,but her father and mother1 who regarded their daughter in the light of the damsel mentioned in the ,acts of the ,apostles1 who brought her masters much gain by soothsaying1 put her before the public as a fortune-teller4 ,by adding to much that was genuine in her mediumship more that was charlatanry1 they aroused against this fraudulent business the indignation of the sincere soul of ,victoria who1 more than most human beings1 scorns a lie1 and would burn at the stake rather than practise a deceit4 ,she clutched ,tennie as by main force and flung her out of this semi-humbug1 to the mingled astonishment of her money-greedy family1 one and all4 ,at this time ,tennie was supporting a dozen or twenty relatives by her ill-gotten gains4 ,victoria's rescue of her excited the wrath of all these parasites--which has continued hot and undying against both to this day4 ,the fond and fierce mother alternately loves and hates the two united defiers of her morbid will2 and the father1 at times a ,mephistopheles1 waits till the inspiration of cunning overmasters his parental instinct1 and watching for a moment when his ill word to a stranger will blight their business schemes1 drops in upon some capitalist whose money is in their hands1 lodges an indictment against his own flesh and blood1 takes out his handkerchief to hide a few well-feigned tears1 clasps his hands with an unfelt agony1 hobbles off smiling sardonically at the mischief which he has done1 and the next day repents his wickedness with genuine contrition and manlier woe4 ,these parents would cheerfully give their lives as a sacrifice to atone for the many mischiefs which they have cast like burrs at their children2 but if all the scars which they and their progeny have inflicted on one another could be magically healed to-day1 they would be scratched open by the same hands and set stinging and tingling anew to-morrow4 ,there is a maxim that marriages are made in heaven1 albeit contradicted by the ,scripture which declares that in heaven there is neither marrying nor giving in marriage4 ,but1 even against the ,scripture1 it is safe to say that ,victoria's second marriage was made in ,heaven2 that is1 it was decreed by the self-same spirits whom she is ever ready to follow1 whether they lead her for discipline into the valley of the shadow of death1 or for comfort in those ways of pleasantness which are paths of peace4 ,col4 ,james ,h4 ,blood1 commander of the #fth ,missouri ,regiment1 who at the close of the war was elected ,city ,auditor of ,st4 ,louis1 who became ,president of the ,society of ,spiritualists in that place1 and who had himself been1 like ,victoria1 the legal partner of a morally sundered marriage1 called one day on ,mrs4 ,woodhull to consult her as a spiritualistic physician 7having never met her before71 and was startled to see her pass into a trance1 during which she announced1 unconsciously to herself1 that his future destiny was to be linked with hers in marriage4 ,thus1 to their mutual amazement1 but to their subsequent happiness1 they were betrothed on the spot by the powers of the air4 ,the legal tie by which at first they bound themselves to each other was afterward by mutual consent annulled--the necessary form of ,illinois law being complied with to this effect4 ,but the marriage stands on its merits1 and is to all who witness its harmony known to be a sweet and accordant union of congenial souls4 ,col4 ,blood is a man of a philosophic and reflective cast of mind1 an enthusiastic student of the higher lore of spiritualism1 a recluse from society1 and an expectant believer in a stupendous destiny for ,victoria4 ,a modesty not uncommon to men of intellect prompts him to sequester his name in the shade rather than to set it glittering in the sun4 ,but he is an indefatigable worker--driving his pen through all hours of the day and half of the night4 ,he is an active editor of ,woodhull ,claflin's ,weekly1 and one of the busy partners in the firm of ,woodhull1 ,claflin ,co41 ,brokers1 at #dd ,broad street1 ,new ,york4 ,his civic views are 7to use his favorite designation of them7 cosmopolitical2 in other words1 he is a radical of extreme radicalism--an internationalist of the most uncompromising type--a communist who would rather have died in ,paris than be the president of a pretended republic whose first official act has been the judicial murder of the only republicans in ,france4 ,his spiritualistic habits he describes in a letter to his friend1 the writer of this memorial1 as follows3 ,at about eleven or twelve o'clock at night1 two or three times a week1 and sometimes without nightly interval1 ,victoria and ,i hold parliament with the spirits4 ,it is by this kind of study that we both have learned nearly all the valuable knowledge that we possess4 ,victoria goes into a trance1 during which her guardian spirit takes control of her mind1 speaking audibly through her lips1 propounding various matters for our subsequent investigation and verification1 and announcing principles1 detached thoughts1 hints of systems1 and suggestions for affairs4 ,in this way1 and in this spiritual night-school1 began that process of instruction by which ,victoria has risen to her present position as a political economist and politician4 ,during her entranced state1 which generally lasts about an hour1 but sometimes twice as long1 ,i make copious notes of all she says1 and when her speech is unbroken1 ,i write down every word1 and publish it without correction or amendment4 ,she and ,i regard all the other portion of our lives as almost valueless compared with these midnight hours4 ,the preceding extract shows that this fine-grained transcendentalist is a reverent husband to his spiritual wife1 the sympathetic companion of her entranced moods1 and their faithful historian to the world4 ,after her union with ,col4 ,blood1 instead of changing her name to his1 she followed the example of many actresses1 singers1 and other professional women whose names have become a business property to their owners1 and she still continues to be known as ,mrs4 ,woodhull4 ,one night1 about half a year after their marriage1 she and her husband were wakened at midnight in ,cincinnati by the announcement that a man by the name of ,dr4 ,woodhull had been attacked with delirium tremens at the ,burnet ,house1 and in a lucid moment had spoken of the woman from whom he had been divorced1 and begged to see her4 ,col4 ,blood immediately took a carriage1 drove to the hotel1 brought the wretched victim home1 and jointly with ,victoria took care of him with life-saving kindness for six weeks4 ,on his going away they gave him a few hundred dollars of their joint property to make him comfortable in another city4 ,he departed full of gratitude1 bearing with him the assurance that he would always be welcome to come and go as a friend of the family4 ,and from that day to this1 the poor man1 dilapidated in body and emasculated in spirit1 has sometimes sojourned under ,victoria's roof and sometimes elsewhere1 according to his whim or will4 ,in the present ruins of the young gallant of twenty years ago1 there is more manhood 7albeit an expiring spark like a candle at its socket7 than during any of the former years2 and to be now turned out of doors by the woman whom he wronged1 but who would not wrong him in return1 would be an act of inhumanity which it would be impossible for ,mrs4 ,woodhull and ,col4 ,blood either jointly or separately to commit4 ,for this piece of noble conduct--what is commonly called her living with two husbands under one roof--she has received not so much censure on earth as ,i think she will receive reward in heaven4 ,no other passage of her life more signally illustrates the nobility of her moral judgments1 or the supernal courage with which she stands by her convictions4 ,not all the clamorous tongues in ,christendom1 though they should simultaneously cry out against her ,fie1 for shame6 could persuade her to turn this wretched wreck from her home4 ,and ,i say she is right2 and ,i will maintain this opinion against the combined ,pecksniffs of the whole world4 ,this act1 and the malice of enemies1 together with her bold opinions on social questions1 have combined to give her reputation a stain4 ,but no slander ever fell on any human soul with greater injustice4 ,a more unsullied woman does not walk the earth4 ,she carries in her very face the fair legend of a character kept pure by a sacred fire within4 ,she is one of those aspiring devotees who tread the earth merely as a stepping-stone to ,heaven1 and whose chief ambition is finally to present herself at the supreme tribunal spotless1 and without wrinkle1 or blemish1 or any such thing4 ,knowing her as well as ,i do1 ,i cannot hear an accusation against her without recalling ,tennyson's line of ,king ,arthur1 ,is thy white blamelessness accounted blame8 ,fulfilling a previous prophecy1 and following a celestial mandate1 in #ahfi she founded a bank and published a journal4 ,these two events took the town by storm4 ,when the doors of her office in ,broad street were first thrown open to the public1 several thousand visitors came in a flock on the first day4 ,the lady brokers1 as they were called 7a strange confession that brokers are not always gentlemen7 were besieged like lionesses in a cage4 ,the daily press interviewed them2 the weekly wits satirized them2 the comic sheets caricatured them2 but like a couple of fresh young dolphins1 breasting the sea side by side1 they showed themselves native to the element1 and cleft gracefully every threatening wave that broke over their heads4 ,the breakers could not dash the brokers4 ,indomitable in their energy1 the sisters won the good graces of ,commodore ,vanderbilt--a fine old gentleman of comfortable means1 who of all the lower animals prefers the horse1 and of all the higher virtues admires pluck4 ,both with and without ,commodore ,vanderbilt's help1 ,mrs4 ,woodhull has more than once shown the pluck that has held the rein of the stock market as the ,commodore holds his horse4 ,her journal1 as one sees it week by week1 is generally a willow-basket full of audacious manuscripts1 apparently picked up at random and thrown together pell-mell1 stunning the reader with a medley of politics1 finance1 free-love1 and the pantarchy4 ,this sheet1 when the divinity that shapes its ends shall begin to add to the rough-hewing a little smooth-shaping2 in other words1 when its unedited chaos shall come to be moulded by the spirits to that order which is ,heaven's first law2 this not ordinary but cardinary journal1 which is edited in one world1 and published in another1 will become less a confusion to either1 and more a power for both4 ,in #ahgj1 following the ,english plan of self-nomination1 ,mrs4 ,woodhull announced herself as a candidate for the ,presidency--mainly for the purpose of drawing public attention to the claims of woman to political equality with man4 ,she accompanied this announcement with a series of papers in the ,herald on politics and finance1 which have since been collected into a volume entitled ,the ,principles of ,government4 ,she has lately received a more formal nomination to that high office by ,the ,victoria ,league1 an organization which1 being somewhat ,jacobinical in its secrecy1 is popularly supposed1 though not definitely known1 to be presided over by ,commodore ,vanderbilt1 who is also similarly imagined to be the golden corner-stone of the business house of ,woodhull1 ,claflin ,co4 ,should she be elected to the high seat to which she aspires1 7an event concerning which ,i make no prophecy17 ,i am at least sure that she would excel any ,queen now on any throne in her native faculty to govern others4 ,one night in ,december1 #ahfi1 while she lay in deep sleep1 her ,greek guardian came to her1 and sitting transfigured by her couch1 wrote on a scroll 7so that she could not only see the words1 but immediately dictated them to her watchful amanuensis7 the memorable document now known in history as ,the ,memorial of ,victoria ,c4 ,woodhull--a petition addressed to ,congress1 claiming under the ,fourteenth ,amendment the right of women as of other citizens of the ,united ,states to vote in the ,states wherein they reside--asking1 moreover1 that the ,state of ,new ,york1 of which she was a citizen1 should be restrained by ,federal authority from preventing her exercise of this constitutional right4 ,as up to this time neither she nor her husband had been greatly interested in woman suffrage1 he had no sooner written this manifesto from her lips1 than he awoke her from the trance1 and protested against the communication as nonsense1 believing it to be a trick of some evil-disposed spirits4 ,in the morning the document was shown to a number of friends1 including one eminent judge1 who ridiculed its logic and conclusions4 ,but the lady herself1 from whose sleeping and yet unsleeping brain the strange document had sprung like ,minerva from the head of ,jove1 simply answered that her antique instructor1 having never misled her before1 was guiding her aright then4 ,nothing doubting1 but much wondering1 she took the novel demand to ,washington1 where1 after a few days of laughter from the shallow-minded1 and of neglect from the indifferent1 it suddenly burst upon the ,federal ,capitol like a storm1 and then spanned it like a rainbow4 ,she went before the ,judiciary ,committee1 and delivered an argument in support of her claim to the franchise under the new ,amendments1 which some who heard it pronounced one of the ablest efforts which they had ever heard on any subject4 ,she caught the listening ears of ,senator ,carpenter1 ,gen4 ,butler1 ,judge ,woodward1 ,george ,w4 ,julian1 ,gen4 ,ashley1 ,judge ,loughridge1 and other able statesmen in ,congress1 and harnessed these gentlemen as steeds to her chariot4 ,such was the force of her appeal that the whole city rushed together to hear it1 like the ,athenians to the market-place when ,demosthenes stood in his own and not a borrowed clay4 ,a great audience1 one of the finest ever gathered in the capital1 assembled to hear her defend her thesis in the first public speech of her life4 ,at the moment of rising1 her face was observed to be very pale1 and she appeared about to faint4 ,on being afterward questioned as to the cause of her emotion1 she replied that1 during the first prolonged moment1 she remembered an early prediction of her guardian-spirit1 until then forgotten1 that she would one day speak in public1 and that her first discourse would be pronounced in the capital of her country4 ,the sudden fulfilment of this prophecy smote her so violently that for a moment she was stunned into apparent unconsciousness4 ,but she recovered herself1 and passed through the ordeal with great success--which is better luck than happened to the real ,demosthenes1 for ,plutarch mentions that his maiden speech was a failure1 and that he was laughed at by the people4 ,assisted by ,elizabeth ,cady ,stanton1 ,paulina ,wright ,davis1 ,isabella ,beecher ,hooker1 ,susan ,b4 ,anthony1 and other staunch and able women whom she swiftly persuaded into accepting this construction of the ,constitution1 she succeeded1 after her petition was denied by a majority of the ,judiciary ,committee1 in obtaining a minority report in its favor1 signed jointly by ,gen4 ,benj4 ,f4 ,butler of ,massachusetts and ,judge ,loughridge of ,iowa4 ,to have clutched this report from ,gen4 ,butler--as it were a scalp from the ablest head in the ,house of ,representatives--was a sufficient trophy to entitle the brave lady to an enrolment in the political history of her country4 ,she means to go to ,washington again next winter to knock at the half-opened doors of the ,capitol until they shall swing wide enough asunder to admit her enfranchised sex4 ,i must say something of her personal appearance although it defies portrayal1 whether by photograph or pen4 ,neither tall nor short1 stout nor slim1 she is of medium stature1 lithe and elastic1 free and graceful4 ,her side face1 looked at over her left shoulder1 is of perfect aquiline outline1 as classic as ever went into a ,roman marble1 and resembles the masque of ,shakespeare taken after death2 the same view1 looking from the right1 is a little broken and irregular2 and the front face is broad1 with prominent cheek bones1 and with some unshapely nasal lines4 ,her countenance is never twice alike1 so variable is its expression and so dependent on her moods4 ,her soul comes into it and goes out of it1 giving her at one time the look of a superior and almost saintly intelligence1 and at another leaving her dull1 commonplace1 and unprepossessing4 ,when under a strong spiritual influence1 a strange and mystical light irradiates from her face1 reminding the beholder of the ,hebrew ,lawgiver who gave to men what he received from ,god and whose face during the transfer shone4 ,tennyson1 as with the hand of a gold-beater1 has beautifully gilded the same expression in his stanza of ,st4 ,stephen the ,martyr in the article of death3 ,and looking upward1 full of grace1 ,he prayed1 and from a happy place1 ,god's glory smote him on the face4 ,in conversation1 until she is somewhat warmed with earnestness1 she halts1 as if her mind were elsewhere1 but the moment she brings all her faculties to her lips for the full utterance of her message1 whether it be of persuasion or indignation1 and particularly when under spiritual control1 she is a very orator for eloquence--pouring forth her sentences like a mountain stream1 sweeping away everything that frets its flood4 ,her hair which1 when left to itself is as long as those tresses of ,hortense in which her son ,louis ,napoleon used to play hide-and-seek1 she now mercilessly cuts close like a boy's1 from impatience at the daily waste of time in suitably taking care of this prodigal gift of nature4 ,she can ride a horse like an ,indian1 and climb a tree like an athlete2 she can swim1 row a boat1 play billiards1 and dance2 moreover1 as the crown of her physical virtues1 she can walk all day like an ,englishwoman4 ,difficulties1 says ,emerson1 exist to be surmounted4 ,this might be the motto of her life4 ,in her lexicon 7which is still of youth7 there is no such word as fail4 ,her ambition is stupendous--nothing is too great for her grasp4 ,prescient of the grandeur of her destiny1 she goes forward with a resistless fanaticism to accomplish it4 ,believing thoroughly in herself 7or rather not in herself but in her spirit-aids7 she allows no one else to doubt either her or them4 ,in her case the old miracle is enacted anew--the faith which removes mountains4 ,a soul set on edge is a conquering weapon in the battle of life4 ,such1 and of ,damascus temper1 is hers4 ,in making an epitome of her views1 ,i may say that in politics she is a downright democrat1 scorning to divide her fellow-citizens into upper and lower classes1 but ranking them all in one comprehensive equality of right1 privilege1 and opportunity2 concerning finance1 which is a favorite topic with her1 she holds that gold is not the true standard of money-value1 but that the government should abolish the gold-standard1 and issue its notes instead1 giving to these a fixed and permanent value1 and circulating them as the only money2 on social questions1 her theories are similar to those which have long been taught by ,john ,stuart ,mill and ,elizabeth ,cady ,stanton1 and which are styled by some as free-love doctrines1 while others reject this appellation on account of its popular association with the idea of a promiscuous intimacy between the sexes--the essence of her system being that marriage is of the heart and not of the law1 that when love ends marriage should end with it1 being dissolved by nature1 and that no civil statute should outwardly bind two hearts which have been inwardly sundered2 and finally1 in religion1 she is a spiritualist of the most mystical and ethereal type4 ,in thus speaking of her views1 ,i will add to them another fundamental article of her creed1 which an incident will best illustrate4 ,once a sick woman who had been given up by the physicians1 and who had received from a ,catholic priest extreme unction in expectation of death1 was put into the care of ,mrs4 ,woodhull1 who attempted to lure her back to life4 ,this zealous physician1 unwilling to be baffled1 stood over her patient day and night1 neither sleeping nor eating for ten days and nights1 at the end of which time she was gladdened not only at witnessing the sick woman's recovery1 but at finding that her own body1 instead of weariness or exhaustion from the double lack of sleep and food1 was more fresh and bright than at the beginning4 ,her face1 during this discipline1 grew uncommonly fair and ethereal2 her flesh wore a look of transparency2 and the ordinary earthiness of mortal nature began to disappear from her physical frame and its place to be supplied with what she fancied were the foretokens of a spiritual body4 ,these phenomena were so vivid to her own consciousness and to the observation of her friends1 that she was led to speculate profoundly on the transformation from our mortal to our immortal state1 deducing the idea that the time will come when the living human body1 instead of ending in death by disease1 and dissolution in the grave1 will be gradually refined away until it is entirely sloughed off1 and the soul only1 and not the flesh1 remains4 ,it is in this way that she fulfils to her daring hope the prophecy that ,the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death4 ,engrossed in business affairs1 nevertheless at any moment she would rather die than live--such is her infinite estimate of the other world over this4 ,but she disdains all commonplace parleyings with the spirit-realm such as are had in ordinary spirit-manifestations4 ,on the other hand1 she is passionately eager to see the spirits face to face--to summon them at her will and commune with them at her pleasure4 ,twice 7as she unshakenly believes7 she has seen a vision of ,jesus ,christ--honored thus doubly over ,st4 ,paul1 who saw his ,master but once1 and then was overcome by the sight4 ,she never goes to any church--save to the solemn temple whose starry arch spans her housetop at night1 where she sits like ,simeon ,stylites on his pillar1 a worshipper in the sky4 ,against the inculcations of her childish education1 the spirits have taught her that he whom the church calls the ,saviour of the world is not ,god but man4 ,but her reverence for him is supreme and ecstatic4 ,the ,sermon on the ,mount fills her eyes with tears4 ,the exulting exclamations of the ,psalmist are her familiar outbursts of devotion4 ,for two years1 as a talisman against any temptation toward untruthfulness 7which1 with her1 is the unpardonable sin71 she wore1 stitched into the sleeve of every one of her dresses1 the #b;d verse of the #abjth ,psalm1 namely1 ,deliver my soul1 ,o ,lord1 from lying lips1 and from a deceitful tongue4 ,speaking the truth punctiliously1 whether in great things or small1 she so rigorously exacts the same of others1 that a deceit practised upon her enkindles her soul to a flame of fire2 and she has acquired a clairvoyant or intuitive power to detect a lie in the moment of its utterance1 and to smite the liar in his act of guilt4 ,she believes that intellectual power has its fountains in spiritual inspiration4 ,and once when ,i put to her the searching question1 ,what is the greatest truth that has ever been expressed in words8 she thrilled me with the sudden answer1 ,blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see ,god4 ,as showing that her early clairvoyant power still abides1 ,i will mention a fresh instance4 ,an eminent judge in ,pennsylvania1 in whose court-house ,i had once lectured1 called lately to see me at the office of ,the ,golden ,age4 ,on my inquiring after his family1 he told me that a strange event had just happened in it4 ,three months ago1 said he1 while ,i was in ,new ,york1 ,mrs4 ,woodhull said to me1 with a rush of feeling1 ',judge1 ,i foresee that you will lose two of your children within six weeks4' ,this announcement1 he said1 wounded him as a tragic sort of trifling with life and death4 ,but1 ,i asked1 did anything follow the prophecy8 ,yes1 he replied1 fulfilment2 ,i lost two children within six weeks4 ,the ,judge1 who is a ,methodist1 thinks that ,victoria the clairvoyant is like ,anna the prophetess4 ,let me say that ,i know of no person against whom there are more prejudices1 nor any one who more quickly disarms them4 ,this strange faculty is the most powerful of her powers4 ,she shoots a word like a sudden sunbeam through the thickest mist of people's doubts and accusations1 and clears the sky in a moment4 ,questioned by some committee or delegation who have come to her with idle tales against her busy life1 ,i have seen her swiftly gather together all the stones which they have cast1 put them like the miner's quartz into the furnace1 melt them with fierce and fervent heat1 bring out of them the purest gold1 stamp thereon her image and superscription as if she were sovereign of the realm1 and then 7as the marvel of it all7 receive the sworn allegiance of the whole company on the spot4 ,at one of her public meetings when the chair 7as she hoped7 would be occupied by ,lucretia ,mott1 this venerable woman had been persuaded to decline this responsibility1 but afterward stepped forward on the platform and lovingly kissed the young speaker in presence of the multitude4 ,her enemies 7save those of her own household17 are strangers4 ,to see her is to respect her--to know her is to vindicate her4 ,she has some impetuous and headlong faults1 but were she without the same traits which produce these she would not possess the mad and magnificent energies which 7if she lives7 will make her a heroine of history4 ,in conclusion1 amid all the rush of her active life1 she believes with ,wordsworth that ,the gods approve the depth and not ,the tumult of the soul4 ,so1 whether buffeted by criticism or defamed by slander1 she carries herself in that religious peace which1 through all turbulence1 is a measureless content4 ,when apparently about to be struck down1 she gathers unseen strength and goes forward conquering and to conquer4 ,known only as a rash iconoclast1 and ranked even with the most uncouth of those noise-makers who are waking a sleepy world before its time1 she beats her daily gong of business and reform with notes not musical but strong1 yet mellows the outward rudeness of the rhythm by the inward and devout song of one of the sincerest1 most reverent1 and divinely-gifted of human souls4 ,illustration3 ,the ,golden ,age ,a ,weekly ,journal devoted to the ,free ,discussion of all ,living ,questions of ,church1 ,state1 ,society1 ,literature1 ,art1 and ,moral ,reform4 ,published every ,wednesday at ,no4 #i ,spruce ,street1 ,new ,york ,city4 ,,theodore ,,tilton1 ,,editor ,,and ,,publisher4 ,w4 ,t4 ,,clarke1 ,associate ,editor4 ,o4 ,w4 ,,ruland1 ,associate ,publisher4 ,,terms ,,of ,,subscription4 ,single copies1 #c per annum2 four copies1 #aj1 which is #b #ej a copy2 eight copies1 #bj4 ,the party who sends #bj for a club of eight copies 7all sent at one time7 will be entitled to a copy free4 ,postmasters and others who get up clubs in their respective towns1 can afterward add single copies at #b #ej4 ,,the ,,golden ,,age ,,tracts4 ,no4 #a4 ,,the ,,rights ,,of ,,women4 ,a ,letter to ,horace ,greeley by ,theodore ,tilton4 ,price #e cents2 #c per hundred4 ,no4 #b4 ,,the ,,constitution ,a ,,title-,,deed ,,to ,,woman',s ,,franchise4 ,a ,letter to ,charles ,sumner by ,theodore ,tilton4 ,price #e cents2 #c per hundred4 ,no4 #c4 ,,victoria ,c4 ,,woodhull4 ,a ,biographical ,sketch4 ,by ,theodore ,tilton4 #cf pages4 ,price #aj cents4 ,no4 #d4 ,,the ,,sin ,,of ,,sins4 ,a tractate on what are called fallen women4 ,by ,theodore ,tilton4 ,price #e cents2 #c per hundred4 ,the above pamphlets will be sent to any part of the ,united ,states postage paid on receipt of the price4 ,after you read this notice1 and before you forget it1 sit down and write a letter to ,mr4 ,tilton1 subscribing for the paper and ordering some of the tracts4 ,all letters should be addressed to ,,theodore ,,tilton1 ,post-office ,box #bhdh1 ,new ,york ,city4 ,,transcriber',s ,,notes #a4 ,silently corrected simple spelling1 grammar1 and typographical errors4 #b4 ,retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as printed4 #c4 ,enclosed italics font in underscores4