Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/1116

 

The most conspicuous and significant movement which challenges attention at the beginning of the new century is that toward organization, and the three great combinations which stand out most prominently in interest and importance are the organization of capital, the organization of labor and the organization of women. We scarcely can go back so far in history as not to find men banded together to protect their mutual interests, but associations of women are of very modern date. The oldest on record was formed in Philadelphia, in the closing days of the eighteenth century — Female Society for the Relief and Employment of the Poor —  which in 1798 established a house of industry in Arch St., known as the Home for Spinners. The society is still in active existence and gives employment to a large number of women. Church Missionary Societies of Women had their origin early in the century, but as mere annexes to those officered and managed by men. The first association to approach national prominence was the Female Anti-Slavery Society, founded in Boston in 1833, which almost cost the reputation of every one who joined it, so strong was the prejudice against any public action on the part of women. The American Female Guardian Society and Home for the Friendless was established in New York in 1834, and still exists, having cared for 50,000 children. Later in this decade Female Bible Societies came into being to supply Bibles to penal and charitable institutions and to put them in various public places.

From 1840 to 1850 the old Washingtonian Societies, composed entirely of men, were gradually replaced by the Sons of Temperance, and as they also were decidedly' averse to receiving women into their organization, and as the latter were deeply interested in the subject, a few of them timidly formed the