Page:The rights of women and the sexual relations.djvu/250

234 Ida Johanna Braun of Boston Highlands. The latter was unanimously elected. She opened the convention with the following words: —

Ladies — Never before did I even dream of the honor that has just been conferred upon me, because I never before even dreamt of the possibility of seeing so much interest displayed in public affairs, and especially in the questions for the consideration of which*'we have here come together, by the German women of this country, of whom, hitherto, nothing has ever been seen, except perhaps in beergardens, and nothing ever heard, except in the gibes of men. This interest is all the more a pleasant surprise to me because it seems to ‘have matured in silence and required only a stimulus to come to light. But I am convinced that nobody will be more surprised than the mass of our countrymen, for in no country, hitherto, have women ‘been so removed from public life as in Germany, and in no country has the male sex been so unanimously intent, with gibes and vulgarity, on driving her back into her socalled "sphere," as in our old fatherland. Even on this side of the water we have long enough suffered from the effects of former conditions. But here, where so many limitations, by which we had been hemmed in on the other side, have been removed, we have, it seems, gradually learned to find our bearings and to act according to our own impulses. I hope that our coming together here will prove this and will spread the conviction, through the fruits of