July 26, 2025 • 16 mins
In this intriguing volume, Elbert Hubbard takes us on an intimate tour through the homes of remarkable women who left their mark on history. Exploring the residences of authors, poets, social reformers, and other esteemed figures, Hubbard delves into how their environments could have shaped their lives and work. This book is a unique blend of biography and insightful commentary on the subjects life and creative output. Featured women include Elizabeth B. Browning, Madame Guyon, Harriet Martineau, Charlotte Bronte, Christina Rossetti, Rosa Bonheur, Madame De Stael, Elizabeth Fry, Mary Lamb, Jane Austen, Empress Josephine and Mary W. Shelley. The volume also features a poignant introduction by Hubbards son, Elbert Hubbard II, penned shortly after his fathers passing. This is Volume 2 in a series of 14 enlightening books.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section sixteen of Little Journeys to the Homes of Famous Women.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Michel Eaton. Little Journeys
to the Homes of Famous Women by Albert Hubbard, Section
(00:21):
sixteen Elizabeth Frye, Part two. The Gurneys were nominally friends.
They had gradually slipped away from the directness of speech,
the plainness of dress, and the simplicity of the Quakers.
They were getting rich on government contracts, and who wants
to be ridiculous anyway, So with consternation, the father and
mother heard the avowal of Elizabeth to adopt the extreme
(00:43):
customs of the friends. They sought to dissuade her. They
pointed out the uselessness of being singular and the folly
of adopting a mode of life that makes you a
laughing stock. But this eighteen year old girl stood firm,
had resolved to live the christ life and devote her
energies to lessens the pains of earth. Life was too
short for frivolity. No one could afford to compromise with evil.
(01:06):
She became the friend of children, the champion of the unfortunate.
She sided with the weak. She was their friend and comforter.
Her life became a cry in favor of the oppressed,
a defense of the downtrodden, an exultation of self devotion,
a prayer for universal sympathy, liberty, and light. She pleaded
for the vicious, recognizing that all are sinners, and that
(01:28):
those who do unlawful acts are no more sinners in
the eyes of God than we who think them so.
The religious nature and sex life are closely akin. The
woman possessing a high religious fervor is also capable of
a greater and passionate love. But the Norwich Friends did
not believe in a passionate love, except as the work
of the devil. Yet this they knew that marriage tames
(01:48):
a woman as nothing else can. They believed in religion,
of course, but not an absorbing, fanatical religion. Elizabeth should
get married. It would cure her mental maladies. Exaltation of
spirit in the gold Earl is a dangerous thing. Anyway.
Nothing subdues like marriage. It may not be generally known,
but your religious esthetic is a great matchmaker. In all
(02:08):
religious communities, especially rural communities, men who need wives need
not advertise. There are self appointed committees of old ladies
who advise and look after such matters closely. The imminence
of sex becomes vicarious, and that which one dwelt in
the flesh is now a thought. Like men about town
whose vices finally become simply mental. So do these old
(02:30):
ladies carry on courtships by power of attorney. And so
the old ladies found a worthy quakerman who would make
a good husband for Elizabeth. The man was willing. He
wrote a letter to her from his home in London,
addressing it to her father. The letter was brief and
business like. It described himself in modest but accurate terms.
He weighed ten stone and was five feet eight inches high,
(02:52):
and was five feet eight inches high. He was a
merchant with a goodly income, and in disposition was all
that was to be desired, at least he said so.
His pedigree was standard. The Gurneys looked up this mister Fry,
merchant of London, and found all that he had stated,
and found all as stated. He checked okay. He was
invited to visit at Norwich. He came, he saw and
(03:15):
was conquered. He liked Elizabeth, and Elizabeth liked him. She
surely did, or she would never have married him. Elizabeth
bore him twelve children. Mister Fry was certainly an excellent
and amiable man. I find it recorded he never in
any way hampered his wife's philanthropic work. And with this
testimonial to the excellence of mister Fry's character, we will
(03:37):
excuse him from these pages and speak only of his wife.
Contrary to expectations, Elizabeth was not tamed by marriage. She
looked after her household with diligence, but instead of confining
her social duties to following hotly after those in station
above her, she sought out those in the stratum beneath.
Soon after reaching London, she began taking long walks alone.
(03:59):
Watching the people, especially the beggars, the lowly, and the
wretched interested her. She saw girl, though she was that
Begadon and Vice were twins. In one of her daily walks,
she noticed on a certain corner a frowsled woman holding
a babe and thrusting out a grimy hand for arms,
telling a woeful tale of a dead soldier husband to
each passer by, Elizabeth stopped and talked with the woman.
(04:23):
As the day was cold, she took off her mittens
and gave them to the beggar and went her way.
The next day, she saw the woman on the same
corner and again talked with her, asking to see the
baby held so closely within the tattered shawl. An intuitive
glance mother herself as soon to be told her that
this sickly babe was not the child of the woman
who held it. She asked questions that the woman evaded.
(04:45):
Pressed further, the beggar grew abusive and took refuge in
curses with dire threats of violence. Missus Fry, withdrew and,
waiting for nightfall, followed the woman down a winding alley,
past rows of rotting tenements, into a cellar below a
genie shop. There, in this one squalid room, she found
a dozen babies, all tied fast in cribs or chairs,
(05:07):
starving or dying of inattention. The woman, taken by surprise,
did not grow violent this time. She fled, and missus Fry,
sending for two women friends, took charge of the sufferers.
This sub seller nursery opened the eyes of missus Frye
to the grim fact that England, professing to be Christian,
building costly churches and maintaining an immense army of paid priests,
(05:31):
was essentially barbaric. She set herself to the task of
doing what she could while life lasted, to lessen the
horror of ignorance and sin. Newgate Prison, then as now
stood in the center of the city. It was necessary
to have it in a conspicuous place, so that all
might see the result of wrongdoing and Begod. Along the
front of the prison was strong iron gratings, where the
(05:53):
prisoners crowded up to talk with their friends. Through these gratings,
the unhappy wretches called to strangers for arms, and lost
out long wooden spoons for contributions that would enable them
to pay their fines. There was a women's department, but
if the men's department was too full, men and women
were herded together. Missus fry worked for her sex. So
of these I will speak women who had children under
(06:16):
seven years of age took them to prison with them.
Every week. Babes were born there, so that at one
time in the year eighteen hundred twenty six we find
there were one hundred ninety women and one hundred children
in Newgate. There was no bedding, no clothing was supplied,
and those who had no friends outside to supply them
clothing were naked or nearly so, and would have been
(06:38):
entirely were it not for the spark of divinity which
causes the most depraved of women to minister to one another.
Women hate only their successful rivals. The lowest of women
will assist one another when there is a dire emergency.
In this pen, awaiting trial, execution, or transportation, were girls
of twelve to see now, helpless creatures of eighty. All
(07:01):
were thrust together. Hardened criminals, besotted prostitutes, made servants, accused
of stealing thimbles, married women, suspected of blasphemy, pure hearted, brave,
natured girls who had run away from brutal parents or
more brutal husbands, Insane persons all were herded together. All
the keepers were men. Patrolling the walls were armed guards
(07:23):
who were ordered to shoot all who tried to escape.
These guards were usually on good terms with the women prisoners,
hobnobbing at will. When the mailed hand of government had
once thrust these women behind iron bars and relieved virtuous society.
Of their presence, it seemed to think it had done
its duty. Inside, no crime was recognized save murder. These
women fought, overpowered the weak, stole from and maltreated each other.
(07:48):
Sometimes certain ones would combine for self defense, forming fractions ones.
The governor of the prison, bewigged, powdered, lace befrilled, ventured
pompously into the women's department without his usual armed guard.
Fifty hags set upon him in a twinkling. His clothing
was torn to shreds too small for carpet rags, and
(08:09):
in two minutes by the sand glass. When he got
back to the bars, lustily calling for help, he was
as naked as a cherub, even if not as innocent.
Visitors who ventured near to the grating were often asked
to shake hands, and if one cigrit was gotten upon them,
the man was drawn up close, while long, sinewy fingers
grabbed his watch, handkerchief, neck, scarf or hat. All was
(08:32):
pulled into the den. Sharp nail marks on the poor
fellow's face told of the scrimmage, and all the time
the guards on the walls and the spectators roared with laughter. Oh,
it was awfully funny. One woman whose shawl was snatched
and sucked into the maelstrom complained to the police and
was told that folks inside of Newgate could not be arrested,
and that a good motto for outsiders was to keep
(08:53):
away from dangerous places. Every morning, at nine, a curate
red prayers at the prisoners. The curate stood well outside
the grating, while all the time from inside, loud cries
of advice were given and sundry remarks tendered him concerning
his personal appearance. The frightful hilarity of the mob saved
these wretches from despair. But the curate did his duty.
(09:15):
He who has ears to hear, let him hear waiting
in the harbor with ships loading their freight of sin,
crime and woe for Botany Bay. At Tyburn, every week
women were hanged. Three hundred offenses were punishable with death,
But as in the West, where horse stealing is the
supreme offense, most of the hangings were for smuggling, forgery,
(09:36):
or shoplifting. England, being a nation of shopkeepers, could not
forgive offenses that might injure a haberdasher. Little missus Fry
in the plainest of Quaker dress with bonnet to match,
stood outside Newgate and heard the curate read prayers. She
resolved to ask the governor of the prison if she
might herself perform the office. The governor was polite, but
(09:56):
stated there was no precedent for such an important move.
She must have time to consider. Missus Frye called again,
and permission was granted, with strict orders that she must
not attempt to proselyte, and further, she had better not
get too near the grating missus Fry gave the great
Man a bit of affright by quietly explaining, thus, sir,
(10:17):
if he kindly allows me to pray with the women,
I will go inside. The governor asked her to say
it again. She did so, and a bright thought came
to the great Man. He would grant her request, writing
an order that she be allowed to go inside the
prison whenever she desired. It would teach her a lesson
and save him from further importunity. So little missus Fry
(10:38):
presented the order, and the gates were swung open, and
the iron quickly snapped behind her. She spoke to the women,
addressing the one who seemed to be leader a sister,
and asked the others to follow her back into the
courtway away from the sound of the street, so they
could have prayers. They followed dumbly. She knelt on the
stone pavement and prayed in silence. Then she arose and
(10:59):
read to them the one hundred seventh Psalm. Again she prayed,
asking the others to kneel with her. A dozen knelt.
She arose and went her way amid a hush of
solemn silence. Next day, when she came again, the ribaldry
ceased on her approach, and after the religious service, she
remained inside the walls an hour, conversing with those who
(11:19):
wished to talk with her, going to all the children
that were sick, and ministering to them. In a week
she called altogether imposed arting a school for the children.
The mothers entered into the project gladly. A governess in
prison for theft was elected teacher. A cell room was
cleaned out, whitewashed, and set apart for a schoolroom, with
the permission of the governor, who granted the request, explaining, however,
(11:42):
that there was no precedent for such a thing. The
school prospered, and outside the schoolroom door, hungry eyed women
listened furtively for scraps of knowledge that might be tossed overboard.
Missus fry next organized classes for these older children, gray
haired bowed with sin, many of them. There were twelve
in each class, and they elected a monitor from their numbers,
(12:02):
agreeing to obey her. Missus Frye brought cloth from her
husband's store, and the women were taught to sew. The
governor insisted that there was no precedent for it, and
the guards on the walls said that every scrap of
cloth would be stolen, but the guards were wrong. The
day was divided up into regular hours for work and
recreation or the good. Quaker women from outside came in
(12:24):
to help, and the tap room, kept by a mercenary guard,
was done away with, and an order established that no
spirituous liquors should be brought into Newgate. The women agreed
to keep away from the grating on the street, except
when personal friends came to cease begging to quit gambling.
They were given pay for their labor. A woman was
asked for as turnkey instead of a man. All guards
(12:47):
were to be taken from the walls that overlooked the
women's department. The women were to be given mats to
sleep on and blankets to cover them when the weather
was cold. The governor was astonished. He called a council
of the Lord Mayor and the aldermen. They visited the
prison and found for the first time that order had
come out of chaos at Newgate. Missus Fry's requests were granted,
(13:09):
and this little woman awoke one morning to find herself famous.
From Newgate, she turned her attention to other prisons. She
traveled throughout England, Scotland and Ireland, visiting prisons and asylums.
She became well feared by those in authority, for her
firm and gentle glance went straight to every abuse. Often
she was airily turned away by some official clothed in
(13:32):
a little brief authority, but the man usually lived to
know his mistake. She was invited by the French government
to visit the prisons of Paris and write a report
giving suggestions as to what reforms should be made. She
went to Belgium, Holland and Germany, being received by kings
and queens and prime ministers as costume, her plain gray dress.
(13:53):
Always sufficing, she treated royalty and unfortunates alike simply as equals.
She kept constantly in her mind the thought that all
men are sinners. Before God, there were no rich, no poor,
no high, no low, no bond, no free. Conditions are transient.
And boldly did she say to the King of France
that he should build prisons with the idea of reformation,
(14:16):
not revenge, and with the thought ever before him that
he himself or his children might occupy these cells. So
vain are human ambitions. To Sir Robert Peel in his cabinet,
she read the story concerning the gallows built by her man.
THEE must not shut out the sky from the prisoner.
The must build no dark cells. My children may occupy them,
(14:37):
she said. John Howard and others had sent a glimmering
ray of truth through the fog of ignorance concerning insanity.
The belief was growing that insane people were really not
possessed of devils after all. Yet still the cell systems,
straight jacket, and handcuffs were in great demand. In no
asylum were prisoners allowed to eat at tables. Food was
(14:57):
given to each in tin basins without spoons, knives or forks.
Glass dishes and china plates were considered especially dangerous. They
told of one man who, in an insane fit, had
cut his throat with a plate, and of another who
had swallowed a spoon. Visiting an asylum at Worcester, missus
Fry saw the inmates receive their tin dishes and crouched
(15:19):
on the floor, eating like wild beasts. She asked the
chief warden for permission to try an experiment. He dubiously
granted it. With the help of several of the inmates,
she arranged a long table, covered it with spotless linen
brought by herself, placed bouquets of wild flowers on the table,
and set it as she did at her own home.
Then she invited twenty of the patients to dinner. They came,
(15:42):
and a clergyman who was an inmate, was asked to
say grace. All sat down, and the dinner passed off
as quietly and pleasantly as could be wished. And these
were the reforms she strove for and put into practical
execution everywhere. She asked that the word asylum be dropped
and home or hospital use instead. In visiting asylums by
her presence, she said to the troubled spirits, peace be still.
(16:05):
For half a century she toiled with an increasing energy
and a never flagging animation. She passed out full of honors,
beloved as woman was never yet loved, loved by the unfortunate,
the deformed, the weak, the vicious. She worked for a
present good here and now, believing that we can reach
the future only through the present. In pronology, nothing has
(16:27):
been added to her philosophy, and we have as yet
not nearly carried out her suggestions. Generation after generation will
come and go, nations will rise, grow old and die,
Kings and rulers will be forgotten. But so long as
love kisses the white lips of pain, will men remember
and revere the name of Elizabeth Frye, Friend of Humanity.
(16:50):
End of Section sixteen.
Section sixteen of Little Journeys to the Homes of Famous Women.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Michel Eaton. Little Journeys
to the Homes of Famous Women by Albert Hubbard, Section
(00:21):
sixteen Elizabeth Frye, Part two. The Gurneys were nominally friends.
They had gradually slipped away from the directness of speech,
the plainness of dress, and the simplicity of the Quakers.
They were getting rich on government contracts, and who wants
to be ridiculous anyway, So with consternation, the father and
mother heard the avowal of Elizabeth to adopt the extreme
(00:43):
customs of the friends. They sought to dissuade her. They
pointed out the uselessness of being singular and the folly
of adopting a mode of life that makes you a
laughing stock. But this eighteen year old girl stood firm,
had resolved to live the christ life and devote her
energies to lessens the pains of earth. Life was too
short for frivolity. No one could afford to compromise with evil.
(01:06):
She became the friend of children, the champion of the unfortunate.
She sided with the weak. She was their friend and comforter.
Her life became a cry in favor of the oppressed,
a defense of the downtrodden, an exultation of self devotion,
a prayer for universal sympathy, liberty, and light. She pleaded
for the vicious, recognizing that all are sinners, and that
(01:28):
those who do unlawful acts are no more sinners in
the eyes of God than we who think them so.
The religious nature and sex life are closely akin. The
woman possessing a high religious fervor is also capable of
a greater and passionate love. But the Norwich Friends did
not believe in a passionate love, except as the work
of the devil. Yet this they knew that marriage tames
(01:48):
a woman as nothing else can. They believed in religion,
of course, but not an absorbing, fanatical religion. Elizabeth should
get married. It would cure her mental maladies. Exaltation of
spirit in the gold Earl is a dangerous thing. Anyway.
Nothing subdues like marriage. It may not be generally known,
but your religious esthetic is a great matchmaker. In all
(02:08):
religious communities, especially rural communities, men who need wives need
not advertise. There are self appointed committees of old ladies
who advise and look after such matters closely. The imminence
of sex becomes vicarious, and that which one dwelt in
the flesh is now a thought. Like men about town
whose vices finally become simply mental. So do these old
(02:30):
ladies carry on courtships by power of attorney. And so
the old ladies found a worthy quakerman who would make
a good husband for Elizabeth. The man was willing. He
wrote a letter to her from his home in London,
addressing it to her father. The letter was brief and
business like. It described himself in modest but accurate terms.
He weighed ten stone and was five feet eight inches high,
(02:52):
and was five feet eight inches high. He was a
merchant with a goodly income, and in disposition was all
that was to be desired, at least he said so.
His pedigree was standard. The Gurneys looked up this mister Fry,
merchant of London, and found all that he had stated,
and found all as stated. He checked okay. He was
invited to visit at Norwich. He came, he saw and
(03:15):
was conquered. He liked Elizabeth, and Elizabeth liked him. She
surely did, or she would never have married him. Elizabeth
bore him twelve children. Mister Fry was certainly an excellent
and amiable man. I find it recorded he never in
any way hampered his wife's philanthropic work. And with this
testimonial to the excellence of mister Fry's character, we will
(03:37):
excuse him from these pages and speak only of his wife.
Contrary to expectations, Elizabeth was not tamed by marriage. She
looked after her household with diligence, but instead of confining
her social duties to following hotly after those in station
above her, she sought out those in the stratum beneath.
Soon after reaching London, she began taking long walks alone.
(03:59):
Watching the people, especially the beggars, the lowly, and the
wretched interested her. She saw girl, though she was that
Begadon and Vice were twins. In one of her daily walks,
she noticed on a certain corner a frowsled woman holding
a babe and thrusting out a grimy hand for arms,
telling a woeful tale of a dead soldier husband to
each passer by, Elizabeth stopped and talked with the woman.
(04:23):
As the day was cold, she took off her mittens
and gave them to the beggar and went her way.
The next day, she saw the woman on the same
corner and again talked with her, asking to see the
baby held so closely within the tattered shawl. An intuitive
glance mother herself as soon to be told her that
this sickly babe was not the child of the woman
who held it. She asked questions that the woman evaded.
(04:45):
Pressed further, the beggar grew abusive and took refuge in
curses with dire threats of violence. Missus Fry, withdrew and,
waiting for nightfall, followed the woman down a winding alley,
past rows of rotting tenements, into a cellar below a
genie shop. There, in this one squalid room, she found
a dozen babies, all tied fast in cribs or chairs,
(05:07):
starving or dying of inattention. The woman, taken by surprise,
did not grow violent this time. She fled, and missus Fry,
sending for two women friends, took charge of the sufferers.
This sub seller nursery opened the eyes of missus Frye
to the grim fact that England, professing to be Christian,
building costly churches and maintaining an immense army of paid priests,
(05:31):
was essentially barbaric. She set herself to the task of
doing what she could while life lasted, to lessen the
horror of ignorance and sin. Newgate Prison, then as now
stood in the center of the city. It was necessary
to have it in a conspicuous place, so that all
might see the result of wrongdoing and Begod. Along the
front of the prison was strong iron gratings, where the
(05:53):
prisoners crowded up to talk with their friends. Through these gratings,
the unhappy wretches called to strangers for arms, and lost
out long wooden spoons for contributions that would enable them
to pay their fines. There was a women's department, but
if the men's department was too full, men and women
were herded together. Missus fry worked for her sex. So
of these I will speak women who had children under
(06:16):
seven years of age took them to prison with them.
Every week. Babes were born there, so that at one
time in the year eighteen hundred twenty six we find
there were one hundred ninety women and one hundred children
in Newgate. There was no bedding, no clothing was supplied,
and those who had no friends outside to supply them
clothing were naked or nearly so, and would have been
(06:38):
entirely were it not for the spark of divinity which
causes the most depraved of women to minister to one another.
Women hate only their successful rivals. The lowest of women
will assist one another when there is a dire emergency.
In this pen, awaiting trial, execution, or transportation, were girls
of twelve to see now, helpless creatures of eighty. All
(07:01):
were thrust together. Hardened criminals, besotted prostitutes, made servants, accused
of stealing thimbles, married women, suspected of blasphemy, pure hearted, brave,
natured girls who had run away from brutal parents or
more brutal husbands, Insane persons all were herded together. All
the keepers were men. Patrolling the walls were armed guards
(07:23):
who were ordered to shoot all who tried to escape.
These guards were usually on good terms with the women prisoners,
hobnobbing at will. When the mailed hand of government had
once thrust these women behind iron bars and relieved virtuous society.
Of their presence, it seemed to think it had done
its duty. Inside, no crime was recognized save murder. These
women fought, overpowered the weak, stole from and maltreated each other.
(07:48):
Sometimes certain ones would combine for self defense, forming fractions ones.
The governor of the prison, bewigged, powdered, lace befrilled, ventured
pompously into the women's department without his usual armed guard.
Fifty hags set upon him in a twinkling. His clothing
was torn to shreds too small for carpet rags, and
(08:09):
in two minutes by the sand glass. When he got
back to the bars, lustily calling for help, he was
as naked as a cherub, even if not as innocent.
Visitors who ventured near to the grating were often asked
to shake hands, and if one cigrit was gotten upon them,
the man was drawn up close, while long, sinewy fingers
grabbed his watch, handkerchief, neck, scarf or hat. All was
(08:32):
pulled into the den. Sharp nail marks on the poor
fellow's face told of the scrimmage, and all the time
the guards on the walls and the spectators roared with laughter. Oh,
it was awfully funny. One woman whose shawl was snatched
and sucked into the maelstrom complained to the police and
was told that folks inside of Newgate could not be arrested,
and that a good motto for outsiders was to keep
(08:53):
away from dangerous places. Every morning, at nine, a curate
red prayers at the prisoners. The curate stood well outside
the grating, while all the time from inside, loud cries
of advice were given and sundry remarks tendered him concerning
his personal appearance. The frightful hilarity of the mob saved
these wretches from despair. But the curate did his duty.
(09:15):
He who has ears to hear, let him hear waiting
in the harbor with ships loading their freight of sin,
crime and woe for Botany Bay. At Tyburn, every week
women were hanged. Three hundred offenses were punishable with death,
But as in the West, where horse stealing is the
supreme offense, most of the hangings were for smuggling, forgery,
(09:36):
or shoplifting. England, being a nation of shopkeepers, could not
forgive offenses that might injure a haberdasher. Little missus Fry
in the plainest of Quaker dress with bonnet to match,
stood outside Newgate and heard the curate read prayers. She
resolved to ask the governor of the prison if she
might herself perform the office. The governor was polite, but
(09:56):
stated there was no precedent for such an important move.
She must have time to consider. Missus Frye called again,
and permission was granted, with strict orders that she must
not attempt to proselyte, and further, she had better not
get too near the grating missus Fry gave the great
Man a bit of affright by quietly explaining, thus, sir,
(10:17):
if he kindly allows me to pray with the women,
I will go inside. The governor asked her to say
it again. She did so, and a bright thought came
to the great Man. He would grant her request, writing
an order that she be allowed to go inside the
prison whenever she desired. It would teach her a lesson
and save him from further importunity. So little missus Fry
(10:38):
presented the order, and the gates were swung open, and
the iron quickly snapped behind her. She spoke to the women,
addressing the one who seemed to be leader a sister,
and asked the others to follow her back into the
courtway away from the sound of the street, so they
could have prayers. They followed dumbly. She knelt on the
stone pavement and prayed in silence. Then she arose and
(10:59):
read to them the one hundred seventh Psalm. Again she prayed,
asking the others to kneel with her. A dozen knelt.
She arose and went her way amid a hush of
solemn silence. Next day, when she came again, the ribaldry
ceased on her approach, and after the religious service, she
remained inside the walls an hour, conversing with those who
(11:19):
wished to talk with her, going to all the children
that were sick, and ministering to them. In a week
she called altogether imposed arting a school for the children.
The mothers entered into the project gladly. A governess in
prison for theft was elected teacher. A cell room was
cleaned out, whitewashed, and set apart for a schoolroom, with
the permission of the governor, who granted the request, explaining, however,
(11:42):
that there was no precedent for such a thing. The
school prospered, and outside the schoolroom door, hungry eyed women
listened furtively for scraps of knowledge that might be tossed overboard.
Missus fry next organized classes for these older children, gray
haired bowed with sin, many of them. There were twelve
in each class, and they elected a monitor from their numbers,
(12:02):
agreeing to obey her. Missus Frye brought cloth from her
husband's store, and the women were taught to sew. The
governor insisted that there was no precedent for it, and
the guards on the walls said that every scrap of
cloth would be stolen, but the guards were wrong. The
day was divided up into regular hours for work and
recreation or the good. Quaker women from outside came in
(12:24):
to help, and the tap room, kept by a mercenary guard,
was done away with, and an order established that no
spirituous liquors should be brought into Newgate. The women agreed
to keep away from the grating on the street, except
when personal friends came to cease begging to quit gambling.
They were given pay for their labor. A woman was
asked for as turnkey instead of a man. All guards
(12:47):
were to be taken from the walls that overlooked the
women's department. The women were to be given mats to
sleep on and blankets to cover them when the weather
was cold. The governor was astonished. He called a council
of the Lord Mayor and the aldermen. They visited the
prison and found for the first time that order had
come out of chaos at Newgate. Missus Fry's requests were granted,
(13:09):
and this little woman awoke one morning to find herself famous.
From Newgate, she turned her attention to other prisons. She
traveled throughout England, Scotland and Ireland, visiting prisons and asylums.
She became well feared by those in authority, for her
firm and gentle glance went straight to every abuse. Often
she was airily turned away by some official clothed in
(13:32):
a little brief authority, but the man usually lived to
know his mistake. She was invited by the French government
to visit the prisons of Paris and write a report
giving suggestions as to what reforms should be made. She
went to Belgium, Holland and Germany, being received by kings
and queens and prime ministers as costume, her plain gray dress.
(13:53):
Always sufficing, she treated royalty and unfortunates alike simply as equals.
She kept constantly in her mind the thought that all
men are sinners. Before God, there were no rich, no poor,
no high, no low, no bond, no free. Conditions are transient.
And boldly did she say to the King of France
that he should build prisons with the idea of reformation,
(14:16):
not revenge, and with the thought ever before him that
he himself or his children might occupy these cells. So
vain are human ambitions. To Sir Robert Peel in his cabinet,
she read the story concerning the gallows built by her man.
THEE must not shut out the sky from the prisoner.
The must build no dark cells. My children may occupy them,
(14:37):
she said. John Howard and others had sent a glimmering
ray of truth through the fog of ignorance concerning insanity.
The belief was growing that insane people were really not
possessed of devils after all. Yet still the cell systems,
straight jacket, and handcuffs were in great demand. In no
asylum were prisoners allowed to eat at tables. Food was
(14:57):
given to each in tin basins without spoons, knives or forks.
Glass dishes and china plates were considered especially dangerous. They
told of one man who, in an insane fit, had
cut his throat with a plate, and of another who
had swallowed a spoon. Visiting an asylum at Worcester, missus
Fry saw the inmates receive their tin dishes and crouched
(15:19):
on the floor, eating like wild beasts. She asked the
chief warden for permission to try an experiment. He dubiously
granted it. With the help of several of the inmates,
she arranged a long table, covered it with spotless linen
brought by herself, placed bouquets of wild flowers on the table,
and set it as she did at her own home.
Then she invited twenty of the patients to dinner. They came,
(15:42):
and a clergyman who was an inmate, was asked to
say grace. All sat down, and the dinner passed off
as quietly and pleasantly as could be wished. And these
were the reforms she strove for and put into practical
execution everywhere. She asked that the word asylum be dropped
and home or hospital use instead. In visiting asylums by
her presence, she said to the troubled spirits, peace be still.
(16:05):
For half a century she toiled with an increasing energy
and a never flagging animation. She passed out full of honors,
beloved as woman was never yet loved, loved by the unfortunate,
the deformed, the weak, the vicious. She worked for a
present good here and now, believing that we can reach
the future only through the present. In pronology, nothing has
(16:27):
been added to her philosophy, and we have as yet
not nearly carried out her suggestions. Generation after generation will
come and go, nations will rise, grow old and die,
Kings and rulers will be forgotten. But so long as
love kisses the white lips of pain, will men remember
and revere the name of Elizabeth Frye, Friend of Humanity.
(16:50):
End of Section sixteen.
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