not to the planet mars did my dream take me this time, but on board a sailing vessel just entering new york bay. very foggy it had been for days; but the clouds having just lifted, to my delightful eyes were revealed the shores of staten island and the other components of the brilliant tout ensemble greeting the voyager as he approached the metropolitan cities which bounded the distance.
my husband and i had for years been in some remote corner of the earth, where we had never received any news either of home, friends or country; but where that out-of-the-way place could have been situated, impenetrable not only to telegraph and post, but beyond the reach even of “our own correspondent,” i could not remember. in vain i tried to recall its name and locality, or even the least incident which had befallen us in our long exile – the years we had spent there were all a blank. however, i did know that our home was in new york city, and that very soon we should be there. in vain did i interrogate my husband as to where we had been; he only looked wonderingly in my face, laughed heartily several times, and said: “i really cannot remember. all i know is that we have been gone from the united states ten years, and that shortly we shall be again in new york city. yonder is a tug boat,” he continued, pointing to one evidently making for us; “i am very anxious to hear the news. oh, to get the sight of a new york paper once more!”
how vividly do i remember this part of my dream! – how recall every moment of time, and every feature of the beautiful scene before us. land, land once more, bringing thoughts of home, joyous expectations of meeting dear friends from whom we had been long separated, and all the palpitating expectancy that seemed to make my whole being throb with delight.
by and by the tug-boat reached us, and my husband realized his millennium by feasting his eyes on a new york paper, in his haste to obtain which he came very near falling overboard. a newspaper man to his very bones, his existing for so many years without access to that seeming necessary of life had been to me a mystery almost as great as would have been a fish living a like period without water.
“der teufel! sacre tonnerre! was ist? place aux dames?” exclaimed he facetiously, as his eye scanned the contents; “what changes ten years have brought about! a lady president three months in office, and yet the world goes around as usual! i rather expect to see, when we get to the city, that the people are walking on their heads; the world must be turned upside down!”
“you mean that ten years has turned the world ‘right side up,’ with care?”
“just as you like,” he replied, with a good-natured smile; “but i was never more astonished in my life.”
“there must be congresswomen, then,” i said, as a feeling of wholesome pride was born into my soul; women were something after all. how distinctly i remember the feeling of importance that leaped into existence within me, and that remains with me at this moment, though i now know that it was only a dream.
then my husband handed me the paper. “read for yourself,” he said; “nearly one half of the united states senate, and fully one half of the house, are women.” then he laughed, rubbed his hands, stood on his feet, lifted his hat and said to me, as he bowed profoundly, “i salute you, dear madame, in deference to the glorious achievement of woman. may she never descend from the height to which she has attained!”
“i thank you,” i replied, “in the name of every woman. oh, i no more want to be a man, but rejoice that i am a woman.”
“hurrah for our side of the house,” replied my merry husband. then he looked around, saying, “how i wish that tug boat would hurry up; no more ten years spent in – confound it! what is the name of that place? strange that i can’t recollect, when i was always so ready with names and locations. is my brain softening, or what can be the trouble? well, no matter what it is, we will live henceforth in the united states, and die there too, when it comes to that. ‘better fifty years of europe than a cycle of cathay.’ we reach here just in time to enjoy the woman government and observe its constituent parts.”
all in my dream was very consistent until we landed on the wharf, and then, like the crazyness of dreams, no surprise was expressed or felt on finding it suddenly midnight and myself and husband just afterward walking up broadway as leisurely as if it had been a pleasant afternoon in october.
by and by we looked up and saw a number of men approaching; they filled the sidewalk, so we stepped aside under a lamp and saw them pass. all were evidently in charge of policemen; several were handcuffed and acting like madmen. more, and yet more, passed us, so that we could hardly walk a block without being compelled to step aside, which we always did near a lamp post.
“what does this mean?” i asked my husband.
“it means, i suppose, woman’s government.”
“oh, stop your nonsense,” i replied, laughing; adding, “i believe the inmates of some lunatic asylum are being removed, perhaps to another asylum.”
all this time we were scanning the faces of the gentlemen (for they were all gentlemen) as they passed under the gaslight. then my husband recognized several whom he had formerly known, one of whom, mr. — was a senator when we left, ten years previously. i almost gave his name, but that wouldn’t do. there were two reverend gentlemen, but i must be still more circumspect in regard to names, because in case of an action for slander, their congregations could fee so many lawyers that i should certainly get the worst of it; besides which, i should lose the good opinion of the religious press, which to me is very dear! besides, i might even be suspected of heterodoxy, which would be terrible!!
but, rerenons à nos moutons, even if they are black sheep, with possibly a sprinkling of goats. it was a strange scene, for all classes of men appeared to be represented. not only the lowest, or those on whose countenances the mark of the beast was distinctly imprinted, but also the respectable, the religious, and even the intellectual and cultivated. men were there with fine countenances, and with heads that phrenologists would have declared those of statesmen and philosophers. why were such men accompanied by policemen? why these wholesale arrests?
all at once i exclaimed, “oh, dear! there! see! dear, good, elder stiggins! oh, dear! see! a policeman has him handcuffed; save, save him, husband!” i did not, however, wait for my husband to do anything, but rushed into the crowd. “there is some mistake,” i exclaimed; “o, dear, dear elder stiggins!” taking his hand in my own; but the crowd pushed on, and with difficulty did i make my escape.
then my dream, without any connecting link, landed me in a comfortable room in a large hotel. on a table near my husband was a large collection of newspapers, evidently a file extending back some years. he was greedily devouring them, scanning one after another, and then throwing them on the floor to make way for their successors. by-and-by he began to laugh – how he did laugh!
“what is the matter?” i asked; “tell me, what is it?”
“excellent! good! first rate! happy thought!”
“well, tell me! what is it?” then he tried to smooth his face and answer:
“why, it appears that one of the first acts of both houses of congress, after the inauguration of president — was to pass a law providing that henceforth, in the district of columbia, no woman prostitute should be arrested, fined, imprisoned, sent to magdalen asylums for reformation or otherwise molested, but that all laws punishing prostitution in women should, from and after the passage of the act, be enforced against their male companions. a similar law was soon afterward passed in the state of new york. the washington authorities, however, regarded it only as a huge joke intended by congressmen for electioneering effect among their lady constituents. i have not yet reached any information as to its enforcement in this state.”
then he again vigorously betook himself to a fresh instalment of newspapers, and having ground up a dozen or so in his mental mill, fastened on another. “they intend the law to go into effect here,” he remarked. “three large houses for the reformation of prostitute men are being built.” as he said this he handed me the newspaper, and pointed out the heading:
three large houses being built for the
reformation of prostitute men!!
male magdalens!!!
“we laugh, my dear,” i said, “because it is novel, but there is justice and wisdom in the law.”
“yes,” he replied, “that is obvious; but why do they not execute the law? i observe that other papers characterize the article in question as purely sensational, and utterly without foundation, in fact.”
“i see it all; i know it all now,” i exclaimed; for, as a flash of lightning, did the whole dawn on my understanding. the law had been put in force that night, and we had seen some of the victims. instantly my spirit was en rapport with the whole machinery and its operation. the mayor of the city of new york was a lady; the common council was largely composed of ladies; the board of aldermen was no more, for it was alderwomen now; and in the city detective service the ability of women to keep secrets as well as to find them out had been extensively tested. this first descent had been planned for some days, but even the press had been kept ignorant of the proposed measure, with the exception above mentioned. tonight the police had pounced on the sinners, and not, as of yore, the sinned against – and the surprise was complete. what a simpleton i had been to rush to the police when i saw mr. stiggins in their custody, i thought; but, then, why be ashamed of a good impulse?
from police station to police station, all over the city, i seemed to go without the fatigue usually attendant on locomotion. what sights i beheld, and what sound i heard! coaxing and bribery of policemen were attempted without result; cursing, swearing and threatening were equally futile. the law enacted that the name of every man thus taken should be advertised in the newspapers of the town, city or county in which the arrests should be made; also, that a large black-board should be hung daily on the outside of every police station, whereon should be conspicuously recorded the names of the culprits brought to such station. this, i saw, was the lash that cut them, in anticipation of which the majority whined like whipped curs.
one stout, handsome gentleman, with his hands in his pockets, and looking up from a sort of brown study, seemingly of the floor or of his book, but really of his situation, said: “well, gentlemen, we are finely sold; it is an unpleasant piece of business; d — d smart, women’s wits have outwitted us, every one; that paper was right, if the others did call it sensational; woodhull & claflin’s weekly was right; it took women to keep it quiet and women to find it out; diamond cut diamond. i wonder how many and who of us will be sent to those houses for the reformation of prostitute men?”
the majority of his hearers laughed, but were nevertheless greatly perplexed and annoyed. “just think,” he continued, “of our names being in every paper to-morrow morning! oh ye gods and little fishes! our wives, our lady loves, our families! think, gentlemen, of the long list of names that will to-morrow ornament every police station! show yourselves appreciative of the loving kindness of the corporation in supplying us with so large an amount of gratuitous advertising! perhaps for a trifling fee they would also allow us to exhibit our business cards on the black-board, in juxtaposition with our respective names. we are in for it, gentlemen, and no mistake, and seeing we must advertise, willy nilly, let us get all we can for the money; we can, after all, make this thing pay if we work it right.”
“confound the women!” exclaimed an old grey-headed gentleman who was standing on the right hand of the speaker; “we might have known how it would be if ever the women got the law into their own hands.”
“i beg the gentleman’s pardon,” said a third gentleman, “but i don’t see how we could have known that women would have turned the tables on us so nicely; but i suppose it is all right; we have got free so far, while the poor women were made to suffer all the shame and disgrace; to-night we have chanced to see how we like it.”
“that is so with a vengeance,” said another. “yes, we are caught in a fine trap,” exclaimed a fifth.
in one station-house seventeen gentlemen had just arrived, one of whom was bitterly denouncing petticoat government. “we were fools ever to give the wretches any power; finely are we paid off for our chivalry!”
“it seems to me,” said a young fellow on whose face was a reckless, don’t-care expression, “that to-night, against our wills, we are made to act a little of our chivalry.” some laughed aloud, but more imprecated interiorly. then the voice i first heard of the seventeen resumed: “here we are to-night, looking like a set of whipped curs. oh, the cunning, crafty women! i tell you, gentlemen, a woman in craft equals the old gentleman below with horns and hoofs. see how astutely they have worked the machine – the law a dead letter until to-day, as we confidingly trusted that it would so remain; then, as in a steel trap, we are secured in its iron grasp. oh, nothing can equal a woman! serves us right, gentlemen, for giving them power.”
some cursed and swore for very madness, while others said they did not care, as their names were of no consequence. “but,” remarked another, “perhaps the houses for the reformation of male prostitutes may be of consequence,” shrugging his shoulders suggestively.
then again in my dream there was a chasm of time not bridged over, either by events or memory. it was morning – early morning – and the newsboys were calling out, “the prostitute act enforced! one thousand arrests!” they reaped, as might well be supposed, a most liberal harvest. what crowds gathered around the police station to read the names! there came to me at that moment not only the power to float from house to house, from building to building, but a sort of omnipresence that enabled me to see the whole effect of the late movement, and what, in that respect, was being said and done in every part of the city.
at one station i was amused to hear a man with a deep, strong voice calling out the names as he read them from the blackboard for the edification of the crowd. occasionally a name was greeted with a general laugh or exclamation of surprise; while, as i passed through the crowd, i heard – or, shall i say, saw? – exclamations unuttered, such as, “is it possible?” ”that name!” “astonishing!” “surprising!” etc., etc. around the newspaper offices were such large crowds that to keep order the policemen placed them in a double file. those in the rear or outside would frequently offer large prices for the place of some one in front, so as to make sure of the coveted intelligence and avoid delay, the presses being quite unable to keep pace with the unusual demand. all were eager to see the names of the suddenly famous one thousand, and the telegraph operator had been busy ever since two in the morning transmitting names and other particulars of the enforcement of the law.
i beheld, too, the astonishment of heads of families when the morning paper was looked over, and headings like these met the eye:
the prostitute act enforced!
over one thousand arrests!
preachers and publicans, pharisees and pugilists,
dives and lazarus,
all in a heap!!!
saints and sinners, senators and slop sellers!!!!
“black spirits and white-blue spirits and gray,
mingle, mangle, mingle, ye that mingle may!”
and now there’s the devil to pay!!
i perceived, too, in the minds of almost every one, men as well as women, the justice of the proceeding was recognized. “it needed woman to administer justice,” i heard a gentleman say to his wife at the breakfast table; “the late act,” he continued, “has attracted the attention of thousands of earnest and influential people to this subject who have never before seriously thought on it. these poor women were liable at any time to be pounced on by policemen, dragged to the station house, sent to prison, or houses of reformation, perhaps heavily fined, and there was no one to help them or save them from disgrace. to avoid these arrests they were compelled to bribe the police and others, to pay very high prices for board, in order to compensate those who boarded them for the risk incurred of police descents, etc. to meet these enhanced expenses and avoid arrest, these women were compelled to prostitute themselves far more, and sink into deeper degradation. thus the practical working of the law tended to greatly increase the evil, while its real supporters – the men – were scarcely ever molested.”
“poor things!” said the wife – oh, so tenderly! “and perhaps the majority of them were led into their life of shame because corrupt men caused their ruin in the first place.”
this dream of mine includes such a long period of time, so great a variety of incident, and has already taken so much space for its narration, that i must hasten to the close. imagination must fill up the scenes enacted in the courtrooms to which the prisoners were brought for examination and disposal. there was no sham about it – no half-way measures, the character and history of each prisoner was thoroughly investigated, and those proved to be habitually licentious were duly sent to the houses of reformation for such characters. into these houses woman’s shrewdness and good sense had entered, for they were not prisons, nor were their inmates told that they were lost, degraded, sinful, polluted beings, but they were instructed in physiology – in the consequences of use and abuse of every organ of the body, on the holiness of love and sanctification of the coming together of the sexes when legitimatized by holy and god-like motives. in my dream i visited four of those houses, which had been built and furnished at public expense. they were, in deed and truth, houses of reformation, and their inmates were treated as diseased patients not as miserable sinners.
then my spirit realized how much more efficient for good, in this instance, had been woman’s wisdom than man’s much-boasted intellect; and while thus thinking, thinking, thinking how woman had cut the gordian knot of the social evil – the knot which man feared even to touch – i awoke, and, to my astonishment, found it was all a dream; that we had no woman president, no woman legislators, and that the ”social evil“ remained, as heretofore, the great moral ulcer of the nineteenth century; that the very laws enacted under a pretence of suppressing it were really aggravating its worst evils, inflicting the greatest curse on man in the very act of perpetrating the greatest injustice on unfortunate and defenceless women. and i said, would that our our legislators had the wisdom thus to grapple with the vexed question, or our women the power, as they had in my dream, to strike at the root of the evil by shielding the victim and enlightening the wrong doer!
