There are many flowers among us that are
…born to bloom unseen, And waste their fragrance on the desert air. - Maria W. Stewart
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| Maria W. Stewart 1803 - 1879 |
"Maria W. Stewart (1803-1879) was one of the first American women to leave copies of her speeches. The address below is her second public lecture. It was given on September 21, 1832 in Franklin Hall in Boston, the meeting site of the new England Anti-Slavery Society. Although as an abolitionist, she usually attacked slavery, in this address she condemns the attitude that denied black women education and prohibited their occupational advancement. In fact she argues that Northern African American women, in term of treatment, were only slightly better off than slaves.
Few white persons of either sex, who are calculated for any thing else, are willing to spend their lives and bury their talents in performing mean, servile labor. And such is the horrible idea that I entertain respecting a life of servitude, that if I conceived of there being no possibility of my rising above the condition of a servant, I would gladly hail death as a welcome messenger. O, horrible idea, indeed! to possess noble souls aspiring after high and honorable acquirements, yet confined by the chains of ignorance and poverty to lives of continual drudgery and toil. Neither do I know of any who have enriched themselves by spending their lives as house-domestics, washing windows, shaking carpets, brushing boots, or tending upon gentlemen's tables. I can but die for expressing my sentiments; and I am as willing to die by the sword as the pestilence; for I and a true born American; your blood flows in my veins, and your spirit fires my breast."
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
About 1867 I became acquainted with the subject of
this sketch in the city of Washington, D. C, a lady ex-
ceedingly modest and very retiring in her expression. I
at once became deeply interested in her, because there
Was a quiet sadness and melancholy of expression which,
to a close observer, denoted a life of sorrow and disap-
pointment. But soon after I lost sight of her, as she
obtained a position under the Government, and by her
more than faithful attention to her duties she almost
entirely excluded herself from the outside world, and I
rarely ever met her, excepting she was going or coming
from church or Sabbath-school, or from visiting or gath-
ering in the school poor and destitute children in the
neighborhood of the hospital, so they might be taught to
fear God and keep His Commandments.
In the month of September, 1878, 1 called at the Freed-
men's Hospital to say farewell to the matron as my friend,
Mrs. Stewart ; and as a law had recently passed Congress
granting pension to the widows of the war of 1812, and
her late husband, James W. Stewart, having served four
years under Commodores Porter and Decatur, and doing
laudable service for the Government, he was honorably
discharged in 1815 ; and as Mrs. Stewart (formerly Miss
Miller, of Hartford, Conn.,) had married Mr. Stewart in
Boston, where they both resided, she was left a widow in
three years and four months after marriage. When I
told my friend, ]\Irs. Stewart, I was coming to Boston
she requested of me to do her a favor by investigating
her case, and to find if there were persons living who
might identify her as the widow of James W. Stewart.
I of coarse promised her I would do all I could when I
arrived in Boston, and I did so. One of the first things
I did was to find some of the oldest citizens of color in
the city of Boston, as Mr. Stewart had been dead forty-
nine years. I finally succeeded in finding suflftcient
evidence from four reliable witnesses, who were person-
ally acquainted with both Mr. and Mrs. Stewart. The
witness made oath to the above statement. I had the
aflSdavits made out, and sent them to Washington. She
presented her claim to Iphe Department, and it was accepted.
In investigating her case I was startled at the devel-
opments made, and at once understood why she carried
such a sad, sorrowful, and mysterious countenance. In
having occasion to very often visit the different courts
I found her husband had been a gentleman of wealth,
and left her amply provided for; but the executors lit-,,
erally robbed and cheated her out of every cent ; so she
was left entirely alone in the world as without mother,
father, sister, or brother sa” in fact, not a living relative in
the world to care for her, and with so much amiability
and piety of character that she would have suffered
wrong rather than defend her rights. She knew there
was a will made, but never heard it read, as one of the
executors took it out of the house as soon as it was drawn
up as which was two days previous to her husband's death.
She never knew the contents of her husband's will until
1879, when I myself informed her. It was made on the
15th of December, 1829.
In investigating her case I made frequent visits to the
different courts, to find her marriage record and also his
death record. I heard there was a will made. I also
visited the Probate Court. I asked for the will ; it was
given to me ; and I spent quite a time in reading it over,
with surprise and indignation. I cannot express the
horror I felt at the great wrong and injustice done the
poor, helpless woman, now far advanced in years ; but at
that time one of the most beautiful and loveliest of
women. O, what a shame as what a dreadful shame as for
those robbers to so shamefully cheat her out of all that
her husband had left her, and to send her away penniless,
to combat a heartless world, among strangers. But surely
God was good to her and did answer her prayers, as she de-
voutly prayed to Him for His guidance and protection, and
she now blesses His Holy Name for keeping her through
these many long years. Immediately after the death of
her husband, she wrote and published her book ; then
went to New York ; went to school seven years ; then
taught school several years ; finally went South and did
good work in. instructing and teaching her unfortunate
race. If it had not been for the pension bill that passed,
she might have died in ignorance of the existence of her
book, as she had not seen a copy of it for over forty years.
In my great search to find evidence to identify her as the
widow of the late James W. Stewall, I found out a great
many marvelous things that would have remained hidden
until the end of time. I also found out, from all the old
personal friends of Mrs. Stewart, that she was then, as
now, a very devout Christian lady, a leader in all good
movements and reforms, and had no equal as a lecturer
or authoress in her day ; and I have no doubt if she could
have had the advantages of an early education and an
opportunity to have developed her superior intellect, she
would have been the equal, if not the superior, of her sisters
of the more favorite race. But, as it is, she is really a re-
markable person, considering all under which she has
labored ; and I hope now, as our Heavenly Father has
permitted her to live to see the injustice that has been
done to her, she may be spared still many years to enjoy
life as she never has before ; and when life's journey is
ended here, she will then receive her reward, for her work
has been well and faithfully done on earth, and her sum-
mons will be, "Well done, thou good and faithful one;
enter into the Kingdom prepared for you from the foun-
dation."
LOUISE C. HATTON.
Boston, May 28, 1879.
A Testimonial Letter
I have been requested to state what I know about the
work done by Mrs. Maria W. Stewart in behalf of her
race in this city during the war and since that time. I
became personally acquainted with her in 1863, when
she first came to work in our midst. She organized a
school and succeeded in interesting the people in the
great work of educating their children. I know how hard
she labored to establish this school. My own children
were among her first scholars. In a short time the people
of this District decided to start an independent free school.
A meeting was called and a committee, of which I was a
member, was appointed. We then persuaded ]Mrs. Stew-
art to combine her school with the free school, and to
use all of her influence in keeping up a free District
school. She labored for a few months in this school, but
being an Episcopalian, and this denomination not being
favorable to free schools, we concluded to dismiss her
unless she would agree to forsake her denomination. This
she refused to do, and the result was she was discharged.
However, she soon organized a pay school, and many
persons like myself preferred to pay for their children's
instruction, and thus have them taught by Mrs. Stewart.
Through much suffering and great labor she succeeded in
building up her private school. I have seen her going
through the streets in the dead of winter looking up the
little children who should be attending school : and
whether their parents could pay or not, she was perfectly
willing to give her time and strength in teaching them.
Her work in the District of Columbia among her people
has made me consider her a "true teacher in Israel,"
because after laboring in the school-room all the week
she considered it her duty to do something more in the
way of education. She made out of her day school a
general Sabbath school, that she might teach the children
the wisdom of repentance, and also a knowledge of Him
" who is the giver of every good and perfect gift."
Mrs. Stewart has done a great work here. Truly can
we say of her that she " went about doing good." And
she justly merits all the praise which has been bestowed
upon her, because she has always highly sustained her
dignity, both spiritual and moral, as an earnest and con-
scientious Christian worker.
Most respectfully,
HENRY BAILEY,
Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church.
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