Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn (February 4, 1876 – April 4, 1959) was an educator, author, social reformer and poet whose work was associated with the
American Naturalist
''The American Naturalist'' is the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society of Naturalists, whose purpose is "to advance and to diffuse knowledge of organic evolution and other broad biological principles so as to enhance th ...
literary movement.
Early years
Born in Norfolk, Virginia, Cleghorn spent her early childhood in Wisconsin and Minnesota, then moved to Manchester, Vermont after the death of her mother to live with her father's sisters. Although she regularly traveled and was tenured both with the
Brookwood Labor College
Brookwood Labor College (1921 to 1937) was a labor college located at 109 Cedar Road in Katonah, New York, United States. Founded as Brookwood School in 1919 and established as a college in 1921, it was the first residential labor college in the co ...
and the
Manumit School
The Manumit School was a progressive Christian socialist boarding school located in Pawling, New York, between 1924 and 1943, and from 1944 to 1958 in Bristol, Pennsylvania.
Founded on purchased farm land by Rev. William Fincke and his wife Hele ...
, Cleghorn is largely associated with Manchester, which was her primary home.
She graduated from
Burr and Burton Seminary in Manchester, Vermont in 1895 then spent a year at Radcliffe College. During her early years in southern Vermont, Cleghorn came to know
Dorothy Canfield Fisher
Dorothy Canfield Fisher (February 17, 1879 – November 9, 1958) was an educational reformer, social activist, and best-selling American author in the early 20th century. She strongly supported women's rights, racial equality, and lifelong educat ...
, who also became a noted writer and educator. The two women maintained a close relationship throughout their lifetimes and collaborated on several books.
Writer and social reformer
Cleghorn's poetry is largely didactic in nature, serving to illustrate
Christian Socialist
Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing left-wing politics and socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe cap ...
values and progressive political and social principles. Her early work was published in the ''
Atlantic Monthly
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'', ''
Harpers'', ''
The American Magazine
''The American Magazine'' was a periodical publication founded in June 1906, a continuation of failed publications purchased a few years earlier from publishing mogul Miriam Leslie. It succeeded ''Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly'' (1876–1904), ' ...
'', and others.
Cleghorn was involved in various reform movements such as anti-
vivisection
Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for experiment ...
,
vegetarianism
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter.
Vegetarianism may ...
,
pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
and opposition to capital punishment and lynching. In 1913, she joined
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
. Some of her later work was published in ''
The Masses
''The Masses'' was a graphically innovative magazine of socialist politics published monthly in the United States from 1911 until 1917, when federal prosecutors brought charges against its editors for conspiring to obstruct conscription. It was ...
'', ''
The Survey
Paul Underwood Kellogg (September 30, 1879 – November 1, 1958) was an American journalist and social reformer. He died at 79 in New York on November 1, 1958.
Life
He was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1879. After working as a journalist he mo ...
'', and
''The World Tomorrow''.
Her most widely known poem "The Golf Links" is an ironic and satirical look at child labor. It first appeared in
F.P.A.'s column in the ''
New-York Tribune
The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...
''.
The golf links lie so near the mill
That almost every day
The laboring children can look out
And see the men at play.
Cleghorn was a Quaker pacifist. She supported
animal rights
Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...
and opposed vivisection. She was a vegetarian and condemned animal experiments, fishing and hunting. Her book ''The Seamless Robe: The Religion of Lovingkindness'' advocated
Christian vegetarianism
Christian vegetarianism is the practice of keeping to a vegetarian lifestyle for reasons connected to or derived from the Christian faith. The three primary reasons are spiritual, nutritional, and ethical. The ethical reasons may include a con ...
with compassion and love to both animals and humans.
[ MacNair, Rachel; Zunes, Stephen. (2008). ''Consistently Opposing Killing: From Abortion to Assisted Suicide, the Death Penalty, and War''. Praeger. p. 118. ]
Works and publications
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* With Dorothy Canfield Fisher
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* With Dorothy Canfield Fisher
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References
External links
*
Inventory of Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn Papers, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleghorn, Sarah Norcliffe
1876 births
1959 deaths
20th-century American poets
20th-century American women
American animal rights activists
American Christian socialists
American Quakers
American vegetarianism activists
American women poets
Anti-vivisectionists
Christian vegetarianism
People from Manchester, Vermont
Poets from Wisconsin
American social reformers