WYOMING--MISS ANTHONY GOES TO HOUSEKEEPING.
1890-1891.
Miss Anthony accepted the defeat in South Dakota as philosophically as
she had those of the past forty years, bidding the women of the State be
of good cheer and continue the work of education until at last the men
should be ready to grant them freedom. With Mrs. Colby and Mrs. Julia B.
Nelson she went directly to the Nebraska convention at Fremont, November
12.[66] The 18th found her in Atchison with Mrs. Catt and Mrs. Colby, at
the Kansas convention, "where," the Tribune says, "she took part in all
the deliberations and methods of work as critically and earnestly as if
she herself would have to carry them out."
Two weeks were pleasantly spent visiting at Leavenworth and Fort Scott.
Thanksgiving was passed at the latter place and the next day the
suffrage friends, under the leadership of Dr. Sarah C. Hall, whom Miss
Anthony called "the backbone of Bourbon county," gave her a very pretty
reception at the home of Mrs. H. B. Brown. Saturday she spoke, morning,
afternoon and evening, at the county suffrage convention. Her time for
rest and recreation was very brief, and by December 4 she and Mrs. Catt
were in the midst of the Iowa convention at Des Moines. As usual when
flying from one side of the continent to the other, she stopped at
Indianapolis for a few days' work with Mrs. Sewall, and they sat up into
the wee, sma' hours, planning and arranging for the Washington
convention, the National Council and the World's Fair Congress of Women.
She arrived in Rochester Saturday morning; that evening Anna Shaw came
in from her tour of lectures all along the way from South Dakota, and it
would not be surprising to know that a business meeting of two was held
the next day after church services. Monday evening the Political
Equality Club tendered them a reception at the Chamber of Commerce,
which was largely attended. On December 16 and 17 they addressed the
State Suffrage Convention in this city, and soon afterwards Miss Anthony
started for Washington by way of New York and Philadelphia.
The year 1890 had been eventful for the cause of woman suffrage, in
spite of the defeat in Dakota. The bill for the admission of Wyoming as
a State had been presented in the House of Representatives December 18,
1889. Its constitution, which had been adopted by more than a two-thirds
vote of the people, provided that "the right of its citizens to vote and
hold office should not be denied or abridged on account of sex." The
House Committee on Territories, through Charles S. Baker, of Rochester,
reported in favor of admission. The minority report presented by William
M. Springer, of Illinois, covered twenty-three pages; two devoted to
various other reasons for non-admission and twenty-one to objections
because of the woman suffrage clause, "which provides that not only
males may vote but their wives also." Incorporated in this report were
the overworked articles of Mrs. Leonard and Mrs. Whitney, supplemented
by a ponderous manifesto of Goldwin Smith, and it ended with the same
list of "distinguished citizens of Boston opposed to female suffrage,"
which had several times before been brought out from its pigeonhole and
dusted off to terrify those citizens of the United States who did not
reside in Boston.
As it was supposed Wyoming would be Republican its admission was
bitterly fought by the Democrats, who used its suffrage clause as a club
to frighten the Republicans, but even those of the latter who were
opposed were willing to swallow woman suffrage for the sake of bringing
in another State for their party. The changes were rung on the old
objections with the usual interspersing of those equivocal innuendoes
and insinuations which always make a self-respecting woman's blood boil.
The debate continued many days and it looked for a time as if the woman
suffrage clause would have to be abandoned if the State were to be
admitted. When this was announced to the Wyoming Legislature, then in
session, the answer came back over the wire: "We will remain out of the
Union a hundred years rather than come in without woman suffrage."[67]
After every possible effort had been made to strike out the
objectionable clause, the final vote was taken March 26, 1890; for
admission 139; against, 127.
The bill was presented in the Senate by Orville H. Platt, of
Connecticut, from the Committee on Territories, and discussed for three
days. After a repetition of the contest in the House, the vote was taken
June 27; in favor of admission 29; opposed 18. Woman suffrage clubs in
all parts of the country, in response to an official request by Miss
Anthony and Lucy Stone, celebrated the Fourth of July with great
rejoicing over the admission of Wyoming, the first State to enfranchise
women.
Another event of importance during 1890, was the first majority report
from the judiciary committee of the House of Representatives in favor of
the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which should
confer suffrage upon women. Hon. Ezra B. Taylor, of Warren, O., was
chairman of the committee and had exerted all his influence to secure
this report, which was presented May 29 by L. B. Caswell, of
Wisconsin.[68] On August 12, the Senate committee on woman suffrage
again presented a majority report for a Sixteenth Amendment.
[Illustration: Autograph: "Our country needs the vote of her best
citizens--women--E. B. Taylor."]
It had long been Miss Anthony's earnest desire to have suffrage
headquarters in Washington, pleasant parlors where local meetings could
be held and friends gather in a social way. In the midst of her great
work and responsibility she exchanged many letters during 1890 with
ladies in that city regarding this project, but it was finally decided
that it would not be judicious to incur the expense. Out of this
agitation, however, was evolved a stock company, incorporated under the
name of Wimodaughsis, organized for the education of women in art,
science, literature and political and domestic economy by means of
classes and lectures. As Miss Anthony never gave herself to any work
except that which tended directly to secure suffrage for women, she took
no part in the new enterprise except to bestow upon it her blessing and
$100. Rev. Anna Shaw was elected its first president. The
National-American Association took two large rooms in the new club house
for headquarters.
[Illustration: Harriet Taylor Upson (Signed "Faithfully Yours Harriet
Taylor Winston")]
Two deaths in 1890 affected Miss Anthony most deeply. Ellen H. Sheldon,
of Washington, for a number of years had served as national recording
secretary and had endeared herself to all. She was a clerk in the War
Department and her entire time outside business hours was devoted to
gratuitous work for the association. Her reports were accurate and
discriminating and Miss Anthony felt in her death the loss of a
valued friend and helper. Julia T. Foster, of Philadelphia, who passed
away November 16, was as dear to her as one of her own nieces. A sweet
and beautiful woman, wealthy and accomplished, she was so modest and
retiring that her work for suffrage and the large sums of money she
contributed were known only to her most intimate friends. In remembrance
Rachel Foster Avery sent Miss Anthony all the handsome furnishings of
her sister's room.
Miss Anthony arrived in Washington January 3, 1891, and received the
usual welcome by Mr. and Mrs. Spofford. On the 24th she went to Boston
in response to an invitation to attend the Massachusetts Suffrage
Convention.[69] She reached the Parker House Sunday morning, but Wm.
Lloyd Garrison came at once and took her to his hospitable home in
Brookline, and a most fortunate thing it was. Since leaving South Dakota
she had been fighting off what seemed to be a persistent form of la
grippe and the next morning she collapsed utterly, pneumonia threatened
and she was obliged to keep her room for a week. She received the most
loving attention from her hostess, Ellen Wright Garrison, and had many
calls and numerous pleasant letters, among them the following:
What a mercy it was that you fell into the shelter and care of the
Garrisons when so serious an illness came upon you. Of course
everybody was disappointed that you could not be at the meeting so
that they might at least see you. Now that you are convalescing and
we trust on the high road to recovery we want to arrange an
informal reception at our office, so that those or some of those
who were sorry not to see you at the meeting, may have a chance to
do so. I was too tired today to go with my two, and maybe you would
have been too tired to see us if we had gone. It is not quite the
same when we are seventy-two as when we are twenty-seven; still I
am glad of what is left, and wish we might both hold out till the
victory we have sought is won, but all the same the victory is
coming. In the aftertime the world will be the better for it.
Trusting you may soon be well again, I am your fellow-worker,
LUCY STONE.
Her old comrade, Parker Pillsbury, urged her to come for a while to his
home in Concord, N. H., saying: "Should you come you may be sure of a
most cordial greeting in this household, and by others; but by none more
heartily and cordially than by your old friend and coadjutor in the
temperance, anti-slavery and suffrage enterprises." Mrs. Pillsbury
supplemented this with a pressing invitation; and another came from the
loved and faithful friend, Armenia S. White. Miss Anthony appreciated
the kindness but there was too much work awaiting her in Washington to
allow of visiting, and thither she hastened even before she was fully
able to travel.
The first triennial meeting of the National Woman's Council, Frances E.
Willard, president, Susan B. Anthony, vice-president, began in Albaugh's
Opera House, February 22, 1891, and continued four days. It was as
notable a gathering as the great International Council of 1888. Forty
organizations of women were represented; "one," said Miss Willard in her
opening address, "for every year during which this noble woman at my
right and her colleagues have been at work." The meeting was preceded by
a reception tendered by Mrs. Spofford at the Riggs to 500 guests. The
services for two Sundays were conducted entirely by women, Revs. Anna
Shaw, Anna Garlin Spencer, Ida C. Hultin, Caroline J. Bartlett, Amanda
Deyo, Olympia Brown, Mila Tupper and, among the laity, Margaret Bottome,
president of the King's Daughters, and Miss Willard. The most famous
women of the United States took part in this council. Especial interest
was centered in the beautiful Mrs. Bertha Honore Palmer, president of
the Board of Lady Managers of the Columbian Exposition, who occupied a
seat on the stage. This board was represented also by its
vice-president, Mrs. Ellen M. Henrotin and by Mrs. Virginia C. Meredith.
Each great national organization sent its most representative women to
present its objects and its work.
As Mrs. Stanton was still in Europe, her paper, "The Matriarchate," was
read by Miss Anthony. Miss Willard introduced the reader in her own
graceful way, saying: "I will not call her Mrs. Stanton's faithful
Achates, for that would fail to express it, but will say that the paper
written by one of the double stars of the first magnitude will be read
by the other star." Miss Anthony was so happy over this great
assemblage, the direct result of all her long years' work for the
evolution of woman into a larger life and a catholicity of spirit which
would enable those of all creeds, all political beliefs and all lines of
work to come together in fraternal council, that she herself scarcely
could be persuaded to make even the briefest address. Her one anxiety
was that all the noted speakers present should be seen and heard.[70]
The council was received by Mrs. Harrison at the White House.
The Twenty-third Annual Convention of the National-American W. S. A.
commenced the morning after the council closed, and the vast audiences
which filled the opera house at every session hardly knew when one ended
and the other began. The interest was sufficient to sell the boxes for
the latter at $10, and single seats at 50 cents. Miss Anthony presided
and read Mrs. Stanton's fine address, "The Degradation of
Disfranchisement," saying as she commenced that "they might imagine how
every moment she was wishing they could see, instead of her own, the
sunny face and grand white head of the writer." At its close she
introduced Lucy Stone, who came forward amid great applause, and said
that "while this was the first time she had stood beside Miss Anthony at
a suffrage convention in Washington, she had stood beside her on many a
hard-fought battlefield before most of those present were born." She
then gave a graphic picture of the work accomplished by the suffrage
advocates from 1850 to 1890.
All sections of the United States were represented at this convention;
delegates were present from Canada, and Miss Florence Balgarnie, of
London, spoke for the women of England.[71] Mrs. Henrotin presented an
official invitation from the Board of Lady Managers for the association
to take part in the Woman's Congress to be held during the World's Fair.
The newspapers of Washington, and those of other cities through their
correspondents, gave columns of reports, indisputable evidence of the
important and stable position now secured by the question of woman
suffrage. The board of officers was re-elected, Mrs. Stanton receiving
for president 144 of the 175 votes; Miss Anthony's election unanimous.
The Women's Suffrage Society of England had sent official
congratulations on the admission of Wyoming with enfranchisement for
women, and Miss Anthony was determined they should be read in the United
States Senate. This letter from Senator Blair will show how it was
accomplished: "The memorial of congratulation which you sent me is not
one which I could press for presentation as a matter of right, but
fortunately, by a pious fraud, I succeeded in reading it without
interruption, so that it will appear word for word in the Record, and it
is referred to the noble army of martyrs known as the committee on woman
suffrage."
At a delightful breakfast given by Sorosis at Delmonico's on its
twenty-third birthday, Miss Anthony was the guest of honor, seated at
the right of the president, Mrs. Ella Dietz Clymer, and in her short
address recalled the fact that she had known Mrs. Clymer and their
incoming president, Dr. Jennie de la M. Lozier, when they were no taller
than the table.
She gave a Sunday afternoon reception at the Riggs to Mrs. Annie Besant,
of London, and in his letter regretting that absence from the city would
prevent his attendance, ex-Secretary of the Treasury Hugh McCulloch
said: "I am sorry I can not see you often. I have been for many years a
'looker on' and I appreciate the work which you have done for the
benefit of the race. You have not labored in vain and you have the
satisfaction of knowing that your good work will follow you." She
accepted a cordial invitation to dine at his home and received assurance
of his thorough belief in suffrage for women.
[Illustration: Autograph: "Sincerely Yours, Hugh McCulloch"]
Easter Sunday she went to Philadelphia to witness the christening, or
consecration, of the Foster-Avery baby, by Rev. Anna Shaw, who had
married the father and mother. On Monday Mrs. Avery gave a reception for
her in the parlors of the New Century Club, and on the following day she
addressed the 1,600 girls of the Normal School.
She made this entry in her diary May 1: "Left Washington and the dear
old Riggs House today. For twelve winters this has been my home, where I
have had every comfort it was possible for Mr. and Mrs. Spofford to
give. For as many winters it has been the National Association's
headquarters, but now both will have to find a new place, for the hotel
is to pass under another management." Miss Anthony reached home the next
day, and by the 12th was on hand for the State convention at Warren, O.,
the guest as usual of Mr. and Mrs. Upton at the home of Hon. Ezra B.
Taylor. From here she went to Painesville, where she was entertained at
the handsome residence of General J. S. and Mrs. Frances M. Casement,
whose hospitality she had enjoyed for many years whenever her
journeyings took her to that city.
After a few days at home Miss Anthony started for Meriden, to attend the
Connecticut convention on May 22, and when this was over went home with
Mrs. Hooker. A letter to the Woman's Tribune said:
I wish I could tell you of my journeyings. I had a pleasant visit
with Mrs. Hooker at her charming home in Hartford. En route from
Boston I spent a few days with Hon. and Mrs. William Whiting in
their beautiful home at Holyoke. One day was devoted to a luncheon
party of a hundred or more in their picturesque log cabin three
miles down the river, through the lovely Connecticut valley. This
cabin, with fireplace worthy the grandest old back-log and
fore-stick, polished floors, and lunch served by a Springfield
caterer, is not like those of our dear old grandmothers. After the
tables were cleared, Mrs. Whiting called on me for a talk. Another
day we visited Mount Holyoke Seminary, going through the various
buildings and, in the great old kitchen, looking upon neat plateaus
of light, sweet-smelling bread, biscuits and cake, all made by the
girls during the morning. Each must do a certain amount of work,
and all is done in memory of the sainted Mary Lyon, whose monument
stands under the grand old trees which surround the buildings.
Then on Sunday I went to Cheshire, to dine with my mother's dear
cousin, ninety-five years of age, bright and cheerful in her
on-look. Next I hied me to the house of my Grandfather Anthony, who
lived in it from the day of his marriage in 1792, to his death at
the age of ninety-six.... From here I went to Saratoga and took a
drink from the old Congress Spring, and Wednesday reached home. The
paper tells you what happened on Thursday evening, and now I am
enjoying to the fullest all the good-will of my dear friends.
"What happened" was that Miss Anthony went to housekeeping! After the
mother's death, Miss Mary rented the lower part of the house, which now
belonged to her, reserved the upper rooms for herself and sister, and
took her meals with her tenants. This plan was followed for a number of
years. Now, however, Miss Anthony had passed one year beyond the
threescore and ten which are supposed to mark the limit of activity if
not of life, and her friends urged that she should give up her long
journeys from one end of the continent to the other, her hard State
campaigns, her constant lectures and conventions. She felt as vigorous
as ever but had long wished for the comforts and conveniences of her own
home, and she concluded that perhaps her friends were right and she
should settle down in one place and direct the work, rather than try to
do so much of it herself. She thought this might be safely done now, as
so many new and efficient workers had been developed and the cause had
acquired a standing which made its advocacy an easy task compared to
what it had been in the past, when only a few women had the courage and
strength to take the blows and bear the contumely. So Miss Mary took
possession of the house; masons, carpenters, painters and paper-hangers
were put to work, and by June all was in in beautiful readiness.
The friends in various parts of the country were deeply interested in
the new move. Letters of approval came from all directions, among them
this from Mrs. Stanton in England: "I rejoice that you are going to
housekeeping. The mistake of my life was selling Tenafly. My advice to
you, Susan, is to keep some spot you can call your own; where you can
live and die in peace and be cremated in your own oven if you desire."
When Miss Anthony returned from her eastern trip on June 11, a pleasant
surprise awaited her. The Political Equality Club had taken part in the
housekeeping program. Handsome rugs had been laid on the floor, lace
curtains hung at the windows, easy chairs placed in the rooms, a large
desk in Miss Mary's study, a fine oak table in the dining-room, all the
gift of the club. Mrs. Avery had sent a big, roomy desk and Mrs. Sewall
an office chair for Miss Anthony's study; Miss Shaw and Lucy Anthony, a
set of china; Mr. Avery, the needed cutlery; the brother Daniel R., a
great box of sheeting, spreads, bolts of muslin, table linen and towels,
enough to last a lifetime. From other friends came pictures, silver and
bric-a-brac without limit. The events of the evening after Miss Anthony
arrived at home are thus described by the Rochester Herald:
The truth of the matter is that for a long time the Woman's
Political Club has been in love with Miss Anthony, a feeling which
she has not been slow to reciprocate. The affair culminated last
evening, the nuptial ceremony being a housewarming tendered by the
club. The reception was a complete success, and the rooms were
crowded for several hours, the number of visitors being estimated
at no less than 300. The house was brilliantly lighted and
everywhere was a profusion of cut flowers and potted ferns. At the
entrance the visitors were greeted by Mrs. Greenleaf, president of
the club, who presented them to Miss Anthony. In greeting each
new-comer the hostess displayed her remarkable power of memory and
brilliance as a conversationalist, having a reminiscent word for
every one. In the parlor before the fireplace stood the old
spinning-wheel which in 1817 had been a wedding gift to her mother.
It was decked with marguerites and received no small degree of
attention....
A short time after the housewarming, her cousin, Charles Dickinson, of
Chicago, stopped over night and, after he had gone, Miss Anthony found
this note: "It makes me blush for the wealthy people of the country,
that they forget their duty to others. Here art thou, with thy moderate
income, spending all of it for humanity's cause, thinking, speaking,
doing a work that will last forever. Please take rest enough for good
health to be with thee, and to make this easier I enclose a check for
$300. Call it a loan without interest, already repaid by the good done
to our fellow-beings."
In June she made a long-promised visit to her friend Henrietta M. Banker
at her home in the Adirondacks, which she thus describes:
Rev. Anna Shaw and I have had a lovely week. Almost every day we
drove out among the mountains; one day to the Ausable lakes,
through beautiful woods, up ravines a thousand feet; another to
Professor Davidson's summer school, high up on the mountainside.
But the day of days was when we drove to the farm-home of old
Captain John Brown at North Elba. We found a broad plateau,
surrounded with mountain peaks on every side. We ate our dinner in
the same dining-room in which the old hero and his family partook
of their scanty fare in the days when he devoted his energies to
teaching the colored men, who accepted Gerrit Smith's generous
offer of a bit of real estate, which should entitle the possessor
to a right to vote. Of all who settled on those lands, called the
"John Brown opening," only one grayheaded negro still lives, though
many of their old houses and barns yet stand, crumbling away on
their deserted farms.
In front of the house is a small yard and occupying one-half of it
is a grand old boulder with steps leading to the top, where one
sees chiseled in large letters, "John Brown, December 2, 1859." At
the foot is the grave of the martyr, marked by an old granite
headstone which once stood at his grandfather's grave, and on it
are inscribed the names of three generations of John Browns. The
vandals visiting that sacred spot chipped off bits of the granite
until it became necessary to make a cover and padlock it down, so
that the farmer unlocks the cap and lifts it off for visitors now.
Thus is commemorated that fatal day which marks the only hanging
for treason against the United States Government. John Brown was
crucified for doing what he believed God commanded him to do, "to
break the yoke and let the oppressed go free," precisely as were
the saints of old for following what they believed to be God's
commands. The barbarism of our government was by so much the
greater as our light and knowledge are greater than those of two
thousand years ago....
July 25 is to be Suffrage Day at Chautauqua, and dear Mrs. Wallace
and Anna Shaw are to preach the gospel of equal rights. I do hope
Bishop Vincent will be present and there learn from those two, who
are surely "God's women," the law of love to thy neighbor--woman,
as to thyself--man. I am hoping the gate receipts on that day will
be greater than those of any other during the summer. Wouldn't that
tell the story of the interest in this question?
In June she accepted the urgent invitation of the Ignorance Club to
honor them by being their guest at their annual frolic on Manitou beach
and respond to a toast which should allow her to say anything she liked.
Three most enjoyable weeks were spent at home and during this time Miss
Anthony addressed the W. C. T. U. She expressed herself in no uncertain
tones as to the futility of third parties, declaring that the
Prohibition party already had taken some of the best temperance men out
of Congress, and made a speech so forcible that it lifted the bonnets of
some of the timid sisters. The evening paper reported:
... Rev. C. B. Gardner said Miss Anthony had given the company some
excellent political advice, but he inclined to the belief that the
temperance reform could be brought about without woman suffrage.
"The women would bring the men around in time; they could
accomplish much by their moral influence; in this they resembled
ministers." Miss Anthony wished to know if it would not be a good
thing then, to disfranchise the ministers and let them depend
entirely on their moral influence. She explained that in what she
had said about prayer she meant prayer by action. She would not
have it understood that she did not believe in prayer; she thought,
however, that an emotion never could be equal to an action.
She went to Chautauqua July 25, when, for the first time in its history,
woman suffrage was presented. Zerelda G. Wallace delivered a grand
address and Rev. Anna Shaw gave "The Fate of Republics." Miss Anthony
followed in a short speech, and the Jamestown Sunday News said: "Woman's
Day was fully justified by the reception given to that intrepid Arnold
Winkelreid of women." Frances Willard wrote a few days later from the
assembly grounds: "Dearest Susan, I could sing hallelujah over you and
our Anna Shaw and 'Deborah' Wallace! It was the best and biggest day
Chautauqua ever saw. Do urge your suffragists to go in for this on next
year's program."
Miss Anthony attended the golden wedding of John and Isabella Beecher
Hooker, in Hartford, August 5; "a most beautiful occasion," she writes
in her diary, "but to the surprise of all there was no speaking." An
affair without speeches was to her what a feast without wine would have
been to the ancients. On the 15th suffrage had a great day at Lily
Dale, the famous Spiritualist camp meeting grounds, Miss Shaw and
herself making the principal addresses. Miss Anthony thus speaks of the
meeting in a letter:
... To Brother Buckley's assertion, made a short time before, that
women should not be allowed to vote because the majority of
Spiritualists, Christian Scientists and all false religions were
women, Miss Shaw replied that there was a larger ratio of men in
the audience before her than she had seen in any Methodist or
temperance camp meeting or Chautauqua assembly this summer. When
Mr. Buckley charged that women were too numerous in the false
religions to vote, she would remind him that there were three women
to one man in the Methodist church also; and she was quite willing
to match the vast majorities of women in the various religions,
false and true, with the vast majorities of men at the horse races,
variety theaters, police stations, jails and penitentiaries
throughout the country. She brought the house down with, "Too much
religion unfits women to vote! Too much vice and crime qualifies
men to vote!"
People came from far and near. Fully 3,000 were assembled in that
beautiful amphitheater decorated with the yellow and the red, white
and blue.... There hanging by itself was our national suffrage
flag, ten by fourteen feet, with its regulation red and white
stripes, and in the center of its blue corner just one great golden
star, Wyoming, blazing out all alone. Every cottage in the camp was
festooned with yellow, and when at night the Chinese lanterns on
the piazzas were lighted, Lily Dale was as gorgeous as any Fourth
of July, all in honor of Woman's Day and her coming freedom and
equality.
Our hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Skidmore, are the center of things
at Lily Dale, and right royal are they in their hospitality as well
as their love of liberty for all. This camp has been in existence
twelve summers, there has been no police force, and no disturbance
ever has occurred. Every one is left to his own sense of propriety
of behavior and every one behaves properly.
Miss Anthony still intended, however, to remain at home and in the
intervals when she was not coaxed away no bride ever enjoyed more fully
her first experiment at housekeeping. All the forty years of travelling
up and down the face of the earth had not eradicated from her nature the
domestic tastes, and she loved every nook and corner of the old home
made new, going from room to room, putting the finishing touches here
and there, and fairly revelling in the sense of possession. Hospitality
was her strongest instinct, and during all these years she had accepted
so much from her friends in Rochester and elsewhere without being able
to return it, that now she wanted to entertain everybody and all at
once. The diary speaks often of ten and twelve at the table for dinner
or tea, and Miss Mary, who constituted the committee of ways and means,
was quite overwhelmed with the new regime. The story in the journal runs
like this:
Our dear old friends, Sarah Willis and Mary Hallowell, shared our
first Sunday dinner with us.... Our old Abolition friends, Giles B.
and Catharine F. Stebbins and three or four others took tea with us
tonight.... My old friend Adeline Thomson has come to stay several
weeks with us. How nice to have my own home to entertain my
friends.... Anna Shaw and niece Lucy came today and we had five
others to dinner. A very pleasant thing to be able to ask people to
stop and dine.... Brother D. R., sister Anna and niece Maud came
today for a week. It is so good to receive them in our own home. D.
R. enjoys the fire on the hearth.... Had Maria Porter, Mr. and Mrs.
Greenleaf and eleven altogether to tea this evening. How I do enjoy
it!... Who came this day? O, yes, Mrs. Lydia Avery Coonley, of
Chicago, her son and her mother, Mrs. Susan Look Avery, of
Louisville, Ky. It makes me so happy to return some of the
courtesies I have had in their beautiful home.... Just before noon
Mrs. Greenleaf popped into the woodshed with a great sixteen-quart
pail full of pound balls of the most delicious butter, and we made
her stay to dinner. The girl was washing and I got the dinner
alone: broiled steak, potatoes, sweet corn, tomatoes and peach
pudding, with a cup of tea. All said it was good and I enjoyed it
hugely. How I love to receive in my own home and at my own table!
She went to Warsaw September 17 to help the Wyoming county women hold
their convention. The 23d had been set apart as Woman's Day at the
Western New York Fair, held at the Rochester driving park. Mrs.
Greenleaf presided; Miss Anthony and Rev. Anna Shaw were the speakers.
The former spoke briefly, insisting with her usual generosity that the
honors of the occasion should belong to Miss Shaw.[72] In the course of
her few remarks she said: "We who represent the suffrage movement ask
not that women be like men, but that they may be greater women by having
their opinions respected at the ballot-box. Only men's opinions have
prevailed in this government since it was founded. Enfranchisement says
to every man outside of the State prisons, the insane and idiot asylums:
'Your judgment is sound; your opinions are worthy of being crystallized
in the laws of the land.' Disfranchisement says to all women: 'Your
judgment is not sound; your opinions are not worthy of being counted,'
Man is the superior, woman the subject, under the present condition of
political affairs, and until this great wrong is righted, ignorant men
and small boys will continue to look with disdain on the opinion of
women."
From the time that Mrs. Stanton had decided to return to America for the
remainder of her days, Miss Anthony had hoped they might have a home
together and finish their life-work of history and reminiscence. When
she learned that her friend, with a widowed daughter and a bachelor son,
contemplated taking a house in New York, she was greatly distressed, as
she felt that this would be the end of all her plans. She wrote her
immediately:
We have just returned from the Unitarian church where we listened
to Mr. Gannett's rare dissertation on the religion of Lowell; but
all the time there was an inner wail in my soul, that by your
fastening yourself in New York City I couldn't help you carry out
the dream of my life--which is that you should take all of your
speeches and articles, carefully dissect them, and put your best
utterances on each point into one essay or lecture; first deliver
them in the Unitarian church on Sunday afternoon, and then publish
in a nice volume, just as Phillips culled out his best. Your
Reminiscences give only light and incidental bits of your life--all
good but not the greatest of yourself. This is the first time since
1850 that I have anchored myself to any particular spot, and in
doing it my constant thought was that you would come here, where
are the documents necessary to our work, and stay for as long, at
least, as we must be together to put your writings into systematic
shape to go down to posterity. I have no writings to go down, so my
ambition is not for myself, but it is for one by the side of whom I
have wrought these forty years, and to get whose speeches before
audiences and committees has been the delight of my life.
Well, I hope you will do and be as seemeth best unto yourself,
still I can not help sending you this inner groan of my soul, lest
you are not going to make it possible that the thing shall be done
first which seems most important to me. Then, too, I have never
ceased to hope that we would finish the History of Woman Suffrage,
at least to the end of the life of the dear old National.
Mrs. Stanton's children would not consent to this plan, but she came to
Rochester for a month's visit in September. It was desired by many
friends that to the very satisfactory busts of Miss Anthony and Lucretia
Mott, which had been made by Adelaide Johnson, should be added one of
Mrs. Stanton, and all be placed in the Woman's Building at the World's
Fair. To accomplish this Miss Anthony rented a large room in the
adjoining house for a studio and invited the sculptor to her home for a
number of weeks, until the sittings were finished.
During Mrs. Stanton's visit Miss Anthony entertained the Political
Equality Club and a large company of guests, the evening being devoted
to the subject of the admission of women to Rochester University. A
number of the faculty, Congressmen Greenleaf and Baker, several
ministers, the principal of the free academy--about 200 altogether were
present and the discussion was very animated. Practically all of them
believed in opening the doors and a letter of approval was read from
David J. Hill, president of the university. The trustees were
represented by Dr. E. M. Moore, who was in favor of admitting women but
declared that it would be impossible unless an additional fund of
$200,000 was provided beforehand. Miss Anthony insisted that the girls
should first be admitted and then, when a necessity for more money was
apparent, it would be much easier to raise it. In the course of his
remarks Dr. Moore said it was more important to educate boys than girls
because they were the breadwinners.
The Utica Sunday paper came out a few days later with a half-page
cartoon representing the university campus; on the outside of the fence
were Miss Anthony and Mrs. Stanton heading a long procession of girls,
books in hand; standing guard over the fence, labeled "prejudice and old
fogyism," was Dr. Moore pointing proudly to the "breadwinners," who
consisted of two confused and struggling masses, one engaged in a "cane
rush" and the other in a fight over a football. This little incident
merely proved the oft-repeated assertion that these two women never were
three days together without stirring up a controversy, in which the
opposing forces invariably were worsted and public sentiment was moved
up a notch in the direction of larger liberty for woman.
Together they visited the palatial home, at Auburn, of Eliza Wright
Osborne, daughter of Martha C. Wright, where they were joined by
Elizabeth Smith Miller, daughter of Gerrit Smith; and there were
delightful hours of reminiscence and chat of mutual friends, past and
present. The diary shows that Miss Anthony purchased a full set of books
to join the Emerson and Browning classes this year, but there is no
record of attendance save at one meeting. One entry says: "Dancing to
the dentist's these days." Another tells of forgetting to go to a
luncheon after the invitation had been accepted; and still another of
inviting a number of friends to tea and forgetting all about it.
In November she went again to Auburn to the State convention, remaining
four days. The Daily Advertiser said: "Miss Susan B. Anthony, the grand
old woman of the equal rights cause, was then introduced and spoke at
length upon the objects for which she had labored so faithfully all her
life. Except for her gray hair and a few wrinkles, no one would suppose
the speaker to be in her seventy-second year. The full, firm voice, the
active manner and clear logic, all belonged to a young woman." At the
close of the convention Mrs. Osborne gave a reception in her honor,
attended by nearly one hundred ladies.
By invitation of the Unitarian minister, Rev. W. C. Gannett, Miss
Anthony participated with himself and Rabbi Max Lansberg in Thanksgiving
services at the Unitarian church. The topic was "The Unrest of the Times
a Cause for Thankfulness," as indicated by "The Woman, the Social and
the Religious Movements." Miss Anthony responded to the first in a
concise address, considered under twelve heads and not occupying more
than that number of minutes in delivery, beginning with Ralph Waldo
Emerson's declaration, "A wholesome discontent is the first step toward
progress," and giving a resume of women's advancement during the past
forty years, due chiefly to dissatisfaction with their lot.
It had not been an easy matter for Miss Anthony to have even this
fragment of a year at home. From many places she had received letters
begging her to come to the assistance of societies and conventions, and
she was just as anxious to go as they were to have her. The most urgent
of these appeals came from Mrs. Johns, of Kansas, where a constitutional
convention was threatened and the women wanted a suffrage amendment.
When Miss Anthony did not go to the spring convention, Mrs. Johns wrote,
April 18: "I can never tell you how I missed you, and the people--they
seemed to think they must have you. Letter after letter came asking, 'Is
there no way by which we can get Miss Anthony?'" When she declined to go
to the fall convention, Mrs. Johns wrote, November 26: "I declare it
seemed as if I did not know how to go on without you, and our women felt
just as I did. We have had you with us so often that we depended on your
presence more than we knew." In another long letter she said:
I hope the national association will not leave Kansas to work out
her own salvation. Surely you, to whom we owe municipal suffrage,
are not going to fail to come to us at this awful juncture! Dear
Aunt Susan, you won't get any wounds here. I will take charge of
the office and make the routes, which I am able to do well; I will
speak; I will organize; I will do anything you think best, and
there will be nobody inquiring what you do with funds, and there
will be no disgraceful charges and counter-charges, unless I am
greatly mistaken in Kansas women and in myself. We all love you
here and we want the cause to succeed more than we want personal
aggrandizement.
Mrs. Johns persuaded Mrs. Avery to join in her plea and finally Miss
Anthony could hold out no longer, but December 11 wrote to the latter:
"I have been fully resolved all along not to go to Kansas during this
first campaign, because I felt that my threescore and ten and two years
added ought to excuse me from the fearful exposure; still, since you and
dear Laura are left so deserted and will be so heartbroken if I stick to
my resolve, I will say yes, tuck on my coat and mittens and start. But
alas! how soon must that be? I am thoroughly in the dark as to when and
where I shall be wanted to begin, but I will do my level best."
[Illustration: Autograph: "Very truly yours, Frances E Warren"]
The closing days of 1891 were devoted to the voluminous correspondence
which preceded every national convention. The large number of letters on
file from prominent senators and representatives show that Miss Anthony
was keeping an eye on the committees and pulling the wires to have known
friends placed on those which would report on woman suffrage. "I am in
full sympathy with you upon the question of woman's enfranchisement,"
wrote Senator Dolph, of Oregon, "and also with your effort to secure a
chairman of the committee who favors the movement and is able to present
it with intelligence and ability." Speaker Reed closed his letter by
saying, "When the eleventh hour comes, we all shall flock in, clamorous
for pennies." Words of encouragement were received from many others, and
Senator and ex-Governor Francis E. Warren, of Wyoming, wrote: "I am
always in harness for woman suffrage wherever I may be. My spoken and
written testimony for a score of years has been in its praise and of its
perfect working and results in Wyoming."
FOOTNOTES:
[66] While here Miss Anthony received a letter from Rev. N. M. Mann,
formerly pastor of the Unitarian church in Rochester but now residing in
Omaha, which said: "Are you not coming to the metropolis of the State,
when some of us here are just perishing for the sight of your face? I
speak for myself and Mrs. Mann firstly, though judging from the number
of parlors I go into where your picture is the first thing one sees, I
fancy there are a good many others who would be hardly less glad than we
to greet you. Come and spend a Sunday, and hear a good old sermon, and
lecture in my church."
[67] As women had been voting in the Territory over twenty years and
this answer was sent by a legislature composed entirely of men, it would
seem to show that the evils predicted of woman suffrage were wholly
disproved by actual experience.
[68] Mr. Taylor wrote Miss Anthony: "The delay, which seemed long to
you, was absolutely necessary and I am sure you will understand that I
have been faithful to the cause. My daughter Harriet, the most wonderful
of all women to me, is largely influential in the result...."
[69] DEAR SUSAN ANTHONY: We are to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of
the First National Woman's Rights Convention in this State and want to
make the meeting as useful to the cause as we can. You ought to be here.
Will you come? The sheaves gathered in these forty years are to be
presented, and of course there will be some reminiscences of pioneer
times. We shall be glad to announce you as one of the speakers. I hope
you are a little rested since the hard campaign in Dakota. Yours truly,
LUCY STONE.
[70] In her letter describing the council Mrs. Margaret Bottome wrote of
Miss Anthony: "I have met, since I have been in Washington, a woman whom
I have heard of since I can remember anything. We are not of the same
faith--she has devoted her life to what during the past I have shrunk
from--and I met her here for the first time; but I shall carry with me
always the impression of her spirit upon my own, of the Christ-life, the
Christ-spirit. I got it before she had said five words to me, and I
could have sat down at her feet and drank in the spirit of Jesus Christ
that is in her, though she does not see him just as I do."
[71] After the convention Miss Balgarnie wrote: "It has been one of the
most genuine pleasures of my life to meet you, my dear Miss Anthony. I
felt 'strength go out of you,' as it were, directly you took my hand."
[72] Miss Anthony was equally generous in regard to speakers of less
renown. She wrote to Mrs. Blake during this year: "I felt so happy to
give half of my hour at Syracuse to Mrs. C., so that splendid audience
might see and hear her. And I am always glad to surrender my time to any
unknown speakers whom we find promising; but first they ought to have
tried their powers at their home meetings and in rural districts."