THE SOUTHERN TRIP--THE ATLANTA CONVENTION.
1895
The day following the Kansas election, November 7, 1894, Miss Anthony
started at 10 o'clock in the morning for Beatrice, Neb., to make the
opening speech at the State Suffrage Convention; arrived at 6 P. M.,
took a cup of tea, dressed and, without having had one moment's rest,
found herself at the opera house in the presence of a splendid audience.
After she was seated on the platform a telegram was handed her saying
the suffrage amendment had been lost in Kansas by an immense majority.
Yet, in spite of the terrible physical strain of the past weeks and in
the face of this stunning news, it is said she never made a stronger,
more logical and comprehensive speech than on this occasion. She
reviewed the amendment campaigns of the last twenty-five years,
describing the causes of defeat or success, and pointing out the
necessity of educational effort beginning with the primaries and
continuing through all the conventions and political meetings up to the
very day of election.
Although she received urgent invitations to speak at various points in
the State, she declined all and left the next morning early for
Leavenworth; and the day following, November 9, was on her way eastward.
After a day in Chicago she went directly to Philadelphia, where she
attended a reception given by the New Century Club to Mary Mapes Dodge;
had several business meetings regarding the affairs of the national
association; then hastened by night train to the New York convention at
Ithaca. Here again, without a day's rest, she made a stirring address to
an audience which packed the opera house to the top row of the upper
gallery, sat on the steps and filled the aisles. The convention was
welcomed by the mayor of Ithaca and President Schurmann, of Cornell. The
latter invited the officers and delegates to visit the university and
accompanied them on their tour of inspection. Miss Anthony spoke to the
girls of Sage College after dinner, gave them many new ideas long to be
remembered, and was received with enthusiasm and affection.
The next evening, November 15, she returned to Rochester. She had just
concluded two of the hardest campaigns ever made for woman suffrage; for
almost one year she had found no rest for the sole of her foot, not an
hour's respite for the tired brain, and yet the letters and the entries
in the journal show her to be as cheerful, as philosophical, as full of
hopeful plans, as ever she had been in all her long and busy life. After
just one day at home she started for Cleveland. The W. C. T. U. were
holding a national convention in that city and were to have a great
"gospel suffrage" meeting in Music Hall, Sunday afternoon, which she was
invited to address. The Cleveland Leader, in describing the occasion,
said:
Miss Willard, the chieftain of the white ribbon army, introduced
Miss Anthony, the chieftain of the yellow ribbon army, saying:
"Once we would not have allowed the yellow ribbon to be so
generously displayed here. Had its wearers asked us to admit it
with the white we might have voted it down; but the yellow badge of
the suffragists looks natural now. The golden rule has done it.
Well do I remember that in the hard struggle mother and I had in
paying the taxes on our little home, no man appeared to pay them
for us. Had I been condemned to death I would not have expected a
man to startup and take my place. Susan B. Anthony--she of the
senatorial mind--will be remembered when the politicians of today
have long been doomed to 'innocuous desuetude.'" Miss Willard then
quoted a few familiar lines ending with the sentence, "And Susan B.
Anthony has been ordained of God to lead us on."
Miss Anthony was greeted with a rousing Chautauqua salute. "I am
delighted beyond measure," she said, "that at last the women of
this great national body have found there is only one way by which
they can reach their desired end, and that is by the ballot. What
is 'gospel suffrage?' It is a system by which truth and justice
might be made the uppermost principles of government. Every
election is the solution of a mathematical problem, the figuring
out of what the majority desire. We have in this country
mercantile, mining, manufacturing and all kinds of business by
which money can be made. The interests of every one of these are
put into the political scale, but when the moral issues are put in
the other side the material pull them down. Why? Because the moral
issues are not weighted with votes. The men who are associated with
women in movements of reform get no more in the way of legislation
than do women themselves, because when they go to the legislatures
or to Congress they have back of them only a disfranchised class.
"If you would have your requests granted your legislators must know
that you are a part of a body of constituents who stand with
ballots in their hands. Women, we might as well be dogs baying the
moon as petitioners without the power to vote! If you have no care
for yourselves, you should at least take pity on the men associated
with you in your good works. So long as State constitutions say
that all may vote when twenty-one, save idiots, lunatics, convicts
and women, you are brought down politically to the level of those
others disfranchised. This discrimination is a relic of the dark
ages. The most ignorant and degraded man who walks to the polls
feels himself superior to the most intelligent woman. We should
demand the wiping out of all legislation which keeps us
disfranchised.
Almost every sentence of this brief address was punctuated with applause
from the immense audience.
Always when in Cleveland Miss Anthony was a guest at the palatial home
of Mrs. Louisa Southworth, At this time, with her hostess' permission,
she had summoned the entire National-American Board to a business
meeting, and all were entertained under this hospitable roof. For thirty
years Mrs. Southworth had been among the leading representatives of the
suffrage movement in northern Ohio, and during all that time had been
Miss Anthony's staunch and unfailing friend. She had given thousands of
dollars to the suffrage cause, and hundreds to Miss Anthony for her
personal use. On this occasion she presented her with $1,000 to open the
much desired national headquarters. One such supporter in every State
would win many battles which are lost because of insufficient funds to
do the necessary work.
Miss Anthony soon afterwards went to New York to prepare with Mrs.
Stanton the call and resolutions for the approaching national
convention, and to revise the article on "Woman's Rights" for Johnson's
new edition of the Encyclopedia. She was the guest of her cousin, Mrs.
Semantha Vail Lapham, whose home overlooked Central Park. Mrs. Stanton's
cosy flat was on the other side, and through this lovely pleasure ground
each bright day Miss Anthony took her morning walk. When the weather was
inclement she was sent in the carriage, and the two old friends talked
and worked together as they had done so many times in days gone by.
The evenings were spent with her cousin and various friends and
relatives. Once they dined with a kinsman in his elegant Tiffany
apartments. She and Mrs. Stanton, Mrs. Josephine Shaw Lowell, Mrs. Henry
M. Sanders and Mrs. George Putnam, had a delightful luncheon with Dr.
Mary Putnam Jacobi. She was invited by Mr. and Mrs. Edward Lauterbach to
hear the opera of Faust, which was followed by a supper at the Waldorf.
With a relative she attended the "Authors' Uncut Leaves Club," at
Sherry's. One Sunday she went to hear Robert Collyer and the diary says:
"His grand face, his rich voice, his white hair, were all as attractive
as ever; he was a beautiful picture in the pulpit. He gave me a cordial
greeting at the close of the sermon." She ran over to Orange for a few
days with a loved cousin, Ellen Hoxie Squier; and then on down to
Philadelphia and Somerton for a little visit with the friends there, of
which she writes: "Rachel and I had a soul-to-soul talk all the day long
and until after midnight." She was a guest at the Foremothers' Dinner,
December 22, given at Jaeger's by the New York City Woman Suffrage
League, Lillie Devereux Blake, president, with nearly 300 prominent
women at the table.[107] The dinner and the speeches lasted until after
5 o'clock, Miss Anthony responding to the toast, "Our Future Policy."
Thus a month slipped pleasantly by, and then, with the work all
finished, the body rested and the mind refreshed, she returned home to
spend Christmas. The two sisters dined with Dr. and Mrs. F. H. Sanford
and a few old-time friends, and passed a happy day. Among the numerous
Christmas remembrances were several pieces of fine china and an elegant
velvet cloak from Mrs. Gross.[108]
On December 30, Miss Anthony received word of the death of her old
co-worker, Amelia Bloomer, at Council Bluffs, Ia., aged seventy-seven,
and sent a telegram of sympathy to the husband. A death felt most keenly
in 1894 was that of Virginia L. Minor, of St. Louis, August 14, which
closed a beautiful and unbroken friendship of thirty years. She left
Miss Anthony a testimonial of her love and confidence in a legacy of
$1,000.
The year ended amidst the usual pressure of requests, invitations and
engagements. Would she lecture for the Art League, for the Musical
Society, for the Church Guild and for a dozen other organizations of
whose purposes she knew practically nothing? Would she accept a
"reception" from the Scribblers' Club of Buffalo? Would she send a
package of documents to the girls of Vassar College, who were going to
debate woman suffrage? Would she please reply to the following
questions, from various newspapers: "Have not women as many rights now
as men have? What is woman's ideal existence and what woman has most
nearly attained it? Have you formed any resolutions for the coming year,
and what has been the fate of former New Year's resolutions?" and so on,
ad infinitum.
The "woman's edition" fever raged with great violence at this time, and
it is not an exaggeration to say that the editors of ninety-nine
hundredths of them wrote to Miss Anthony for an article. Of course it
was an impossibility to comply, but occasionally some request struck her
so forcibly that she made time for an answer. For instance, the woman's
edition of the Elmira Daily Advertiser was for the purpose of helping
the Young Men's Christian Association, and to its editor, Mrs. J. Sloat
Fassett, she wrote:
I should feel vastly more interested in, and earnest to aid the Y.
M. C. A., if the men composing it were, as a body, helping to
educate the people into the recognition of the right of their
mothers and sisters to an equal voice with themselves in the
government of the city, State and nation. Nevertheless, I avail
myself of your kindly request, and urge all to study the intricate
problem of bettering the world; not merely the individual
sufferings in it, but the general conditions. Such study will show
the great need of a new balance of power in the body politic; and
the conscientious student must arrive at the conclusion that this
will have to be obtained by enfranchising a new class--women. If
the Y. M. C. A. really desire to make better moral and social
conditions possible, they should hasten to obey the injunction of
St. Paul, and "help those women" who are working to secure
enfranchisement.
Miss Anthony received soon after this a consignment of pamphlets, etc.,
that she had ordered printed, on the outside of which the manager of the
printing house, a man entirely unknown to her, had written:
"A wreath, twine a wreath for the brave and the true,
Who, for love of the many, dared stand with the few."
Among the pleasant letters was one from Mrs. Mary B. Willard, who was
then abroad, in which she said: "I am so glad that you live on to know
how much you are loved and to enjoy the fruit of your blessed labors."
One invitation which Miss Anthony especially appreciated came from Rev.
Jenkin Lloyd Jones, of Chicago, editor of Unity and pastor of All Souls
church: "I am sure your heart goes out with us in our dreams as
represented by the enclosed printed matter.[109] One number of the
program is, 'What is woman's part in this larger synthesis,' or 'What
can woman do for liberal religion?' I enclose Dr. Thomas' letter that it
may reinforce my own pleading that you should come and speak on this
topic. Phrase it yourself. Pour your whole heart into it. Make it the
speech of your life. Give your large religious nature freedom. We will
pay all your expenses and I do hope you will make an effort to come. We
will give you from thirty to forty minutes, then we would want to ask
one or two women to follow in the discussion, perhaps a Jewess and may
be some woman who represents the independent church, like Dr. Thomas'
and Prof. Swing's...."
Dr. H. W. Thomas' letter said in part: "Your suggestion is wise; no
other can perhaps so fittingly and ably represent the larger place and
work of woman as Susan B. Anthony. It will honor her and help the cause
to have her speak at the congress. Bless her dear soul, how I would like
to see her--to hear her--to have her one with us--her counsel, her
spirit, her great heart of love and hope so much like the Christ."
After the receipt of Miss Anthony's reply Dr. Jones wrote again: "I
received your modest protest against being made, as you are, one of the
vice-presidents of the Liberal Congress organization; but the very
reason you urged against it is the very reason for putting you on. We
want you not for what you can do but for what you are. We can not take
the congress into the polemics of the woman question, but George
Washington went into the first Continental Congress with his uniform on,
said nothing, yet that was his speech. So we organize with Susan B.
Anthony's name among our vice-presidents, and this is our war speech on
that question. Do let your name stay there.... Ever rejoicing in your
work and its slowly approaching triumph, I am, brotherly yours."
The New Year of 1895 promised less in the way of work and anxiety than
the one which had just closed. There were to be no State amendment
campaigns with their annoying complexities, their arduous labors, their
usual defeats. So many capable and energetic women had come into the
national organization that Miss Anthony was relieved of much of the
burden which used to rest upon her in the olden times, when she had to
attend personally to details of arrangement and assume the financial
responsibility. She found it difficult at first to adapt herself to the
new regime, but soon learned to have confidence in the judgment and
ability of her much-loved "body guard," as she liked to call the
official board. It was not so easy for others of the old workers to
accept the new order of things, and they rebelled occasionally against
the "red tape" requirements of this executive body. To one of these Miss
Anthony wrote: "My dear, what we older ones all have to learn is that
these young and active women now doing the drudgery in each of the
forty-five States, must be consulted and must have a vote on all
questions pertaining to the association, and we must abide by the
decision of the majority. This is what I am trying to learn. No one or
two can manage now, but all must have a voice."
The voluminous correspondence shows, however, that the new workers were
very glad to feel the touch of her firm and experienced hand on the
helm, and that usually she was consulted on every point. She especially
impressed upon them the necessity of keeping the financial accounts with
the strictest care and accuracy, and for a number of years would not
allow a report to be published until she herself had examined every
detail. At one time when two contributions had been accidentally omitted
from the statement sent for her inspection, she wrote: "Not finding
those two in your copy congealed the blood to the very ends of my
fingers and toes, lest the givers should think I had not sent their
money to you."
New Year's Day twelve friends were gathered around the Anthony table,
the Gannetts, the Greenleafs, the Sanfords, Mrs. Hallowell and Mrs.
Willis, and the occasion was a pleasant one. A week later Miss Anthony
started on an extended southern trip. There had been practically no
suffrage work done in the South, with the exception of Kentucky,
Tennessee, Missouri and Louisiana. As the national convention was to
meet in Atlanta, Miss Anthony thought it advisable to make a lecture
tour through the South to arouse a sentiment which might be felt there a
month later. She invited Mrs. Chapman Catt to accompany her,
guaranteeing her expenses although she had no assurance she would be
able to make even her own.
At Lexington they were guests in the fine old home of Mrs. Mary J.
Warfield Clay and daughter Laura, and spoke in the Christian church to a
sympathetic audience. They held meetings at Wilmore, Louisville,
Owensboro, Paducah and Milan, receiving many social courtesies at each
place visited, and they reached Memphis January 17. The management here
was in the capable hands of the Woman's Council and a fine audience
greeted them at the Young Men's Hebrew Association Hall. They were
introduced by their hostess, Mrs. Lide Meriwether, president of the
Equal Suffrage Club, and cordially received. The Appeal, Avalanche and
Scimitar gave long and interesting reports. The next morning Miss
Anthony and Mrs. Catt were handsomely entertained by the ladies of the
Nineteenth Century Club. In the afternoon Mrs. Mary Jameson Judah,
president of the Woman's Club, gave a reception in their honor. Saturday
morning they were guests of the Colored Women's Club; in the afternoon
the Woman's Council, composed of forty-six local clubs, tendered a large
reception, and in the evening they lectured again. Sunday morning they
spoke in the Tabernacle to the colored people; and they left at 5.30 P.
M. feeling they had not wasted much time at Memphis.
[Illustration: Autograph: "For your lifelong work for Truth and Liberty
I am, Gratefully yours, Laura Clay."]
They reached New Orleans Monday morning; were met at the train by the
president and several members of the Portia Club, and escorted to the
residence of Judge Merrick. Each of the daily papers contained lengthy
and excellent mention of the lectures. The Picayune said at the
beginning of a four-column report:
If any one doubted the interest that southern women feel in the
all-absorbing question of the day, "Woman and her Rights," that
idea would have forever been dispelled by a glance at the splendid
audience assembled last night to hear Miss Susan B. Anthony, the
world-famed apostle of woman suffrage, and Mrs. Carrie Chapman
Catt, the distinguished western leader. The hall was literally
packed to overflowing, not only with women but with men, prominent
representatives in every walk of life. Standing room was at a
premium, corridors and windows were filled with a sea of earnest,
interested faces, the name of Miss Anthony was on every lip, and
all eyes were directed to the platform, which was beautifully
decorated with palms and potted plants, the suffrage color, yellow,
predominating among the verdant foliage.
Seated upon the platform were the four ladies who have successively
filled the position of president of the Portia Club, Mrs. Elizabeth
Lyle Saxon, Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick, Mrs. Evelyn B. Ordway and
Miss Florence Huberwald. The entrance of Miss Anthony and Mrs. Catt
was the signal for a burst of applause, which rose into an ovation
when Miss Huberwald, in a few graceful words, presented Mrs.
Merrick, who in turn introduced Miss Anthony as the most famous
woman in America. When the applause subsided, Miss Anthony, whose
voice is singularly sweet and clear, began to speak.
She was presented with a basket of flowers and a bouquet from Mrs. J. M.
Ferguson, president of the Arena club. At the close hundreds pressed
forward to take the hands of the speakers.
They left this charming and hospitable city Wednesday evening, Mrs. Catt
going to Greenville, Miss Anthony to Shreveport. Here she was
entertained by Mrs. M. F. Smith and Professor C. E. Byrd, principal of
the high school. The Hypatia Club sent her two lovely floral offerings.
Of her lecture the Times said editorially:
This veteran apostle of woman's rights addressed a magnificent
audience last evening at the court-house, a representative
assemblage comprising all the best elements of all the best classes
of Shreveport's citizens, and one which was equally divided between
men and women. Miss Anthony is certainly a remarkable woman in
every respect, and one whose genius will leave its mark not only on
the recorded history of the nineteenth century, but in the advanced
position of woman now and for all time to come. She was one of the
first women in America to raise her voice in advocacy of woman's
rights, and she has lived to see herself and her sisters gradually
released from legalized bondage and, in everything but suffrage,
made the full equal of man. No one can deny that her claims are
founded on justice; and in the light of cold and clear reason,
divested of all sentiment and cleansed of all prejudice, her
arguments can not be successfully controverted.
By failure of the train to connect with the ferry she was unable to join
Mrs. Catt and keep her appointment at Jackson. When, after waiting two
hours, she finally reached that station at half-past nine, she found a
message from Mrs. Catt that she was holding a magnificent audience for
her. According to her journal she "was too oozed-out even to be looked
at, much less to try to speak in the House of Representatives packed
with the flower of southern chivalry;" so she went on to Birmingham.
Here she found inadequate arrangements had been made and a northern
blizzard interfered with her meetings. The News, however, gave an
excellent two-column account beginning:
Only a moderate audience greeted Susan B. Anthony, the chief
suffrage leader in the United States, but that audience was
cultured and able to appreciate the very energetic, clear-minded
and vigorous woman, whose name is as well-known as that of any man
in the Union, and who has done more than any other woman to prove,
by her strong and unique personality, the mental equality of woman
with man and her fitness for the things sought to be entrusted to
her care, share and share alike with the sterner sex. After a
graceful introduction by Colonel J. W. Bush, the lecturer plunged
at once with ease and distinction into her subject and line of
argument.... She is a very able and incisive speaker, talks
fluently and distinctly, and makes easy and graceful gestures. In a
word, she is as good a lecturer as a good man-lecturer.
They spoke in the opera house at New Decatur, and were the guests of
Mrs. E. S. Hildreth. At Huntsville they were entertained by Mrs. Milton
Hume, and introduced to the audience by Mrs. Clay-Klopton. The Evening
Tribune headed its report, "Grand and Enthusiastic Meeting; Eloquent
Addresses Presented by Noble and Gifted Women;" and said:
Much to the surprise of a great many, the city hall was filled last
night with a very large and intelligent audience of ladies and
gentlemen.... Miss Anthony spoke for an hour in a plain, unassuming
manner, but ably and learnedly. She has been an active worker for
more than forty years in this cause and now, at life's closing
hours, sees the right accorded woman in the States of Wyoming and
Colorado, and the cause gaining momentum as intelligence spreads
and the blessings become known which follow in the pathway of
woman's ballot. No one can look upon the face of that venerated,
noble woman, who has grown gray in her life-work, and not be
impressed that there has been something more than sentiment, more
than a cranky idea, impelling her in all these long, sacrificing
years.
Mrs. Chapman Catt as completely charmed as she surprised the large
audience. She is a young woman of winning personality, as beautiful
as she is brilliant, with a command of language and convincing
eloquence that would do credit to the matchless Prentiss....
The next day, with Mrs. Alberta Chapman Taylor, they started for
Atlanta, joining the Kentucky delegation at Knoxville and reaching their
destination at noon. The headquarters were at the Aragon, where they
found a large number of delegates, warm rooms and everything bright and
comfortable, with the promise of a fine meeting.
The Twenty-seventh Annual Convention opened at De Give's opera house,
January 31, continuing six days. Ninety-three delegates were present
from twenty-eight states, numbers were in attendance from southern
cities, and the people of Atlanta turned out en masse. An evidence of
the interest taken in this convention is the fact that a number of the
New York papers had daily reports of several thousand words telegraphed,
and the large newspapers throughout the country had extended accounts.
The Atlanta Constitution had had columns of matter pertaining to it,
pictures and personal descriptions of the prominent women, which, added
to its extended daily reports, contributed largely to the success of the
meeting; but it was as careful to avoid editorial endorsement as its
contemporaries in the North. The other city papers were generous with
space and complimentary mention, but the Sunny South, edited by Colonel
Henry Clay Fairman, was the only one which advocated the principle of
woman suffrage.
Many beautiful homes were opened to the visitors, and all the officers
and speakers were entertained at the Aragon at the expense of the newly
formed Georgia State Association. The most of it was borne, in fact, by
three sisters residing at Columbus, H. Augusta Howard, Miriam Howard Du
Bose and Claudia Howard Maxwell. With the genuine southern hospitality,
they declined the offer of several societies and of the association to
reimburse them. A handsome reception at the hotel was attended by
hundreds of Atlanta's representative citizens. Mrs. W. A. Hemphill, one
of the board of the Atlanta Exposition, received the visitors in her
lovely home, assisted by the wife of the recently-elected Governor
Atkinson.
A Baptist preacher, Rev. J. B. Hawthorne, built on the antiquated plan,
delivered a sermon not only denouncing suffrage but abusing its
advocates. The result was to make the other ministers in the city offer
their pulpits to the convention speakers, and on Sunday lectures were
given in various churches by Emily Howland, Elizabeth Upham Yates, Mrs.
Colby and Mrs. Meriwether. Rev. Anna Shaw preached in the opera house
and the Constitution prefaced its report as follows: "When the opening
hour arrived there was not an empty chair in the house. So dense became
the crowd that the doors were ordered closed before the services began.
The vast congregation was made up of all classes of citizens. Every
chair that could be found had been utilized and then boxes and benches
were pressed into service. Many prominent professional and business men
were standing on the stage and in different parts of the house."
Miss Anthony, besides her president's address, made many brief speeches
and also read Mrs. Stanton's fine paper on "Educated Suffrage," which
was especially acceptable to a southern audience.[110] One of the most
eloquent speakers was General Robert R. Hemphill, member of the South
Carolina legislature. Among the able and interesting southern delegates
Laura Clay and Josephine K. Henry, of Kentucky, and A. Viola Neblett and
Helen Lewis Morris, of North Carolina, were especial favorites. After
the convention a mass meeting was held in the courthouse, which was
crowded with an enthusiastic audience. Mrs. M. L. McLendon, president of
the Atlanta Club, requested Miss Anthony to take charge. The
Constitution said:
Miss Anthony was received with such a warmth of demonstration on
the part of the large audience as to thoroughly convince her that
she was addressing those who were in sympathy with the suffrage
movement. As she stood up in the presence of the vast congregation
of faces a profound silence filled the hall and every one seemed to
be intently waiting for her opening words. Within the railing a
large number of men, who preferred to stand near the speaker rather
than secure seats in the rear of the hall, were grouped in a solid
mass, and appeared to be equally as much concerned as the ladies.
There were many distinguished women present at the convention, from the
South and the North, and all separated with the feeling that fraternal
bonds had been strengthened and many converts made to the belief in
equal suffrage.
Miss Anthony was much revered by the colored race and while here she
addressed the students of the Atlanta University, and spoke with Bishop
Turner to an immense audience at Bethel church. She was invited also to
address the alumnae of the girls' high school. At the close of the
convention she went, with her sister Mary, niece Lucy, Anna Shaw and
Mrs. Upton, for a three days' visit at the spacious old-time mansion of
the Howards, in Columbus. She left for Aiken, S. C., February 9, where
she spoke in the courthouse and was introduced by the Baptist minister.
Here she was the guest of Miss Martha Schofield, and was much interested
in the very successful industrial school for colored children, founded
by her during the war. On February 12, she lectured at Columbia for the
Practical Progress Club, introduced by Colonel V. P. Clayton. The Pine
Tree State contained an excellent editorial in favor of woman suffrage,
but thought "it could be more successfully advocated in that locality by
some one of less pronounced abolitionism." Her hostess, Mrs. Helen
Brayton, gave a reception for her, and she met a large number of the
representative people of Columbia. Her last lecture was given at
Culpepper, Va. The six weeks' southern trip had been very pleasant; she
had made many friends and found much sentiment in favor of suffrage. The
only drawback had been the severity of the weather, the coldest ever
known in that locality, which will long be remembered because of the
destruction of the orange groves.
Miss Anthony reached Washington on the morning of her seventy-fifth
birthday, February 15. The National Woman's Council was to open its
second triennial meeting on the 18th, and its official board and many
delegates were already in the city. When she arrived she found that
"her girls," as she was fond of designating the younger workers, had
arranged for a banquet in her honor at the Ebbitt House that evening.
Covers were laid for fifty and it was a beautiful affair. After a number
of speeches had been made, Rachel Foster Avery arose and stated that the
friends of Miss Anthony from ocean to ocean and the lakes to the gulf,
had placed in her hands sums of money amounting to $5,000. This she had
put into a trust fund, purchasing therewith an "annuity" of $800, which
she now took great pleasure in presenting. There were 202 contributors
and although Mrs. Avery had been for several months collecting the
money, incredible as it may seem, the whole matter was a complete
surprise to Miss Anthony. Realizing that during the last forty-five
years she had spent practically all she had earned and all that had been
given her, to advance the cause to which she had devoted her life, they
determined to put this testimonial into such shape as would make it
impossible thus to expend it. She was greatly overcome and for once
could not command the words to voice her feelings.
As each three months have rolled around since that occasion, and the
$200 check has been sent with a pleasant greeting from the Penn Mutual
insurance company, hoping that she might live to use the entire
principal, her heart has thrilled anew with gratitude and affection to
Mrs. Avery and the friends who put their love and appreciation into this
material shape. It suffices to pay the monthly expenses of the modest
household and, with the income from the few thousands that have been
laid away, an occasional paid lecture and the gifts from generous
friends, Miss Anthony is freed from financial anxiety, although obliged
to exercise careful economy.
It is impossible in this limited space to attempt a description of that
great council extending through the days and evenings of two weeks,
attended by delegates from twenty national organizations, representing
the highest intellects and activities among women and covering a wide
range of vital questions. Miss Anthony stood for the department of
Government Reform. Although at this council she desired to be simply
one of the many representatives of different organizations, the public
would make her the central figure of all occasions. On February 28, Mrs.
John R. McLean, assisted by Mrs. Calvin Brice, gave a reception in her
honor, attended by many of the official, literary, artistic and musical
people of the capital.
Frederick Douglass came into the council the afternoon of the 20th and
was invited by the president, Mrs. Sewall, to a seat on the platform. He
accepted, but declined to speak, acknowledging the applause only by a
bow. Upon entering his home in Anacostia, a few hours later, he dropped
to the floor and expired instantly. Funeral services were held in the
African Metropolitan church, Washington, February 25, in which, at the
request of the family, Miss Anthony took part, paid a brief tribute and
read Mrs. Stanton's touching memorial of the only man who sustained her
demand for the enfranchisement of women in that famous first convention
of 1848.
At the close of the council Miss Anthony lectured at Lincoln, Va., in
the ancient Quaker meeting house. Returning to Washington she was
entertained by Mrs. Mary S. Lockwood at a dinner party on the evening of
the Travel Club, at which she was one of the speakers. Reaching
Philadelphia March 9, she turned her steps, as was always her custom,
directly towards her old friend Adeline Thomson, and her surprise and
grief may be imagined when she found that she had died a month previous.
Her relations with Adeline and Annie Thomson, who had passed away nearly
ten years before, had been those of affectionate sisters, and for nearly
forty years their home had been as her own. She had received many
contributions from them, and Adeline had made her a personal gift of
$1,000. She often had said to her and written in her letters, that she
had $5,000 more laid away for her after she herself should have no
further use for it, but as is so often the case she neglected to make
provision for this, and all her property went to a nephew.
[Illustration: Rachel Foster Avery (Signed: "Always lovingly yours,
Rachel Foster Avery")]
From Mrs. Avery's suburban home at Somerton, Miss Anthony sent grateful
letters to every one of the 202 contributors to her annuity. She
addressed the 500 students at Drexel Institute, and left for New York
March 12. Here she had an important business meeting with Mary Lowe
Dickinson, the newly elected president of the National Council, and then
went to tell all about the Atlanta convention, the Woman's Council and
various other events to Mrs. Stanton, who still felt the liveliest
interest although not physically able to take an active part.
The day after Miss Anthony reached home she read in the morning paper
that two of the State Industrial School girls and two of the free
academy boys had been seen the night before coming out of a questionable
place; the girls were arrested and locked up in the station house, the
boys were told to go home. It was an everyday injustice but she
determined to protest, so she went straightway to the police court,
where she insisted that the boys should not go free while the girls were
punished. She pleaded in vain; the girls were sent to the reformatory,
the boys being used as witnesses against them and then dismissed without
so much as a reprimand.
A short time afterwards Miss Anthony went to the Baptist church one
Sunday evening to hear a young colored woman, Miss Ida Wells, lecture on
the lynching of negroes in the South. The speaker was rudely interrupted
several times by a fellow from Texas who was in Rochester attending the
theological school. She answered him politely but at length he asked:
"If the negroes don't like it in the South, why don't they leave and go
North?" At this Miss Anthony, who had been growing more indignant every
moment, sprung to her feet and, with flashing eyes and ringing voice,
said: "I will tell you why; it is because they are treated no better in
the North than they are in the South." She then related a number of
instances, which had come to her own knowledge, of the cruel
discrimination made against colored people, to the utter amazement of
the audience who did not believe such things possible.[111]
She took Miss Wells home with her for the rest of her stay. She had
employed a young woman stenographer for a few weeks to clear up her
accumulated correspondence and, having to go away the next day, she told
Miss Wells the girl might help her with her pile of letters. When she
returned in the evening she found her scribbling away industriously and
the stenographer at leisure. In answer to her inquiry the latter
replied: "I don't choose to write for a colored person." "If you can not
oblige me by assisting a guest in my house," said Miss Anthony, "you can
not remain in my employ." The girl, although in destitute circumstances,
gave up her situation.
Miss Anthony had been feeling for a long time that, in justice to
herself and to the State Industrial School, she should resign her
position on the board of managers. When she accepted it she had intended
to give up the greater part of her travelling and direct her forces from
the seat of government in her own home, but she had found this
practically impossible. The demands for her actual presence and personal
work were too strong to be resisted. There were very few women in the
country who could draw so large an audience as herself, or who knew so
well how to manage a convention or carry on a campaign, and the women of
the different States, who had one or the other of these in hand, were
unwilling to accept a substitute. She was as well and vigorous as at
fifty, and there seemed to be no adequate reason why she should refuse
the many opportunities to advance the cause for which she had given the
active service of nearly half a century. The several years since she
began housekeeping, therefore, had found her at home no more of the time
than those which had preceded.
When she first visited the school she found the boys' departments fitted
up with all the appliances of a steam laundry, while a large number of
the girls were bending their backs over washtubs and ironing-boards the
whole of every week. She soon succeeded in having the washing sent over
to the laundry, where a few girls were able to do it all in two or three
days; she also made many valuable suggestions in the sewing department.
When in the city she went to the school on Sunday, helped with the
services and talked to the 700 boys and 150 girls. Some of the latter
came to her one Sunday and said pathetically that it was the first time
a speaker ever had seemed to know there were any girls there! She wrote
in her journal, with quiet humor, that the men on the board were going
the next day to select a cooking stove. She realized even more strongly
than ever that, though the best and wisest men may be on the boards of
public institutions, there is need also of women, but she felt that,
with so vast an amount of other work on hand, she could not do her duty
by the school. As she was about to go away again for a number of months
she decided to delay her resignation no longer and forwarded it to
Governor Morton April 15, after having served about two and a half
years. She then finished her lecture engagements and completed
arrangements for what proved to be one of the pleasantest journeys of
her life.
FOOTNOTES:
[107] At these annual feasts gentlemen are permitted to sit in the
gallery, listen to the toasts and watch the ladies enjoy the dinner.
[108] During this year Mrs. Gross had presented Miss Anthony with $1,000
to complete the education of a nephew and niece.
[109] A plan for a great Liberal Religious Congress, the outgrowth of
the Parliament of Religions in 1893.
[110] After 1892 Miss Anthony had to read most of Mrs. Stanton's
addresses, and the latter wrote her: "If you pronounce what I write
'good,' I know it is up to the mark. Many thanks for reading all my
papers so well as everybody says you do. I am sure of your rich voice
and deep sympathy with the subject, and I much prefer to have you read
my speeches rather than any other person, as I am always told that your
reading makes a deep impression. Our thoughts have the same trend on the
woman suffrage question, and we have written and talked over every phase
of the subject so much together that what I write is essentially yours
as well as mine."
[111] The Rochester dailies came out next morning with full reports of
this episode and editorial remarks; citizens of both sexes wrote to the
papers, pro and con; other newspapers took up the question, and a wave
of comment swept over the country.