HER LETTERS--BIRTHDAY PARTY--BIOGRAPHY.
1896-1897.
On the way home from California Miss Anthony and Mrs. Catt stopped at
Reno, Nev., lecturing there Sunday, while Miss Shaw hastened on to speak
at Salt Lake City. Then all met at Kansas City to attend the Missouri
convention, where they were the guests of Mrs. Sarah Chandler Coates.
The papers refer to Miss Anthony's speeches at this convention as being
the very strongest she ever had made, and of her perfect physical
condition at the close of an eight months' campaign.
She went from here directly home, and on November 19 a brilliant banquet
was given in honor of Miss Shaw and herself at the Hotel Livingston by
the Political Equality Club. Mary Lewis Gannett was toast-mistress and
about 250 guests were seated at the tables. This was followed by the
State convention at Rochester. After a few days' rest Miss Anthony went
to the home of Mrs. Catt, near New York, where a business meeting was
held of the national executive board. With Mrs. Avery she then took one
of the great Sound steamers for Boston to attend a meeting of the
National Woman's Council. A reception was given by Mrs. Charles W. Bond,
of Commonwealth Avenue, and one at the Hotel Vendome. She ran up to
Concord, N. H., for a few days' visit with her aged friends, Mr. and
Mrs. Parker Pillsbury and Mrs. Armenia S. White. Then back again to the
Garrisons', and out to Medford for a day with Mrs. Edward M. Davis, the
daughter of Lucretia Mott.
She left Boston December 9, to fulfill a promise made to Elizabeth
Buffum Chace, to spend her ninetieth birthday at her home in Valley
Falls, R. I. Mrs. Chace had written a number of letters with her own
trembling hand to arrange for this visit. It was only a family party,
but the diary tells of the cake with ninety little candles, and other
birthday features. Anna Shaw came in time for the supper, and the next
day Mrs. Chace sent them in her carriage to Providence to attend the
State convention. Here they were guests in the handsome old Eddy
homestead, and Miss Anthony addressed a large audience in the evening.
She stopped a day in New York to tell Mrs. Stanton about the California
campaign, and Sunday morning reached her own dear home. Her old and
loved friend, Maria Porter, had died the preceding night, and she
attended the funeral services next day. On December 23 she went to
Niagara Falls with her stenographer to secure reminiscences from her
cousin, Sarah Anthony Burtis, aged eighty-six, who was a teacher in the
home school at Battenville over sixty years before.
The year just closed had been busy but pleasant. It had brought the
usual number of tokens of appreciation, one of which was notice of
election as honorary member of the Chicago Woman's Club. Among the
scores of invitations on file were one from Judge George F. Danforth to
meet the justices of the appellate court at his home; and one to the
golden wedding of her old fellow-laborers, Giles B. and Catharine F.
Stebbins, at Detroit, the latter one of the secretaries of that famous
first convention of 1848. Major James B. Pond, the well-known lecture
manager, wrote Miss Mary Anthony: "Thank you for your kind letter and
the excellent photograph of your great sister, whom I have admired and
hoped and prayed for since I was a poor boy out in Kansas. I still
believe she will be spared to witness a general triumph of her noble
cause." The letter contained an offer of $100 for a parlor lecture by
Miss Anthony at Jersey City.
A few of Miss Anthony's own letters, taken almost at random from copies
on her file, will illustrate the vast scope of her correspondence and
her peculiarly trenchant mode of expression. To one who wanted a
testimonial from her that she might show in vindication of certain
accusations, she wrote:
I went through all the fire of charges of stealing, and of every
other crime in the whole calendar, twenty-five years ago--charges
made, too, by people of vastly more influence than any of the women
who are talking and writing today about you. I never made a public
denial of one of them, through all the years of the bitterest kind
of persecution, and believe I was greatly the gainer by working
right on and ignoring them. It will be the mistake of your life if
you go into print in your own defence. Your denial will reach a new
set of people and start them to talking, while the ones who read
the original charges will never see the refutation of them.
To one of the newly-enfranchised women of Utah:
The one word I should have to say to the women throughout your
State would be, not so much to try to get women elected to the
offices as to get the best persons, whether men or women. Naturally
there will be a far less number of women than of men capable of
holding office, from the very fact of their long disfranchisement.
I do hope your women therefore will set a good example not only for
Utah, but also for the States where they are not enfranchised;
namely, that of proving it is not the spoils of office they are
after. I think the women of Wyoming always have been wonderfully
judicious in not being anxious to hold offices themselves, but
mightily anxious as to what men hold them. It will be considered a
strong objection to woman suffrage if the vast majority of your
women should prove themselves mere partisans.
To a New York cousin: "Your little birthday present, the Book of
Proverbs, came duly. Solomon's wise sayings, however, don't help me very
much in my work of trying to persuade men to do justice to women. These
men and their progenitors for generations back have read Solomon over
and over again, and learned nothing therefrom of fair play for woman,
and I fear generations to come will continue to read to as little
purpose. At any rate, I propose to peg away in accordance with my own
sense of wisdom rather than Solomon's. All those old fellows were very
good for their time, but their wisdom needs to be newly interpreted in
order to apply to people of today."
In answer to a letter from Illinois asking the secret of her success in
life:
If I may be said to have made a success of my life, the one great
element in it has been constancy of purpose--not allowing myself
to be switched off the main road or tempted into bypaths of other
movements. It always has been clear to me that woman suffrage is
the one great principle underlying all reforms. With the ballot in
her hand woman becomes a vital force--declaring her will for
herself, instead of praying and beseeching men to declare it for
her. It has been a long, hard fight, a dark, discouraging road, but
all along the way here and there a little bright spot to cheer us
on. And now we have four true republics, whose women are
full-fledged citizens, and the prospects are hopeful for others
soon to follow in the wake of those blessed four. One of the most
cheering things in these days is the large number of young women
who are entering the work, bringing to it a new, strong enthusiasm
which will push on to victory. The women over all the country are
waking up to the fact that truly to possess themselves, to have
their opinions respected, they must have this right of suffrage.
A letter from the secretary of a national conference which was seeking
to bring about a union of reformers, Prohibitionists, Free Silver
advocates, etc., asked her assistance and called forth the following
response:
It is all very well for you men, who have the power to make and
unmake political parties, to form a third, fourth or fiftieth
party, as the case may be; but as for myself and all who are of my
class, disfranchised and helpless, we have nothing to do with any
of them--old or new--except to ask each and all to put a woman
suffrage plank in their platform and educate their members to place
a ballot in the hands of women. I never have identified myself with
any political party, but have stood outside of all, asking each to
pledge itself to the enfranchisement of women. Whenever any one of
them has asked me to speak in its meetings on the suffrage
question, I have accepted the invitation, but I never have
advocated the specific measures of any.
So, you see, I can be of no help to you, but I do know that no one
of the reform political parties ever will amount to much standing
alone, and that it would be a good thing for all of them to come
together in one body. I might say, however, that least of all could
I join yours, which makes "God the author of civil government." If
such civil government as we have was made by God, what reason is
there to expect any improvement in the future?
From a letter to Isabella Beecher Hooker:
Fortune indeed does not smile any too favorably upon us who feel so
longingly the need to use money. I am crippled all the time and
prevented from doing what I might by lack of funds. The old faith
would say, I suppose, that whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth
financially, but seems to me I could better do His work and my own
for the regeneration of the world, if I had the money to do it
with.... What a fuss the men are making nowadays over "good
government"--the idiots! Can't they see it is impossible to
improve things until they get a new and better balance of power
that will outweigh the one which now pulls down the political
scales and makes decency kick the beam every time? It does try my
soul that we can not make them see they are simply trying to lift
themselves by their bootstraps. Well, they are born of
disfranchised mothers, a subject class, and one can not expect
different results.
If I could spare the time and money I would love to accept your
invitation to sit with you and your dear John in your summer
retreat, and chat over the world of work for our good cause. Of the
before and the after I know absolutely nothing, and have very
little desire and less time to question or to study. I know this
seems very material to you, and yet to me it is wholly spiritual,
for it is giving time and study rather to making things better in
the _between_, which is really all that we can influence; but
perhaps when I can no longer enter into active, practical work, I
may lapse into speculations.
To a debating society asking her opinion on the question of "educated
and property suffrage:"
I always have taken the negative; that is, have believed in
universal suffrage without either property or educational
qualification. I hold that every citizen has a right to a voice in
the government under which he lives. While an education is highly
desirable, yet a man may be unable to read but may attend political
meetings, talk with his neighbors and form intelligent opinions. He
may be honest and beyond bribery, and a more desirable voter than
many wily and unscrupulous men who have a graduate's diploma. It
is, however, the duty of the State to educate its citizens; and the
Australian ballot, which has been largely adopted, is in itself an
educational qualification.
As to a property qualification: while in the majority of cases,
perhaps, the possession of property is evidence of ability and
thrift, there are many who do not own property and yet are
possessed of good sense and are more capable of casting an honest
and intelligent ballot than some of the wealthy men of the country;
then, too, those who have least are the ones who suffer most from
the legislation of the rich, and need the ballot for
self-protection. I am decidedly opposed to a property
qualification.
To one who was in deep grief she said in an affectionate letter: "Do
assure me that you are beginning to think of your dear one as he was
when well and moving about in his always helpful and cheering manner. To
get far enough from the sickness, the suffering and the death of our
friends, so as to be able to have only the thought of them in their full
vigor of life, is the greatest joy which possibly can come to those who
have lost their beloved."
While Miss Anthony was thus constantly giving out from the vast wealth
of her heart and brain, she was receiving, also, from all parts of the
country the strong and loving tributes of noble souls. A beautiful one
which shines on the pages of 1896 was pronounced by the eloquent Dr. H.
W. Thomas, of Chicago, in the course of a Sunday sermon entitled
"Progressive Greatness," delivered to a large audience assembled in
McVicker's Theater:
A Washington and a Lincoln have come in our great century, and
between their birthdays was born a Susan B. Anthony, whose grand
life has been given to a noble cause; once the target for the cruel
and bitter shafts of ridicule; now deemed the noblest among women.
The task of Washington and Lincoln could not be complete till the
crown was placed on the brow of woman as well as man; and when the
angels shall call Susan B. Anthony to the life immortal, her name,
her memory on earth should and will take its place among the
martyrs and saints of liberty, not for man alone, but for woman and
child."
To watch the old year out and the New Year in, Miss Anthony went to
Geneva, and here spent a few days very pleasantly with Elizabeth Smith
Miller and her guest, Harriot Stanton Blatch. Among the New Year's
remembrances were $50 from Mrs. Elda A. Orr, of Reno, Nev.; $150 from
Mrs. Gross, of Chicago; and $300 from Mrs. Cornelia Collins Hussey, of
Orange, N. J. The usual number of congratulatory letters were received
from all classes of people, high and low, old and young, white and
colored.
To show their wide range two or three may be given. From Mrs. Ellen M.
Henrotin, president of the General Federation of Women's Clubs: "I send
to you on the New Year a fraternal greeting and my best wishes that this
may prove for you and the interests you represent, a year of
fulfillment. We are all serving the same cause and we are surely among
the happy ones of earth that we are enabled to assist, by even a slight
impetus, the 'power which makes for righteousness.' ... Therefore I send
you today my heartfelt wishes for the continued success of your cause
and the peace and prosperity of your life."
Her friend of fifty years, John W. Hutchinson, the last of that
never-equalled family of singers, sent his New Year's greetings and
added: "I bless you and your work. Wonderful possibilities will be the
result of this great movement, which you have led, for equal rights and
the franchise for women." The president of the National Council of
Women, Mary Lowe Dickinson, an earnest, efficient worker for humanity,
said in the course of a long letter dated January 9:
I pray that all strength and blessing of every kind may crown this
coming year of your life; and O, how earnestly I hope that in it
you may see the fruition of some of the work that you have been
struggling with these many, many years. When I run over in my mind
the present situation of the cause you represent--which seems to me
more and more the one cause which must succeed if we are going to
have genuine success anywhere else--I see what ground you have for
encouragement and what a vast advance has been made; but I see,
too, how slow it must seem to you, and how weary of waiting you
must become. I know no courage like yours, and I do that courage
full honor.
She had received a telegram of greeting from Frances E. Willard as soon
as she arrived home from California, and January 5 accepted her urgent
invitation for a little visit with her at the sanitarium of Dr. Cordelia
Green, Castile; and while there addressed a parlor gathering of the
patients. On January 15 she was guest of honor at a luncheon given by
the Educational and Industrial Union of Rochester, at the Genesee
clubhouse, to the State executive committee of the Federation of Clubs.
Mrs. Charlotte Perkins Stetson spent a few days with her, and she
arranged for her to hold Sunday evening services in the Unitarian
church. On January 20 the two ladies, with Miss Mary, started for the
twenty-ninth annual convention of the national association, which was to
be held this year at Des Moines, Ia. The thermometer was 15 deg. below zero,
the snow very deep, and Miss Anthony's friends saw her set forth on the
journey to this cold western city with much anxiety. All their protests,
however, were not sufficient to keep her at home; but she thought with
much longing of the clean, beautiful streets of Washington, the mild
climate, the Congressional committees, the crowds of visitors there from
various parts of the country who always came to the convention, and she
felt more strongly than ever that it was a serious mistake to take it
away from the national capital.
She stopped at Chicago for a few days, and a characteristic little entry
in her diary says: "I slept on a $6,000 bed last night; my! how much
good suffrage work could have been done with that money." On the
afternoon of January 23, Miss Anthony addressed a large meeting of the
Woman's Club and in the course of her remarks paid a tribute to that
organization, in which she said: "This is the banner club of the United
States, not because it has such nice women for members, and not even
because it is located in Chicago, but because it is a club which does a
large amount of practical work."
Mrs. Foster Avery joined the party at Chicago and they reached Des
Moines January 24, where they found the rest of the executive board, and
all were entertained in the suburban mansion of James and Martha C.
Callanan. The meetings were held in the Central Christian church, whose
pastor, Rev. H. O. Breeden, extended a cordial greeting. Notwithstanding
the extreme severity of the weather, 24 deg. below zero, the audience-room
was crowded to its capacity at every public session, and overflow
meetings were held. The convention was officially welcomed by Governor
Francis M. Drake and Mayor John McVicar; Mrs. Adelaide Ballard, State
president, made the opening address, and Mrs. Macomber spoke in behalf
of the women's clubs of the city. State Senator Rowan was one of the
speakers. Among the letters of greeting was one from Miss Kitty Reed,
daughter of Speaker Thomas B. Reed. The memorial services showed that
never in any previous year had so long a list of friends to the cause
passed away as in 1896. There were thirty-seven names mentioned in the
resolutions.[126]
In Miss Anthony's address she spoke of the great victories in 1896, as
shown by the full enfranchisement of the women of Utah and Idaho. Mrs.
M. C. Woods, from the latter State, presented an interesting account of
the late campaign and an outline of their work for the future. Her
mother, Emmeline B. Wells, made the report for Utah. Delegates were
present from twenty States, and most of them were entertained in the
hospitable homes of the city. A reception, attended by 500 guests, was
tendered by Mr. and Mrs. Hubbell, at their elegant residence on Terrace
Hill. An imaginative reporter on this occasion transformed Miss
Anthony's historic garnet velvet gown, worn for the past fourteen years,
into a "magnificent royal purple," and her one simple little pin into
"handsome diamonds." A pleasant reception also was given by the Woman's
Club in their commodious parlors. The daily newspapers contained
excellent reports of the convention, but not one gave editorial
endorsement of the cause it represented.
Those who believed in holding the alternate national conventions away
from Washington were satisfied with the result; those who thought
differently continued to hold the same opinion, and among the latter was
Miss Anthony, who soon afterwards wrote to one of the business
committee:
The conventions at Atlanta and Des Moines have but confirmed me in
my judgment that our delegated body always should meet in
Washington. For local propaganda both were undoubtedly good, but
for effect in securing Congressional action, absolutely nil. I
believe in resuming our old plan of holding at least two
conventions every year, one for the election of officers and for
its influence upon Congress in Washington every winter; the other
in whatsoever State we have constitutional amendments pending,
where we need to do our greatest amount of work in that direction.
The best way for the national association to help create local
sentiment is to build up and make a success of the different State
annual meetings, and to have at least two of its ablest and most
popular speakers attend as many of them as possible every year; and
I think by this means we can do a great deal more to make the
States feel that the national is mother to them, than by once in a
lifetime holding a delegate convention within their borders. I am
more and more convinced that some of the national officers must be
present at every State annual meeting, and if well advertised there
would be as many representatives of the local clubs present as go
to our national convention.
On the way home from Des Moines Miss Anthony spent a few days at
Indianapolis. The evening of February 3, Mrs. Sewall gave a reception in
her honor, to which were invited the governor, members of the
legislature, State officials and their wives, members of the Woman's
Council and their husbands. At one end of the large drawing-room, on a
slightly raised platform covered with rugs, sat Miss Anthony and
Indiana's most revered woman, Zerelda G. Wallace, to whom Mrs. Sewall
presented the guests. Later in the evening both of these ladies, from
their "throne," as it was laughingly called, gave pleasant informal
addresses, to which Senator Roots responded on behalf of the
legislature. The next day Mrs. Wallace and Miss Anthony's old friend,
Hon. George W. Julian, were entertained at luncheon and had a long
afternoon chat. In the evening a reception was given for her by Mr. John
C. and Mrs. Lillian Wright Dean at their pleasant home "The Pines."
The morning of February 5 Miss Anthony was invited to address a joint
session of the Indiana legislature in the Assembly chamber. The judges
of the supreme and appellate courts and most of the State officials were
present, and all the visitors' seats on the floor and in the galleries
were filled with Indianapolis ladies. Miss Anthony was introduced with
words of praise by Representative Packard, and spoke for an hour, making
her usual strong plea for a Sixteenth Amendment enfranchising women.
On February 6, at 9 A. M., in the midst of rain and sleet, she arrived
in Rochester and, in less than an hour, reporters from every newspaper
in the city were on hand for an interview. They had learned long since
that they always were sure of a cordial reception at her cozy home, and
that the returned traveller would not fail to tell them something which
would make interesting reading. Miss Anthony was actuated by two motives
in this: One was her desire to get as much suffrage news as possible
into the papers, for no one could have a higher appreciation of the
value of the press; the other was a strong sentiment of admiration and
friendship for the faithful and industrious men and women who earn a
living at newspaper work.
Sunday night, February 14, the birthday of Frederick Douglass was
observed in the Plymouth Congregational Church. Miss Anthony presided
over the large meeting and introduced the speakers.
[Illustration: THE ANTHONY RESIDENCE.
SINCE 1865, ROCHESTER, N. Y.]
There had been something in the air of Rochester for several weeks,
something of a social nature in which most of the people in the city
seemed interested, and it promised to culminate on the approaching 15th
of February, when Miss Anthony should be eleven times seven years old.
This famous birthday, which had been beautifully celebrated in New York,
Washington and numbers of other cities and towns throughout the country,
also had been often pleasantly observed in Rochester; but it was thought
by many people here that it was time Miss Anthony's own city should hold
a celebration which should eclipse all on record. The first intimation
she had was the receipt of this invitation:
The woman's clubs of this city are planning to give a reception in
your honor at Powers Hall on the evening of your seventy-seventh
birthday, February 15, 1897. They have chosen this means of
publicly expressing the great esteem in which they hold you, and
the pride they feel in reckoning among their number a woman of
national reputation. They trust that this date will be
satisfactory, and this manner of showing their respect not
distasteful to you. Very sincerely,
OLIVE DAVIS,
_Corresponding Secretary of the Committee on Arrangements_.
The committee was composed of one member of each of the sixteen woman's
clubs, and the admirable manner in which the affair was conducted
certainly indicated that it was in the hands of representative
women.[127] Most of the Rochester papers contained editorials of
congratulation. Among others the Post-Express said of the celebration:
Its purpose is to indicate the esteem in which she is held by the
people of the city of which she has, for many years, been a
resident. It is not intended as a demonstration in behalf of the
cause with which she has been especially identified. Its meaning is
deeper and its scope is broader than this. It is the woman, rather
than the advocate, who is to be honored....
Rochester is proud of Susan B. Anthony--proud that it can call her
its citizen. It has come to appreciate her quality. It understands,
not alone that she has stood in the front ranks of those who have
done battle for the equality of woman with man at the ballot-box,
but that she has also done much for the emancipation of woman from
civil thralldom and social inferiority, and that in all good causes
she has been distinguished--in philanthropies as in politics, in
the reformation of moral abuses as in the righting of what seemed
to her civic wrongs. As her work has proceeded, she has conquered
prejudice and persuaded respect--respect for herself independent of
and even superior to that for the causes in which she has enlisted.
And so it occurs that the citizens of Rochester, without regard to
the opinions they entertain upon woman suffrage and cognate
movements, but wholly in admiration and affection for a noble
woman, unite in the reception which awaits her, cordial and full of
meaning. It will be a notable occasion, and one long to be
remembered.
The daily papers gave long and elaborate reports of this great
reception, headed, "Our beloved Susan; Two thousand hands grasped by the
Grand Old Woman;" "Rochester Shows its Love for Her," etc., etc. A
portion of the Herald account may be quoted as indicating the tone of
all:
The reception accorded to Susan B. Anthony at Powers Hall by the
woman's clubs of Rochester was one of the most brilliant events of
the kind ever held in this city. All the prominent people of both
sexes were there, and each vied with the others in doing honor to
the woman whose splendid attributes of mind and heart have
reflected so much credit on the city. But little preliminary work
was needed, as it partook largely of the nature of a spontaneous
tribute. Fully 2,000 people, representing the beauty, wealth and
intelligence of the city, passed before this unostentatious, kindly
woman during the evening and esteemed it an honor to press her
hand.
The guests began to arrive at 8:30 o'clock and continued to come in
a steady stream for two hours thereafter. Miss Anthony stood at the
western end of the large room and around her were gathered the
reception committee, composed of representatives from each of the
woman's clubs in the city. The guests formed in line as they
entered and each in succession took the hand of Miss Anthony. She
greeted every one cordially and had a pleasant word for each. In
one hand she held a beautiful bouquet of white and yellow roses
sent by Miss Frances E. Willard.
There were more than Rochester's most distinguished citizens; hundreds
of the poor and the humble, a number of colored people, men and women in
all the walks of life, thronged the great hall surrounded with famous
paintings and radiant with electric lights, flowers and beautiful
costumes. They came to grasp the hand of one who had made no distinction
of race or rank or belief in her fifty years' work of uplifting all
humanity. If these had not been present, Miss Anthony would have felt
that her own city had not offered its full tribute of recognition.
At the Anthony home the day was a happy one. Rev. Anna Shaw came to help
celebrate. The house was filled with guests from out of town and many
callers, and the bell was ringing all day for telegrams, letters and
packages. There were potted plants and cut flowers, baskets of violets
and hyacinths, and great bunches of roses and carnations. Letters and
telegrams came from California and Massachusetts, and a number of States
between. Clubs of many descriptions sent messages, and even
Sunday-schools offered greetings. Mariana W. Chapman, president New York
State Suffrage Association, expressed the congratulations of that body,
and from all the National-American officers came words of appreciation.
Among these were the following from the national organizer, Carrie
Chapman Catt:
When a woman lives to be seventy-seven years old, having given a
whole half-century and more to the cause of human liberty, her age
becomes a crown of glory, before which every lover of progress bows
in acknowledgment. Such a woman is she whom we know as "Saint
Susan." Upon her birthday I have but one wish, and in this millions
of grateful American women join with me; may she live in health and
strength undiminished, until she witnesses the last woman in the
United States blessed with all the political privileges of
citizenship. If this wish might be fulfilled, I know it would bring
the highest joy ever permitted a human being; therefore because I
love her tenderly I make it, with gratitude for her years of
service and with a reverence unspeakable for the woman whose
courage, determination and adherence to principle made the service
possible.
A few evenings later Miss Anthony attended a meeting held in Rochester
by the Cuban League. As soon as she entered she was invited to a seat
on the stage and then the audience insisted on a speech. Finally she
came forward and said:
From the report of the first outrage in Cuba down to the present
time, there has not been a moment but that its people have had my
sympathy. Never since I began to know the meaning of the word
"freedom" has anything taken a stronger hold on me than this
struggle in Cuba. Even where all men are free, women are not, and I
trust that when Cuban men achieve their independence and frame
their constitution, they will not forget the women who have borne
the struggle with them, as our Revolutionary fathers forgot the
women who toiled by their side. The men of only four out of
forty-five States of our republic have yet granted liberty to the
women. I never can speak in a meeting like this without bearing
testimony to the cowardice of the men of this nation in refusing to
make the women free. I believe in liberty and equality for every
human being under every flag, not for men alone but for women also.
The last of February a telegram announced the death of Maude, wife of
Senator L. H. Humphrey, who but a few weeks before had visited the
Anthony home, and stated that the husband desired Miss Anthony to speak
at the funeral. She was a young and lovely wife and mother, treasurer of
the State Federation of Clubs and an officer of the State and county
suffrage associations. It was said that Miss Anthony spoke as one
inspired of the woman in whose death everything good had lost a helpful
hand, who had gone out of life with no fear for herself but only loving
thoughtfulness for others. She told of her courage in following the
truth wherever it might lead, of the freedom into which she had grown,
and the beautiful faith and trust in which she had lived; she said that
it was such who walked with God, and that her spiritual life could be
comprehended only by those who lived on the same high plane. It was a
deep regret to all who heard this exquisite eulogy that it was not
preserved word for word.
Reference has been made in a preceding chapter to Miss Anthony's
preparations for the writing of her biography, which were interrupted by
the urgent call from California. All her letters from friends and many
from strangers, for several years, had urged that it should not longer
be deferred. But who should do it? That was the important question.
There were a number of women who possessed the ability and the desire,
but some were absorbed in family cares and others in breadwinning
occupations; where was the one who could and would give a year or more
of her life to this vast undertaking? The question was still unanswered
when Miss Anthony laid everything else aside and plunged into the
California campaign. Long before this had ended, she had exacted a
promise from Mrs. Harper, who had charge of the State press during that
long and trying period, to come to Rochester and write the biography.
She herself agreed to remain at home till the work should be finished,
and give every possible assistance from the storehouse of reminiscence
and the wealth of material which had been so carefully garnered during
all the years.
So the first of March, 1897, the work began. A little while before, Miss
Anthony had written to a friend: "Some one soon will write the story of
my life and will want everything she can get about me, but she will find
there is precious little when she sits down to the task." What the
biographer did find was two large rooms filled, from floor to ceiling,
with material of a personal and historical nature. It seemed at first as
if nothing less than a cyclopedia could contain what would have to be
used. Ranged around the walls were trunks, boxes and bags of letters and
other documents, dating back for a century and tied in bundles just as
they had been put away from year to year. There were piles of legal
papers, accounts, receipts and memoranda of every description, and the
diaries and note-books of sixty years. The shelves were filled with
congressional, convention and other reports; there were stacks of
magazines and newspapers, large numbers of scrap-books and bushels of
scraps waiting to be pasted. There was, in fact, everything of this
nature which can be imagined, all carefully saved and put away, waiting
for the leisure when they could be sorted and classified.
It was fortunate indeed that the two women, who went to work so
cheerfully on that March morning, did not realize the task which was
before them, or their courage might have wavered. With the assistance of
their efficient secretary, Miss Genevieve Lel Hawley, the work went
steadily on from daylight till dark for many days, until at length the
sheep all were separated from the goats; the matter likely to be used
placed in one room, and the remainder arranged conveniently for
reference in the other. Every scrap of writing was pressed out and each
year's quota not only placed in a separate box, but arranged according
to months and days. The printed matter was carefully classified and the
scrap-books all finished, a complete set of nearly fifty years.
Then commenced the far more difficult labor of culling the most
important and interesting points from this great mass of material, and
condensing them into such space as would permit the reading of the
biography during at least an average lifetime. And thus was the task
continued, day after day, and far into the night, for much more than a
year. The snows of winter melted away; the bare branches of the tall
chestnut trees which towered above the windows put forth their buds and
burst into a wilderness of snowy blossoms; the birds built their nests
among the green leaves, reared their young and flew away with them to
warmer climes before the chill winds of approaching autumn; the
luxuriant foliage faded and dropped to the earth; again the naked
branches stretched out to a stormy sky, and the snow lay deep on the
frozen ground; while the story followed the life and work of this great
historic character through the slow unfolding out of the depths of the
past; the development from the springtime of youth into the fruitful
summer of maturity; the mellowing into the richness and beauty of
autumn; the coming at last into the snowy spotlessness of serene and
beautiful old age.
The attic workrooms were an ideal place for this long and exacting task,
secluded from all interruption and dedicated so entirely to the work
that not a book or paper ever was disturbed. A pretty description
written by Mrs. Minette Cheshire Hair, of the Rochester Democrat and
Chronicle staff, and published in a number of papers, thus began:
[Illustration: ATTIC WORK-ROOMS WHERE THE BIOGRAPHY WAS WRITTEN.]
Way up on the third floor of the cozy home at 17 Madison street,
away from the dust and noise of the pavement, in a charming den
admirably arranged for the purpose, two women have for months
been busily engaged getting together material and putting it in
shape for the publishers, which will give to the world a story--the
story of a career as remarkable as any ever written. Pausing on the
threshold, a description of the sanctum is not out of place, for
the pleasant atmosphere and surroundings at once impress the
visitor, so unconsciously have the occupants stamped it with their
own strong individuality. It consists of two large and airy rooms
which appear to be literally perched in the tree-tops, so close are
the swaying branches, which seem to nod approval and encouragement
to the two busy workers seated before a large bow window. Patches
of the blue sky glimmer above and through them, and the scene
without is restful and inspiring. Within is a large, low table
where the writing is done, and an easy couch piled with pillows
invites repose when the brain grows too weary.
The rooms are plain and ceiled above in natural wood, and on
shelves arranged along the sides are boxes containing years of
correspondence and documents, dating back to 1797--just one
century. In the room beyond, three stenographers do their part of
the work, and here also are large chests filled with the
accumulations of years of public life. It would seem as if the task
before these two dauntless women were almost endless, for every
letter must be read and carefully noted, every newspaper clipping
gleaned--and these alone would make volumes--old diaries perused,
and the whole digested and woven into the fabric of facts which not
only go to make the story of one woman, but the history of the
great progressive movement of women during the past fifty years.
FOOTNOTES:
[126] Among them were Harriet Beecher Stowe, Sarah B. Cooper, Drs. Hiram
Corson and Caroline B. Winslow, Judges E. G. Merrick and O. P. Stearns,
Mary Grew, J. Elizabeth Jones, Hannah Tracy Cutler, Sarah Southwick.
[127] The idea of giving the reception originated among the members of
the Wednesday Club, some of whom conceived the thought that it was time
for the women of Rochester in some way to recognize Miss Anthony's
ability, energy and labors in behalf of her sex.... Reformers, as a
rule, are not popular in their day, and Miss Anthony ran the gauntlet of
derision and abuse years ago, but today the magnificent services she has
rendered for woman are everywhere recognized.
The plans have been perfected upon a very elaborate scale. The following
are represented in the movement: the Wednesday Club, the Ethical
Society, the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, the Wellesley
Association, the Cornell Association, the Coterie, the Woman's Saturday
Club, the Holyoke Association, the Jewish Council, the Sisterhood of
Berith Kodesh, the Ignorance Club, the Tuesday Reading Club, the
Livingston Park Seminary Alumnae, the Rochester Female Academy Alumnae,
the Ladies' Travellers' Club, and Mrs. Hall's Art Class.
The reception is not to women only, but it is expected that a large
number of men will be present. [Then follows a list of names of many of
the prominent ladies of Rochester, who acted as a reception committee,
and of equally well-known young men, who served as ushers.]--Democrat
and Chronicle.