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[Illustration HW: Susan B. Anthony]
THE LIFE AND WORK
OF
SUSAN B. ANTHONY
INCLUDING PUBLIC ADDRESSES, HER OWN LETTERS
AND MANY FROM HER CONTEMPORARIES
DURING FIFTY YEARS
BY
IDA HUSTED HARPER
A Story of the evolution of the Status of Woman
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOLUME I
ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS, PICTURES OF HOMES, ETC.
INDIANAPOLIS AND KANSAS CITY
THE BOWEN-MERRILL COMPANY
1899
TO WOMAN, FOR WHOSE FREEDOM
SUSAN B. ANTHONY
HAS GIVEN FIFTY YEARS OF NOBLE ENDEAVOR
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
PREFACE.
A biography written during the lifetime of the subject is unusual, but
to the friends of Miss Anthony it seemed especially desirable because
the reform in which she and her contemporaries have been engaged has
not been given a deserved place in the pages of history, and the
accounts must be gleaned very largely from unpublished records and
personal recollections. The wisdom of this course often has been
apparent in the preparation of these volumes. In recalling how many
times an entirely different interpretation of letters, scenes and
actions would have been made from that which Miss Anthony declared to
be the true one, the author must confess that hereafter all biographies
will be read by her with a certain amount of skepticism--a doubt
whether the historian has drawn correct conclusions from apparent
premises, and a disbelief that one individual can state accurately the
motives which influenced another.
Most persons who have attained sufficient prominence to make a record
of their lives valuable are too busy to prepare an autobiography, but
there is only one other way to go down to posterity correctly
represented, and that is to have some one else write the history while
the hero still lives. If we admit this self-evident proposition, then
the question is presented, should it be published during his lifetime?
A reason analogous to that which justifies the writing, demands also
the publication, in order that denials or attacks may be met by the
person who, above all others, is best qualified to defend the original
statement. It seems a pity, too, that he should be deprived of knowing
what the press and the people think of the story of his life, since
there is no assurance that he will meet the book-reviewers in the next
world.
These volumes may claim the merit of truthfully describing the
principal events of Miss Anthony's life and presenting her opinions on
the various matters considered. She has objected to the eulogies, but
the writer holds that, as these are not the expressions of a partial
biographer but the spontaneous tributes of individuals and newspapers,
no rule of good taste is violated in giving them a place. It is only
justice that, since the abuse and ridicule of early years are fully
depicted, esteem and praise should have equal prominence; and surely
every one will read with pleasure the proof that the world's scorn and
repudiation have been changed to respect and approval. Many letters of
women have been used to disprove the assertion so often made, that
women themselves do not properly estimate the labors of Miss Anthony in
their behalf. It can not be expected that the masses should understand
or appreciate her work, but the written evidence herein submitted will
demonstrate that the women of each decade most prominent in
intellectual ability, in philanthropy, in reform, those who represent
the intelligence and progress of the age, have granted to it the most
cordial and thorough recognition.
There has not been the slightest attempt at rhetorical display, but
only an endeavor to tell in plain, simple language the story of the
life and work of one who was born into the simplicity and
straightforwardness of the Society of Friends and never departed from
them. The constant aim has been to condense, but it has not been an
easy task to crowd into limited space the history of nearly eighty
busy, eventful years, comprising a revolution in social and legal
customs. If the reader discover some things omitted which to him seem
vital, or others mentioned which appear unimportant, it is hoped he
will attribute them to an error of judgment rather than to an intention
to minimize or magnify unduly any person or action.
The fact should be kept in mind that this is not a history of woman
suffrage, except in so far as Miss Anthony herself has been directly
connected with it. A number of women have made valuable contributions
to this movement whose lives have not come in contact with hers,
therefore they have not been mentioned in these pages, which have been
devoted almost exclusively to her personal labors and associations.
Many of those even who have been her warm and faithful friends have had
to be omitted for want of space. No one can know the regret this has
caused, or the conscientious effort which has been made to render exact
justice to Miss Anthony's co-workers. It was so difficult for her to
select the few pictures for which room could be spared that she was
strongly tempted to exclude all. Personal controversies have been
omitted, in the belief that nothing could be gained which would justify
handing them down to future generations. Where differences have existed
in regard to matters of a public nature, only so much of them has been
given as might serve for an object lesson on future occasions.
In preparing these volumes over 20,000 letters have been read and,
whenever possible, some of them used to tell the story, especially
those written by Miss Anthony herself, as her own language seemed
preferable to that of any other, but only a comparatively small number
of the latter could be obtained. She kept copies of a few important
official letters, and friends in various parts of the country kindly
sent those in their possession. Every letter quoted in these volumes
was copied from the original, hence there can be no question of
authenticity. The autographs reproduced in fac-simile were clipped from
letters written to Miss Anthony. Her diaries of over fifty years have
furnished an invaluable record. The strict financial accounts of all
moneys received and spent, frequently have supplied a date or incident
when every other source had failed. A mine of information was found in
her full set of scrap-books, beginning with 1850; the History of Woman
Suffrage; almost complete files of Garrison's Liberator, the
Anti-Slavery Standard, and woman's rights papers--Lily, Una,
Revolution, Ballot-Box, Woman's Journal, Woman's Tribune. The reader
easily can perceive the difficulty of condensation, with Miss Anthony's
own history so closely interwoven with the periods and the objects
represented by all these authorities.
The intent of this work has been to trace briefly the evolution of a
life and a condition. The transition of the young Quaker girl, afraid
of the sound of her own voice, into the reformer, orator and statesman,
is no more wonderful than the change in the status of woman, effected
so largely through her exertions. At the beginning she was a chattel in
the eye of the law; shut out from all advantages of higher education
and opportunities in the industrial world; an utter dependent on man;
occupying a subordinate position in the church; restrained to the
narrowest limits along social lines; an absolute nonentity in politics.
Today American women are envied by those of all other nations, and
stand comparatively free individuals, with the exception of political
disabilities.
During the fifty years which have wrought this revolution, just one
woman in all the world has given every day of her time, every dollar of
her money, every power of her being, to secure this result. She was
impelled to this work by no personal grievance, but solely through a
deep sense of the injustice which, on every side, she saw perpetrated
against her sex, and which she determined to combat. Never for one
short hour has the cause of woman been forgotten or put aside for any
other object. Never a single tie has been formed, either of affection
or business, which would interfere with this supreme purpose. Never a
speech has been given, a trip taken, a visit made, a letter written, in
all this half-century, that has not been done directly in the interest
of this one object. There has been no thought of personal comfort,
advancement or glory; the self-abnegation, the self-sacrifice, have
been absolute--they have been unparalleled.
There has been no desire to emphasize the hardships and unpleasant
features, but only to picture in the fewest possible words the many
consecutive years of unremitting toil, begun amidst conditions which
now seem almost incredible, and continued with sublime courage in the
face of calumny and persecution such as can not be imagined by the
women of today. Nothing has been concealed or mitigated. In those years
of constant aggression, when every step was an experiment, there must
have been mistakes, but the story would be incomplete if they were left
untold. No effort has been made to portray a perfect character, but
only that of a woman who dared take the blows and bear the scorn that
other women might be free. Future generations will read these pages
through tears, and will wonder what manner of people those were who not
only permitted this woman to labor for humanity fifty years, almost
unaided, but also compelled her to beg or earn the money with which to
carry on her work. If certain opinions shall be found herein which the
world is not ready to accept, let it be remembered that, as Miss
Anthony was in advance of public sentiment in the past, she may be
equally so in the present, and that the radicalism which we reject
today may be the conservatism at which we will wonder tomorrow.
Those who follow the story of this life will confirm the assertion that
every girl who now enjoys a college education; every woman who has the
chance of earning an honest living in whatever sphere she chooses;
every wife who is protected by law in the possession of her person and
her property; every mother who is blessed with the custody and control
of her own children--owes these sacred privileges to Susan B. Anthony
beyond all others. This biography goes to the public with the earnest
hope that it may carry to every man a conviction of his imperative duty
to secure for women the same freedom which he himself enjoys; and that
it may impress upon every woman a solemn obligation to complete the
great work of this noble pioneer.
[Autograph: Ida Husted Harper]
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
VOL. I.
CHAPTER I.
ANCESTRY, HOME AND CHILDHOOD. (1550-1826.), 1-15
Berkshire Hills; noted persons born there; Anthony and Read genealogy;
military record; religious beliefs; education; marriage of father and
mother of Susan B. Anthony; her birth and childhood; characteristics of
mother; first factory built.