The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony Volume II Part 20

The bribers, the liquor dealers and gamblers, were reinforced here, as had been the case in other State campaigns, by their faithful allies, "the Remonstrants of Boston," who circulated their anonymous sheet through every nook and corner of the State.

All of the speakers who took any prominent part in the campaign were paid except Miss Anthony.[64] She contributed her services for over six months and refused during that time an offer of $500 from the State of Was.h.i.+ngton for ten lectures and a contract from one of the largest lecture bureaus in the country at $60 per night.[65] At the close of the canva.s.s she gave from the national fund $100 each to Mrs. Wardall and Philena E. Johnson, who had worked so faithfully without pay. Then, lacking $300 of enough to settle all the bills, she drew that amount from her own small bank account and put it in as a contribution to the campaign.

At the annual meeting of the State W. C. T. U., September 26, a strong resolution was adopted endorsing Miss Anthony's work in South Dakota and she was made an honorary member. After the election the State suffrage committee unanimously pa.s.sed the following resolution: "The earnest and heartfelt grat.i.tude of all the suffragists of South Dakota is hereby extended to Susan B. Anthony, who has devoted her entire time, energy and experience for six months to the cause of liberty and justice."

Anna Shaw said that in all her years of preaching and lecturing she had never been so exhausted as at the close of that canva.s.s. Mrs. Catt was prostrated with typhoid fever immediately upon reaching home, and hovered between life and death for many months, in her delirium constantly making speeches and talking of the campaign. Mary Anthony said, "When my sister returned from South Dakota I realized for the first time that she was indeed threescore and ten."

FOOTNOTES:

[59] "I am homesick already," she wrote Mrs. Spofford, "and have been every minute since I left Was.h.i.+ngton. My choice would be to live there most of the year, but no! Duty first, ease and comfort afterwards, even if they never come."

[60] Mrs. Wallace was kept at home by serious illness in her family. In a letter to Miss Anthony, August 18, expressing her deep regret, she said: "Money would be no object with me if I could overcome the other difficulties in the way, but as I can not, I fear I shall have to let you think I am unreliable. I regret this, as there is no woman (except Miss Willard) whose good opinion I value so highly as yours."

[61] In order to keep her next engagement, Miss Anthony was obliged to leave Huron at 7:30 A. M., drive sixteen miles in the face of a heavy northwest wind and rain, travel all day and speak that evening. "I did the best I could," she wrote in her journal.

[62] Then E. W. Miller took the floor, and in a disgusting manner and vile language berated the women present and all woman suffragists....

Miller disgraced the name of Democracy, disgraced his const.i.tuents, disgraced South Dakota, disgraced the name of man by his brutal and low remarks in the presence of ladies and gentlemen.--Aberdeen Pioneer.

[63] At one place where this happened, the Russian sheriff had locked the court house doors, but the women compelled him to open them. He was entirely converted by the addresses of the afternoon, and in the evening when the storm was approaching, he rushed to Miss Anthony and exclaimed, "Come, quick, and let me take you to the cellar, where you will be perfectly safe." "O, no, thank you," she replied, "a little thing like a cyclone does not frighten me."

[64] Henry B. Blackwell made a speaking tour of six weeks through the State at his own expense.

[65] A letter from Mrs. Catt said: "I think you are the most unselfish woman in all the world. You are determined to see that all the rest of us are paid and comfortable, but think it entirely proper to work yourself for nothing. If some of your self-sacrificing spirit could be injected into the great body of suffragists, we would win a hundred years sooner."

CHAPTER x.x.xIX.

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 pa.s.sed at the latter place and the next day the suffrage friends, under the leaders.h.i.+p 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. Sat.u.r.day 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 Was.h.i.+ngton convention, the National Council and the World's Fair Congress of Women.

She arrived in Rochester Sat.u.r.day 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 const.i.tution, 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 s.e.x." 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 repet.i.tion 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 Const.i.tution, 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 Was.h.i.+ngton, 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 cla.s.ses 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 a.s.sociation took two large rooms in the new club house for headquarters.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Harriet Taylor Upson (Signed "Faithfully Yours Harriet Taylor Winston")]

Two deaths in 1890 affected Miss Anthony most deeply. Ellen H. Sheldon, of Was.h.i.+ngton, 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 a.s.sociation. 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 pa.s.sed 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 furnis.h.i.+ngs of her sister's room.

Miss Anthony arrived in Was.h.i.+ngton 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 Ma.s.sachusetts 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 n.o.ble 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 a.s.semblage, 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 Disfranchis.e.m.e.nt," saying as she commenced that "they might imagine how every moment she was wis.h.i.+ng 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 Was.h.i.+ngton, 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 a.s.sociation to take part in the Woman's Congress to be held during the World's Fair.

The newspapers of Was.h.i.+ngton, 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 enfranchis.e.m.e.nt 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 n.o.ble 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 a.s.surance of his thorough belief in suffrage for women.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 a.s.sociation's headquarters, but now both will have to find a new place, for the hotel is to pa.s.s 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. Cas.e.m.e.nt, whose hospitality she had enjoyed for many years whenever her journeyings took her to that city.