The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony Volume II Part 30

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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 a.s.sume 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 a.s.sociation, 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 a.s.surance 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 a.s.sociation 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. Sat.u.r.day 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 a.s.sembled 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, princ.i.p.al 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 a.s.semblage comprising all the best elements of all the best cla.s.ses 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 s.e.x. 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 n.o.ble 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, una.s.suming 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, n.o.ble 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 ma.s.se. 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 Const.i.tution 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 endors.e.m.e.nt as its contemporaries in the North. The other city papers were generous with s.p.a.ce 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 a.s.sociation. 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 a.s.sociation 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, a.s.sisted 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 Const.i.tution 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 cla.s.ses 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 ma.s.s 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 Const.i.tution 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 ma.s.s, 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 s.p.a.cious 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 p.r.o.nounced 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 princ.i.p.al, her heart has thrilled anew with grat.i.tude 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 s.p.a.ce 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, a.s.sisted 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 Dougla.s.s 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, Was.h.i.+ngton, 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 enfranchis.e.m.e.nt 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 pa.s.sed 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 Inst.i.tute, and left for New York March 12. Here she had an important business meeting with Mary Lowe d.i.c.kinson, 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 flas.h.i.+ng 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 acc.u.mulated 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 a.s.sisting a guest in my house," said Miss Anthony, "you can not remain in my employ." The girl, although in dest.i.tute circ.u.mstances, 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 subst.i.tute. 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 was.h.i.+ng 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 inst.i.tutions, 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.