# Democratic Ideals (Brown)/Chapter 4

CHAPTER IV
LECTURER AND AUTHOR
Mrs. Colby lectured extensively in almost every state in the Union as well as in England, Ireland and Scotland, and also gave lectures at Budapest and other places in Europe. She took part in most of the great suffrage campaigns which were carried on in the different states in the effort to secure the franchise by vote of the electors. She made her home in Oregon for a time, taking part in several of the suffrage campaigns of that state.
In 1899 she attended the Great International Council of Women held in London, of which accounts were extensively published. While there Mrs. Colby made the acquaintance of many distinguished suffrage workers. The following report of one session on the subject of journalism will be of interest, as it pertains to our history. The session was presided over by the Duchess of Sutherland. After speaking of the address of the Duchess, the author says, "Mrs. Clara Bewick Colby, the esteemed and brilliant editor of the Woman's Tribune, and one of the most distinguished representatives in the council, made the closing remarks. She thought too ​
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great stress had been laid on the financial side of the success of women in journalism. The journalism of the reform press was in reality of a far higher order than could be measured by wages. In this way more than any other, women were contributing to the advancement of humanity along moral lines, and for the establishment of ethical, political and industrial conditions."
From the time of the discontinuance of the Tribune in 1909 until 1912 considerable time was spent in England in helping the English suffragists in their struggle for justice and in making acquaintance with many prominent English reformers. Of her experiences in England she published, from time to time, most interesting accounts in the Washington Herald. Among other writings she prepared a book entitled "The History of London." It was her purpose to publish this book, but her urgent duties interfered with her plans.
The complete manuscript of this book, is still preserved by her sister, Dr. Mary B. White of Palo Alto, California. It is to be hoped that it may be published at a later date. It cannot fail to be most interesting as Mrs. Colby's style of writing is always clear and finished. In this respect it is much superior to her speeches. Although her speaking was well received and highly praised she was not a natural orator. She lacked ​
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the spontaneity and magnetism so essential to the public speaker, and it would have been better for her reputation if she had confined herself to literature where she might have gained greater recognition than was possible on the platform.
The following beautiful paragraph will show something of her power. She wrote the Call for the Thirty -second Annual Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association in 1900, closing with this fine paragraph, "The way up the heights of woman's advancement has been long and steep, but it has not been dreary. The consciousness of giving the world a forward movement along the path of liberty is the highest reward that is vouchsafed to human effort. The greatest men of the century have walked with us; poets have sung for us, prophets have inspired us with visions of success; statesmen have made courts and forums ring with eloquence in our behalf; stones have blossomed into roses; scorn has become applause; timidity, opposition and indifference have changed into a grand chorus of appeal for women's equality before the law. Let us then close the nineteenth century with a convention which shall be a jubilee for our successes and the preparation for the twentieth century, which is to be not man's nor woman's but humanity's."
A volume of her lectures on various sub ​
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jects would be most interesting and with the material in the hands of Dr. White may pcssibly be published by the Federal Suffrage Association at a later day.
During the three winters preceding 1916 Mrs. Colby gave courses of lectures in Washington which were notable for the breadth of vision indicated and the labor necessary to prepare them. The following list of subjects of one course will show the nature of these lectures. The others were of a similar character.
"Delia Blanchflower," Mrs. Humphrey Ward's new Woman Suffrage Novel.
"Austria-Hungary, Its History and Conditions."
"Florence Nightingale."
"Women in the Building of America."
"Woman's Work in English Fiction," Clara H. Whitmore, A. M.
"Bohemia, and the Burning of John Hus."
"Euripides, and his Types of Greek Women."
"The Lion with Seven Darts in His Paw."
"Hroswitha Who Wrote Dramas a Thousand Years Ago; and Women of the Monasteries."
"Fanny Burney and Dr. Johnson." "Rudolph Eucken, and the New Religious Idealism."
"The Great Mother," C. H. J. Bjerregaard. ​
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It is easy to give a lecture on suffrage where the arguments are manifest and the illustrations furnished by every day's experience, but it is quite a different thing to give a lecture on "Bergson's Philosophy," or "Rudolph Eucken and the New Religious Idealism." The list of her subjects indicates that she must have spent long days in hard labor at the various libraries to which she had access. Of her lectures Mr. B. 0. Flower says: "Mrs. Colby has long been recognized as one of the most brilliant lecturers among the more thoughtful American women," and of her Whitman readings one has said, "to lovers of the noble poet Mrs. Colby's reading was a joy and an inspiration."
However, these philosophical lectures were the smallest of her undertakings. Her lectures on woman's suffrage and kindred subjects were the chief part of all her public work.
They began when she was a young woman just leaving the university, and continued during her entire life. They have contributed more than can now be estimated to the advancement of the cause of woman's emancipation. She was an advocate of peace and took part in the great peace conference at San Francisco during the exposition. She also spoke in behalf of the soldiers of the Spanish War. We have the following notice of a meeting held during the war which ap 45 ​
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peared in the papers of that day. "The devotional exercises were conducted by the Rev. W. C. Gannett, pastor of the Unitarian church, in which the meeting was held. After the scripture lesson and hymn singing, Dr. Gannett read "Kipling's Recessional." Susan B. Anthony introduced Mrs. Colby, who proved to be an interesting speaker. She spoke of the excellent work being done by the Red Cross, Daughters of the American Revolution, Woman's National War Relief, and other Societies. In conclusion she made a strong plea for universal peace as suggested in the Czar's proposition." Temperance, religion, philosophy, domestic science, women's dress, all received a part of her attention. Perhaps her most valuable lecture is one entitled, "Woman's Part in the Building of America." This lecture contains much historical information for which she had sought material from sources not available to the average reader. She traced the history of many good and liberal laws which had been passed in various countries by the influence of women from the time of Isabella of Spain until the present time and which had prepared the way for woman's advancement in the United States of America. Her versatility was amazing. One writer in describing a lecture, in which some reference had been made to her work says, "Mrs. Colby led her ​
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audience along cheerfully from biscuits to Pi." During the Spanish war she was officially appointed as war correspondent, the first woman to be so recognized.
In 1913 she was appointed by the Governor of Oregon as a delegate to a meeting of the Great International Suffrage Alliance at Budapest, and also to the Peace Congress at the Hague. After attending these meetings she went to England, where she spent an entire season lecturing on literary and philosophical subjects to interested audiences in London, Dublin and other cities. She also gave readings from Whitman and interpretations of his poems.
In recent times her interest in Woman's Suffrage had centered upon efforts to obtain the passage by Congress of a law altering the regulations made by the states in regard to the election of national officers. An account of this effort, and of the Federal Suffrage Society, will be found in Chapters VI and IX of this book.
In the years from 1890 to 1892 a considerable interest was taken quite generally in a plan of suffrage work suggested by Judge Francis Minor of St. Louis. Miss Anthony took the matter up and asked Mrs. Colby to formulate the argument for presentation in the National Convention of 1892. This was done and a new committee, called the Federal ​
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Suffrage Committee, was appointed and "Clara Bewick Colby was made chairman with power to form a representative committee" from those who should be found disposed to take up this phase of effort. Mrs. Colby says in the Woman's Tribune, December 19, 1903, "At the next convention I was able to report that a representative woman had been secured from each of thirty-nine states, in most cases the committee member being president of the State Association. Although the work of securing a committee required much time, yet before the year was out I had secured petitions and memorials from twenty states, mostly from collective bodies, but still hundreds of citizens individually signed these petitions in many places." Notwithstanding this magnificent report the National American Association decided at once to discontinue this line of work, and of course discontinue Mrs. Colby as a chairman of the committee. By this action of the National American Association Mrs. Colby was thrown out of an opportunity to advocate this measure for some ten years. This was a great disappointment to her, as she had worked most zealously and effectively.
She hoped she had laid a foundation for a line of work, which would soon be successful, and thus open the way to the Anthony amendment.
Not until the revival of interest in the ​
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subject in 1902, and the organization of a new Federal Suffrage Society, did she again take part in advocacy of this cause. But from that time she made it the chief business of her life. She threw herself into the work with utmost enthusiasm; she spared neither time, work nor money. Day and night, in season and out of season, at home in Washington, or abroad in different states where she went to lecture, everywhere and always, she represented the Federal Suffrage idea, and worked for it. Even upon her deathbed she wrote a long letter to the editor of this book describing a plan of work which she hoped to carry out the following winter, and especially urging the importance of maintaining the association for the sake of emphasizing the "original rights of women under the Constitution." This was always a strong point with her.
SUFFRAGE CONGRESS
In connection with the Association she inaugurated a Federal Suffrage Congress at the Panama Exposition in San Francisco, and with the help of the officers of the Association, Mrs. Elizabeth Lowe Watson, the first vice-president; Mrs. William Kent, Mrs. Andrea Hofer Proudfoot, and the president, Rev. Olympia Brown, a three-day congress was carried through in a manner which compared favorably with other congresses at the ​
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exposition, and which will be remembered as a part of that great enterprise. The congress closed on the last evening in the Court of the Abundance with a grand pageant arranged by Miss Marie Hofer illustrating woman's part in the building of America.
Mrs. Colby read from her lecture on this subject a description of each tableau before its presentation, the whole forming a complete picture of the work of women in the cause of liberty in America. A large audience was in attendance, and much interest and general approval was manifested. After the congress she returned to Washington where she arranged a fine closing meeting which she held simultaneously with the official closing in San Francisco.
Among the letters given by Mr. Charles C. Moore, president of the exposition in the book called "The Legacy of the Exposition," we find the following:
"If, in admiration of the glories of the exposition, one might call it the eighth wonder of the world, we should still have to remember that each of the classic seven was for its own period and people, while the PanamaPacific International Exposition has stood for "World Service, World Peace, World Patriotism." It was a vision of splendor; its memory will be a cherished treasure of the heart. It engendered an increased reverence for hu 50 ​
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man capacity, and was a prophecy of the harmony that is to be between the most distant and diverse peoples when we find their common tie—on the one hand in their common struggles on their path of evolution, and, on the other hand, in the Divine Order where all have the same Source and the same Destiny."
Clara Bewick Colby,
Corresponding Secretary, Federal Suffrage Association of the United States, Washington, District of Columbia. ​
CHAPTER V
PERSONALITY AND LAST DAYS
Beside Mrs. Colby's literary attainments and her wonderful capabilities for work, she was in private life a most genial and helpful friend to all who came in her way. Hospitality was one of her distinguishing characteristics. Many people today remember with pleasure the social gatherings, the four o'clock teas, and the evening lectures which they enjoyed at Mrs. Colby's home on Fourteenth Street in Washington. It was her custom whenever she made acquaintance with any interesting speaker from abroad, anyone who had a message to give, no matter on what subject, to arrange a lecture in her parlor inviting such personal friends as were likely to be interested in the subject proposed. She was as hospitable in her thought as in her home. She did not ask the political or religious creed, or nationality, or race, of the speaker. She asked only whether he had a message.
Mrs. Carrie Harrison, her friend of the Press Club, says in a recent letter to the editor of this book, "In 1897 I lived in Mrs. Colby's house and saw something of her capacity for work. No matter what she had
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done or how hard the work she had accomplished she would always clear up the room for an informal party Saturday night.
"And where did all the people come from? They were judges, doctors, North American Indians, Hindu philosophers, and what not. If there was a crank in town he would find his way to Clara B. Colby's Saturday evening. She was a mixer extraordinary. At about eleven o'clock she made coffee and, crowded around a long table, we talked on till midnight."
Her benevolence was unbounded. It is related of her that at one time when she occupied a single room at the W. C. T. U. building on Sixth street she heard a rapping at the outside door in the night. She went down and found a poor homeless woman there. She took her to her own room, and kept her over night, gave her a breakfast and helped her to go on her way in the morning. And this was not a rare instance of her helpfulness. She was always on the alert to aid those in need.
During her last winter in Washington in 1916 she roomed at 304 Indiana Avenue. During that season Washington was visited with a serious epidemic of grippe. Many of the tenants in the house were seriously sick. Mrs. Colby made herself a nurse, attendant and friend to each one, visiting them all daily, and ministering to their needs until at ​
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last the disease attacked her in a violent form which laid the foundation for the pneumonia that afterwards caused her death. When she left for the West in the spring the tenants of the different rooms stood together in tears at the head of the stairs, as she bade them good-bye to go to the train. It was her plan to go to Oregon and establish her home at Eugene, employing herself in giving interpretations and readings of Whitman and in lecturing along the Pacific coast. She visited Portland and seems to have been most cordially received. She wrote of receptions which were tendered her, of lectures that she had given, of having opportunities to present the aims of the Federal Suffrage Association and of making preliminary arrangements for future lectures. She then went to Eugene where she remained some weeks making arrangements for her work of the approaching fall and winter. But the disease of the previous winter had left its effects on her constitution and she was attacked by pneumonia. She lingered several weeks in great pain. Her sister, Dr. Mary B. White, came to Eugene and took her to her home in Palo Alto, California, in the hope that with kind care and surrounded by comforts she might recover her health. The journey, however, proved a great tax on her system and when she arrived at Palo Alto she was overcome
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by weakness and lived only a few days, passing away on the 7th of September. Her remains were cremated, and the ashes sent in an urn to Windsor, Wisconsin, the family home. Appropriate services were held there, as also in Palo Alto. Notices of her death were given in most of the papers throughout the country.
Thus ended a life of untiring and heroic endeavor. Mrs. Colby's courage was wonderful, and it helped her to defy and overcome the most adverse circumstances. She had great sorrows, but she never paraded them. Indeed, she seldom spoke of them, even to her most intimate friends. She suffered great injustice, but she never complained. Always cheerful, always hopeful, she "left the things that were behind, and pressed forward to the things that were before."
The soldier climbing up Vimy Ridge bearing aloft the colors, amid the constant fire of the German guns, was not a more brave or heroic figure than the woman rising above disappointment and sorrow, hampered by untold difficulties, yet fighting gloriously on for the enfranchisement of the women of the world, never losing sight of the great ideal to which she aspired, but "bearing all things, hoping all things, believing all things" to the end.
Mrs. Colby was a strong and inspiring character. Her life was filled with useful ​
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activity and good work, and yet with the most noble ideals, the utmost energy and patient endeavor, her life was in many respects a disappointment. Her plans were too elaborate to be carried out with the means at hand, and her ideals too high to be realized in the midst of this strenuous and material age.
Her friend, Miss Harrison, speaking of this calls it a "genius for failure," but her "genius for failure" was rather a hope for success. She was optimistic in the extreme and her aspirations lifted her into an atmosphere of ideality and exaltation which made her oblivious of the realities of life, and forgetful of the difficulties to be encountered. From her Pisgah height she always saw the promised land just ahead. Discouragement was a word which had no meaning for her. The righteousness of the undertaking was to her an assurance of attainment and her energy was equal to the largest possible demand.
It is sad to think that aspiration and hope, faithful labor, and self-sacrifice must so often be unable to reach the goal sought. The superficial pronounce the word "failure" with contempt when a clearer judgment and better understanding of spiritual reality would have led them to bow down in generous recognition of the lofty endeavor.
She was a democrat of the democrats, and her interest was confined to no class or condition of men or women, but wherever ​
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there was need of help, a call for sympathy, or a cause requiring sacrifice, she was always ready. She wanted to help everybody and instruct everybody. Unfortunately many people do not wish to be instructed, and some cannot be helped. It is the fate of the pioneer to make pleasant paths for others to walk in, and to open doors of opportunity to those who come after them. And Mrs. Colby was a pioneer.
She had the reward of which she said, "The consciousness of giving the world a forward movement along the path of liberty is the highest reward of human effort."
CHAPTER VI.
THE FEDERAL SUFFRAGE ASS'N OF THE UNITED STATES
Mrs. Colby devoted a large part of her time from 1902 until her death in 1916 to advocacy of the ideas represented by the Federal Suffrage Association. For this reason a short account of the history and principles of this society are a necessary adjunct to a sketch of her life.
After the union of the National and American Associations in 1889 the work with Congress which Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony had pressed with such vigor ceased to receive the attention which had previously been given it. State work took the place of national effort. The failure of Mrs. Virginia Minor to maintain the right of women to vote under the XIVth amendment had discouraged many, and it seemed evident that the time had come for a new departure. These things led to the organization of the Federal Suffrage Association of the United States. Judge Francis Minor of St. Louis had prepared the way by articles published in the Forum in 1886 and later in the Arena, urging upon women the importance of demanding the right to vote under the ​constitution, Section 2, Article 1, which provides:
"The members of the House of Representatives shall be elected once in two years by the people."
As no exceptions or qualifications were made, the term "people" necessarily included women. He supported his claim by many unanswerable arguments and telling quotations from the framers of the constitution and the decisions of the courts. He quoted the Federalist as showing by the constitution that those counted in the enumeration are entitled to vote. "Therefore," he said, "as women are counted in the enumeration on which the congressional apportionment is based, they are legally entitled to an equal share of representation."
He demanded an act of Congress according to the fourth section of Article I and quoted James Madison as saying that "the power to change the regulations made by the states was to protect the people. Should the people at any time be deprived of the right of suffrage in any state for any cause it was deemed proper that it should be remedied by the General Government."
The following quotation from Mr. Minor gives an idea of his line of argument. He said in speaking of the Yarborough decision (concerning the right of the states to regulate the qualifications of voters):
"Two circumstances have led to confusion ​of thought in this matter. Every citizen of the United States is possessed of a dual citizenship, and is a member of two sovereignties; and yet these two conditions of citizenship, although entirely distinct, are united or blended in the same individual. Suffrage is an attribute of citizenship under the federal constitution; no limitation or restriction whatever is made as to the sex of the elector, while under the State constitution there is; and as there has been no assertion by the federal government of its reserved right to make and alter regulations as to the times, places and manner of holding elections for representatives in Congress, the matter has gone by default, as it were, and been left entirely to the control of the states. And this has been the case so long, that the impression is almost universal, that the states have supreme control over the federal as well as the state right of suffrage. This was the opinion of the Supreme Court itself when the subject was formerly under consideration in the case of Minor vs. Happersett, (21 Wallace), for the Court was then unanimously of the opinion that the United States has no voters of its own creation, and that the constitution of the United States does not confer the right of suffrage upon any one. Subsequent reflection, however, has led the Court to change its views, and it now declares (in the Yarborough decision) that ​the right to vote for members of Congress is fundamentally based upon the constitution of the United States, which created the office, if it can be called an office, and declares the manner in which it shall be filled. The importance of this last declaration by the Supreme Court cannot be over-estimated. It places the right to vote for members of Congress on its only true foundation, that of the constitution of the United States, and is an assertion of national power and dignity; and the next declaration by the Court is no less important, that 'the States, in prescribing the qualifications of voters for the most numerous branch of their own Legislatures,do not do this with reference to the election of members of Congress. Nor can they prescribe the qualifications for voters for those eo nomine. So that when the states impose upon their own citizens a qualification, that of sex, with which one-half of them cannot comply, it has no reference to the federal elector, who is not bound thereby, nor can his or her right of federal suffrage be defeated by such an artifice. Thus an impediment, heretofore supposed to be ineluctable, is removed by this decision.
"The right of federal suffrage is not based upon sex. It inheres in the status or condition of federal citizenship. Men do not vote for members of Congress by reason of their sex, or because they are men, but because