Omaha daily bee., 1897-11-05
MISS ANrnoxY's LOVE STORY.
Her suItor was Too Ficl<ic to Wait n
wcel. for nm Answer.

Berkshire hills relates the Rochester Chron-
icle, that the house party assembled In the
long, old-fashoned parlor one evening, the
iain precluding any outdoor excursions. The
mountain air was sharp and fire had been
kindled in the big brick fireplace, and the
logs cracked and famed on the cleaning
brass and irons, Chairs were arranged In a
semi-circle around the cheerful hearth. and
seated therein were women OF renown, lv-
ing representatives OF woman's progress in
the world of letters and in the lecture field.
First and best revered was Susan h. Anthony
herself, and as the conditions and environ
ments were ideal for a story, a romance of
the past contemporary with the surroundings.
Aunt Susan was importuned TO relate some
OF her experiences.
Tell us some of your love stories" they
all cried as one
But l never had any worth telling" she
declared There wasn't bit of romance in
any OF my AFFAIRS | always said, like the
old maid, that the man l wanted wouldn't
have me, and those that wanted me were so
bad that the devil himself wouldn't have
them" But Miss Anthony wasn't to escape
so easily, and it ended in her relating the
following tale
The room was lighted only by the flicker
ing freight, which shone on Miss Anthony's s
face as she talked. silhouettelike against the
dark shadows in the background.
Then she told how one time when she was
travelling through some western state, hold
Ing conventions, many years ago, when she
wGS not more than 35 years old she was en-
tertained at the house of a young man who
made himself particularly agreeable to her.
He had spanking team of grays, and when
ever Miss Anthony had to go to town, this
young man and his grays were at her dis
posal. She was announced to speak in a
town some miles distant. while there. and
when they were all ready to start, this de-
voted young man had arranged 1t so that
Miss Anthony was to ride with him alone in
his fine turnout After they were nicely
started, he came to the point at once with:
"Will you have me?"
What for?" was Aunt Susan's blunt re-
ply
"Will you marry me?" the sutor contin-
ued. Then he proceeded to tell her of his
worldly possessions his fine house his lands
etc, all of which should be at her command
If she would only take him along with them
He promised Aunt Susan" that he would
never stand in the way of her chosen work
but that on the contrary, he would help her
in any way in his power to further the suf-
frage movement. He pointed out to her, with
all the persuasive art which man we'll
knows how to use, that her life was a hard
one, knocking about from pillar 10 post, and
that it would be much easier with him to
help and comfort her.
Miss Anthony listened, as women have
serpent, and she concluded that her life was
rather hard and lonely one and that it
would be mighty nice to have a fine home to
go to when tired and weary with her ofttimes
thankless labors. But she felt that she could
not decide so momentous a question with so
little time for serious consideration and so
she told the amorous suitor. She was to be
gone week at the convention, and she asked
him to wait for his answer until her return,
which he agreed to do.
Miss Anthony did not say what her decision
had been, but imagine her surprise and dis
gust to learn upon her return that the faith
less swain had in the meantime married an
other woman, and was even then enjoying
wedding trip with her. Yes, he did not wait
for the weeks probation, and the second
bride, more wise than Miss Anthony had
been, did not wait for his ardor to- COOL but
accepted him on the spot and married him
at once. Miss Anthony has often wondered
since what her life would have been if she
had done likewise
The next story was told by Mrs Rachel
Foster Avery. She chose as her subject
Miss Anthony's trip abroad. This was some
fifteen years ago. and Mrs. Avery, then Miss
Foster of Philadelphia, accompanied Miss
Anthony to be her "ears and tongue" as
Mrs. Avery expressed it, for Miss Anthony
could speak only her native tongue and like
many another American, she didn't see why
the rest of the world did not speak her own
language Miss Anlhony's intense Ameri-
canism was also manifested in her use or,
more correctly speaking, her misuse of for
eign titles During her travels she met
peers and princes of the highest degree
but she was never for the life of her able
to call them by their correct titles. AND
to make matters worse, she invariably gave
them title of lower degree than their rank
demanded. For instance, countess she
would address as madam" a prince or
princess ee count" or Countess" duke
count" and so on through the list. Then
she never called them twice by the same
title mixing things up in the most bewider-
ing manner, and usually ending by calling
them Mr.. and Mrs Miss Foster usually gave
Aunt Susan" lessons on the use of titles
before each of their visits, hut it made no
difference; before she left the result was
always the same.
One of the most amusing incidents hap
pened while they were in Rome. One of
the princess of the royal family to whom
they had presented letters called one day
to take them for a drive. She had with
her pet dog, and as Miss Foster was pas
sionately fond of any canine specimen and
Miss Anthony equally detested them, Miss
Foster and the dog sat vis-a-vis to Miss
Anthony sCd the princess. Dog-like, the little
animal, from the safe shelter of the car
riage, chased across the seat from one side
to the other and over Miss Foster, to bark
at every dog that it saw on the street In
the meantime Miss Foster was thus occupied
with the dog.
Miss Anthony was entertaining the
princess and vice versa. The latter could
speak English, and so they got along very
nicely, but for Miss Anthonys misconcep-
tion of the title. She addressed the princess
as countess "ladyy" duchess" and even
Mrs" but in spite of Miss Fosters gentle
treading on her toes to remind her, she
never got it princess" Then the princess
in the sweetest manner possible said to Miss
Anthony:
when / was born my family were
reigning Qrnces." But 1t was all lest on
"Aunt Susan" she didn't take the hint,
During the drive they passed magnificent
old palace belonging to the Oldest Roman
families and the princess explained to Mics
Anthony that 1t was ouly one of five which
the family owned, all equally grand Miss
Anthony was silent for some moments, and
when the princess asked her what she
" IT,