The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-01-29
MISS ANTHONY's OLD AGE.
She VIII Be Eighty on Feb. 10 and Is
Still Active.

a. sort of endowment fund to aid IN the
tight for woman suffrage. She IS apt
to make good start in the work, for
today Saint Susan" as some of her
admirers call her is as young as many
a woman at 60 and IS. She moves about
a little slowly and complains some
times of rheumatism, but has the snap
and vim which aided in her LIES fight.
The dingy brick house in which Miss
Anthony lives in Rochester has been
changed a little since 1865. when she
first made it her home They have
put a new roof on It, added bow win
dow to the front and painted the wood
work. The improvements cost about
$1,000, but even this sum was grudg-
ingly given, as Miss Anthony thought
that the old place was good enough for
her, and that the money could be spent
to better advantage for the cause.
Some of the pictures upon the walls
of the rooms tell stories in themselves.
By the side of Lucretia Mott and Mary
Wollstonecraft hangs a big crayon of
Booker T. Washington. On the oppO-
site wall are a cOlOred photograph OF
painting of the Madonna and por-
traits of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and Miss Anthony herself. although the
latter has always objected to having
her picture taken. 1t was Sister Mary
who succeeded in persuading. her to let
it hang, and it is SISTER Mary" who
has persuaded her to do a great many
other things against her will. Miss
Mary Anthony has not been before the
public much, but she has been one of
her sisters mainStay5 For thirty
years they have lived together, most Of
the time with no other member of the
Anthony family. There have been
times when the SIS a month received by
the younger sister for teaching at Mad
ison school, three or four blocks from
the home, was the main support of the
family. Nobody knows how much
money has been given to Susan 3. An
thony for personal use by men and wo-
men who have admired her pluck and
determination. 1t would make several
good sized fortunes, but the bulk has
been spent in her life work and today
she has only a comfortable annuity be-
sides her home, although she could have
been worth 100000, so her intimate
friends say.
The Anthony home on Madison street
is not the scene of so much excitement
rs thirty years ago, when it was some
times threatened by the nobs, some
times visited by policemen and was the
resort of people of many kinds, includ-
ing ex-slaves, beggars and advocates of
woman suffrage from all over the coun-
try. The negroes found a warm well
come. for Miss Anthony was a strong
abolitionist. 1t runs in her blood. The
Massachusetts Quakers, who were her
ancestors, had a horror of slavery, and
from the time she took the platform
she opposed it whenever ard wherever
possible. Many residents of Rochester
can recall IHG Gays OF the Underground
railroad, when Miss Anthony and Aunt
Amy Post furnished the brains as we'll
as the money to send many a negro
across to Canada. Aunt Amy, who has
long since passed away, was one of
these good old souls whose purse was
always open and she gave to all freely,
whether imposters or not. Her two
story cottage on Sophia street before
the war contained sometimes a dozen
negroes at a time. They slept in the
f6a ut Ii koho
wherever space allowed until arrange
mentS could be made to put them on
some vessel going from the mouth of
the Genesee to Canada. The Yankee
ingenuity of Miss Anthony arranged
many plan byIB hich they were sent
out of the city and on more than one
occasion Miss Anthony took the party
herself to the mouth of the river and
saw them safely abord a vessel. 1t is
no wonder that she and Fred Douglass
became very friendly and that the Post
cottage was the scene of many a gath
ering which was attended by Douglass,
William Lloyd Garrison, Susan and
Mary Anthony. For years after the
war Aunt Amy frequently presided at
a table where four or five negroes of
various ages were enjoying her hospi-
tally.
But when she became a Spiritualist
the old friends disagreed. Spiritualism
was on" thing that Miss Anthony did
not believe in, and invitations to come
to seances were firmly declined. All
her life she has professed the Quaker
faith, although she has a pew in the
Unitarian church and frequently at
tends services there. In spite of her
theories, the Rochester people have al
ways had a warm spot in their hearts
for her, knowing that she was thor
Oughly conscientious in her belief She
has many times spoken from the pull
pits of Presbyterian, Baptist and Meth
Odist churches, and some of her friends
are clergymen of different denomina-
tons in the city. Perhaps the friend
ship was most strikingly shown when.
with several other women, she went to
the polls in 1872 and voted At the
instance of the United States commits
sioner warrants were issued for the ar
rest of the party and police officers
sent to the Madison street house. Miss
Anthony had been expecting them, and
merely asked that she be allowed to put
on q, warmer dress before being taken.
to the station. The officers. allowed her
to change her costume. When she
came down stairs she staggered them
by asking if they were not going to.
put handouts on her. The officers, who
were two of the largest of the force,
looked at the wiry little woman in
amazement and said they had none
with them and would not put them on
if they had. AS the policemen and
their prisoner were leaving the house
a carriage dashed up, and one of Miss
AnthonyS acquaintance, wealthy
lock manufacturer, stepped out and in
formed the officers he was ready to
drive them and her to the station. She
absolutely refused the offer, and walked
through the streets with the policemen.
No fewer than twenty citizens were on
hand to give bail for the women, al
though it had not been solicited.
This is the spirit which Miss Anthony
has shown all her life. Apparently she
does not know what fear it. When %
years old a crowd of young roughs
broke into a hall where she was giving
a lecture in eastern New York, put out
the lights, smashed the furniture and
drove out the audience. but not one
offered to touch her, although she dared
them to come on. Her meetings in the
west have often been interrupted in the
same way, but in her sixty-flve years of
public life she has never received a
bodily injury, although she has had to
suffer for neglecting her health. In her
early days it was common thing. for