Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-03-18
church--to cruelty Himself: what we OBJ
ject to Is his crucifying his wife,
Leaders Of Suffrage.


reproach that the leaders of the suffrage
movement were lot of old maids and child
less wives. so In 1880 Miss Anthony prepared
and published list showing that sixteen
of the most prominent were the mothers
of sixty-six children. OF the pioneers she
was the only one who never married. and of
the next generation of workers, Phoebe
Couzins was the only one who remained sin
gle. Indeed the greatest drawback TO her
work was the fact that on account of their
domestic ties she never could depend on any
of her assistants. Her biography says; IN
1857. when she attempted 10 arrange 1or
the annual suffrage convention in New
York. she found to her dismay that every
one of the speakers whom she always de-
pended on was unable to be present De-
cause of maternal duties Some were an
tieipating an event. others had very you,,s
infants and the older women were Kept AZ
home by expected recently arrived
grandchildren. She was used to overcoming
obstacles. but the conditions on THIS ocea
sion were too much for her. and. with leei-
fngs which cannot well be put into ian
guage, she was Obliged to give up the con-
yentiouIS
was bitterly opposed to having women mar
ry, but this is not true. She ala oensse,
however, that where women Iau co
powers for doing q work which would ben
eft all humanity they should put asiue
personal preferences AS she eApieSSeu ~
when Lucy Stone and Antomette brown
married In 1885: 1T seemed as II such Noi.-
en- might make q sacrifice and eonsecrate
themselves to the great needs OF the WIZ ht
which were demanding the services OF tho
ablest women" She never excused Woiidh
in the smallest degree for neglectins the m
terests of her husband, children ana house-
hold and she knew that these We're m
compatible with public work She hau e.ie
most exalted ideas of marriage ana alWays
urged women to marry for love anu mo-
for support, and look upon marriage as
luxury and not a necessity wou'u ~
object to marriage" she said If II WERE
not that women throw away every plan ana
purpose of their own life to conform 70 my
p!ans and purposes OF the huSoaho iIIe,
wonder If 1t Is womans real hatuav lie
To abnegafe self" But when a young VIE
wrote her relative to some pressing SUI
frage work she had promised, MISS antony
answered 81 would not Tor any 'i nsia me
YOU drudge on this during your huspatu
vacation No, no; there is none TOO huch ~
life and happiness for any of us SO pan h ~
go and do and be whatever seeuletn De''
unto the twain so beauuiutS Hld"e oi'e
why She Never Married.
AS to herself marrying Miss Anthony
often said TO the writer: 'Afly woman WI
marry If the man she loves asks hel.
am no different from other women. very
co1y mon came I'D to her standard for
husband, and in her young days tue me-"
who proposed marriage had no attraction
for her. AS she grew older she was 50
completeIy absorbed in her work that sne
did not have time to think OF IT. once 9le
actually had her secretary answer the tet
ter of an old admirer who hau pecoH'e
U-idoWer and wished to renew Tiny az
ouaintance There is no doubt however
that with her innate sense or Impartial Jus
tce and personal independence the cVlaui o
lions of marriage in early days must idEC
made it seem repugnant, TOT the Whe ~
lazy and custom was literally q chatteL
the property of the husband MISS -th'iIoiis
was a close observer and when she was
eighteen years old and saw one or het
d.
children she commented in her diary
should think any female would rather HFe
and die an old maid When she WAS
still in her twentles she boarded win
cousin who had an unsympathetic husband
and who died in childbirth. after Which sue
wrote to her mother that there were some
drawbacks to marriage which MADE W.
man quite content to remain single
In early days she used to tell story IN
her speeches as follows: "A farmer wire
in Illinois, who had all the rights sac ws at-t-
ed had made for herself full set OF ld'S@
teeth The dentist pronounced them an au-
,nirable fit and she declared it gave her nts
TO wear them. He sued her husband Tor tie
money and the latters counsel put the VIZ
on the stand TO testify, but the judge fuieo
her off saving A married woman cannot
he a witness in matters of joint interest
between herself and her husband Ehlnk
of It. We good wives, the teeth IN your
mouth are a joint interest with your nus
band, about which you are ieSallS Iheo'hpS-
tent to speak"
AS she Travelled about the country SIZE
noted in her diary that 1t was the common
practice for husbands, when they came 70
an eating station. to go IN ana get hOt
dinner while wives remained in the car ana
ate a cold lunch. One entry told OF a man
from the country who came with MS VIE
to her lecture and afterward went INTO. inc
hotel dining room for the best meal-lHe
tavern afforded while his wife sat in the
parlor and nibbled some cold victuals she
had brought.
Reply to Clergyman.
In 1854, when a father in the state of
New York had the legal right to apprentice
young children without the mothers con-
sent and to dispose of them by will at his
death, Miss Anthony was canyassing her
city of Rochester for signatures to 4 pc
tition for changing this law. one clergy
man on whom she called looked her over
carefully and said: You are too fine
physical specimen to be DOING this work;
why don't you marry and have children"
ignoring the insult, she answered: Il think
1T q much wiser thing to SecGre tor the |
thousands of mothers in this state the legal
control of the children they now have. than
to bring others into the world who would |
not belong to me after they were born"
In 1885, when a reporter, seeking sem |
sation, asked her II she were ever in love. |
she answered jestingly: "a thousand times |
but not so much that | thought 1t would |
last In fact, I never felt that L could |
give up my freedom to become mans |
housekeeper. When I was young, II girl !
married poverty she became drudge; II |
she married wealth she became doll. Had |
/ married at twenty-one l should have been |
either drudge or doll for fifty-five years. |
Think of thatl" And she dismissed the |
subject with a hearty laugh.
There was a prevalent belief that Miss |
Anthony hated men. 1t would not have |
been at all strange IL this were true, for |
never in all history was a woman so mis- |
represented, rdiculed. berated and maligned |
as she was by men, publicly in her early |
years and privately when general sentiment |
would no longer tolerate outspoken cIid-
cism The laws she condemned were made |
by men, the petitions she carried to iegis- |
Iative bodies were scorned by nen; the |
questions she and her organization Were |
obliged to submit to the voters were de- |
feated by men almost continuously for |
forty years. They deceived her, they broke |
their promises they lied to her, and they |
exulted over her because they had power |
to do these things. 1t would have been |
most natural for her TO hate men. But |
she did not hate them. For May of them, |
indeed, she felt Il profound contempt. and |
the hypocritical compliments 70 herself per- I
sonaIly by those who were The enemies of |
all that she stood for filed her roul with |
WEAKNESS and disgust In this she was no !