The National tribune., 1906-03-22

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taunted, rotten-egged. stoned, her life
threatened, and she was reviled and
prosecuted. Yet in all those 60 years
not once was her honor impugned, her
integrity questioned. The ridicule and
the abuse heaped upon her never once
reached deep enough to soil her soul,
and when she passed away Sunday,
March 10, she knew that in the whole
wide world no woman was more re-
spected, more highly esteemed, more
extensively known than Susan B. An
thony.
Do you question why? The answer
is as simple as the life she lived. She
had principles and stood by them.
Through stress and storm in her long
life she saw before her but one narrow,
uncurving path. She walked in that
path with her head up, her spirit un-
daunted, her soul fired by the enthu-
siasm that lights the torches of reform
and keeps them burning. Her whole
life for 20 active years was a protest
against existing political conditions
and a protest against the exclusion of
women from the exercise of what she
considered their right to the franchise.
While thousands of women and hun
dreds of thousands of men did not
agree with her in this, they had all
come to know this forceful thinker,
this logical reasoner, this powerful ex-
ponent of the rights of women, and
they respected her for the sacrifices
she had made to a sentiment which
had worked out for women tremen-
dously important place in the worlds
work.
Susan p. Anthony was a Quaker
strange as that statement may seem of
one who was SO ready with her tongue.
She was born of Quaker parents and
educated in a Quaker school. Speak
only when the spirit moves thee, and
then not till thee has something to
say" was her girlhood motto. 1t served
her all her life. and that is why no
man on the public platform where she
was able to face and answer his sneers
and scoffings was ever able to stand
before her long. She was a hard hit
ter; she knew the English language
and its power, and when, in the short
est sentences and the simplest words,
she fired logic at the head of an oppo-
nent he was glad to seek shelter. She
spoke often from the platform with
men in political campaigns, and COM
manded the highest praise for the fore
ible utterances with which she met
their invective and the sarcasm which
they used for logic.
Miss Anthony was styled a man
hater! A more untruthful thing was
never uttered about her. She loved all
mankind and all women. Her great,
generous heart simply bubbled over
with the milk of human kindness, and
no one ever heard her utter one single
sentence which could be construed into
meaning that she hated men. That she
never loved a man was her misfortune,
but his good fortune, she once said to
the writer. "I would have liked to love
a man just to see what sort of a sensa-
tion Ii is" she once said, laughingly.
81 had lovers when 1 was young, at
least there were several men who
thought themselves in love with me,
but 1 don't think the disease had eaten
very deep into their hearts; at any
rate. did not love them, and SO noth-
ing ever came of any of these affairs"
Miss Anthony dearly loved young
people, and she believed that woman
was happier II married to a man she
loved. She believed firmly in the ex-
istence of the divine passion. Children
she adored, and they instinctively loved
her. She hated the sham and pretense
OF the present methods of education,
and believed that it injured many chill
dren permanently. And how she did
detest the frivolous, shallow. faultfind-
ing, whining mother! Figs will not
come Of thistles." she declared senten-
tiously. She thought that the crying
need Of womankind was work" Some
thing to do that would develop their
brains. their bodies, their souls. And
she firmly believed that a means to this
end was the ballot.
To review the lifework of Susan B.
Anthony would be to write the history
of the woman movement for the last
SO years. She was born in 1S20-her
seth birthday was celebrated in this
city on Feb. 15-and at 16 was teach
ing school. For this she drew the mu-
nificent salary of $s month and
boarded round. Men did exactly the
same kind of work that she did and
got SIS a month and boarded round.
She asked the School Board why she
wasn't worth just as much money as
the man who was doing her kind of
work. Her answer was a demand for
her resignation. That is a fair exam
pie Of the conditions existing at that
time. Women did nothing outside Of
the homo but cook, wash. iron, scrub,
sew, and Il was with Quaking hearts
that School Boards sometimes permit
ted them to play at teaching school.
If they asked too many troublesome |
questions they were fired as Miss An
thony Wa. That was 10 years ago. |
Since then. for women what7 Every
thingl There is not to-day q calling
or q profession, Q business or a trade ]
into which women have not penetrated