Evening star., 1937-02-14
By Victoria Faber
Stevenson.

10y SCtOS s0 1OCb
Stevenson.
- USAN B. ANTHONY, honored by
portraiture on the lavender g.
cent postage stamp, celebrated
- her last birthday at a public
meeting in this city February Is, 1906.
The ceremony of the occasion took
place at the Universalist Church of
Our Father. on the southeast corner of
Thirteenth and L streets northwest.
An enthusiastic audience crowded
the church to pay honor to white
haired. determined old lady who had
done more than any other person in
the world to make it possible and re-
spectacle for woman to earn her liv-
ing in other fields besides teaching
school and keeping boarders. Miss
Anthony had arrived as guest of the
Shoreham Hotel. at Fifteenth and H
streets northwest. the day before from
Association convention had been held.
That night. only the Johns Hopkins
nurse who had accompanied Miss An
thony to the Capital from Miss Mary
E. CARROTS home knew how coura-
geously the suffrage leader was COM
batting illness. severe pain and the
weakness of old age.
The 86-year-old pioneer reformer
was known in Washington as she was
known in no other city, except in
Rochester. N. Y. where she was born
in 1920. Year after year she had pre-
sided and attended suffrage conven-
tions held in the National Capital. She
had insisted on holding those conven-
tions here because of the advantage
which coming to Washington gave her
and her followers to plead with Con-
gress officially and with individual
members of the National Legislature
for the passage Of the suffrage amend
ment to the Constitution. She and
many of her enthusiastic supporters,
waving their Votes for Women" pen
nants. had been known to the members
of every Congress since 1869.
DRESS reporters of Washington had
been accustomed to see Aunt
Susan, as she was affectionately called
in later life, on the platform year after
year, usually wearing a black silk dress
and little red shoulder shawl as a
protection from drafts. She had been
told that it was not the robin which
prophesied the coming of Spring in
Washington. but her little red shawl
Hence, she needed no Introduction
on the night she celebrated her 86th
birthday. Henry B.F, Mcfarland, who
made the address of welcome, is re-
membered today as a former president
Of the District Board of Commission
ers. Letters of congratulation and
praise of the suffrage pioneer were read
from President Theodore Roosevelt and
numerous men of high position in pub
lie life. No one expected Miss Anthony
to speak, but she addressed the assem-
bly, with such force that the press COM
mented on her clear voice. At the close
of the celebration, after she paid
tribute to her fellow workers, she ut
tered the last words which she ever
spoke from any platform when she
said, Failure is impossible"
The next afternoon as Susan B.
Anthony stood at her window at the
old Shoreham, and saw the Washing
ton Monument, she spoke Of 1t as the
most beautiful monument in the world.
She declared. every one who sees it
must feel the love of freedom and
justice and want to be true to the
principles it stands for"
That night she and her nurse COM
panion started for her home in Roch-
ester, N. Y. In less than month the
press of the Nation announced her
death in great headlines. Columns
and even whole pages devoted to the
events of her life praised her, either
for her pioneer work as a reformer or
as great personality She had de-
voted more than a half century to
obtaining legal rights and educational
opportunities for women. Nevertheless.
many persons still belittled her cause.
Women who were opposed to the idea
Of the fair SEX casting ballots
proudly called themselves "Antis"
meaning that they were anti-suffra-
gists.
FOLLOWING Miss Anthony's death
on March 13, 1906, The Evening
Star foretold the fame which Is hers
today: When the full record Of this
wonderful woman's career has been
compiled, it will doubtless be found
that she was maker Of history in
more than the advancement Of the
woman's suffrage proposition from a
Jest to Q serious accomplishment. The
effect of her work and that Of her as
sociates has been to introduce women
into practically every field of human
activity. The woman lawyers, physi-
clans, business managers, clerks and
experts of every description, who are
50 numerous today, owe their opportu-
nifty in a larger measure to Susan B.
Anthony and those with whom she
worked for so many years. Miss
Anthony was aggressive, acutely intel
ugent and in every maneuver re-
sourceful and convincing. She
was In truth Americas grand old wom-
an - " whose like will seldom again
be SEEN"
The press noted that Miss Anthony