Eighty Years and More; Reminiscences 1815-1897
"Antis." This opposing organization adopted the same plan for the
campaign as those in favor of the amendment. They issued appeals,
circulated petitions, and had hearings before the Convention.
Mrs. Russell Sage, Mrs. Henry M. Sanders, Mrs. Edward Lauterbach, Mrs.
Runkle, and some liberal clergymen did their uttermost to secure the
insertion of the amendment in the proposed new constitution, but the
Committee on Suffrage of the Constitutional Convention refused even to
submit the proposed amendment to a vote of the people, though half a
million of our most intelligent and respectable citizens had signed the
petition requesting them to do so. Joseph H. Choate and Elihu Root did
their uttermost to defeat the amendment, and succeeded.
I spent the summer of 1894 with my son Gerrit, in his home at Thomaston,
Long Island. Balzac's novels, and the "Life of Thomas Paine" by Moncure
D. Conway, with the monthly magazines and daily papers, were my mental
pabulum. My daughter, Mrs. Stanton Lawrence, returned from England in
September, 1894, having had a pleasant visit with her sister in
Basingstoke. In December Miss Anthony came, and we wrote the woman
suffrage article for the new edition of Johnson's Cyclopedia.
On March 3, 1895, Lady Somerset and Miss Frances Willard, on the eve of
their departure for England, called to see me. We discussed my project
of a "Woman's Bible." They consented to join a revising committee, but
before the committee was organized they withdrew their names, fearing
the work would be too radical. I especially desired to have the opinions
of women from all sects, but those belonging to the orthodox churches
declined to join the committee or express their views. Perhaps they
feared their faith might be disturbed by the strong light of
investigation. Some half dozen members of the Revising Committee began
with me to write "Comments on the Pentateuch."
The chief thought revolving in my mind during the years of 1894 and 1895
had been "The Woman's Bible." In talking with friends I began to feel
that I might realize my long-cherished plan. Accordingly, I began to
read the commentators on the Bible and was surprised to see how little
they had to say about the greatest factor in civilization, the mother of
the race, and that little by no means complimentary. The more I read,
the more keenly I felt the importance of convincing women that the
Hebrew mythology had no special claim to a higher origin than that of
the Greeks, being far less attractive in style and less refined in
sentiment. Its objectionable features would long ago have been apparent
had they not been glossed over with a faith in their divine inspiration.
For several months I devoted all my time to Biblical criticism and
ecclesiastical history, and found no explanation for the degraded status
of women under all religions, and in all the so-called "Holy Books."
When Part I. of "The Woman's Bible" was finally published in November,
1895, it created a great sensation. Some of the New York city papers
gave a page to its review, with pictures of the commentators, of its
critics, and even of the book itself. The clergy denounced it as the
work of Satan, though it really was the work of Ellen Battelle Dietrick,
Lillie Devereux Blake, Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, Clara Bewick Colby,
Ursula N. Gestefeld, Louisa Southworth, Frances Ellen Burr, and myself.
Extracts from it, and criticisms of the commentators, were printed in
the newspapers throughout America, Great Britain, and Europe. A third
edition was found necessary, and finally an edition was published in
England. The Revising Committee was enlarged, and it now consists of
over thirty of the leading women of America and Europe.[A]
The month of August, 1895, we spent in Peterboro, on the grand hills of
Madison County, nine hundred feet above the valley. Gerrit Smith's fine
old mansion still stands, surrounded with magnificent trees, where I had
played in childhood, chasing squirrels over lawn and gardens and wading
in a modest stream that still creeps slowly round the grounds. I
recalled as I sat on the piazza how one time, when Frederick Douglass
came to spend a few days at Peterboro, some Southern visitors wrote a
note to Mr. Smith asking if Mr. Douglass was to sit in the parlor and at
the dining table; if so, during his visit they would remain in their
own apartments. Mr. Smith replied that his visitors were always treated
by his family as equals, and such would be the case with Mr. Douglass,
who was considered one of the ablest men reared under "The Southern
Institution." So these ladies had their meals in their own apartments,
where they stayed most of the time, and, as Mr. Douglass prolonged his
visit, they no doubt wished in their hearts that they had never taken
that silly position. The rest of us walked about with him, arm in arm,
played games, and sang songs together, he playing the accompaniment on
the guitar. I suppose if our prejudiced countrywomen had been introduced
to Dumas in a French salon, they would at once have donned their bonnets
and ran away.
Sitting alone under the trees I recalled the different generations that
had passed away, all known to me. Here I had met the grandfather, Peter
Sken Smith, partner of John Jacob Astor. In their bargains with the
Indians they acquired immense tracts of land in the Northern part of the
State of New York, which were the nucleus of their large fortunes. I
have often heard Cousin Gerrit complain of the time he lost managing the
estate. His son Greene was an enthusiast in the natural sciences and
took but little interest in property matters. Later, his grandson,
Gerrit Smith Miller, assumed the burden of managing the estate and, in
addition, devoted himself to agriculture. He imported a fine breed of
Holstein cattle, which have taken the first prize at several fairs. His
son, bearing the same name, is devoted to the natural sciences, like his
uncle Greene; whose fine collection of birds was presented by his widow
to Harvard College.
The only daughter of Gerrit Smith, Elizabeth Smith Miller, is a
remarkable woman, possessing many of the traits of her noble father. She
has rare executive ability, as shown in the dispatch of her extensive
correspondence and in the perfect order of her house and grounds. She
has done much in the way of education, especially for the colored race,
in helping to establish schools and in distributing literature. She
subscribes for many of the best books, periodicals, and papers for
friends not able to purchase for themselves. We cannot estimate the good
she has done in this way. Every mail brings her letters from all
classes, from charitable institutions, prisons, Southern plantations,
army posts, and the far-off prairies. To all these pleas for help she
gives a listening ear. Her charities are varied and boundless, and her
hospitalities to the poor as well as the rich, courteous and generous.
The refinement and artistic taste of the Southern mother and the heroic
virtues of the father are happily blended in their daughter. In her
beautiful home on Seneca Lake, one is always sure to meet some of the
most charming representatives of the progressive thought of our times.
Representatives of all these generations now rest in the cemetery at
Peterboro, and as in review they passed before me they seemed to say,
"Why linger you here alone so long?"
My son Theodore arrived from Paris in September, 1895, and rendered most
important service during the preparations for my birthday celebration,
in answering letters, talking with reporters, and making valuable
suggestions to the managers as to many details in the arrangements, and
encouraging me to go through the ordeal with my usual heroism. I never
felt so nervous in my life, and so unfitted for the part I was in duty
bound to perform. From much speaking through many years my voice was
hoarse, from a severe fall I was quite lame, and as standing, and
distinct speaking are important to graceful oratory, I felt like the
king's daughter in Shakespeare's play of "Titus Andronicus," when rude
men who had cut her hands off and her tongue out, told her to call for
water and wash her hands. However, I lived through the ordeal, as the
reader will see in the next chapter.
After my birthday celebration, the next occasion of deep interest to me
was the Chicago Convention of 1896, the platform there adopted, and the
nomination and brilliant campaign of William J. Bryan. I had long been
revolving in my mind questions relating to the tariff and finance, and
in the demands of liberal democrats, populists, socialists, and the
laboring men and women, I heard the clarion notes of the coming
revolution.
During the winter of 1895-96 I was busy writing alternately on this
autobiography and "The Woman's Bible," and articles for magazines and
journals on every possible subject from Venezuela and Cuba to the
bicycle. On the latter subject many timid souls were greatly distressed.
Should women ride? What should they wear? What are "God's intentions"
concerning them? Should they ride on Sunday? These questions were asked
with all seriousness. We had a symposium on these points in one of the
daily papers. To me the answer to all these questions was simple--if
woman could ride, it was evidently "God's intention" that she be
permitted to do so. As to what she should wear, she must decide what is
best adapted to her comfort and convenience. Those who prefer a spin of
a few hours on a good road in the open air to a close church and a dull
sermon, surely have the right to choose, whether with trees and flowers
and singing birds to worship in "That temple not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens," or within four walls to sleep during the
intonation of that melancholy service that relegates us all, without
distinction of sex or color, to the ranks of "miserable sinners." Let
each one do what seemeth right in her own eyes, provided she does not
encroach on the rights of others.
In May, 1896, I again went to Geneva and found the bicycle craze had
reached there, with all its most pronounced symptoms; old and young,
professors, clergymen, and ladies of fashion were all spinning merrily
around on business errands, social calls, and excursions to distant
towns. Driving down the avenue one day, we counted eighty bicycles
before reaching the post-office. The ancient bandbox, so detested by our
sires and sons, has given place to this new machine which our daughters
take with them wheresoever they go, boxing and unboxing and readjusting
for each journey. It has been a great blessing to our girls in
compelling them to cultivate their self-reliance and their mechanical
ingenuity, as they are often compelled to mend the wheel in case of
accident. Among the visitors at Geneva were Mr. Douglass and his
daughter from the island of Cuba. They gave us very sad accounts of the
desolate state of the island and the impoverished condition of the
people. I had long felt that the United States should interfere in some
way to end that cruel warfare, for Spain has proved that she is
incompetent to restore order and peace.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote A: Part II. of "The Woman's Bible," which completes the work,
will be issued in January, 1898.]
CHAPTER XXVIII.
MY EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY.
Without my knowledge or consent, my lifelong friend, Susan B. Anthony,
who always seems to appreciate homage tendered to me more highly than
even to herself, made arrangements for the celebration of my eightieth
birthday, on the 12th day of November, 1895. She preferred that this
celebration should be conducted by the National Council of Women,
composed of a large number of organizations representing every
department of woman's labor, though, as the enfranchisement of woman had