The Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: An Awful Hush, 1895 to 1906

147. 15 February 1900: Verse by ECS for SBA’s Birthday

^ 325 6. Minor v. Happersett, 21 Wallace 162 (1875). 7. Paragraph omitted from Woman Suffrage Hearing. 8. To end of paragraph in Woman Suffrage Hearing, p. 6, reads: “making the power of the ruling classes depend on the practical recognition of the political rights of the whole people, would be unassailable as a principle of government.” 9. Until ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868, the Constitution of the United States, art. I, sec. 2, about the House of Representatives, read “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years,and excluding Indians not taxed,three fifths of all other Persons.” Federal protection of slavery was buried in the phrase “all other Persons.” 10. The English educator Thomas Arnold (1795–1842), not his son Matthew, expressed this view, recorded in Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold, D.D. In the eighth American edition, 1870, the quotation is on page 179. For the same mistake made in 1894, see Papers, 5:657. 11. Henry Bowen Anthony (1815–1884), Republican of Rhode Island, served in the Senate from 1859 until his death.ECS quotes his speech during the first debate on woman suffrage in the Senate, in 1866, on a motion to drop the word “male” from a bill to enfranchise black men in the District of Columbia. (BDAC; History, 2:107; Congressional Globe, 39th Cong., 2d sess., 11 December 1866, pp. 55–56.) 12. The words are from James Otis, The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved (1764), and were known to ECS through Charles Sumner’s “Equal Rights of All.” See Sumner, Works, 10:163–64. Edward Coke (1552–1634) was an English jurist and Member of Parliament. 13. Num. 27:1–11. She quotes the seventh verse. ••••••••• 147 • Verse by ECS for SBA’s Birthday [15 February 1900] To Susan B. Anthony On her 80th birthday—Feb. 15, 1900 1 My honored friend, I’ll ne’er forget, That day in June, when first we met— Oh! would I had the skill to paint, My vision, of that Quaker saint! Robed in pale blue and silver-grey, No silly fashions did she essay— 13 february 1900 326 & Her brow, so smooth and fair, 2 ’Neath coils of soft brown hair, Her voice was like the lark, so clear: So rich, and pleasant to the ear The “Prentice hand,” on man oft tried, Now made in her, the Nation’s pride 3 II We met, and loved, no more to part— Hand clasped in hand, heart bound to heart— We’ve traveled West, years together, Day and night, in stormy weather— Climbing the rugged suffrage hill, Bravely facing every ill— 4 Resting, speaking, anywhere, Oft-times, in the open air— From sleighs, ox-carts, and coaches, Besieged with bugs, and roaches— All for the emancipation, Of the women of this Nation! III Now we’ve had enough of travel, And in turn laid down the gavel— In the time-honored retreat, Gladly we will take a seat— In triumph, having reached four-score, We’ll give our thoughts to art and lore— 5 To younger hands resign the reins, With all the honors and the gains— United down life’s hill we’ll glide, Whate’er the coming years betide— Parted only when first in time Eternal joys are thine or mine U Elizabeth Cady Stanton Y Ms, in hand of E. L. White, Clara B. Colby Papers, Archives Division, WHi. In Film as enclosure at c. 13 February 1900. 1. This source text was mailed to Clara Colby in advance of SBA’s birthday 15 february 1900 ^ 327 with the note, “Tell Susan to tear up the copy I sent her, this is much better I am sending it to several papers”.It differs in many small details from the verse printed as a souvenir of the birthday celebration (Film,41:10–12),and it most resembles the version in Rochester Union and Advertiser, n.d., SBA scrapbook 33, Rare Books, DLC, reprinted from New York Sun. The versions in Boston Investigator, 7 April 1900, and Woman’s Standard, May 1900, are closer to the souvenir but not perfect reproductions. 2. Whether ECS intended this line...