Women -- Suffrage -- History; Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History; Women's rights -- History; Women's rights -- United States -- History
By the time the first half year had passed, nature exacted tribute for
six decades of unceasing and unparalleled toil, and it became evident
that the idea of gathering a reserve fund would have to be abandoned.
The donors of the $3,000 were consulted and all gave cordial assent to
have their portion applied to the publication of the fourth volume of
the History. The largest amount, $1,000, had been contributed by Mrs.
Pauline Agassiz Shaw, of Boston. Dr. Cordelia A. Greene, of Castile,
N. Y., had given $500 and Mrs. Emma J. Bartol, of Philadelphia, $200.
The other contributions ranged all the way down to a few dollars,
which in many cases represented genuine sacrifice on the part of the
givers. It is not practicable to publish the list of the women in
full. They will be sufficiently rewarded in the consciousness of
having helped to realize Miss Anthony's dream of finishing the story,
to the end of her own part in it, of a great progressive movement in
which they were her fellow-workers and loyal friends.
Mrs. Gage passed away in 1898. Although Mrs. Stanton is still living
as this volume goes to the publishers in 1902, and evinces her mental
vigor at the age of eighty-seven in frequent magazine and newspaper
articles, she could not be called upon for this heavy and exacting
task. It seemed to Miss Anthony that the one who had recently
completed her Biography, in its preparation arranging and classifying
her papers of the past sixty years, and who necessarily had made a
thorough study of the suffrage movement from its beginning, should
share with her this arduous undertaking. The invitation was accepted
with much reluctance because of a full knowledge of the great labor
and responsibility involved. It must be confessed that even a strong
sense of obligation to further the cause of woman's enfranchisement
would not have been a sufficient incentive, but personal devotion to a
beloved and honored leader outweighed all selfish considerations. It
is to Miss Anthony, however, that the world is indebted for this as
well as the other volumes. It was she who conceived the idea; through
her came the money for its publication; for several years her own home
has been given up to the mass of material, the typewriters, the coming
and going of countless packages, the indescribable annoyances and
burdens connected with a matter of this kind. In addition she has
borne from her private means a considerable portion of the expenses,
and has endured the physical weariness and mental anxiety at a time
when she has earned the right to complete rest and freedom from care.
There is not a chapter which has not had the inestimable benefit of
her acute criticism and matured judgment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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