The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2): Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty YearsHarper, Ida Husted
History
The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony (Volume 1 of 2): Including Public Addresses, Her Own Letters and Many From Her Contemporaries During Fifty Years
Harper, Ida Husted
Anthony, Susan B. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906
Her daily treatment at the "water cure" is thus described: "First thing
in the morning, dripping sheet; pack at 10 o'clock for forty-five
minutes, come out of that and take a shower, followed by a sitz bath,
with a pail of water at 75 deg. poured over the shoulders, after which dry
sheet and then, brisk exercise. At 4 P.M. the programme repeated, and
then again at 9 P.M. My day is so cut up with four baths, four
dressings and undressings, four exercisings, one drive and three
eatings, that I do not have time to put two thoughts together." Miss
Anthony recovered her health, either as a result of the treatment or of
the rest and the long rides which she took daily with her cousin as he
made his round of visits. While he was indoors she sat in the chaise
enjoying the sunshine and fresh air and reading some interesting book.
The journal shows that during the fall she read Sartor Resartus,
Consuelo, bits from Gerald Massey, Villette, Gaskell's Life of
Charlotte Bronte, Corinne, and a number of other works. Dr. Rogers, the
intimate friend of Thoreau and Emerson, was a cultured gentleman,
liberal in his views, strong in his opinions, yet tender, sympathetic
and companionable. Many of his beautiful letters to Miss Anthony have
been preserved. In speaking of political cowardice and corruption, he
says: "Were it not for the thunder and lightning of the Garrisonians to
purify the moral atmosphere, we would all sink into perdition
together." His love of liberty is thus expressed:
I believe in the absolute freedom of every human being so long as
the rights of others are left undisturbed. Conformity too often
cuts down our stature and makes us Lilliputians, no longer units
but unities. Help me to stand alone and I will help you to right
the universe. Better, a thousand times better, that societies,
friendships even, never were formed, that we all were Robinson
Crusoes, than that the terrible tragedy of soul-annihilation
through conformity be so conspicuous in the drama of human life.
How many wives do you see who are not acting this tragedy? How many
husbands who do not applaud? Hence degeneracy after marriage, more
directly of the wife than the husband, but too often of both.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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