Note 81 — Chapter XIX
Reading edition
Mrs. Sarah B. Shaw, after having contributed $150 for Kansas, wrote the following:
North Shore, September 22, 1867.
Dear Miss Anthony:—If I were a rich woman I would inclose a check of $1,000 instanter. Mr. Gay read your letter and said he wished he had $500 to give. So you see if the right people only had the money how the work would be done. Mr. Shaw says: "Tell Miss Anthony if the women in Kansas vote on the schools and the dram shops, I think the work is done there." I have not in my mind one person who could give money who would, so I can not help you.... I am very sorry to send you only this dry morsel, a stone when you want bread, but I can only give you my earnest wishes, though I will not fail to do my best. I have already sent your letter to a rich friend, who has reformed all her life, but I do not know at all how she stands on the woman question. Believe me, dear Miss Anthony,
Sarah B. Shaw.
Sincerely yours,
Office of the American Equal Rights Association, } No. 37 Park Row (Room 17). New York, Aug. 23, 1867. }
Dear Lydia:— ... I am just in from Staten Island, where Mrs. Gay had $10 from Frank Shaw waiting for me. I went on purpose to go to Mrs. Shaw, and persevered; the glorious result is $150 more. Such a splendid woman; worthy the noble boy she gave in the war, and worthy her noble son-in-law, George William Curtis. Lydia, we shall go on to triumph in Kansas! The St. Louis Democrat publishes Mr. Curtis' speech in full, with a splendid editorial. The St. Louis Journal gives the speech and the Democrat's editorial "as a matter of news." I have 60,000 tracts now going to press; all the old editions were gone, and we have to begin new with an empty treasury; but I tell them all, "go ahead;" we must, and will, succeed.
Susan B. Anthony.
Affectionately yours,
Templeton, Mass., Sept. 21, 1867, } On way to Green Mountains. }
Dear Miss Anthony:—Mrs. Severance desires me to inclose to you this check, $50, and say that it is a contribution by friends at and about Boston, to aid you in the good work of reconstruction on the subject of woman's right to the ballot in Kansas.
T. C. Severance.
Yours truly,
Auburn, Sept. 17, 1867.
Dear Mr. Pillsbury:—You may be very sure I would have answered Susan's letter sooner if I had been able to inclose any such sum as she hoped to obtain. All that I can do is to inclose a draft for $30—ten from our daughter Eliza, ten from William and Ellen, and ten from myself.... We can only feel grateful for the self-sacrificing labors of those who have gone to Kansas, and hopeful that better success may attend the efforts there, than here or in Michigan.... I was very glad that Mrs. Stanton could go.... We shall miss Mrs. Frances D. Gage. I always considered her word as effective as any on our Woman's Rights platform. Her rest has come.... Our children were in Syracuse on Sunday; they heard a beautiful valedictory from Samuel J. May, recounting the varied incidents of his life, lamenting his short-comings, and advising them to choose a younger man for the duties he was no longer able to perform alone. He is so well beloved by his congregation that the probability is they will get an associate for him.
Martha C. Wright.
Your friend,