第54章 IX(5)

``Oh, Nordica,'' she sighed, ``I could die listening to such singing!''

Another example of her unquenchable youth has also a Chicago setting. During the World's Fair a certain clergyman made an especially violent stand in favor of closing the Fair grounds on Sunday.

Miss Anthony took issue with him.

``If I had charge of a young man in Chicago at this time,'' she told the clergyman, ``I would much rather have him locked inside the Fair grounds on Sunday or any other day than have him going about on the outside.''

The clergyman was horrified. ``Would you like to have a son of yours go to Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show on Sunday?'' he demanded.

``Of course I would,'' admitted Miss Anthony.

``In fact, I think he would learn more there than from the sermons preached in some churches.''

Later this remark was repeated to Colonel Cody (``Buffalo Bill''), who, of course, was delighted with it. He at once wrote to Miss Anthony, thanking her for the breadth of her views, and offering her a box for his ``Show.'' She had no strong desire to see the performance, but some of us urged her to accept the invitation and to take us with her. She was always ready to do anything that would give us pleasure, so she promised that we should go the next afternoon. Others heard of the jaunt and begged to go also, and Miss Anthony blithely took every applicant under her wing, with the result that when we arrived at the box-office the next day there were twelve of us in the group. When she presented her note and asked for a box, the local manager looked doubtfully at the delegation.

``A box only holds six,'' he objected, logically.

Miss Anthony, who had given no thought to that slight detail, looked us over and smiled her seraphic smile.

``Why, in that case,'' she said, cheerfully, ``you'll have to give us two boxes, won't you?''

The amused manager decided that he would, and handed her the tickets; and she led her band to their places in triumph. When the performance be- g an Colonel Cody, as was his custom, entered the arena from the far end of the building, riding his wonderful horse and bathed, of course, in the efful- g ence of his faithful spot-light. He rode directly to our boxes, reined his horse in front of Miss An- t hony, rose in his stirrups, and with his characteris- t ic gesture swept his slouch-hat to his saddle-bow in salutation. ``Aunt Susan'' immediately rose, bowed in her turn and, for the moment as enthusiastic as a girl, waved her handkerchief at him, while the big audience, catching the spirit of the scene, wildly applauded. It was a striking picture this meeting of the pioneer man and woman; and, poor as I am, I would give a hundred dollars for a snapshot of it.

On many occasions I saw instances of Miss An- t hony's prescience--and one of these was connected with the death of Frances E. Willard. ``Aunt Susan'' had called on Miss Willard, and, coming to me from the sick-room, had walked the floor, beating her hands together as she talked of the visit.

``Frances Willard is dying,'' she exclaimed, pas- s ionately. ``She is dying, and she doesn't know it, and no one around her realizes it. She is lying there, seeing into two worlds, and making more plans than a thousand women could carry out in ten years.

Her brain is wonderful. She has the most extraor- d inary clearness of vision. There should be a stenog- r apher in that room, and every word she utters should be taken down, for every word is golden.

But they don't understand. They can't realize that she is going. I told Anna Gordon the truth, but she won't believe it.''

Miss Willard died a few days later, with a sudden- n ess which seemed to be a terrible shock to those around her.

Of ``Aunt Susan's'' really remarkable lack of self- c onsciousness we who worked close to her had a thousand extraordinary examples. Once, I remem- b er, at the New Orleans Convention, she reached the hall a little late, and as she entered the great audience already assembled gave her a tremendous reception. The exercises of the day had not yet begun, and Miss Anthony stopped short and looked around for an explanation of the outburst. It never for a moment occurred to her that the tribute was to her.

``What has happened, Anna?'' she asked at last.

``You happened, Aunt Susan,'' I had to explain.

Again, on the great ``College Night'' of the Balti- m ore Convention, when President M. Carey Thomas of Bryn Mawr College had finished her wonderful tribute to Miss Anthony, the audience, carried away by the speech and also by the presence of the vener- a ble leader on the platform, broke into a whirlwind of applause. In this ``Aunt Susan'' artlessly joined, clapping her hands as hard as she could. ``This is all for you, Aunt Susan,'' I whispered, ``so it isn't your time to applaud.''

``Aunt Susan'' continued to clap. ``Nonsense,'' s he said, briskly. ``It's not for me. It's for the Cause--the Cause!''

Miss Anthony told me in 1904 that she regarded her reception in Berlin, during the meeting of the International Council of Women that year, as the climax of her career. She said it after the unex- p ected and wonderful ovation she had received from the German people, and certainly throughout her inspiring life nothing had happened that moved her more deeply.

For some time Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, of whose splendid work for the Cause I shall later have more to say, had cherished the plan of forming an International Suffrage Alliance. She believed the time had come when the suffragists of the entire world could meet to their common benefit; and Miss Anthony, always Mrs. Catt's devoted friend and ad- m irer, agreed with her. A committee was appointed to meet in Berlin in 1904, just before the meeting of the International Council of Women, and Miss Anthony was appointed chairman of the committee.