第 57 节
作者:痛罚      更新:2024-04-07 11:54      字数:4336
  Woman Suffrage Association; there can be no feeling
  but gratitude and elation over the growth of the
  work。  Our membership has grown from 17;000
  women to more than 200;000; and the number
  of auxiliary societies has increased in propor…
  tion。
  Instead of the old…time experience of one campaign
  in ten years; we now have from five to ten campaigns
  each year。  From an original yearly expenditure of
  14;000 or 15;000 in our campaign work; we now
  expend from 40;000 to 50;000。  In New York; in
  1915; we have already received pledges of 150;000
  for the New York State campaign alone; while
  Pennsylvania; Massachusetts; and New Jersey have
  made pledges in proportion。
  In 1906 full suffrage prevailed in four states;
  we now have it in twelve。  Our movement has
  advanced from its academic stage until it has
  become a vital political factor; no reform in the
  country is more heralded by the press or receives
  more attention from the public。  It has become
  an issue which engages the attention of the entire
  nationand toward this result every woman work…
  ing for the Cause has contributed to an inspiring
  degree。  Splendid team…work; and that alone; has
  made our present success possible and our eventual
  triumph in every state inevitable。  Every officer
  in our organization; every leader in our campaigns;
  every speaker; every worker in the ranks; however
  humble; has done her share。
  I do not claim anything so fantastic and Utopian
  as universal harmony among us。  We have had our
  troubles and our differences。  I have had mine。
  At every annual convention since the one at Wash…
  ington in 1910 there has been an effort to depose
  me from the presidency。  There have been some
  splendid fighters among my opponentsfine and
  high…minded women who sincerely believe that at
  sixty…eight I am getting too old for my big job。
  Possibly I am。  Certainly I shall resign it with
  alacrity when the majority of women in the organiza…
  tion wish me to do so。  At present a large majority
  proves annually that it still has faith in my leader…
  ship; and with this assurance I am content to
  work on。
  Looking back over the period covered by these
  reminiscences; I realize that there is truth in the
  grave charge that I am no longer young; and this
  truth was once voiced by one of my little nieces in
  a way that brought it strongly home to me。  She
  and her small sister of six had declared themselves
  suffragettes; and as the first result of their conver…
  sion to the Cause both had been laughed at by their
  schoolmates。  The younger child came home after
  this tragic experience; weeping bitterly and declar…
  ing that she did not wish to be a suffragette any
  morean exhibition of apostasy for which her wise
  sister of eight took her roundly to task。
  ‘‘Aren't you ashamed of yourself;'' she demanded;
  ‘‘to stop just because you have been laughed at
  once?  Look at Aunt Anna!  SHE has been laughed
  at for hundreds of years!''
  I sometimes feel that it has indeed been hundreds
  of years since my work began; and then again it
  seems so brief a time that; by listening for a
  moment; I fancy I can hear the echo of my child…
  ish…voice preaching to the trees in the Michigan
  woods。
  But long or short; the one sure thing is that; taking
  it all in all; the struggles; the discouragements; the
  failures; and the little victories; the fight has been;
  as Susan B。 Anthony said in her last hours; ‘‘worth
  while。''  Nothing bigger can come to a human being
  than to love a great Cause more than life itself; and
  to have the privilege throughout life of working for
  that Cause。
  As for life's other gifts; I have had some of them;
  too。  I have made many friendships; I have looked
  upon the beauty of many lands; I have the assur…
  ance of the respect and affection of thousands of
  men and women I have never even met。  Though I
  have given all I had; I have received a thousand
  times more than I have given。  Neither the world
  nor my Cause is indebted to me but from the depths
  of a full and very grateful heart I acknowledge my
  lasting indebtedness to them both。
  THE END