re vitality into them by broadening their platform.
Susan, however, had come to the conclusion that concentration on woman
suffrage was imperative in order to unite all women under one banner
and build up numbers which Congressmen were bound to respect. With
this her "girls" agreed 100 per cent. While all of them were convinced
suffragists, they were divided on other issues, and few of them were
wholehearted feminists, as were Susan and Mrs. Stanton.

* * * * *

With the publication of _The Woman's Bible_ in 1895, Mrs. Stanton
almost upset the applecart, stirring up heated controversy in the
National American Woman Suffrage Association. _The Woman's Bible_ was
a keen and sometimes biting commentary on passages in the Bible
relating to women. It questioned the traditional interpretation which
for centuries has fastened the stigma of inferiority upon women, and
pointed out that the female as well as the male was created in the
image of God. To those who regarded every word of the Bible as
inspired by God, _The Woman's Bible_ was heresy, and both the clergy
and the press stirred up a storm of protest against it. Suffragists
were condemned for compiling a new Bible and were obliged to explain
again and again that _The Woman's Bible_ expressed Mrs. Stanton's
personal views and not those of the movement.

Susan regarded _The Woman's Bible_ as a futile, questionable
digression from the straight path of woman suffrage. To Clara Colby,
who praised it in her _Woman's Tribune_, she wrote, "Of all her great
speeches, I am always proud--but of her Bible commentaries, I am not
proud--either of their spirit or letter.... I could cry a heap--every
time I read or think--if it would undo them--or do anybody or myself
or the cause or Mrs. Stanton any good--they are so entirely unlike her
former self--so flippant and superficial. But she thinks I have gone
over to the enemy--so counts my judgment worth nothing more than that
of any other narrow-souled body.... But I shall love and honor her to
the end--whether her _Bible_ please me or not. So I hope she will do
for me."[407]

She was, however, wholly unprepared for the rebellion staged by her
"girls" at the Washington convention of 1896, when, led by Rachel
Foster Avery, they repudiated _The Woman's Bible_ and proposed a
resolution declaring that their organization had no connection with
it. This was clear proof to Susan that her "girls" lacked tolerance