fragettes, and as the first result of their
conversion to the Cause both had been laughed at by their schoolmates.
The younger child came home after this tragic experience, weeping
bitterly and declaring that she did not wish to be a suffragette any
more--an 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 childish-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 assurance 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
End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of a Pioneer, by Anna Howard Shaw
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STORY OF A PIONEER ***
***** This file should be named 354.txt or 354.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/354/
Produced by Mike Lough
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electro
|