Page:Democratic Ideals (Olympia Brown).djvu/10



HE personal friends of Mrs. Colby, beside many of the advocates of Woman's Suffrage have expressed an earnest desire for some account of her work which might be accessible to the general public and which might be helpful to the future historian of the suffrage cause, as it would furnish an account of some phases of the movement not represented in other histories. For these reasons the author of the present booklet, as a friend of Mrs. Colby and as the President of the Federal Suffrage Association, a society with which she was thoroughly identified, has undertaken to present the following brief sketch of Mrs. Colby and of the society to which she devoted so large a part of the last years of her life.

When death calls any prominent person from the activity of the world we ask "what has she done?" The incidents of her personal experiences are unimportant when compared with the ideals which inspired the life and gave direction to the work. We seek not a record of material events but an understanding of character, motives, and aspirations, believing that like the virtuous woman of old "her own works shall praise her in the gates."

The writer hopes that this sketch may prove not only a satisfaction to those pioneers in reform with whom Mrs. Colby was associated, but an inspiration to those young women who today are entering upon fields of remunerative activity which have been opened to them by the labors of those who have gone before. Of these it may be well said "others have labored, and they have entered into their labor." Among those who labored to prepare the way for the young women of our time, and who Rh