of his
fellow Quakers. For this he became a hero to her, especially after she
heard the romantic story of his marriage to Lucy Read who was not a
Quaker. The Anthonys and the Reads had been neighbors for years, and
Lucy was one of the pupils at the "home school" which Grandfather
Humphrey Anthony had built for his children on the farm, under the
weeping willow at the front gate. Daniel and Lucy were schoolmates
until Daniel at nineteen was sent to Richard Mott's Friends' boarding
school at Nine Partners on the Hudson. When he returned as a teacher,
he found his old playmate still one of the pupils, but now a beautiful
tall young woman with deep blue eyes and glossy brown hair. Full of
fun, a good dancer, and always dressed in the prettiest clothes, she
was the most popular girl in the neighborhood. Promptly Daniel Anthony
fell in love with her, but an almost insurmountable obstacle stood in
the way: Quakers were not permitted to "marry out of Meeting." This,
however, did not deter Daniel.

[Illustration: Susan B. Anthony Homestead, Adams, Massachusetts]

It was harder for Lucy to make up her mind. She enjoyed parties,
dances, and music. She had a full rich voice, and as she sat at her
spinning wheel, singing and spinning, she often wished that she could
"go into a ten acre lot with the bars down"[6] and let her voice out.
If she married Daniel, she would have to give all this up, but she
decided in favor of Daniel. A few nights before the wedding, she went
to her last party and danced until four in the morning while Daniel
looked on and patiently waited until she was ready to leave.

For his transgression of marrying out of Meeting, Daniel had to face
the elders as soon as he returned from his wedding trip. They weighed
the matter carefully, found him otherwise sincere and earnest, and
decided not to turn him out. Lucy gave up her dancing and her singing.
She gave up her pretty bright-colored dresses for plain somber
clothes, but she did not adopt the Quaker dress or use the "plain
speech." She went to meeting with Daniel but never became a Quaker,
feeling always that she could not live up to their strict standard of
righteousness.[7]

This was Susan's heritage--Quaker discipline and austerity lightened
by her father's independent spirit and by the kindly understanding of
her mother who had not forgotten her own fun-loving girlhood; an
environment where men and women were partners in church and at home,
where hard