[3] but she
was welcomed at once into another beautiful home, that of the wife and
daughters of J. Heron Foster, founder of the Pittsburg Dispatch. All
were deeply interested in the great question, and Julia and Rachel
henceforth were ranked among the most earnest and valued workers.

It was soon afterwards that a reporter of the Chicago News started the
following paragraph:

Susan B. Anthony has never condescended to love a man but she
lavishes a heap of affection on a little gray Skye terrier which
she takes around with her wherever she goes. This dog was given her
by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and having recently lost a favorite
Newfoundland pet, she accepted the frolicsome Skye with hearty
gratitude. She has taught the apt brute every variety of trick and
its intelligence seems to be unlimited. The little creature sleeps
on her bed, eats from her hand, has blankets, gold and silver
collars and every kind of ornament and comfort. Miss Anthony is
accompanied by this accomplished canine everywhere, and during the
recent convention in Washington "Birdie," as the dog is called,
occupied a prominent place on the platform, either cuddled up in
her voluminous lap or coiled in a frowsy heap at her feet.

This was copied into many newspapers throughout the country, often
accompanied by editorial comment, facetious, disapproving, and sometimes
deducing from this text the solemn fact that every woman's nature must
have something to love, or that while women were so frivolous they had
no right to ask for the ballot. This extract from a half-column
editorial in the New York Graphic will serve as an example:

There is something wrong here. If Miss Anthony were to carry around
with her a Newfoundland or a good bloodhound the spectacle would
have nothing incongruous in it. If she would make a pet of a
six-barrelled revolver and another of a large club that would be
appropriate. But a Skye terrier, a miserable, little, whining pup,
a coached, coddled and coaxed dog making repeated journeys in a
basket and fed on crackers and milk--what sort of a thing is this
for a person of reformative powers to be associated with? It is an
argument in favor of woman's rights that women are capable of all
the masculinity necessary to voting and the making of laws; but who
ever heard of a President, a senator, a member of the House