Democratic Ideals: A Memorial Sketch of Clara B. Colby. Olympia Brown

To teach man his dependence on his God.

       Stay now thine hand; nor put it forth again

       Till I command, which never will I do

       Unless all gentler means shall fail to build

       Me here a commonwealth of strong, and pure,

       And noble citizens."

       "Oh, star-decked Spirit,

       Wauhkeon from the Orient; over all

       This land, far to the Occident extend

       Thy sway; until no more in crowded marts

       Shall man by fellow-man be made to mourn.

       Till each shall find his place; and happy homes

       Shall cover all these plains; until to God

       Each heart shall joyful pay its homage due;

       And man to man show only Love and Truth."

      The following, taken from an article in the "Suffrage Messenger," published in Lincoln, Nebraska, expresses the appreciation of the Nebraska people for Mrs. Colby. The author of the article is Emma W. Demaree.

      "During the suffrage campaign of 1882, Mrs. Colby and my mother, Esther L. Warner, were friends and co-workers.

      "As I remember it, her conversion to suffrage did not long antedate that campaign ​

      and was brought about by the work of Mrs. Margaret Campbell of Iowa—another wonderful woman of pioneer suffrage days.

      "With Mrs. Colby conversion meant work and she entered, heart and soul, into the campaign, giving freely of her time, talents and money. She possessed what seemed boundless energy and was intensely active in any work she undertook. However, it was said of her that her home was always well cared for. She was an excellent housekeeper and gave her personal attention to many household details.

      "Mother was a guest, with others, in her home in Beatrice during a suffrage convention there, and she said Mrs. Colby was up early in the morning, sweeping porches and helping put things to rights, in the house and out, at the same time being the one chiefly responsible for the success of the convention and doing, in connection with that, the work of several ordinary women.

      "She was impatient with what she termed 'the struggle with dirt and for something to eat,' but she entered into the struggle valiantly and came off conqueror, at least as far as her own home was concerned.

      " 'Buoyant life' expresses, perhaps, better than anything else the thing she embodied and radiated. She seemed never to tire, but to be always hopeful, happy and 'fit' for the work that needed to be done. ​

      "We Nebraska suffragists owe to her work in the early days more than we can ever realize. Espousing the cause when it was unpopular, she gave herself freely to its advancement and very much of the suffrage sentiment of today had its beginnings in the work of the pioneers of whom she was one of the most earnest and able."

      1 ↑ The Territory of Nebraska originally included Colorado, Dakota, and Idaho.

      2 ↑ To the Lakotahs, or Dakotahs, belong the principal Indian tribes of the Northwest—the Sioux, the Itoes, Pawnees, Omahas, etc.

      3 ↑ The "Ghost-Dance" was the Indian prayer that the life might return to the buffalo bones bleaching on the plains. It meant that the Indian was starving and calling upon his gods to help him.

      4 ↑ Origin of Indian Summer.