praise for their work and its aims; but this was not the case. More and
more insistent became the cry for equal footing with the men in matters
which were not generally deemed within the sphere of femininity. The
advocates of female suffrage in particular uplifted their voices and
would not cease their clamor, though disowned by a majority of their own
sex. Near the beginning of the tenth decade of the century a large
number of the women of Massachusetts, to show their lack of sympathy
with the radicals, even formed themselves into a "Ladies' Anti-Suffrage
League." Yet even this open enmity to their cherished schemes among
those who were most concerned did not deter the "reformers." In 1884,
when political excitement reached its post-bellum height, Mrs. Belva
Lockwood, a female practitioner of law in Washington, actually announced
her candidacy for the presidential chair; and though she did not
ultimately go to the poll, she took the stump in her own behalf and in
all other respects emulated the male candidates for the chief
magistracy. This was the climax of feminine effort in politics and
doubtless had its deterrent effect in making disciples to the theory of
female suffrage.

Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was a type of her class. Born in 181 5, and
living until 1902, nearly the whole of her long life was devoted to the
promulgation and attempt to establish theories of feminine equality with
men in all respects of "rights." She was one of those restless spirits
which find in fanaticism of some kind their needful expression, and she
was never weary of the notoriety and prominence that accrued from her
efforts for the "emancipation" of women. Her share in the first "Woman's
Rights" convention has already been mentioned. In 1854 she addressed the
New York legislature on the subject of the rights of married women, and
in 1860 she again appeared in the halls of law as an advocate for
divorce on the grounds of drunkenness. In 1867 she canvassed Kansas, and
in 1874 Michigan, when the question of female suffrage was submitted to
the decision of the people of those States. In 1868 she was actually a
candidate for a seat in Congress on the platform of female suffrage, and
though she failed in gaining a place in the legislature of the nation
she subsequently appeared many times before that legislature, or
committees thereof, in behalf of her cherished theory. These efforts,
together with her incumbency of numerous presidencies in s