th of a perfect man. Style,
personal adornment, she did not know; vanity found no lodgment in her
great soul. She was born with a heroic purpose, and she set out in
fulfillment of that purpose with a spirit of dauntless valor and
determination which knew "no variableness or shadow of turning" to the
day that ended her consecrated life and she passed from the scenes of
men.

The trials, privations, insults borne by this grand old pioneer will
never be known by those who are in the ranks today. An event
characteristic of the struggle in which she engaged almost
single-handed for so many years was her arrest and trial for voting in
the presidential election of 1872. A fine of one hundred dollars and
costs was imposed upon her, which she vowed she would not pay, even if
she were sent to jail. When Miss Anthony said a thing she meant it. That
fine was never paid.

It was, after all, a stroke of good fortune that Miss Anthony was the
victim of this barbarous indignity. It inspired one of the greatest
speeches of her life. In opening this dramatic plea and protest she
said:

"Friends and Fellow-Citizens: I stand before you tonight under
indictment for the alleged crime of having voted at the last
presidential election, without having a lawful right to vote. It shall
be my work this evening to prove to you that in thus voting I not only
committed no crime, but, instead, simply exercised my citizen's rights,
guaranteed to me and all United States citizens by the National
Constitution, beyond the power of any State to deny."

She then quoted from the preamble of the Federal Constitution: "We, the
_people_ of the United States," etc., and proceeded:

"It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we the
male citizens; but, we the whole people, who formed the union. And we
formed it, not to give the blessings of liberty, but to secure them; not
to the half of ourselves and the half of our posterity, but to the whole
people--women as well as men. And it is a downright mockery to talk to
women of their enjoyment of the blessings of liberty while they are
denied the use of the only means of securing them provided by this
democratic-republican government--the ballot. The early journals of
Congress show that when the committee reported to that body the original
articles of confederation, the very first article which became the
subject of discussion was that respecting equality of suffrage. Article
4 said: 'The b