f sentiment or
National integrity, the common people are to be trusted; and it
is not the day, in the face of the magnificent disclosures of
that trying time, to say that it is unsafe to trust the welfare
of a country in the hands of such people. I say there is no man
that comes to years of discretion who is not fit for the
responsibilities of citizenship. Women will also improve when we
welcome them to the open air of liberty.

The sum of all these remarks is simply this, "Amen" to Brother
Blackwell.

LUCY STONE came forward and reminded the audience that a bill is
now before Congress which provides that the employees in the
Government departments at Washington and in both Houses of
Congress shall be equally paid irrespective of sex, and that
petitions should be sent to Congress advocating the passage of
the bill; that blanks for the purpose would be found in the hall,
and she hoped the friends of the cause would sign them. She read
a letter from Mr. Giles B. Stebbins regretting his inability to
be present, and expressing confidence in the ultimate triumphant
success of the cause.

Mr. POWELL, of the _Anti-Slavery Standard_, was introduced:
Ladies and gentlemen--My first feeling this morning was one of
congratulation in view of the encouraging auspices under which we
meet here to advocate the enfranchisement of women. I regard this
movement to-day as just entering upon its earliest efficient
practical work. The era of curiosity and novelty is past. There
is no longer in the public mind that feeling which has hitherto
manifested itself in connection with the discussion of the
proposition that women should vote. We have now to contend with
the more difficult and solid portion of the problem. The right of
woman to speak has been argued and settled; the right of woman to
the ballot has been quite generally admitted--indeed, almost
universally so--as it must be by any one who observes carefully
the arguments used to justify the extension of the ballot to men.
By the ratification of the XV. Amendment the question has been
finally settled in regard to all men, excepting perhaps the
Indians and Chinese, who may, however, be interpreted by and by
as having citizenship under this amendment. Logically and
inevitably, therefore, we come at