s sphere was contrary to the will of God.
But always ready to refute him were Antoinette Brown, now an ordained
minister, William Lloyd Garrison, and occasionally Susan herself. To
the young Quaker broadened by her Unitarian contacts and unhampered by
creed or theological dogma, such debates were worse than useless; they
deepened theological differences, stirred up needless antagonisms,
solved no problems, and wasted valuable time.

During this convention, she was one of the twenty-four guests in
Lucretia Mott's comfortable home at 238 Arch Street. Every meal, with
its stimulating discussions, was a convention in itself. Susan's great
hero, William Lloyd Garrison, sat at Lucretia's right at the long
table in the dining room, Susan on her left, and at the end of each
meal, when the little cedar tub filled with hot soapy water was
brought in and set before Lucretia so that she could wash the silver,
glass, and fine china at the table, Susan dried them on a snowy-white
towel while the interesting conversation continued. There was talk of
woman's rights, of temperance, and of spiritualism, which was
attracting many new converts. There were thrilling stories of the
opening of the West and the building of transcontinental railways; but
most often and most earnestly the discussion turned to the progress of
the antislavery movement, to the infamous Kansas-Nebraska bill, to the
New England Emigrant Aid Company,[53] which was sending free-state
settlers to Kansas, to the weakness of the government in playing again
and again into the hands of the proslavery faction. Most of them saw
the country headed toward a vast slave empire which would embrace
Cuba, Mexico, and finally Brazil; and William Lloyd Garrison fervently
reiterated his doctrine, "No Union with Slaveholders."

Before leaving home Susan had heard first-hand reports of the bitter
bloody antislavery contest in Kansas from her brother Daniel, who had
just returned from a trip to that frontier territory with settlers
sent out by the New England Emigrant Aid Company. Now talking with
William Lloyd Garrison, she found herself torn between these two great
causes for human freedom, abolition and woman's rights, and it was
hard for her to decide which cause needed her more.

* * * * *

She had not, however, forgotten her unfinished business in New York
State. The refusal of the legislature to amend the property laws had
doubled her determinatio