explosion of several
voices assured us that good lungs as well as brave hearts were within.
Directly Col. P. and Dr. (Governor) Robinson came out. "Did you hear
the cheering?" asked the Doctor. "I did, and was thinking when you
came out, what a popular man the Colonel must be to call forth such a
greeting!" "But the cheers were for Mrs. Nichols," was the reply; and
the Doctor proceeded to tell us that, "the boys" had been hotly
discussing women's rights, when one of their advocates who had heard
her lecture, expressed a wish that his opponents could hear Antoinette
Brown on the subject; a second wished they could hear Susan B.
Anthony; and a third wished they could hear Mrs. Nichols. On the heels
of these wishes, the announcement of Colonel Pomeroy, that "Mrs.
Nichols was at the door," was the signal for triumphant cheering. "The
boys" wanted a lecture in the evening. The Doctor said: "No; Mrs.
Nichols is tired. To-morrow the thatching of the church will be
completed, and she can dedicate the building."

Thus truths sown broadcast among the stereotyped beliefs and
prejudices of the old and populous communities of the East, had
wrought a genial welcome for myself and the advocacy of woman's cause
on the disputed soil of Kansas. But, alas! for the "stony ground." One
of "the boys" didn't stay to the "dedication." He had "come to Kansas
to get away from the women," and left at once for Leavenworth. I
wonder if the Judge--he is that now, and a benedict--remembers? I
still regret that lost opportunity for making his acquaintance.

At Lawrence, the objective point of all the Free State immigration,
where I spent six weeks in assisting my sons to make a home for the
winter, I mingled freely with the incoming population, and gave
several lectures to audiences of from two to three hundred, the entire
population coming together at the ringing of the city dinnerbell. I
returned to Vermont early in January, 1855, and in April following,
with two hundred and fifty emigrants (my husband and younger son
accompanying me), rejoined my other sons in the vicinity of Baldwin
City, where we took claims and commenced homes. I presented the whole
subject of Woman's Rights on the boats in going and returning, as at
first, by invitation. In the summer of 1855, delegates were elected to
a Constitutional Convention, which later convened at Topeka. Governor
Robinson, who with six other delegates voted for the exclusion of the
word "male" from q