ern Consolidated Line,
was so delighted with my appreciation of his plan for reducing the
freight on grain from Nebraska, that he must have written extravagant
accounts of me to his wife; for she sent me, at Christmas, one of the
loveliest shawls I ever beheld.

I had frequently made short addresses at our public meetings, and
was considered to have my share of self-possession; but I never could
accustom myself to the keen, disturbing, irritating atmosphere of the
Legislature. Everybody seemed wide-awake and aggressive, instead of
pleasantly receptive; there were so many "points of order," and what
not; such complete disregard, among the members, of each other's
feelings; and, finally--a thing I could never understand, indeed--such
inconsistency and lack of principle in the intercourse of the two
parties. How could I feel assured of their sincerity, when I saw the
very men chatting and laughing together, in the lobbies, ten minutes
after they had been facing each other like angry lions in the debate?

Mrs. Whiston, also, had her trials of the same character. Nothing ever
annoyed her so much as a little blunder she made, the week after the
opening of the session. I have not yet mentioned that there was already
a universal dissatisfaction among the women, on account of their being
liable to military service. The war seemed to have hardly begun, as
yet, and conscription was already talked about; the women, therefore,
clamored for an exemption on account of sex. Although we all felt
that this was a retrograde movement, the pressure was so great that we
yielded. Mrs. Whiston, reluctant at first, no sooner made up her mind
that the thing must be done, than she furthered it with all her might.
After several attempts to introduce a bill, which were always cut off by
some "point of order," she unhappily lost her usual patience.

I don't know that I can exactly explain how it happened, for what
the men call "parliamentary tactics" always made me fidgetty. But the
"previous question" turned up (as it always seemed to me to do, at the
wrong time), and cut her off before she had spoken ten words.

"Mr. Speaker!" she protested; "there is no question, previous to this,
which needs the consideration of the house! This is first in importance,
and demands your immediate--"

"Order! order!" came from all parts of the house.

"I am in order--the right is always in order!" she exclaimed, getting
more and more excited. "We women are no