hrough the
ballot-box, then those who are denied the right of suffrage
can in no sense be held as consenting, and the government
which withholds that right is as to those from whom it is
withheld no just government. * * * * The measure now before
the House is necessary to the complete fulfillment of what
has gone before it. To hesitate now is to put in peril all
we have gained. Let this, too, pass into history as an
accomplished fact. Let it be followed, in due course of
time, by the last crowning act of the series--an amendment
to the constitution securing to all citizens of full age,
without regard to sex, an equal voice in making and amending
the laws under which they live, to be forfeited only for
crime. Then the great mission of the party in power will be
fulfilled; then will have been demonstrated the capacity of
man for self-government; then a just nation, founded upon
the full and free consent of its citizens will be no longer
a dream of the optimist.

Mrs. Virginia Barnhurst writes:

I think you should make mention of the few men who, against the
greatest opposition, stood boldly up and avowed themselves in
favor of woman's cause. When I think of some of the speeches that
I heard from the opposite side--expressions which sent the hot
blood to my face, and which showed the low estimate law-makers
put upon woman, those few men who dared to defend mothers and
sisters, stand out in my mind as worthy of having their names go
down in history--and especially in a history written by women. I
had a good talk with Lawyer Campbell. He is one of the most
ardent in the cause; he believes the ballot to be a necessity to
woman, as a means of self-protection, this necessity being seen
in the unequal operation of many laws relating to the
guardianship of children and the ownership of property. Caleb
White's words have in them the just consciousness of their own
immortality: "I want my vote to be recorded; not to be judged of
here, but to be judged of by coming generations, who, at least,
will give to woman the rights which God intended she should
have."

[Illustration: Rachel G. Foster]

The constitutional convention to which reference has been so
frequently made