, at Seneca Falls, N. Y., July 19, 1848--thus
celebrating the twenty-eighth anniversary of that historic event.
The meeting was presided over by Edward M. Davis, president of the
association, son-in-law of Lucretia Mott, and one of the most
untiring workers in the cause. The venerable Lucretia Mott
addressed the meeting, and Miss Anthony read letters from several
of the earliest and most valued pioneers of the movement:

TENAFLY, New Jersey, July 19, 1876.

LUCRETIA MOTT--_Esteemed Friend_: It is twenty-eight years ago
to-day since the first woman's rights convention ever held
assembled in the Wesleyan chapel at Seneca Falls, N. Y. Could we
have foreseen, when we called that convention, the ridicule,
persecution, and misrepresentation that the demand for woman's
political, religious and social equality would involve; the long,
weary years of waiting and hoping without success; I fear we
should not have had the courage and conscience to begin such a
protracted struggle, nor the faith and hope to continue the work.
Fortunately for all reforms, the leaders, not seeing the
obstacles which block the way, start with the hope of a speedy
success. Our demands at the first seemed so rational that I
thought the mere statement of woman's wrongs would bring
immediate redress. I thought an appeal to the reason and
conscience of men against the unjust and unequal laws for women
that disgraced our statute books, must settle the question. But I
soon found, while no attempt was made to answer our arguments,
that an opposition, bitter, malignant, and persevering, rooted in
custom and prejudice, grew stronger with every new demand made,
with every new privilege granted.

How well I remember that July day when the leading ladies and
gentlemen of the busy town crowded into the little church;
lawyers loaded with books, to expound to us the laws; ladies with
their essays, and we who had called the convention, with our
declaration of rights, speeches, and resolutions. With what
dignity James Mott, your sainted husband, tall and stately, in
Quaker costume, presided over our novel proceedings. And your
noble sister, Martha C. Wright, was there. Her wit and wisdom
contributed much to the interest of our proceedings, and her
counsel in a large measure to what suc