eparate box. Upon the ballot given for said proposition
shall be written, or printed, or partly written and partly
printed, the words, "Woman Suffrage,--Yes"; and upon ballots
given against the adoption thereof, in like manner, the
words, "Woman Suffrage,--No." If at said election a majority
of the votes given upon said proposition shall contain the
words, "Woman Suffrage,--Yes," then said proposition shall
be substituted for so much of section I, of article VII., as
includes the proviso therein in the present constitution of
the State as it now stands, or substituted for section I, of
article VII., in said amended constitution, if the latter is
adopted.

This bill was promptly signed by Governor Bagley, and from that
hour the attention of the advocates of suffrage for women was
centered on Michigan.

The submission of this amendment to a vote of the people, gave an
unusual interest and importance to the annual meeting held at
Lansing, May 6, 1874,[311] at which plans were to be made, and
money raised for a vigorous campaign throughout the State. The
large number of women ready to do the speaking, and the equally
large number of men ready to make generous contributions, were
most encouraging in starting. Women who could not aid the cause
in any other way cast their gold watches into the treasury. From
the large number of letters received at this convention we may
judge how thoroughly aroused the friends were all over the
country. Lydia Maria Child wrote:

It is urged, that if women participated in public affairs,
puddings would be spoiled, and stockings neglected.
Doubtless some such cases might occur; for we have the same
human nature as men, and men are sometimes so taken up with
elections as to neglect their business for a while. But I
apprehend that puddings and stockings, to say nothing of
nurseries, suffer much greater detriment from the present
expenditure of time and thought upon the heartless
ostentation of parties, and the flounces and fripperies of
fashion, than can possibly accrue from the intellectual
cultivation of women, or their participation in public
affairs. Voting is a mere incident in the lives of men.