h was, on the contrary, packed to
its utmost capacity. Rev. Mr. Eads, pastor of the church, opened
the meeting with prayer, and Dr. Avery, as president of the
association, gave a brief _resume_ of the work during its one
year of existence. Colonel Henry Logan of Boulder (formerly of
Illinois), made a manly and telling speech in favor of a measure
which he called one of axiomatic justice. Mrs. Wright of New
York, after a piquant address, announced the meeting of the
convention for the next day. On the following morning a business
session was held, and officers elected for the year.[489] In the
afternoon speeches were made by Dr. Crary, Mrs. Shields, and Mr.
David Boyd of Greeley, and in the evening by Mr. Henry C. Dillon
and Rev. J. R. Eads, the closing and crowning speech of the
convention being given by Miss Laura Hanna of Denver, a _petite_,
pretty young girl, whose remarks made a _bonne bouche_ with which
to close the feast. Interest in the subject rose to fever heat
before October. Pulpit, press and fireside were occupied with its
discussion. The most effective, and at the same time,
exasperating opposition, came from the pulpit, but there was also
vigorous help from the same quarter. The Catholic Bishop preached
a series of sermons and lectures, in which he fulminated all the
thunders of apostolic and papal revelation against women who
wanted to vote:

Though strong-minded women who are not satisfied with the
disposition of Providence and who wish to go beyond the
condition of their sex, profess no doubt to be Christians,
do they consult the Bible?--do they follow the Bible? I fear
not. Had God intended to create a companion for man, capable
of following the same pursuits, able to undertake the same
labors, he would have created another man; but he created a
woman, and she fell. * * * The class of women wanting
suffrage are battalions of old maids disappointed in
love--women separated from their husbands or divorced by men
from their sacred obligations--women who, though married,
wish to hold the reins of the family government, for there
never was a woman happy in her home who wished for female
suffrage. * * * Who will take charge of those young children
(if