ey are desired; and to enlist the
support of the press for this question, which is now acknowledged to be
one of the leading issues of the day.

The event of 1897 which gave Miss Anthony more pleasure than all others,
in fact one of the happiest incidents of her life, was the Anthony
Reunion at Adams, Mass., the last of July. The Historical and Scientific
Society of Berkshire had for many years held an annual meeting at some
one of the historic spots for which that county is especially noted. In
1895 this had been held in the dooryard of the old Anthony homestead,
and she had been invited to be present, but was otherwise engaged. It
had been the custom to eulogize her highly at these gatherings but it
was determined that now she must come and speak for herself, therefore
the invitation was repeated for 1896, but then she was in California. In
1897 the letter from the president, A. L. Perry, said: "The present
writing is to give you a formal and official invitation, in the name of
the people of the entire county, whose representatives we are, to be
present and participate in our next meeting. You may be sure of a warm
welcome from your old neighbors who remain, and from the generation of
Berkshire people, men and women, now on the stage."

The meeting was to be held in Lee, and she wrote that if they would
again hold it at the old Anthony homestead she would put aside
everything else and come. She soon received this answer from Rev. A. B.
Whipple: "It gives me pleasure, as vice-president of the Berkshire
Historical Society, to inform you that we have decided to gratify your
'bit of sentiment' as well as our own inclination to meet again 'in that
old dooryard,' to do you honor as one of the natives of Berkshire whose
historic lives are finding a deserved and permanent record in our
society."

Miss Anthony ever wanted her friends to share in her joys and was
anxious that everybody should know her friends, so she wrote that she
would like to have the Berkshire people hear Miss Shaw and others among
the noted speakers. After some exchange of letters the officers of the
society requested her to take charge of the program of the day, and
promised to second all her arrangements. As she always combined business
with pleasure she appointed a meeting of the national suffrage committee
that week, and thus brought to Adams her "body guard," Miss Shaw, Miss
Blackwell, Mrs. Catt, Mrs. Avery, Mrs. Upton[132] and, by invitation,
Mrs.