buggies and wagons to shake hands
with the pioneer suffragist. Grizzly-headed opposers succumbed to
Miss Anthony's logic and came up to grasp her hand and say God
bless her, and proved the depth of their fervor by generous
financial aid to the cause she so ably represents. It is seldom
that the beginner of a great reform lives to see such fruitage of
her labors as does she. People often descant upon the indifference
of women to the question of their own enfranchisement and to
political matters generally; but there is serious doubt of greater
interest ever having been shown by men in political meetings than
women exhibit in these conventions....

On the evening of the second day the house was so densely packed
that a messenger for a glass of water had to go out through a
window. But in spite of all discomfort and the many standing, the
audience maintained perfect order and gave the utmost attention
throughout Miss Anthony's speech of two hours. Learning that she
would remain in Lincoln over Sunday the people importuned her to
speak that afternoon in the Presbyterian church, which she did to a
large audience.

The diary relates: "A mother brought her four-weeks-old girl baby
twenty-five miles in a carriage, so she might tell it, when grown, that
Susan B. Anthony had taken it in her arms. 'And the trip has not hurt
baby a particle,' she said brightly." And again it tells, with a good
deal of gusto, that one Baptist minister was determined the suffrage
speakers should not have his church and only yielded after several of
the richest pew-holders declared they never would pay another dollar
towards his salary if he did not. He then made his appearance at the
meeting, opened it with his blessing and closed it with his benediction!
Miss Anthony was not always able to speak to her own satisfaction. At
Salina she lectured for the Y. M. C. A. and writes: "I went to the
opera house and found a fine audience. Tried to give 'Moral Influence
vs. Political Power,' but the spirit wouldn't soar; its wings flapped on
the earth perpetually for the whole hour. I took my $25 from the
treasurer and went home with a heavy heart. It is beyond my knowledge
why, after speaking every day for a whole week, freely and decently, my
wits should desert me and my tongue be tied just at the time when I am
most anxious to do my best."

Two days' meetings were hel