m of constitution was adopted, and it was decided that
the National Council should meet once in three years and the
International once in five.[42]

Immediately upon the close of the council, the National Suffrage
Association held its twentieth annual convention and, as many of the
delegates remained, the meetings were nearly as crowded as those of the
council had been. A local paper remarked "that it seemed as if the
Washington people could never hear enough about woman suffrage." A fine
address by Caroline E. Merrick was an especial feature, as it presented
the question from the standpoint of a southern woman. The Senate
committee granted a hearing, the speakers being presented by Miss
Anthony. Mrs. Stanton made the principal address, a grand plea for human
equality, and the grave and dignified committee gave her a round of
applause. She was followed by Frances E. Willard and Julia Ward Howe;
Laura Ormiston Chant and Alice Scatcherd, England; Isabelle Bogelot,
France; Sophia Magelsson Groth, Norway; Alli Trygg, Finland; Bessie
Starr Keefer, Canada.

Miss Anthony received many pleasant letters after the council; among
them one from her friend Mrs. Samuel E. Sewall, of Boston, in which she
said: "We want to congratulate you upon the very satisfactory and
gratifying result of the council. I hear from the delegates on all sides
most enthusiastic accounts of the whole affair, and of your wonderful
powers and energy. Mr. Blackwell is loud in your praise. All this might
be expected from the delegates, but what pleases me still more is the
respectful tone of nearly all the newspapers. Even the sneering Nation
has admitted an article in praise of the council." In all Miss Anthony's
own letters there was not the slightest reference to any feeling of
fatigue or desire for rest, but she seemed only to be stimulated to
greater energy. It was impossible for her to respond to half the
invitations which came from all parts of the country, but usually she
selected the places where she felt herself most needed, without any
regard to her own pleasure or comfort. She did, however, accept a
cordial invitation to attend the annual Boston Suffrage Festival, and
was royally entertained for several days.

On the afternoon of June 9, Central Music Hall, Chicago, was packed with
an audience of representative men and women. Frances E. Willard
presided,[43] prayer was offered by Rev. Florence Kollock, and Mrs.
Ormiston Chant gave a wonderfully