settled in the Portland Hotel
and the hospitable homes of the city.

The convention, held in the First Congregational Church, was planned
for a very full program of ten days instead of the usual week.
Notwithstanding the Exposition was in progress and conventions were a
matter of daily occurrence, none of the national suffrage conventions
ever had fuller or more satisfactory reports. _Journal_, _Telegram_
and _Oregonian_ vied with each other and the Associated Press sent out
whatever was requested of it. _The Oregonian_ said of the first
executive session: "Room 618 in the Portland Hotel was the scene of a
notable gathering yesterday afternoon. Lawyers, doctors, ministers of
the gospel, lecturers of renown and expert auditors were in close
conference, mapping out a plan of campaign by which they will fight
for their rights in this land of the free and home of the brave. That
they have not had the rights accorded by the Declaration of
Independence to all American citizens they attribute to the fact that
they are women and it is to convince unseeing mankind that women who
are intelligent enough to obey laws are capable of helping frame them,
that the most profound and representative women of the country are
gathered here in the interests of equal suffrage." Miss Blackwell
presented this interesting picture in her letter to the _Woman's
Journal_.

The convention has opened magnificently, with glorious sunshine,
great audiences, full and friendly press reports and the
suffragists of the Pacific Coast outdoing themselves in cordial
hospitality. The beautiful city of Portland is so full of flowers
at this season that the whole city might be thought to have
decorated in honor of the coming of the national convention. As
the yellow-ribboned delegates go through the streets they
constantly utter exclamations of delight over the enormous roses,
the curtains of dark blue clematis draping the verandas, the
luxuriant masses of ivy and the majestic trees rising above the
velvet lawns and casting their shade upon the many handsome
residences.... Hospitable Oregonians send in presents to the
officers of huge red and yellow apples and baskets of mammoth
cherries nestling in their green leaves....

The large gray stone church has its auditorium hung with American
flags and bunting of the suffrage color; portraits of Lucy Stone
and Susan B. Anthony s