been in the
hands of women, if they take no part in them now they are not
only missing the education which the natural participation in
civic life would bring to them but they are losing what they have
always had.

The Sunday afternoon service was held in the Lyric Theater, whose
capacity was taxed with an audience "representing every class of
society, every creed and no creed," according to the Baltimore papers.
It was preceded by a half-hour musical program by Edwin M. Shonert,
pianist, and Earl J. Pfonts, violinist. The Rev. Antoinette Brown
Blackwell made the opening prayer; the Rev. Anna Howard Shaw read the
Scripture lesson and gave the day's text: "Be strong and very
courageous; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy
God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." The Battle Hymn of the
Republic was beautifully read by the Rev. Olympia Brown and sung by
Miss Etta Maddox, the audience joining in the chorus. Mrs. Maud
Ballington Booth gave the principal address on the work of the
Volunteers of America for the men and women in prisons and after they
are discharged. At its beginning she said: "I have never before stood
on the platform with these leaders in the struggle for woman suffrage
but I sympathize with any movement whose motive is, like theirs, the
uplifting of humanity." Her beauty, her sweet voice and her rare
eloquence made a deep impression on the audience, who responded with a
generous collection for her Hope Halls. The meeting closed with the
congregational singing of America and the benediction by the Rev.
Marie Jenney Howe. All of the women ministers occupied the pulpits of
various churches in the morning or evening, and, according to the
reporter for the _News_, "astonished the large congregations which
assembled to do them honor with their facility of expression and the
soundness of their logic!"[46]

The resolutions offered by Henry B. Blackwell, chairman of the
committee, covered a wide and rather unusual range of subjects,
showing the broad scope of the work of the association and expressing
its pleasure at the world-wide indications of progress. Deep regret
was expressed for the death of the friends of the cause during the
year, among them George W. Catt of New York, husband of Mrs. Carrie
Chapman Catt; Mrs. Josephine Shaw Lowell of New York; Mrs. Jane H.
Spofford of Maine; Mrs. Caroline Hallowell Miller of Maryland; Mrs.
Sarah M. Perkins of Ohio; John K. Wil