t this time and she knew she could help, so
she conquered her pain and came. When contributions were called for
she was first to respond and holding out a little purse she said: 'I
want to begin by giving you my purse. Just before I left Rochester my
friends gave me a birthday party and made me a present of eighty-six
dollars. I suppose they wanted me to do as I liked with the money and
I wish to send it to Oregon.'" Under this inspiration the pledges soon
reached $4,000. Afterwards Miss Anthony's seventeen five dollar gold
pieces were sold for $10 each, and later some of them for $25.

Miss Anthony was not able to leave the house for the next two days, to
her great sorrow. The leading feature of the Monday evening session
was to be an address by Mrs. Howe but she also was too ill to appear,
and realizing the intense disappointment this would be to the audience
Miss Anthony made another heroic effort and took her place on the
platform. The Rev. Herbert S. Bigelow came from Cincinnati to give an
address on The Power of an Idea, in which he said: "If the world were
never again to get another new idea, progress would be at an end....
The birth and growth and struggle and triumph of one great idea after
another--this is the story of human progress. For more than half a
century the men and women who championed the idea of woman suffrage
were made the butt of ridicule, yet in the light of history how
ridiculous are the enemies of this idea. Fifty years ago no American
college but Oberlin was open to women. Now a third of the college
students in the United States are women." Mrs. Fessenden of Boston
spoke eloquently on The Mount of Aspiration, and Mrs. Lydia A. Coonley
Ward of Chicago represented the strong, practical side in her address
on The Nearest Duty. Miss Alice Henry of Melbourne gave an interesting
account of woman suffrage in Australia, where women now possessed the
complete franchise, which had been followed by very advanced laws.

It was not supposed that Miss Anthony would be able to speak, but,
stimulated by the occasion and longing no doubt to say what she felt
might be her last words, she came forward near the close of the
meeting. A report of the occasion in the New York _Evening Post_ said:

The entire house arose and the applause and cheers seemed to last
for ten minutes. Miss Anthony looked at the splendid audience of
men and women, many of them distinguished in their generation,
with