ces. More light is needed for the popular
mind.

In the early days of the anti-slavery agitation, Mr. Garrison never
waited for the popular mind to become prepared but, by the ploughshare
of bold, aggressive action, he turned up the soil and made it ready for
the seed. When "more light" was needed, by vigorous effort he stirred
up a blaze which illuminated the world.

From Wendell Phillips came the old-time clarion note: "I think you are
on the right track--the best method to agitate the question--and I am
with you, though, between you and me, I still think the individual
States must lead off and that this reform must advance piecemeal, State
by State. But I mean always to help everywhere and every one."

The convention met in Lincoln Hall, January 16 and 17. Although there
had been but a few weeks for the work, petitions asking a Sixteenth
Amendment were received from twenty-six different States, aggregating
over 10,000 names. The History says: "To Sara Andrews Spencer we are
indebted for the great labor of receiving, assorting, counting,
rolling-up and planning the presentation of the petitions. It was by a
well-considered coup d'etat that, with her brave coadjutors, she
appeared on the floor of the House and gave each member a petition from
his own State. Even Miss Anthony, always calm in the hour of danger, on
finding herself suddenly whisked into those sacred enclosures, amid a
crowd of stalwart men, spittoons and scrap-baskets, when brought
vis-a-vis with our champion, Mr. Hoar, hastily apologized for the
intrusion, to which the honorable gentleman promptly replied, 'I hope,
madam, yet to see you on this floor in your own right and in business
hours too.'"

The spectacle is variously described.[91] The trustworthy correspondent
of the Independent, Mary Clemmer, looked at the proceedings with a
woman's eyes and, in her weekly letter, thus vented her indignation:

A few read the petitions as they would any other, with dignity and
without comment; but the majority seemed intensely conscious of
holding something unutterably funny in their hands. They appeared
to consider it a huge joke. The entire Senate presented the
appearance of a laughing-school practising side-splitting and
ear-extended grins. Mr. Wadleigh leaned back in his chair and shook
with laughter, after portraying to his next neighbor, Pinkney
Whyte, of Maryland, the apparition of Pinkney's landlady descending