e example by proposing that the
petitions be delivered in open session, to which there was no
objection. The early advocates of equal rights for women--Hoar, Kelley,
Banks, Kasson, Lawrence and Lapham--were, if possible, surpassed in
courtesy by those who are not committed, but are beginning to see that
a finer element, in the body politic would clear the vision, purify the
atmosphere and help to settle many vexed questions on the basis of
exact and equal justice. In the Senate the unprecedented courtesy was
extended to women of half an hour's time on the floor and while this
kind of business has usually been transacted with an attendance of from
seven to ten senators, it was observed that only two out of the
twenty-six who had Sixteenth Amendment petitions to present were out of
their seats.--National Republican.]

[Footnote 92: For the first time in twenty years Miss Anthony missed
the May Suffrage Anniversary in New York City.]

[Footnote 93: At Beatrice, Neb., Miss Anthony met for the first time
Mrs. Clara B. Colby, who said in a bright letter received soon
afterwards: "Everybody was delighted with your lecture, except one man
who sat there with a child on each arm, and he said you never looked at
him or gave him a bit of credit for it."]

CHAPTER XXIX.

SENATE COMMITTEE REPORT--PRESS COMMENT.

1879-1880.

At the beginning of 1879 Miss Anthony put all lecture work aside until
after the Washington convention, January 9 and 10. The thunderbolts
forged by the resolution committee were a little more fiery even than
those of former years, and the combined workmanship of the two Vulcans,
Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony, is quite apparent, with vivid sparks
from the chairman, Mrs. Spencer:

_Resolved_, That the Forty-fifth Congress, in ignoring the
individual petitions of more than 300 women of high social standing
and culture, asking for the removal of their political
disabilities, while promptly enacting special legislation for the
removal of those of every man who petitioned, illustrates the
indifference of Congress to the rights of a sex deprived of
political power.

WHEREAS, Senator Blaine says it is the very essence of tyranny to
count any citizens in the basis of representation who are denied a
voice in the laws and a choice in their rulers; therefore

_Resolved_, That counting women in the basis of representation,
while denying them the right of suff