e to
have a Free church in Rochester, after the manner of Theodore Parker's
in Boston, similar to an ethical society, where no doctrines should be
preached and all should be welcome, contributing what they chose. This
was in her mind for years, and at the beginning of 1859 she engaged
Corinthian Hall for Sunday evenings, her good friend, William A.
Reynolds, as usual making her a reduced rate; and here Antoinette Brown
Blackwell and Parker Pillsbury each preached for a month. She tried to
engage Mrs. Stanton for a year and also Aaron M. Powell, but the
financial support was too uncertain and the project had to be
abandoned. All her life, however, Miss Anthony cherished the hope of
seeing this Free church established and sustained. She arranged a
series of lectures for this winter. George William Curtis accepted her
invitation in this characteristic letter:

I think of no title for your course, but why have any? Why not say
simply, "A Course of Independent Lectures?" To call them woman's
rights would damn them in advance, so strong is prejudice. The only
one I have at all suited to your purpose is "Fair Play for
Women."[26] I hate the words "woman's rights," nor do they properly
describe my treatment of the question which, in my mind, is not one
of sex but of humanity. My lecture is a plea for the recognition of
the equal humanity of women and an assertion that they have rights
not as women but as human beings. In respect to terms, I leave it
with you. I usually receive $50, but you will understand that I
should prefer to pay the expenses myself rather than that you or
any one interested should expend a penny; so if you can not justly
give me anything, I shall be content.

[Autograph:

Yours very faithfully
George William Curtis]

Miss Anthony always came out of these lecture courses in debt, but she
would call upon her friends or borrow from sister or father enough to
make up the deficit, and replace the loan out of her scanty earnings.
She persisted in having them to educate the public on the progressive
questions of the day. At this time the long, severe mental and physical
strain of years began to be felt in her one weak spot, and the old
trouble with her back asserted itself. From every quarter came urgent
appeals for her assistance. At first she answered: "If New York calls a
constitutional convention for next spring, this will be a capital
winter to str