Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-03-26
PROMINENT LAprHs ON TINE STAGE.


rangements and regularly accredited delegates be-
gan assembling the stage and taking their seats
on the plush-covered chairs and sofas arranged in
semi-circular form. When the ladies came upon
the stage many OF them removed their bOnnets
and wraps. Mrs stanton sat with Mrs. Gage on a
sofa m front with a little table before her. Miss
Anthony came In, removed her bonnet and FUR cir
cular and donned a bright red shawl Mrs. Blake.
Mrs. Sewall, and a score OF other we'll
known American women were assembled
about Mrs. stanton. Mrs. Dixie Mrs. GustarsOn,
Miss Gripenberg and the other foreign delegates
were also assembled on the stage.
Just before the proceedings opened three men-
the only men w, who appeared on the stage and
came ON, bearing great pyramidal floral piece,
which was put on the table in front OF Mrs. STAN
pOrtly figure from the view OF the audience it was
soon removed to one side OF the stage. On the
other side was a paror organ, over which
the stage for opening seemed to move
with stately deliberatioD, and meanwhile the sew
eral hundred women In the audience, and the fifty
or one hundred men among them, kept up buzz
buzz, buzz or comment and conversation. The
audience became impatient and began to stamp
and clap their hands.
MISS ANTHONY OPENS THE MEETING.
Miss Anthony then stepped forward, raised her
hand and restored silence. ~ have been waiting"
she said, "for quite while for the gavel but see
you have sounded 1t yourselves so we will go
ahead" Then she referred TO the call for the
council The specific purpose OF calling 1t this
40 years ago the first convention OF women called
by women was held in this country. They would
Blackwell, who was the first woman ever orda, ned
to the ministry in this country. and she believed
In The world.
Mrs. Blackwell then advanced to the table, and
placing her hands upon II, lifted up her face,
closed her eyes. and offered prayer. Her prayer
was an eloquent appeal for justice, and for the
Miss Anthony then rising said that before ad-
dressing the audience she wished TO address the
stage. Then turning her back she admonished
the ladies on the platform under no circumstances
to whisper or rustic papers while any one was
speaking. This little speech pleased the audience
then executed a right about face" and said she
was going to introduce Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton
Harbert TO read the hymn with which they would
open. She would ask Mrs HarberJ to read 1t not
only because she was the author OF it but because
Mrs Harbert's eyes were better than her own.
Mrs. Harbert then came forward and read
hymn written by her for the council entitled
1.-THE PROMISED LAND"
She said she had given 1t this title because this
morning they now entered the promised land with
their Moses and Joshua-and she waved her hand
toward Mrs.. Stanton and Miss Anthony. She then
read the hymn, which Is In three StanZaS, BEGIN
ming with the words:
Our weary years Of wandering DER.
hs xTsei w, With . 10Y II thiS radiant shore;
The dawn of freedoms morn we see.
Mrs. Harbert read the lines with some elocu-
tionary effect. Then the audience rose and joined
FORTY YEARS AGO.
Miss Anthony then came forward again. The
call for the meeting forty years ago, she said II
she remembered rightly, had no signatures to II;
but nevertheless the two moving spirits, In
originating and carrying on the work, were those
OF Lucretia Mott, the sainted Lucretia Mott, and
Elizabeth Cady stanton, who was with them to-
day. She referred In passing to the progress
made in forty years. Forty years ago woman had
no place anywhere save In the home; no hope OF
pecunidfy Independence, or place, or position In
the world; no purpose In life except that which
came through marriage and the home They
never heard any such thing then as a woman
earning her living in any way ex-
cept In teaching, domestic service, or in
factories. During the forty years there
had been an open sesame to almost all the avenues
OF industry. She was now almost the peer OF man
In the Industrial world. What was true In work
was true in education-in everything. Men had
granted them everything almost but the one
pivotal right by which the women of the country
could protect all other rights She then intro
duced Mrs stanton, who for twenty years had
been, she said, the president of the National
Woman suffrage Association.