Women -- Suffrage -- History; Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History; Women's rights -- History; Women's rights -- United States -- History
The closing scenes of the evening were artistic and interesting.
The platform was tastefully decked with flags and flowers, and the
immense audience that had assembled at an early hour--hundreds
unable to gain admission--made this the crowning session of the
convention. Miss Couzins announced the receipt of an invitation
from Mr. John Wahl, inviting the convention to visit the Merchants'
Exchange, "with assurances of high regard." The announcement was
heard with considerable merriment by those who remembered her
criticisms on Mr. Wahl for his failure to deliver the address of
welcome at the opening of the convention. She also announced the
receipt of an invitation from Secretary Kalb to visit the
fair-grounds, and moved that the convention first visit the
Exchange and then proceed to the fair-grounds in carriages, the
members of the Merchants' Exchange, of course paying the bill. The
motion was carried amidst applause. An invitation was also received
from Dr. Eliot, chancellor of Washington University, to attend the
art lecture of Miss Schoonmaker at the Mary Institute, Monday
evening. In a letter to the editor of the _National Citizen_, Mrs.
Stanton thus describes the incident of the evening:
The delegates from the different States, through May Wright
Thompson of Indianapolis, presented Miss Anthony with two baskets
of exquisite flowers. She referred in the most happy way to Miss
Anthony's untiring devotion to all the unpopular reforms through
years of pitiless persecution, and thanked her in behalf of the
young womanhood of the nation, that their path had been made
smoother by her brave life. Miss Anthony was so overcome with the
delicate compliments and the fragrant flowers at her feet, that
for a few moments she could find no words to express her
appreciation of the unexpected acknowledgement of what all
American women owe her. As she stood before that hushed audience,
her silence was more eloquent than words, for her emotion was
shared by all. With an effort she at last said:
Friends, I have no words to express my gratitude for this
marked attention. I have so long been the target for
criticism and ridicule, I am so unused to praise, that I
stand before you surprised and disarmed. If any one had come
to this platform and abused all womankind, called me hard
names, ridiculed our arguments or denied the justice of our
demands, I could with readiness and confidence have rushed
to the defence, but I cannot make any appropriate reply for
this offering of eloquent words and flowers, and I shall not
attempt it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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