I wanted no such fun as that, though I would like to have pleased my wife and wanted the thousand rupees, so I calmly wrote to the Collector describing the call of the Commissioner and his remarks against the Eurasians; that some or all had heard of what he had said, and that it would be impossible for them to treat him with respect. I think the Collector was not at all displeased with the result, as there was not much love between the two men, and I mistrusted that the Commissioner had given a hint of the subject of the note to me. Then there was a lull for awhile in regard to the opening. At length the building was finished, not a touch more needed anywhere and all as neat as a pin. I think that is the phrase to use, as good as any other. Our furniture was of the best kind, a goodly number of new books were on our library shelves, and the tables in our reading room were covered with magazines and papers, and best of all, everybody was delighted and happy. I feel like moralizing on the new life that had come into our people. They seemed to be endowed with a new energy and inspiration, as if they felt they were somewhere and somebody. They carried themselves with an air of independence, and had thrown off that limp and God-and-man-forsaken appearance that they formerly wore. They had become proud, and that is one of the necessary elements in the making of manhood. “Independence is the rarest gift and the first condition of happiness.” We had a general meeting, or several of them, in the lecture hall, of the women and men, for the women had an equal share in everything, and woe to the man who should have dared to propose anything else. I think, and am proud to say, that my wife was probably the instigator in this equal rights matter. At our meeting it was voted that our building and association should be called “Our Club.” A constitution and by-laws were adopted, a committee of management elected for one year, consisting of an equal number of women and men who were to elect their own president. At another meeting came the question of the opening or dedication of the building. Then there was an excitement. Some one not quite in the inside who had not heard of the insulting remarks of the Commissioner, proposed that that gentleman be invited to preside on the occasion. He had no sooner uttered the words than he was silenced by a storm of noes, those of the women the most emphatic of all.