Monday, February 15, was Miss Anthony's 84th birthday and it was a coincidence that on the morning of that day the convention should be opened with prayer by the Rev. Edward Everett Hale, chaplain of the Senate, a life-long opponent of woman suffrage. When he was invited to come he asked definite assurance that it would not be interpreted that he had changed his opinion.[32] The air of the hall was fragrant with the flowers that had been sent in honor of the birthday, and, as the usual tribute of the convention, it made its pledges of money for the expenses of the coming year. Mrs. Upton asked for $4,000 and nearly $5,000 were quickly subscribed.[33] The preceding day Mrs. John B. Henderson had given a 12 o'clock birthday breakfast for Miss Anthony at her handsome home, Boundary Castle, attended by the national officers and a number of invited guests. In the evening a social reunion for the officers, delegates and speakers was held in the banquet room of the Shoreham Hotel, which was the convention headquarters. On the afternoon of the birthday President and Mrs. Roosevelt received the members of the convention with much cordiality. From the White House they went to a reception given by Miss Clara Barton in her interesting home at Glen Echo, near Washington. The nearly five hundred visitors received a warm welcome and enjoyed wandering through the unique house built of lumber left after the Johnstown flood, unplastered and the walls draped with the flags of many nations that had been presented to her by their rulers. At urgent request Miss Barton brought forth the laces, jewels, medals and decorations given to her by the dignitaries and crowned heads of Europe for her distinguished services in behalf of the Red Cross, such a collection, it was said, as no other woman possessed.