Women -- Suffrage -- History; Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History; Women's rights -- History; Women's rights -- United States -- History
distributed, sending buttonhole bouquets to the engineer, fireman and
all the crew.
The train was delayed two hours at Cheyenne and former U. S. Senator
Joseph M. Carey and his wife, staunch suffragists and old friends of
Miss Anthony, took her for a drive while the officers and delegates
walked about the pleasant little city and went to see the handsome
State House. Miss Blackwell wrote of the occasion: "Everything in
Wyoming was surrounded by a sort of halo. The sky seemed of a more
vivid blue, the grass of a brighter emerald than in the States where
women do not enjoy equal rights. The leaves of the many cottonwood
trees twinkled pleasantly in the clear sunlight, the air was fresh and
bracing and the snow mountains looked down upon the city like a
visible realization of ideals." The presence of the visitors soon
became known and an impromptu reception was held in the large waiting
room of the station, which was beautified by potted ferns and palms.
Sunday services were held on the train and during the week days
business meetings in the stateroom of Miss Anthony and Dr. Shaw. As
the journey neared the end the porter confided to Lucy E. Anthony, the
railroad secretary, who arranged the trip: "I ain't never travelled
with such a bunch of women before--they don't fuss with me and they
don't scrap with each other!" Monday morning they entered the
magnificent scenery along the Columbia River and at The Dalles were
met by Mrs. Duniway and a party of friends. By noon they had reached
the City of Roses and were comfortably settled in the Portland Hotel
and the hospitable homes of the city.
The convention, held in the First Congregational Church, was planned
for a very full program of ten days instead of the usual week.
Notwithstanding the Exposition was in progress and conventions were a
matter of daily occurrence, none of the national suffrage conventions
ever had fuller or more satisfactory reports. _Journal_, _Telegram_
and _Oregonian_ vied with each other and the Associated Press sent out
whatever was requested of it. _The Oregonian_ said of the first
executive session: "Room 618 in the Portland Hotel was the scene of a
notable gathering yesterday afternoon. Lawyers, doctors, ministers of
the gospel, lecturers of renown and expert auditors were in close
conference, mapping out a plan of campaign by which they will fight
for their rights in this land of the free and home of the brave. That
they have not had the rights accorded by the Declaration of
Independence to all American citizens they attribute to the fact that
they are women and it is to convince unseeing mankind that women who
are intelligent enough to obey laws are capable of helping frame them,
that the most profound and representative women of the country are
gathered here in the interests of equal suffrage." Miss Blackwell
presented this interesting picture in her letter to the _Woman's
Journal_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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