why introduce these disquieting
questions, when by patient acquiescence we might have
tranquillity, and, perhaps, more of the pleasant things of life?"
or as I once heard it formulated by a lady: "Why should Mrs. A.
want to vote when she has such an indulgent husband." This is one
view of the subject and there are times in the life of every
woman when such reasoning has more or less weight.

But there is another side to this question, and how changed the
picture. The whole scope and meaning of this wonderful woman's
movement here dawns upon us. We find a new order of things
indeed. We behold amid the changing dynasties of the world a new
government arise--a republic based, not upon the will of the
strongest, not upon property, but upon the rights of the
individual. With a code of political ethics more perfect than any
the world has yet seen, we find it still hesitating to put these
principles to the test. As a consequence it struggles in the
waves of political disorder like a ship without ballast.
Recognizing as vital doctrines the equality of the race, and the
value of the family as the political unit, we find the woman
principle, the mother element, subdued, subjected, deprived of
any fair expression in the conduct of the government. As a result
we have corruption in high places, fraud, public distrust, and
their host of accompanying evils. We find forces at work which
threaten the security of our homes, the manhood of our sons, the
purity of our daughters; in a word, the whole social structure of
society. Reflecting on these things we begin to understand the
meaning of the ballot for woman. Scrutinizing closely, we find
that it means justice, integrity, peace, purity, temperance,
sweeter manners, wiser laws.

Lucy Stone made the next and last speech of the evening, on "The
Meaning of the Woman Suffrage Movement, the What and the How."

The session of Wednesday morning was devoted to business, the
election of officers,[205] and hearing of reports of the
auxiliary societies. At the afternoon session, Dr. Mary F.
Thomas, of Indiana, Dr. Hannah Tracy Cutler, of Illinois, Rev.
Thomas J. Vater, of Ohio, and Rev. Sarah M. Perkins, of Vermont,
made earnest and able addresses. Mrs. Perkins had come fresh from
the Women's Christian Temperanc