at everybody clutches at a book of any kind.... All that
great trunk full were sold and given away at our first 14 meetings,
and we in return received $110 which a little more than paid our
railroad fare--eight cents per mile--and hotel bills. Our collections
thus far fully equal those at the East. I have been delightfully
disappointed for everybody said I couldn't raise money in Kansas
meetings."[198]

The reputation of both women preceded them to Kansas. Susan had to win
her way against prejudice built up by newspaper gibes of past years
which had caricatured her as a meddlesome reformer and a sour old
maid, but gradually her friendliness, hominess, and sincerity broke
down these preconceptions. Kansas soon respected this tall slender
energetic woman who, as she overrode obstacles, showed a spirit akin
to that of the frontiersman.

Mrs. Stanton, on the other hand, was welcomed at once with enthusiasm.
The fact that she was the mother of seven children as well as a
brilliant orator opened the way for her. She was good to look at, a
queenly woman at fifty-two, with a fresh rosy complexion and carefully
curled soft white hair. Her motherliness and refreshing sense of humor
built up a bond of understanding with her audiences. People were eager
to see her, hear her, talk with her, and entertain her.

This preference was obvious to Susan, but it aroused no jealousy. She
sent Mrs. Stanton out through the state by mule team to all the small
towns and settlements far from the railroad, along with their popular
and faithful Republican ally, Charles Robinson, first Free State
Governor of Kansas, counting on these two to build up good will. In
the meantime, making her headquarters in Lawrence, she reorganized the
campaign to meet the increasing opposition of the Republican machine,
against which the continued support of a few prominent Kansas
Republicans availed little. As the state was predominantly Republican,
the prospects were gloomy, for the Democrats had not yet taken them up
as Lucy Stone had predicted, but still opposed both the Negro and
woman suffrage amendments. A new liquor law, which it was thought
women would support, further complicated the situation, aligning the
liquor interests and the German and Irish settlers solidly against
votes for women.

* * * * *

While Susan was searching desperately for some way of appealing to the
Democrats, help came from an unexpected source. The