or the first time, in London. Crossing
the Atlantic in company with James G. Birney, then the Liberty Party
candidate for President, soon after the bitter schism in the
anti-slavery ranks, he described to me as we walked the deck day after
day, the women who had fanned the flames of dissension, and had
completely demoralized the anti-slavery ranks. As my first view of
Mrs. Mott was through his prejudices, no prepossessions in her favor
biased my judgment. When first introduced to her at our hotel in Great
Queen Street, with the other ladies from Boston and Philadelphia who
were delegates to the World's Convention, I felt somewhat embarrassed,
as I was the only lady present who represented the "Birney faction,"
though I really knew nothing of the merits of the division, having
been outside the world of reforms. Still, as my husband and my cousin,
Gerrit Smith, were on that side, I supposed they would all have a
feeling of hostility toward me. However, Mrs. Mott, in her sweet,
gentle way, received me with great cordiality and courtesy, and I was
seated by her side at dinner.

No sooner were the viands fairly dispensed, than several Baptist
ministers began to rally the ladies on having set the Abolitionists
all by the ears in America, and now proposing to do the same thing in
England. I soon found that the pending battle was on woman's rights,
and that unwittingly I was by marriage on the wrong side. As I had
thought much on this question in regard to the laws, Church action,
and social usages, I found myself in full accord with the other
ladies, combating most of the gentlemen at the table; our only
champion, George Bradburn, was too deaf to hear a word that was said.
In spite of constant gentle nudgings by my husband under the table,
and frowns from Mr. Birney opposite, the tantalizing tone of the
conversation was too much for me to maintain silence. Calmly and
skillfully Mrs. Mott parried all their attacks, now by her quiet humor
turning the laugh on them, and then by her earnestness and dignity
silencing their ridicule and sneers. I shall never forget the look of
recognition she gave me when she saw by my remarks that I fully
comprehended the problem of woman's rights and wrongs. How beautiful
she looked to me that day.

I had always regarded a Quaker woman, as one does a Sister of Charity,
a being above ordinary mortals, ready to be translated at any moment.
I had never spoken to one before, nor been near enough to