be seated! So completely did the tender manifestation
reflect Mr. Powell's apparent condition, that the whole audience burst
into a roar of laughter. Here, too, all attempts to speak were futile.

At Port Byron a generous sprinkling of cayenne pepper on the stove,
soon cut short all constitutional arguments and paeans to liberty. And
so it was all the way to Albany. The whole State was aflame with the
mob spirit, and from Boston and various points in other States, the
same news reached us. As the Legislature was in session, and we were
advertised in Albany, a radical member sarcastically moved "that as
Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony were about to move on Albany, the
militia be ordered out for the protection of the city."

Happily, Albany could then boast a democratic Mayor, a man of courage
and conscience, who said the right of free speech should never be
trodden underfoot where he had the power to prevent it. And grandly
did that one determined man maintain order in his jurisdiction.
Through all the sessions of the Convention Mayor Thatcher sat on the
platform, his police stationed in different parts of the Hall and
outside the building, to disperse the crowd as fast as collected. If a
man or boy hissed or made the slightest interruption, he was
immediately ejected. And not only did the Mayor preserve order in the
meetings, but with a company of armed police, he escorted us every
time to and from the Delavan House. The last night Gerrit Smith
addressed the mob from the steps of the hotel, after which they gave
him three cheers, and dispersed in good order.

When proposing for the Mayor a vote of thanks at the close of the
Convention, Mr. Smith expressed his fears that it had been a severe
ordeal for him to listen to these prolonged anti-slavery discussions,
he smiled, and said: "I have really been deeply interested and
instructed. I rather congratulate myself that a Convention of this
character has at last come in the line of my business, otherwise I
should have probably remained in ignorance of many important facts and
opinions I now understand and appreciate."

Whilst all this was going on publicly, we had an equally trying
experience progressing day by day behind the scenes. Miss Anthony had
been instrumental in helping a fugitive mother with her child, escape
from a husband who had immured her in an insane asylum. The wife,
belonging to one of the first families of New York, her brother a
United States Senator,