d
wrong which they have hitherto of necessity borne.

A brief address was read by Mrs. Robinson, of Darien. This woman had
been for many years the wife of a drunkard; she had overcome many
obstacles to attend this Convention for the purpose of relating her
experience, and offering words of encouragement. Her narration of the
trials and sufferings she had endured was very affecting. She fully
endorsed the tenth resolution, "That the woman who consents to live in
the relation of wife with a confirmed drunkard, is, in so doing,
recreant to the cause of humanity, and to the dignity of a true
womanhood."

An organization was effected called "The Woman's New York State
Temperance Society"; large numbers of the members of the Convention
signed the Constitution, and elected Elizabeth Cady Stanton
President[96]. A vote of thanks was passed to Horace Greeley for the
kind manner in which he had uniformly sustained the women in their
temperance efforts in _The New York Tribune_, and after six long
sessions, the Convention adjourned.

As President of "The Woman's State Temperance Society," Mrs. Stanton
issued a plain, strong appeal to the women of the State in which it
was said woman's rights predominated over temperance. The strong point
she uniformly pressed on the temperance question was the right and
duty of divorce for drunkenness. A letter of hers to the Convention in
Albany on this point, was so radical, that the friends feared to read
it; however, after much discussion, Susan B. Anthony took the
responsibility. It was read to the Convention, and published in _The
Lily_ and other papers, and called out many condemnatory notices by
the press. _The Troy Journal_ was much excited at the idea of "a
virtuous woman severing the tie that bound her to a confirmed
drunkard," and spoke of such a union of virtue and vice as a "divine
institution," sacred in the eye of the "divine author," and declared
Mrs. Stanton's teachings "reviling Christianity."

However, these bold utterances roused the consciences of many women to
the sinfulness of such relations, and encouraged them in sundering
such unholy ties.

At the Rochester Convention, Gerrit Smith, Susan B. Anthony, and
Amelia Bloomer were appointed delegates to "The Men's State Temperance
Society," to be held in June, at Syracuse. The call for the meeting
contained these words, "Temperance associations of every name are
invited to send delegates." Hence the Woman's State Soc