ing law and custom, maintaining her
assertion so perfectly that Mr. May's eyes were opened at once, and he
promised the lady to give the subject his immediate consideration.

Lucy Stone read the call[104] and expressed the wish that every one
present, even if averse to the new demands by women, would take part
in the debates, as it was the truth on this question its advocates
were seeking. Among the most noticeable features of these early
Conventions was the welcome given to opposing arguments.

The Nominating Committee reported the list of officers,[105] with
Lucretia Mott as permanent President. She asked that the vote be taken
separately, as there might be objections to her appointment. The
entire audience (except her husband, who gave an emphatic "No!") voted
in her favor. The very fact that Mrs. Mott consented, under any
circumstances, to preside over a promiscuous assemblage, was proof of
the progress of liberal ideas, as four years previously she had
strenuously opposed placing a woman in that position, and as a member
of the Society of Friends, by presiding over a meeting to which there
was an admission fee, she rendered herself liable to expulsion. The
vote being taken, Mrs. Mott, who sat far back in the audience, walked
forward to the platform, her sweet face and placid manners at once
winning the confidence of the audience. This impression was further
deepened by her opening remarks. She said she was unpracticed in
parliamentary proceedings, and felt herself incompetent to fulfill the
duties of the position now pressed upon her, and was quite unprepared
to make a suitable speech. She asked the serious and respectful
attention of the Convention to the business before them, referred to
the success that had thus far attended the movement, the respect shown
by the press, and the favor with which the public generally had
received these new demands, and closed by inviting the cordial
co-operation of all present.

In commenting upon Mrs. Mott's opening address, the press of the city
declared it to have been "better expressed and far more appropriate
than those heard on similar occasions in political and legislative
assemblages." The choice of Mrs. Mott as President was pre-eminently
wise; of mature years, a member of the Society of Friends, in which
woman was held as an equal, with undoubted right to speak in public,
and the still broader experience of the Anti-Slavery platform, she
was well fitted to guide the p