bins, for Secretaries. Mrs. Mott, Mrs. Stanton,
and Mrs. McClintock, thought it a most hazardous experiment to have a
woman President, and stoutly opposed it.

To write a Declaration and Resolutions, to make a speech, and debate,
had taxed their powers to the uttermost; and now, with such feeble
voices and timid manners, without the slightest knowledge of Cushing's
Manual, or the least experience in public meetings, how could a woman
preside? They were on the verge of leaving the Convention in disgust,
but Amy Post and Rhoda De Garmo assured them that by the same power by
which they had resolved, declared, discussed, debated, they could also
preside at a public meeting, if they would but make the experiment.
And as the vote of the majority settled the question on the side of
woman, Abigail Bush took the chair, and the calm way she assumed the
duties of the office, and the admirable manner in which she discharged
them, soon reconciled the opposition to the seemingly ridiculous
experiment.

The proceedings were opened with prayer, by the Rev. Mr. Wicher, of
the Free-will Baptist Church. Even at that early day, there were many
of the liberal clergymen in favor of equal rights for women. During
the reading of the minutes of the preliminary meeting by the
Secretary, much uneasiness was manifested concerning the low voices of
women, and cries of "Louder, louder!" drowned every other sound, when
the President, on rising, said:

Friends, we present ourselves here before you, as an oppressed
class, with trembling frames and faltering tongues, and we do not
expect to be able to speak so as to be heard by all at first, but
we trust we shall have the sympathy of the audience, and that you
will bear with our weakness now in the infancy of the movement.
Our trust in the omnipotency of right is our only faith that we
shall succeed.

As the appointed Secretaries could not be heard, Sarah Anthony Burtis,
an experienced Quaker school-teacher, whose voice had been well
trained in her profession, volunteered to fill the duties of that
office, and she read the reports and documents of the Convention with
a clear voice and confident manner, to the great satisfaction of her
more timid coadjutors.

Several gentlemen took part in the debates of this Convention. Some in
favor, some opposed, and others willing to make partial concessions to
the demands as set forth in the Declaration and Resolutions. Frede