ce in that
legislation and government.

This is a very simple matter. To-day, it is only a question of
time, when, from a matter of speculation, it will become a matter
of fact, the details of which can be managed as well as anything
in the world. Women will not be obliged to enter into a scramble
with dirty and fighting men at the polls--though it is possible,
if she went where such men are, they would be put on their good
manners, and be as well-behaved as anybody; but she could have a
separate place to vote, and go to the polls as quietly, and with
as little loss of time, as she now goes to the post-office, or
walks the streets, where rough, rude men congregate, but where
she has enough room to go and purchase her silks and satins and
laces in Broadway. (Applause). I congratulate those who, taking
an interest in this cause, espoused it when it was a great cross
to bear--who took it up with the simple courage of woman, the
patient perseverance of woman, and have carried it through as far
as it has gone now--upon the advances which it has made, upon the
opening and enlightenment of the public mind, and upon its
favorable reception, spite of all the obstacles that still
remain. I bid them be of good cheer, and remember that the great
law of progress is a law of steps; so that we must needs all be
patient, while we must also all needs be persevering. It is but a
question of time and of steps. The great psalm of human progress
is (to borrow a phrase from the Hebrew Bible) a psalm of degrees.
By patient steps man rises out of falsehood into truth, out of
wrongs into rights. So it is with woman, as a part of humanity.
Let every woman be true to this as her mission; let no woman dare
to place any obstacle or coldness in the way of this movement;
but let all calmly consider it, hear the arguments that are made,
and allow them to have their full weight; look at the simple
facts, and decide. Then we may, perhaps, all of us live to see
the day when, throughout all the spheres of his life, and all
the departments of his action, side by side with man and the
manly quality, there shall be woman and the womanly quality, and
a new Eden begin on earth. (Applause).

The President said:--Before introducing the next speaker, I want to
express the gratitude which w