in all things. It is not
surprising, then, that I as often heard the terms "strong-minded" and
"masculine" as opprobrious epithets used against progressive women, by
their own sex as by the other; another example only of the stultifying
effect of subjection, upon the mind, exactly paralleled by the
Southern slaves, amongst many of whom the strongest term of contempt
that could be used was "_Free Nigger_." Our Equal Rights Association
continued to hold its meetings for somewhat over a year, and they were
at last suspended on account of bad weather and the difficulty of
coming together in the country districts. We, however, continued to
send petitions to the Legislature for the removal of woman's
disabilities.

From 1858 to 1869 my home was in Rochester, N. Y. There, by brief
newspaper articles and in other ways, I sought to influence public
sentiment in favor of this fundamental reform. In 1868 a Society was
organized there for the reformation of abandoned women. At one of its
meetings I endeavored to show how futile all their efforts would be,
while women, by the laws of the land, were made a subject class; that
only by enfranchising woman and permitting her a more free and
lucrative range of employments, could they hope to suppress the
"social evil." My remarks produced some agitation in the meeting and
some newspaper criticisms. In Rochester, I found many pioneers in the
cause of Woman Suffrage, and from year to year we petitioned our
Legislature for it.

Since 1869 I have been a citizen of Louisiana. Here, till recently,
political troubles engrossed the minds of men to the exclusion of
every other consideration. They glowed with fiery indignation at
being, themselves, deprived of the right of suffrage, or at having
their votes annulled, and regarded it as an intolerable outrage; yet,
at the same time, they denied it to all women, many of whom valued the
elective franchise as highly, and felt as intensely, as did men, the
injustice that withheld it from them. In 1879, when the Convention met
to frame a new Constitution for the State, we strongly petitioned it
for an enlargement of our civil rights and for the ballot. Mrs.
Elizabeth L. Saxon was indefatigable in her efforts, and went before
the Convention in person and plead our cause. But the majority of the
members thought there were cogent reasons for not granting our
petitions; but they made women eligible to all school offices--an
indication that Louisiana wil