ch; we are here to be ladies."

Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake (N. Y.) spoke entertainingly on The Hope of
the Future:

The lessons of the past year have brought home to many of us more
forcibly than any other recent events the injustice and cruelty
of denying to women their proper share in deciding questions for
the public good. We have seen the republic plunged into war in
which women have borne a heavy share of the burdens. It should be
the rule of all nations that no contest of arms should be entered
into without the consent of the women....

Another significant object lesson grew out of the war. When the
time of election approached, the governmental authorities became
much exercised over the means of providing for the voting of the
soldiers. It is astonishing how much men think of their own right
to vote. Extra sessions of the Legislatures were called to
provide means of meeting this emergency. In this dilemma I
ventured to write to the Governor of my State and suggest that he
recommend the passing of a law empowering each soldier and sailor
to send to some woman at home a proxy permitting her to vote for
him. You can see how simple a plan this would be. Every man would
have a beloved mother, a dear sister or some adored damsel whom
he would be proud to have represent him at the polls, and the
amount of money which this scheme would have saved to the State
is enormous. The counting of the soldiers' votes when at last
they were sent to New York cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In one instance, in a certain county where the board of
supervisors had to be called together in two special sessions and
the county officials summoned as if at a regular election, to
count six votes, the amount reached $100 per vote!

Miss Frances A. Griffin (Ala.), a new speaker on the national
platform, captured the audience with her rich voice and southern
intonation as she discussed The Effects of Our Teaching:

The thanksgiving of the old Jew, "Lord, I thank Thee that Thou
didst not make me a woman," doubtless came from a careful review
of the situation. Like all of us, he had fortitude enough to bear
his neighbors' afflictions....

Miss Anthony deals recklessly with years, apportioning them to
her friends as liberally as Napoleon dealt out kingdoms and
duchies to hi