ation which was organized
in Cleveland, Ohio, in November, 1869, held its sixteenth annual
meeting, November 19, 20, at Hershey Hall, Chicago. Lucy Stone in the
_Woman's Journal_ said:

Beginning with a good-sized audience, it went on increasing in
numbers until the gallery, the stairs and the side aisles were
literally packed with people.

Reports of the work done by auxiliary and other societies came in
from Maine to Oregon and all the way between, showing in some
cases very little and in others a great deal of good work. But
each one was helpful in its measure to the final success, just as
streams of all sizes flow to make great rivers and the seas.
There were present some of the oldest workers--Dr. Mary F. Thomas
of Indiana and Mrs. Hannah M. Tracy Cutler of Illinois--who,
having put their hands to the plow in the beginning of the
movement, have never looked back. To supplement and continue the
work there were noble and earnest younger women, who came down
from Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan and up from Ohio,
Missouri, Kansas, Indiana and Illinois, women who can speak well
for the cause and whose reports show that they know how to work
well for it, too. It was a joy and a comfort to meet them....

Not the least pleasant feature was the cordial friendliness that
seemed all-pervasive. Troops of women we had never seen came to
shake hands.... A bevy of bright girls stood below the platform
on the last evening and, looking up, they said: "We are
school-girls now, but we are bound to help." The collections more
than paid the expenses, and two hundred memberships were taken.

All the local arrangements had been admirably made by a committee of
influential Chicago women.[136] The city papers gave friendly reports,
those of the _Inter-Ocean_ being especially full.

The convention was not expected to open till Wednesday evening, but
so large a number of delegates and friends met in the hall in the
afternoon that an informal meeting was held in advance. Mrs. Cutler
called the assembly to order, and the Rev. Florence Kollock offered
prayer. A telegram was read from Chief-Justice Roger S. Greene, of
Washington Territory, saying: "Be assured that woman suffrage has
worked well, done good, and been generally exercised by women at our
State election."

Brief addresses were made by Mrs. Lucy Stone, Mrs.