et and plain linen collar." "A large lady wore a green
cashmere dress with pink ribbons in her hair;" then there was "a slim
lady with tulle ruffles, velvet sacque and silk skirt." Of one it was
said: "Her face, though real feminine in shape, was painted all over
with business till it looked like a man's, and her hair was shingled
and brushed in little banglets." "Miss Anthony," so the report said,
"wore a blue barbe trimmed in lace," while Mrs. Stanton "was attired
in a black silk dress with a white handkerchief around her throat."
One record declares that "there was not a pair of earrings on the
platform, but most of the ladies wore gold watch-chains."

These extracts are taken verbatim from the best newspapers of the
day. The conventions had passed the stage where, according to the
reporters, all of the participants had short hair and wore bloomers,
but, according to the same authority, they had reached the wonderful
attire described above. This was fifteen years ago. The proceedings of
the national convention of 1900 occupied from four to seven columns
daily in each of the Washington papers, and one or more columns were
telegraphed each day to the large newspapers of the United States, and
yet it may be safely said that there was not one line of reference to
the costumes of the ladies in attendance. The business meetings,
speeches, etc., were reported with the same respect and dignity as are
accorded to national conventions of men. The petty personalities of
the past were wholly eliminated and women were presented from an
intellectual standpoint, to be judged upon their merits and not by
their clothes. This result alone is worth the fifty years of endeavor.

Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton presided over all of the sessions. Mrs.
Lillie Devereux Blake gave a full report of the legislative work done
in New York during the past year. In the address of Mrs. Harriette R.
Shattuck (Mass.) she laid especial stress on the need for women to be
invested with responsibility. Mrs. Matilda Joslyn Gage (N. Y.)
discussed the woman question from a scientific standpoint. She was
followed by Mrs. Laura de Force Gordon, the second woman admitted to
practice before the U. S. Supreme Court, who answered the question, Is
our Civilization Civilized? and described the legal status of women in
California. Mrs. Caroline Gilkey Rogers (N. Y.) gave a spirited talk
on the Aristocracy of Sex. The principal address of the evening was by
Mrs. Stanton