on the hottest
Sunday of the hottest month in the year--August--and hundreds of the
natives had driven twenty, thirty, and even forty miles across the
country to hear us. We were to speak in a sod church, but it was
discovered that the structure would not hold half the people who were
trying to enter it, so we decided that Miss Anthony should speak from
the door, in order that those both inside and outside might hear her. To
elevate her above her audience, she was given an empty dry-goods box to
stand on.

This makeshift platform was not large, and men, women, and children were
seated on the ground around it, pressing up against it, as close to the
speaker as they could get. Directly in front of Miss Anthony sat a woman
with a child about two years old--a little boy; and this infant, like
every one else in the packed throng, was dripping with perspiration and
suffering acutely under the blazing sun. Every woman present seemed to
have brought children with her, doubtless because she could not leave
them alone at home; and babies were crying and fretting on all sides.
The infant nearest Miss Anthony fretted most strenuously; he was a
sturdy little fellow with a fine pair of lungs, and he made it very
difficult for her to lift her voice above his dismal clamor. Suddenly,
however, he discovered her feet on the drygoods box, about on a level
with his head. They were clad in black stockings and low shoes; they
moved about oddly; they fascinated him. With a yelp of interest he
grabbed for them and began pinching them to see what they were. His
howls ceased; he was happy.

Miss Anthony was not. But it was a great relief to have the child quiet,
so she bore the infliction of the pinching as long as she could. When
endurance had found its limit she slipped back out of reach, and as his
new plaything receded the boy uttered shrieks of disapproval. There was
only one way to stop his noise; Miss Anthony brought her feet forward
again, and he resumed the pinching of her ankles, while his yelps
subsided to contented murmurs. The performance was repeated half a dozen
times. Each time the ankles retreated the baby yelled. Finally, for once
at the end of her patience, "Aunt Susan" leaned forward and addressed
the mother, whose facial expression throughout had shown a complete
mental detachment from the situation.

"I think your little boy is hot and thirsty," she said, gently. "If
you would take him out of the crowd and give him a dri