ness errands, social calls, and excursions to distant
towns. Driving down the avenue one day, we counted eighty bicycles
before reaching the post-office. The ancient bandbox, so detested by our
sires and sons, has given place to this new machine which our daughters
take with them wheresoever they go, boxing and unboxing and readjusting
for each journey. It has been a great blessing to our girls in
compelling them to cultivate their self-reliance and their mechanical
ingenuity, as they are often compelled to mend the wheel in case of
accident. Among the visitors at Geneva were Mr. Douglass and his
daughter from the island of Cuba. They gave us very sad accounts of the
desolate state of the island and the impoverished condition of the
people. I had long felt that the United States should interfere in some
way to end that cruel warfare, for Spain has proved that she is
incompetent to restore order and peace.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote A: Part II. of "The Woman's Bible," which completes the work,
will be issued in January, 1898.]

CHAPTER XXVIII.

MY EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY.

Without my knowledge or consent, my lifelong friend, Susan B. Anthony,
who always seems to appreciate homage tendered to me more highly than
even to herself, made arrangements for the celebration of my eightieth
birthday, on the 12th day of November, 1895. She preferred that this
celebration should be conducted by the National Council of Women,
composed of a large number of organizations representing every
department of woman's labor, though, as the enfranchisement of woman had
been my special life work, it would have been more appropriate if the
celebration had been under the auspices of the National Woman's Suffrage
Association.

Mrs. Mary Lowe Dickinson, President of the National Council of Women,
assumed the financial responsibility and the extensive correspondence
involved, and with rare tact, perseverance, and executive ability made
the celebration a complete success. In describing this occasion I cannot
do better than to reproduce, in part, Mrs. Dickinson's account,
published in _The Arena_:

"In the month of June, 1895, the National Council of Women issued the
following invitation:

"'Believing that the progress made by women in the last half century may
be promoted by a more general notice of their achievements, we propose
to hold, in New York city, a convention for this purpose. As an
appropriate time for such a celebration, the eig