ch was laid
on the table. Of the annual meetings from 1871 to 1878 the
Indianapolis papers contain no reports, save the briefest mention
of those of 1873-4. From 1878 to 1885 short but fair reports may
be found. Since 1870, the conventions of this society[327] have
been held in different towns throughout the State.[328] The
minutes show that the propriety of withdrawing from the American
Association and remaining independent was brought before the
convention of 1871, under the head of _special business_; that it
was decided to postpone action until the next annual meeting, and
to make the matter of withdrawal a special order of business, but
it does not appear that from that time the subject has ever been
broached. At the annual meeting of 1875, held at a time when
preparations for celebrating our national centennial were in
progress, the following resolution was passed:

_Resolved_, That we congratulate the voters of the United
States on their enjoyment of the right of suffrage, and
commend them for the great centenary celebration of the
establishment of that right, which they are about to have.
But we do earnestly protest against the action of the
Indiana legislature by which it made appropriations for that
purpose of moneys collected by taxing women's property.

In November, 1878, the ninth annual meeting of the American
Association was held in Indianapolis, by invitation from the
State Society.[329]

In the month of March, 1878, some very mysterious whisperings
advertised the fact that there was to be a meeting of the ladies
of Indianapolis known to have "advanced ideas" concerning their
sex. In response to a secretly circulated summons, there met at
No. 18 Circle Hall nine women and one man, who, though not
mutually acquainted, were the most courageous of those to whom
the call had come. Probably each of the ten often thinks with
amusement of the suspicious glances with which they regarded one
another. As a participant, I may say that the company had the air
of a band of conspirators. Had we convened consciously to plot
the ruin of our domestic life, which opponents predict as the
result of woman's enfranchisement, we could not have looked more
guilty or have moved about with more unnatural steal