pathy of
conservatism and prejudice of party spirit arrayed against
the idea in America, it is the duty of the residents in
Wyoming to note the simple facts of their noted experiment,
and lay them before the world for its consideration. I came
from the vicinity of Boston, arriving in Laramie two weeks
before the first regular election of 1870. I had never
sympathized with the extreme theories of the woman's rights
platform, to the advocates of which I had often listened in
Boston. But I had never been able to learn just why a woman
is naturally excluded from the privilege of franchise, and I
sometimes argued in favor in lyceum debates. Still the
question of her degradation stared me in the face, and I
came to Wyoming unsettled in the matter, determined to be an
impartial judge. I was early at the polls, but too late to
witness the polling of the first female vote--by "Grandma"
Swain, a much-esteemed Quaker lady of 75 summers, who
determined by her words and influence to rally her sex to
defend the cause of morality and justice.

I saw the rough mountaineers maintaining the most respectful
decorum whenever the women approached the polls, and heard
the timely warning of one of the leading canvassers as he
silenced an incipient quarrel with uplifted finger, saying,
"Hist! Be quiet! A woman is coming!"

And I was compelled to allow that in this new country,
supposed at that time to be infested by hordes of
cut-throats, gamblers and abandoned characters, I had
witnessed a more quiet election than it had been my fortune
to see in the quiet towns of Vermont. I saw ladies attended
by their husbands, brothers, or sweethearts, ride to the
places of voting, and alight in the midst of a silent crowd,
and pass through an open space to the polls, depositing
their votes with no more exposure to insult or injury than
they would expect on visiting a grocery store or
meat-market. Indeed, they were much safer here, every man of
their party was pledged to shield them, while every member
of the other party feared the influence of any signs of
disrespect.

And the