Democratic Assembly. Now,
then, if we can carry this bill through the Assembly and the
governor vetoes it, we shall have made a point, you know; we shall
have shown our liberality and lost nothing. But keep still; don't
say anything about it." They promised. He then went to the
Republicans and told them that the Democrats were going to support
his measure, and that if _they_ did not want to lose capital they
had better vote for it too. He didn't think there would be enough
of them to carry it, but the vote would be on record and thus
defeat the game of the other party. And they likewise agreed to
vote for it. So when the bill came to a vote it went right through!
The members looked at, each other in astonishment, for they hadn't
intended to do it, _quite_. Then they laughed and said it was a
good joke, but they had "got the governor in a fix." So the bill
went, in the course of time, to John A. Campbell, who was then
governor--the first governor of the territory of Wyoming--and he
promptly signed it! His heart was right. He saw that it was
long-deferred justice, and so signed it as gladly as Abraham
Lincoln wrote _his_ name to the Proclamation of Emancipation of the
slaves. Of course the women were astounded! If a whole troop of
angels had come down with flaming swords for their vindication,
they would not have been much more astonished than they were when
that bill became a law and the women of Wyoming were thus clothed
with the habiliments of citizenship.

[493] No sooner had these gentlemen left than Mrs. Post and Mrs.
Arnold had a long interview with the governor, urging him to sign
the bill on the highest moral grounds; not only to protect the
personal rights of the women of the territory but to compel the men
to observe the decencies of life and to elevate the social and
political status of the people.--[E. C. S.

[494] In the summer of 1871 Mrs. Stanton and myself, _en route_ for
California, visited Wyoming and met the women who were most active
in the exercise of their rights of citizenship. At Cheyenne we were
the guests of Mrs. M. B. Arnold and Mrs. Amalia B. Post. Mrs.
Arnold had a large cattle-ranch and Mrs. Post an equally large
sheep-ranch a few miles out of the city, which they superintended,
and from which each received an independent income. They had not
only served as jurors, but acted as foremen. At Laramie we were the
guests of Mr. J. H. Hayford, editor of the _Laramie Sentinel_, and
met Grandma