placed the paper on file in the
city reading-room; and when I met a man who had not made up his
mind on the subject I recommended him to the reading-room, and
several after perusing the articles were converted and signed the
petition.

On the assembling of the legislature Mrs. A. H. H. Stuart and
myself watched a favorable opportunity to present an equal rights
bill. We let them talk up the matter pretty well over a petition
signed by fifty women of one of the upper counties, when one day
Mrs. Stuart came to me and said: "Now, Mrs. Brown, write out your
bill; the speaker of the House sent me word they were ready for
it." I sat down and framed a bill[514] to the best of my ability,
which was duly presented and respectfully debated. Mrs. Duniway
came from Portland to urge its passage, and the day before it
came to a vote both Houses adjourned and invited her to speak in
the hall of representatives. She made one of her best speeches.
The members of both Houses were present, besides a large audience
from the city. The next day the House passed the bill by two
majority, and on the day following it was lost in the Council by
two majority. In the House the vote stood, ayes, 13; nays, 11. In
the Council, ayes, 5; nays, 7.

Saturday evening Mrs. Duniway made another telling speech in the
city hall, at the close of which Mr. White, a lobby member, made
a few remarks, in which he disclosed the cause of the defeat of
the bill in the Council. He said, after the bill passed the House
the saloon-keepers, alarmed lest their occupation would be gone
if women should vote, button-holed the members of the Council,
and as many of them as could be bought by drinks pledged
themselves to vote against the bill. The members of the Council
were present, and though an urgent invitation was given to all to
speak, not one of them denied the charge made by Mr. White. On
the following Monday an effort was made in the Council to
reconsider the bill, but failed. Thus stands our cause at
present. There will be a greater effort than ever before put
forth during the next two years to secure an affirmative vote in
our legislature.

As Mrs. Brown wrote the above in 1881, the promise in the closing
sentence was really quite prophetic, since the legislature of 1883
passed a law enfra