of wealth and culture;
factory women, shop-keepers and hard toilers of every station were
also there. Some had walked twenty miles to attend that great
meeting. They sat on the steps of the platform, climbed on every
coigne of vantage, stood in dense masses in every aisle and corner.
A large over-flow meeting was also held in the neighboring Memorial
Hall over which Mrs. Lucas presided, but even this could not
accommodate all who came, and thousands went away disappointed. It
was truly a marvelous meeting, grand in its numbers, grand in the
enthusiasm which had brought so many thousands together unattracted
by the names of any distinguished speakers, to sympathize with
each other in a great national movement, and to proclaim unity of
action until it was gained; and it was grand also in the
impressiveness of the words that were uttered. The president in her
clear grave tones which were heard in the breathless stillness over
that large assembly, said:

It seems like a dream. But only a grave reality could have
brought so many women together. Need we wonder that the
beneficent designs of Providence have been so imperfectly carried
out when only one-half the intellect and heart of the nation have
hitherto been called into action, and the powers of the other
half have been almost wholly suppressed? Women are learning along
with good men that politics in the true sense has to do with
human interests at large.

When Mrs. McLaren had concluded, one speaker after another, gave
her special testimony in favor of the necessity of obtaining
representation. The number was so great that no one was allowed
more than ten minutes.[551]

This demonstration was quickly followed by others that were every
way as successful. In connection with one at St. James' Hall,
London, over which Viscountess Harberton presided, a procession of
working women marched through the streets with a banner on which
was inscribed "We're far too low to vote the tax; we're not too low
to pay." Here also an overflow meeting was held to accommodate the
numbers that could not be admitted into the hall. On November 4,
the same scene was repeated at the Colston Hall, Bristol, and Mrs.
Beddoe, the wife of a popular physician in that city presided, and
on November 11, the last demonstration of that year was convened in
the Albert Hall, Nottingham, where Mrs. Lucas took the chair. The
following year saw no relaxation in these e