I was escorted into the hall by the Committee where were assembled
about 200 people. The room was beautifully festooned with cedar and
red flannel. On the south side was printed in large capitals of
evergreen the name of "Susan B. Anthony!" I hardly knew how to
conduct myself amidst so much kindly regard. They had an elegant
supper. On the top of one pyramid loaf cake was a beautiful
bouquet, which was handed to the gentleman who escorted me (Charlie
Webster) and by him presented to me.
The paper is interesting as the first platform utterance of a woman
destined to become one of the noted speakers of the century. While it
gives no especial promise of the oratorical ability which later
developed, it illustrates the courage of the woman who dared read an
address in public, when to do so provoked the severest criticism. The
following extracts are taken verbatim from the original MS.:
Welcome, Gentlemen and Ladies, to this, our Hall of Temperance. We
feel that the cause we have espoused is a common cause, in which
you, with us, are deeply interested. We would that some means were
devised, by which our Brothers and Sons shall no longer be allured
from the _right_ by the corrupting influence of the fashionable
sippings of wine and brandy, those sure destroyers of Mental and
Moral Worth, and by which our Sisters and Daughters shall no longer
be exposed to the vile arts of the gentlemanly-appearing, gallant,
but really half-inebriated seducer. Our motive is to ask of you
counsel in the formation, and co-operation in the carrying-out of
plans which may produce a radical change in our Moral
Atmosphere....
But to the question, what good our Union has done? Though our Order
has been strongly opposed by ladies professing a desire to see the
Moral condition of our race elevated, and though we still behold
some of our thoughtless female friends whirling in the giddy dance,
with intoxicated partners at their side and, more than this, see
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