Martha C. Wright of Auburn was a frequent visitor at the center of the rebellion, as my sequestered cottage on Locust Hill was facetiously called.  She brought to these councils of war not only her own wisdom, but that of the wife and sister of William H. Seward, and sometimes encouraging suggestions from the great statesman himself, from whose writings we often gleaned grand and radical sentiments.  Lucretia Mott, too, being an occasional guest of her sister, Martha C. Wright, added the dignity of her presence at many of these important consultations.  She was uniformly in favor of toning down our fiery pronunciamentos.  For Miss Anthony and myself, the English language had no words strong enough to express the indignation we felt at the prolonged injustice to women.  We found, however, that, after expressing ourselves in the most vehement manner and thus in a measure giving our feelings an outlet, we were reconciled to issue the documents in milder terms.  If the men of the State could have known the stern rebukes, the denunciations, the wit, the irony, the sarcasm that were garnered there, and then judiciously pigeonholed and milder and more persuasive appeals substituted, they would have been truly thankful that they fared no worse.

Senator Seward frequently left Washington to visit in our neighborhood, at the house of Judge G.V.  Sackett, a man of wealth and political influence.  One of the Senator’s standing anecdotes, at dinner, to illustrate the purifying influence of women at the polls, which he always told with great zest for my especial benefit, was in regard to the manner in which his wife’s sister exercised the right of suffrage.

He said:  “Mrs. Worden having the supervision of a farm near Auburn, was obliged to hire two or three men for its cultivation.  It was her custom, having examined them as to their capacity to perform the required labor, their knowledge of tools, horses, cattle, and horticulture, to inquire as to their politics.  She informed them that, being a widow and having no one to represent her, she must have Republicans to do her voting and to represent her political opinions, and it always so happened that the men who offered their services belonged to the Republican party.  I remarked to her, one day, ‘Are you sure your men vote as they promise?’ ‘Yes,’ she replied, ’I trust nothing to their discretion.  I take them in my carriage within sight of the polls and put them in charge of some Republican who can be trusted.  I see that they have the right tickets and then I feel sure that I am faithfully represented, and I know I am right in so doing.  I have neither husband, father, nor son; I am responsible for my own taxes; am amenable to all the laws of the State; must pay the penalty of my own crimes if I commit any; hence I have the right, according to the principles of our government, to representation, and so long as I am not permitted to vote in person, I have a right to do so by proxy; hence I hire men to vote my principles.’”