At the close of the convention, Miss Anthony hastened to her home in Rochester, which she had not seen since her departure to California eight months before.  Soon after her arrival she was invited to meet a number of her acquaintances at the home of her dear friend, Amy Post, and give them an account of her experiences on the Pacific slope.  At its conclusion she was surprised by the presentation of a purse containing $50, with a touching address by Mrs. Post asking her to accept it as a testimonial of the appreciation in which her friends and neighbors held her work for woman and humanity.  At the same time she received a gift of money from Sarah Pugh, in an envelope marked, “For thine own dear self.”  In her acknowledgment she says: 

The tears started when I read your sweet letter.  Were it not for the loving sympathy and confidence of the little handful of ever-faithful such as you, my spirit, I fear, would have fainted long ago.  There are yourself, dear Lucretia and her equally dear sister, Martha, who never fail to know just the moment when my purse is drained to the bottom and to drop the needed dollar into it.  It is really wonderful how I have been carried through all these years financially.  I often feel that Elijah’s being fed by the ravens was no more miraculous than my being furnished with the means to do the great work which has been for the past twenty years continuously presenting itself—­yes, presenting itself, for it has always come to me.  My thought has been to escape the hardships but they come ever and always, and so I try to accept the situation and work my way through as best I can.

[Autograph: 

  My love and good wishes are
  always flowing toward thyself and
  dear Mrs Stanton—­

  Thine truly
  Amy Post]

She was soon off again, lecturing in various cities and towns, going as far west as Nebraska.  Early in April, while waiting at a little railroad station in Illinois, a gentleman came in and handed her a copy of Woodhull and Claflin’s Weekly containing this double-leaded announcement: 

The undersigned citizens of the United States, responding to the invitation of the National Woman Suffrage Association, propose to hold a convention at Steinway Hall, in the city of New York, the 9th and 10th of May.  We believe the time has come for the formation of a new political party whose principles shall meet the issues of the hour and represent equal rights for all.  As women of the country are to take part for the first time in political action, we propose that the initiative steps in the convention shall be taken by them....  This convention will declare the platform of the People’s party, and consider the nomination of candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States, who shall be the best possible exponents of political and industrial reform....

    ELIZABETH CADY STANTON, SUSAN E. ANTHONY,
    ISABELLA B. HOOKER, MATILDA JOSLYN GAGE.