Virginia L. Minor sent this earnest plea:  “Can not you and Mrs. Stanton, before another convention, manage in some way to civilize our platform and keep off that element which is doing us so much harm?  I think the ship never floated that had so many barnacles attached as has ours....  I have a compliment for you, my dear.  Wendell Phillips has just told a reporter of the St. Louis Post that, ’of all the advocates of the woman’s movement, Miss Anthony stands at the head.’”

In her usual racy style Phoebe Couzins concluded her description by saying:  “It seems very strange that when you are not about, things generally break loose and no woman can be found who unites the moderation, brains and common sense necessary to carry matters to a respectable conclusion.  That meeting was like those they used to have in the District of Columbia.  Not until the National Association, in the persons of Mrs. Stanton and yourself, came to the rescue and raised them to a dignified standard did they attain any degree of hearing from the thoughtful people of the capital.”  And so Miss Anthony determined that no lecture bureau should keep her away from another National convention.

The entire year of 1878, with the exception of the three summer months, was spent in the lecture field.  On July 19 Miss Anthony and other workers arranged a celebration at Rochester of the thirtieth anniversary of the first woman’s rights convention.  This was held in place of the usual May Anniversary in New York and was attended by a distinguished body of women.  The Unitarian church, in spite of the intense heat, was filled with a representative audience.  The noble Quaker, Amy Post, now seventy-seven years old, who had been the leading spirit in the convention of thirty years before, assisted in the arrangements.  The usual brilliant and logical speeches were made by Mrs. Mott, Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony, Mrs, Gage, Dr. Lozier, Mrs. Spencer, Mrs. Sargent, Frederick Douglass, Miss Couzins and others.  This was the first appearance on the National platform of Mrs. May Wright Sewall, of Indianapolis, from that time one of the leaders of the movement.  Almost one hundred interesting and encouraging letters were received from Phillips, Garrison, Senator Sargent, Frances E. Willard, Clara Barton and many others in this country and in England.

This was the last convention Lucretia Mott ever attended, and she had made the journey hither under protest from her family, for she was nearly eighty-six years old, but her devoted friend Sarah Pugh accompanied her.  She spoke several times in her old, gentle, half-humorous but convincing manner and was heard with rapt attention.  As she walked down the aisle to leave the church, the whole audience arose and Frederick Douglass called out with emotion, “Good-by, Lucretia.”  The convention received a telegram of congratulation from the International Congress at Paris, presided over by Victor Hugo.  Mrs. Stanton was re-elected president and Miss Anthony chairman of the executive committee.  The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle said: