It was very hard to coax Miss Anthony into a speech in those days and she finally persuaded the Reverend Antoinette to make the address.  There was a mass-meeting of all the temperance organizations in the State at Albany, January 21, and as the women made no attempt to take part in the men’s meetings there was no disturbance.  History is silent as to what the men did at that time, but the women held crowded sessions in the Baptist church, and in the Assembly chamber at night, Miss Anthony presiding, and a number of fine addresses were made.  The rules were suspended one morning and the ladies invited to the speaker’s desk.  Mrs. Vaughn read Mrs. Stanton’s eloquent appeal praying the Legislature to do one of two things:  either give women a vote on this great evil of intemperance, or else truly represent them by enacting a Prohibitory Law.  It was accompanied by the petition of 28,000 names which had been collected by a few women at immense labor and expense during the past year.

This was the first time in the history of New York that a body of women had appeared before the Legislature, and in their innocence they had full confidence that their request would be granted in a very short time.[17] While they were still in Albany their petition was discussed and a young member made a long speech against it, declared that women were “out of their sphere” circulating petitions and coming before the Legislature, and closed by saying, “Who are these asking for a Maine Law?  Nobody but women and children!” Miss Anthony then and there made a solemn resolve that it should be her life work to make a woman’s name on a petition worth as much as a man’s.

S.P.  Townsend, who had made a fortune in the manufacture of sarsaparilla, happening to be at the Capitol, called upon the ladies and invited them to come to New York and hold a meeting, offering to advertise and entertain them.  Miss Anthony, Mrs. Bloomer and Miss Brown accepted his invitation and were entertained at his elegant home, and also by Professor and Mrs. L.N.  Fowler.  He engaged Metropolitan Hall (where Jenny Lind sang) for February 7, and the ladies spoke to an audience of 3,000 at twenty-five cents admission.  Mrs. Fowler presided, and on the platform were Horace Greeley, who made a strong address, Mrs. Greeley, Abby Hopper Gibbons and others.  The Tribune and Post were very complimentary, saying it was the first time a woman had spoken within those walls and the meeting would compare favorably with any ever held in the building.  After it was over Mr. Townsend divided the net proceeds among the three women.  He also arranged for them to speak in Broadway Tabernacle and in Brooklyn Academy of Music, each of which was crowded to its capacity.

During March and April they made a successful tour of the principal cities in the State, Miss Anthony assuming the management and financial responsibility.  They went to Sing Sing, Poughkeepsie, Hudson, Troy, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo and other places, greeted everywhere with large and attentive audiences attracted by the unusual spectacle of women speaking in public.  They lectured chiefly on temperance, but asked incidentally for equal civil and political rights.  While they received from most of the papers respectful treatment, they were sometimes viciously assailed.  The Utica Evening Telegraph gave the following false and malicious report: