I have been asked why no provisions have been made for female lecturers before this association and why ladies are not appointed on committees.  I will answer:  “Behold this beautiful hall!  Mark well the pilaster, its pedestal, its shaft, its rich entablature, the crowning glory of this superb architecture, the different parts, each in its appropriate place, contributing to the strength, beauty and symmetry of the whole!  Could I aid in bringing down this splendid entablature from its proud elevation and trailing it in the dust and dirt that surround the pedestal?  No, never!”

To quote further from Miss Anthony’s letter:  “Many of the ladies readjusted their ribbons and laces and looked at each other as much as to say, ‘Beautiful, perfectly beautiful!’ But a few there were whose faces spoke scorn and utter contempt, and whose flashing eyes said:  ’Such flattery as this adds insult to injury upon those of us who, equally qualified with men, are toiling side by side with them for one-half the salary.  And this solely because of our sex!’”

The women had no desire to pull down the building, entablature and all, about the head of the magnificent Davies, but some of them were aroused to the injustice with which they had so long been treated.  To the astonishment of the professor and his following, these resolutions were presented by Mrs. Northrop, a teacher in the Rochester schools: 

    Resolved, That this association recognizes the right of female
    teachers to share in all the privileges and deliberations of this
    body.

Resolved, That female teachers do not receive an adequate and sufficient compensation, and that, as salaries should be regulated only according to the amount of labor performed, this association will endeavor by judicious and efficient action to remove this existing evil.

An attempt was made to smother them, and when Mrs. Northrop asked why they had not been read, the president blandly replied that he regretted they could not be reached but other order of business preceded them.  Mrs. Northrop, having found her voice, proceeded to speak strongly on the discrimination made against women in the matter of salaries, and was ably supported by her sister, Mrs. J.R.  Vosburg.  J. D. Fanning, of New York, recording secretary, asked that the resolutions be read, which was done.  Miss Anthony then made a forcible speech in their favor and they were passed unanimously, to the utter amazement and discomfiture of President Davies.

She went home well satisfied with her work, and completed preparations for the Whole World’s Temperance Convention, which was held in New York, September 1 and 2.  Her zeal is amusingly illustrated by her proposal to invite Victor Hugo and Harriet Martineau to speak.  It was a splendid assemblage, addressed by the leading men and women of the day, the large hall packed at every session, the audience sitting hour after hour, orderly but full of earnestness and enthusiasm.  The New York Tribune said of it:  “This has been the most spirited and able meeting on behalf of temperance that ever was held.”