Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 3.djvu/586

Rh On the same day Judge Bradwell of Chicago submitted a resolution favoring the union of the two national societies, which was laid on the table. Of the annual meetings from 1871 to 1878 the Indianapolis papers contain no reports, save the briefest mention of those of 1873-4. From 1878 to 1885 short but fair reports may be found. Since 1870, the conventions of this society have been held in different towns throughout the State. The minutes show that the propriety of withdrawing from the American Association and remaining independent was brought before the convention of 1871, under the head of special business; that it was decided to postpone action until the next annual meeting, and to make the matter of withdrawal a special order of business, but it does not appear that from that time the subject has ever been broached. At the annual meeting of 1875, held at a time when preparations for celebrating our national centennial were in progress, the following resolution was passed:

Resolved, That we congratulate the voters of the United States on their enjoyment of the right of suffrage, and commend them for the great centenary celebration of the establishment of that right, which they are about to have. But we do earnestly protest against the action of the Indiana legislature by which it made appropriations for that purpose of moneys collected by taxing women's property.

In November, 1878, the ninth annual meeting of the American Association was held in Indianapolis, by invitation from the State Society.

In the month of March, 1878, some very mysterious whisperings advertised the fact that there was to be a meeting of the ladies of Indianapolis known to have "advanced ideas" concerning their sex. In response to a secretly circulated summons, there met at No. 18 Circle Hall nine women and one man, who, though not mutually acquainted, were the most courageous of those to whom the call had come. Probably each of the ten often thinks with amusement of the suspicious glances with which they regarded one another. As a participant, I may say that the company had the air of a band of conspirators. Had we convened consciously to plot the ruin of our domestic life, which opponents predict as the result of woman's enfranchisement, we could not have looked more guilty or have moved about with more unnatural stealth. That demeanor I explain as an unconscious tribute to what "Madam Grundy" would have thought had she known of our conclave.

At that meeting one point only was definitely settled; which was, whether the new society should take a name which would conceal from the public its primary object, or one which would clearly advertise it. The honesty of the incipient organization was vindicated by its deciding