Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/296

 

The Twenty-seventh annual convention — Jan. 31-Feb. 5, 1895 — possessed an unusual interest because of its being held outside of Washington. The American society had been accustomed to migratory conventions, but the National had gone to the capital for twenty-six winters. The Woman's Journal, whose editors were strongly in favor of the former plan, said of the Atlanta meeting:

There had been some fears that holding the convention so far south might result in a smaller attendance of delegates than usual; but there were ninety-three delegates, representing twenty-eight States, and also a large number of visitors. Some, like Mrs. Abigail Scott Duniway of Oregon, had come nearly 4,000 miles to be present. De Give's Opera House was crowded. Even at the morning meetings the seats were full and men stood for hours, several rows deep all around the sides and back of the house — a novel and gratifying sight at a business meeting. The proportion of men among the delegates and in the audiences, both day and evening, was larger than usual.

Over the platform hung two large flags, that of the association, with the two stars of Wyoming and Colorado, and another flag, the work of Georgia ladies, on which was ingeniously depicted the relative standing of the different States on this question. The States where women have no form of suffrage were represented by black stars. Those where they can vote for school committee or on certain local questions had a golden rim. Kansas and Iowa had a wider golden rim, to indicate municipal and bond suffrage. Wyoming and Colorado shone with full and undimmed luster. Portraits of Lucy Stone and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, draped in yellow, adorned opposite sides of the platform.

Many of the delegates were from the Southern States, and some of them strikingly illustrated Miss Anthony's assertion, “These Southern women are born orators." In sweetness of voice, grace of manner and personal charm they have all the qualities to make most effective speakers, while in the fervor of their equal rights sentiments they go even beyond their sisters from the North and West. One handsome young lady, who sat on the platform a good