Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/982

 the State and helpers from other States. Headquarters were established immediately in the business center of Providence. These rooms were opened each morning before nine o'clock and kept open until ten at night throughout the contest. The campaign lasted twenty-nine days, during which ninety-two public meetings were held, some in parlors but most in halls, vestries and churches. Miss Cora Scott Pond came at once into the State to organize the larger public meetings and Miss Sarah J. Eddy and Mrs. C. P. Norton arranged for parlor meetings. The regular speakers were Henry B. Blackwell, William Lloyd Garrison, the Revs. C. B. Pitblado, Louis A. Banks, Frederick A. Hinckley, Ada C. Bowles; Mesdames Mary A. Livermore, J. Ellen Foster, Zerelda G. Wallace, Julia Ward Howe, Katherine Lente Stevenson, E. S. Burlingame, Adelaide A. Claflin; Miss Mary F. East man and Miss Huldah B. Loud. Miss Susan B. Anthony was invited to make the closing speech of the campaign but declined as she considered the situation hopeless.

The cities and towns were as thoroughly canvassed by these speakers as the short time permitted. A special paper, The Amendment, was edited by Mrs. Lillie B. Chace Wyman, as sisted by Miss Kate Austin and Col. J. C. Wyman; the first number, issued March 16, an edition of 20,000, and the second, March 28, an edition of 40,000. They contained extracts from able articles on suffrage by leading men and women, letters from Rhode Island citizens approving the proposed amendment, and answers to the usual objections.

The principal newspapers of Providence, the Journal and the Telegram, both led the opposition to the amendment, the former admitting in an editorial, published March 10, "the theoretic justice of the proposed amendment to the constitution conferring suffrage upon women," but hoping it would be rejected because