Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 5.djvu/47

 Sherwood, N. Y.; the Rev. Olympia Brown of Racine, second woman to be ordained as minister; Mrs. Ellen Sulley Fray, a pioneer of Toledo, O., and Mrs. Caroline E. Merrick, wife of a Chief Justice of Louisiana, who organized the first suffrage club in New Orleans.

Mrs. Rachel Foster Avery, who had been the corresponding secretary of the association for twenty-one years, had insisted that she should be allowed to resign from the office. A pleasant incident not on the program took place one morning during the convention when Miss Anthony came to the front of the platform and said: "I have in my hand a thousand dollars for Rachel Foster Avery. It has been contributed without her knowledge by about four hundred different persons; most of you are on the list. I asked for this testimonial because I felt that you would all rejoice to show your appreciation of her long and faithful services and her great liberality to the cause. I should never have been able to carry on the work of the society as its president for so many years but for her able cooperation. She thinks she cannot talk but we know that she can work. She has done the drudgery of this association for more than twenty years and I hope the woman who will be chosen in her place, whoever she may be, will be as consecrated and free from all self-seeking."

Miss Kate M. Gordon, president of the Era Club of New Orleans, was almost unanimously elected as corresponding secretary. The only other change in the official board was the retirement of Mrs. Catharine Waugh McCulloch as second auditor and the election of Dr. Cora Smith Eaton in her place. In referring later to Dr. Eaton, Mr. Blackwell said: "In my attendance upon thirty-three successive annual national conventions I have never seen one with such complete and faithful preparation by the local committee and such abundant and cordial welcome. It seemed natural to recognize the generous hospitality thus extended to the convention by. the people of Minnesota by choosing Dr. Eaton of Minneapolis, chairman of this local committee, as one of the auditors for the coming year."