Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 2.djvu/394

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History of Woman Suffrage.

rate of thirty miles an hour. While men can keep house in this charming manner, the world will not be utterly desolate when women do vote. As we consider the great versatility in the talents of our noble countrymen, we are lost in admiration. They seem as much at home in watching the gyrations of an egg or oyster in hot water as the revolutions of the heavenly bodies; in making pins and buttons to unite garments that time and haste may have put asunder as in spanning continents with railroads and telegraphs.

As we reached the eastern bank of the Mississippi, we were met by a delegation of ladies and gentlemen to escort us to St. Louis, where we found pleasant apartments in the Southern Hotel, which is extremely well kept, and where one is always sure of a "christian" cup of coffee. The tea and coffee in all the hotels on the route are the most miserable concoctions of hayseed and chiccory that were ever palmed off on a long-suffering, patient people. We had an enthusiastic meeting in St. Louis, and found great interest manifested in the question of woman suffrage among many of its leading citizens. The ladies were in high spirits, as they had just returned from Jefferson, where they had been most graciously received by their legislators. Miss Phoebe Couzins had made an address at the capitol which was well received. She is a young lady of great beauty and talent, both as a writer and speaker, and is called the Anna Dickinson of the West. She is studying law, and hopes to be admitted to the senior class in the law school next year. Her mother, a woman of rare capacity, is a candidate for the Post Office of St. Louis. We hope she will get it. Tuesday evening we had a reception in the parlors of the hotel. Among others, we were happy to meet Mrs. Tittman, a highly cultivated German lady, sister of Professor Helyard, whom we met in Washington. She announced that two of the German papers had come out in favor of woman suffrage that morning and confessed that they were converted the night before. We were surprised to hear that the paper controlled by Carl Schurz and Emile Pretorius had not taken that position long ago. But, from the character and influence of the German ladies there, it is evident that the German politicians must come to terms. Mrs. Minor, President of the Missouri Woman Suffrage Association, invited us to drive around and see the parks, gardens and new streets of the city.

We drove to the Polytechnic, and were received by Mr. Baily (Librarian) and Mr. Devoll, ex-superintendent of schools. He said that he was ready to vote for educated suffrage, without distinction of sex.

The ladies then proposed to go to the Merchants' Exchange and see the bulls and bears. Accordingly we drove there, ascended into the galleries, and looked down upon a great crowd of men standing round long lines of tables covered with tin pie-plates. At first we thought they were lunching, but we soon perceived that the tins contained different kinds of grains and flour, which wise ones were carefully examining. As we stood there, laughing at the idiosyncrasies of the sons of Adam, lo! two most polished gentlemen approached our charmed circle, and announced that they were a committee from the merchants on the floor to invite us to come down and address them. We descended with Mr. John J. Roe and Mr. Merritt.