Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 3.djvu/572

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Attitude of the Churches.
521

be ubiquitous enough to discharge all these multifarious duties. We therefore suggest that there be appointed during this meeting, First, a Committee on Finance. Second, a Committee on Printed Documents. Third, a Committee on Lecturers. Fourth, a County Committee of perhaps three persons in each county, who shall have power also to appoint a sub-committee in each township. Whether so many distinct committees will be needed, or more than one class of duties can be entrusted to the same committee, the association can determine. We do not want too much, nor too complicated machinery, but just enough to accomplish the work. We must fall into line; woman expects every man to do his duty; surely she will not fail to be true to herself.

Representatives from the different counties gave their names[1] as ready to begin the work arranged by the several committees. With this large and enthusiastic convention the campaign may be said fairly to have opened at Lansing early in May, a political organization being formed of Republicans and Democrats alike, representing nearly every district in the State. Governor Bagley having promptly signed the bill, and his wife being an earnest advocate of the measure, the social influence of the family was all in the right direction. The influence of the church, too, was in a measure favorable. The Methodist denomination, in its general conference, passed a resolution indorsing woman suffrage. Mrs. Stanton, in a letter to the Golden Age, said:

During the time I spent in Michigan, speaking every night and twice on Sunday to crowded houses, I had abundant opportunities of feeling the pulse of the people, both in public and private, and it seemed to me that the tide of popular thought and feeling was running in the right direction. The people are beginning to regard the idea of woman's equality with man as not only a political, but a religious truth, Methodist, Congregational, Presbyterian, Baptist and Unitarian churches being all alike thrown open to its consideration. Sitting Sunday after Sunday in the different pulpits with reverend gentlemen, my discourses given in the place of the sermon, in the regular services, I could not help thinking of the distance we had come since that period in civilization when Paul's word was law, "Let your women keep silence in the churches." Able men and women are speaking in every part of the State, and if our triumph should not be complete at the next election, at all events a great educational work will have been accomplished in the distribution of tracts, in the public debates,

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  1. The following persons were announced and requested to communicate at once with the Executive Committee, George H. Stickney, Secretary, Grand Haven, Mich.: Allegan, Mrs. E. S. Nichols; Barry, Mrs. Goodyear; Bay, Mrs. S. M. Green, Mrs. Judge Holmes; Berrien, Hon. Levi Sparks, O. E. Mead; Branch, Mrs. Celia Woolley, Mrs. H. J. Boutelle; Calhoun, W. F. Neil, Mrs. Judge Graves, Morgan Bates, Dr. G. P. Jocelyn; Cass, Mr. Rice, William L. Jaques; Chippewa, Mrs. Charles G. Shepherd; Clinton, Mrs. Lee, Mrs. Gole; Eaton, J. Chance, Hon. A. K. Warren, Mrs. J. Musgrave, Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Foote; Genesee, Mrs. D. Stewart; Grand Traverse, Hon. W. H. C. Mitchell, Hon. J. G. Ramsdell; Gratiot, Hon. Ralph Ely; Hillsdale, Mrs. M. A. Pendill, Mrs. Dr. Swift, Mrs. E. Samm; Ingham, Dr. I. H. Bartholomew, Mrs. O. A. Jenison, A. R. Burr; Ionia, Mrs. A. Williams, Mrs. Chaddock, Mr. J. B. Smith; Isabella, Mrs. Douglas Nelson; Jackson, Mrs. Mary Lathrop, Fidus Livermore; Kalamazoo, J. H. Stone, Col. F. W. Curtenius, Merritt Moore. Dr. N. Thomas; Kent, Mrs. E. L. Briggs, E. G. D. Holden, E. P. Churchill; Lapeer, Hon. J. C. Lamb, Mrs. J. B. Wilson; Lenawee, Mrs. Dr. Fox, Mrs. F. A. Rowley, Hon. Charles E. Mickley; Livingston, E. P. Gregory; Macomb, Mrs. Ambrose Campbell, Daniel B. Briggs; Manistee, S. W. Fowler, Hon. B. M. Cutcheon, T. J. Ramsdell; Marquette, Sidney Adams, Hiram A. Burt; Mason, Mr. Foster; Midland, Dr. E. Jennings, Mrs. Sumner; Missaukee, S. W. Davis; Monroe, Hon. J. J. Sumner; Montcalm, Mr. J. M. Fuller; Muskegon, Lieutenant-Governor H. H. Holt, Mrs. O. B. Ingersoll, Mrs. Barney; Newaygo, Hon. E. L. Gray, Mrs. Lucy Utley; Oakland, Mrs. D. B. Fox, J. Holman, jr., Mrs. Alexander; Oceana, John Halsted; Osceola, B. F. Gooch; Ottawa, Dwight Cutler, Mrs. W. C. Sheldon; Roscommon, Messrs. Davis & Hall; Saginaw, Mrs. Whiting, Mrs. Gamble, J. F. Driggs, W. P. Burdick; Shiawassee, Mrs. Dr. Parkill, J. H. Hartwell, Hon. J. M. Goodell, Dr. King; St. Clair, Hon. B. W. Jenks; St. Joseph, W. S. Moore, Mrs. Mary Peck; Tuscola, Mrs. J. P. Hoyt; Van Buren, Mr. and Mrs. C. D. Van Vechten, A. S. Dyckman, Hon. S. H. Blackman; Washtenaw, Mrs. Israel Hall, Mrs. Seth Reed, D. Cramer, Mary E. Foster; Wayne, Mrs. C. A. F. Stebbins, Colin Campbell, G. W. Bates, Lucy L. Stout.