Anti-slavery Standard there, who kept on taking
it as long as it was published."
The next day she went on to tlie next little town, Dalton, and here again she had to jnit up her own posters. As she was preparing to post some of them on the bridge, she was fol- lowed by a lot of boys, who thought it a great "lark." They regarded it as a most irnprojier thing for a woman to be lecturing and putting up hand-bills; and, like the Unitarian minister at Hinsdale, they were filled with the bitter opposition to the abolition of slavery which then pervaded almost the whole of New Eng- land. So the boys came after her, intending to tear her posters down. But she turned around and told them what slavery was — mak- ing men work without paying them for it, and selling boys like them on the auction block — till she got them all on her side, and they vt her posters alone. The meeting that night was in a dirty and disagreeable town hall, with a great yawning fireplace, paper strewn about the floor, boys throwing wads, and men swear- ing. Rows of jeering faces confronted her when the meeting began; but, as usual, aftei' she hail spoken a few moments, she saw the mockery die out of them and attention take its place. The history of these two days may serve as a sample of the work she did for years. Once a hymn-book was thrown at her head with stunning force. Once in winter a pane of glass was removed from the window behind her, a hose was put througli, and she was suddenly deluged with ice-cold water while speaking. She put on her shawl, and continued her lect- ure. Pepper was burned, and recourse was had to all sorts of devices in order to break up the meetings, but generally without success. The work had also its pleasant side. There was cordial hospitality in anti-slavery homes, where all the children loved and welcometl her; and there was rich and inspiring comnuuiion with her fellow-reformers, the noblest spirits of that stormy time. When she visiter! the old home farm, in the intervals between her lecturing tri])s, it was always a day of rejoicing for her brother's children, who found "Aunt Lucy" the most delightful of playmates. She thoroughly enjoyed her work, ilespite its hard- ships. Looking back ujjon it in after years, she said, " I never minded those hard old tunes a bit."
She mixed a great deal of woman's righlswith her anti-slavery lectures. One night, after her heart had been jxarticularly stirred on the woman tjuestion, she put into her lecture so much of woman's rights and so little of abo- lition that the Rev. Samuel May felt obliged to tell her, in the most friendly way, that on the anti-slavery platform this would not do. She answered: "I know it, but I could not help it. I was a woman before I was an abolition- ist, and I mufit speak for the women." She resigned her ])osition as lecturer for the Anti- slavery Society, intentling to devote herself wholly to woman's rights. They were very unwilling to give her up, however, as she had been one of their most efTective speakers; and it was finally arranged that she should speak for them Saturday evenings and Sundays — times which were regarded as too sacred for any church or hall to be opened for a woman's rights meeting — and during the rest of the week she should lecture for woman's rights on her own responsibility.
Her adventures during the next few years would fill a volume. No suffrage association was organized until long after this time. She had no co-operation and no backing, and started out absolutely alone. So far as she knew, there were only a few persons in the whole countrj^ who had any sympathy with the idea of e(|ual rights for women.
She travelled over a large part of the United States. In most of the towns where she lectured, no woman had ever spoken in public before, and curiosity attracted immense audiences. The speaker was a great surprise to them. The general idea of a woman's rights advocate, on the part of those who had never seen one, was of a tall, gaunt, angular woman, with aggressive manners, a masculine air, and a strident voice, scolding at the men. In- stead, they found a tiny woman, with quiet, unassuming maimers, a winning presence, and the sweetest voice ever possessed by a public speaker. This voice l^ecame celebrated. It was so musical and delicious that persons who had once heard her lecture, hearing her utter
