After some more talk Mrs. Stanton sat down, and Susan B.--bless her heart!--faced the Congressional guns. The great pumping power which this woman carries in her brain had lifted the blood into her cheeks, and her eyes blazed with the fire of early day. Lilac kid gloves covered her kind, strong hands and it was astonishing to us all to see how much she looked like a woman. She put her hands behind her as if it was best to have them in a safe place, and commenced by telling the gentlemen that they had it in their power to strike the word “male” out of the Constitution. (Susan has a way of saying the word “male” so that it sounds like the snapping of small arms.) In the District the experiment was tried of giving colored men their rights, and it seems as if this is a fitting place for the inauguration of a grander experiment--that of doing for the woman what you did for the negro. It is only a long custom which you hate to break.
Mrs. Stanton now prompted Susan to speak of Kansas. She then told the story of the schoolhouse, and it was ascertained that the reason why the women had to rise at 11 o’clock at night to vote was because the men had determined to settle the question that day. The men wrangled and could not come to a conclusion, so the women were called as the last feather to break the camel’s back.
A little time before Senator Sumner had come in and taken a seat at the foot of the table. Susan now asked the Senator a question, and forgot and called him “Mr. Sumner,” just as if he was like other men. But she was called to order by Mrs. Stanton, and made haste to repair the wrong by begging his pardon and saying “Senator” with a snap to it. She asked the Senator how it worked in Massachusetts by having women vote on the school question. The Senator said it worked well. As there seemed no chance for an argument, she paused for fresh inspiration, but she was interrupted by Phœbe Couzins, and prompted to say something she had already said.
Whilst they were parleying, Mrs. Pauline Davis took the floor and said a few words in a voice too low to be heard except by those at the table. Before Miss Anthony sat down, Mrs. Beecher Hooker touched her by the arm and begged her not to be too severe. Susan said she did not mean to be severe.