``This is the first time I have ever been insulted
as a mother,'' she cried; ``and by an old maid at
that!'' Then she grasped the infant and left the
scene, amid great confusion. The majority of those
in the audience seemed to sympathize with her.
They had not seen the episode of the feet, and they
thought Miss Anthony was complaining of the child's
crying. Their children were crying, too, and they
felt that they had all been criticized. Other women
rose and followed the irate mother, and many men
gallantly followed them. It seemed clear that
motherhood had been outraged.
Miss Anthony was greatly depressed by the epi-
sode, and she was not comforted by a prediction one
man made after the meeting.
``You've lost at least twenty votes by that little
affair,'' he told her.
``Aunt Susan'' sighed. ``Well,'' she said, ``if those
men knew how my ankles felt I would have won
twenty votes by enduring the torture as long as I did.''
The next day we had a second meeting. Miss
Anthony made her speech early in the evening, and
by the time it was my turn to begin all the children
in the audience--and there were many--were both
tired and sleepy. At least half a dozen of them
were crying, and I had to shout to make my voice
heard above their uproar. Miss Anthony remarked
afterward that there seemed to be a contest between
me and the infants to see which of us could make
more noise.
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