[p. 96] crowd. Perceiving this, Mrs. Mott asked the gentleman who was escorting her to leave her and help some of the other ladies, who were timid. ‘But who will take care of you?’ said he. ‘This man,’ she answered, quietly laying her hand on the arm of one of the roughest of the men, ‘he will see me through.’ Although taken aback for a moment he responded by conducting her to a place of safety, and as he left the room asked who that lady was, and on hearing her name, remarked, ‘Well, she's a good, sensible woman, anyhow!’ When twitted with ‘walking with colored people’ she replied, ‘We have never made a parade of doing so, and shall do as we have done before, walk with them when occasion offers; it is a principle with us, which we cannot yield, to make no distinction on account of color.’
In the year 1839 the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society of London called a general conference in order to deliberate on the best means of promoting the interests of the slave, etc. Massachusetts and Pennsylvania chose their best delegates, whether men or women, they having discovered ‘that as a concert of advice between men and women was important to success, so mutual counsel and discussions in their business meetings were convenient and profitable.’ James and Lucretia Mott were among the delegates. Her health was much impaired at this time, and it was hoped that a sea voyage might prove beneficial, and the kindness of a distant relative made this expensive trip possible. They sailed in a packet ship, Roscoe, from New York, on May 7, 1840, and landed in Liverpool on the 28th. They spent about three months in England and Ireland, being entertained by prominent people and making many new friends. For the only time in her life Mrs. Mott kept a diary, quaint and pleasant reading, but too long for quotation here. To her infinite surprise the convention to which she was a delegate refused to admit her, except as a listener behind the bar, because she was a woman. The great world's convention of 1840!
