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Edith whispered something to Sally Anne, and she stood up, walked down the center aisle, and closed the door.

Edith got to her feet and made her way forward, past the altar to the lectern.

“If I could have your attention, please, just for a few minutes so that we can get organized. We have this church, two houses, and a barn to stay in. I’m not sure how to divide the sleeping space. Does anyone have a suggestion?”

“Before you go any further, I will not stay here if those women from the saloon are welcome,” one woman with a small baby in her arms said.

“Anyone else feel the same way?” Edith asked.

A few hands went up.

Lily stood up, walked to the front, and turned around to face the packed church. “Frannie, I’m calling on you because I know your name. Why are you here?”

Frannie got to her feet and said, “We brought decent-women clothes with us, but we didn’t have time to change into them before we decided to join.

We are here for the same reason all y’all are.

We know you look down on us for what we do, but we want better rights, too.

The saloon owner only gives us ten percent of what we make; we get slapped around if we don’t entertain enough men in an evening; and if we’re sick, we have to work anyway or else we get knocked around again. ”

“So other than what you do to support yourselves, you are no different than the rest of us?” Daisy asked.

One woman jumped to her feet. “Don’t you dare say something like that! We are moral women who—”

“Who are being judgmental,” Lily butted in. “Do they judge you for not pleasing your husbands in bed? They are just doing their jobs. Maybe you can all learn something from them about keeping your men home at night instead of seeking pleasure outside your homes.”

“Whose side are you on?” the first woman asked with defiance in her tone.

“The side that gets us all more rights,” Lily answered. “If we’re going to throw stones at each other, then we’ve lost the battle already.”

Daisy stood and turned to face the whole group. “Either we all stand together, or we go home and fail. Once we do that, there will be no more meetings. When we lose the war, we can only go home to lick our wounds and put up with lack of power.”

Lily nodded. “ Now how many of you want to throw these women out of the church?”

Not a single hand went up.

“Okay, now that’s settled. Tomorrow Frannie and her friends will look more like the rest of us, and they will work right beside us,” Lily said.

“Thank you, Lily,” Edith said. “On to the next question about organizing our group. We hadn’t expected so many of you, but we can’t even begin to express how much your support means to us.”

Lily started to sit down, but she changed her mind and turned to face the group again.

“To argue about who stays in which place would be against what we are united to do. Rather than dealing out portions of food each day for us to cook individually, I vote that we cook big pots of food and have community meals. All in favor, raise your hand,” Lily said.

All hands shot up in the air.

“Thank you,” Lily said with a smile. “Now, with that in mind, I vote that, unless more join us and we need the space, we keep the church free as a central place to eat and have our community meetings. It would create confusion to have to take up bedding every morning and put it down at night after supper. All in favor—”

She didn’t even finish the sentence before everyone raised their hands.

“Thank you,” she said again, then sat down.

“The barn does not have a stove,” Beulah said.

“The other three places do, so they should serve as cooking areas.

Whichever group is willing to make breakfast could perhaps stay in the parsonage.

Those who are able and willing to take care of the noon meal could live in my old house.

And the ones that want to make supper will stay in the church—that good stove right here has been used in the winter to heat this place.

That should narrow down the list considerably.

“I’ll take my old house as well for breakfast,” Beulah added. “I know the stove in there, and there’s still an icebox where I can store as much meat as possible. I’ll get Elijah to bring us a block whenever the iceman comes around.”

“Sally Anne and I will supervise the parsonage,” Edith said. “We would love to have any of y’all who are engaged or newly married join us. I’ve been teaching Sally Anne some of my cooking tricks, and I’ll be glad to pass them on to all y’all.”

Maggie raised her hand. “I’ll take the church and serve supper right here.”

“Does anyone else have anything to add?” Edith asked.

Beulah stood up. “There’s plenty of straw in the barn for those willing to stay out there. Throw a quilt over a pile and it makes a good bed.”

Frannie spoke up. “We’ll be glad to take the barn, and to pitch in and help with anything y’all need. I’m a fair cook, so I can rotate between all three places—and thank you for letting us stay.”

“Daisy and I will also take the barn,” Lily offered.

“And like Frannie, we can pitch in wherever you need us. We can also offer shooting lessons to anyone that wants to learn to load and shoot a pistol. We both brought two guns and ammunition, but if any of the rest of you have any, we would appreciate the use of them.”

“I can offer to help any of you learn to ride astride a horse. I have two horses but no sidesaddles—but then, why are we using those things anyway? If we’re liberated, we can use a man’s saddle just as well as he does,” Beulah said.

“Since we might be here a while, we can make it a learning experience. We’ll get those things organized soon—and remember, we are here to . .. What was that word again, Lily?”

“ Empower, ” she answered. “We are here to empower each other with confidence, not tear each other down with gossip and arguing.”

The clapping was so loud that Lily wondered if the folks half a mile away heard it. Finally, Beulah held up a palm to quiet the bunch.

“There are two wells for our water,” she said.

“One is at the back of my old house. The other is behind the parsonage. There’s four outside toilets: one behind each of the houses and two—one for the men and one for the women—a few yards at the back of the church.

I don’t imagine any of us will go to hell if we use the one meant for the guys.

Two-holers are all alike once the door is opened. ”

Someone giggled, and then another, and soon the whole church was rocking with laughter almost as loud as the previous ovation. Lily figured it was because they were all a little nervous about leaving their husbands high and dry, but it was still good to hear that sound.

“Now that we have settled all that,” Edith said, “Edith, Beulah, and Maggie will take in as many as are willing to help with meals as they can, so come on up. Thank you for listening to me and for being so agreeable. And a particular thank-you to the saloon ladies for joining us. That alone should help our menfolk to see that they’ve been left in more ways than just having a clean house and laundry and fresh meals on the table. ”

A woman with black hair in a single braid down her back raised a fist in the air. “I vote that our motto should simply be the word together .”

Another woman yelled the word, and soon the whole group was chanting, “Together, together, together ...”

Edith allowed it to go on for a full minute before she pounded on the lectern to get their attention again.

When quiet had been restored, she said, “Let’s all keep the motto in mind every day that we are here.

This is day one. We should get mentally prepared for many days—maybe even weeks—so keep up your enthusiasm.

But for now, let’s get ourselves settled into our sleeping quarters.

Then whoever is on supper duty can report here to Maggie.

This meeting is finished. The next one will be after supper tomorrow, and each evening after that.

We’ll already be here to eat, so that seems like a good time. Any questions or comments?”

“Just one more thing.” Lily stood to her feet. “When we’ve all found out where our new sleeping place is, Beulah will need some help unloading the wagon and putting things where they belong. If I don’t see some of you again, good night, and thanks for being here.”

“That seems like a prayer in and of itself, so I’ll just say amen !” Maggie said.