m our cities, as much as did the Phocians of
old at the power of the Amphictyons of Greece. But if the Locrians
should in time appear among you, I advise you to beware of choosing an
ambitious Philip as your leader. Such a one might subvert the principles
on which your institution is founded, abolish your order, and build up a
monarchy on the ruins of the happy institution."

This extract shows not only the style of the writer, but the esteem in
which she was held by some of the foremost men of the day; for Adams
would not have "asked the sentiments" of one for whose judgment he had
not profound respect.

Dramatist, poet, historian, and correspondent of some of the most noted
men of her day, Mercy Warren stands as the foremost woman representative
of American letters in Revolutionary days. It is true that her
activities were by no means confined to this period, for she was born in
1728 and died in 1814, having thus passed eighty-seven years of
well-filled life; but she is as much the woman writer of the Revolution
as Freneau is its male poet. Perhaps neither name is familiar to the
present generation; but Mercy Warren and Philip Freneau, if not of the
highest order of their calling, did notable work in the cause of
American letters, and the former is well worthy of being included in any
work that purports to tell, however incompletely, the history of
American womanhood.

The shadow passed at length, leaving the country maimed, bleeding, but
still lusty with vigor and with the waxing strength of youth. The
passing of the shadow found the women of America for the most part shorn
of the gauds that women love, destitute of the lesser things of life,
but filled with a proud sense of new birth with their country. To the
triumphant result of the years of strife and struggle they had
contributed in full measure; and they were ready, however they might be
hampered by present conditions, to reap the fruit of the period of
contest no less than the men, though in different fashion.

Moreover, though in hidden methods, they had asserted themselves and the
power of their womanhood as never before. They had turned from the
sporadic and eccentric attempts of some of their sex to win fame by
religious leadership or other such manifestations of restless ambition;
they had shown their power of concentrated and universal consecration to
a cause when it was found worthy thereof, and they had evidenced their
intensity of devotion to that