n to ask if there has been progress; or has this universal
radical reform, which was then declared, been like reformations
in religion, but a substitution of a new error for an old one;
or, like physical revolutions, but a rebellion? Has this work,
intended from its inception to change the structure of the
central organization of society, failed and become a monument of
buried hopes? Have we come together after twenty years, bowed
with a profound grief over the wreck and debris of the battle
unwon, or to rejoice over what has been attained, and mark out
work for the next decade?

We answer, in many things we have failed, for we believed and
hoped beyond the possible; but reviewing the past we have only
cause for rejoicing--for thanksgiving to God--and for courage in
the future. We affirmed a principle, an adjustment of measures to
the exigencies of the times, a profound expediency true to the
highest principles of rights, and to-day we reiterate the axiom
with which we started, that "They who would be free, themselves
must strike the blow," believing it as imperative as when the
first woman took it up, and applied it to her needs; and it must
be kept as steadily before the eye, for not yet can we rest on
our privileges gained.

Women are still frivolous; the slaves of prejudice, passion,
folly, fashion, and petty ambitions, and so they will remain till
the shackles, both social and political, are broken, and they are
held responsible beings--accountable to God alone. Not till then
can it be known what untold wealth lies buried in womanhood--"how
many mute, inglorious Miltons." Men are still conceited,
arrogant, and usurping, dwarfing their own manhood by a false
position toward one half the human race.

In commencing this work we knew that we were attacking the
strongholds of prejudice, but truth could no longer be
suppressed, nor principles hidden. It must be ours to strike the
bottom line. We believed it would take a generation to clear away
the rubbish, to uproot the theories of ages, to overthrow
customs, which at some period of the world's history had their
significance.

We proclaimed that our work was to reform, reconstruct, and
harmonize society; not to lay waste her homes and her
sanctuaries. A few only have been found