HAMPTON, N. H., _May 4, 1863_.

MISS ANTHONY--DEAR MADAM:--I cheerfully respond to the call, published
in _The Liberator_, to the loyal women of the North, to meet on the
14th inst. I am sensible that you will have responses from many whose
words will be more potent, and who can do braver deeds than I can do.
But I want to add my feeble testimony, notwithstanding, to encourage
this first effort of American women, in a national capacity, to
sustain the Government, and help guide it through the perils which
threaten its existence, thus demonstrating not only their loyalty, but
their ability to understand its genius; the quickness of their
perception of the cause and also of the remedies of the dangers which
imperil the nation; and also their fitness to be admitted to take part
in its deliberations. Not long since, men here at the North--loyal
men--men who were not in favor of slavery, denied that they had any
responsibility in regard to its existence. Marvelous, that they could
not see that slavery is a moral pestilence, poisoning all the
fountains of society, spreading infections over all the nation. Now
the war teaches them that they have a responsibility, and that it
would have been better had they seen it earlier. The right to take any
responsibility in regard to it was denied to woman; it was out of her
sphere; it ran into politics, which were unfit for woman, and into
governmental affairs, which she was supposed incompetent to
comprehend. But this painful hour of warfare crowds home upon us the
conviction that woman's interests equally with man's are
imperiled--private as well as public, individual as well as social.
She must not only consent to the sacrifice of husbands and sons
falling in their blood on the enemy's ground; but failing to conquer
them there, these enemies are eager to change the scene of action,
transfer the battle-field to our own doors, spread death and
devastation, and then establish slavery as a legacy to us. Yes, let it
be shown and sent home to the hearts of those who shall meet, that
woman is equally interested and responsible with man in the final
settlement of this problem of self-government.

Wishing that the women of every State may be largely represented by
earnest and faithful representatives, able to give wise counsel and
efficient action, I am very cordially with you in spirit,

CLARISSA G. OLDS.