y, at
the very heart of society. If it be not kindly, temperately, and
thoughtfully conducted, men everywhere will be able to justify their
remonstrances. Let us rather justify ourselves. My last report to any
Convention was made to those called in Boston in 1859 and 1860.
Between that time and 1863 I printed five volumes, which are nothing
but reports upon the various interests significant to our cause.
During the last four years I have watched the development of American
industry in its relation to women, and have, through the newspapers,
aroused public feeling in their behalf. My labor is naturally classed
under the three heads of Education, Labor, and Law. A proper education
must prepare woman for labor, skilled or manual; and the experience of
a laborer should introduce her to citizenship, for it provides her
with rights to protect, privileges to secure, and property to be
taxed. If she is a laborer, she must have an interest in the laws
which control labor. In considering our position in these three
respects, it is impossible to offer you a digest of all that has
occurred during the last six years. What I have to say will refer
chiefly to the events of the last two.

EDUCATION.

I wish it were in my power to furnish you with reports of the present
condition of all the female colleges in the United States; but, while
I receive from various foreign sources such reports, and am promptly
informed of any educational movement in Europe, it never seems to
occur to the government of such institutions in the United States that
there is any necessary connection between them and the interests which
this Convention represents. We are, consequently, dependent upon
newspapers for our information.

The most important educational movement of the last year has been the
formation of an American Social Science Association, with four
departments, and two women on its Board of Directors. Subsequently,
the Boston Social Science Association was organized, with seven
departments, and seven women on its Board of Directors, one woman
being assigned to each department, including that of law. Any woman in
the United States can become a member of this Association. If the
opportunities it offers are not seized, it will be the fault of women
themselves.

During the past winter the Lowell Institute, in Boston, in connection
with the government of the Massachusetts Technological Institute, took
a step which deserves our public mention. Th