thority on the one part, or the promise of
obedience on the other. There is nothing in such a marriage
degrading to woman. She does not compromise her dignity or
self-respect; but enters married life upon equal ground, by the
side of her husband. By proper education, she understands her
duties, physical, intellectual, and moral; and fulfilling these,
she is a helpmeet in the true sense of the word.

I tread upon delicate ground in alluding to the institutions of
religious Associations; but the subject is of so much importance
that all which relates to the position of woman should be
examined apart from the undue veneration which ancient usage
receives.

"Such dupes are men to custom, and so prone
To reverence what is ancient, and can plead
A course of long observance for its use,
That even servitude, the worst of ills,
Because delivered down from sire to son,
Is kept and guarded as a sacred thing."

So with woman. She has so long been subject to the disabilities
and restrictions with which her progress has been embarrassed,
that she has become enervated, her mind to some extent paralyzed;
and like those still more degraded by personal bondage, she hugs
her chains. Liberty is often presented in its true light, but it
is liberty for man. I would not go so far, either as regards the
abject slave or woman; for in both cases they may be so degraded
by the crushing influences around them, that they may not be
sensible of the blessings of freedom. Liberty is not less a
blessing, because oppression has so long darkened the mind that
it can not appreciate it. I would, therefore, urge that woman be
placed in such a situation in society, by the recognition of her
rights, and have such opportunities for growth and development,
as shall raise her from this low, enervated, and paralyzed
condition, to a full appreciation of the blessing of entire
freedom of mind.

It is with reluctance that I make the demand for the political
rights of women, because this claim is so distasteful to the age.
Woman shrinks, in the present state of society, from taking any
interest in politics. The events of the French Revolution, and
the claim for woman's rights, are held up to her as a warning.
Let us not look at the excesses