icacy. True modesty will be as fully preserved in acting out
those important vocations, as in the nursery or at the fireside
ministering to man's self-indulgence. Then in the marriage union,
the independence of the husband and wife will be equal, their
dependence mutual, and their obligations reciprocal.

In conclusion, let me say, with Nathaniel P. Willis: "Credit not
the old-fashioned absurdity that woman's is a secondary lot,
ministering to the necessities of her lord and master! It is a
higher destiny I would award you. If your immortality is as
complete, and your gift of mind as capable as ours of increase
and elevation, I would put no wisdom of mine against God's
evident allotment. I would charge you to water the undying bud,
and give it healthy culture, and open its beauty to the sun; and
then you may hope that when your life is bound up with another,
you will go on equally and in a fellowship that shall pervade
every earthly interest."

NATIONAL CONVENTION IN PHILADELPHIA.

October 18, 1854, the Fifth National Convention was held in Sansom
Street Hall, where a large audience, chiefly of ladies, assembled at
an early hour.

At half-past ten o'clock Lucretia Mott made her appearance on the
platform, accompanied by several ladies and gentlemen, notably Lucy
Stone in Bloomer costume. She was the observed of all observers; the
neatness of her attire, and the grace with which she wore it, did much
to commend it to public approval. The press remarked that the officers
of the Convention were all without bonnets, and that many ladies in
the audience had their knitting-work. "A casual visitor," says _The
Bulletin_, "would have been impressed with the number and character of
this assembly, both among the actors and spectators. Every variety of
age, sex, race, color, and costume were here represented. Bloomers
were side by side with the mouse-colored gowns and white shawls of the
wealthy Quaker dames, and genteelly dressed ladies of the latest Paris
fashion."

The house was crowded, and on the steps ascending the platform were
seated William Lloyd Garrison and James Mott, side by side with men of
the darkest hue. The colored people scattered through the audience
seemed quite at their ease, and were evidently received on grounds of
perfect equality, which was the subject of much comment by outsiders.

Mrs. Frances D. Gage, President of the la