ms in the Society of Friends have shed new light on the
tyranny of creeds and scriptures. The infidel Hicksite principles that
shocked Christendom, are now the corner-stones of the liberal
religious movement in this country. The demand for woman's social,
civil, and political equality--in which she was foremost--laughed at
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, has been recognized in a measure by
courts and legislatures, in Great Britain and the United States. The
old Blackstone code for woman has received its death-blow, and the
colleges, trades, and professions have been opened for her admission.
The name of Lucretia Mott represents more fully than any other in the
nineteenth century, the sum of all womanly virtues. As wife, mother,
friend, she was marked for her delicate sentiments, warm affections,
and steadfast loyalty; as housekeeper, for her rigid economy,
cleanliness, order, and exhaustless patience with servants and
children; as neighbor, for justice and honor in all her dealings; as
teacher, even at the early age of fifteen, for her skill and
faithfulness.
One who has lived eighty-eight years 'mid a young, impressible people
like ours, ever reflecting the exalted virtues of the true woman, the
earnest reformer, the religious teacher, must have left her impress
for good in every relation of life. When we remember that every word
we utter, every act we perform, the individual atmosphere we create
have their effect, not only on all who come within the circle of our
daily life, but through them are wafted to innumerable other circles
beyond, we can in a measure appreciate the far-reaching influence of
one grand life. Great as has been the acknowledged, moral power of
Lucretia Mott, it would have been vastly greater, had her opinions
been legitimately recognized in the laws and constitutions of the
nation; and could she have enjoyed the consciousness of exerting this
direct influence, it would have intensified the holy purpose of her
life. "The highest earthly desire of a ripened mind," says Thomas
Arnold, "is the desire of taking an active share in the great work of
government." Those only who are capable of appreciating this dignity
can measure the extent to which this noble woman has been defrauded as
a citizen of this great Republic. Neither can they measure the loss to
the councils of the nation, of the wisdom of such a representative
woman.
In the manifold tributes to the memory of our beloved friend, we hav
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