victims of folly and fashion,
me as the representative of many of the disagreeable 'isms' of the
age, as they choose to distinguish liberal opinions. It is amusing in
analyzing prejudices to see on what slender foundations they rest,"
and the ladies around me were so completely cornered that no one
attempted an answer.

I remember being at a party at Gov. Seward's one evening, when Mr.
Burlingame and his Chinese delegation were among the guests. As soon
as the dancing commenced, and young ladies and gentlemen locked in
each other's arms, began to whirl in the giddy waltz, these Chinese
gentlemen were so shocked that they covered their faces with their
fans, occasionally peeping out each side and expressing their surprise
to each other. They thought us the most immodest women on the face of
the earth. Modesty and good taste are questions of latitude and
education; the more people know, the more their ideas are expanded, by
travel, experience, and observation; the less easily they are shocked.
The narrowness and bigotry of women, are the result of their
circumscribed sphere of thought and action.

Soon after Judge Hurlbut had published his work on "Human Rights," and
I had addressed the Legislature the first time, we met at a dinner
party in Albany; Mr. and Mrs. Seward were there. The Senator was very
merry on that occasion, and made Judge Hurlbut and myself the target
for all his ridicule on the woman's rights question, in which most of
the company joined, so that we stood quite alone. Sure that we had the
right on our side, and the arguments clearly defined in our own minds,
and both being cool and self-possessed, and with wit and sarcasm quite
equal to any of them, we fought the Senator inch by inch until he had
a very narrow platform to stand on. Mrs. Seward maintained an unbroken
silence, while those ladies who did open their lips were with the
opposition, supposing, no doubt, that Mr. Seward represented his
wife's opinions.

When the ladies withdrew from the table, my embarrassment may be
easily imagined. Separated from the Judge, I should now be an hour
with a bevy of ladies who evidently felt a repulsion to all my most
cherished opinions. It was the first time I had met Mrs. Seward, and I
did not then know the broad liberal tendencies of her mind. What a
tide of disagreeable thoughts rushed through me in that short passage
from the dining-room to the parlor; how gladly I would have glided out
the front door,