while he is alive, also to control her when he is
dead. Would any gentleman like to have that law reversed? Let me
read to you a will after that odd fashion. It will fall on your
ears, gentlemen, with as loud a tone of injustice as it does on
mine:

WILL OF BRIDGET SMITH.--In the name of God, amen. I, Bridget
Smith, being weak in body, though sound in mind, blessed be God
for the same, do make and declare this my last will and
testament. Item first: I give my soul to God, and my body to the
earth, from which it came. Item second: I give to my beloved
husband, John Smith, Sen., my Bible, and forty acres of wild land
which I own in Bear Marsh, Ill, for the term of his natural life,
when it shall descend to our son, John Smith, Jr. Item third: I
give and bequeath to my daughter, Tabitha, my farm, house,
outhouse, barns, and all the stock on said farm, situated in
Pleasant Valley, and which said farm consists of 160 acres. I
also give to my said daughter Tabitha, the wagons, carriages,
harnesses, carts, plows, and all other property that shall be on
said farm at the time of my death. Item fourth: I give to my son,
John Smith, Jr., my family horse, my buggy, harness, and saddle,
and also eighty acres of wild land which I own in the State of
Iowa, for which I have a patent. Item fifth: I give to my beloved
husband, John Smith, Sen., the use of the house in which we live,
together with my bed, so long as he shall live, or remain my
widower; but in case he shall die, or get married, then it is my
will that my house and bed shall descend to my said daughter,
Tabitha. Recommending my said husband to her care, whom I make
the sole executrix of this my last will and testament, hereby
revoking all others.

Signed, sealed, and proclaimed this ---- day of ----, 1853, in
the presence of John Doe and Richard Roe.

BRIDGET SMITH.

Would any of you like such power as that to be placed in our
hands? Yet, is it not as fair that married women should dispose
of their property, as that married men should dispose of theirs?
It is true, the power thus given to husbands is not always used
to the detriment of women, and this is frequently urged in
support of the law. But I reply, that law is made for extreme
cases; a