kings of the earth would hear a woman. There was a
king in the Scriptures; and then it was the kings of the earth
would kill a woman if she come into their presence; but Queen
Esther come forth, for she was oppressed, and felt there was a
great wrong, and she said I will die or I will bring my complaint
before the king. Should the king of the United States be greater,
or more crueler, or more harder? But the king, he raised up his
sceptre and said: "Thy request shall be granted unto thee--to the
half of my kingdom will I grant it to thee!" Then he said he
would hang Haman on the gallows he had made up high. But that is
not what women come forward to contend. The women want their
rights as Esther. She only wanted to explain her rights. And he
was so liberal that he said, "the half of my kingdom shall be
granted to thee," and he did not wait for her to ask, he was so
liberal with her.

Now, women do not ask half of a kingdom, but their rights, and
they don't get 'em. When she comes to demand 'em, don't you hear
how sons hiss their mothers like snakes, because they ask for
their rights; and can they ask for anything less? The king
ordered Haman to be hung on the gallows which he prepared to hang
others; but I do not want any man to be killed, but I am sorry to
see them so short-minded. But we'll have our rights; see if we
don't; and you can't stop us from them; see if you can. You may
hiss as much as you like, but it is comin'. Women don't get half
as much rights as they ought to; we want more, and we will have
it. Jesus says: "What I say to one, I say to all--watch!" I'm
a-watehin'. God says: "Honor your father and your mother." Sons
and daughters ought to behave themselves before their mothers,
but they do not. I can see them a-laughin', and pointin' at their
mothers up here on the stage. They hiss when an aged woman comes
forth. If they'd been brought up proper they'd have known better
than hissing like snakes and geese. I'm 'round watchin' these
things, and I wanted to come up and say these few things to you,
and I'm glad of the hearin' you give me. I wanted to tell you a
mite about Woman's Rights, and so I came out and said so. I am
sittin' among you to watch; and every once and awhile I will come
out and tell you what time of night it is.