nd, for
your acknowledgment. When he asks you "if you sign without fear
or compulsion," say yes, boldly, as we do. Then, too, the right
to will is ours. Now what becomes of the "tenant for life"? Shall
he, the happy husband of a millionaire, who has lived in yonder
princely mansion in the midst of plenty and elegance, be cut down
in a day to the use of one-third of this estate and a few hundred
a year, as long he remains her widower? And should he, in spite
of this bounty on celibacy, impelled by his affections, marry
again, choosing for a wife a woman as poor as himself, shall he
be thrown penniless on the cold world--this child of fortune,
enervated by ease and luxury, henceforth to be dependent wholly
on his own resources? Poor man! He would be rich, though, in the
sympathies of many women who have passed through just such an
ordeal. But what is property without the right to protect that
property by law? It is mockery to say a certain estate is mine,
if, without my consent, you have the right to tax me when and how
you please, while I have no voice in making the tax-gatherer,
the legislator, or the law. The right to property will, of
necessity, compel us in due time to the exercise of our right to
the elective franchise, and then naturally follows the right to
hold office.

3d. Look at the position of woman as widow. Whenever we attempt
to point out the wrongs of the wife, those who would have us
believe that the laws can not be improved, point us to the
privileges, powers, and claims of the widow. Let us look into
these a little. Behold in yonder humble house a married pair,
who, for long years, have lived together, childless and alone.
Those few acres of well-tilled land, with the small, white house
that looks so cheerful through its vines and flowers, attest the
honest thrift and simple taste of its owners. This man and woman,
by their hard days' labor, have made this home their own. Here
they live in peace and plenty, happy in the hope that they may
dwell together securely under their own vine and fig-tree for the
few years that remain to them, and that under the shadow of these
trees, planted by their own hands, and in the midst of their
household gods, so loved and familiar, they may take their last
farewell of earth. But, alas