possess. One legislature may alter some
oppressive law, and give her some right, and the next legislature
may take it away, for as yet it is only given as an act of
generosity, as a charity on the part of man, and not as her
right, and therefore it can not be lasting, nor productive of
good.

Mothers, women of America! when you hear the subject of Woman's
Rights broached, laugh at it and us, ridicule it as much as you
please; but never forget, that by the laws of your country, you
have no right to your children--the law gives the father as
uncontrolled power over the child as it gives the husband over
the wife; only the child, when it comes to maturity, the father's
control ceases, while the wife never comes to maturity. The
father may bequeath, bestow, or sell the child without the
consent of the mother. But methinks I hear you say that no man
deserving the name of man, or the title of husband and father,
could commit such an outrage against the dearest principles of
humanity; well, if there are no such men, then the law ought to
be annulled, a law against which nature, justice, and humanity
revolt, ought to be wiped off from the statute book as a
disgrace; and if there are such--which unhappily we all know
there are--then there is still greater reason why the laws ought
to be changed, for bad laws encourage bad men and make them
worse; good men can not be benefited by the existence of bad
laws; bad men ought not to be; laws are not made for him who is a
law unto himself, but for the lawless. The legitimate object of
law is to protect the innocent and inexperienced against the
designing and the guilty; we therefore ask every one present to
demand of the Legislatures of every State to alter these unjust
laws; give the wife an equal right with the husband in the
property acquired after marriage; give the mother an equal right
with the father in the control of the children; let the wife at
the death of the husband remain his heir to the same extent that
he would be hers, at her death; let the laws be alike for both,
and they are sure to be right; but to have them so, woman must
help to make them.

We hear a great deal about the heroism of the battle-field. What
is it? Compare it with the heroism of the woman who stands up for
the r