o the people, it would open the place to many an
Anna and Miriam and Deborah to fulfill the mission which God has
clearly indicated by the talents He has bestowed.

The world says now, man is God's minister, and woman is not fit
to call sinners to repentance; but let it say: "Those who have
faith in the principles of eternal right, and have power to give
it utterance; those who have the clearest perceptions of moral
truth; those who understand the wants of the people, are the
proper persons, whether they be men or women, to dispense to the
needy multitude the bread of life." This would elevate the
standard of pulpit qualifications, and bring into the field a far
greater amount of talent to choose from, and thus would the
intellectual and spiritual needs of the people be more fully
answered. What is true of this profession will apply with equal
force to others. Should I be told that the American bar needs no
more talent, I would reply that it needs decency, and a
well-founded self-respect. When you enter a court-room, and
listen to a cross-examination of a delicate nature, one where
woman is concerned, and she would rather die a hundred deaths, if
she could, than to have the case dragged before the public, you
will see it treated in the coarsest way, as if her holiest
affections and her most sacred functions were fitting themes for
brutish men to jeer at. And even in the most ordinary cases,
gentlemen who would spurn the imputation of incivility in social
life, will so browbeat and badger a witness, that the most
disgusting bear-baiting would become by comparison a refined
amusement. If the young aspirants for legal honors should meet
among the advocates and judges sensible, dignified, and highly
cultivated women, they would, if I am not much mistaken, get the
benefit of certain lessons, upon manners and morals, that it is
essential for all young men to learn. (Applause). It appears to
me that by association of men and women in this profession, the
bar might be purged of this indecorum, and possess the humanity,
the wisdom, and the dignity that should ever characterize a Court
of Justice.

You need not tell me that the profession would be overstocked, if
women should enter it, for, like men, they must stand on their
merits. Let there be