keeping his own sovereignty, but trying to redeem the
fallen one as long as life shall endure. I do not wish to go to
the other state of being, and state what shall be our duty there,
but I do say, that where there is sin and suffering in this
universe of ours, we may none of us sit still until we have
overcome that sin and suffering. Then if my husband was wretched
and degraded in this life, I believe God would give me strength
to work for him while life lasted. I would do that for the lowest
drunkard in the street, and certainly I would do as much for my
husband. I believe that the greatest boon of existence is the
privilege of working for those who are oppressed and fallen; and
those who have oppressed their own natures are those who need the
most help. My great hope is, that I may be able to lift them
upwards. The great responsibility that has been laid upon me is
the responsibility never to sit down and sing to myself psalms of
happiness and content while anybody suffers. (Applause). Then, if
I find a wretched man in the gutter, and feel that, as a human
sister, I must go and lift him up, and that I can never enjoy
peace or rest until I have thus redeemed him and brought him out
of his sins, shall I, if the man whom I solemnly swore to love,
to associate with in all the interests of home and its holiest
relations--shall I, if he falls into sin, turn him off, and go on
enjoying life, while he is sunk in wretchedness and sin? I will
not do it. To me there is a higher idea of life. If, as an
intelligent human being, I promised to co-work with him in all
the higher interests of life, and if he proves false, I will not
turn from him, but I must seek first to regenerate him, the
nearest and dearest to me, as I would work, secondly, to save my
children, who are next, and then my brothers, my sisters, and the
whole human family. (Applause).

Mrs. Stanton asks, "Would you send a young girl into a nunnery,
when she has made a mistake?" Does Mrs. Stanton not know that
nunneries belong to a past age, that people who had nothing to do
might go there and try to expiate their own sins? I would teach
the young girl a higher way. I do not say to her, "If you have
foolishly united yourself to another" (not "if you have been tied
by the law"; for, remember,