agedies as
those at North Adams and Washington, the true modesty of every mother,
the true dignity of every wife, should forbid her to put aside the
questions they involve.

_Resolved_, That the dishonor of single women proceeds in great
measure from destitution, and the dishonor of married women as much
from their own want of education and utter absence of purpose in life
as from the inability of their husbands to inspire them with true
respect and help them to true living: therefore,

_Resolved_, That it is our bounden duty to open, in every possible
way, new vocations to women, to raise their wages by every advisable
means, and to secure to them an education which shall be less a
decoration to their persons than a tool to their hands.

_Resolved_, That while courts adjourn in honor of a man like Philip
Barton Key, while the whole Bar of the District of Columbia pass
resolutions in his honor, and vote to attend his funeral, as a mark of
respect, while the public opinion of a whole community sustains a man
who could not defend his murderous indignation by the witness of an
unspotted life, it is our duty to rate public opinion as a corrupting
power, and to bring up our children in the knowledge and sanction of a
higher law.

[159] FORM OF PETITION.

_To the Senate and Assembly of the Slate of New York:_

The undersigned, citizens of ----, New York, respectfully ask that you
will take measures to submit to the people an amendment of the
Constitution, allowing women to vote and hold office. And that you
will enact laws securing to married women the full and entire control
of all property originally belonging to them, and of their earnings
during marriage; and making the rights of the wife over the children
the same as a husband enjoys, and the rights of a widow, as to her
children, and as to the property left by her husband, the same that a
husband has in the property and over the children of his deceased
wife.

[160] Lydia Mott, in writing to a friend, says: "I have heard but one
opinion about the merits of the address and the manner of its
delivery, and the press is very complimentary. It was better that one
like Mrs. Stanton should speak on the occasion than two, unless the
other might have been Wendell Phillips. Mr. Mayo expressed himself
thoroughly satisfied; the whole effect was grand. Even old Father
Woolworth stood the whole time, and very often he would nod assent at
certain points. The House was packed