hat logic the obligation of woman to
form her own ideal of life, and pursue the career which her reason and
conscience dictate, can be denied. The sphere of activity in which any
person will shine, is always an open question until answered by
experience. I may admire the wisdom of the mind which has discovered
that half the people in the world are incompetent to act beyond one
circle of duty; but until the fact has been established by the
universal failure of your sex, everywhere outside that fatal line, I
must admire rather than believe. Every real position in society is
achieved by conquest. I must convince my people that I am a true
minister of the Gospel, before I can claim their respect and support.
And when a woman, in the possession of the powers and opportunities
given her by God, tells me she must trade, or instruct the young, or
heal the sick, or paint, or sing, or act upon the stage, or call
sinners to repentance, I _can_ say but one thing--just what I must say
to the man who affirms the same--"My friend, show your _ability_ to
serve society in this way, and all creation can not deprive you of the
right. If you _can do_ this to which you aspire--can do it well, then
you and everybody will be the gainers. And whoever says you have
forfeited any essential grace or virtue of womanhood by your act,
betrays, by the accusation, an utter incompetency to judge upon
questions of human responsibility and obligation."

.... I therefore believe the method of this reform is that declared by
God when He said to Adam: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat
bread." There is no "royal road" to womanhood, as there is certainly
none to manhood. _You_ must achieve what you desire.... Woman must do
much before man can help her. I suppose the sexes are about equally
culpable; and I make no peculiar charge, when I say that until I can
see more individual consecration, more clearness of perception and
firmness of conduct in regions outside of the walls of the household
among the mass of women, than now, I shall not cherish extravagant
hopes of the great immediate success of your noble object.

.... Your movement is a part of the great onward march of society, and
must be exposed to the reverses from outward hostility and inward
faithlessness, that have always hindered the progress of the race....
This reform will be a sword of division, and you will not be surprised
when those who have entered it from any motive less exalted than