measure the distance between the "sphere" of the
woman of 1800 and that of the woman of 1900. How has the
transformation come? What mysterious power has brought it?

On the whole, men and women of the present rejoice at every right
gained and every privilege conceded. Not one jot or tittle would
they abate the advantage won; yet when the plea is made that the
free, self-respecting, self-reliant, independent, thinking women
of this generation be given the suffrage, the answer almost
invariably comes back, "When women as a whole demand it, men will
consider it." This answer carries with it the apparent
supposition that all the changes have come because the majority
of women wanted them, and that further enlargement of liberty
must cease because the majority do not want it. Alas, it is a
sad comment upon the conservatism of the average human being that
not one change of consequence has been desired by women as a
whole, or even by a considerable part. It would be nearer the
truth to say women as a whole have opposed every advance.

The progress has come because women of a larger mold, loftier
ambitions and nobler self-respect than the average have been
willing to face the opposition of the world for the sake of
liberty. More than one such as these deserve the rank of martyr.
The sacrifice of suffering, of doubt, of obloquy, which has been
endured by the pioneers in the woman movement will never be fully
known or understood....

With the bold demand for perfect equality of rights in every walk
of life the public have compromised. Not willing to grant all,
they have conceded something; and by repeated compromises and
concessions to the main demand the progress of woman's rights has
been accomplished.

There are two kinds of restrictions upon human liberty--the
restraint of law and that of custom. No written law has ever been
more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion.
At the beginning of our century both law and custom restricted
the liberty of women.

It was the edict of custom which prohibited women from receiving
an education, engaging in occupations, speaking in public,
organizing societies, or in other ways conducting themselves like
free, rational human beings. It was law which forbade married
women to con