lways been women to defend
the wronged. Julia Ward Howe gave us the "Battle Hymn of the
Republic," while Lucy Stone's last words should be the motto of
every young girl's life, "Make the world better."

With respect to my text, "Let no man take thy crown," these words
were written to the church, and not to the men alone, and the
command should be obeyed by every woman. If the churches then
were anything like the churches of to-day, they were composed of
three-fourths women. Hence this injunction was intended
especially for women. This crown, I take it, means the crown of
righteousness, of regeneration, of redemption, of purity, and
applies to the whole body of the church. I believe the crown of
womanhood in its highest sense means womanly character and
nature. We never can wear a higher or nobler crown than pure and
womanly womanhood....

The world has always been more particular how we did things than
what things we did.... All human beings are under obligations
first to themselves. If self-sacrifice seems best, then we should
practice that; while if self-assertion seems best, then we should
assert ourselves. The abominable doctrine taught in the pulpit,
the press, in books and elsewhere, is that the whole duty of
women is self-abasement and self-sacrifice. I do not believe
subjection is woman's duty any more than it is the duty of a man
to be under subjection to another man or to many men. Women have
the right of independence, of conscience, of will and of
responsibility.

Women are robbed of themselves by the laws of the country and by
fashion. The time has not passed when women are bought and sold.
Social custom makes the world a market-place in which women are
bought and sold, and sometimes they are given away. In the
marriage ceremony woman loses her name, and under the old Common
Law a married woman had no legal rights. She occupied the same
position to her husband as the slave to his master. These things
degraded marriage, but the home would be the holiest of spots if
the wife asserted her individuality and worked hand-in-hand with
her husband, each uplifting the other. Women are robbed of the
right of conscience. Their silence and subjection in the church
have been the curse not only of womanhood but of manhood. No
other