as not; but what women fail to do in their own peculiar
sphere, _no man can possibly do_.

When I aver that woman was intended to be a predominant influence in the
world through her moral and spiritual being, principally, I must not be
understood as depreciating the value to her of mere subjective
knowledge. So far from this, I believe that her means of acquiring
knowledge of all kinds should be limited only by her capacity. The more
her intellect is enlightened and disciplined, the better will she be
qualified to exert that refining, elevating influence which is expected
of her. There can be no beauty without the element of strength; there
can be no love worth the name without knowledge. Were her sense of
justice, her logical powers, her reflective faculties carefully trained
and exercised, her peculiar womanly graces of soul would shine with
tenfold lustre. I mean, simply, that knowledge is specially valuable to
her objectively--as a means, and the best means, to the highest end of
her being, which is concrete rather than abstract.

Briefly, I say, then, it is in the great departments of ethics, of
aesthetics, of religious and spiritual things, that woman is a vital
power in human life.

I have thrown out these general preliminary thoughts concerning the
nature of woman, and her relations to man and to society, chiefly with
reference to a phase of the subject which has not seemed to engage the
attention either of women themselves or of those who assume to advocate
their cause. It is the important consideration whether, in a free and
republican land, woman holds any certain and special relation toward the
Government. In other words, have American women any vital share or
interest in this grand, free Government of ours? With all the emphasis
of a profound conviction, I, answer, _Yes_. Such a touching and intimate
interest as no women ever had before in any Government under the sun.
And why?

_Because the principles embodied in and represented by it have made her
what she is, and they alone can make her what she hopes to be._

If it be true that the position of woman in society is a sure test of
its civilization, then is our American society already in the van of
progress. Nowhere else in the world is woman so free, so respected, so
obeyed, so beloved; nowhere else is the ideal of womanhood so
chivalrously worshipped and protected. In the spirit of our political
theory, that no class of society is to be regarded as