they remained throughout the spring and summer.
I had hoped that they would remain permanently, and had rented and
furnished a home for them with that end in view; but, though they
enjoyed their visit, the prospect of the bleak winters of Cape Cod
disturbed my mother, and they all returned to Big Rapids late in the
autumn. Since entering upon my parish work it had been possible for me
to help my father and mother financially; and from the time of Mary's
death I had the privilege, a very precious one, of seeing that they were
well cared for and contented. They were always appreciative, and as time
passed they became more reconciled to the career I had chosen, and which
in former days had filled them with such dire forebodings.

After I had been in East Dennis four years I began to feel that I
was getting into a rut. It seemed to me that all I could do in that
particular field had been done. My people wished me to remain, however,
and so, partly as an outlet for my surplus energy, but more especially
because I realized the splendid work women could do as physicians, I
began to study medicine. The trustees gave me permission to go to Boston
on certain days of each week, and we soon found that I could carry on my
work as a medical student without in the least neglecting my duty toward
my parish.

I entered the Boston Medical School in 1882, and obtained my diploma
as a full-fledged physician in 1885. During this period I also began to
lecture for the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association, of which
Lucy Stone was president. Henry Blackwell was associated with her, and
together they developed in me a vital interest in the suffrage cause,
which grew steadily from that time until it became the dominating
influence in my life. I preached it in the pulpit, talked it to those I
met outside of the church, lectured on it whenever I had an opportunity,
and carried it into my medical work in the Boston slums when I was
trying my prentice hand on helpless pauper patients.

Here again, in my association with the women of the streets, I realized
the limitations of my work in the ministry and in medicine. As minister
to soul and body one could do little for these women. For such as them,
one's efforts must begin at the very foundation of the social structure.
Laws for them must be made and enforced, and some of those laws could
only be made and enforced by women. So many great avenues of life were
opening up before me that my Cape