er own children? Even
in Connecticut, under man's representation, a widow whose husband
dies without a will is regarded by law as an encumbrance on the
estate which she, through years of drudgery, has helped to
acquire. She can inherit none of the houses or land, but has
merely the use of one-third, while the balance goes to his
relatives--rich, perhaps, and persons whom she never saw. Does
not this suggest reasons why woman should wish to represent
herself?

It is said that women do not desire the ballot. This is by no
means certain. It can be ascertained only by taking a vote. It is
not proved by the fact that they have not yet generally clamored
for the right, nor by the fact that some protest against it. In
Persia, it is a law of society that virtuous women shall appear
in public with their faces covered, and instead of murmuring at
the restraint, they are universal in upholding it, and wonder at
the immodesty and effrontery of English women who appear upon the
streets unveiled. Custom hardens us to any kind of degradation.
When woman was not admitted to the dinner-table as an equal with
man, she undoubtedly thought the exclusion was perfectly proper,
and quite in the nature of things, and the dinner-table became
vile and obscene. When she was forbidden to enter the church, she
approved the arrangement, and the church became a scene of
hilarity and bacchanalian revel. When she was forbidden to take
part in literature, she thought it was not her sphere, and
disdained the alphabet, and the consequence was that literature
became unspeakably impure, so that no man can now read in public
some of the books that were written before woman brought chastity
and refinement into letters. The Asiatics are probably not in
favor of political liberty, or the American Indians in favor of
civilization; but that does not prove that these would be bad for
them, especially if thousands of the most enlightened did desire
and demand the change. It is assumed that women are not in favor
of this right; how can this be better ascertained than by
submitting to them the question to vote upon--"yes" or "no."

If this legislature shall be averse to trusting woman to give her
opinion even on the question of her own enfranchisement, we
recommend that an amendment,