ions. A series of parlor talks to women which had
been organized by the sisters grew in interest until the parlors became
inadequate, and the speakers were at last addressing large audiences of
women in the public meeting-places of Philadelphia.

At this time when Angelina was making effective use of her unrivaled
power as a public speaker, she received in 1836 an invitation from the
Anti-slavery Society of New York to address the women of that city. She
informed her sister that she believed this to be a call from God and
that it was her duty to accept. Sarah decided to be her companion and
assistant in the work in the new field, which was similar to that in
Philadelphia. Its fame soon extended to Boston, whence came an urgent
invitation to visit that city. It was in Massachusetts that men began to
steal into the women's meetings and listen from the back seats. In Lynn
all barriers were broken down, and a modest, refined, and naturally
diffident young woman found herself addressing immense audiences of men
and women. In the old theater in Boston for six nights in succession,
audiences filling all the space listened entranced to the messenger of
emancipation. There is uniform testimony that, in an age distinguished
for oratory, no more effective speaker appeared than Angelina Grimke.
It was she above all others who first vindicated the right of women to
speak to men from the public platform on political topics. But it must
be remembered that scores of other women were laboring to the same end
and were fully prepared to utilize the new opportunity.

The great world movement from slavery towards freedom, from despotism
to democracy, is characterized by a tendency towards the equality of
the sexes. Women have been slaves where men were free. In barbarous ages
women have been ignored or have been treated as mere adjuncts to the
ruling sex. But wherever there has been a distinct contribution to the
cause of liberty there has been a distinct recognition of woman's share
in the work. The Society of Friends was organized on the principle that
men and women are alike moral beings, hence are equal in the sight of
God. As a matter of experience, women were quite as often moved to break
the silence of a religious meeting as were the men.

For two hundred years women had been accustomed to talk to both men
and women in Friends' meetings and, when the moral war against slavery
brought religion and politics into close relation, they w