fathers worshiped the golden calf. The worst you can say of
an American now is, he worships the gold of the calf. Even the calf is
beginning to see this distinction.

The time will come when no matter how much money a man has, he will not
be respected unless he is using it for the benefit of his fellow-men.
It will soon be here. It no longer satisfies the ambition of a great
man to be king or emperor. The last Napoleon was not satisfied with
being the emperor of the French. He was not satisfied with having a
circlet of gold about his head. He wanted some evidence that he had
something of value within his head. So he wrote the life of Julius
Caesar, that he might become a member of the French academy. The
emperors, the kings, the popes, no longer tower above their fellows.
Compare, for instance, King William and Helmholtz. The king is one of
the anointed by the Most High, as they claim--one upon whose head has
been poured the divine petroleum of authority. Compare this king with
Helmholtz, who towers an intellectual Colossus above the crowned
mediocrity. Compare George Eliot with Queen Victoria. The queen is
clothed in garments given her by blind fortune and unreasoning chance,
while George Eliot wears robes of glory woven in the loom of her own
genius. And so it is the world over. The time is coming when a man
will be rated at his real worth, and that by his brain and heart. We
care nothing now about an officer unless he fills his place. No matter
if he is president, if he rattles in the place nobody cares anything
about him. I might give you an instance in point, but I won't. The
world is getting better and grander and nobler every day.

Now, if men have been slaves, if they have crawled in the dust before
one another, what shall I say of women? They have been the slaves of
men. It took thousands of ages to bring women from abject slavery up
to the divine height of marriage. I believe in marriage. If there is
any Heaven upon earth, it is in the family by the fireside and the
family is a unit of government. Without the family relation that is
tender, pure and true, civilization is impossible. Ladies, the
ornaments you wear upon your persons tonight are but the souvenirs of
your mother's bondage. The chains around your necks; and the bracelets
clasped upon your white arms by the thrilled hand of love, have been
changed by the wand of civilization from iron to shining, glittering
gold. Nearly ever