then be better rule than now; the elements which belong to woman as such and to man as such, would be beautifully and harmoniously blended. It is to be hoped there would be less of war, injustice and intolerance in the world than now. Things are tending fast that way, and I hope we shall all be prepared to act. These Conventions ought to give encouragement to the steps of advancement. Now that women are capable of reading, and beginning to be their own painters and historians, you see how much is brought out from history. I heard a lecture last year which astonished me with its number of remarkable women, not only in medicine, but in the Law and jurisprudence, farther back than the twelfth century-all this is encouraging women to go forward in this movement. Why only lately a woman stood forth in England, or France, and plead her own cause and gained it.

And the more her powers are cultivated, the more woman will see the light in which she has been regarded, and when she comes to unite herself in that most holy marriage relation, she will not submit to the authority the church now binds upon her. Women are bound by the church on one hand, and acknowledge subjection to the laws and to the husband under the church and the law, on the other part. I cannot bear to hear woman blamed. She is taught that she must promise that she will be obedient to her husband. I know some ministers now who make a little change in this repect. A minister said to me the other day, that he did not make the parties promise to obey. He used the word "dutiful," for the wife; "well then" I said, " you will make it apply to the husband also, will you not?" he replied perhaps he would hereafter.

I alluded to my own society making no difference between man and woman in the ministry and the duties of the marriage covenant. It seemed to be a great step for those early reformers, William Penn and George Fox, moving as they did in fashionable society, amid the universal veneration for power in that country. It was a great step for them to take-making the marriage relation entirely reciprocalasking no priest to legalize their union, but declaring their own marriage, and themselves invoking the Divine aid.

When woman shall be properly trained, and her spiritual powers

developed, she will find in entering the marriage union nothing necessarily degrading to her. The independence of the husband and wife should be equal, and the dependence reciprocal. But Oh! how different now! The so-called church, and the state together, have made her a perfect slave. Talk of the barbarous ages! Why the barbarous ages are now! Even now, she may be yoked with the beasts of burthen in the field. In France, she loads herself most heavily with the baggage of passengers. The Irishwoman now goes about barefoot, the husband with shoes and stockings;-she with her child in her arms, he carrying nothing. I have seen these cases again and again in a little travel of a few months in the old world; and what might those see who go throughout the continent. Woman is not considered there as out of her sphere in pitching hay upon the stack; when the coach stops for relays of horses, the coachman does not leave the box, but a woman comes out and takes the four horses, leads them away, and returns with the other four from the stable. Talk of the barbarous ages! They are now!

country will not They may be the

Notwithstanding all these things, women in this come to our conventions to hear Women's Rights. mere toys and playthings of society, and do not therefore feel these things. They can amuse their husbands, and brothers, and fathers by beautiful notes of music or by the dance, and I do not say that these things are not very well when practiced at home instead of in public places, and not continued till late hours of the night. When we consider the character of the romance, the sickly sentimental yellow covered literature that she reads, we cannot expect that she will be much. Then in other cases, she has too much to do to be a fine show. These are the extremes. We want woman to come forth and walk in a higher sphere than either of these. Let her come forth and fill it, and she will certainly show forth the beauty of higher aims in life. Why, to-day, a woman at one of your most respectable hotels, dressed in a fashionable manner, saw one of our women in the street dressed in a Bloomer costume. She tho't it "an insult to decency," and expressed herself very indignantly. But how was she dressed herself? Why, laced so tight that she could scarcely breathe,

and her clothes so long that when she went out into the dusty streets her garments formed a kind of broom to gather up the dust. This is beautiful! This is fashionable!

But blessed be the advance of the age, for it is teaching woman the principles of physiology. Many are going forth teaching this science to ears annointed to hear, and finding eyes skillful to see, and souls wise to so observe the Laws of health, that they may not be subject to dis. ease, or require so much of miserable medical treatment. Then again many are availing themselves of the profitable occupations of society, in the way of mercantile business. In Phila. it is no uncommon thing to see women behind the counter. To be sure if they are only employed see the merchant can rob them of half their wages. But they are becoming capitalists, and setting up their own stores. In some of the works of the Artizan, in Jewelry, in Daguerreotyping, and in many other departments, women are coming forward and showing themselves apt scholars; that they can do something besides stitching wristbands and making samplers. In early days, how many hours were employed in making emery strawberries, in foolish fancy work, and in overworked samplers. Women are now beginning to learn that men can do without so much stitching. Indeed, so greatly is Discovery progressing, that machines are already doing a large portion of this work. A woman in the Crystal Palace sits by a sewing machine to show the visitors how one woman, in a day, can perform the work of thirty or forty women in the same time! On the Island of Nantucket-for I was born on that Island-I can remember how our mothers were employed, while our fathers were at sea. The mothers with their children round them-'twas not customary to have nurses then-kept small groceries and sold provisions, that they might make something in the absence of their husbands. At that time it required some money and more courage to get to Boston.They were obliged to go to that city, make their trades, exchange their oils and candles for dry goods, and all the varieties of a country store, set their own price, keep their own accounts; and with all this, have very little help in the family, to which they must discharge their duties. Look at the heads of those women; they can

mingle with men; they are not triflers; they have intelligent subjects of conversation.

This then is what we ask for woman, that she may be so prepared for life's duties, that she can fill her walk in life respectably, and show that she can be something more than a slave, on the one hand, or a toy, or an effeminate being on the other. She is giving the proof of this. She is doing this to-day. Go on then and encourage her, O! my brothers. I have no idea that there is on the part of man, or the race, such a disposition to love the wrong, as many suppose. We have been so much accustomed to false Theology, that we might think the whole race were really fallen, if we did not know better. Why, this very afternoon, I heard quoted in the Temperance Convention-but there is no such passage in the Bible, "The heart of man is prone to evil, and that continually."-Now we know that man is prone to good, and that continually. Job stated that "man was prone to trouble, as the sparks to fly upwards." But how has Theology perverted it! Man is prone to evil! Why the very evils there are in society around us, are greatly mitigated by the goodness of heart, that is natural in His inherent love of justice, right, mercy, and goodness, are ever operating upon him, and leading him to act aright. Why is it that good works have such great success all over the world? Translate that sermon on the Mount into all languages, and the response to it, is world wide. Why is it that HARRIET REECHER STOWE has had such success throughout the wide world? Because her work reaches the sense of right in the universal human heart.

man.

Did ELIZABETH FRY, of England, neglect her family? No! After rearing her eight or ten children, she went forth and did the things that HOWARD did, and greater. See DOROTHEA DIX, and what a ministering angel she has been! Look at the licentiousness of our own city of Penn, and see how MYRA TOWNSEND went forth and established a reformatory house for her sisters; see how she gathered them there and improved their situations, and awakened in them a desire for a better life. The other day I had a letter from a young married woman, who told me she had heard a woman say that when she had eleven children, she had less trouble with them, than when she had but four, for as the older ones grew older, they were a help to her in

caring for the younger. She wrote to me putting five or six questions to me on the subject of woman's rights. She was going to deliver a lecture in Pennsylvania. She had had advantages that we did not have in our day. She had been a little accustomed to speak in public, and tho' she had the care of her little children, and with her own hands had to make the bread for a family of twenty, yet she was ready to do what she could. She had hard work to do where she lectured, for many of her auditors were ignorant Dutch women. MRS. MOTT apologized for having occupied so much time and gave way to MRS. EMMA R. COE, of Buffalo, whose name had been announced as one of the speakers for the evening, but who declined, because of the lateness of the hour; after which convention adjourned to 10 o'clock, A. M., the following day.

SECOND DAY-MORNING SESSION.

The proceedings of the day previous having been read by the Secretary, letters were read by MRS. SEVERANCE, from MARY B. BIRDSALL, of Richmond, Indiana, Secretary of the State Woman's Rights Association, giving notice of the State Convention, to be held in Richmond, Oct. 12., and from PAULINA W. DAVIS, recommending monthly conventions for the coming year, throughout New England.

ANTOINETTE L. BROWN, read also the following letter from WM. H. CHANNING, of Rochester :

ROCHESTER, N. Y., Oct. 3. 1853. To the President and members of the National Woman's Rights Convention :

As I am prevented, to my deep regret, from being present at the convention, let me suggest in writing what I should prefer to speak.

First, however, I would once again avow, that I am with you, heart, mind, soul, and strength, for the EQUAL RIGHTS OF WOMEN. This great reform, will prove to be, I am well assured, the salvation and glory of this Republic, and of all Christian and civilized States.

"And if at once we may not

Declare the greatness of the work we plan,

Be sure at least that ever in our eyes

It stands complete before us, as a dome