ear to
herself so as to have all her thoughts and ideas harmonize, before
communicating them even to her parents. She did not even look into the
literature which Penloe had lent her that evening. She felt like
retiring and thinking. When she laid her head on the pillow that night
it seemed as if it was not to sleep; it was to think. The leaven was
working in Stella's mind. The truths which she had just received were
powerful; it seemed as if she could not get away from them, even if she
wished, for truths possess us, we do not possess them. Nothing in the
universe is more powerful than truth.

After the first wave of the novelty, the beauty, the grandeur and the
thrilling depth of the truth had subsided only temporarily (to be
superseded by a far more powerful wave of the same character), there
came over Stella's mind during this lull, a strong feeling of attachment
to some of the old ideas she had held. It was very easy for her to let
some of her garments drop from her mental form, and be clothed with new
ones, but there were some that seemed rather hard to loosen; and which
were they? One was this: While it cannot be said that Stella was vain or
self-conceited, there was that strong attachment to the personal I,
which is generally seen in positive dominant characters in the Western
world. And as a woman she had everything to make her feel proud of her
form and beauty, with a graceful carriage, combined with a bright mind
and noble purpose. She had realized her power over the opposite sex. Her
dominant thought had been, that as a woman she was going to lead her
sisters out of bondage; that because she was a woman she had a right to
vote; because she was a woman she should not be in bondage to forms,
ceremonies, and customs; because she was a woman she should not be a
slave to sex superstition. But now all this had been swept away, and it
was hard for her to let go all the grand thoughts she had entertained
about woman as woman. But, blessed, noble, courageous girl, she said: "I
will follow truth whithersoever it may lead," and she inscribed truth on
her banner, saying, "That will I follow."

So she let the last of her old garments drop from her, saying: "I will
clothe myself with the garment of truth." The battle had now been fought
and the victory won; and now a wave came sweeping over her mind, more
powerful, with more beauty, with greater grandeur, penetrating far
deeper, stirring the very depths of her nature, and