AMERICAN WOMEN ADVOCATES OF ABOLITION AND WOMAN'S RIGHTS.

By George Lowell Austin.

This is an era of recollections. The events of twenty and twenty-five
years ago are being read and reconsidered anew with as much interest as
though they were the fresh and important events of the present. It was
long claimed by those who believed that they thought and wrote with
authority that not only was slavery the main cause of the civil war in
America, but that the abolition of slavery was its chiefest object.
A more sober criticism of the motives and deeds of those who were the
prime actors in that inglorious struggle has tended somewhat to alter
this opinion. It will, however, be again called to mind by a forthcoming
biography,--that of Sarah and Angelina Grimke, better known as "the
Grimke Sisters." The task of preparing this biography was intrusted to
Mrs. Catherine H. Birney, of Washington, who knew the sisters well, and
who lived for several years under the same roof with them.

There need be no hesitation in saying this book is one of the most
interesting and valuable contributions to the history of abolitionism
ever published. From first to last, during that momentous struggle, the
phrase "the Grimke Sisters" was familiar to everybody, and the part
which they enacted in the struggle was no less familiar. Mr. Phillips
often spoke of them in his public addresses; they were prominent members
of the anti-slavery societies; they themselves frequently appeared
before large audiences on public platforms. Indeed, no history of the
great moral cause would be complete that was not, in large part, made up
of their noble deeds; and no less valiantly did they contend for Woman's
Rights.

SARAH and ANGELINA GRIMKE were born in Charleston, South Carolina;
Sarah, Nov. 26, 1792; Angelina, Feb. 20, 1805. They were the daughters
of the Hon. John Fauchereau Grimke, a colonel in the revolutionary war,
and judge of the Supreme Court of South Carolina. His ancestors were
German on the father's side, French on the mother's; the Fauchereau
family having left France in consequence of the revocation of the Edict
of Nantes in 1685.

Judge Grimke's position, character, and wealth placed his family among
the leaders of the very exclusive society of Charleston. His children
were accustomed to luxury and display, to the service of slaves, and to
the indulgence of every selfish whim, although the father's practical
common-sense led him to protest