disappointment that there was no palpable change in their lot, no sense
of extended liberty, such as they imagined would come to transform them
into brighter and better creatures. They supposed that they would at
once gain in importance in the eyes of the men; but the men were now
so preoccupied by the events at the South that they seemed to have
forgotten our political value. Speaking for myself, as a good Union
woman, I felt that I must lay aside, for a time, the interests of my
sex. Once, it is true, I proposed to accompany Mr. Strongitharm to a
party caucus at the Wrangle House; but he so suddenly discovered that
he had business in another part of the town, that I withdrew my
proposition.

As the summer passed over, and the first and second call for volunteers
had been met, and more than met, by the patriotic men of the State (how
we blessed them!) we began to take courage, and to feel, that if our
new civil position brought us no very tangible enjoyment, at least it
imposed upon us no very irksome duties.

The first practical effect of the new law came to light at the August
term of our County Court. The names of seven women appeared on the list
of jurors, but only three of them answered to their names. One, the wife
of a poor farmer, was excused by the Judge, as there was no one to look
after six small children in her absence; another was a tailoress, with
a quantity of work on hand, some of which she proposed bringing with her
into Court, in order to save time; but as this could not be allowed,
she made so much trouble that she was also finally let off. Only one,
therefore, remained to serve; fortunately for the credit of our sex,
she was both able and willing to do so; and we afterward made a
subscription, and presented her with a silver fish-knife, on account of
her having tired out eleven jurymen, and brought in a verdict of $5,000
damages against a young man whom she convicted of seduction. She told
me that no one would ever know what she endured during those three days;
but the morals of our county have been better ever since.

Mr. Spelter told me that his State exchanges showed that there had been
difficulties of the same kind in all the other counties. In Mendip (the
county-town of which is Whittletown, Mrs. Whiston's home) the immediate
result had been the decision, on the part of the Commissioners, to build
an addition at the rear of the Court-House, with large, commodious and
well-furnished jury-roo