athing marble or canvas, and with smiles and tears,
prayers and songs has she patiently wrought developing the latent
possibilities of the divine Christ-child, the infant Washington,
the baby Lincoln. Ah! since God and men have intrusted to woman
the weightiest responsibility known to earth, the development and
education of the human soul, need you fear to intrust her with
citizenship? Is the ballot more precious than the soul of your
child? If it is safe in the home, in the school-room, the
Sunday-school, to place in woman's hands the education of your
children, is it not safe to allow that mother to express her
choice in regard to which one of these sons, her boys whom she
has taught and nursed, shall make laws for her guidance?

Just here, in imagination, is heard the question, "How much help
could we expect from women on financial questions?" We accept the
masculine idea of woman's mathematical deficiencies. We have had
slight opportunity for discovering the best proportions of a
silver dollar, owing to the fact that the family specimens have
been zealously guarded by the male members; and yet, we may have
some latent possibilities in that direction, since already the
"brethren" in our debt-burdened churches wail out from the depths
of masculine indebtedness and interest-tables, "Our sisters, we
pray you come over and help us!" And, in view of the fact of the
present condition of finances, in view of the fact of the
enormous taxes you impose upon us, can you look us calmly in the
face and assert that matters might, would, should, or could have
been worse, even though Julia Ward Howe, Mary A. Livermore, or
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, had voted on the silver bill?

A moment since I referred to the great responsibilities of
motherhood, and doubtless your mental comment was, "Yes, that is
woman's peculiar sphere; there she should be content to remain."
It _is_ our sphere--beautiful, glorious, almost infinite in its
possibilities. We accept the work; we only ask for opportunity to
perform it. The sphere has enlarged, that is all. There has been
a new revelation. That historic "first gun" proclaimed a
wonderful message to the daughters of America; for, when the
smoke of the cannonading had lifted, the entire horizon of woman
was broadened, illumina