nd, as I
received ten dollars' worth of scolding,[7] I should be guilty of
injustice did I not return the favor. Well! such a lecture I never
before had from anyone. What is the matter with thee? One would really
suppose that we had actually abandoned the anti-slavery cause, and
were roving the country, preaching _nothing_ but woman's rights, when,
in fact, I can truly say that whenever I lecture, I forget _everything
but the slave_. He is all in all for the time being. And what is the
reason _I_ am to be scolded because _sister_ writes letters in the
_Spectator_? Please let every woman bear _her own burdens_. Indeed, I
should like to know what I have done yet? And dost thou really think
in my answer to C.E. Beecher's absurd views of woman that I had better
suppress my own? If so, I will do it, as thou makest such a monster
out of the molehill, but my judgment is _not_ convinced that in this
incidental way it is wrong to throw light on the subject."

[7] Angelina and Sarah had sent Mr. Weld ten dollars for some
supposed debts. He returned it, and said if any trifling sums fell
due, he would take them out in scolding, and pay himself thus.

She speaks very gratefully of "Brother Lincoln, of Gardner," who
rejoiced to have them speak in his pulpit, and says:--

"My _keen sense of justice_ compels me to admire such nobility. He
hoped sister would give her views on this branch of the subject in the
_Spectator_. He thought they were needed, and _we_ are well convinced
they are, T.D.W. notwithstanding. So much for my bump of obstinacy
which even thy sledge-hammer cannot beat down."

The subsequent correspondence, which I regret I have not room to
insert, shows that the remonstrances of Whittier and Weld were
effective in restraining, for the time being, the impatience of the
sisters to urge in their public meetings what, however, they
faithfully preached in private--their conviction that the wrongs of
woman were the root of _all_ oppression.

Sarah meekly writes to "brother Weld."

"After a struggle with my feelings, so severe that I was almost
tempted to turn back from the anti-slavery cause, I have given up to
what seemed the inevitable, and have thought little of it since.
Perhaps I have done wrong, and if so, I trust I shall see it and
repent it. I do not intend to make any promises, because I may have
reason to regret them, but I do not know that I shall scribble any
more on the objectionable topic of woman."