ich had so long pressed upon it, and, above all, to
feel in my soul the language, 'Well done.' It was luxury indeed, well
worth the toil of months."

Sarah, too, speaks of looking back upon the labors of the summer with
feelings of unmixed satisfaction.

That the leaven prepared in Sarah Grimke's letters on the "Province of
Woman" was beginning to work was evidenced by a public discussion on
woman's rights which took place at the Boston Lyceum on the evening of
Dec. 4, 1837. The amount of interest this first public debate on the
subject excited was shown by the fact that an audience of fifteen
hundred of the most intelligent and respectable people of Boston
crowded the hall and listened attentively to the end. Sarah and
Angelina, the latter now almost entirely recovered, were present,
accompanied by Mr. Philbrick.

"A very noble view throughout," says Angelina, and adds: "The
discussion has raised my hopes of the woman question. It was conducted
with respect, delicacy, and dignity, and many minds no doubt were
roused to reflection, though I must not forget to say it was decided
against us by acclamation, our enemies themselves being judges. It was
like a meeting of slave-holders deciding that the slaves are happier
in their present condition than they would be freed."

Soon after this, Angelina writes that some Boston women, including
Maria Chapman and Lydia M. Child, were about to start a woman's rights
paper, and she adds: "We greatly hope dear Maria Chapman will soon
commence lecturing, and that the spark we have been permitted to kindle
on the woman question will never die out."

The annual meeting of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society was held
the latter part of January, 1838, and was notable in several respects.
On the second day, the "great Texas meeting," as it was called, was
held in Faneuil Hall, and the fact that this Cradle of Liberty was
loaned to the abolitionists was bitterly commented upon by their
opponents, while abolitionists themselves regarded it as strong
evidence of the progress their cause had made. Angelina writes Jane
Smith a graphic account of the speakers and speeches at this meeting,
but especially mentions Henry B. Stanton, who made the most powerful
speech of the whole session, and was so severe on Congress, that a
representative who was present arose to object to the "hot thunderbolts
and burning lava" that had been let loose on the heads of "the powers
that be, of those whom we