bills hereafter. It must be a finality, mind.'

"'Very well,' said I; and a robin that was building its nest on a limb
that hung over the road, paused in its labors, and burst into song,
and the burden of its lay seemed to be a compromise, which, in truth,
should be a FINALITY.

"We were successful in our fishing, and we followed the old-fashioned
custom as to bait. We discarded the fly, using only the angle-worm. At
the foot of the ripples; under the old logs; where the water went
whirling under the cavernous banks; in the eddies; among the
driftwood; everywhere, we found trout--not large, none weighing over
six ounces, and few less than three. We caught my basket full in less
then two hours, and then rode home. It was a day of enjoyment to us,
you may be sure.

"And now I appeal to you, in all seriousness, my friend," the Doctor
continued, addressing himself to Spalding, "if there is not something
due to the wives and mothers of the present generation? Is there not
some relaxation of the law necessary in vindication of the
civilization of the age, against the legal barbarisms still remaining
on the statute books, and adhered to by the common law, in regard to
wives and mothers? Is the current of progress to flow by them for
ever, bearing no reforms which shall affect them? Do not misunderstand
me. I am no advocate of the practices of the 'strong-minded women,'
who hold their conventions and public meetings, who unsex themselves
by mounting the forum, and, throwing off the retiring modesty of the
true woman, seek to secure notoriety at the price of popular contempt.
But there are evils which bear heavily, too heavily, upon the women
even of this country, and which, for the credit of the civilization of