And Athens, that great and mighty city, exercising a most powerful
influence over the civilized world, distinguished for her legislators,
her philosophers, and her historians,--what was the condition of woman
there? The slave, rather than the companion of man, she knew not that,
were the storehouse of knowledge opened for her, she could come forward
and stand on an equality with the "proud lord of creation!" Rome, too,
the metropolis of the world, denied to woman her proper station in
society, not dreaming of the hidden gems of thought which lay
undiscovered beneath the thick incrustations of ignorance and
superstition.

But _now_, all the precious gifts which learning can bestow are justly
extended to _her_ also; and man, with his increase of knowledge, has
wisely learned to respect the mental abilities with which God has
endowed her; has found that she may, like himself, ascend the steep hill
of science, enjoy its pleasures, cull its sweetest flowers, and drink of
the pure and living waters from the inexhaustible fountains of
knowledge.

And what has caused this change? The bright star which appeared to the
"wise men of the East," eighteen hundred years ago, heralding a Savior's
birth, foretold also woman's release from the thraldom which had bound
her. It was to her a star of promise, telling her that the strong chains
of ignorance and superstition which bound her, should be broken asunder
by the gentle influences of the religion of the lowly Jesus. It is
Christianity which has raised her from the degradation which was once
hers, and induced man to acknowledge her equality with him.

Education exalts and refines the mind of woman, and enables her to
contribute to the happiness of those around her. It is that which