went about pleasin' not Himself, hants me and inspires me; I'm sorry for
Serepta, sorry for the hull wimmen race of the nation, and for the men too.
Lots of 'em are good creeters, better than wimmen, some on 'em. They want
to do right, but don't exactly see the way to do it. In the old slavery
times some of the masters wuz more to be pitied than the slaves. They could
see the injustice, feel the wrong they wuz doin', but old chains of Custom
bound 'em, social customs and idees had hardened into habits of thought.

"They realized the size and heft of the evil, but didn't know how to
grapple with it, and throw it. So now, many men see the evils of this time,
want to help, but don't know the best way to lay holt of 'em. Life is a
curious conundrum anyway, and hard to guess. But we can try to git the
right answer to it as fur as we can. Serepta feels that one of the answers
to the conundrum is in gittin' her rights. I myself have got all the rights
I need or want, as fur as my own happiness is concerned. My home is my
castle (a story and a half wooden one, but dear). My towers elevate me,
the companionship of my friends give social happiness, our children are
prosperous and happy. We have property enough for all the comforts of life.
And above all other things my Josiah is my love and my theme."

"Ah, yes!" sez he, "love is a woman's empire, and in that she should find
her full content--her entire happiness and thought. A womanly woman will
not look outside that lovely and safe and beautious empire."

Sez I firmly, "If she hain't a idiot she can't help it. Love is the most
beautiful thing on earth, the most holy and satisfyin'. But I do not ask
you as a politician, but as a human bein', which would you like best, the
love of a strong, earnest tender nature, for in man or woman 'the strongest
are the tenderest, the loving are the daring,' which would you like best,
the love and respect of such a nature full of wit, of tenderness, of