THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.

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are carried into life’s wide arena. When at the Fourth of July celebration, though her husband was not one of the orators of the day, Josiah Allen’s wife looked up and with glowing pride observed that Josiah’s “ biled ” shirt was the whitest of any man’s there, is to me full of meaning. Pride that our men shall be the purest, the cleanest, and that our efforts in the home shall make them so, will effect the greatest reform; for, after all, it must come from within; the mere veneer of it in statutory enactments is nothing without the vital spirit.

Ever since woman led the way to that wonderful tree in Eden she has been con­scious that she is the leader of man; there is only fear of her conception of her position reverting to that crude one of a certain savage tribe, whose women, when sought in marriage, leap astride a horse and ride away furiously, the wooer in pursuit, and never abate their speed till the wooer’s swiftness elicits their approval, when they allow themselves to be caught. But whether in the forum, or in the clinic, or in the acad­emy, or in the pulpit, or in the legislative hall, or in the home, woman is the lode-star; and with the suffrage which Heaven from the first accorded her, she can will the world to sway which way she please; but her own mind and heart must be in consonance with all the virtues if she desire to bring about the reign of virtue; she must strive, and wait, and pray.

“Strive—yet I do not promise;

The prize you'dream of today Will not fade when you think to grasp it,

And melt in your hand away;

But another and holier treasure,

You would now perchance disdain,

Will come when your toil is over,

And pay you for all your pain.

“Wait—yet I do not tell you;

The hour you long for now Will not come with its radiance vanished,

And a shadow upon its brow;

Yet far through the misty future,

With a crown of starry light,

An hour of joy you know not Is winging her silent flight.

“ Pray—though the gift you ask for May never comtort your fears,

May never repay your pleading,

Yet pray, and with hopeful tears;

An answer, not that you long for,

But diviner, will come one day;

All souls will gratefully hear it,

Then strive, and wait, and pray.”