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THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.
the great centrifugal center from whose radii warmth reaches to the heights, depths and breadthsof remote points, where hope waits for this surcease of sorrow. Woman’s real advancement can not invalidate this reserve power, which has home for environment. From thence must come her strongest plea to be heard. The best of our statesmen and politicians realize this fact as the conserving influence of her co-operation; they would not repress or depress her desire for advancement, and, doubtless with regret, they would mark her failure to value that province which is the custodian of early impressions, where love and truth should ever be taught and found. “ The race is not always to the swift or the battle to the strong.” Patience is golden, and waiting rewarded. Let us work for the right and wait for the harvest—in time it will come.
We, as Americans, have, as a nation, achieved a great plan of country. Individual liberty has been symbolized and celebrated in the Magna Charta of American Independence; citizens have been made free to inhabit a land which is a refuge for the oppressed and downtrodden of countries that are not blessed with the freedom of our own. Doubtless the men who made and signed that great declaration were satisfied with its provisions; they did not realize the future to which we were tending. Perhaps some day not far distant the true spirit of ’76 will again pervade the councils of our country, and women will be made citizens of America, with equal rights.
Let us hope on, that these lawmakers will some day grow magnanimous and not fear to put the responsibility of citizenship upon us. Let us be their helpmates in all things, and have power given us to protect our property, ourselves, and all rights, equally with themselves. The laws of the land are good, but women claim they are not in it. She has power to hold, but not to protect. Good women will not abuse this trust; they will value its bestowal. When the human family can cease to be jealous, and learn to love more for love’s own sake and the God whom they serve, then will a millennium of justice shed its rays over our land. All God’s creatures will then join to praise Him for mercies before unknown because of infirmities of sin. May woman be patient, yet persevere in her efforts for justice, for recognition of the rights of the citizenship which her country asserts, but which, especially for her, it has failed to provide. We will work, wait, and trust the “men” of our land. When Gen. Robert E. Lee, the great southern chieftain, Christian and soldier, became aware of the necessity to surrender the Confederate forces which he commanded, it was not the principle of “ individual liberty” he gave up, but it was a truce to its active demand and assertion. Having fought a good fight, he laid down his arms, trusting in his God, who was mightier than all. He, with his people, were willing to wait, and never did this great heart of resignation utter evil against those whom he considered as God’s instrument to delay and frustrate the hope of his people for personal liberty. Women must wait. Patience is golden, and in time will bring its reward.