224 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



tunitj for its expansiou. Here is where he makes a grievous 

 error. Could she have the same opportunity he has, having the 

 same intellectual faculties, with her natural intuitive powers and 

 fine sensibilities, her mental abilities would be as acute and ca- 

 pable as his, her observation and judgment as good, her conclu- 

 sions as correct, and her discussions as pure and more effectual. 

 Sisters, this is a deplorable mistake, because it so operates to our 

 disadvantage. We must manifest in our home life a greater 

 mental scope if we would not be treated as " the weaker vessel." 

 Woman's thought is so hampered in her domestic circle that the 

 public hamper her privileges, thinking her incapable. The pub- 

 lic, which is composed of husbands, brothers and sons, have 

 formed their opinions and drawn their conclusions from their ex- 

 perience with the women in their own home circle. This being 

 the case, this subject demands the gravest consideration on our 

 part. 



!Jsro woman has a right to be weak or of meager influence, or 

 a slave to domestic toil, or to let her faculties shrivel, while there 

 is such a broad and limitless ocean of knowledge, and it is her 

 privilege to stand upon its shore and gather one after another of 

 its many pebbles, thereby becoming strong, influential, and a 

 woman of robust faculties. 



It is usually the case after marriage tliat the wife, mentally, 

 begins to retrosfrade, while on the other hand, the husband's busi- 

 ness is a daily educator and he is steadily advancing. The men- 

 tal separation is fast widening. Perhaps he sees and knows this 

 to be the case, but he shrinks from saying: " Wife, I am grow- 

 ing away from you, I tire of the many little things that seem to 

 absorb your thought and attention. Can you not drop all these 

 puerile whims and talk of something nobler and more worthy of 

 your time and attention?" Husband, you need not. say this 

 much, nor even feel it your duty to do so; neither need you keep 

 silent and let this mental separation grow broader till you have 

 attained the highest mental culture and she has mentally degen- 

 erated. If when you married your wife you intended her for your 

 companion and not your housekeeper altogether, you can keep her 

 your companion without wounding her feelings, or making her 



