As I cast my eyes around, they fell upon a picture, the only one in the room; it was a beautiful engraving, representing the dance of the hours around the flower-strewn car of Time. I thought of Geijer, in the prophetic visions and dreams in which this true seer beheld the advance of the new time, and hailed it with rejoicing shortly before he quitted this earthly scene. Oh! that he had been here; that he had heard and seen the time here arrived of which

he had dreamed and spoken so rapturously, unintelligibly to many, yet not so to me, in his last moments. The memory of him-of the past; the impression of the present, of the future, took hold upon me with almost overwhelming power.

Excepting the speech of Channing, the meeting did not produce any thing which remained in my memory. The subjects which were here touched upon will be still further pursued and developed at the great Woman's Convention which will be held in the beginning of October, at Worcester, in Massachusetts, and which will be attended by many of the members now here present, my friends, Marcus and Rebecca, among the rest. They wish me also to be there, and I would very gladly, but on the 13th instant I must leave America for Europe. I must see England on my return, and I should, in that case, be too long detained from home.

While I am on the subject of woman's position in society, and Women's Rights' Conventions, I will say a few words about them. I am very glad of the latter, because they cause many facts, and many good thoughts to become public. I rejoice at the nobility and prudence with which many female speakers stand forth; at the profound truths, worthy of all consideration, which many of them utter; at the depth of woman's experience of life, her sufferings, and yearnings, which through them come to light; I rejoice and am amazed to see so many distinguished men sympathize in this movement, and support the women in their

public appearance, often presenting the subject in language still stronger than they themselves use. I rejoice also that society, with decision peculiar to the Anglo-American spirit of association, has so rapidly advanced from talking to action-has divided into separate committees, for the development of the separate branches of the subject, preparatory to new social arrangements.

But I do not rejoice at some lesser, well-intentioned measures and steps which have been proposed; do not rejoice at the tone of accusation and bravado which has now and then been assumed in the Convention, and at several expressions less noble and beautiful.

It must, however, be confessed, that these clouds on the heaven of the new morning are few and fleeting in comparison with the vast and pure portions of light. Conventions are good, because they give emphasis to the great new moment of life in the community; they are good as a sifting wind separating the chaff from the wheat. They will, if rightly conducted, hasten on the approaching day; if otherwise, they will retard it. There are signs enough, both in Europe and in this country, which predict the approach of a time, of which Moses already prophesied in the words,

"The daughters enter in."

And if you should say, as you once said when we spoke on this subject,

"Then all the wrong-headed will rule, and the whole corps will be disgraced!"

To which I will reply, "I am not afraid of that, and less so now than ever. Look at the Society of Friends, and at the small Socialist community at this place. All the women in these have the right to speak in the public assemblies, but none avail themselves of the right but they who have talent for it, or who have something very good to say. All participate in the government, but it is done quietly, and evidently for the best interests of the com

munity. Neither does one ever hear of quarrels between the men and women, of disunion and separation between married couples. With affectionately conceded privileges, the spirit of opposition and disquiet is generally appeased. The power of reason and affection obtain greater power. Thoughtfulness and gentleness are the distinguishing features of these free women."

A case of decision by general vote in the Phalanstery has just lately proved in a striking manner the good influence of the pure spirit and morals of home on the affairs of the community, through its direct influence from the heart and centre of the home.

"The Gauls," Tacitus tells us, "on important occasions summoned a select assembly of women into the councils, and their voice gave the final decision."

When the female consciousness of life becomes that which it may be in our time, its influence must be most beneficial in the councils of the community. As it is, this is now deprived of that fructifying life which belongs to the sphere of the mother, and the home does not now educate citizens and citizenesses.

Not that I imagine a new and better state of things would bring forth perfection. Ah! no one can have arrived at fifty without, both from one's own shortcomings and those of others, being too well acquainted with human imperfection to believe that every thing is to become perfect upon earth; but somewhat better they will be nevertheless, when they who are the mothers and foster-mothers of the human race become as good and as wise as the light of an extended sphere of life can make them-when that fountain of light with which the Creator has endowed their nature can flow forth unimpeded, and diffuse its living waters within the home and social life.

I can not see it otherwise. I believe that this development of liberty is the profoundest and the most vital principle upon which the regeneration of society depends, and

upon which the greatness and the happiness of the New World depends.

"The darkness of the mother casts its gloom over the child; the clearness of the mother casts its light over the chiia from generation to generation."

It is in this conviction that I will unite myself to the Convention, and say with it,

"Sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord, all the earth.”

And now again to the Phalanstery.

In the evening of the second day after our arrival, there was a little play and a ball. A lively little piece, but without any very profound meaning, was acted very well by a number of the young people. Many of the young ladies made their appearance at the ball in the so-called Bloomer costume, that is to say, short dresses made to the throat, and trowsers. This costume, which is, in reality, much more modest than that of the ordinary ball-room, and which looks extremely well on young ladies in their every-day occupations, is not advantageous for a ball-room, and is not at all becoming in the waltz, unless the skirts are very short, which was the case with two otherwise remarkably well-dressed and very pretty young girls. Some of them had really in their Bloomer costume a certain fantastic grace; but when I compared this with the true feminine grace which exhibited itself in some young girls with long dresses, and in other respects equally modest attire with the Bloomer ladies, I could not but give the palm to the long dresses. Among the most graceful of the dancers in long dresses was the lovely Abbie A., the daughter of the President of the Phalanstery.

The ball was in other respects far more beautiful (even if the toilets of the ladies were not so elegant), and the dancing in much better taste, than that which I saw at Saratoga.

When I was making a sketch in my room of the beau

tiful groups of waiters at the first day's dinner, I asked them, one after the other, if they were happy in their life at this place. They replied unanimously that they could not imagine themselves happy under other circumstances. Life appeared to them rich and beautiful. How many young people in the home of the Old World could give the same reply?

Among the ladies now members of the association was one still young, without beauty, but with a lofty, intellectual forehead. The mind had pondered within this forehead upon the unjust distribution of human lotsupon the disproportion between the longings which she felt within herself and that portion in life which was hers, as a young woman of weak health and small means. She dwelt on these thoughts and this state of life until she became also insane. Rigid, evangelical relations of hers counseled her "to bear her cross!" She came hither. Here she was received by love and freedom-the most invigorating atmosphere both for soul and body. Her being expanded and unfolded itself like a drooping flower. That life of social love, and that taste for fellow-citizenship which lay fettered within her, liberated itself, and she soon became one of the most active members of the little community, devoting herself to the cultivation of the garden, and to the care of its fruits and flowers. She is now a universal favorite in the little community, and is there only addressed by some appellation of endearment, expressive of the general love for her, and her affectionate activity for all.

I sat one evening in her little room, listening to the simple and affecting history of her former inward struggle and her present happiness. That little room was not larger than an ordinary prison cell; it had bare, whitewashed walls, but a large window which afforded light and air. We sat upon a very comfortable sofa, and the cornice and angles of the room were covered from floor to