brightly in the heart of woman; and as the tribunal of judgment is deserted by manly virtue, ability, and zeal, Deborah takes the place, not by usurpation, but divine appointment, She instructs the people in the law and testimony of the living God, and inspires them with more than a common enthusiasm to go with Barak against the mighty host of Canaan. They go forth, and are victorious, completely routing the enemy. Sisera, the commander-in-chief of the great army of Jabin, is slain by the hand of woman! The mighty arm of the Lord of Hosts is seen in this conflict, for jehovah has no attribute that will take sides with the oppressor !
Would it not be well for the women of to-day to emulate Deborah in her zeal and love of country? I trust your meeting will be productive of great good in arousing us to more correct views of our duties and responsibilities as members of the Republic. As Burke says, "I love agitation when there is a cause for it." The alarm-bell which startles the inhabitants of a city from their midnight slumbers, saves them from destruction.
E. M. Wilkinson, on behalf of the Soldiers' Aid Society in Laporte County, Ind., writes:
"We will labor with all our might, mind, and strength for a free country, where there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude. As our mothers stood by the Government in the Revolution, so we, like them, will stand by the present Administration. We believe the sin of slavery to be the cause of this horrid war, therefore we hailed with gladness the ninth section of the Confiscation law, and the Proclamation of Freedom by the President."
ILLINOIS.
Miss Susan B, Anthony—My Dear Christian Friend:—I observed with deep interest, in The Independent of April 16th, an article on "Women and the War," stating that meetings would be held in your city on the 14th of May, "to consider how woman's services may be more effectually engaged in promoting the war, supporting the Government, and advancing the cause of Freedom and the Union.
At that meeting I shall be most cordially present in spirit, while I am necessarily in body far from you; and for the result of your deliberations there I shall watch with eager interest. What can woman do? has been with me from the beginning of this war a question of the uppermost importance. I have asked it with tears again and again, and have watched every intimation upon this point in our journals, and from soldier friends, with a willing heart and ready hand; though I have sometimes observed with pain, that those who had given least for this great cause were least solicitous on this question, and less disposed to do, and to continue to do, than those very ones who, as they would say, had surely done enough, when they had given up husband or son, father or brother, or all of these, for the bloody conflict. But no, it is those who like ive have given up their all, and perhaps like me are left by this war widowed and alone, helpless and in feeble health; such it is that cry, What can woman yet do for this sacred cause? Such may silently bear their lonely anxiety and sorrow, patiently toil and struggle to take care of themselves, and of those dependent upon them, as best they can, uncomplaining, asking not aid or sympathy, and all the while cheering their beloved ones yet spared in the conflict, and holding up their hands by words of encouragement and blessing. But such can not sit still, and feel that they have done enough. Such can not look with indifference upon the flowing tide of blood all around us; upon the thousands of hearths and homes as desolate as their own; upon the hardships and sufferings of our brave soldiers in field, or hospital, or camp; upon the hundreds of thousands of those poor freedmen, women and children, that have just begun to emerge from the house of their bondage, and come out empty, ignorant, and degraded, yet seeking liberty, protection, instruction, and offering their strong right arms for the defense of that wise and beneficent Government that has bid them go free. Methinks, every mother and every teacher should now take special care to instill into the minds of those committed to their instruction a holy and devoted patriotism; the sacred principles of liberty; liberty for all; the inestimable value of our free institutions; and the perpetuation of these as an end worthy of their