Page:Women of distinction.djvu/13

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PREFACE.
v

The ponderous wheel of fortune
In woman's charms is pearled;
For the hand that rocks the cradle
Is the hand that rules the world."

If in such a short time of greatly abridged citizenship our women have accomplished so much, and if many of those heroines mentioned did develop such giant intellects during those dark days of our history, may we not be the more encouraged to make more diligent, protracted and determined efforts in this brighter age?

These glorious days that we now enjoy are made the more sacred when we remember the sacrifices, the tears, the labors, the prayers and the blood of thousands of our mothers and sisters, most of whom have gone into another world, but some of whose triumphs are herein mentioned. To acquaint the world with many of these facts, and to assist in more fully establishing that fundamental principle that under similar conditions the color of the skin nor the quality of the hair can have no bearings whatsoever upon the operations of the human mind, for we believe that in the mental world there is neither Greek nor Jew nor Gentile, neither bound nor free, neither African nor Caucasian, for God "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth."

It has also been to the author, who has spent many