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| 650 THE UNDB&aMOUND SAIL ROAD. the noblest representatives of ideal womanhood. Those who know ber, need not be told this, but those vrho only love her in the spirit, may be sure that they can have no faith too great in the beauty of ber pure and Christian life. This book would be incomplete without giving some account, however brief, of Lucrctia Mott's character and labors in the great work to which her life has beeu devoted. To write it .fully would require a volume. She was born in 1793, in the island of Nantucket, aud is descended from the Coffins and Macys, on the father's side, and from the Folgere, on the mother's side, and through them is related to Dr. Benjamin Franklin. Her maiden name was Lucretia Coffin. During the absence of her father on a long voyage, her mother was engaged in mercantile business, purchasing goods in Boston, in exchange for oil and candles, the staples of the island. Mrs. Mott says in reference to thia employment: "The exercise of women's talent' in this line, as well as the general care which devolved upon them in the absence of their husbands, tended to develop their intellectual powers, and strengthened them mentally and physically." The family removed to Boston in 1804 Her parents belonged to the religious Society of Friends, and carefully cultivated in their children, the peculiarities as well as the principles of that sect. To this early training, we may ascribe the rigid adherence of Mrs. Mott, to the beautiful but sober costume of the Society. When in London, in 1840, she visited the Zoological Gardens, and a gentleman of the party, pointing out the splendid plumage of some tropical birds, remarked: " You see, Mrs. Mott, our heavenly Father believes in bright colors. How much it would take from our pleasure, if all the birds were dressed in drab." "Yes;" she replied, "but immortal beings do not depend upon feathers for their attractions. With the infinite variety of the human fane and form, of thought, feeling and affection, we do not need gorgeous apparel to distinguish us. Moreover, if it is fitting that woman should dress in every color of the rainbow, why riot man also? Clergymen, with theic black clothes and white cravats, are quite as monotonous as the Quakers." Whatever may be the abstract merit of this argument, it is certain that the simplicity of Lucretia Mott's nature, is beautifully expressed by ber habitual costume. In giving the principal events of Lucretia Mott's life, we prefer to use her own language whenever possible. In memoranda furnished by her to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she says: " My father had a desire to make hia daughters useful. At fourteen years of age, I was placed, with a younger sister, at the Friends' Boarding School, in Dutcheea county, State of New York, and continued there for more than two years, without returning home. At fifteen, one of the teachers leaving the school, I was chosen as an assist- |