Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. I.djvu/170

Rh live quite differently here to what they do in Europe. Climate and food are different, and I do not believe that the latter is suitable to the climate.

It was not without pain that I left the Lowells. They are extremely estimable people, and I have really a sisterly affection for them. Miss H. seized upon me with all her might. I had not much inclination for the visit, but it turned out much better than I expected. In the first place it was amusing to become more nearly acquainted with this very peculiar individual. People may have better manners, more tact, and so on, but it would be impossible to have a better heart; one more warm for the best interests of mankind, and, upon the whole, more practical sagacity. She is of a Quaker family, and with that determined will and energy which belongs to the Quaker temperament, she early resolved to open both for herself and her sex a path which she conceived it important that women should pursue, and towards which she felt herself drawn in an especial manner. She therefore, together with a younger sister, took private instruction from a clever and well-disposed physician; and she has now, for her sister is married, been in practice twelve years as a physician of women and children, acquiring the public confidence, and laying up property (as, for instance, the house in which she lives, a frugally furnished but excellent house, is her own), and aiding, as I heard from many, great numbers of ladies in sickness, and in diseases peculiar to their sex. In especial has she been a benefactor to the women of the lower working classes, delivering to them also lectures on physiology, which have been attended by hundreds of women. She read them to me; and the first I heard, or rather the introductory lecture, gave me a high opinion of the little doctor and her powers of mind. I was really delighted with her, and now, for the first time, fully saw the importance of women devoting themselves to the