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"Neither is it a debt of justice. You are the injured party. This money and the goods go into the hands of your husband. You are doing yourself injustice by giving him two hundred dollars more of your own money, by your own act. And this very act he may employ as a precedent to claim the whole of your earnings, on some other false pretest.

"Again. Your men are not guilty either of riot or trespass. You had a just and a moral right to your own things, and no jury of our country would have convicted them of riot or trespass, for assisting you, as they did, under the circumstances. You would not have had one cent of fine to pay for them, had they possessed the moral courage of men to stand the trial. But they did not. And the money they claim from you now does not help married woman's cause, nor your own either. Therefore I advise you to keep it, and go directly to your boarding place and write another letter and tell them who has advised you to take this course."

I did so, and soon came a response upbraiding me seriously for allowing my own impressions of duty to be supplanted by the sophistry of a pretended Lawyer, or a pretended Congressman!

I then decided it was not my duty to distress or incommode myself greatly to meet this demand, but let the matter rest for the present.

About two years after, when my earnings had so accumulated as to render it no inconvenience for me to part with a few hundred dollars, I concluded I would make these men a present of two hundred dollars; and as an act of self-defense against slanderous reports which were in circulation respecting my conduct in this transaction, I decided that the following certificate must be signed by each before receiving this money, namely:

"I do hereby certify that in the year 1864, while Mrs. Packard was absent from her home, attending her trial at Kankakee City, Mr. Abijah Dole took from her house, in the night, her household furniture without her knowledge or consent, and deposited it in his own house.

"That Mrs. Packard claims that she had bought this furniture with her own money. That Mrs. Packard was at that time in a penniless and defenseless condition.

"That at Mrs. Packard's request, I went, with five other men, in company with Mrs. Packard, to Mr. Dole's house, and in his absence, quietly took a portion of this furniture, without Mr. Dole's knowledge or consent, to supply Mrs. Packard's wants and necessities.

"That Mrs. Packard voluntarily promised to stand between us and all harm in case of a prosecution, if we would stand a fair jury trial, like men.

"That Deacon Dole entered a prosecution against us, both for not and trespass, at Rev. Mr. Packard's especial request.

"That instead of standing these trials, as Mrs. Packard wished us to, we settled with Mr. Dole, by returning all of Mrs. Packard's furniture, and paid him in addition two hundred dollars.

"That we made this settlement in the absence of Mrs. Packard, and without her knowledge or consent.

"That we have asked Mrs. Packard to pay us this two hundred dollars from her own earnings -- and she has refused to pay it, on the ground of its not being either a debt of honor or justice. But she now presents us this amount of money as a free, voluntary gift on her part, for this act of gallantry to a dependent and defenseless woman; and as such, I accept my share of the money from her."

I sent each man a copy of the above, with the assurance that I would send him his share, in a draft, by return of the mail on condition that he return me this certificate signed and with his Post-Office address.

The certificates were all returned without a single signature, and I have never sent or offered them another present.

These facts are delineated, not for the purpose of injuring the feelings or reputation of any of the parties concerned, but that the public may see how exceedingly difficult it is for an outlawed person to be protected in her natural rights; hoping it may force conviction upon the hearts of law-makers that the time has fully come, to restore to married woman her right of citizenship which the common law denies her.

The Government does with eminent propriety establish and protect the rights of married men, and it is equally proper that it should establish and protect the rights of married women also. As the mother produces all the men who compose this great American Government, therefore she -- the mother -- should be protected by that Government. These sons should shield the mother who bore them, in all her rights, as a woman, equally at least, with the father, in all his rights, as a man.

CHAPTER VI.
An Incident.

In the winter of 1868, while on board the train from Chicago to Aurora, my attention was arrested by the very earnest conversation of two ministerial looking gentlemen, who sat directly opposite me, but each in a seat by himself, so they were obliged to speak in quite an elevated tone of voice to be understood.

By what I overheard I soon perceived they were talking about a certain woman, with whom I was quite intimately acquainted, and thereby my curiosity became so dominant, as to draw my attention to their remarks about her, without seeming to notice them.