I perceived so many contradictions in meeting with these evidently superiorly educated women. For instance, they abhorred the female medical student and would not dare be seen with one of them in the streets, and they considered themselves heroic for including me when inviting any of the Vaughan family to tea or to an evening gathering; yet, in discussing matters of politics, as Free Soilers or sympathizers with anti-slavery, they manifested an independence of speech which showed that they were well acquainted with the subject they discussed. It was so, also, in spiritual and religious matters, in school affairs and in regard to pauperism. The women, young and old, held firmly to their intellectual convictions, and these might be for or against their fathers, brothers or husbands. It astonished me to see how absolutely quietly and calmly discussions were carried on, without bitterness or excitement, between opponents, and how respectfully men would listen to each other and to the women in particular, even when directly contradicted in their own views of the case. It was a great educational opportunity for me, broadening my whole nature which had been narrowed by the German school training of being _a subject_, first to the Government and next to Man. I was often taken by surprise when, on the brink of forgetting that these manifestations of independence could exist side by side with the most ludicrous prejudice against me and my medical companions, I would be seriously questioned, “Do you want to turn women into men?” And when appearing in a church or meeting, we always noticed a significant withdrawal of all present so that we medical students could walk or sit conspicuously by ourselves. This isolation which bordered on ostracism when exposed to a limited multitude was very painful to bear, especially as we were young and at the time of life when the _amour propre_ of the individual would seek obscurity rather than notoriety. Elizabeth Blackwell only wished to open “legally” to women a field of labor which was successfully cultivated by them “illegally,” because we find that women were numerously employed to relieve pain and to combat disease. They appear, it is true, in the capacity of nurses only, but in this vocation their usefulness increased to such an extent that the name “Doctresses” was given to them, and their advice and help were sought by the educated and the ignorant, the rich and the poor, from far and near. Legally, their position was not recognized. They maintained it either through their evident integrity of purpose or through shrewdness, making themselves as useful and as honored as the men physicians, who in reality were often superior to them only because the position of the men was made secure by political laws made by the men and for the men.