During my visit to Emporia, Kansas, with my niece, Rose Vimont, I found a volume written by Alexander H. Stephens, evidently for the purpose of justifying the attempt that had been made to destroy the government of the United States by the disintegration of the government and the establishment of the doctrine of the right of secession. That fall I was invited by the president of the faculty of Simpson Centenary College at Indianola, Iowa, to deliver an address at the college commencement. I accordingly prepared with considerable care a lecture upon the constitutional relations of the national and state governments, in which I endeavored to combat the heresies contained in Stephens's book, and the great truth that the national government was not a compact between sovereign states, but was what it purported to be--a government emanating from the source of all power: to-wit, the people. The trustees and faculty of the college, after this lecture, honored me by conferring upon me the degree of Doctor of Laws. This lecture I afterwards delivered, upon the invitation of the president and faculty of Drake University, before the students of that institution, and also before the law class of the State University at Iowa City. About this time I also prepared and delivered on several occasions a lecture upon the legal rights of married women, containing some sarcasm and criticism upon the advanced legislation by which under our laws a wife could bring suit in the courts and obtain judgment upon a promissory note executed by her husband and payable to herself, citing an instance in which this doctrine had actually been put in practice, and remarking upon the right of the wife to issue execution against her husband and cause a levy to be made upon his personal property for the payment of the judgment, stating, however, that the law in its humanity and pity for the husband had fortunately exempted the husband's wearing apparel, including his pantaloons, from execution. This lecture I also delivered, at the request of several local institutions in several parts of the state. CHAPTER XVIII B. F. ALLEN'S BANKRUPTCY