And from that time on, a considerable part of the _Lily_ was devoted to the same subject. The above article related simply to property rights, but Mrs. Bloomer’s views rapidly widened out until she took the position, also, that women should be granted the right of suffrage and thus possess a controlling influence in the passage of all laws. Nevertheless, she remained true and faithful to her temperance principles and firm in their advocacy. Witness the following written and printed in her paper in 1853: “We think it all-important that woman obtain the right of suffrage, but she cannot do this at once. She must gradually prepare the way for such a step by showing that she is worthy of receiving and capable of exercising it. If she do this, prejudices will gradually give way and she will gain her cause. We cannot consent to have woman remain silent on the Temperance question till she obtain her right of suffrage. Great as is our faith in the speedy triumph of temperance principles were women allowed their right of franchise, and strong as is our hope that this right will be granted ere many years, we feel that the day is too far distant for her to rest all her hopes and labors on that issue. Let her work with her whole heart in this cause and, while she demands a law that entirely prohibits the traffic in strong drink, let her also obtain a right to a voice in making all laws by which she is to be governed.” LETTER TO AKRON CONVENTION. On the ninth of May, 1851, Mrs. Bloomer addressed an elaborate letter to the women’s convention held at Akron, O., in that month, in which she discussed at great length the position of woman as regards her education, her right to employment, and the laws relating to her property rights. She first takes up the liquor traffic and shows wherein it was unjust to woman in her dearest privilege,—the enjoyment of children, family and home. She “unfolds the great wrong done to woman in her circumscribed sphere of industry, and the meagre wages she receives for her industry.” Passing on from this, the property rights of married women are considered, and their unjust provisions are pointed out. She concludes as follows: “But woman is herself aroused to a sense of her wrongs, and sees the necessity of action on her part if she would have justice done her. A brighter day has dawned for her. A spirit of inquiry has awakened in her bosom, which neither ridicule nor taunts can quench. Henceforth her course is upward and onward. Her mind is capable of grasping things hitherto beyond her reach and she will not weary of the chase until she has reached the topmost round in the ladder. She will yet prove conclusively that she possesses the same God-given faculties which belong to man, and that she is endowed with powers of mind and body suitable for any emergency in which she may be placed.” “RULING A WIFE.”