difficulties after she had left her husband, you had allowed her to hire out as a servant, if nothing better presented itself, you would have done justice to woman, set her a better example, and more truly drawn her character.” The above presents very fully the views of Mrs. Bloomer at that time (1850). She was pleading for the elevation of woman, for her redemption from the curse of drink, for a better education for her, and wider fields for the work of her hands. She had not yet troubled herself much about the suffrage question,—the right to the ballot; that came along later in life, as we have already seen. CHAPTER FOURTH. THE REFORM DRESS. The reform-dress movement was simply an episode in Mrs. Bloomer’s life and work, although perhaps an important one. She never dreamed of the wonderful celebrity which it brought to her name. This came upon her accidentally, as we shall see later on. It was first mentioned in the _Lily_ in February, 1851. Other short articles on the subject appeared in subsequent numbers during that year, with pictures of herself dressed in the new costume. The whole story she herself told in the following article which appeared originally some years ago in the Chicago _Tribune_ and is here reproduced in full, followed by some further items bearing on the subject: “In January or February, 1851, an article appeared editorially in the _Seneca County Courier_, Seneca Falls, N. Y., on ‘Female Attire,’ in which the writer showed up the inconvenience, unhealthfulness and discomfort of woman’s dress, and advocated a change to Turkish pantaloons and a skirt reaching a little below the knee. “At the time, I was publishing a monthly paper in the same place devoted to the interests of woman, temperance and woman’s rights being the principal subjects. As the editor of the _Courier_ was opposed to us on the woman’s-rights question, this article of his gave me an opportunity to score him one on having gone so far ahead of us as to advocate our wearing pantaloons, and in my next issue I noticed him and his proposed style in a half-serious, half-playful article of some length. He took up the subject again and expressed surprise that I should treat so important a matter with levity. I replied to him more seriously than before, fully indorsing and approving his views on the subject of woman’s costume.