Picture I.--Two thousand years before the Christian era "woman was more free and more honoured in Egypt than she is in any country of the world to-day. She was the mistress of the house. [248]... She inherited equally with her brothers, and had full control of her property. She could go where she liked, or speak with whom she liked. She was 'juridically the equal of man,' says M. Paturet, 'having the same rights and being treated in the same fashion'; and the same authority observes that it was not as mother, but as woman, as a being equal in dignity, that she was thus honoured. There was polygamy in theory, but the first wife was generally able to exact conditions in her marriage contract which effectually prevented it. The inscriptions show, says Maspéro, that she remained to the end of her life 'the beloved of her husband and the mistress of the house.'" [249] Picture II.--In enlightened Boston, about 1850 (under the English Common Law), woman could not hold any property, either inherited or earned. A woman, either married or unmarried, could hold no office of trust or power. She was not recognised as a citizen. The status of a married woman was little better than that of a domestic servant. By the English Common Law her husband was her lord and master. He had the sole custody of her person, and of her children while minors. He could punish her "with a stick no thicker than his thumb," and she could not complain against him. He was the owner of all her real estate and of her earnings. She had no personal rights, and could hardly call her soul her own. Her husband could steal her children, rob her of her clothing, neglect to support the family: she had no legal redress. [250]