_Florence._ And it's glad I am to be here, Maggie. Now I want you and Katie to get my trunk up stairs. It's not very heavy, and I wish to open it at once. "Take it up tenderly, Fashioned so slenderly, It's fickle and frail." _Maggie._ Indade, Miss Florence, I'll do my best with the help of very rough company. [_Exit_, R. _Katie._ Thar's a fling at me! Arrah, I'll give her one thump on the fut with the thrunk. [_Exit_, R. _Caroline._ Welcome, welcome, welcome home! A thousand times welcome, Florence! Oh! we have missed you very much. (_They sit on lounge_, L.) _Florence._ I'm glad of that, Carrie, for you will be so glad to see me now that I can have my own way in every thing; and I'm going to spend my time advantageously. I'm going to induce mother to send you with me when I return to school. _Caroline._ Oh, that would be grand! But I fear you will not succeed. _Florence._ But I will. You have as much right to the advantages of Rushly Seminary as I; and I will no longer allow you to submit to the cruel treatment you are receiving. You go with me: that's settled. But where's mother? _Caroline._ At a committee-meeting. _Florence._ A committee-meeting at eleven o'clock in the forenoon! What important project can take her from home at this hour? _Caroline._ She is one of the leaders of the Female Reform Club. _Florence._ What! my mother! You don't mean to say that she has come out for women's rights! _Caroline._ She has, most decidedly. She gives all her time to the club. She is a very zealous member. _Florence._ And who takes care of the house? _Caroline._ It takes care of itself. The mistress away, it is very hard for me to govern affairs; and grandmother does much harm by her kindly-meant interference in household matters. _Florence._ It's too bad! Does mother speak at public meetings? _Caroline._ She spoke for the first time last night. There's a report of her speech in the papers. (_Takes paper from table._) Here it is. _Florence_ (_reads_). "Mrs. Duplex, widow of the celebrated match-manufacturer, whose decease last winter was chronicled in our paper, arose and spoke warmly of the oppression of the female sex. She vehemently asserted their ability to achieve success in any path trodden by man, and eloquently styled herself the champion of her sex in its endeavors to throw off the yoke of bondage, and victoriously array itself by the side of man in his onward march of progress." What nonsense! _Caroline._ Nonsense, Florence? Then you are not in sympathy with the woman movement.