“God speed you in your efforts to vindicate the most sacred and important of all human rights,—_the right of woman to say when and under what circumstances she shall assume the office of Maternity, and the right of her child to a joyous welcome into life_. “The crime of an enforced and abhorred maternity! Well and truly do you call it, ‘THE CRIME OF EARTH.’ In whatever light it is viewed, whether in its bearing on the mother, on the child, on the husband, on home, on society, or on humanity, it is, indeed, THE CRIME OF CRIMES. “With fervent prayers for the triumph of truth on this subject, I am Your friend, ——.” My friend, how many wives would thus appeal to their husbands, if they dared? “Sever the last link of the bond that binds her to her husband!” Mere sensualism “the last link” in such a union! I do not like to talk of _chains_, _links_, and _bonds_, in connection with such a relation. Talk of these in connection with slaveholders and slaves, but let them not sully a relation like this. “_The last link_,” indeed! Yet it is true; it is, often, the first, and last, and only link in the chain that binds the husband to the wife, in what is called marriage. Man seeks woman as a legal wife, that he may legally and respectably give indulgence, without restraint, to his passion. If the wife seeks to preserve her soul and body from desecration, he threatens to leave her, and seek his gratification where he can find it. She submits, to keep him with her; both of them, unmindful and regardless of the results to the mother and the child. “Perish all outward bonds” of marriage at once, rather than that the relation should continue in this way! Wives! be frank and true to your husbands, on the subject of maternity, and the relation that leads to it. Interchange thoughts and feelings with them, as to what nature allows or demands, in regard to these. Can maternity be natural, when it is undesigned by the father, or undesired by the mother? Can a maternity be natural, healthful, ennobling to the mother, to the child, to the father, and to home, when no loving, tender, anxious forethought presides over the relation in which it originated?—when the mother’s nature loathed and repelled it, and the father’s only thought was his own selfish gratification; the feelings and conditions of the mother, and the health, character and destiny of the child that may result being ignored by him? Wives! let there be a perfect and loving understanding between you and your husbands, on these matters, and great will be your reward.