In order to do this, although sixty-one years old, she set earnestly to work to brush up her intellectual powers and qualify herself as far as possible for her position.  She took French lessons daily, that she might improve her accent and learn the modern methods of teaching, and for months after she entered the Eagleswood school her reading was confined to such books as could enlighten her most on her especial work.  She was rewarded by finding her interest in it constantly increasing, and she would doubtless have learned to love it, if, as she expressed it, her heart, soul, and mind had not been so nearly absorbed by the woman movement.  Age and reflection had not only modified her views somewhat on this subject, but had given her a more just appreciation of the real obstacles in the way of the enfranchisement of her sex.  Speaking of Horace Mann, she says:—­

“He will not help the cause of woman greatly, but his efforts to educate her will do a greater work than he anticipates.  Prepare woman for duty and usefulness, and she will laugh at any boundaries man may set for her.  She will as naturally fall into her right position as the feather floats in the air, or the pebble sinks in the water.”

And at another time she writes:  “I feel more and more that woman’s work is inside, that the great battle must first be fought within, and the conquest obtained over her love of admiration, her vanity, her want of moral courage, her littleness, ere she is prepared to use her rights without abusing them.  Women must come into the arena with men, not to increase the number of potsherds, but to elevate the standard of right.”

Her ideal of womanhood was very high, and comprehended an education so different from the usual one, that she seldom ventured to unfold it.  But she longed to do something towards it, and there is no doubt that but for home duties, which she felt were paramount, she would have undertaken a true missionary work of regeneration among women, especially of the lower classes.  Many sleepless nights were passed pondering upon the subject.  At one time she thought of editing a paper, then of studying law, that she might sometimes be able to advise and protect the weak and defenceless of her sex.  She went so far in this as to consult an eminent lawyer in Philadelphia, but was discouraged by him.  Then she considered the medical profession as opening to her a door of influence and usefulness among poor women.  Sarah Douglass, who was a successful medical lecturer among the colored women of Philadelphia and New York, encouraged her friend in this idea, and urged her to take a course of lectures.