"Why do you let them take her home away from her ?" Judge Cady opened the sheep-bound book at his elbow and showed the little girl a paragraph.

Turning the pages, he pointed out others for her to read.

Spelling through the ponderous legal phraseology the little girl learned that a married woman had no existence, in the eyes of the law, apart from her husband.

She could own no property; she could neither buy nor sell; she could not receive a gift, even from her own husband.

She was, in fact, her husband's chattel.