174 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Seeing, then, that these necessities are laid by the very nature 

 of our organization upon women, it would appear as though two 

 diities were clearly imposed upon the women themselves, and 

 upon all those men who sympathize in their welfare : First, to see 

 that their training and education should fit them above every- 

 thing else for this their main function in life ; and, second, that 

 in consideration of the special burden they have to bear in con- 

 nection with reproduction, all the rest of life should be made as 

 light and easy and free for them as possible. We ought frankly 

 to recognize that most women must be wives and mothers ; that 

 most women should therefore be trained, physically, morally, so- 

 cially, and mentally, in the way best fitting them to be wives and 

 mothers ; and that all such women have a right to the fullest and 

 most generous support in carrying out their functions as wives 

 and mothers. 



And here it is that we seem to come in conflict for a moment 

 with most of the modern Woman-Question agitators. I say for a 

 moment only, for I am not going to admit, even for that brief 

 space of time, that the doctrine I wish to set forth here is one 

 whit less advanced, one whit less radical, or one whit less eman- 

 cipatory than the doctrine laid down by the most emancipated 

 women. On the contrary, I feel sure that while women are cry- 

 ing for emancipation they really want to be left in slavery ; and 

 that it is only a few exceptional men, here and there in the world, 

 who wish to see them fully and wholly enfranchised. And those 

 men are not the ones who take the lead in so-called Woman's 

 Rights movements. 



For what is the ideal that most of these modern women agi- 

 tators set before them ? Is it not clearly the ideal of an unsexed 

 woman ? Are they not always talking to us as though it were 

 not the fact that most women must be wives and mothers ? Do 

 they not treat any reference to that fact as something ungenerous, 

 ungentlemanly, and almost brutal ? Do they not talk about our 

 " casting their sex in their teeth " ? as though any man ever 

 resented the imputation of manliness. Nay, have we not even, 

 many times lately, heard those women who insist upon the essen- 

 tial womanliness of women described as " traitors to the cause of 

 their sex " ? Now, we men are (rightly) very jealous of our viril- 

 ity. We hold it a slight not to be borne that any one should 

 impugn our essential manhood. And we do well to be angry ; for 

 virility is the key-note to all that is best and most forcible in the 

 masculine character. Women ought equally to glory in their 

 femininity. A woman ought to be ashamed to say she has no 

 desire to become a wife and mother. Many such women there are, 

 no doubt it is to be feared, with our existing training, far too 

 many ; but, instead of boasting of their sexlessness as a matter of 



