606 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



mous idea, the permanent union of one woman with, one man, is a 

 trustworthy basis upon which to rest the social structure. 



The women of whom I am writing disclaim positively that 

 their indifference as to marriage arises from any dissatisfaction 

 with the institution as it now and here exists. They deny also 

 unanimously, and backed by a good deal of proof, that their 

 education (it being understood that they have received the mod- 

 ern college education, or its equivalent) in any way unfits them 

 for the duties of wifehood and maternity, or, primarily, renders 

 these conditions any less attractive to them than to the " domes- 

 tic " type of women. On the contrary, they hold that their knowl- 

 edge of physiology makes them better mothers and housekeepers ; 

 their knowledge of chemistry makes them better cooks; while, 

 from their training in other natural sciences and in mathematics, 

 they obtain an accuracy and fair-mindedness which is of great 

 value to them in dealing with their children or their employe's. 

 In short, they are not afraid to match themselves in practical life 

 with the women for whom Mr. Allen claims a development im- 

 possible to the " dulled and spiritless epicene automata " to whom 

 his attack is addressed. 



As we approach the close of the discussion, the common sense 

 of the various speakers makes itself strongly felt. They are not 

 theorists, but practical, healthy women, and they do not in the 

 least deceive themselves as to the actual, every-day aspect of this 

 question. But, on the other hand, they stand for the feminine type 

 of which our American prophet and seer wrote thirty years ago : * 

 " At this moment I esteem it a chief felicity of this country that 

 it excels in women. A certain awkward consciousness of inferi- 

 ority in the men may give rise to the new chivalry in behalf of 

 * woman's rights.' Certainly, let her be as much better placed 

 in the laws and in social forms as the most zealous reformer can 

 ask ; but I confide so entirely in her inspiring and musical nature 

 that I believe only herself can show us how she shall be served. 

 The wonderful generosity of her sentiments raises her at times 

 into heroical and godlike regions, and verifies the pictures of 

 Minerva, Juno, or Polymnia ; and, by the firmness with which she 

 treads her upward path, she convinces the coarsest calculators 

 that another road exists than that which their feet know." And 

 it is therefore no surprise to find that these women of a later gen- 

 eration are, finally, by the loftiness of their ideas and, as it were, 

 in spite of themselves, lifted above the plane of Mr. Allen's argu- 

 ments. 



They sum up the reasons why they, as individuals, do not 

 marry, in a somewhat formidable array. " We find," they say, 

 " that we are intellectually the equals of the men whom we meet. 



* Emerson, " Essay on Manners." 



