72 EMANCIPATION— BLACK AND WHITE iii 



or toys, beneath man; or a sort of angels above 

 him; the highest ideal aimed at oscillating be- 

 tween Clarchen and Beatrice. The possibility 

 that the ideal of womanhood lies neither in the 

 fair saint, nor in the fair sinner; that the female 

 type of character is neither better nor worse than 

 the male, but only weaker; that women are meant 

 neither to be men's guides nor their playthings, 

 but their comrades, their fellows, and their equals, 

 so far as Xature puts no bar to that equality, 

 does not seem to have entered into the minds of 

 those who have had the conduct of the education 

 of girls. 



If the present system of female education 

 stands self-condemned, as inherently absurd; and 

 if that which we have just indicated is the true 

 position of woman, what is the first step towards 

 a better state of things? We reply, emancipate 

 girls. Recognise the fact that they share the 

 senses, perceptions, feelings, reasoning powers, 

 emotions of boys, and that the mind of the 

 average girl is less different from that of the aver- 

 age boy, than the mind of one boy is from that 

 of another: so that whatever argument justifies 

 a given education for all boj's, justifies its ap])li- 

 cation to girls as well. So far from imjiosing 

 artificial restrictions upon the acquirement of 

 knowledge by women, throw every faciUty in their 

 way. Let our Faustinas, if they will, toil tlirough 

 the whole round of 



