The Merry Past 



Or, if she rules him, never shows she rules \ 

 Charms by accepting, by submitting sways, 

 Yet has her humour most when she obeys. 



The advanced woman of to-day would seem to 

 pride herself on being possessed of qualities exactly 

 opposed to those mentioned in these charming lines. 

 In a number of cases she has received what is known 

 as a " high education,'* which has too often warped 

 and confused her mind. 



A dispassionate survey of feminine character in 

 the past and present must inevitably lead to the con- 

 clusion that education, which is so essential for man, 

 effects comparatively little in the case of the majority 

 of women, who at heart probably regard the acquire- 

 ment of knowledge with indifference. 



It is not unnatural that such should be the case, for 

 nature has decreed that woman should play the prin- 

 cipal part in what, after all, is the most serious busi- 

 ness of the universe — the continuance of the race. 

 The true woman realises this, and in consequence 

 troubles little about matters for which she possesses 

 no special aptitude. Man was made to work and 

 woman to make men. 



It is man, not woman, who has created the social 

 condition, perhaps rather boastfully called civilisation, 

 and had it not been for masculine invention and 

 research, woman would have continued to live in 

 perfect contentment under conditions which would 

 seem inconceivable to most European races of to-day. 



Many a woman who acquires learning assumes it 

 much as she would assume a new dress — it never 



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