The Women of the West 53 



according to Matthew Arnold — is only one-fourth 

 of life, teaches them nothing about the vital three- 

 fourths — conduct. The men are busy making 

 money — they have no time to do anything else ; 

 but the wives and daughters are taking French and 

 German lessons, studying Spencer, or Maeterlinck, 

 or Mrs. Mary Eddy, devouring, with an appetite 

 which grows by what it feeds on, the contents of 

 every new book, good or bad, — in a word, eternally 

 busy in widening and deepening the intellectual 

 gulf between the men and themselves. 



The men are responsible for this state of affairs. 

 Indeed they brag of it. They are willing to die 

 that their beloved may live. The hotels (and the 

 divorce courts) are full of idle ' wives. Why ? 

 Because housekeeping in a new country is a syno- 

 nym of work. Many a good fellow has said to me, 

 " My wife, sir, shall not work, so long as I can work 

 for her." 



None of these butterflies are happy. Mark the 

 quality of their laughter. Note the tinkle of 

 raillery. The educated daughter of the West would 

 sooner laugh at you than with you. 



This one-sided condition of things cannot be 

 dismissed with a phrase. In all new countries, 

 there is a time when woman is compelled to bear 

 dreadful burdens. Look at the pioneers, — the 

 men who advanced step by step into the wilder- 

 ness, performing prodigies of labour, hewing down 

 vast forests, reclaiming hideous swamps, irrigating 

 the barren places, for ever working and fighting, 

 the prey of wild beasts and wild men, the heroes, 

 who, despite all obstacles, perhaps because of them. 



