THE MALE AND THE FEMALE MIND 239 



to the casual relationship of the male. It anchors 

 her, figuratively speaking, by a short cable to the 

 central interest of family, forcing on her a relatively 

 sessile life. The protection to the child given by 

 nature leads the mother to continue this shielding 

 action in many ways during the life of her offspring. 

 Through such association the mother gains an ac- 

 quaintance with the multiple physical and mental 

 needs of her children, unattainable in any other way. 

 Maternity is, indeed, the natural school for the culti- 

 vation of affection, sympathy, tact, self-sacrifice, 

 patience, and the quiet endurance of physical dis- 

 comfort. The pressing nature of so many childish 

 needs gives an intense practical tendency to the 

 interests of the mother. She thus comes to have 

 regard for immediate results rather than remote 

 ones, for details rather than for principles. The 

 close contact with her children also sensitizes the 

 mother to the most elementary human appeals. It 

 seems as if such reactivity and understanding must 

 render sentiment more delicate and discriminating 

 than in man, and impart to it a greater variety of 

 shading. This experienced sensitiveness to the 

 stimulus of human appeal is, I think, the basis of the 

 element of charm in women. The same labile quality 

 exists in some men and is an element of charm in 

 them also, especially when associated with intelli- 

 gence and forceful character. An extremely impor- 

 tant feminine characteristic is the desire for definite 

 expressions of affection. The need for such expres- 



