172 EACEOOUESE AND COVEET SIDE. 



was wholly ignorant ; but what surj)rised me 

 most was the way in which I was constantly 

 begged, in terms which conveyed no definite 

 images to my mind, to give information on 

 subjects of which I had not the vaguest know- 

 ledge — my utter inability to answer apparently 

 causing much surprise to my interrogators. 

 Now and then, however, the squire made a 

 comparatively intelligible remark, and a short, 

 quick-eyed little man at the other end of the 

 table occasionally spoke of a matter with which 

 I had some acquaintance. 



" Why do I call them ' Female Failures ? ' " 

 he said. "Because that is the best title I can 

 think of to describe the class about which we are 

 speaking. Dej^end upon it, whenever a woman 

 tries to take the place of a man, and adopt the 

 cant about ' woman's rights ' — by which she 

 means woman's wrongs — it is a pretty sure sign 

 that she has good reason to despair of holding 

 her own with her own sex. As for a definition 

 of the word * lady ' — I prefer the term ' gentle- 

 woman ' myself — 1 should say, ' a refined speci- 

 men of the superior variety of the human 

 race.' " 



"It is a singular fact with regard to the 

 superiority of the female," I gallantly added — 

 glad to show that there were some subjects about 



