SIXTEEN] NOOKS AND CORNERS 
with men out of doors. This is not a natural sub- 
division of life and labor. Woman’s duty, and 
health, and fitness for motherhood, depend upon 
fresh air and out-of-door exercise. Charles Kings- 
ley once said to me, ““ Your women, sir, seem to me 
the weak part of American development. They 
cannot walk as English women walk, nor can they 
ride, except tucked up in a carriage, with a driver 
to care for them. Such women will deteriorate, 
and with such mothers American character will 
degenerate. I like the energy of your people, but 
why have they shut up their wives and daughters ? 
An English woman makes nothing of a five-mile 
walk before breakfast, and can easily take in ten 
or fifteen. She is stout in limb and robust in 
frame, sound in digestion, and a good bearer of 
healthy children. Your women are blanched and 
pretty, but they are also delicate — and there seems 
to be a national pride in that direction. It will tell 
more and more in future generations.” During 
the conversation his daughter burst into the room, 
full of enthusiasm over a twelve-mile walk into the 
country. She was preparing for a horseback ride 
later in the day. The tide countryward is to be 
welcomed, because sensible women will learn to get 
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