PSYCHOLOGY OF THE SEXES. 37 



domestic affairs, makes women err still more than men do in seeking 

 what seems an immediate public good without thought of distant pub- 

 lic evils. Once more, we have in women the predominant awe of 

 power and authority, swaying their ideas and sentiments about all 

 institutions. This tends toward the strengthening of governments, 

 political and ecclesiastical. Faith in whatever presents itself with im- 

 posing accompaniments is, for the reason above assigned, especially 

 strong in women. Doubt, or criticism, or calling in question of things 

 that are established, is rare among them. Hence in public affairs 

 their influence goes toward the maintenance of controlling agencies, 

 and does not resist the extension of such agencies ; rather, in pursuit 

 of immediate promised benefits, it urges on that extension ; since the 

 concrete good in view excludes from their thoughts the remote evils 

 of multiplied restraints. Reverencing power more than men do, 

 women, by implication, respect freedom less — freedom, that is, not of 

 the nominal kind, but of that real kind which consists in the ability 

 of each to carry on his own life without hindrance from others, so long 

 as he does not hinder them. 



As factors in social phenomena, these distinctive mental traits of 

 women have ever to be remembered. Women have in all times played 

 a part, and, in modern days, a very notable part, in determining so- 

 cial arrangements. They act both directly and indirectly. Directly, 

 they take a large, if not the larger, share in that ceremonial govern- 

 ment which supplements the political and ecclesiastical governments ; 

 and as supporters of these other governments, especially the ecclesi- 

 astical, their direct aid is by no means unimportant. Indirectly, 

 they act by modifying the opinions and sentiments of men — first, 

 in education, when the expression of maternal thoughts and feel- 

 ings affects the thoughts and feelings of boys, and afterward in 

 domestic and social intercourse, during which the feminine sen- 

 timents sway men's public acts, both consciously and unconsciously. 

 Whether it is desirable that the share already taken by women 

 in determining social arrangements and actions should be in- 

 creased, is a question we will leave undiscussed. Here I am concerned 

 merely to point out that, in the course of a psychological preparation 

 for the study of Sociology, we must include the comparative psychol- 

 ogy of the sexes ; so that, if any change is made, we may make it 

 knowing what we are doing. 



Assent to the general proposition set forth in this chapter does 

 not depend on assent to the particular propositions unfolded in illus- 

 trating it. Those who, while pressing forward education, are so cer- 

 tain they know what good education is, that, in an essentially Papal 

 spirit, they wish to force children through their existing school-courses 

 under penalty on parents who resist, will not have their views modi- 

 fied by what has been said. I do not look, either, for any appre- 



