40 



CONSTANCE L. MAYNAED_, ON TH2 



severe regulations. Remember, tie was not a settled parson 

 and preacher, but a pioneer missionary, always breaking new 

 ground, and then see how wise are his rules and suggestions. 

 When we enter a foreign land as the ambassadors of Christ, it 

 is fully as imponant to learn the customs and the etiquette of 

 that land as it is to learn the language. "\Miere they are foohsh 

 and hindering, they will in time drop off of themselves, but 

 in the meantime they must be carefully obeyed. We all know 

 the wearying ceremonial and self-depreciation of Japanese 

 courtesy and the many difficulties of caste in India. Only one 

 Mission have I seen first hand and that is the one to the Kaffirs 

 of South Africa. For some weeks I Hved in mud and wattle huts 

 '^-ith the missionaries, and even there I was ofreatly struck with the 

 care taken to j^reserve etiquette. The Kaffir woman may not 

 enter the Kraal through the men's wide door, but has a narrow 

 door in another place ; and there are a dozen more hindrances 

 to their freedom, all based on custom. Were the missionaries 

 to say, " How senseless is the Kaffir door, the Egvptian veil, the 

 seclusion of the Zenana.'' there would soon be an end of their 

 Missions. Xow think of the Corinthian women St. Paul had to 

 deal with. Here was the spirit of Phenicia indeed : we know all 

 about them, rouged and powdered, a mass of flimsy falsities 

 ^vithout and of chattering frivohty within, and for my part I 

 think St. Paul was brave to admit them to the Church at all. 

 He did, and he sent them out on errands of mercy, and every 

 one of his restraints is an outcome of the necessities of the time. 

 As soon as women were better trained, the restraints may vanish. 

 In the world of the soul he places no restrictions. When he 

 flies to the highest height in Ephesians or Colossians, he does 

 not hint. " This is for men only," but expects equal courage, 

 equal insight, equal devotion to the death from both sexes. 

 Once open the door into the world of the Spirit and to Him, and 

 to all His true followers, there is neither male nor female, but 

 all are one in Christ Jesus." 



Let us now turn to quite modern times. Throughout all 

 centuries and nations and tribes, experience shows ns that 

 where women are given liberty and respect and where they 

 approximate to man in education and in decision of 

 character, that country is noble ; and where they widely 

 diverge and set up a Hfe and code of their own, that 

 coimtry is base. I think myself they have somewhat separate 

 temptations, the man toward the flesh and the woman toward 



