THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
225 
French authors, old and new, are full of the most 
cruel sarcasms upon women. France, it has been said, 
is the country where men have the most gallantry for 
women and the least esteem. “All personal dignity js 
forbidden to our sex in this chivalrous country,'’ says 
Mme. de Girardin, who has been styled the most intel¬ 
lectual woman of the nineteenth century. 
“ If you take a woman's advice in regard to your 
affairs, she will be sure to ruin them,” said Napoleon. 
“Deceit, a game played by small minds, is the in¬ 
herent property of women,” says Beaumarchais. 
“ Who the fool doesn’t want his wife to be dumb ? ” 
asks Moliere, the great satirist of learned women. “ Our 
forefathers used, very sensibly to say,” he remarks else¬ 
where, “ that a woman knows enough when her mind 
has sufficient capacity to distinguish a doublet from 
small clothes. Their women did not read, but their 
lives were honorable. Their most learned conversation 
consisted of remarks upon their household affairs; their 
books were a thimble, thread and needles, with which 
they worked on the outfit of their daughters.” 
“ The best of women,” adds Moliere, ‘ is, at all times, 
full of mischief. They are a sex made for the destruc¬ 
tion of the world. I renounce forever the deceitful 
race, and, with all my heart, give the whole of them to 
the devil! ” 
These quotations, mild and decent in comparison to 
others we could present, might be continued endlessly. 
The writers of an age embody its opinions and echo its 
voice, and contempt or meaningless adulation have 
been the usual language of the world’s great writers 
when treating of women. 
Passing from the language of contempt to that of 
adulation, we quote briefly: 
“Woman is the most perfect of all creatures,” says 
Balzac. “ She hovers between man and the angels, and 
is but a little lower than they.” 
“Women are the Alpha and Omega, the beginning 
and the end,” says Say. 
“Woman is the masterpiece of the universe,” says 
Lessing. 
“God’s prose is man, his poetry is woman,” says 
Napoleon. 
“ Women are false only when men are tyrants,” says 
Bernardin de St. Pierre, 
“Among one hundred men you will find two witty 
ones,” says Mme. de Girardin, “ while among a hundred 
women only one will be stupid.” 
“ Would you know clearly what the becoming is, in¬ 
quire of noble women,” says Goethe. 
“All that is evil in women comes from man,” says 
the Abbe Martin. “ In spite of the stupid education we 
have given them, and in spite of our barbarous preju¬ 
dices, they are to-day the glory of Europe and the in¬ 
telligent companions of our life. Woman has become 
so great that man must also become great in order to 
reach her.” And so forth and so on. 
To both this blame and praise woman may reply that 
she is neither demon nor angel, but simply a fallible 
human being; one with man in needs, hopes and aspi¬ 
rations; the heir of the same mortal and immortal des¬ 
tiny. To lay down one set of laws for man and another 
for woman is preposterous. All that any reasonable 
woman can ask is an equal chance with man to do her 
best in life. 
“Woman is the crime of man. She bears traces 
of six thousand years of injustice,” is a saying whose 
truth no candid student of life and history can 
deny. 
Sydney Smith, writing sixty-five years ago, took the 
true ground when he said, “ Nature has been as bounti¬ 
ful of understanding to one sex as to the other. Edu¬ 
cation makes the only mental difference. Pompous and 
foolish men have a jealousy in regard to the education 
of women, but not men of sense and liberal politeness. 
‘Nothing is so honorable to a woman as not to bespoken 
of at all,’ is a favorite phrase of Noodledom. But I 
really think those ladies who are talked of as Mrs. 
Somerville and Miss Martineau are talked of, may bear 
their misfortunes with a great degree of Christian 
patience.” 
Frances A. Shaw, in Boston Transcript. 
WHAT WE SHALL READ. 
It is one thing to have a desire to read, and quite 
another to know what to read; the shelves of our libra¬ 
ries, packed tier over tier, discourage rather than stimu¬ 
late one who has not gained a birdseye view of literature 
and learn what he can leave unread. One book at a 
time is the rule for the scholar no less than the begin¬ 
ner, and one book is never discouraging. It is a mis¬ 
take to begin with a theory; there is a great danger of 
dying of it. Begin by reading what interests you; if 
you want to cultivate yourself, and yet have not 
formed the habits and tastes of an orderly reader, do 
not attack Grote or Hume, but take something that can 
be read with pleasure. It is better to begin with a poor 
novel, and end with Macaulay, than to begin with 
Matthew Arnold, and never get beyond him. It 
is easy enough to read when the book interests 
you. 
If novels hold your attention, by all means begin with 
novels, but be careful that you move upward, and not 
in a circle. Improve the quality of your selections; try a 
historical romance, and you will be an exceptional 
person if “ Ivanhoe,” or “Hypatia,” or “Romola,” or 
the “ Cloister and the Hearth,” do not beget in you a 
desire to read history for its own sake, and a sufficient 
interest in the reading to carry you along. 
If you have a taste for biography, read J. S. C. 
Abbott’s “ Lives,” and you will find yourself ready to 
enjoy Trevelyan’s “Macaulay,” Irving’s “Columbus,” 
Carlyle’s “Sterling,” Lounsbury’s “Cooper,” or Stanley’s 
“Arnold.” If a narrative interests you, do not attack 
the great histories, but begin with Voltaire’s “Charles 
XII,” Macaulay’s historical essays, Green’s “ Short 
History of the English People ; ” it is only the trained 
reader who can face Grote or Bancroft without a 
cowardly sinking of the heart. If you find it easy to 
read about the habits, manners and peculiarities of 
people, there are plenty of gossipy books that will lead 
you up to Boswell’s “Johnson” and Lockhart’s 
“ Scott.” In a word, begin reading by selecting books 
that are easy for you to read.— Selected. 
