She may not debate in
the senate or preside at the bar--she may not read philosophy in the
university or preach in the sanctuary--she may not direct the national
councils or lead armies to battle; but there is a style of influence
resulting from her peculiar nature which constitutes her power and gives
it greatness. As the sexes were designed to fill different positions in
the economy of life, it would not be in harmony with the manifestations
of divine wisdom in all things else to suppose that the powers of each
were not peculiarly fitted for their own appropriate sphere. Woman gains
nothing--she always loses when she leaves her own sphere for that of
man. When she forsakes the household and the gentler duties of domestic
life for the labors of the field, the pulpit, the rostrum, the
court-room, she always descends from her own bright station, and
invariably fails to ascend that of man. She falls between the two; and
the world gazes at her as not exactly a woman, not quite a man,
perplexed in what category of natural history to classify her. This
remark holds specially true as you ascend from savage to refined
society, where the rights and duties of women have been most fully
recognized and most accurately defined. Mind is not to be weighed in
scales. It must be judged by its _uses_ and its _influence_. And who
that compasses the peculiar purpose of woman's life; who that
understands the meaning of those good old Saxon words, mother, sister,
wife, daughter; who that estimates aright the duties they involve, the
influences they embody in giving character to all of human kind, will
hesitate to place her intellect, with its quickness, delicacy and
persuasiveness, as high in the scale of power as that of the father,
husband and son? If we estimate her mind by its actual power of
influence when she is permitted to fill to the best advantage her circle
of action, we shall find a capacity for education equal to that of him
who, merely in reference to the temporary relations of society, has been
constituted her lord.
Pages:
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363