the presence and inspiration of
woman, man becomes a cold, dry petrifaction, constantly obeying the
centripetal force of his being, and adoring _self_. Without his basal
firmness and strength, woman, in whom the centrifugal force is stronger,
remains a weak, vacillating, impulsive creature, feebly swayed by the
tides of emotion, lacking self-poise, and aimless and vagrant.

But teach her to reason--man to feel; open up to her the sources of
knowledge, and cause him to learn the times of the tides of affection;
cultivate her intellect and his heart, and in the healthy action and
reaction consequent upon such a balance of forces, you have the true
relationship established between the sexes, the relationship which the
Creator pronounced perfect in the beginning.

It will be seen that while I attribute to woman a certain superiority
both of nature and function, as to the highest part of the nature common
to both, I at the same time assert her inferiority in what may be called
its fundamental attributes, those which lie nearest to the constant and
successful prosecution of mundane affairs, and, consequently, I also
establish the fact of her absolute and inevitable dependence in such
sense on man. But do I thus degrade her, or in effect annul this
asserted superiority? Because man, and the strength, amplitude, and
stability of his more practical nature, form a sure basis upon which she
may rest, do I any the less make her the very crown and perfection of
God's human handiwork? Assuredly not. The truth is, if, instead of
making comparison where, from the nature of the case, comparison is
almost precluded, so great is the difference between them, I were to say
that each is the complement or counterpart of the other, and that,
alone, each is but a half sphere, and imperfectly rounded at that, I
should more nearly approach to accuracy. To make the perfect whole which
the Creator had in His idea, the two halves must be united. And so I
dignify the oldest of human institutions--marriage. I accord to it the
very perfection of wisdom, beauty, utility, adaptation. I am aware that
in so speaking I hold to an old-fashioned belief, and tread
incontinently, not only on a notion afloat among some of the
_strong-minded_ of my sex at the present day, that this institution is
nothing more nor less than an engine of selfish and despotic power on
the one hand, and of slavish subjection on the other; but on the more
moderate idea that it is not