nts. Economy, order, and
devotion head the list; chastity and self-abnegation figure at the
bottom. I should have imagined the last two virtues would have obtained
the maximum of votes.

And is it not wonderful that the most beautiful trait in a woman's
character--I mean Loyalty--should be altogether omitted from this list
of twenty-one most characteristic virtues in women? Are we to conclude
that loyalty is a virtue for men alone, such as willpower, magnanimity,
energy, bravery, and straightforwardness?

And Sincerity, that most indispensable and precious virtue, which is
supposed to make the friendship of men so valuable, is it not also a
virtue that we should value in women?

Do men mean to say that loyalty and sincerity should not be or could not
be expected to be found in women? Woman must be sweet, of course, and be
economical. She must charm men and keep their house on the principles of
the strictest order. Lovely!

I know men who allow their wives L1 a day to keep their houses in
plenty, and who spend L2 every day at their club. Whatever the husband
does, however, the wife must be faithful, and possess patience and
self-abnegation. She must be resigned, and, mind you, always amiable and
cheerful.

Poor dear fellow! the truth is, that when a man has spent a jolly
evening at his club with the 'boys,' it is devilishly hard on him to
come home at one or two in the morning and to find his wife not amiable,
not cheerful, but suffering from the dumps, and, maybe, not even patient
enough to have waited for him. Sometimes she does worse than this, the
wretch! She suffers from toothache or neuralgia. What of that? She
should be patient, resigned, amiable, and cheerful; _c'est son metier_.

Yes, on the threshold of the twentieth century we find man still
considering woman as a pet animal or a nice little beast of burden;
sometimes as both. I really should feel prouder of my sex if they would
only be kind enough to assert that men are not beings inferior to
monkeys and birds.

For monkeys have but one rule of morality for the manners of both sexes,
and birds share with their mates the duties of nest-building and feeding
the little ones. The latter even go further. When the female bird does
her little house duties in the nursery, the male entertains her with a
song in order to keep her cheerful.

Marriage will be a failure as long as men are of opinion that fidelity,
patience, devotion, amiability, cheerfulness, an