. It is the only education we have and which they cannot take
from us."

She smiled slightly. "They say that we complain of woman's being
compelled to look upon marriage as a profession; but that she is free to
enter upon it or leave it, as she pleases.

"Yes--and a cat set afloat in a pond is free to sit in the tub till it
dies there, it is under no obligation to wet its feet; and a drowning
man may catch at a straw or not, just as he likes--it is a glorious
liberty! Let any man think for five minutes of what old maidenhood means
to a woman--and then let him be silent. Is it easy to bear through life
a name that in itself signifies defeat? to dwell, as nine out of ten
unmarried women must, under the finger of another woman? Is it easy to
look forward to an old age without honour, without the reward of useful
labour, without love? I wonder how many men there are who would give up
everything that is dear in life for the sake of maintaining a high ideal
purity."

She laughed a little laugh that was clear without being pleasant.

"And then, when they have no other argument against us, they say, 'Go
on; but when you have made woman what you wish, and her children inherit
her culture, you will defeat yourself. Man will gradually become extinct
from excess of intellect, the passions which replenish the race will
die.' Fools!" she said, curling her pretty lip. "A Hottentot sits at the
roadside and feeds on a rotten bone he has found there, and takes out
his bottle of Cape-smoke and swills at it, and grunts with satisfaction;
and the cultured child of the nineteenth century sits in his armchair,
and sips choice wines with the lip of a connoisseur, and tastes delicate
dishes with a delicate palate, and with a satisfaction of which the
Hottentot knows nothing. Heavy jaw and sloping forehead--all have
gone with increasing intellect; but the animal appetites are there
still--refined, discriminative, but immeasurably intensified. Fools!
Before men forgave or worshipped, while they were weak on their hind
legs, did they not eat and drink, and fight for wives? When all the
latter additions to humanity have vanished, will not the foundation on
which they are built remain?"

She was silent then for a while, and said somewhat dreamily, more as
though speaking to herself than to him,

"They ask, What will you gain, even if man does not become extinct?--you
will have brought justice and equality on to the earth, and sent love
from i