like a flower. The only help for
such women is in cultivating courage. And it is necessary to remember
that the self-sacrifice which helps others to be their best is good,
while that which suffers them to be tyrants is bad.

XVI.

CONCLUSION: A MISCELLANEOUS CHAPTER.

In these pages I have not catalogued the virtues which make up the
character of a fine woman, but I think I have made it clear that every
woman should be truthful and loving, courageous and modest. No two women
are alike, and sometimes one virtue dominates and sometimes another. And
we must always be on our guard against the faults of our qualities. A
gentle woman is in danger of being cowardly, and a firm woman of being
obstinate. There is one danger which seems to be peculiarly powerful
with women; that of sacrificing too much to the people nearest them. A
woman knows positively that more is required of her than it is fair she
should give, and yet she gives it, and in most cases she feels a certain
satisfaction of conscience in giving it. Her renunciation comes partly
because she loves those for whom she makes the sacrifice, but partly
also from cowardice. So far as it is simple renunciation, I have not
much to say. If Jane Welsh had not sacrificed herself to Carlyle's
unreasonable demands, it is certain that she might have contributed
something of permanent value to literature, and if Carlyle's colossal
egotism had thus been pruned, his own contribution probably would have
been of higher quality; but as the question of sacrifice came up day by
day, she could hardly measure results, and she did feel the necessity of
struggling with her own selfishness. Life is so much more than
literature that I cannot help thinking she did right, though Carlyle did
wrong in allowing her to efface herself for him. But most women go
farther than this. They allow themselves to be blinded by their wish to
please those nearest them. They wish it were right to yield one point
after another, and they finally do yield and hope they are not doing
wrong, though if they did not firmly shut their eyes, they must see that
they are. I think this is even more fatal to a noble character than
deliberately to choose the wrong, because it confuses moral distinctions
and makes one weak as well as wicked. I suppose more good women have
failed in this way than in any other.

English novelists describe American girls as exquisitely beautiful,
stylish, quick-witted, energetic, and