iduality, man and woman can meet without
antagonism and opposition. The motto should not be forgive one another;
it should be, understand one another. The oft-quoted sentence of Mme. de
Stael: "To understand everything means to forgive everything," has never
particularly appealed to me; it has the odor of the confessional; to
forgive one's fellow being conveys the idea of pharisaical superiority.
To understand one's fellow being suffices. This admission partly
represents the fundamental aspect of my views on the emancipation of
woman and its effect upon the entire sex.

Emancipation should make it possible for her to be human in the truest
sense. Everything within her that craves assertion and activity should
reach its fullest expression; and all artificial barriers should be
broken and the road towards greater freedom cleared of every trace of
centuries of submission and slavery.

This was the original aim of the movement for woman's emancipation. But
the results so far achieved have isolated woman and have robbed her of
the fountain springs of that happiness which is so essential to her.
Merely external emancipation has made of the modern woman an artificial
being who reminds one of the products of French arboriculture with its
arabesque trees and shrubs--pyramids, wheels and wreaths; anything
except the forms which would be reached by the expression of their own
inner qualities. Such artificially grown plants of the female sex are to
be found in large numbers, especially in the so-called intellectual
sphere of our life.

Liberty and equality for woman! What hopes and aspirations these words
awakened when they were first uttered by some of the noblest and bravest
souls of those days. The sun in all its light and glory was to rise upon
a new world; in this world woman was to be free to direct her own
destiny, an aim certainly worthy of the great enthusiasm, courage,
perseverance and ceaseless effort of the tremendous host of pioneer men
and women, who staked everything against a world of prejudice and
ignorance.

My hopes also move towards that goal, but I insist that the emancipation
of woman, as interpreted and practically applied to-day, has failed to
reach that great end. Now, woman is confronted with the necessity of
emancipating herself from emancipation, if she really desires to be
free. This may sound paradoxical, but is, nevertheless, only too true.

What has she achieved through her emancipation? Equal s