horoughly well
educated, reads Greek and Latin, and has a wider range of knowledge and
thought than ninety-nine in a hundred of the voters in the same
district; but there is nothing of the politician in her nature. She
would rather any day read a fine poem than the best political speech of
the hour. What she does know of politics reaches her through that dull
but worthy brother of hers. It is only occasionally that we meet women
with an inherent bias for politics; and those are not, as a rule, the
highest type of the sex--it is only occasionally that they are so. The
interest most women feel in politics is secondary, factitious,
engrafted on them by the men nearest to them. Women are not abortive
men; they are a distinct creation. The eye and the ear, though both
belonging to the same body, are each, in a certain sense, a distinct
creation. A body endowed with four ears might hear remarkably well; but
without eyes it would be of little use in the world. A body with four
eyes would have a fourfold power of vision, and would consequently
become nearly as sharp-sighted as a spider; but without hearing its
powers of sight would avail little. In both cases, half the functions
of the human being, whether physical or mental, would be very
imperfectly performed. Thus it is with men and women; each has a
distinct position to fill in the great social body, and is especially
qualified for it. These distinct positions are each highly important.
And it is reasonable to believe that, by filling their own peculiar
position thoroughly well, women can best serve their Creator, their
fellow-creatures, and themselves. No doubt you may, if you choose, by
especial education from childhood upward, make your girls very
respectable politicians, as much so as the majority of your sons. But
in that case you must give up your womanly daughters--you must be
content with manly daughters. This essential difference between the
sexes is a very striking fact; yet the advocates of female suffrage
constantly lose sight of it; they talk and write as if it had no
existence. It is not lack of intellect on the part of women, but
difference of intellect, or rather a difference of organization and
affinities giving a different bias to the intellect, which is the cause
of their distinct mental character as a sex. And, owing to this
essential difference, the great majority of women are naturally
disinclined to politics, and partially unfitted for action in that