d begun as a domestic servant, and abandoned that harsh
and dreary life to enter a brothel. Her experiences there polished
and civilized her, and in her old age she was a grande dame of
great dignity. Much of the sympathy wasted upon women of the ancient
profession is grounded upon an error as to their own attitude toward
it. An educated woman, hearing that a frail sister in a public stew is
expected to be amiable to all sorts of bounders, thinks of how she would
shrink from such contacts, and so concludes that the actual prostitute
suffers acutely. What she overlooks is that these men, however gross and
repulsive they may appear to her, are measurably superior to men of the
prostitute's own class--say her father and brothers--and that communion
with them, far from being disgusting, is often rather romantic. I well
remember observing, during my collaboration with the vice-crusaders
aforesaid, the delight of a lady of joy who had attracted the notice of
a police lieutenant; she was intensely pleased by the idea of having a
client of such haughty manners, such brilliant dress, and what seemed
to her to be so dignified a profession. It is always forgotten that
this weakness is not confined to prostitutes, but run through the whole
female sex. The woman who could not imagine an illicit affair with a
wealthy soap manufacturer or even with a lawyer finds it quite easy to
imagine herself succumbing to an ambassador or a duke. There are very
few exceptions to this rule. In the most reserved of modern societies
the women who represent their highest flower are notoriously complaisant
to royalty. And royal women, to complete the circuit, not infrequently
yield to actors and musicians, i.e., to men radiating a glamour not
encountered even in princes.

44. The Future of Marriage

The transvaluation of values that is now in progress will go on slowly
and for a very long while. That it will ever be quite complete is, of
course, impossible. There are inherent differences will continue to show
themselves until the end of time. As woman gradually becomes convinced,
not only of the possibility of economic independence, but also of its
value, she will probably lose her present overmastering desire
for marriage, and address herself to meeting men in free economic
competition. That is to say, she will address herself to acquiring
that practical competence, that high talent for puerile and chiefly
mechanical expertness, which now set