ould be a secondary consideration,
in presence of the individual happiness and freedom of woman. The
formation of her character and its influence on the human race, is a
larger question than man's personal liking. There is no fear, however,
that when a superior order of women shall grace the earth, there will
not be an order of men to match them, and influence over such minds
will atone for the loss of it elsewhere.

An honest fear is sometimes expressed "that woman would degrade
politics, and politics would degrade woman." As the influence of woman
has been uniformly elevating in new civilizations, in missionary work
in heathen nations, in schools, colleges, literature, and in general
society, it is fair to suppose that politics would prove no exception.
On the other hand, as the art of government is the most exalted of all
sciences, and statesmanship requires the highest order of mind, the
ennobling and refining influence of such pursuits must elevate rather
than degrade woman. When politics degenerate into bitter persecutions
and vulgar court-gossip, they are degrading to man, and his honor,
virtue, dignity, and refinement are as valuable to woman as her
virtues, are to him.

Again, it is said, "Those who make laws must execute them; government
needs force behind it,--a woman could not be sheriff or a policeman."
She might not fill these offices in the way men do, but she might far
more effectively guard the morals of society, and the sanitary
conditions of our cities. It might with equal force be said that a
woman of culture and artistic taste can not keep house, because she
can not wash and iron with her own hands, and clean the range and
furnace. At the head of the police, a woman could direct her forces
and keep order without ever using a baton or a pistol in her own
hands. "The elements of sovereignty," says Blackstone, "are three:
wisdom, goodness, and power." Conceding to woman wisdom and goodness,
as they are not strictly masculine virtues, and substituting moral
power for physical force, we have the necessary elements of government
for most of life's emergencies. Women manage families, mixed schools,
charitable institutions, large boarding-houses and hotels, farms and
steam-engines, drunken and disorderly men and women, and stop street
fights, as well as men do. The queens in history compare favorably
with the kings.

But, "in the settlement of national difficulties," it is said, "the
last resort is war;