arned is not requisite. That she be beautiful, only that she be not
ill-looking, is not important. But she must be of sound health, that she
may bear me children. She must be industrious, economical, obedient, and
know how to take good care of _my_ health."

This was the summary of what women needed to know and be, in the opinion
of one regarded by our fathers as a law-giver, entrusted with the
oracles of God. An old manuscript copy of a sermon, esteemed fifty years
ago so rich in thought as to make it worth transcribing, to keep among
family treasures, lies before me. From it, among more piquant
instructions, I copy a sentence: "But if thou wilt please God, take much
pains with thy heart, to make it stand in awe of thy husband. Look,
therefore, not on his qualities but on his place, for if thou despisest
him, thy contempt redounds upon God." "When a woman counts herself equal
with her husband, though he be of meaner birth and smaller capacity, the
root of all good carriage is dried up."

In proof that we have outlived only the form of such sentiment, I
recommend the reading of Part VII. of Mr. Hamerton's "Intellectual
Life," a very recent publication, and, the reviewers say, "a charming
book."

In a discourse on "Women and Marriage" he says: "It appears to be
thought wise to teach boys things which women do not learn, in order to
give them a degree of respect for men's attainments which they would
not feel, were they prepared to estimate them critically." This
educational policy and its workings Mr. Hamerton illustrates by numerous
examples. He says: "The opinion of a distinguished artist was, that a
man devoted to art might marry either a plain-minded woman who would
occupy herself exclusively with household matters, and shield his peace
by taking these cares upon herself, or else a woman quite capable of
entering into his artistic life. * * * And of the two kinds of women
which he considered possible, he preferred the former, that of an
entirely ignorant person, from whom no interference was to be
apprehended. He considered the first Madam Ingres the true model of an
artist's wife, because she did all in her power to guard her husband's
peace, and never herself disturbed him, acting the part of a breakwater,
which protects a space of calm and never disturbs the peace it has
made."

A woman too ignorant to wish to comprehend her husband lest she should
meddle in his pursuits, and who should find her crumb of the h