And _vice versa_. Your correspondents are too hasty in condemning Mr.
Dexter. He may have expressed himself awkwardly; but, as I understood
him, he never asserted that education necessarily unsexed a woman, if kept
within limits. 'A man's a man for a' that'; then why not a woman?
At least, so says:

"AULD REEKIE."

(3) Sir,--Let Mr. Dexter stick to his guns. He is not the first who has
found the New Woman an unmitigated nuisance, and I respect him for saying
so in no measured terms. Let women, if they want husbands, cease to write
oratorios and other things in which man is, by his very constitution,
_facile princeps_, and let her cultivate that desideratum in which she
excels--a cosy home and a bright smile to greet him on the doorstep when
he returns from a tiring day in the City. Until that is done I, for one,
shall remain:

"UNMARRIED."

P.S.--Could a woman have composed Shakespeare?

(4) Sir,--I had no intention of mixing in this correspondence, and
publicity is naturally distasteful to me. Nor do I hold any brief for the
Higher Education of Women; but when I see writer after writer--apparently
of my own sex--taking refuge in what has been called the 'base shelter of
anonymity,' I feel constrained to sign myself:

Yours faithfully,
(Mrs.) RACHEL RAMSBOTHAM.

CHAPTER VI.

_Friday's Letters_.

(1) Sir,--After reading 'Unmarried's' letter, one can hardly wonder that
he is so. He asks if any woman could have written Shakespeare, and
insinuates that she would be better occupied in meeting him ('Unmarried')
on the doorstep 'with a bright smile.' As to that, there may be two
opinions. Everyone to his taste, but for my part, if his insufferable
male conceit will allow him to believe it--I would rather have written
Shakespeare a hundred times over, and I am not alone in this view. Such
men as Mr. Dexter and 'Unmarried' are the cause why half of us women
prefer to remain single; the former may deny it, poker in hand, but murder
will out. In conclusion, let me add that I have never written an oratorio
in my life, though I sometimes attend them.

Yours, etc.,
"MERE WOMAN."

(2) Sir,--Allow me to impale Mr. Dexter on the horns of a dilemma.
Either it is too late in the day