he will use it, when she
gets it, is her own affair. It may be that she will use it more wisely than
her brothers; but I am satisfied to believe that she will use it as well.
Let us not attribute infallible wisdom and virtue, even to women; for, as
dear Mrs. Poyser says in "Adam Bede," "God Almighty made some of 'em
foolish, to match the men."

It is common to assume, for instance, that all women by nature favor peace;
and that, even if they do not always seem to promote it in their social
walk and conversation, they certainly will in their political. When we
consider how all the pleasing excitements, achievements, and glories of
war, such as they are, accrue to men only, and how large a part of the
miseries are brought home to women, it might seem that their vote on this
matter, at least, would be a sure thing. Thus far the theory: the fact
being that we have been through a civil war which convulsed the nation, and
cost half a million lives; and which was, from the very beginning,
fomented, stimulated, and applauded, at least on one side, by the united
voice of the women. It will be generally admitted by those who know, that,
but for the women of the seceding States, the war of the Rebellion would
have been waged more feebly, been sooner ended, and far more easily
forgotten. Nay, I was told a few days since by an able Southern lawyer, who
was long the mayor of one of the largest Southern cities, that in his
opinion the practice of duelling--which is an epitome of war--owes its
continued existence at the South to a sustaining public sentiment among the
fair sex.

Again, where the sympathy of women is wholly on the side of right, it is by
no means safe to assume that their mode of enforcing that sentiment will be
equally judicious. Take, for instance, the temperance cause. It is quite
common to assume that women are a unit on that question. When we look at
the two extremes of society,--the fine lady pressing wine upon her
visitors, and the Irishwoman laying in a family supply of whiskey to last
over Sunday,--the assumption seems hasty. But grant it. Is it equally sure,
that when woman takes hold of that most difficult of all legislation, the
license and prohibitory laws, she will handle them more wisely than men
have done? Will her more ardent zeal solve the problem on which so much
zeal has already been lavished in vain? In large cities, for instance,
where there is already more law than is enforced, will her additional