house-tops, that
the most interesting product of this enlightened century is emancipated
woman. There are certain enthusiasts, though principally of the
emancipated sex, who are already so confident as to the rapid future
progress and ultimate glorious evolution of womankind that they are
ready to venture the prediction to people whom they think they can
trust, that sooner or later there will be no more men. Whether this
desirable result is to be brought about by the gradual extinction or
snuffing out of the hitherto sterner sex by a process of killing
kindness, or by the discovery of a system of generation whereby women
only will be procreated, is not foretold by these seers of the future;
accordingly, while one might not be warranted in dismissing the theory
as untenable, its fulfilment may fairly be regarded as a remote
expectancy, and consigned to the consideration of real philosophers.

There is no doubt, though, that woman has been kept down for
generations, and has only just begun to bob up serenely, to hazard a
coloquial metaphor. The eyes of civilization are upon her, and there
is legitimate curiosity from Christiania to Yokohama to discover what
she is going to do. To me as a philosopher, and taking into account
one consideration with another, including Josephine's plaint, it seems
as though woman would have much plainer sailing in her progress toward
reconstruction if it were not that she is so exceedingly good-looking
in spots and bunches. Let her distinction as an ornamental factor be
totally negatived and overcome, and there is no telling how rapidly she
might progress. By ornament, I mean, of course, not merely beauty of
face and form, but sweetness of speech, delicacy of physique and
sentiment, captivating clothes, and all those distinguishing
characteristics which have tended to fasten upon the female sex the
epithet of gentle. It will generally be admitted that women of homely
presence, clumsy in their gait, dowdy in their dress, and raucous in
their intonation, are much safer from the infliction of gallantries at
the hands or lips of mortal men than those whose attributes are more
pleasing; and it is safe to assert that many a male monster has been
rooted to his seat in street-cars by the coldly intellectual eye of
some not altogether able-bodied feminine person. The recent victories
all along the line of women over men in examination-rooms, and their
more or less successful ventures in the fi