crime, is she not always the cause of
the most heroic deeds performed by man? Can we for a moment suppose
society without her? Why, without her it would fall into a state of
indolence and degradation, even of utter abjection. Would life be worth
living without the sweet presence of kind, cheerful, and amiable women?

Ah, my dear sir, make fun of woman in your club as much as you like;
crack jokes at her expense to your heart's content; but acknowledge
frankly that you are under her power--at least, I hope, under her
influence--and that you could no more do without her than without the
air which enables you to breathe.

Talk of woman's mission as wife and mother, as naturalists and moralists
do, but let all of us artists cry at the top of our voices that woman's
mission is to make life beautiful by the cultivation of her own beauty,
beauty of body, mind, and heart.

It is the duty of woman to look as beautiful as she can; it is her
imperious duty to charm the world by her sweetness and amiability. A
woman who neglects this duty is guilty toward her fellow-creatures, even
guilty toward her Maker, by not helping the destiny for which she was
created. Countries are civilized in proportion to the influence that
women have over men in them.

As long as gardens have flowers and the world has beautiful and amiable
women, so long will life be worth living.

CHAPTER XI

IS WOMAN INFERIOR TO MAN?

Many, many years ago a great council was held to discuss the question
whether women had souls. I forget the conclusion which that learned
assembly arrived at; but what is certain is that now most men do believe
that women have souls, although a great number of them are still of
opinion that woman is a being inferior to man.

They hold that man is the lord of creation, the masterpiece, the last
word of the Almighty.

Now, is this really the case? First, God made the earth, then light,
after which He created fishes, birds, and animals of all sorts. Then He
said: 'I will now create a being far above all the other animals.'

He took some mud; mark well, I say, some mud, and made Adam. In His
wisdom He thought that mud was not good enough to make woman out of, and
for her creation he took matter which had already been purified by His
Divine breath, and He took part of Adam, and out of it made Eve.

Now, surely, my dear fellow-men, you must own that either mud is better
stuff than yourself, or you must confess that woman