Page:Advice to young ladies on their duties and conduct in life - Arthur - 1849.djvu/133

Rh of her country’s legislative halls. Every where would these reformers place women in contest with men for the honors and emoluments which society bestows upon the successful;—in the camp, on the bench, at the bar, in the pulpit, in the dissecting-room, or hospital, with the operator’s knife in her hand,—in fact, wherever strong nerve, powerful intellect, decision, and firmness are required.

Some of the books written by advocates of these doctrines contain views of a most pernicious character, striking still more deeply at the very foundations of social well-being. As might be supposed, few of their writers understand or teach what is true in regard to marriage. And this is no matter of wonder; for how can any one, who is not able to see the true difference between the sexes, teach what is true in regard to their union?

In order to guard our young friends against the false reasonings, and equally false conclusions, of these advocates of the equality of the sexes, we will, in as plain and comprehensive a way as possible, set forth what is the true relation of one sex to the other; and in doing this we must explain the radical difference. As to equality in itself, this, no doubt, exists; but it is in the equal right of both to be useful and happy