Page:California Inter Pocula.djvu/320



Dr Brewer  in  his  Dictionary  of  Phrase  and  Fable, says that  frequently  he  who  went  to  dig  gold  in  Cali- fornia, put to  board  in  some  neighbor's  family  his wife and  children,  or,  as  it  was  sometimes  termed, turned them  out  to  grass — hence  grass-widow. This definition is  far-fetched. Originally the  term  signified an unmarried  mother;  later,  a  wife  separated  from her husband.

Just how  far  the  absence  of  woman  affected  society it is  difficult  to  determine. With her  men  are  fools ; without ]ier  devils. Man may  be  made  better  or worse  by  woman  according  to  her  quality. As a modest  maiden  and  a  true  and  loviniy  wife,  she  is  the toirest handiwork  of  the  creator;  as  a  splenetic moody demirep,  she  is  the  aptest  instrument  of  the devil. As Dante,  probably  with  his  own  termagant wife in  view,  groans  "  La  fiera  moglie  piu  ch'altro,  mi nuoce." With the  purity  of  her  heart  she  may  make all things  pure ;  under  the  counterfeits  of  love  she may seduce  by  her  charms,  and  doom  to  death  by  h<^r affection. Within a  limited  sphere  every  woman  lias a Pandora's  box  which  she  may  open  if  she  chooses. Physically weaker  than  man,  morally  woman  is greatly  his  superior. She is  his  superior  as  well  iu the  emotional  part  of  her  nature  as  in  her  finer  sense of duty ;  she  is  more  self-sacrificing,  has  greater  sen- sibility, is naturally  more  chaste,  more  tender,  more compassionate, more  forgiv?Tig;  she  excels  in  all  pas- sive virtues, but  in  intellect,  ethics,  in  courage,  in  the activities of  life  she  falls  behind  her  ruder  companion.

Women feel  rather  than  think;  they  are  governed by impulse  rather  than  by  opinion. In an  evenly  bal- anced community they  are  less  tempted  than  men,  and therefore less  given  to  criminality;  but  once  fairly embarked in  excesses,  and  they  outstrip  the  most vicious men. The partner  of  man  in  his  low  estate as well  as  in  his  right  living,  woman  cannot  lift  her- self much above  the  moral  atmosphere  which  he makes  for  her. Hence it  is  that  had  it  been  possible