Page:Margaret Fuller by Howe, Julia Ward, Ed. (1883).djvu/111

96 of women upon the position of women are always more valuable than those of men."

Unhappily, this is a theme in regard to which many women make no observation of their own, and only repeat what they have heard from men.

But of Margaret's impressions a few sentences will give us some idea:—

“With the women I held much communication by signs. They are almost invariably coarse and ugly, with the exception of their eyes, with, a peculiarly awkward gait, and forms bent by burdens. This gait, so different from the steady and noble step of the men, marks the inferior position they occupy."

Margaret quotes from Mrs. Schoolcraft and from Mrs. Grant passages which assert that this inferiority does not run 'through the whole life of an Indian woman, and that the drudgery and weary service imposed upon them by the men are compensated by the esteem and honour in which they are held. Still, she says:—

“Notwithstanding the homage paid to women, and the consequence allowed them in some cases, it is impossible to look upon the Indian women without feeling that they do occupy a lower place than women among the nations of European civilization. Their decorum and delicacy are striking, and show that, where these are native to the mind, no habits of life make any difference. Their' whole gesture is timid, yet self-possessed. They used to crowd round me to inspect little things I had to show them, but never press near; on the contrary, would reprove and keep off the children, Anything they took from my hand was held with care, then shut or folded, and returned with an air of lady-like precision."