Page:Novalis Schriften - Volume 2.djvu/164

★ 154 ★ provisions to the poor and the sick, particularly of those of her sex, the tasteful decoration of the house, the arrangement of family celebrations, and the establishment of the courtly activity according to law. She should have her own chancellery and her husband would be her first minister with whom she considers everything. The education of her sex would include the abolition of express forms of corruption. When entering a city, shouldn't the queen shudder when the most profound degradation of her sex is a public profession? The harshest punishment is not too severe for those who barter with souls. A murder is far less blameworthy. The vaunted guarantee of values it intends is a peculiar incitement to depravity. As little as the government is allowed to involve itself in private affairs, it should still look into every complaint, every public scandal, every charge or accusation relating to a dishonorable affair with the strictest scrutiny. Who stands for the rights of the offended sex more than the queen? She must blush to stay in a city that has such asylums and educational institutions of depravity.

Incidentally, her example would have an endless effect. Happy marriages would become more frequent and domestic life more fashionable. At the same time, she would become a true model for women's fashion. Certainly, clothing is very accurate device for measuring morality. Unfortunately, it always stands at a very low point in Berlin, often below zero. What could not be accomplished by the queen's model of social decorum on the women and girls in Berlin? In itself, it would be a distinction of honor and by necessity would make public attitudes moral again; and in the end