Page:The Relations Tolstoy.pdf/102

 company of unchaste men, and busying oneself with necessary work, or at least work that is attractive.

The more chaste the life is, the better it is. When one has children chastity is still more desirable. If you feel the strength in yourself and wish all your heart to live chastely as a widow, the best thing you can do is to break the bond and not marry again; if you do not feel enough strength in you for that, it is better to get married and thus guard yourself against new snares. I would wish very much on your behalf that you chose the first course.

Chastity -the striving after it -a greater degree of it, I consider the most important condition of spiritual life and a sure sign of the sincerity of the striving.

A truly chaste girl, who devotes to serving God and mankind all the powers of maternal self denial which have been given to her, is the finest and happiest human being.

The fault of women suffragists lies in this: that they want to do everything that men do. But women are beings different from men, with their peculiar qualities, and, therefore, if they want to perfect themselves, to occupy a higher position, they should develop in their own particular direction. What it is I, unfortunately, do not know, and they do not know, but it is true that it is different from man's.