Page:The rights of women and the sexual relations.djvu/396

380 who would undertake to harmonize the two? And yet how many are there who do not lie, with whom it is a point of honor, and a necessity of character, that their words shall always correspond to their thoughts, and their deeds to their words? How many, indeed, who as much as live up to the adage, which has become an everyday and popular motto: "A word, a man?" How many care whether they are acting manly or unmanly? Is it manly to be satisfied with half-way measures and compromises, in the antagonism of irreconcilable contrasts, while an unflinching principle calls for completeness and decision? Is it manly to wax enthusiastic over a cause while it is on parade, but to desert it later on, when action is called for? Is it manly by means of intrigue and hypocrisies, to indulge in a vain ambition, that finds higher satisfaction in external position, than in the consciousness of inner worth? Is it manly to devote all the activities of life merely to base gain, that leaves no inclination and no strength for nobler aspirations? Is it manly to flee from sensual enjoyment after the fashion of the ascetic, and is it manly to sink into debauchery? Is it manly to be a slave to woman, and is it manly to be a woman-hater? These and similar questions suggest their own answer as soon as they are put. But another, which will furnish us material for some final observations, we must consider more at length. It is the serious question: Is it manly to condemn woman to subordination and refuse to grant her equal rights?