its effects, whether in the fierce hour of trial, or in the simple daily course of self-forgetfulness, we feel the presence of something divine still kindling our poor, corrupt, and suffering human nature. Childhood presents the only lovely form of clinging helplessness, but who would seek a friend, who would pour out the full, rich treasure of affection and confidence on a child ? Then why suppose that affection and confidence are to be won by assimilating ourselves to children?

The health of a moral being is in self-dependence, in the strong will and power of endurance which enables him to adapt himself to his position, whatever it may be. This would sound like a truism in speaking of men, so universally is it acknowledged; how then can it cease to be true, when applied to woman, unless it be denied that she also is a moral being? By what right is truth made to bow to the weakness, the prejudices, or the assumptions of human creatures? Self-dependence interferes in no way with the feeling which prompts us to seek and rejoice in the sympathy of others, or cling to their affection. The most vigorous-minded man may feel no less strongly than a woman the need of the sympathy and tenderness of the being he loves; but if either man or woman is unable to stand alone, the character is so far weak and incomplete.

*

Nothing can be further removed than such a view of selfreliance from the plea set forth by some writers for the social independence and equality of women. This plea is, in our opinion, founded on so false a view of life, of duty, and of the nature of social and political institutions, that, notwithstanding the great talent of one at least of its supporters, in our own day, it would hardly seem worth refuting, were it not that its advocates are among the worst enemies to any real improvement in the condition of women; just as the wild declaimers on liberty and equality are the most dangerous foes to the cause of enlightened freedom. So marked, so indelible, is the law of nature, which places woman in a subordinate position, that it might itself afford an unanswerable reply to those politicians

*Miss Martineau.

who proclaim equality the institution of the Creator, daringly infringed upon by human legislation; but while such obvious truths are forgotten and such wild pretensions put forward as rights, on the one side, it is the less surprising that, on the other, the real claims of women, as moral and rational beings, should still be slighted and set aside.

The self-dependence we advocate we desire to rest on higher grounds, on a basis no human laws or caprice can interfere with; namely, on the spiritual equality of all human beings endowed (though in various degrees) with the same faculties, born under one moral law, under one condition of trial here, to one hope of a higher existence hereafter.

Whatever belongs to mere earthly relations must be earthly and transitory like them, and be regulated by the conditions of our mortal life; but what belongs to the spirit-its powers, its affections, its unutterable life of thought-is eternal, and tends to another and purer stage of existence. It is in the more earnest contemplation of this twofold aspect of our being that women, even amidst the necessary dependence and subordination of their present lot, will find the secret of maintaining a more dignified position than they have yet aimed at. When it is lost sight of, they either seek to assume a station from which nature and the well-being of society alike preclude them, or they sink from mere inferiority of station to inferiority of mind, and from subordinates degrade themselves to becoming slaves. Milton has expressed a prevailing sentiment in the line

"He for God only, she for God in him";

but however poetical the expression, it is not true in its application to actual life. In the sight of God, his creatures are all equal. No separate law of religion or morality was published for woman; her duties and responsibilities rest on the same foundation as man's; like him she looks beyond this transitory existence; and all, therefore, which belongs to the training of the immortal part of our being it is equally her indisputable privilege to claim. "Her rights to all the perfection and happiness her nature admits of, rest precisely on the same

grounds as those of men, the Creator's design interpreted by the powers he has given."* And these rights and privileges are distinct from, and in no wise interfere with, her due observance of the duties arising from the subordinate station she occupies on earth, in relation to man.

When a woman, with gentle but dignified acquiescence in the inevitable conditions of her lot, yet evinces by the tone of her character and pursuits, that she bears in mind those higher grounds of equality, it is then she is truly the helpmate of him whom she obeys without losing her self-respect. She will then neither seek to be his tyrant, nor consent to be a puppet in his hands; she will neither hug an ignoble chain, nor struggle by craft to shake off a natural bond; but, strong in her real independence of mind, she will stand, such as God created her, the meet companion for man, fitted to share with him the duties and the joys, the hopes and responsibilities, of existence.

Whatever be the reason whether indolence or ignorance, or servile flattery to men — which makes women so generally neglect to take this exalted view of their position, and to allow the real and eternal relations of their being to be obscured by the merely partial and transitory, they cannot do so with impunity. They may rest assured, that, the more humble their own estimate, the lower will be that which men will form of their claims, and the less will they be rewarded for their sacrifices. They may, in obedience to the prejudices or in deference to the pride of the less noble portion of the other sex, cherish a weak spirit of dependence, but they will find no indulgence for the faults which such weakness may betray them into; they may be satisfied to be mere submissive tools, but their want of energy or intelligence will meet with little forbearance; they may be humbly content with ignorance, but they will not find their errors of judgment, their frivolous tastes, their narrow views, leniently considered by those who have fostered them most. In a word, when they have neglected to exercise the highest powers with which they are endowed, and

* Woman's Rights and Duties.

thereby sacrificed much of the happiness they had a right to seek, they will assuredly find, too late, that, by offering up God's gifts on the altar of man's pride, they receive merely scorn, or at best a humiliating pity, in return for their incense.

Nor is it their own dignity and happiness only that they in great measure forfeit; were it so, it might be difficult to make an estimate of that secret and individual sacrifice, or to say how far it was culpable; but it should never be forgotten, that no human being stands alone, or can possibly be isolated in his sphere of action; so that whatever affects the individual affects also every relation in which he stands to others. So it is in the present case. The narrow view taken of woman's position has spread its lowering effects over every relation of social and domestic life in which she stands, and over her own estimate of the duties arising from those relations, and hence the defective education and the circumscribed influence we complain of. The natural consequence of undervaluing any position is, that we lightly undertake its obligations and responsibilities: the result in the present case is, that even duties which women generally are far from desiring to slight-namely, those of wives and mothers are superficially considered, and seem to require no preparation, while others which belong to a wider view of social relations are never considered at all. The former springing from the position for which they are specially designed by nature, it is inferred that nature has sufficiently provided for their due performance; while the others, not arising from those peculiar relations of their natural position, seem unworthy of all consideration. Hence, social duties, and all that belongs to single life, are too often left out of sight altogether.

We have said how essential we consider it, that women should early contemplate and prepare themselves for the trials of a lonely life. Few positions are so entirely "made or marred" by individual character, as none perhaps are so secluded from the influence of others; few then require more preparation, more careful training of moral power and self-dependence, and the effect produced on our estimate of it by the different views of life we have been considering is proportion

ably great. While the idea is strongly rooted, that a woman has no duties, no rights, no sphere of usefulness, or claim upon her fellow-creatures, except such as belong to her as a wife or mother, she who, from circumstances or a peculiar state of feeling, refuses or is shut out from that position, feels that there is little left for her either to do or hope for on earth; but if, on the other hand, she has learnt to consider woman's position, not in that one relative view only, but in its moral dignity and independence, if she has trained herself as responsible to God for his gifts, not merely as accountable to man for the share she might have contributed to his happiness, then the great objects of existence are still distinct before her; self-improvement and social duties still open a wide sphere of occupation.

Many single women devote themselves earnestly to the care of the poor, and doubtless it is a beautiful vocation for those whose own hearth is lonely, to make themselves a home in the hearts of their fellow-creatures; but how different would be the effect of that intercourse if they carried into it greater knowledge and mental vigor, if, besides the kindliness of sympathizing feeling, and the gentle soothing of religious consolations, they bore with them the influence of really cultivated minds, of decided character, of moral strength, and clear views of the various relations of society. Social and moral reformation in the lowest classes, as in the highest, must begin with domestic life; the tone of female character and understanding must also be raised among them, before the public machinery of schools will produce any material effect on the people's happiness, and it is in this important task that women of the upper ranks may become powerful auxiliaries. They must, however, be prepared themselves to undertake it. They must know something of the causes which operate upon social and national welfare, and have traced the laws which influence the latter to their application in the minute detail of life. They require habits of observation and reflection, some knowledge of the human mind, of the feelings and passions by which it is moved, and of the principles by which it should be governed; for it is not by unarmed champions that the hydra-headed monster Ignorance can be