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312 MODERN INCONSISTENCY.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
If In The World Of Matter, Singular, And...
< "well as become enlightened themselves . All this we are accustomed : to hear , yet somehow or other society gains little from these
refining influences which is not counteracted by other forces of a more tangible and powerful character . Delicate perceptions
of right and wrong and an intuitive sense of justice are admirable in themselves , but until united with the power of volition , and with
judgment to guide that power , and scope given for its working in a judicious direction , ( except to their possessor , ) it may be
asked—Are they of any use ? Women cannot , and do not give the tone to morals , "because it is not in their power either to
undo the evil which is committed by others or to enact laws under whose shelter virtue would he succoured and vice
denounced . As man is , so is -woman . If he becomes depraved , so . does she—if she becomes dead to lofty ideasso does he . They
, rise or fall together . If man retards the advance of his companion , in the long run he must _ivait until she comes up with him , and
while he thus waits much evil is done by both . Like soldiers on a marchthey must keep the step and walk together , to prevent
con-, fusion and delay . Women are not shadows following in the track of men . If not regarded and treated as rational fellow-travellers , acting
in unison and aiding each other , as certainly as darkness follows light , they become the Nemesis of those who neglect them . Unconsciously ,
. nevertheless most certainly , they fulfil the great law of retribution . ¦ not The be soft seen , silent until tread lon may after not the be error heard or , the the invisible has been agents may - g wrong perpe
trated , but of the existence and working of these agencies we are as " sure as we are that the stars shine , although we can only perceive
their light when darkness covers the earth . What hurries a man so swiftly to destruction as a woman whose
life has been perverted ? Who are those with radiant eyes and golden hair leading the unwary into the parched-up desert , where no water
is , and where death and the grave receive them with open arms ? Women whose pure soul-light has "been quenched , and whose
radiancy is but a meteor , or as phosphorescent sparks shimmering among the tombs and ashes of the dead . To be led into desolate
and stony places is the reward of those who scorn to accept wisdom or words of truth from women ' s lipsand who pile up difficulties
, which , unless aided , women by themselves are powerless to surmount .
To descend from metaphor , and to _Tbring plainly before both men and women the inconsistencies apparent in both , we would ask men
what they mean when they accord to women so much moral power and yet make no effort to render that power available ? And we
would ask women why they do not make use of every such opportunity as is givento prove that they have that in them which is
, more reliable than either impulse or feeling ? If the morality which is inculcated by "women within doors is sneered and laughed at
without the home circle , how faint must the impression become
312 Modern Inconsistency.
312 MODERN INCONSISTENCY .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Jan. 1, 1862, page 312, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01011862/page/24/
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