It is my belief--yes, and my prophecy, should I die
before it happens--that, when my sex shall achieve its rights, there
will be ten eloquent women where there is now one eloquent man. Thus
far, no woman in the world has ever once spoken out her whole heart
and her whole mind. The mistrust and disapproval of the vast bulk of
society throttles us, as with two gigantic hands at our throats! We
mumble a few weak words, and leave a thousand better ones unsaid.
You let us write a little, it is true, on a limited range of subjects.
But the pen is not for woman. Her power is too natural and
immediate. It is with the living voice alone that she can compel the
world to recognize the light of her intellect and the depth of her
heart!"
Now,--though I could not well say so to Zenobia,--I had not smiled
from any unworthy estimate of woman, or in denial of the claims which
she is beginning to put forth. What amused and puzzled me was the
fact, that women, however intellectually superior, so seldom disquiet
themselves about the rights or wrongs of their sex, unless their own
individual affections chance to lie in idleness, or to be ill at ease.
They are not natural reformers, but become such by the pressure of
exceptional misfortune. I could measure Zenobia's inward trouble by
the animosity with which she now took up the general quarrel of woman
against man.
"I will give you leave, Zenobia," replied I, "to fling your utmost
scorn upon me, if you ever hear me utter a sentiment unfavorable to
the widest liberty which woman has yet dreamed of.
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