THE INVISIBLE LADY
The Invisible Lady, as advertised in all our cities a good many years ago, was a mysterious individual who remained unseen, and had apparently2 no human organs except a brain and a tongue. You asked questions of her, and she made intelligent answers; but where she was, you could no more discover than you could find the man inside the Automaton3 Chess-Player. Was she intended as a satire4 on womankind, or as a sincere representation of what womankind should be? To many men, doubtless, she would have seemed the ideal of her sex, could only her brain and tongue have disappeared like the rest of her faculties5. Such men would have liked her almost as well as that other mysterious personage on the London signboard, labelled "The Good Woman," and represented by a female figure without a head.
It is not that any considerable portion of mankind actually wishes to abolish woman from the universe. But the opinion dies hard that she is best off when least visible. These appeals which still meet us for "the sacred privacy of woman" are only the Invisible Lady on a larger scale. In ancient Boeotia, brides were carried home in vehicles whose wheels were burned at the door in token that they would never again be needed. In ancient Rome, it was a queen's epitaph, "She stayed at home, and spun,"--Domum servavit, lanam fecit. In Turkey, not even the officers of justice can enter the apartments of a woman without her lord's consent. In Spain and Spanish America, the veil replaces the four walls of the house, and is a portable seclusion6. To be visible is at best a sign of peasant blood and occupations; to be high-bred is to be invisible.
In the Azores I found that each peasant family endeavored to secure for one or more of its daughters the pride and glory of living unseen. The other sisters, secure in innocence7, tended cattle on lonely mountain-sides, or toiled8 bare-legged up the steep ascents10, their heads crowned with orange-baskets. The chosen sister was taught to read, to embroider12, and to dwell indoors; if she went out it was only under escort, and with her face buried in a hood13 of almost incredible size, affording only a glimpse of the poor pale cheeks, quite unlike the rosy14 vigor15 of the damsels on the mountain-side. The girls, I was told, did not covet16 this privilege of seclusion; but let us be genteel, or die.
Now all that is left of the Invisible Lady among ourselves is only the remnant of this absurd tradition. In the seaside town where I write, ladies of fashion usually go veiled in the streets, and so general is the practice that little girls often veil their dolls. They all suppose it to be done for complexion17 or for ornament18; just as people still hang straps19 on the backs of their carriages, not knowing that it is a relic20 of the days when footmen stood there and held on. But the veil represents a tradition of seclusion, whether we know it or not; and the dread21 of hearing a woman speak in public, or of seeing a woman vote, represents precisely22 the same tradition. It is entitled to no less respect, and no more.
Like all traditions, it finds something in human nature to which to attach itself. Early girlhood, like early boyhood, needs to be guarded and sheltered, that it may mature unharmed. It is monstrous23 to make this an excuse for keeping a woman, any more than a man, in a condition of perpetual subordination and seclusion. The young lover wishes to lock up his angel in a little world of her own, where none may intrude24. The harem and the seraglio are simply the embodiment of this desire. But the maturer man and the maturer race have found that the beloved being should be something more.
After this discovery is made, the theory of the Invisible Lady disappears. It is less of a shock for an American to hear a woman speak in public than it is for an Oriental to see her show her face in public at all. Once open the door of the harem, and she has the freedom of the house: the house includes the front door, and the street is but a prolonged doorstep. With the freedom of the street comes inevitably25 a free access to the platform, the tribunal, and the pulpit. You might as well try to stop the air in its escape from a punctured26 balloon, as to try, when woman is once out of the harem, to put her back there. Ceasing to be an Invisible Lady, she must become a visible force: there is no middle ground. There is no danger that she will not be anchored to the cradle, when cradle there is; but it will be by an elastic27 cable, that will leave her as free to think and vote as to pray. No woman is less a mother because she cares for all the concerns of the world into which her child is born. It was John Quincy Adams who said, defending the political petitions of the women of Plymouth, that "women are not only justified28, but exhibit the most exalted29 virtue, when they do depart from the domestic circle, and enter on the concerns of their country, of humanity, and of their God."
SACRED OBSCURITY
In the preface to that ill-named but delightful30 book, the "Remains31 of the late Mrs. Richard Trench32," there is a singular remark by the editor, her son. He says that "the adage33 is certainly true in regard to the British matron, Bene vixit quae bene latuit," the meaning of this phrase being, "She has lived well who has kept herself well out of sight." Applying this to his beloved mother, he further expresses a regret at disturbing her "sacred obscurity." Then he goes on to disturb it pretty effectually by printing a thick octavo volume of her most private letters.
It is a great source of strength and advantage to reformers, that there are always men preserved to be living examples of this good old Oriental doctrine34 of "sacred obscurity." Just as Mr. Darwin needs for the demonstration35 of his theory that the lower orders of creation should still be present in visible form for purposes of comparison, so every reformer needs to fortify36 his position by showing examples of the original attitude from which society has been gradually emerging. If there had been no Oriental seclusion, many things in the present position of woman would be inexplicable37. But when we point to that; when we show that even in the more enlightened Eastern countries it is still held indecorous to allude38 to the feminine members of a man's family; when we see among the Christian39 nations of Southern Europe many lingering traits of this same habit of seclusion; and when we find an archdeacon of the English Church still clinging to the theory, even while exhibiting his mother's family letters to the whole world,--we more easily understand the course of development.
These reassertions of the Oriental theory are simply reversions, as a naturalist41 would say, to the original type. They are instances of "atavism," like the occasional appearance of six fingers on one hand in a family where the great-great-grandfather happened to possess that ornament. Such instances can always be found, when one takes the pains to look for them. Thus a critic, discussing in the "Atlantic Monthly" Mr. Mahaffy's book on "Social Life in Greece," is surprised that this writer should quote, in proof of the degradation42 of woman in Athens, the remark attributed to Pericles, "That woman is best who is least spoken of among men, whether for good or for evil." "In our opinion," adds the reviewer, "that remark was wise then, and is wise now." The Oriental theory is not then, it seems, extinct; and we are spared the pains of proving that it ever existed.
If this theory be true, how falsely has the admiration43 of mankind been given! If the most obscure woman is best, the most conspicuous44 must undoubtedly45 be worst. Tried by this standard, how unworthy must have been Elizabeth Barrett Browning, how reprehensible47 must be Dorothea Dix, what a model of all that is discreditable is Rosa Bonheur, what a crowning instance of human depravity is Florence Nightingale! Yet how consoling the thought, that, while these disreputable persons were thus wasting their substance in the riotous48 performance of what the world weakly styled good deeds, there were always women who saw the folly49 of such efforts; women who by steady devotion to eating, drinking, and sleeping continued to keep themselves in sacred obscurity, and to prove themselves the ornaments50 of their sex, inasmuch as no human being ever had occasion to mention their names!
But alas51 for human inconsistency! As for this inverse-ratio theory,--this theory of virtue so exalted that it has never been known or felt or mentioned among men,--it is to be observed that those who hold it are the first to desert it when stirred by an immediate52 occasion. Just as a slaveholder, in the old times, after demonstrating to you that freedom was a curse to the negro, would instantly turn round, and inflict54 this greatest of all curses on some slave who had saved his life; so, I fear, would one of these philosophers, if he were profoundly impressed with any great action done by a woman, give the lie to all his theories, and celebrate her fame. In spite of all his fine principles, if he happened to be rescued from drowning by Grace Darling, he would put her name in the newspaper; if he were tended in hospital by Clara Barton, he would sound her praise; and if his mother wrote as good letters as did Mrs. Trench, he would probably print them to the extent of five hundred pages, as the archdeacon did, and all his gospel of silence would exhale55 itself in a single sigh of regret in the preface.
A young friend of mine, who was educated at one of the very best schools for girls in New York city, told me that one day her teacher requested the older girls to write out a list of virtues suitable to manly57 character, which they did. A month or more later, when this occurrence was well forgotten, the same teacher bade them write out a list of womanly virtues, she making no reference to the other list. Then she made each girl compare her lists; and they all found with surprise that there was no substantial difference between them. The only variation, in most cases, was, that they had put in a rather vague special virtue of "manliness58" in the one case, and "womanliness" in the other; a sort of miscellaneous department or "odd drawer," apparently, in which to group all traits not easily analyzed59.
The moral is that, as tested by the common sense of these young people, duty is duty, and the difference between ethics60 for men and ethics for women lies simply in practical applications, not in principles.
Who can deny that the philosopher Antisthenes was right when he said, "The virtues of the man and the woman are the same"? Not the Christian, certainly; for he accepts as his highest standard the being who in all history best united the highest qualities of both sexes. Not the metaphysician; for his analysis deals with the human mind as such, not with the mind of either sex. Not the evolutionist; for he is accustomed to trace back qualities to their source, and cannot deny that there is in each sex at least a "survival" of every good and every bad trait. We may say that these qualities are, or may be, or ought to be, distributed unequally between the sexes; but we cannot reasonably deny that each sex possesses a share of every quality, and that what is good in one sex is also good in the other. Man may be the braver, and yet courage in a woman may be nobler than cowardice61. Woman may be the purer, and yet purity may be noble in a man.
So clear is this, that some of the very coarsest writers in all literature, and those who have been severest upon women, have yet been obliged to acknowledge it. Take, for instance, Dean Swift, who writes:--
"I am ignorant of any one quality that is amiable63 in a woman, which is not equally so in a man. I do not except even modesty64 and gentleness of nature; nor do I know one vice65 or folly which is not equally detestable in both."
Mrs. Jameson, in her delightful "Commonplace Book," illustrates66 this admirably by one or two test cases. She takes, for instance, from one of Humboldt's letters a much-admired passage on manly character:--
"Masculine independence of mind I hold to be in reality the first requisite68 for the formation of a character of real manly worth. The man who allows himself to be deceived and carried away by his own weakness may be a very amiable person in other respects, but cannot be called a good man: such beings should not find favor in the eyes of a woman, for a truly beautiful and purely69 feminine nature should be attracted only by what is highest and noblest in the character of man."
"Take now this same bit of moral philosophy," she says, "and apply it to the feminine character, and it reads quite as well:--
"'Feminine independence of mind I hold to be in reality the first requisite for the formation of a character of real feminine worth. The woman who allows herself to be deceived and carried away by her own weakness may be a very amiable person in other respects, but cannot be called a good woman; such beings should not find favor in the eyes of a man, for a truly beautiful and purely manly nature should be attracted only by what is highest and noblest in the character of woman.'"
I have never been able to perceive that there was a quality or grace of character which really belonged exclusively to either sex, or which failed to win honor when wisely exercised by either. It is not thought necessary to have separate editions of books on ethical70 science, the one for man, the other for woman, like almanacs calculated for different latitudes71. The books that vary are not the scientific works, but little manuals of practical application,--"Duties of Men," "Duties of Women." These vary with times and places: where women do not know how to read, no advice on reading will be found in the women's manuals; where it is held wrong for women to uncover the face, it will be laid down in these manuals as a sin. But ethics are ethics: the great principles of morals, as proclaimed either by science or by religion, do not fluctuate for sex; their basis is in the very foundations of right itself.
This grows clearer when we remember that it is equally true in mental science. There is not one logic72 for men, and another for women; a separate syllogism73, a separate induction74: the moment we begin to state intellectual principles, that moment we go beyond sex. We deal then with absolute truth. If an observation is wrong, if a process of reasoning is bad, it makes no difference who brings it forward. Any list of mental processes, any inventory75 of the contents of the mind, would be identical, so far as sex goes, whether compiled by a woman or a man. These things, like the circulation of the blood or the digestion76 of food, belong clearly to the ground held in common. The London "Spectator" well said some time since,--
"After all, knowledge is knowledge; and there is no more a specifically feminine way of describing correctly the origin of the Lollard movement, or the character of Spenser's poetry, than there is a specifically feminine way of solving a quadratic equation, or of proving the forty-seventh problem of Euclid's first book."
All we can say in modification77 of this is, that there is, after all, a foundation for the rather vague item of "manliness" and "womanliness" in these schoolgirl lists of duties. There is a difference, after all is said and done; but it is something that eludes78 analysis, like the differing perfume of two flowers of the same genus and even of the same species. The method of thought must be essentially79 the same in both sexes; and yet an average woman will put more flavor of something we call instinct into her mental action, and the average man something more of what we call logic into his. Whipple tells us that not a man guessed the plot of Dickens's "Great Expectations," while many women did; and this certainly indicates some average difference of quality or method. So the average opinions of a hundred women, on some question of ethics, might very probably differ from the average of a hundred men, while it yet remains true that "the virtues of the man and the woman are the same."
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Blackburn, in his entertaining book, "Artists and Arabs," draws a contrast between Frith's painting of the "Derby Day" and Rosa Bonheur's "Horse Fair,"--"the former pleasing the eye by its cleverness and prettiness, the latter impressing the spectator by its power and its truthful80 rendering81 of animal life. The difference between the two painters is probably more one of education than of natural gifts. But whilst the style of the former is grafted82 on a fashion, the latter is founded on a rock,--the result of a close study of nature, chastened by classic feeling and a remembrance, it may be, of the friezes84 of the Parthenon."
Now it is to be observed that this description runs precisely counter to the popular impression as to the work of the two sexes. Novelists like Charles Reade, for instance, who have apparently seen precisely one woman in their lives, and hardly more than one man, and who keep on sketching85 these two figures most felicitously86 and brilliantly thenceforward, would be apt to assign these qualities of the artist very differently. Their typical man would do the truthful and powerful work, and everybody would say, "How manly!" Their woman would please by cleverness and prettiness, and everybody would say, "How womanly!" Yet Blackburn shows us that these qualities are individual, not sexual; that they result from temperament87, or, he thinks, still more from training. If Rosa Bonheur does better work than Frith, it is not because she is a woman, nor is it in spite of that; but because, setting sex aside, she is a better artist.
This is not denying the distinctions of sex, but only asserting that they are not so exclusive and all-absorbing as is supposed. It is easy to name other grounds of difference which entirely88 ignore those of sex, striking directly across them, and rendering a different classification necessary. It is thus with distinctions of race or color, for instance. An Indian man and woman are at many points more like to each other than is either to a white person of the same sex. A black-haired man and woman, or a fair-haired man and woman, are to be classified together in these physiological89 aspects. So of differences of genius: a man and woman of musical temperament and training have more in common than has either with a person who is of the same sex, but who cannot tell one note from another. So two persons of ardent90 or imaginative temperament are thus far alike, though the gulf91 of sex divides them; and so are two persons of cold or prosaic92 temperament. In a mixed school the teacher cannot class together intellectually the boys as such, and the girls as such: bright boys take hold of a lesson very much as bright girls do, and slow girls as slow boys. Nature is too rich, too full, too varied93, to be content with a single basis of classification: she has a hundred systems of grouping, according to sex, age, race, temperament, training, and so on; and we get but a narrow view of life when we limit our theories to one set of distinctions.
As a matter of social philosophy, this train of thought logically leads to coeducation, impartial94 suffrage95, and free cooperation in all the affairs of life. As a matter of individual duty, it teaches the old moral to "act well your part." No wise person will ever trouble himself or herself much about the limitations of sex in intellectual labor96. Rosa Bonheur was not trying to work like a woman, or like a man, or unlike either, but to do her work thoroughly97 and well. He or she who works in this spirit works nobly, and gives an example which will pass beyond the bounds of sex, and help all. The Abbé Liszt, the most gifted of modern pianists, told a friend of mine, his pupil, that he had learned more of music from hearing Madame Malibran sing, than from anything else whatever.
ANGELIC SUPERIORITY
It is better not to base any plea for woman on the ground of her angelic superiority. The argument proves too much. If she is already so perfect, there is every inducement to let well alone. It suggests the expediency98 of conforming man's condition to hers, instead of conforming hers to man's. If she is a winged creature, and man can only crawl, it is his condition that needs mending.
Besides, one may well be a little incredulous of these vast claims. Granting some average advantage to woman, it is not of such completeness as to base much argument upon it. The minister, looking on his congregation, rarely sees an unmixed angel, either at the head or at the foot of any pew. The domestic servant rarely has the felicity of waiting on an absolute saint at either end of the dinner-table. The lady's-maid has to compare her little observations of human infirmity with those of the valet de chambre. The lover worships the beloved, whether man or woman; but marriage bears rather hard on the ideal in either case; and those who pray out of the same book, "Have mercy upon us, miserable99 sinners," are not supposed to be offering up petitions for each other only.
We all know many women whose lives are made wretched by the sins and follies100 of their husbands. There are also many men whose lives are turned to long wretchedness by the selfishness, the worldliness, or the bad temper of their wives. Domestic tyranny belongs to neither sex by monopoly. If man tortures or depresses woman, she also has a fearful power to corrupt101 and deprave man. On the other hand, to quote old Antisthenes once more, "the virtues of the man and woman are the same." A refined man is more refined than a coarse woman. A child-loving man is infinitely102 tenderer and sweeter toward children than a hard and unsympathetic woman. The very qualities that are claimed as distinctively103 feminine are possessed104 more abundantly by many men than by many of what is called the softer sex.
Why is it necessary to say all this? Because there is always danger that we who believe in the equality of the sexes should be led into over-statements, which will react against ourselves. It is not safe to say that the ballot-box would be reformed if intrusted to feminine votes alone. Had the voters of the South been all women, it would have plunged105 earlier into the gulf of secession, dived deeper, and come up even more reluctantly. Were the women of Spain to rule its destinies unchecked, the Pope would be its master, and the Inquisition might be re?stablished. For all that we can see, the rule of women alone would be as bad as the rule of men alone. It would be as unsafe to give women the absolute control of man as to make man the master of woman.
Let us be a shade more cautious in our reasonings. Woman needs equal rights, not because she is man's better half, but because she is his other half. She needs them, not as an angel, but as a fraction of humanity. Her political education will not merely help man, but it will help herself. She will sometimes be right in her opinions, and sometimes be altogether wrong; but she will learn, as man learns, by her own blunders. The demand in her behalf is that she shall have the opportunity to make mistakes, since it is by that means she must become wise.
In all our towns there is a tendency toward "mixed schools." We rarely hear of the sexes being separated in a school after being once united; but we constantly hear of their being brought together after separation. This union is commonly, but mistakenly, recommended as an advantage to the boys alone. I once heard an accomplished107 teacher remonstrate108 against this change, when thus urged. "Why should my girls be sacrificed," she said, "to improve your boys?" Six months after, she had learned by experience. "Why," she asked, "did you rest the argument on so narrow a ground? Since my school consisted half of boys, I find with surprise that the change has improved both sexes. My girls are more ambitious, more obedient, and more ladylike. I shall never distrust the policy of mixed schools again."
What is true of the school is true of the family and of the state. It is not good for man, or for woman, to be alone. Granting the woman to be, on the whole, the more spiritually minded, it is still true that each sex needs the other. When the rivet109 falls from a pair of scissors, we do not have than mended because either half can claim angelic superiority over the other half, but because it takes two halves to make a whole.
VICARIOUS HONORS
There is a story in circulation--possibly without authority--to the effect that a certain young lady has ascended110 so many Alps that she would have been chosen a member of the English Alpine111 Club but for her misfortune in respect to sex. As a matter of personal recognition, however, and, as it were, of approximate courtesy, her dog, who has accompanied her in all her trips, and is not debased by sex, has been elected into the club. She has therefore an opportunity for exercising in behalf of her dog that beautiful self-abnegation which is said to be a part of woman's nature, impelling112 her always to prefer that her laurels113 should be worn by somebody else.
The dog probably made no objection to these vicarious honors; nor is any objection made by the young gentlemen who reply eloquently114 to the toast, "The Ladies," at public dinners, or who kindly115 consent to be educated at masculine colleges on "scholarships" perhaps founded by women. Those who receive the emoluments116 of these funds must reflect within themselves, occasionally, how grand a thing is this power of substitution given to women, and how pleasant are its occasional results to the substitute. It is doubtless more blessed to give than to receive, but to receive without giving has also its pleasures. Very likely the holder53 of the scholarship, and the orator117 who rises with his hand on his heart to "reply in behalf of the ladies," may do their appointed work well; and so did the Alpine dog. Yet, after all, but for the work done by his mistress, the dog would have won no more honor from the Alpine Club than if he had been a chamois.
Nothing since Artemus Ward62 and his wife's relations has been finer than the generous way in which fathers and brothers disclaim119 all desire for profits or honors on the part of their feminine relatives. In a certain system of schools once known to me, the boys had prizes of money on certain occasions, but the successful girls at those times received simply a testimonial of honor for each; "the committee being convinced," it was said, "that this was more consonant120 with the true delicacy121 and generosity122 of woman's nature." So in the new arrangements for opening the University of Copenhagen to young women, Karl Blind writes to the New York "Evening Post," that it is expressly provided that they shall not "share in the academic benefices and stipends123 which have been set apart for male students." Half of these charities may, for aught that appears, have been established originally by women, like the American scholarships already mentioned. Women, however, can avail themselves of them only by deputy, as the Alp-climbing young lady is represented by her dog.
It is all a beautiful tribute to the disinterestedness124 of woman. The only pity is that this virtue, so much admired, should not be reciprocated125 by showing the like disinterestedness toward her. It does not appear that the butchers and bakers126 of Copenhagen propose to reduce in the case of women students "the benefices and stipends" which are to be paid for daily food. Young ladies at the university are only prohibited from receiving money, not from needing it. Nor will any of the necessary fatigues127 of Alpine climbing be relaxed for any young lady because she is a woman. The fatigues will remain in full force, though the laurels be denied. The mountain-passes will make small account of the "tenderness and delicacy of her sex." When the toil9 is over she will be regarded as too delicate to be thanked for it; but, by way of compensation, the Alpine Club will allow her to be represented by her dog.
THE GOSPEL OF HUMILIATION128
"The silliest man who ever lived," wrote Fanny Fern once, "has always known enough, when he says his prayers, to thank God he was not born a woman." President ---- of ---- College is not a silly man at all, and he is devoting his life to the education of women; yet he seems to feel as vividly129 conscious of his superior position as even Fanny Fern could wish. If he had been born a Jew, he would have thanked God, in the appointed ritual, for not having made him a woman. If he had been a Mohammedan, he would have accepted the rule which forbids "a fool, a madman, or a woman" to summon the faithful to prayer. Being a Christian clergyman, with several hundred immortal130 souls, clothed in female bodies, under his charge, he thinks it his duty, at proper intervals131, to notify his young ladies, that, though they may share with men the glory of being sophomores132, they still are in a position, as regards the other sex, of hopeless subordination. This is the climax133 of his discourse134, which in its earlier portions contains many good and truthful things:--
"And, as the woman is different from the man, so is she relative to him. This is true on the other side also. They are bound together by mutual135 relationship so intimate and vital that the existence of neither is absolutely complete except with reference to the other. But there is this difference, that the relation of woman is, characteristically, that of subordination and dependence67. This does not imply inferiority of character, of capacity, of value, in the sight of God or man; and it has been the glory of woman to have accepted the position of formal inferiority assigned her by the Creator, with all its responsibilities, its trials, its possible outward humiliations and sufferings, in the proud consciousness that it is not incompatible136 with an essential superiority; that it does not prevent her from occupying, if she will, an inward elevation137 of character, from which she may look down with pitying and helpful love on him she calls her lord. Jesus said, 'Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion138 over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even as the Son of man came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom139 for many.' Surely woman need not hesitate to estimate her status by a criterion of dignity sustained by such authority. She need not shrink from a position which was sought by the Son of God, and in whose trials and griefs she will have his sympathy and companionship."
There is a comforting aspect to this discourse, after all. It holds out the hope, that a particularly noble woman may not be personally inferior to a remarkably140 bad husband, but "may look down with pitying and helpful love on him she calls her lord." The drawback is not only that it insults woman by a reassertion of a merely historical inferiority, which is steadily141 diminishing, but that it fortifies142 this by precisely the same talk about the dignity of subordination which has been used to buttress143 every oppression since the world began. Never yet was there a pious144 slaveholder who did not quote to his slaves, on Sunday, precisely the same texts with which President ---- favors his meek145 young pupils. Never yet was there a slaveholder who would not shoot through the head anybody who should attempt to place him in that beautiful position of subjection whose spiritual merits he had just been proclaiming. When it came to that, he was like Thoreau, who believed resignation to be a virtue, but preferred "not to practice it unless it was quite necessary."
Thus, when the Rev40. Charles C. Jones of Savannah used to address the slaves on their condition, he proclaimed the beauty of obedience146 in a way to bring tears to their eyes. And this, he frankly147 assures the masters, is the way to check insurrection and advance their own "pecuniary148 interests." He says of the slave, that under proper religious instruction "his conscience is enlightened and his soul is awed149;... to God he commits the ordering of his lot, and in his station renders to all their dues, obedience to whom obedience, and honor to whom honor. He dares not wrest150 from God his own care and protection. While he sees a preference in the various conditions of men, he remembers the words of the apostle: 'Art thou called being a servant? care not for it; but if thou mayest be free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.'"[1]
I must say that the Rev. Mr. Jones's preaching seems to me precisely as good as Dr.------'s, and that a sensible woman ought to be as much influenced by the one as was Frederick Douglass by the other--that is, not at all. Let the preacher try "subordination" himself, and see how he likes it. The beauty of service, such as Jesus praised, lay in the willingness of the service: a service that is serfdom loses all beauty, whether rendered by man or by woman. My objection to separate schools and colleges for women is that they are too apt to end in such instructions as this.
[Footnote 1: Religious Instruction of the Negroes. Savannah, 1842, pp. 208-211.]
There was once a real or imaginary old lady who had got the metaphor153 of Scylla and Charybdis a little confused. Wishing to describe a perplexing situation, this lady said,--
"You see, my dear, she was between Celery on one side and Cherubs on the other! You know about Celery and Cherubs, don't you? They was two rocks somewhere; and if you didn't hit one, you was pretty sure to run smack154 on the other."
This describes, as a clever writer in the New York "Tribune" declares, the present condition of women who "agitate155." Their Celery and Cherubs are tears and temper. It is a good hit, and we may well make a note of it. It is the danger of all reformers, that they will vibrate between discouragement and anger. When things go wrong, what is it one's impulse to do? To be cast down, or to be stirred up; to wring156 one's hands, or clench157 one's fists,--in short, tears or temper.
"Mother," said a resolute158 little girl of my acquaintance, "if the dinner was all spoiled, I wouldn't sit down, and cry! I'd say, 'Hang it!'" This cherub152 preferred the alternative of temper, on days when the celery turned out badly. Probably her mother was addicted159 to the other practice, and exhibited the tears.
But as this alternative is found to exist for both sexes, and on all occasions, why charge it especially on the woman-suffrage movement? Men are certainly as much given to ill temper as women; and, if they are less inclined to tears, they make it up in sulks, which are just as bad. Nicholas Nickleby, when the pump was frozen, was advised by Mr. Squeers to "content himself with a' dry polish;" and so there is a kind of dry despair into which men fall, which is quite as forlorn as any tears of women. How many a man has doubtless wished at such times that the pump of his lachrymal glands160 could only thaw161 out, and he could give his emotions something more than a "dry polish"! The unspeakable comfort some women feel in sitting for ten minutes with a handkerchief over their eyes! The freshness, the heartiness162, the new life visible in them, when the crying is done, and the handkerchief comes down again!
And, indeed, this simple statement brings us to the real truth, which should have been more clearly seen by the writer who tells this story. She is wrong in saying, "It is urged that men and women stand on an equality, are exactly alike." Many of us urge the "equality:" very few of us urge the "exactly alike." An apple and an orange, a potato and a tomato, a rose and a lily, the Episcopal and the Presbyterian churches, Oxford163 and Cambridge, Yale and Harvard,--we may surely grant equality in each case, without being so exceedingly foolish as to go on and say that they are exactly alike.
And precisely here is the weak point of the whole case, as presented by this writer. Women give way to tears more readily than men? Granted. Is their sex any the weaker for it? Not a bit. It is simply a difference of temperament: that is all. It involves no inferiority. If you think that this habit necessarily means weakness, wait and see! Who has not seen women break down in tears during some domestic calamity164, while the "stronger sex" were calm; and who has not seen those same women, that temporary excitement being over, rise up and dry their eyes, and be thenceforth the support and stay of their households, and perhaps bear up the "stronger sex" as a stream bears up a ship? I said once to an experienced physician, watching such a woman, "That woman is really great."--"Of course she is," he answered; "did you ever see a woman who was not great, when the emergency required?"
Now, will women carry this same quality of temperament into their public career? Doubtless: otherwise they would cease to be women. Will it be betraying confidence if I own that I have seen two of the very bravest women of my acquaintance--women who have swayed great audiences--burst into tears, during a committee meeting, at a moment of unexpected adversity for "the cause"? How pitiable! our critical observers would have thought. In five minutes that April shower had passed, and those women were as resolute and unconquerable as Queen Elizabeth: they were again the natural leaders of those around them; and the cool and tearless men who sat beside them were nothing--men were "a lost art," as some one says--compared with the inexhaustible moral vitality165 of those two women.
No: the dangers of "Celery and Cherubs" are exaggerated. For temper, women are as good as men, and no better. As for tears, long may they flow! They are symbols of that mighty166 distinction of sex which is as ineffaceable and as essential as the difference between land and sea.
In the interesting Buddhist168 book, "The Wheel of the Law," translated by Henry Alabaster169, there is an account of a certain priest who used to bless a great king, saying, "May your majesty170 have the firmness of a crow, the audacity171 of a woman, the endurance of a vulture, and the strength of an ant." The priest then told anecdotes172 illustrating173 all of these qualities. Who has not known occasions wherein some daring woman has been the Joan of Arc of a perfectly174 hopeless cause, taken it up where men shrank, carried it through where they had failed, and conquered by weapons which men would never have thought of using, and would have lacked faith to employ even if put into their hands? The wit, the resources, the audacity of women, have been the key to history and the staple175 of novels, ever since that larger novel called history began to be written.
How is it done? Who knows the secret of their success? All that any man can say is that the heart takes a large share in the magic. Rogers asserts in his "Table-Talk," that often, when doubting how to act in matters of importance, he had received more useful advice from women than from men. "Women have the understanding of the heart," he said, "which is better than that of the head." Then this instinct, that begins from the heart, reaches other hearts also, and through that controls the will. "Win hearts," said Lord Burleigh to Queen Elizabeth, "and you have hands and purses;" and the greatest of English sovereigns, in spite of ugliness and rouge176, in spite of coarseness and cruelty and bad passions, was adored by the nation that she first made great.
It seems to me that women are a sort of cavalry force in the army of mankind. They are not always to be relied upon for that steady "hammering away," which was Grant's one method; but there is a certain Sheridan quality about them, light-armed, audacious, quick, irresistible177. They go before the main army; their swift wits go scouting178 far in advance; they are the first to scent11 danger, or to spy out chances of success. Their charge is like that of a Tartar horde179, or the wild sweep of the Apaches. They are upon you from some wholly unexpected quarter; and this respectable, systematic180, well-drilled masculine force is caught and rolled over and over in the dust, before the man knows what has hit him. Even if repelled181 and beaten off, this formidable cavalry is unconquered: routed and in confusion to-day, it comes back upon you to-morrow--fresh, alert, with new devices, bringing new dangers. In dealing182 with it, as the French complained of the Arabs in Algiers, "Peace is not to be purchased by victory." And, even if all seems lost, with what a brilliant final charge it will cover a retreat!
Decidedly, we need cavalry. In older countries, where it has been a merely undisciplined and irregular force, it has often done mischief183; and public men, from Demosthenes down, have been lamenting184 that measures which the statesman has meditated185 a whole year may be overturned in a day by a woman. Under our American government we have foolishly attempted to leave out this arm of the service altogether; and much of the alleged186 dulness of our American history has come from this attempt. Those who have been trained in the various reforms where woman has taken an equal part--the anti-slavery reform especially--know well how much of the energy, the dash, the daring, of those movements have come from her. A revolution with a woman in it is stronger than the established order that omits her. It is not that she is superior to man, but she is different from man; and we can no more spare her than we could spare the cavalry from an army.
It is a part of the necessary theory of republican government, that every class and race shall be judged by its highest types, not its lowest. The proposition of the French revolutionary statesman, to begin the work of purifying the world by arresting all the cowards and knaves188, is liable to the objection that it would find victims in every circle. Republican government begins at the other end, and assumes that the community generally has good intentions at least, and some common sense, however it may be with individuals. Take the very quality which the newspapers so often deny to women,--the quality of steadiness. "In fact, men's great objection to the entrance of the female mind into politics is drawn189 from a suspicion of its unsteadiness on matters in which the feelings could by any possibility be enlisted190." Thus says the New York "Nation." Let us consider this implied charge against women, and consider it not by generalizing from a single instance,--"just like a woman," as the editors would doubtless say, if a woman had done it,--but by observing whole classes of that sex, taken together.
These classes need some care in selection, for the plain reason that there are comparatively few circles in which women have yet been allowed enough freedom of scope, or have acted sufficiently191 on the same plane with men, to furnish a fair estimate of their probable action, were they enfranchised192. Still there occur to me three such classes,--the anti-slavery women, the Quaker women, and the women who conduct philanthropic operations in our large cities. If the alleged unsteadiness of women is to be felt in public affairs, it would have been felt in these organizations. Has it been so felt?
Of the anti-slavery movement I can personally testify--and I have heard the same point fully193 recognized among my elders, such as Garrison194, Phillips, and Quincy--that the women contributed their full share, if not more than their share, to the steadiness of that movement, even in times when the feelings were most excited, as, for instance, in fugitive-slave cases. Who that has seen mobs practically put down, and mayors cowed into decency195, by the silent dignity of those rows of women who sat, with their knitting, more imperturbable196 than the men, can read without a smile these doubts of the "steadiness" of that sex? Again, among Quaker women, I have asked the opinion of prominent Friends, as of John G. Whittier, whether it has been the experience of that body that women were more flighty and unsteady than men in their official action; and have been uniformly answered in the negative. And finally, as to benevolent197 organizations, a good test is given in the fact,--first pointed118 out, I believe, by that eminently198 practical philanthropist, Rev. Augustus Woodbury of Providence,--that the whole tendency has been, during the last twenty years, to put the management, even the financial control, of our benevolent societies, more and more into the hands of women, and that there has never been the slightest reason to reverse this policy. Ask the secretaries of the various boards of State Charities, or the officers of the Social Science Associations, if they have found reason to complain of the want of steadfast200 qualities in the "weaker sex." Why is it that the legislation of Massachusetts has assigned the class requiring the steadiest of all supervision--the imprisoned201 convicts--to "five commissioners202 of prisons, two of whom shall be women"? These are the points which it would be worthy46 of our journals to consider, instead of hastily generalizing from single instances. Let us appeal from the typical woman of the editorial picture,--fickle, unsteady, foolish,--to the nobler conception of womanhood which the poet Wordsworth found fulfilled in his own household:--
"A being breathing thoughtful breath,
A traveller betwixt life and death;
The reason firm, the temperate will;
A perfect woman, nobly planned
To warn, to comfort, to command,
And yet a spirit still, and bright
With something of an angel light."
When a certain legislature had "School Suffrage" under consideration, the other day, the suggestion was made by one of the pithiest205 and quaintest206 of the speakers, that men were always better for the society of women, and therefore ought to vote in their company. "If all of us," he said, "would stay away from all places where we cannot take our wives and daughters with us, we should keep better company than we now do." This expresses a feeling which grows more and more common among the better class of men, and which is the key to much progress in the condition of women. There can be no doubt that the increased association of the sexes in society, in school, in literature, tends to purify these several spheres of action. Yet, when we come to philosophize on this, there occur some perplexities on the way.
For instance, the exclusion207 of woman from all these spheres was in ancient Greece almost complete; yet the leading Greek poets, as Homer and the tragedians, are exceedingly chaste83 in tone, and in this respect beyond most of the great poets of modern nations. Again, no European nation has quite so far sequestered208 and subordinated women as has Spain; and yet the whole tone of Spanish literature is conspicuously209 grave and decorous. This plainly indicates that race has much to do with the matter, and that the mere106 admission or exclusion of women is but one among several factors. In short, it is easy to make out a case by a rhetorical use of the facts on one side; but, if we look at all the facts, the matter presents greater difficulties.
Again, it is to be noted210 that in several countries the first women who have taken prominent part in literature have been as bad as the men; as, for instance, Marguerite of Navarre and Mrs. Aphra Behn. This might indeed be explained by supposing that they had to gain entrance into literature by accepting the dissolute standards which they found prevailing211. But it would probably be more correct to say that these standards themselves were variable, and that their variation affected212, at certain periods, women as well as men. Marguerite of Navarre wrote religious books as well as merry stories; and we know from Lockhart's Life of Scott, that ladies of high character in Edinburgh used to read Mrs. Behn's tales and plays aloud, at one time, with delight,--although one of the same ladies found, in her old age, that she could not read them to herself without blushing. Shakespeare puts coarse repartees into the mouths of women of stainless213 virtue. George Sand is not considered an unexceptionable writer; but she tells us in her autobiography214 that she found among her grandmother's papers poems and satires215 so indecent that she could not read them through, and yet they bore the names of abbés and gentlemen whom she remembered in her childhood as models of dignity and honor. Voltaire inscribes216 to ladies of high rank, who doubtless regarded it as a great compliment, verses such as not even a poet of the English "fleshly school" would now print at all. In "Poems by Eminent199 Ladies,"--published in 1755 and reprinted in 1774,--there are one or two poems as gross and disgusting as anything in Swift; yet their authors were thought reputable women. Allan Ramsay's "Tea-Table Miscellany"--a collection of English and Scottish songs--was first published in 1724; and in his preface to the sixteenth edition the editor attributes its great success, especially among the ladies, to the fact that he has carefully excluded all grossness, "that the modest voice and ear of the fair singer might meet with no affront217;" and adds, "the chief bent218 of all my studies being to attain219 their good graces." There is no doubt of the great popularity enjoyed by the book in all circles; yet it contains a few songs which the most licentious220 newspaper would not now publish. The inference is irresistible, from this and many other similar facts, that the whole tone of manners and decency has very greatly improved among the European races within a century and a half.
I suspect the truth to be, that, besides the visible influence of race and religion, there has been an insensible and almost unconscious improvement in each sex, with respect to these matters, as time has passed on; and that the mutual desire to please has enabled each sex to help the other,--the sex which is naturally the more refined taking the lead. But I should lay more stress on this mutual influence, and less on mere feminine superiority, than would be laid by many. It is often claimed by teachers that co-education helps not only boys, but also girls, to develop greater propriety221 of manners. When the sexes are wholly separate, or associate on terms of entire inequality, no such good influence occurs: the more equal the association, the better for both parties. After all, the Divine model is to be found in the family; and the best ingenuity222 cannot improve much upon it.
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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automaton
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| n.自动机器，机器人 | |
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satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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ascents
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| n.上升( ascent的名词复数 )；（身份、地位等的）提高；上坡路；攀登 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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embroider
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| v.刺绣于(布)上；给…添枝加叶，润饰 | |
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hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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covet
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| vt.垂涎；贪图(尤指属于他人的东西) | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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intrude
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| vi.闯入；侵入；打扰，侵扰 | |
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inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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punctured
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| v.在（某物）上穿孔( puncture的过去式和过去分词 )；刺穿（某物）；削弱（某人的傲气、信心等）；泄某人的气 | |
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elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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justified
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| a.正当的，有理的 | |
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exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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trench
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| n./v.(挖)沟，(挖)战壕 | |
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adage
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| n.格言，古训 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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fortify
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| v.强化防御，为…设防；加强，强化 | |
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inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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allude
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| v.提及，暗指 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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naturalist
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| n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者) | |
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degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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reprehensible
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| adj.该受责备的 | |
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riotous
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| adj.骚乱的；狂欢的 | |
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folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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51
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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holder
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| n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物 | |
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inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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exhale
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| v.呼气，散出，吐出，蒸发 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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manliness
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| 刚毅 | |
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analyzed
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| v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析 | |
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ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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illustrates
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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ethical
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| adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的 | |
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71
latitudes
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| 纬度 | |
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72
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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73
syllogism
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| n.演绎法，三段论法 | |
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74
induction
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| n.感应，感应现象 | |
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75
inventory
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| n.详细目录，存货清单 | |
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76
digestion
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| n.消化，吸收 | |
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77
modification
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| n.修改，改进，缓和，减轻 | |
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78
eludes
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| v.（尤指机敏地）避开( elude的第三人称单数 )；逃避；躲避；使达不到 | |
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79
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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80
truthful
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| adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的 | |
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81
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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82
grafted
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| 移植( graft的过去式和过去分词 )； 嫁接； 使（思想、制度等）成为（…的一部份）； 植根 | |
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83
chaste
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| adj.贞洁的；有道德的；善良的；简朴的 | |
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84
friezes
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| n.（柱顶过梁和挑檐间的）雕带，（墙顶的）饰带( frieze的名词复数 ) | |
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85
sketching
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| n.草图 | |
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86
felicitously
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| adv.恰当地，适切地 | |
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87
temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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88
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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89
physiological
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| adj.生理学的，生理学上的 | |
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90
ardent
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，强烈的，烈性的 | |
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91
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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92
prosaic
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| adj.单调的，无趣的 | |
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93
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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94
impartial
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| adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的 | |
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95
suffrage
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| n.投票，选举权，参政权 | |
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96
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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97
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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98
expediency
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| n.适宜；方便；合算；利己 | |
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99
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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100
follies
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| 罪恶，时事讽刺剧； 愚蠢，蠢笨，愚蠢的行为、思想或做法( folly的名词复数 ) | |
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101
corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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102
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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103
distinctively
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| adv.特殊地，区别地 | |
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104
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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105
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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106
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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107
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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108
remonstrate
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| v.抗议，规劝 | |
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109
rivet
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| n.铆钉；vt.铆接，铆牢；集中(目光或注意力) | |
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110
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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111
alpine
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| adj.高山的；n.高山植物 | |
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112
impelling
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| adj.迫使性的，强有力的v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的现在分词 ) | |
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113
laurels
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| n.桂冠，荣誉 | |
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114
eloquently
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| adv. 雄辩地(有口才地, 富于表情地) | |
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115
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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116
emoluments
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| n.报酬，薪水( emolument的名词复数 ) | |
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117
orator
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| n.演说者，演讲者，雄辩家 | |
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118
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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119
disclaim
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| v.放弃权利，拒绝承认 | |
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120
consonant
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| n.辅音；adj.[音]符合的 | |
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121
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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122
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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123
stipends
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| n.（尤指牧师的）薪俸( stipend的名词复数 ) | |
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124
disinterestedness
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125
reciprocated
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|
| v.报答，酬答( reciprocate的过去式和过去分词 )；（机器的部件）直线往复运动 | |
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126
bakers
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| n.面包师( baker的名词复数 )；面包店；面包店店主；十三 | |
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127
fatigues
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|
| n.疲劳( fatigue的名词复数 )；杂役；厌倦；（士兵穿的）工作服 | |
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128
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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129
vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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130
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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131
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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132
sophomores
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| n.（中等、专科学校或大学的）二年级学生( sophomore的名词复数 ) | |
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133
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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134
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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135
mutual
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|
| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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136
incompatible
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|
| adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的 | |
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137
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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138
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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139
ransom
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|
| n.赎金，赎身；v.赎回，解救 | |
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140
remarkably
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|
| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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141
steadily
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|
| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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142
fortifies
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| 筑防御工事于( fortify的第三人称单数 )； 筑堡于； 增强； 强化（食品） | |
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143
buttress
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| n.支撑物；v.支持 | |
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144
pious
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|
| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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145
meek
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|
| adj.温顺的，逆来顺受的 | |
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146
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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147
frankly
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|
| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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148
pecuniary
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|
| adj.金钱的；金钱上的 | |
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149
awed
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| adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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150
wrest
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| n.扭，拧，猛夺；v.夺取，猛扭，歪曲 | |
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151
cherubs
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| 小天使，胖娃娃( cherub的名词复数 ) | |
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152
cherub
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| n.小天使，胖娃娃 | |
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153
metaphor
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| n.隐喻，暗喻 | |
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154
smack
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| vt.拍，打，掴；咂嘴；vi.含有…意味；n.拍 | |
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155
agitate
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|
| vi.(for,against)煽动，鼓动；vt.搅动 | |
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156
wring
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| n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭 | |
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157
clench
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| vt.捏紧（拳头等），咬紧（牙齿等），紧紧握住 | |
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158
resolute
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|
| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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159
addicted
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| adj.沉溺于....的，对...上瘾的 | |
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160
glands
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| n.腺( gland的名词复数 ) | |
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161
thaw
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| v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和 | |
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162
heartiness
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| 诚实，热心 | |
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163
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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164
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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165
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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166
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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167
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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168
Buddhist
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| adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒 | |
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169
alabaster
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| adj.雪白的；n.雪花石膏；条纹大理石 | |
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170
majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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171
audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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172
anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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173
illustrating
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的现在分词 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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174
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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175
staple
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| n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类 | |
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176
rouge
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| n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红 | |
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177
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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178
scouting
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| 守候活动，童子军的活动 | |
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179
horde
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| n.群众，一大群 | |
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180
systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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181
repelled
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| v.击退( repel的过去式和过去分词 )；使厌恶；排斥；推开 | |
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182
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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183
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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184
lamenting
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| adj.悲伤的，悲哀的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的现在分词 ) | |
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185
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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186
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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187
temperate
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| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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188
knaves
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| n.恶棍，无赖( knave的名词复数 )；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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189
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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190
enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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191
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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192
enfranchised
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| v.给予选举权( enfranchise的过去式和过去分词 )；（从奴隶制中）解放 | |
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193
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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194
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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195
decency
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| n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重 | |
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196
imperturbable
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| adj.镇静的 | |
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197
benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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198
eminently
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| adv.突出地；显著地；不寻常地 | |
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199
eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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200
steadfast
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| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
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imprisoned
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| 下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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202
commissioners
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| n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 )；长官；委员；政府部门的长官 | |
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203
foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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204
allures
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| 诱引，吸引( allure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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pithiest
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| adj.简练的，精辟的，简洁扼要的( pithy的最高级 ) | |
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quaintest
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| adj.古色古香的( quaint的最高级 )；少见的，古怪的 | |
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exclusion
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| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
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sequestered
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| adj.扣押的；隐退的；幽静的；偏僻的v.使隔绝，使隔离( sequester的过去式和过去分词 )；扣押 | |
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conspicuously
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| ad.明显地，惹人注目地 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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prevailing
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| adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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stainless
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| adj.无瑕疵的，不锈的 | |
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autobiography
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| n.自传 | |
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satires
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| 讽刺，讥讽( satire的名词复数 )； 讽刺作品 | |
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inscribes
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的第三人称单数 ) | |
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affront
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| n./v.侮辱，触怒 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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licentious
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| adj.放纵的，淫乱的 | |
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propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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