In pristine days woman was, naturally and necessarily, the property, the chattel, of the man:  marriage was not then a matrimonial syndicate of two:  marriage meant that a woman sought a provider, a supporter, a defender; the man a mate for his delight, his comfort, and his solace, a keeper op is cave or hut, a mother and nurse for his heirs.  And provision, support, and defense, being, in pristine days, matters of strength, prowess, or cunning, naturally and necessarily pristine man 65 gained him and kept him a mate by strength, prowess, or cunning; he regarded that mate as his by right of force, not as a partner in a compact.  And

The most complicated of modern communities has no whit altered the relationship of man to mate, conceal though it may the origin and history of marriage.  Finally,

No woman at the bottom of her heart has any objection to being owned.  Indeed (though no woman would say it, a man may),

Every woman at the bottom of her heart delights to be owned, and tacitly and secretly seeks the man who she thinks will glory in that ownership and keep his property safe—­not only from material harms, but from temptations to changes of ownership.  In which last little fact lies a curious truth.

Women like to be defended against themselves.  In this little matter men and women differ:  That any other man should dare for one instant to covet or alienate (5) that most precious of his possessions, his mate, —­nothing rouses to a higher pitch man’s unappeasable wrath than this;

Against the man so daring, a woman’s wrath is never roused:  rather she regards him as one having discernment, and his daring is a commendable compliment to herself.  In fine, and in short,

Allegiance, to a man, on the part of a woman, means, in her eyes, loyalty to him who properly exercises the right of ownership.  In simple truth,

A woman gives herself to a man:  to the man who proves himself worthy the gift, she is true.

And this is why women, all women, even the New ones, love being petted and admired and made much of all their lives:  this but proves the possession of the gift to be appreciated.  Besides,

The male is the dominant animal—­not necessarily in his cave or his hut, —­by no means, but in the stress and struggle of life; and women tacitly (though never openly) look up to and admire this dominance, even when exercised over themselves; since this, in turn, proves the masterfulness, the worth, of the man; albeit sometimes they rebel against it if carried to far.  At least,

Unless a man continues to exhibit his appreciation of the gift by word as well as by deed, the woman is apt to imagine that that appreciation is on the wane.

(5) How women must laugh in their sleeves at the fact that one man may sue another in a court of law for “alienating his wife’s affections”!

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IV.  On Love