Did man keep his head, would woman be quite so sure of his heart?  Yet it may be that in these matter woman is liable to err, since

Rarely, if ever, does a woman’s heart run away with her head.  When it does—­

Ah! the momentary bliss of an unreasoning emotion!  Yet

Woman does right to keep her head, for

Almost every woman’s happiness depends upon what she does with her heart—­unless indeed she elects to go through life homeless, childless, and unenspoused; for

Though it is the wife that makes the home, it is the man who must provide for it.  And since

Man, by nature, is probably nomadic and polygamic; not his to debate whether to give rein to emotion.  Woman, by nature, is in far different case: 

For the sake of her child, woman must bind the nomad to herself.  Accordingly,

It is woman who is the true agglutinator and civilizer of society.  Therefore, it comes about that

To order wisely her emotions is the inherited instinct of woman.  Wherefore,

Woman is the conserver of the nation—­and this in more senses than one.

* * * * *

IX.  On Men and Women

“Dio fa gli uomini, e e’ s’ appaino.” 
—­Salviati

There are two elements of character which a man should possess, develop, and maintain unstained if he would find favor in feminine eyes:  the first is bravery; the second, indomitableness of resolution.  So likewise,

There are two elements of character which a woman should possess, develop, and maintain unstained if she would find favor in masculine eyes:  the first is sympathy; the second, sweetness of temper.

* * *

A curious and latent hostility divides the sexes.  It seems as they could not approach each other without alarums and excursions.  Always the presence of the one rouses anxiety in the breast of the other; they stand to arms; they resort to tactics; they maneuver.  And,

Men and women approach each other vizored and in armor.  But it is often only to conceal the craven heart that beats beneath the brazen cuirass.

* * *

Men judge of women, not so much by their intrinsic worth, as by the impression women make upon them.  And women know this, since All women are alive to the fact that the impressing (1) of men is the important function of life.  Accordingly,

Great stress is, and is naturally, laid by women upon dress and the subtleties of the toilette.  For,

In matters of the heart man is led by the heart and not by the head. (2) And why not?  Since

It is generally a sweet-heart, not a hard head, that a man wants.  In short,

Men are oftener vanquished by a look than by logic; by a gracious smile than by good sense; by manner and even by dress than by mental development or depth.  This is to say,