“Have you not observed how the customs of ancient rude barbarism corrupted the manners of woman and obliterated all those virtues and excellencies for which she is especially designed by nature?  It was deemed most opprobrious for woman to learn to read and write, to say nothing of other arts.  It was thought indispensable to bind upon her mouth the fetters of profound silence so that none ever heard her voice but her own coarse husband, and the walls of the enclosure in which she was kept imprisoned.  She had no liberty of thought or action.  Every woman’s thoughts were limited by the thoughts of her husband, and her character was cast in the mould of his, whether that were good or bad.  And in addition to this, she always suffered from whatever of rudeness there might be in her rough companion, who availed himself of his superior brute physical strength as a weapon to overcome her moral power.  He scourged and cursed and despised her in every possible way, when she was innocent of crime or error.  As a result of this course, her own self respect, and the feeling that she was abused and insulted by her companion or partner, led her oftentimes to cast off all shame and modesty, whenever a suitable opportunity presented itself.  This grew out of the fact that she no longer regarded herself as the companion of her husband and the sharer of all his natural and moral rights, his joys and sorrows, but she rather imagined herself his captive and bond slave.  She thus sank to the position of a slave-woman who is never allowed peace or rest, and cares nothing for the training of her children or the ordering of her house, since she looks upon herself as a stranger in a home not her own, and we all know how difficult it is for a slave to perform the duties of the free!

“On the other hand, have you not observed how the influence of modern civilization is corrupting the nature of woman and making havoc with her morals?

“There is nothing strange in this, for her delicate nature, when it had escaped from the chains and imprisonment of the mildest barbarism, into the open free arena of civilization, lost its reckoning, and wandered hither and thither in bewilderment according to its own unrestrained passions.  Woman thus became like a feather, ’Borne on the tempest wherever it blows, and driven about where no one knows.’

“Now since evil images and objects are far more numerous in this world than those which are good, it becomes evident that the influence of evil upon the mind of woman is stronger and more abiding than the influence of the good, owing to this intense delicacy of texture in her mental constitution.  Let us suppose that one man and one woman were placed in a position where they should only see evil deeds, or only good deeds:  the woman would leave that place either vastly worse than the man, or vastly better.  Now the moral misconduct of woman is far more detrimental to the propagation of the race, than is the misconduct