What I demand is an education in the true sense of
the word, and that as much at the hands of their mothers as of the
school-teacher. When that custom has been established, be sure that
it will affect enormously the habits and views of the male
population. The mass of men at present regard women as creatures
hoodwinked for them by nature--or at all events by society. When
they can no longer act on that assumption, interest and, let us
hope, an expanding sense of honour will lead them to see the
marriage contract, and all connected with it, in altogether a
different light."
He drank off a glass of water, listening the while to resonant
applause. There was still twenty minutes, and he decided to use the
time in offering solace to the army of women who, by force of mere
statistics, are fated to the frustration of their _raison
d'etre_. On this subject he had nothing very remarkable to say,
and, indeed, the maiden ladies who heard him must have felt that it
all amounted to a pitying shrug of the shoulders. But he could not
speak otherwise than vigorously, and at times his words were
eloquent.
"We know not how things may improve in the future," (thus he
perorated), "but let celibate ladies of the present bear in mind
that the chances are enormously against their making a marriage
worthy of the name." ("Oh!" from some man at the back.
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