She will be very lonely while living with her husband. She must not
expect to open her heart to him fully, or that, after marriage, he
will be capable of the refined service of love. The man is not born
for the woman, only the woman for the man. "Men cannot understand the
hearts of women." The life of Woman must be outwardly a
well-intentioned, cheerful dissimulation of her real life.
Naturally, the feelings of the mother, at the birth of a female child,
resemble those of the Paraguay woman, described by Southey as
lamenting in such heart-breaking tones that her mother did not kill
her the hour she was born,--"her mother, who knew what this life of a
woman must be;"--or of those women seen at the north by Sir A.
Mackenzie, who performed this pious duty towards female infants
whenever they had an opportunity.
"After the first delight, the young mother experiences feelings a
little different, according as the birth of a son or a daughter has
been announced.
"Is it a son? A sort of glory swells at this thought the heart of the
mother; she seems to feel that she is entitled to gratitude. She has
given a citizen, a defender, to her country; to her husband an heir of
his name; to herself a protector.
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