"
Yes! let us give up all artificial means of distortion. Let life be
healthy, pure, all of a piece. Miss Sedgwick, in teaching that
domestics must have the means of bathing us much as their mistresses,
and time, too, to bathe, has symbolized one of the most important of
human rights.
Another interesting sign of the time is the influence exercised by two
women, Miss Martineau and Miss Barrett, from their sick-rooms. The
lamp of life which, if it had been fed only by the affections,
depended on precarious human relations, would scarce have been able to
maintain a feeble glare in the lonely prison, now shines far and wide
over the nations, cheering fellow-sufferers and hallowing the joy of
the healthful.
These persons need not health or youth, or the charms of personal
presence, to make their thoughts available. A few more such, and "old
woman" [Footnote: An apposite passage is quoted in Appendix F.] shall
not be the synonyme for imbecility, nor "old maid" a term of
contempt, nor Woman be spoken of as a reed shaken by the wind.
It is time, indeed, that men and women both should cease to grow old
in any other way than as the tree does, full of grace and honor.
Pages:
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205