That makes no difference. It is not Woman, but the law of right, the
law of growth, that speaks in us, and demands the perfection of each
being in its kind--apple as apple, Woman as Woman. Without adopting
your theory, I know that I, a daughter, live through the life of Man;
but what concerns me now is, that my life be a beautiful, powerful, in
a word, a complete life in its kind. Had I but one more moment to live
I must wish the same.
Suppose, at the end of your cycle, your great world-year, all will be
completed, whether I exert myself or not (and the supposition is
_false_,--but suppose it true), am I to be indifferent about it?
Not so! I must beat my own pulse true in the heart of the world; for
_that_ is virtue, excellence, health.
Thou, Lord of Day! didst leave us to-night so calmly glorious, not
dismayed that cold winter is coming, not postponing thy beneficence to
the fruitful summer! Thou didst smile on thy day's work when it was
done, and adorn thy down-going as thy up-rising, for thou art loyal,
and it is thy nature to give life, if thou canst, and shine at all
events!
I stand in the sunny noon of life. Objects no longer glitter in the
dews of morning, neither are yet softened by the shadows of evening.
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