Never had she directed her agents to make a single
false speculation, when it had been the question how to invest funds,
with which good souls were constantly endowing the society of Saint
Mary. She had established in the house a degree of order, of
discipline, and, above all, of economy, that were indeed remarkable;
the constant aim of all her exertions being, not to enrich herself,
but the community over which she presided; for the spirit of
association, when it is directed to an object of _collective
selfishness_, gives to corporations all the faults and vices of
individuals."
* * * * *
E.
The following is an extract from a letter addressed to me by one of
the monks of the nineteenth century. A part I have omitted, because it
does not express my own view, unless with qualifications which I could
not make, except by full discussion of the subject.
"Woman in the Nineteenth Century should be a pure, chaste, holy being.
"This state of being in Woman is no more attained by the expansion of
her intellectual capacity, than by the augmentation of her physical
force.
"Neither is it attained by the increase or refinement of her love for
Man, or for any object whatever, or for all objects collectively; but
"This state of being is attained by the reference of all her powers
and all her actions to the source of Universal Love, whose constant
requisition is a pure, chaste and holy life.
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