CASTLE IN SEX.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 163, 24 May 1873, Page 2

CASTLE IN SEX.

Evev to-<lay the spirit of caste in sex prevails in the education of women both iv England and America. xNever till the human race outgrows it, can simple juatiee Ixs mete<l to woman in any life or work that 9he atempts. Never till she commands her faculties and functions, as man commands his , an she be judged justly in love, m learning, in labour, in cieative art. Never till she has outgrown ami outlived the caste of sex i» herself cm she command the hi!»h justice which all women long fop and a few so loudly demand. She lias yet to reah/se— or, at least, to- act as if she- realized — that, whatever ideal of excellence a woumu commands, sire must command it as a woman, not as man. Ever since the world was made women have been abused for being women, till the brightest of them have come to« despise their own sex, t«» apologise for ifc, to abuse ifc or to try to be above it. for centuries a woman, believed the highest compliment any man could pay her was to tell her she was " superior- to her sex." If shewas ambitious, and wanted to do something great, ahe tried to do it like a man ; aTid of course made a miserable failure. To-day the most " advanced " women think it necessary to talk and act like men, as if there were anyspecial honour in that ! A witty woman anxious to impress a man with her wit, in nine eases out of ten falls to ridculing her own sex, its weaknesses ami foibles. The m.vn may laugh, lie miy even admire her brilliancy, but by so much must she sink in his esteem, if he holds her to his own code of hmior If not too sself-absorberd r she would notice that he offers her no antithesis by rediculiug his own sex. A man is proud of being a man. He has pr d ; of sex ; he holds Ins own in honor. In ninecases out of ten a man is true to all other men. He will hide rather titan expose the fanlta- of men ; if he cannot justify them, at least he covers them with silence. A woman, if not ashamed or sorry that she is a woman, is so imbued with the conviction that her sex is held in latent contempt tliat she defecates or apologises for it, if only to prove the man with whom she converses that, she is- superior or nvliffeient to it that by so much she personally may rise in his estimation. A lace that does not believe in itself can never rise above the level of slavery. A set f \Ue to its own highest possibility, a sex not true to itself, must accept degradation. A woman would despise a m.vn who habitually ridiculed or sneered at men. at whatever work they did or attempted, however poorly done ; she would despise him as man false to bis own sox, to lite own manhood. Is it any less false- or despicable for a woman to do the same thing? The unity of manhood mak.es h.vlf it< grandeur. The unlandness or indifference of woman to woman makes lialf the weakness of wonnnhood. When women are as true to women, as men are to men — as a glory, net as a shame— then, atid not till then, will they rise to the dignity of a united, concentrated, distinctive force in the universe. Then, and not till then, can the masculine and feminine soul reign in harmony. Then women will be content and prouct to reign as woman ; she will Live no desire to lise above man ; will see no special advantage in being like liitn.