----------------------------------------
---------   ,transcriber's ,note3       
,obvious typographic errors have been   
corrected4                              
----------------------------------------
---------      ,,modern ,,woman    ,,her
 ,,intentions    ,,by    ,,florence     
,,farr    ,illustration3 ,logo          
,,london ,,frank ,,palmer #ab-ad ,,red  
,,lion ,,court           ,another fire  
has come into the harp1       ,fire from
 beyond the world1 and wakens it3       
,it has begun to cry out to the eagles6 
,w4 ,b4 ,,yeats1                 ,second
 version of 8,shadowy ,waters40         
,first published #aiaj4 ,all rights     
reserved          ,,contents            
,,preface     ,mr4 ,galsworthy's toy    
dog--,jewish religion--,embryology  page
 #g      ,i    ,,the ,,vote     ,latent 
period before explosion--,refusal of the
 vote   has given impetus to            
revolutionary enthusiasm--,thin   end of
 the wedge--,ingenuity of women--,a     
working woman and the hospital          

official's   chivalry--,thirty-two      
million workers1 half-million           
independent means1 two million of idle  
spinsters   in ,england and ,wales--,our
 wants                              #ae 
,,ii    ,,women',s ,,incomes            
,lucrative professions for women--,opera
 singing--,theatrical1   ,literature1   
,medical1 ,expert1 and   average        
incomes--,other work--,independent      
incomes--,marriage   for                
money--,courtesans1 prostitutes1   and  
riff-raff--,economic independence is a  
way of ennobling sex                    
relations--,marriage often   settles    
down into business partnership--,the    
working   man's wife--,eugenic          
advantages of economic                  
independence--,racial and social ideals 
are opposed   to each other at present  
#be      ,,iii    ,,the ,,variations    
,,of ,,love     ,the difficulty of a    
lasting attachment--,enthusiasm   of    
youth--,english girls apt to mistake    
interest for   love--,the virtuous      

wife--,the flow and ebb of the   tide of
 love--,permanent relations often       
founded   on mutual contempt--,jealousy 
of relations--,mr4   ,harold ,gorst's   
,philosophy of ,love--,the marriage     
tie must persist because it suits one   
half of the   population--,six million  
bachelors and seven   million spinsters 
in ,england and ,wales--,the   ostracism
 of the unfaithful is more often the    
cause   of disease becoming serious than
 infidelity--,the   emotional           
degradation of a loveless marriage      
#cc      ,,iv    ,,the ,,sordid         
,,divorce     ,marriage laws to be      
reformed--,binding marriage in   the    
,catholic ,church--,bond of             
parenthood--,the   bond between the     
unattractive people--,heiresses--,the   
childless--,the extraordinarily         
attractive--,sordidness   of ,english   
divorce--,restitution of conjugal       
rights--,suggested reform--,agreement in
   wishing for divorce should be the    
first cause for   it--,questions of     

fortune or wealth to be fought out   on 
economic grounds--,boredom the chief    
reason   that people part1 but too      
insulting to be mentioned   in          
public--,french dot--,sale of           
beauty--,sale of   helpmate--,fixed     
allowance for 8bed0 and fixed           
allowance for 8board0--,the birth of    
child should   automatically make a bond
 as in remote country   places--,the    
,saturday orgy and prudence--,drugging  
and prudence--,the police court and the 
wife's housekeeping money--,a romance of
 the   mining world                     
#da      ,v    ,,the ,,green ,,houses   
,,of ,,japan     ,edmond de ,goncourt's 
account of courtesans in ,tokio--,urgent
   danger of delay in reform--,fear of  
the   spread of contagious disease--,a  
trades union for   prostitutes--,the    
good of ,public ,health in this   matter
 the good of future generations--,clean 
bill   of health gives special          
susceptibility--,les                    
,avaris--,anti-social rage--,the various

 moral standards   of women--,dangers of
 promiscuity not so great   as the      
dangers of a cut finger or chapped      
lip--,the   sale of                     
virginity--,intoxication leads to       
promiscuity1 but it is not natural to   
the average   woman--,the ardour of a   
fresh lover her greatest                
temptation--,is charm of value as a     
racial factor8   ,the attitude of       
marrying women                          
#ec      ,,vi    ,,beauty ,,and         
,,motherhood     ,the terror of         
motherhood--,women will                 
specialize--,lovers   of men and lovers 
of children--,a woman   has an instinct 
for the right father for her child2     
but often chooses a bad lifelong        
companion for   herself--,useless old   
ethical codes--,practical suggestion    
for race betterment--,sterilization of  
the   unfit--,education in the laws of  
sexual health--,motherly   women with no
 chance of children--,unmotherly   women
 attractive to men and very   good      

helpmates--,surgical aid for the        
tuberculosis                            
child-producer--,prejudices--,intellectu
al education           #fc      ,,vii   
,,the ,,new ,,psychology     ,life      
,consciousness--,the ,man1 the ,insect1 
the ,tree   are representatives of      
,intellect1 ,instinct1 and   ,torpid    
,consciousness--,henri ,bergson and     
,william   ,james--,the interplay of the
 three kinds of                         
consciousness--,motherhood and the      
vegetative   consciousness--,choosing   
the mate and the instinctive            
consciousness--,the ,matriarchal        
civilization--,the   surprises instinct 
prepares for intellect in dreams   and  
inventions                              
#gj      ,,viii    ,,the ,,imaginative  
,,woman     ,physical love1             
reproduction--,emotional love1 a        
satisfaction or enjoyment--,scientific  
curiosity   about love--,philosophic and
 sympathetic understanding   of all     
sorts of love--,imaginative love   makes

 the consciousness elemental--,the glory
   and danger of imagination--,vicarious
 imagination   in reading--,the         
middle-aged suppress imagination   in   
the young--,saintly beauty--,philosophy1
   ,criticism1 ,sensuousness1 and       
commonplace life--,madness1   ,folly1   
,drink1 ,drugging--,the imaginative     
man is womanly in these                 
respects--,weiningen's   ,sex and       
,character--,forel1 ,bloch--,mr4        
,austen ,chamberlain                    
#gh      ,,ix    ,,experiments          
,solitude and family--,the home--,the   
gay societies   of the past--,solemn    
experiments in love--,civilization   a  
protection from1 or concealment of1 the 
animal necessities--,eating in          
public--,privacy--,when   truth is      
goodness--,useful conventions--,saint   
,teresa and her men friends--,lead the  
way   if you want to make an experiment2
 if you want   to follow anyone1 it is a
 sign you should follow the   herd      
#hd      ,x    ,,the ,,savage1 ,,the    

,,barbarian1 ,,the ,,civilized     ,the 
,spaniard1 the ,russian1 the            
,parisian--,intellect1   art1 morals1   
religion1 and                           
women--,conspicuousness--,the   fight   
against the patriarchal goat--,the      
passing love--,the necessity of many    
friends--,the   real play of the life to
 come                                #ia
          ,,preface      ,there is a    
great difficulty in writing of the women
 of the first ten  years of the         
twentieth century4 ,this is to be the   
,woman's ,century4 ,in  it she is to    
awake from her long sleep and come into 
her kingdom2 but  when ,i look about me 
,i find myself surrounded by the most   
terribly  contradictory facts4 ,we know 
there is to be a revaluation of all     
values--we know that old rubbish is to  
be burnt up1 that the social  world is  
to be melted down and remoulded 8nearer 
to the heart's  desire02 but at the same
 time we have to recognize that in spite
 of the  enthusiasm of the alchemists   

and the transmuters of base metal into  
gold1 the main body of society is as yet
 hardly aware of the fire that  is to   
burn it4    ,in writing of this change  
,i have to explain to one set of women1 
who  will think me outrageously         
advanced1 my opinions of another set of 
women1 who will think me absurdly       
conventional4    ,i think ,i had better 
own up at once that as an artist ,i am  
prejudiced  against the exhibition of   
the necessities of nature4 ,i am like   
,mr4  ,galsworthy's little toy terrier1 
who disliked the strong odours of real  
life4 ,yet at the same time ,i have a   
passion for the discussion of life2  the
 salt of wit makes me enjoy the         
strongest flavours4 ,so ,i present      
myself and my limitations to my readers1
 hoping that my fervid faith in  the    
delight of the communion of thoughts1   
emotions1 and sympathies will  make up  
for my lack of conviction in some other 
directions4    ,before we proceed any   
further ,i think ,i ought to point out  

that the  degradation of women in the   
past originated in the region of the    
country round ,mount ,ararat4 ,the      
lowering of their status occurred  when 
the white races adopted the ,assyrian   
,semite's ,scriptures4 ,the  ,christian 
religion brought us that curse cowering 
behind its gospel of  glad tidings2 and 
it is most remarkable to trace the way  
in which the  ,jews' religion crept into
 ,europe under the cloak of             
,christianity4 ,in  heaven1 the ,gospel 
says1 there is love1 but neither        
marriage or giving  in marriage4 ,are we
 to wait for heaven or the millennium   
before the  present system of marrying  
and selling in marriage shall be        
abolished8  ,everyone who has read a    
modern encyclopdia is familiar with the 
fact that the first chapters of ,genesis
 are made up of two different           
narratives4 ,one1 called the ,priestly  
narrative1 from the beginning to  the   
first part of the fourth verse of the   
second chapter of ,genesis1  and        

continued in the first five verses of   
the fifth chapter4 ,there is  nothing   
derogatory to women in this narrative4  
,the unpleasant details  about ,adam and
 ,eve are in the ,prophetic narrative1  
which is given  from the second part of 
the fourth verse of the second chapter  
to the  twenty-sixth verse of the fourth
 chapter4 ,the ,jews have taken         
advantage  of the confusion of these two
 contradictory stories to fix the blame 
of all social evils on ,eve1 just as the
 ,hesiod1 influenced by ,eastern        
legend1 fixed it on ,pandora4 ,these    
myths come from the same region1 a      
region in which women were kept entirely
 for the amusement and service  of men1 
and were humbled by every kind of insult
 that the ,semite mind  could invent4   
,women have a very long score to settle 
with the ,jews and  the ,mahommedans4   
,even ,hindoo women were comparatively  
respected and  free until the           
,mahommedans brought their ideas into   
,hindostan4 ,and ,i  am told that in    

nearly every city of ill-fame in the    
world the profits  arising from the     
procuring of girls are collected by the 
,chosen ,nation4  ,the ,semites founded 
their opinion of women on fabulous      
legends and  false science4 ,they assert
 that man gives the spirit and woman the
  matter to the child4 ,embryology has  
now taught us that the parents  make    
exactly equal contributions of          
chromatin1 or the active element1  to   
the original cell from which a child    
develops4 ,it has taught us  that1      
originally1 cells are capable of        
self-reproduction2 that sex is  not     
always a vital necessity1 but often a   
device for securing variety4  ,it has   
taught us by experiment that boys come  
from their mother's  right side1 and    
girls from her left side1 and in a      
healthy mother the  rhythm of sex is    
regular4 ,the symbolism of the ,fall    
might indeed  apply to the history of   
the cell which at first contains its own
 force  of reproduction1 but in the case

 of a female ovum deliberately parts    
with some of its original power in order
 that it may be replaced by  the vital  
power of a male4 ,the male cell also    
rends itself apart1 and  becomes quite  
unfit for reproductive purposes until it
 can find another  cell with which to   
join4 ,in the simple facts which have   
been observed  through microscopes there
 is no place for the overweening pride  
of the  ,semite race in the virtue of   
maleness2 and ,i can only hope that it  
was  ignorance and not malice that led  
the ,jews and the ,arabs to spread      
false doctrine on the subject of sex4   
,it is unfortunate that the first       
patriarchs1 from whom they proudly count
 their descent1 had much in  common with
 the primitive goat worshippers1 who    
were responsible for  the one-sided     
arrangements for sexual contentment     
common in harems and  the other         
patriarchal institutions ,i have        
mentioned4    ,in the great medival     
revival1 the real age of chivalry and   

troubadours1 the knights carried their  
ladies' colours to victory in  vain4    
,the old lies are in our blood--we still
 believe in ,eve and her  shame4 ,white 
men have fought in the past1 and it     
remains for white  women to fight now1  
and at last rid their sex all over the  
world of the  ignominy of this false    
doctrine4          ,modern ,woman3      
,her ,intentions          ,i    ,,the   
,,vote      ,it is my conviction that   
all great changes come from a force that
 after  many years of silence blazes    
with emotional1 passionate enthusiasm4  
,that long period of torpid latent life1
 once it is liberated from  prison1     
gives driving power4 ,without silence   
and darkness no new  creature can be    
brought forth4 ,without resistance no   
great desire can  be felt4 ,it is the   
same with the woman's movement4    ,when
 the vote was refused1 the first        
artillery for the woman's army was      
forged4 ,that little request for the    
vote might have been granted three      

years ago without making any more       
difference than the borough council     
vote here1 or the parliamentary vote in 
,new ,zealand1 ,australia1 ,norway1     
,finland1 and so forth1 has made        
already4 ,that little request1 that     
might have passed almost unnoticed had  
it been granted1 has raised up  a       
powerful body of feeling on both sides1 
that will end in one of the  greatest   
social revolutions of the time4         
,whether women are militant or          
anti-militant1 whether they ask for the 
vote in order to fight the working man  
or to join hands with him1  whether they
 content themselves with words of       
approval and donations1  or whether they
 lose their tempers in denunciation of  
the unfeminine  behaviour of certain    
brave enthusiasts--yet all the women of 
many  opinions are alike rousing        
themselves from their former deadly     
attitude  of quiescent acceptance4      
,the most violent anti-suffragette is   
obliged to try to understand the        

questions of social reform in order to  
protest against them4 ,the most         
downtrodden wife is hearing rumours that
 even now there are laws which  might   
protect her from domestic tyranny4 ,the 
county ladies who never  read anything  
but ,the ,queen1 ,the ,spectator1 or    
,punch1 protest  against the struggle1  
but admit that it is time that women of 
property  had a vote now that their     
butlers and coachmen have obtained that 
privilege4 ,the 8too old at thirty0     
brigade is carrying the campaign  into  
the ballroom and skating-rink4 ,all this
 is familiar to everyone  that moves in 
,english society to-day1 and one word of
 terror used by  men who oppose the vote
 is heard on all sides4 ,they say the   
vote is  8the thin end of the wedge10   
and ,i reply gladly from my side--not   
only  as a suffragist1 but as an        
onlooker at the loves and hatreds of the
  sexes--,i reply that the wedge is     
being driven every day4 ,every day of   
delay in giving women the vote gives    

them a power far more deadly1 a  hope   
more dangerous1 an accomplishment far   
more vital4 ,it gives them  the power of
 standing up for themselves1 freed from 
the belief in the  protection of men4   
,it gives them hope in each other4 ,it  
teaches them  to speak for themselves1  
and discover the force of their         
eloquence and  the ingenuity of their   
resources4 ,it is impossible to go to a 
meeting  of the militant party without  
feeling amazement at the dexterity of   
all  concerned4 ,with wit1 with banter1 
with beauty1 with dignity1 awkward      
questions are answered1 coarse jokes are
 frustrated1 and swift as  light the    
laugh is turned against the interrupter4
    ,the odd contrast between the scenes
 we personally witness and the same     
scenes served up for breakfast by the   
daily press1 is having some  effect in  
breaking up the touching faith of our   
foremothers in the  accuracy of         
newspaper reports4 ,women are awake to  
public affairs for  the first time since

 the matriarchal period4 ,they are      
weighing the  evidence of the press1    
they are considering political facts4   
,they are  said to be losing the        
chivalrous adoration of men4 ,but in    
contrast to  the politeness of men to   
well-dressed1 good-looking women1 ,i    
would call  attention to the attitude of
 a respectable hospital official towards
  a poor woman who1 in ,november1 #aiji1
 brought her little boy as an           
out-patient4    ,she arrived very early 
in order to be able to go to her work   
with as  little delay as possible1 and  
secured a seat before the men1 who came 
in later4 ,when the attendant entered1  
she was made to go back to the  last    
seat of all and wait for her son to take
 his turn until all the  elder males had
 been interviewed4 8,men come first1    
your place is at  the back10 was all the
 answer she got to her protests4 ,so    
much for  chivalry when a woman is poor 
and worn with labour4 ,it is pathetic to
  see the working woman1 apologetic for 

her poverty1 apologetic for her         
womanhood1 apologetic for her ill-health
 or any temporary need of help4  ,and ,i
 say that the working woman's heroic    
patience has been attained  by centuries
 of ill-usage and lack of chivalry4     
,most women would not  understand the   
idea of chivalry if it were explained to
 them1 so little  does it come within   
their range of experience4 ,we have no  
conception  of the size of the mass we  
are dealing with4 ,in ,england and      
,wales  there are about #ag million     
females4 ,of these females1 #ac million 
are  past childhood1 roughly speaking #f
 million of these are unmarried1 #g     
million are married or widows4 ,about #i
 million married and unmarried  women   
are unoccupied1 or have retired from    
business2 about #d million  are engaged 
in occupations1 and trying to make their
 own living4 ,of  the #af million males1
 about #b million are unoccupied or     
retired1 #aj  million are occupied1 and 
the rest are children4 ,now we find from

 the  last census that about #g million 
women are in charge of a family1  and #c
 million of these are occupied in       
business2 #f million women are          
unmarried1 about #a million of these are
 occupied in business1 and  nearly      
million have independent means4 ,making 
allowance for the very  young1 we have  
about #b million grown women in a       
dependent position  without a husband or
 an occupation in ,england and ,wales   
alone4    ,if one spends an afternoon   
studying the census returns1 one sees in
  all occupations the well-paid         
businesses are for men1 and the ill-paid
  for women4 ,in general and local      
government1 defence of the country1  and
 professional occupations1 #cbf thousand
 women only have subordinate  posts1 but
 there are nearly #b million in domestic
 service4 ,textile  manufactures1 #ffc  
thousand2 dress1 #gaj thousand2 food and
 lodging1 #cjj  thousand1 but in        
commerce and finance only #fj thousand4 
,men can no longer support their        

daughters1 and daughters cannot  command
 good positions in lucrative            
professions4 ,there are only #g  million
 families1 and at least #d million      
grown-up women1 unmarried  and          
superfluous as mothers4 ,the working man
 tells these women to 8go  home and do  
the washing40 8,well10 a virgin replies1
 8one million of us  are working at     
laundry and other work1 under half a    
million of us are  amusing ourselves on 
independent incomes1 and the rest of us 
have to  while away life somehow without
 money or occupation1 so we are making a
  revolution40    ,the struggle for the 
vote is putting heart into the          
superfluous woman1  and it is putting   
the hope of reorganizing the market     
value of women's  labour into her heart4
 ,we not only want work1 but we want    
good wages4  ,if we have children we    
want to be sure they will be cared for  
and fed4  ,if we keep house we want our 
wages4 ,the #ab million females that    
have  no independent income cry out to  

the  million that has an independent    
income1 in their almost hopeless        
struggle to win fair wages4 ,it is      
interesting to think that out of the    
total population of about #cb  million  
in ,england and ,wales1 a very little   
over  million are living  on independent
 incomes1 and we find that there are    
less than #ajj1jjj  heirs1 and more than
 #djj1jjj heiresses in this country4    
,the rest1 that  is #cb million1 have to
 work or starve so as to save enough for
 their  old age4 ,each person that lives
 at ease is surrounded by sixty-five    
people that have to struggle4 ,each     
woman that has a husband knows  that a  
widow or spinster stands portionless    
beside her4 ,figures are  abstractions1 
but behind these figures are facts and  
problems that are  driving us before    
them with such resistless cruelty that  
at last we are  determined to cry halt  
and make a fight--vote or no vote6      
,,ii    ,,women',s ,,incomes      ,let  
us say that certain prime donne can earn

 #be1jjj a year for a few  years1 that  
the most successful ,london actress may 
receive a salary of  #ejjj a year1 that 
a successful novelist may get a few     
thousands a year  by her books1 that a  
lady doctor or dressmaker may make #ajjj
 a year1  and you have admitted all that
 can be said in favour of the present   
means women have of making a large      
income on the same lines as men4 ,i     
suppose the average successful singer is
 delighted with #ajjj a year1  the      
average successful actress with #aj a   
week or #ejj a year1 the  average       
novelist with #cjj a year1 and the      
average lady doctor with the  same4 ,in 
an institution which gives #ajjj a year 
to its male principal1  we find the lady
 superintendent receiving #bjj a year1  
and the male  secretary #cej4 ,women    
find it hard to get any professional    
income out  of the ,government offices1 
the ,church1 or the law courts4 ,in the 
,post  ,office and in all educational   
work the disparities between the        

salaries  of men and women is well      
known4 ,and ,i think we may take it for 
granted  that the average business      
income of an everyday sort of woman1    
working  hard1 is less than #ajj a year4
 ,the income of a charwoman in ,london1 
we know1 is #bs4 #f;d4 a day1 or a      
possible #aes4 a week--that is1 #c;d4 an
  hour1 exactly half a man's minimum    
wage4    ,these are a few well-known    
facts4 ,the reason is that women are    
said to  have 8other means0 of earning a
 livelihood4 ,first among these comes   
the  comfortable possibility of         
inheriting money from relations4 ,many  
great  heiresses and little heiresses   
are to be found among the conservative  
forces of the land1 for these women have
 nothing to gain and everything  to lose
 by changing the present state of       
things4 ,they and the insurance  offices
 alike prosper on the present           
foundations of ,english family life4    
,next comes the probably miserable      
alternative of marrying a rich  husband4

 ,it is a very curious thing that it is 
harder for a rich man  to be naturally  
attractive to women than it is for the  
camel to pass  through the needle's eye1
 and the consequence is that women      
generally  have a more or less unhappy  
domestic life when they definitely marry
  for a livelihood4    ,then we have the
 adventuress1 who succeeds in making a  
handsome income  by the unscrupulous use
 of her intelligence and charm4 ,after  
that come  the various types of women   
who hire themselves or are hired out for
  the relief of excitable gentlemen4    
,and lastly the crowd of desolate       
diseased refuse who pick up a living any
 way they can1 in ways too  horrible to 
think of1 by the practice of vulgar     
indecency4    ,all these incomes which  
are earned by women1 either by their    
tenderness and charm or by their        
bestiality1 are1 together with the      
family inheritances1 the real reasons   
why women as a sex are not made         
economically independent on the same    

lines as men4 ,the father of a  family  
longs to save his daughters from the    
temptations of poverty1  and if they do 
what he bids them he insures his life in
 their favour4  ,the husband prefers to 
keep his wife dancing to the tune he    
pays for1  so he makes her allowance    
dependent on his own mood of the moment4
 ,the  infatuated boy considers he is   
seeing life when he spends his money    
recklessly on an adventuress4 ,all these
 women can undersell other  women in the
 labour market1 because they have       
incomes which make them  independent of 
what they may earn there4 ,they are1 in 
a kind of way1  what the strike         
organizers would call 8blacklegs03 they 
make life more  difficult for the women 
who must work to live or starve4        
,again1 the magic of love is destroyed  
by the thought of money4 ,and love  is  
very apt to evaporate when such thoughts
 flame up in the mind4    ,the hope ,i  
see for the ennobling of sex relations  
is that women should1  by some means    

never yet thought of1 become independent
 of the caprice  of individual man4     
,the average middle-class ,englishman1  
,i believe1 looks upon his married  life
 as a kind of business partnership1 in  
which he pays money in order  that he   
may not be worried about the care of his
 clothes or his food  or his affectional
 needs4 ,these things once settled and  
put under the  care of a sensible woman1
 he can devote his thoughts to business1
 to  betting1 to cards1 to golf1 or any 
other amusement he may select to  ensure
 that he may not become a 8dull man40   
,the average working man1 of  course1   
not only marries a housekeeper1 a cook1 
a maid-of-all-work1 but  the mother and 
nurse of his continuous flow of         
offspring1 and the butt  of his temper  
when the world has used him ill4    ,if 
any hope of eventual economic freedom is
 to come for the whole sex1  ,i stand   
aghast to think of all the antagonistic 
interests that will  have to be         
reconciled4 ,it will be worse than the  

,budget4 ,the wives will  have to stand 
out for fixed allowances4 ,the mothers  
will have to make  their bargain either 
with their husbands or the ,state1      
whichever wants  their children most4   
,the housekeepers will have to take     
their wages  like the other servants4   
,the women of the adventuress class are 
a hopeless problem4 ,they are  worth a  
hundred a week at one moment1 and       
nothing at all a few weeks  later       
perhaps4 ,their trade is so dangerous4  
,but we can cheer ourselves  up with the
 statistics which tell us they are in   
,england and ,wales  numbered by        
thousands only1 whereas we are dealing  
at present with the  problem of         
seventeen millions of women4    ,we     
have1 then1 four classes of women--the  
heiresses1 the portionless  wives1 the  
courtesans1 and the prostitutes--who    
stand in the way of the  economic       
independence of women because they      
appear to be better off  under the      
present state of disorganization4 ,the  

labour market for women  is of course   
permeated by their influence4 ,the rich 
women who work for  nothing1 the wives  
who 8get round0 their husbands1 the     
courtesans who  command the 8flesh      
market10 the prostitutes1 who are       
ignored by the  rest of their sex1 but  
revenge themselves on the ignorant by   
spreading  disease and sorrow among the 
happy and healthy4    ,the record of the
 overwhelming advantages of the economic
 independence  of women can hardly be   
compressed into the compass of this     
chapter4 ,it  would make love marriages 
possible4 ,it is almost certain that a  
love  marriage on the woman's side is   
one of the most important elements for  
good in the production of a fine race4  
,if a girl were free to choose          
according to her inclination1 there is  
practically no doubt that she  would    
choose the right father for her child1  
however badly she might  choose a       
lifelong companion for herself4    ,this
 is1 of course1 true about both the     

sexes to a certain extent1  although    
average men are much less dainty about  
these matters than the  average woman4  
,if we could remove the economic        
considerations from  parenthood it would
 help towards the invigoration of the   
race4    ,the sad part of this question 
is that according to all the great      
racial  ideals women ought to be        
economically independent1 but1 according
 to  all little social ideals1 it seems 
inevitable that her independence  will  
be resisted to the last4          ,,iii 
,,the ,,variations ,,of ,,love      ,we 
cannot trust ourselves to make a real   
love-knot unless money or  custom forces
 us to 8bear and forbear40 ,there is    
always the lurking  fear that we shall  
not be able to keep faith unless we     
swear upon the  ,book4 ,this is1 of     
course1 not true of young lovers4 ,every
 first love  is born free of tradition2 
indeed1 not only is first love innocent 
and  valiant1 but it sweeps aside all   
the wise laws it has been taught1  and  

burns away experience in its own light4 
,the revelation is so  extraordinary1 so
 unlike anything told by the poets1 so  
absorbing1 that  it is impossible to    
believe that the feeling can die out4   
,sometimes one  feels a great pity for  
the lovers in ,england1 because young   
,english  girls are very apt to mistake 
a feeling of gratified vanity and the   
emotion of a new sensation for love of  
some special man who happens  to make   
love to them at the propitious moment4  
,many faithful women  go through life   
enduring the love of a man whom they    
care for very  moderately1 who1 on his  
side1 congratulates himself on having   
found a  virtuous wife4 ,it is lucky for
 these people that probably the wife1 in
  her limited circle of acquaintances1  
will never meet the man who ought  to   
have been her mate4    ,i have often    
talked to the apparently contented      
mother of a family1  when some little   
word reveals to me that it is possible  
to be the  mother of a man's children   

merely by putting up with his caresses  
while  one thinks about some other      
subject4 ,is it any wonder that the race
  becomes more and more anmic and bored 
with existence as generation  follows   
generation8    ,other wives have loved  
their husbands with passion1 and perhaps
 for two  years their devotion has      
steadily increased1 but the husband     
meanwhile  has known many ecstasies and 
wearinesses4 ,his love is like the      
waves1  which follow each other as      
periods of dullness follow moments of   
rapture4 ,hers has been like the tide1  
increasing in devotion and  tenderness2 
but the tide turns at last1 and the     
dancing of the waves  can do very little
 to stay its ebbing4 ,i think men are   
justified who  say that women either    
love too much for their taste or not at 
all4    ,some women say they could love 
their husbands better if they did not   
see so much of the unromantic side of   
their lives4 ,the holes in a man's      
socks are not the most endearing        

remembrances in the world4    ,the only 
permanent relations are founded on      
mutual contempt4 ,brothers  and sisters 
have no illusions about each other1 and 
if they feel any  affection at all it is
 a steadfast one4 ,alas6 the close      
knowledge  of weaknesses very seldom    
permits the affection to show through   
the  contempt4 ,married lovers have to  
pass from the state of love1 which  is  
so apt to be a state of delusion1 to the
 state of clear-sighted  affection4 ,the
 ordeal is one which very few survive4  
,another tragedy of love is jealousy4 ,a
 man or woman is very often  jealous of 
the partner's brothers and sisters1 or  
other relations4  ,those who love wish  
to be all in all to each other1 those   
who quarrel  dislike to have others     
taking sides in their quarrels4 ,this   
fundamental  jealousy of relations is   
ever apt to break into a flame1 besides 
jealousy of the more usual kind4    ,mr4
 ,harold ,gorst has written a book on   
,the ,philosophy of ,love1 in  which he 

points out that it is unwise of a       
bridegroom to take instant  possession  
of his bride4 ,he maintains that the    
usual programme1 in  which a wife shows 
all her modesty and a husband all his   
love on the  wedding-night1 is an absurd
 waste of the honeymoon1 which ought to 
be  spent in a gradual approach to the  
supreme surrender4 ,again1 wives are    
too apt to give up the charming         
resistances which are necessary to the  
satisfaction of a man's emotional       
nature4 ,mr4 ,gorst cannot imagine  that
 a husband would tire of his wife if she
 kept her right over her  own body with 
a firm hand1 and required wooing every  
time she yielded  to the wedding of her 
husband4 ,so much for the man of the    
world's point  of view4    ,the marriage
 tie is a way of keeping people together
 while they undergo  the various        
disillusions and jealousies that are    
inevitable1 unless one  of them is      
prepared to give way in everything4 ,is 
there any better way8  ,in most cases1  

no4    ,the marriage tie will always    
exist1 because it is the natural impulse
  of the majority of young people to    
wish to love each other alone1 and  to  
remain with each other for ever4 ,the   
honeymoon having elapsed1 they  very    
likely find they are about to become    
parents1 and they spend  the intervening
 months in making happy preparations4   
,then the baby  is born1 and has to be  
brought up until it is old enough to go 
to  school4 ,if there are three         
children1 they have to be looked after  
for  about fourteen years4 ,the wife is 
now thirty-four1 and the husband        
thirty-eight4 ,the children are placed  
in various schools away from  home4 ,is 
there any alternative to the rather     
boring life that has to be  lived out   
until death parts the parents8 ,none4   
,they are not rich enough  to travel and
 amuse themselves1 so the wife goes on  
housekeeping and  calling on neighbours1
 and changing her servants1 and the     
husband goes  to the ,city1 plays golf1 

and reads trashy novels4 ,the marriage  
tie must  always persist while these    
people exist4    ,but what are the six  
million bachelors and the seven million 
spinsters  to do8 ,some of them are very
 young2 thousands of them do not wish to
  marry1 their sexual nature is hardly  
developed more than a child's2  others  
are invalids1 openly or secretly2 and a 
good number are leading  illegally      
arranged lives because the present      
marriage laws do not  suit their        
constitutions4 ,among the grown-up      
population about half  the number are   
married1 and the other half unmarried4  
,many of these  marriages are unhappy1  
and it is to be presumed that at least  
six  million of each sex do not wish to 
marry enough to overcome the terrors  of
 saying what they want for ever1 and    
getting it4    ,now1 having regard to   
the natural variations of love1 ,i must 
suggest  that the stigma might be       
removed from those who are not capable  
of  lifelong fidelity4 ,there seems good

 proof that a few millions of men  and  
women are bringing misery upon the rest 
because they are treated  as unworthy of
 social consideration4 ,medical men are 
saying that the  disease which is       
undermining the health of the nation is 
dangerous only  because it is shameful4 
,it could be easily cured in its early  
stages if  it could be treated openly   
and without ruining the reputation of   
those  whom it attacks4 ,even when      
health is retained1 reputations are lost
 and  careers are ruined in order to    
prop up the tottering institution of    
marriage by making it the only refuge   
for the respectable4    ,but until it is
 acknowledged that it is not respectable
 to live  together when the temperaments
 are incompatible1 there will be no     
real virtue in the married state4 ,never
 to want the same thing at the  same    
time is a more far-reaching cause of    
emotional degradation than  one violent 
outbreak of temper under extreme        
provocation4 ,it is more  degrading to  

the finer feelings than a temporary     
alienation of marital  love4 ,one would 
imagine that the men who refuse to alter
 the divorce  laws really do believe in 
the sacrament of the marriage ceremony1 
instead of in the sacrament of the true 
love1 which abides when there  is a real
 compatibility of temperament4          
,,iv    ,,the ,,sordid ,,divorce      ,i
 mentioned in passing that marriage was 
an institution that should  not be      
ended1 but should be mended4 ,in the    
first place1 let us inquire  whether the
 marriage ceremony is a sacrament1      
whether parenthood is  a sacrament1 and 
why marriage should be binding4 ,the    
,catholic ,church  refuses divorce      
altogether on the ground that the       
blessing of the  ,church makes the      
contract binding till death4 ,parents   
with children are  generally prepared to
 endure each other for the sake of their
 family4  ,while women are economically 
dependent it would be pure folly for    
them to advocate marriage for a short   

term4 ,very few women succeed in        
retaining their attraction for men for  
any considerable length of time4  ,ten  
years of attractiveness is not to be    
thought of in the majority of  cases4   
,while a man holds the purse-strings he 
can always find someone  to marry4 ,a   
woman can offer nothing but her power of
 enchantment1 and  most of them have to 
rely on the universal enchantment of    
innocence  which can only be offered    
once4    ,but conditions are very       
variable even now4 ,women hold the      
purse-strings when they are heiresses4  
,they are as free as men when  they are 
childless4 ,ninon de l',enclos was      
irresistible until she was  eighty1     
apparently because she was amusing as   
well as fascinating4  ,under such       
circumstances as these it is sometimes  
wise to seek divorce4  ,in ,england this
 cannot be done without outraging every 
feeling of  dignity and delicacy4       
,unless one of the married pair is      
faithless1 impotent1 cruel1 or rich     

enough to leave the neighbourhood1 the  
other cannot get a divorce4 ,this       
involves discussing the secrets of the  
alcove with solicitors1 and a  final    
exposure of your domestic concerns in   
the law courts1 for the  press and the  
public to take or leave as they are more
 or less painful  to you and amusing to 
them4    ,a very frequent method of     
obtaining a divorce now is for a wife1  
who  would not touch her husband with a 
besom if she could help it1 to sue      
publicly for restitution of conjugal    
rights4 ,to a woman of any delicacy     
such a demand would be degrading1 even  
if it were made in private4  ,to be     
obliged to make it publicly as a matter 
of form is1 to say the  least1          
unpleasant to such a woman4 ,the next   
proceeding is taken when a  certain time
 has elapsed and the husband has not    
noticed the wife who  has to pretend to 
be pining for his forced caresses4    ,i
 confess it is hard to realize the state
 of a woman who actually can  desire the

 society of a man who is weary of her4  
,i have not imagination  for that1 ,i am
 afraid4 ,the law was made by men1 and  
men are said to  know women better than 
they know each other2 also1 we have all 
heard  of the charms of a captured or   
unwilling bride1 so perhaps it is an    
instance in which men have done for     
women what they would wish to have  done
 for themselves4    ,whatever the reason
 is1 the law is there1 and when the     
husband has been  faithless and refused 
his wife's embraces1 he has done        
sufficient to  justify the court in     
calling him guilty of desertion and     
adultery1 and  a decree nisi is         
pronounced4 ,then1 if no evidence of    
collusion is  forthcoming1 and the court
 can make believe that one of the       
parties at  least does not want to be   
divorced1 the decree is made absolute in
  six months4 ,can anyone realize that  
the present divorce law is in such  a   
hopelessly stupid state8 ,there seems no
 possibility of using common  sense in a

 law court4 ,to get a divorce you must  
not agree together  that it is a        
desirable step4 ,to get a divorce the   
innocent person must  speak in public of
 subjects no innocent person would care 
to mention  in private4 ,to get a       
divorce from a woman you respect at all1
 you must  refuse to live with her1 and 
must openly commit adultery1 at the same
  time making no arrangement with her as
 to how she is to get rid of  you4 ,the 
old complaint of the inequality of the  
divorce laws for the  sexes is perhaps  
of importance1 but to me it seems a     
small thing in  comparison to the       
general sordidness of the whole         
proceeding4    ,surely the one cause of 
causes for a divorce is that both the   
parties  want it4 ,some simple form of  
procedure1 such as separation on the    
first  application1 to be followed by   
divorce in six months if the parties had
  not made up their differences in the  
meantime1 should be devised4    ,the    
difficulties would arise in cases in    

which the parties were not  agreed1 and 
,i am afraid in those instances the     
question of money would  nearly always  
be discovered to be the root of the     
trouble4 ,ladies would  be found to be  
unaccountably attached to their         
husband's cheque-books2  and gentlemen  
unable to separate themselves from a    
share in their  wives' dividends4 ,but  
when the question of fortune or wealth  
enters  into the marriage bargain1 why  
not let it be fought out on that ground8
    ,divorce is always brought about    
because of the weariness and boredom    
one human being causes another4         
,cruelty1 adultery1 temporary desertion1
  every kind of outrage can be borne if 
excitement and interest  counterbalance 
suffering4 ,but the devotion of the     
whipped dog would  soon be exhausted if 
the dog could find something in the     
world which  interested him more than   
his master4 ,curiosity once fully       
satisfied1  tenderness balances on the  
edge of the precipice of boredom1 and   

may  topple over at any moment4    ,of  
course the insult of being considered a 
bore would be harder to  bear in most   
instances than the accusation of        
wickedness1 so on the  whole it would   
seem advisable to keep to the good old  
formula of  8incompatibility of temper10
 and fight out the money questions on   
their  own merits4    ,now the merits of
 the money question in marriage have    
never been  properly arranged4 ,in      
,france the wife has her own dot1 as a  
matter  of course2 but the ,french have 
so carefully adjusted their population  
to their pockets that we can only bow in
 silent admiration of their             
unparalleled foresight4    ,in ,england 
a girl very often marries without any   
fortune of her own1  on the             
understanding either that she is        
beautiful and that the husband  is      
prepared to endow her with all his      
worldly goods1 or that she is so  useful
 that she will really save him a good   
deal of money4 ,if she is  very         

beautiful1 her relations can generally  
get a settlement made on  her2 if she is
 only useful1 she is lucky if she can   
induce her husband  to insure his life  
in her favour4 ,the merely useful wife  
has very  little hold on ready money4   
,one week she may get a good sum of     
money1  another week nothing1 for her   
household expenses4 ,if she is clever   
and  managing1 she will probably gain   
her husband's confidence1 and if he is  
honest and has a regular income they may
 be very comfortable together2  but     
under other conditions the affairs of   
the household go from bad to  worse1 and
 the wife is only a very inefficient    
servant1 who may get her  keep1 but who 
will certainly not get her wages4    ,i 
can only suggest that the position of   
wife and mother ought to  legally       
entitle a woman to a fixed proportion of
 her husband's income1  and the position
 of housekeeper to a further proportion4
 ,if1 as is  often the case in upper and
 middle-class modern marriage1 the      

husband  and wife do not live in the    
connubial state1 the legal allowance as 
wife and mother would not be made1 but  
the allowance as hostess and            
housekeeper could be enforced as long as
 they remained under the same  roof4 ,in
 the case of the poorer classes1 where  
the wife does the whole  work of keeping
 up the home and increasing the family1 
the proportion  should be very much     
greater1 so great1 indeed1 as to make   
both partners  think twice before       
recklessly bringing children into the   
world4 ,among  this class ,i think that 
the birth of a child might legalise the 
union  of the parents4 ,this appears to 
be an old custom in many parts of the   
world4    ,the working man is the       
greatest enemy of women's equal value1  
,i am  afraid4 ,among the mining        
population1 where his wages are high    
enough  to make him independent1 the    
woman he has married holds a very  low  
position--very much what middle-class   
women held early in the  nineteenth     

century4 ,the working man of prudence   
and forethought is of  course limiting  
his family with as much care as the rest
 of the world4  ,but the others1 who    
drive away drab intelligence by a       
,saturday orgy1  forget prudence1 and   
the result is that their wives are      
always in the  pangs of childbirth or   
miscarriage4 ,the usual self-sacrifice  
of women  comes dangerously near suicide
 in this matter4 ,to save her husband   
from  a few moments of self-control she 
goes through months of drugging1  loses 
her beauty1 undermines her health in the
 endeavour to exercise  prudence and to 
avoid bringing children into the world  
for whom she has  no hope of making     
provision4    ,a romance of the mining  
world1 in ,september1 #aiji1 is         
instructive  reading4 ,one ,friday      
night1 at #aj o'clock1 the husband came 
home with  two former lodgers1 two old  
friends1 and one stranger4 ,they brought
  plenty of beer with them4 ,the wife   
was upstairs in bed1 but she called     

over the banisters to them to make      
themselves at home1 and returned  to her
 sleep4 ,later on1 when the men were    
nearly all dead drunk1 one  of the      
former lodgers heard screams upstairs4  
,he found the stranger  undressed and   
making an assault on the wife of his    
host4 ,the lodger  flung him downstairs1
 and to his horror found that he had    
killed him4  ,he was terrified1 and he  
and the woman left the house1 calling to
  the others to fetch a doctor at once4 
,whatever the woman and he said  to each
 other it was tragic1 for she hurried to
 a pond and drowned  herself1 while he  
went to his sister's house and waited   
arrest4 ,the  husband was severely      
reprimanded for his 8negligence40 ,a    
woman counts  for very little in the    
mining districts1 she takes the ,german 
position  of a kind of upper servant1 in
 whose emotions1 if she has any1 none   
take any interest4 ,in the manufacturing
 districts the working man's  wife is   
generally a breadwinner herself1 and she

 only needs a little  enterprise to make
 her position much more favourable than 
it is at  present4    ,nearly all the   
police court cases turn on the question 
of the wife's  housekeeping allowance4  
,it is an endless source of dispute1 and
 if it  could be regulated1 irrespective
 of caprice1 most of the miseries of    
married poverty would cease4 ,the poor  
are simple1 and in this truth  about    
them we see the truth about ourselves4  
,we all want a regular  income1 and very
 few of us gain from being dependent on 
the affection  of our family4 ,divorce1 
then1 is sordid with regard to sentiment
 and  with regard to money1 and in these
 ways is greatly in need of change4     
,v    ,,the ,,green ,,houses ,,of       
,,japan      ,this chapter deals with   
the subject of prostitution from the    
point of  view of public health1 so that
 the nervous reader had better skip it4 
,edmond de ,goncourt has written some   
charming chapters in his book about     
,outamaro1 the ,japanese artist1 on the 

courtesans who live within the  walls of
 ,yoshiwara4 ,he describes the quarter  
as containing fifty green  houses within
 the walls and a hundred without the    
walls4 ,they were  established by the   
,emperor of ,japan in the eighth century
 for the use  of foreign princes1       
ambassadors1 and wealthy merchants4 ,the
 present  walls were built in the       
seventeenth century4 ,the girls1 from   
all parts1  are brought up like         
princesses1 and taught writing1 the     
arts1 music1  and the archaic language  
spoken by the court in the seventh and  
eighth  centuries1 which is now the     
language of the poets4 ,the formalities 
of  the suitors are three visits of     
ceremony1 each with its ritual of good  
manners4 ,a green house contains twenty 
first-class beauties and sixty          
second-class beauties4 ,they sing1 play1
 and write verses4 ,these are a  few    
translations which give some idea of    
their feelings3--           8,it is only
 when both of us are looking at it that 

the moon is       beautiful2 when ,i am 
alone it makes me feel too sad40        
8,this evening who will share the       
sweetness of life1 this floating        
body in the passing world80             
8,oh1 that the moonlight might shine    
brightly in the waters of this          
life the courtesan's1 but the autumn    
moon on the other side of       the     
clouds makes me long for it0 wifehood4  
8,although ,i am nothing here1 the moon 
lights up my heart with a       ray of  
consolation40         8,how often do ,i 
part from one whose shadow ,i shall     
never see again       under the moon of 
dawn60      ,these little moon-women are
 not the only members of the sisterhood 
in  ,tokio4 ,there are the geishas who  
dance and sing1 and there are the old   
and abandoned2 but the horrible         
sordidness of the red blinds and the    
draggled torn lace curtains one sees in 
the streets ,charles ,booth has         
coloured red in his maps of ,london1 is 
absent4    ,this question is not a mere 

matter of sentiment1 it is one in urgent
  need of immediate attention4 ,the     
pitiless contempt of married women for  
prostitution is bringing a terrible     
punishment1 which is ruining the        
physique of nearly every civilized race4
 ,it is now certain that the  diseases  
called contagious can be cured with the 
greatest certainty  if they are taken in
 hand in the earliest stages1 but if    
they are  neglected they bring in their 
train every scourge that the flesh is   
capable of enduring4 ,it cannot be      
repeated too often that if women  do not
 wish to contract diseases themselves in
 the intercourse of  ordinary life1 they
 must bring themselves to protect those 
who in the  intercourse of passional    
life are ignorantly or malignantly      
spreading  the diseases4 ,there might be
 a trade union for women on the streets4
  ,in the cause of public health1 which 
is1 in this matter1 the cause of  future
 generations1 family cannot separate    
itself from family1 innocent  from      

guilty1 moral from immoral4 ,we can no  
longer say3 ,let those who  practise    
promiscuity suffer for their            
incontinence1 let them encounter  the   
dangers they choose to face1 8let their 
sin find them out40 ,we know  now that  
from this particular scourge of         
contagious disease the pure  suffer far 
more severely than the impure2 and the  
races who have never  known the disease 
are the first to die when1 by accident1 
they finally  come in contact with it4  
,so the clean1 healthy youth from some  
remote country place is in  greater     
danger than the sophisticated townsman4 
,and mothers do not  realize the dangers
 they and their young children run every
 day when1  in their ignorance of       
danger1 they entrust their households to
 the  care of women servants who may be 
carrying contagion without even  knowing
 it4    ,the contempt that is shown     
towards prostitutes makes it impossible 
for them to insist upon proper          
sanitation in the quarters where they   

congregate4 ,they are hunted from street
 to street1 and1 as they get  poorer and
 poorer1 their condition becomes more   
and more of a danger to  the rest of the
 town4    ,i cannot make any suggestions
 as to the methods that should be used  
to  make the danger less terribly       
imminent than it is at present1 but ,i  
do  suggest that the women who are      
uppermost should face the fact that they
  themselves are in danger because the  
lower prostitutes have no civil  rights1
 no trade union1 no means of redressing 
the wrongs they suffer  from4    ,m4    
,brieux has written a play called ,les  
,avaris1 dealing with this  important   
subject in all its aspects4 ,one        
incident is that of a young  girl on the
 streets who is infected by a man4 ,she 
is furious and in  despair1 but before  
she goes into hospital she1 in her turn1
 revenges  herself on as many men as she
 can1 for the wrong done to her by one4 
,can we wonder that a woman who is      
treated as street walkers are treated   

should feel this wild anti-social rage  
against the society that has  first made
 use of her and then treated her as an  
outcast8    ,it is becoming more and    
more difficult to say anything definite 
about  the moral standards of women4    
,thirty years ago the chorus-girl drank 
champagne and 8went to the bad10 now she
 drinks milk and marries a  peer4 ,girls
 with beauty are finding out that       
prudence pays exceedingly  well4 ,on the
 other hand1 we have girls with brains  
deliberately  resolving that they will  
not marry4 ,they refuse to run the risk 
of  living with a man whose love has    
become a mere habit4 ,they boldly say   
that they do not care enough for love to
 perform its rites1 unless they  are    
animated with the ardour of love4       
,passion served up with cold sauce  as  
in the ,shaw-,barker school of sex      
revolts them4 ,enthusiastic love is  the
 only excuse in their eyes for going    
through the rather ungraceful  gestures 
of love4    ,bloch has asked the        

question if we can ever do away with the
 menace  to public health which         
promiscuity entails8 ,he seems to think 
from  the evidence of history and       
psychiatry that men certainly1 and women
  probably1 are not naturally unitarian 
in their affections2 therefore  the     
sooner we seriously wrestle with the    
realities and leave off hoping  for the 
8something to change nature10 the       
better4 ,above all1 it is most          
important for women to realize at once  
that the most innocent contact  with the
 unmentioned diseases--the contact1 say1
 of a cut finger or a  chapped lip--is  
enough to endanger the health1 unless it
 is attended to  at once4    ,as for the
 aspect of the prostitution question    
entailed in taking  money1 the sale of  
virginity and so forth1 it comes under  
the general  consideration whether it is
 right for any woman to become the      
property  of a man in exchange for      
money4 ,a woman who loves does naturally
 become  the property of the man she    

loves for the time being4 ,the wiser she
  is1 the less she will let him know it4
 ,the money bargain ,i cannot  help     
regarding as a device invented by       
unattractive men whom no woman  would   
voluntarily look at4 ,again1 as to women
 whose love affairs are  numerous1 ,i do
 not think they would care to practise  
promiscuity unless  they were           
intoxicated4 ,on the other hand1 ,i     
think most women are  capable of several
 love affairs4 ,i said before that their
 love ebbed  and flowed with the sweep  
of a tide1 while men's love glittered   
and  dulled like the shaken silver of   
the waves2 still1 there are more tides  
than one in many women's experience4 ,we
 cannot read the autobiographies  of the
 seventeenth and eighteenth centuries   
without observing that4    ,that love   
becomes very stale in time is a         
regrettable fact4 ,many women  distract 
their thoughts with work or amusements4 
,but the greatest  amusement of all is  
flirtation4 ,it is an amusement         

peculiarly fitted  to the ,english4 ,in 
the ,latin countries flirtation is      
admittedly not  only an amusement1 but a
 vital part of women's lives4 ,it cannot
 be  denied that1 after a time1 a       
childless wife1 or a wife who is not    
absorbed in her children1 begins to feel
 like a withered rose tree1  and a      
flirtation comes to her like springtime 
after winter4 ,i do not  think it is    
often her sensual nature1 but her       
emotional nature1 that  makes a woman   
unfaithful to a husband of whom she has 
really been  passionately fond4         
,unfortunately there is a charm about   
the first  steps of a love affair1 in   
the half-admissions and the             
uncertainties1  which it is almost      
impossible to feel after a year of      
married life4  ,the truth is that to    
feel a charm we must be in a state of   
emotional  exultation which is above the
 average exultations of daily life4 ,the
  great question for the race is what   
this feeling of charm means1 and        

whether it is of value to the race1 and 
to be encouraged8 ,or even then  whether
 the destruction of our present fixed   
social arrangements is  too great a     
sacrifice to make for the vital         
improvement of mankind8 ,in  the        
meantime1 until this question of        
changing charm versus habitual  love can
 be settled1 and the value of emotion as
 a factor in race  improvement be proved
 by careful inquiry into the experiences
 of the  parents of conspicuous         
children1 ,i reiterate what ,i have     
said4 ,marrying  women owe it to        
themselves and to their children to do  
all they can to  make the conditions of 
prostitutes sanitary4 ,above all1 they  
should  remember the green houses of    
,japan1 and recognize that if women are 
degraded it is generally because they   
have been treated with contempt1  and   
not because they are essentially any    
more contemptible than the  rest of us4 
,,vi    ,,beauty ,,and ,,motherhood     
8,americanism0 is the word sometimes    

used by scientific men to imply  the    
terror of motherhood that is coming upon
 women4 ,the old days when  ,nelson said
 the two most beautiful things in the   
world were a ship in  full sail and a   
woman with child1 are passed4 ,pain and 
the loss of  beauty mean something      
hauntingly horrible--something of a     
nightmare to  the modern highly strung1 
nervous woman4 ,in ,america the question
 is  becoming one of national           
importance3 as a matter of fact some    
women  are beginning to refuse          
motherhood1 both there and in other     
parts of  the world4 ,i do not see      
anything alarming in this4 ,to me it    
means  that women will specialize in the
 future4 ,when the unnatural economic   
reasons for marriage have been removed1 
the natural desires of women  will be   
able to assert themselves4 ,for         
centuries they have lied and  schemed   
and flattered men in order to wheedle a 
living out of them1 and  it will take   
some time for the weaker sex to learn   

that it may really  tell the truth2 to  
learn1 indeed1 that it is necessary for 
the good  of the race that it should    
tell the truth4 ,when this is done it   
will  be perceived that women are       
divided into two distinct classes--those
  that love men better than children1   
and those that love children better     
than men4 ,this is natural enough4 ,in  
ordinary life we can see some  people   
prefer to associate with their          
inferiors1 and some with their          
superiors4 ,at present the comparatively
 free life led by men make them  far    
better company1 and therefore superior  
as a sex to women4 ,they  do not talk as
 well as clever women1 but their views  
are wide1 and  as a rule they know      
something of the general facts of life4 
,they are  merrier1 too1 and ,i have    
often thought1 8,it is not so much that 
men  must work and women must weep1 but 
that men may laugh and women must  look 
shocked40    ,but1 as ,i was saying1    
some people prefer to look up1 and      

others  prefer to look down on their    
companions4 ,some people1 to put it more
  pleasantly1 like to care for and watch
 over others1 while others want  to be  
cared for4 ,so it comes about that some 
women do not really love  children4     
,they may feel such a passion for a man 
that they long to be  the mother of his 
child1 but that is a state of unusual   
exultation1  which in cold blood is     
repented later4 ,on the other hand1 the 
born  mothers--the women who really long
 for children1 to whom it is a  terrible
 deprivation to live without            
children--are undoubtedly the  people   
who may best be entrusted with the      
future of the race4    ,i do not think  
that we shall ever get mankind to carry 
out the eugenic  ideal of careful       
breeding1 but ,i do think we might come 
to a time when  the natural instinct of 
a woman for the fit father of her child 
will be  a very important factor in the 
arrangements made for the existence and 
benefit of future generations4    ,we   

have such a lumber of useless old       
ethical codes to get rid of1 and  such  
innumerable practical suggestions for   
race betterment1 that we  hardly know   
where to begin4 ,in the ,eugenic ,review
 for ,october1 #aiji1  there is an      
excellent paper by ,mr4 ,havelock       
,ellis1 which explains a  newly         
discovered and harmless operation which 
can be performed without  making the    
slightest difference to an individual's 
happiness4 ,this  operation would       
prevent him or her from ever becoming a 
parent4 ,it  is hoped that it may some  
day be used in cases where the heredity 
is  hopelessly bad4 ,it would save a    
great deal of public expense in cases   
where the dangerous person would        
otherwise have to be kept under         
constant supervision4 ,the great benefit
 of the discovery is that it  has none  
of the unfortunate effects which often  
follow from the  practice of more       
,eastern methods of sterilizing the     
unfit4 ,contact  with radium has also   

been found to lead to temporary         
sterility4 ,but  although stamping out  
the worst class of disease and          
imbecility in one  generation would be a
 tremendous benefit1 it is not the only 
remedy  proposed4 ,the encouragement and
 training of fit men and women--,i mean 
the education in the laws of sexual     
health--would do a great deal to  save  
the next generations from many ills that
 are brought upon it by  the sheer      
ignorance of its parents4 ,here1 again1 
we have to fight the  silly conspiracy  
of silence which leaves schoolboys and  
schoolgirls  to struggle through the    
early temptations of life without a word
 of  warning from responsible people who
 have studied the subject of sex4       
,there is no doubt that the world at    
present is full of motherly women  who  
have no chance of becoming mothers1 and 
of unmotherly women who  have children  
that they do not want1 or more children 
than they want4  ,it would be a great   
advance if these arrangements could be  

readjusted  by some slight change of    
public opinion1 guided by the obvious   
facts of  heredity4 ,for instance1 it is
 a fact that some women are very fit to 
be  mothers1 and are unattractive as    
wives4 ,for others1 attractive to men   
as they often are1 it is a sin to become
 mothers4 ,a tuberculous woman  is apt  
to have a much larger family than a     
normally healthy woman1  and that       
tendency ought to be modified by        
surgical aid4 ,even these few           
suggestions acted upon would help to    
make the world less full of pain  and   
sorrow4    ,but we are full of          
prejudices against these improvements4  
,the old  marriage laws1 the old ideas  
of right and wrong remain2 religious    
prejudice lasts far longer than         
religion2 and the world moves on1 and   
everyone hears of improvements that     
might be made quite easily4 ,but        
nothing is done because of a public     
opinion which everyone supposes to      
exist1 but is really a bugbear invented 

by the ,press on the strength of  a few 
letters from the sort of people who     
write letters of protest to  the public 
libraries4 ,a hundred letters impress an
 editor1 because he  forgets the        
millions of people who do not write     
letters1 but pay all  the same4    ,one 
of the most serious facts which is      
alleged with regard to the              
8,americanism0 ,i mentioned at the      
beginning of this chapter1 is that the  
nervous sensitiveness from which the    
women of the ,united ,states suffer  is 
caused by their education being too     
purely intellectual4 ,now this  is      
probably true4 ,i remember one of the   
cleverest men ,i have ever met1  the    
late ,professor ,york ,powell1 ,regius  
,professor of ,modern ,history at       
,oxford1 who was an encyclopdia of      
information1 and could assimilate  the  
contents of a book in a phenomenally    
short time1 told me that  he meant to   
paint up the words 8,damn ,intellect0   
over his mantelpiece  at ,christ        

,church4 ,intellect has been said to be 
the result of man's  struggle with      
material facts1 very useful as far as   
material facts  go1 but absurdly        
misleading when applied to the          
all-important side of  our natures which
 comes under the consideration of the   
psychologist4  ,the stuffing of one's   
head with a lot of undigested knowledge 
for  purposes of examination is not only
 useless in after life1 but really      
damaging to the vital apparatus4 ,i was 
myself educated in the colleges  of     
,miss ,dorothea ,beale and ,miss ,buss1 
and ,i know it took me quite six  years 
to get out of the shell my education had
 hardened around me4 ,i  don't suppose  
,i should ever have spread my own wings 
if the beak of my  destiny had not been 
stronger than my overwhelming education1
 so that  it succeeded in hammering     
through that shell at last4    ,in the  
next chapter ,i hope to show in more    
detail how women might  be educated to  
deliberately cultivate their instincts1 

and use them  in conjunction with the   
practical intellect to increase the     
power  of intuitively understanding the 
consciousness of groups and crowds  of  
people4 ,above all1 how they may learn  
by definitely guiding the  vegetative   
consciousness to increase the health and
 beauty of their  children4             
,,vii    ,,the ,,new ,,psychology       
,intellect1 then1 is only a part of the 
life-consciousness4 ,henri  ,bergson and
 ,william ,james have both agreed that  
the other parts deserve  our respect1   
and demand the attention of all         
practical people4 ,they are             
,instinctive ,consciousness and ,torpid 
,consciousness4 ,bergson1 so well  known
 on the ,continent1 gives in            
,l',evolution ,cratrice a brilliant     
outline of the relations of the         
intellectual1 instinctive1 and torpid   
states4 ,briefly1 he pictures vital     
consciousness as the centre from  which 
the three diverge in different          
radiations4 ,the intellect which  covers

 an enormous field and can grapple      
successfully with the  superficial      
appearances we call facts1 finds its    
present culmination  in mankind4 ,the   
instinct which dawns in the             
consciousness as vision1  and deals only
 with one or two things1 but knows them 
perfectly  through and through to their 
deepest causes1 finds its culmination in
  insects1 especially in the elaborate  
societies of ants and bees4 ,the  torpid
 state which1 without external motion1  
like deep sleep1 is most  creatively    
powerful1 most enduring1 and most in    
touch with the first  beginnings of     
organic life1 finds its culmination in  
the vegetable  kingdom4 ,the            
psychologists' idea1 then1 for the      
practical future of  our race is that it
 should turn its attention to the       
cultivation of  these two modes of      
consciousness which have hitherto been  
lamentably  neglected in all schemes of 
education4    ,bergson says that there  
are many questions the intellect can ask

 but  can never answer1 which the       
instinct could answer1 but1 unprompted  
by  the intellect1 would never ask4     
,the practical turn psychology has taken
 lately has a very deep  significance   
for women4 ,for the adolescent girl and 
the woman  with child are the very types
 of the power of mysterious torpid      
consciousness which is so little        
understood by the most learned men4     
,the ancients have believed that a      
mother's impressions stamp themselves   
on the child and determine its type4 ,i 
mean1 for instance1 that a woman        
surrounded by ,burne-,jones's pictures  
would be likely to have children        
resembling that type4 ,the whole matter 
is one of the deepest interest1  and one
 guiding principle stands out from all  
our uncertainties on  the subject1 which
 is1 that a woman with child should not 
use up her  vitality in other           
directions1 that she should for the time
 being live  the life of a fruit tree1  
and nourish herself1 and sun herself    

without  care and without intellectual  
distractions4    ,it is said that in    
deep sleep the creations of our         
imagination are  conceived2 and that the
 state of impending motherhood should be
 one of  rest1 and the quiet enjoyment  
of beauty and peace if it is to have a  
good result4    ,i am not saying all    
women should be mothers1 nor am ,i      
saying that  mothers should not have    
intellectual pleasures1 but ,i do agree 
that  they should not have intellectual 
tasks1 and above all that they should   
be protected from worry1 anxiety1 and   
irritation4 ,if the care of  mothers    
became a national question1 ,i believe  
the saving in the care of  lunatics and 
unemployables and criminals would be    
incalculable4    ,the torpid            
consciousness is one which women who are
 to be mothers  should respect4 ,i      
believe it is a state cultivated to a   
high degree by  the ,eastern mystics1   
who have given us glimpses of the       
psychic powers  to which it can give    

birth4 ,it is intimately connected with 
a control  over the emotional storms    
which affect most people and govern     
their  conduct4 ,the ,eastern sage does 
not starve his emotional nature1 but    
learns to direct it1 while he is in a   
state of apparent torpor4 ,so ,i        
believe the wise mother might1 if she   
gave herself the opportunity1  direct   
the future character of her child in the
 best sense of the word4    ,at present 
the torpid consciousness is hardly      
understood at all1 but  the instinctive 
consciousness has been studied1 although
 it is talked  of with a contempt it is 
far from deserving4 ,i admit that to    
some  extent instinct is the enemy of   
civilization1 but at the same time      
civilization is the enemy of instinct4  
,the old matriarchal village community  
seems to be the ideal state of  an      
instinctive race of people4 ,i do not   
say it is possible now1 but it          
certainly seems a good way of conducting
 affairs on a dignified basis  without  

the family unit4    ,temperance with an 
occasional orgy is a prescription       
ordered for a  patient by a modern      
doctor1 and that exactly describes the  
life of the  old matriarchal village4   
,in the first place1 it was situated    
near the  equator1 and everyone could do
 without clothes4 ,the village children 
grew up together under the care of the  
elder men and women1 with no  curiosity 
about the unseen4 ,they worked in the   
fields and perhaps  hunted a little1 but
 they all lived like brothers and       
sisters4 ,they  had a central grove of  
sacred trees in their village1 with a   
dancing  ground2 the huts were round the
 grove1 and then the belt of cultivated 
land was called the 8guardian serpent40 
,beyond that was the jungle1  with paths
 leading to other villages4 ,in the     
spring the ,saturnalia was  celebrated1 
and the young men left their homes and  
visited the other  villages1 scattered  
in the neighbourhood beyond the         
jungle-paths1 to  celebrate the festival

 with song1 wine1 and dance4 ,the orgy  
lasted a  few weeks1 during the blossom 
time1 when there was no work required at
  home4 ,it ended in a good deal of     
love-making1 after which the young  men 
returned to their homes sobered1 and    
ready to work in their own  villages for
 another year4 ,nine months later1 when 
the weather made  it well to remain     
indoors1 the children were born1 and    
were called  the children of the sacred 
grove or the tree1 and no one talked of 
fathers4 ,the men of the tribe          
cheerfully undertook the education of   
the children1 and maintained them on    
communal principles4 ,it sounds  almost 
as socially elaborate as a hive1 and the
 whole business appears  to have been   
carried out on purely instinctual lines4
 ,perhaps ,i ought  to add that all can 
read for themselves about these         
matriarchal customs  in a book called   
,the ,ruling ,races of ,prehistoric     
,times1 by ,j4 ,f4  ,hewitt1 and in     
,tiele's ,outline of the ,history of    

,ancient ,religions1  also in ,risley's 
,tribes and ,castes of ,bengal4 ,the    
life was perhaps  too austerely virtuous
 for the majority of mankind1 but it had
 its  advantages4    ,instinct is an    
animal faculty cultivated by an outdoor 
life1 which we  to a great extent have  
swamped in our all-pervading intellects4
 ,it  is a power of the consciousness   
which appears to act without effort1    
and to increase its power as we decrease
 our mental struggles4 ,very  often when
 after fussing over a lost object or    
forgotten name we cease  to trouble     
ourselves1 and employ our clamorous     
minds in some other  direction1 the     
consciousness of the name or place      
appears like the sky  from which the    
clouds have cleared away4 ,it is in the 
interplay between  intellect and        
instinct that the practical value of the
 new school of  psychology will be      
found4 ,our instincts need to be        
stimulated by the  curiosity of our     
intellects4 ,we have an extraordinary   

and inexhaustible  power of inventing   
surprises for our intellect1 both in our
 dreams  and in inventive states of     
meditation4 ,some people call these     
things  manifestations of the           
subconsciousness4 ,i prefer to think of 
them as  manifestations of the          
long-neglected powers of the instinct4  
,we know  that many insects who have    
never met their parents in their lives1 
yet  carry out their destinies as if    
they had received the most careful      
personal instruction4 ,the truth about  
instinct appears to be that it  is a    
race-consciousness--a kind of wireless  
telegraphy which can be  set in motion  
between sympathetic centres without     
passing through the  mental machinery at
 all4 ,it almost seems as if our brains1
 our nervous  plexuses1 and our glands#a
 each had a manifest consciousness of   
their  own1 and it is not until we can  
set in motion an interplay of the three 
that we shall gain all we can1 either   
from the intellect1 the instinct1  or   

the torpid creative consciousness4      
,when women come in for their share of  
control in affairs1 there is no  doubt  
we shall make further use of these more 
feminine aspects of vital               
consciousness4    ,,footnote3    #a ,as 
to the study of the functions of the    
glands1 many interesting  discoveries   
have been mentioned in the medical      
journals during the last  few years4    
,,viii    ,,the ,,imaginative ,,woman   
,now women can look at love from a great
 many points of view4 ,if it were  not  
so1 ,byron would hardly have been       
justified when he said3           8,love
 is from men's lives a thing apart1     
',tis woman's whole existence40         
,women can look upon love as a physical 
act which enables them to  become       
mothers4 ,they can look upon it as a    
sanctification or a means  of enjoyment4
 ,they can look upon it as a subject of 
scientific  curiosity1 in which mood    
they logically compare facts and come   
to sage conclusions4 ,they can consider 

their own temperaments  and             
peculiarities1 and take into account    
their personal bias and  characters1    
philosophically4 ,or they can use their 
imaginations  to alter all the          
conditions which life has imposed upon  
them1 to  transcend all the limitations 
of incarnation1 and1 having passed      
beyond  philosophy1 science1 emotion1   
and experience1 bathe in the love       
between  the fixed stars and comets     
rushing from the spaces beyond4 ,they   
can  take dim legends and embroider them
 with rich details4 ,in a word1 the     
imaginative woman from her childhood has
 known dreams of such rare  beauty that 
nothing life shows her is good enough4  
,she passes from  disappointment to     
disappointment4 ,she never finds in one 
place or one  person the wonder that    
description had made her see in her     
mind's eye4    ,thousands of less       
imaginative women long for the          
impossible4 ,they  are fed on romantic  
stories and live in the more or less    

commonplace  imagination of the         
novelists or playwrights they patronize4
 ,thousands  of tired men have this same
 love of vicarious sensation--anything  
that lifts them out of the drab of their
 surroundings into a merry or           
sentimental atmosphere is a relief4     
,life seems hopeless to the middle-aged4
 ,most of them once thought they  could 
put it right in a week if they had a    
free hand4 ,they try1 they  fail1 they  
marry and spend the evening of their    
lives trying to destroy  the illusions  
of their children as quickly as         
possible1 so that they  also may 8settle
 down0 to hard facts4 ,to excuse himself
 a thinker will  say1 8,i know the      
dangers of cultivating the imagination2 
,i know that  unless it is nipped in the
 bud this wild flower of the mind will  
twine  its tendrils round me1 cover me  
with its shadows1 intoxicate me with    
its fragrance1 and destroy reason and   
physical health40 ,in answer1  ,i admit 
there are dangers1 but on the other hand

 if the possibly  evil weed is          
cultivated by wise gardeners1 it may    
show itself at last  as the most        
splendid flower of the soul4 ,the       
cultivator of flowers  that sterilizes  
the bud and diverts the life-force into 
creations of  elaborate beauty has found
 the physical side of the religious     
mystery  called the ,coronation of the  
,virgin4 ,the imaginative power that has
  reached this point transmutes human   
nature1 whether philosophic1            
scientific1 sensual1 or physical1 and it
 is then that the soul may  be said to  
have attained the regenerate state which
 makes for the  unnatural beauty we call
 perfection of culture4    ,the         
imaginative woman may reach the degree  
of joyous saintly beauty1  or she may   
stop short at the next stage in which   
she is enough of a  philosopher to      
recognize the great variety of          
temperaments to be met  with among her  
fellow-creatures1 and to greet them all 
alike with  sympathy and interest4 ,she 

may not reach the philosophic or really 
sympathetic stage1 she may remain in a  
third stage1 where her mind  can coldly 
classify her fellow-creatures with      
critical discretion1  and laugh at them 
all cynically4 ,or she may not be able  
to perceive  clearly1 but may be carried
 away perpetually by her own feelings   
and  sensations1 in the fourth degree of
 unawakened ignorance4 ,lastly1 she  may
 abandon the four regions of beautiful  
image making1 sympathy1  perception1 and
 sensation1 and deliberately devote     
herself with  common-sense prudence to  
the patient task of getting her daily   
bread  and reproducing her species until
 she dies of it4 ,on the other hand1    
she may go mad1 she may become silly1   
she may drown her disgust with  life in 
alcohol or drugs1 or she may irritate   
her feeble dream-power  with novelettes4
 ,these states of degenerate            
imaginations are the worst  curses of   
the woman's sphere as it is at present  
understood4 ,good hard  work1 rewarded  

by a decent income1 varied by motherhood
 and love1 is  the best cure for these  
vapourings4    ,the men who have a good 
deal of womanhood in their natures      
suffer and  enjoy through their         
imaginations in the same way1 and it is 
interesting  to observe that a really   
virile man has no trace of imaginative  
power  in his composition4 ,he cares for
 nothing but tangible reality4 ,when men
  of imagination talk to him he has not 
the smallest conception of what  they   
mean4 ,i think it was ,goethe who said  
that he felt the universe in  his arms  
when he embraced a woman4 ,what ,i am   
obliged to call a virile  man feels     
nothing of the kind1 he is merely       
amusing himself like ,don  ,juan1 or any
 cat or dog4 ,however1 ,don ,juan is a  
rarity4    ,it is very difficult to     
classify temperaments without alluding  
to  ,weiningen's ,sex and ,character4   
,that book has been followed by other   
classics on the subject by ,forel and   
,bloch1 but ,i only want to remind  my  

readers that in ,weiningen's book they  
will find1 set out at length1  the      
ingenious theory that virile men and    
feminine women are the rarest  creatures
 on earth1 and that the great majority  
of us are made up of  various           
proportions of the two sexes4 ,he       
further suggests that happy  unions are 
those in which the proportions of sex in
 the two lovers  together make up one   
virile man and one feminine woman4 ,for 
instance1 a  man who was one-eighth     
feminine should marry a woman who was   
one-eighth  masculine4    ,i am told    
that ,mr4 ,austen ,chamberlain          
repeatedly made the very careless       
statement that 8men are men1 and women  
are women10 in a speech  delivered in   
#aiji4 ,he evidently has not acquainted 
himself with the  elementary science of 
sex4 ,is it not time that the books     
alluded to  above should be made        
generally accessible8 ,then our younger 
statesmen1  at least1 might come to the 
platform with some less absurd refrain  

than  that obsolete inaccuracy4 ,let me 
assure ,mr4 ,chamberlain that ,german   
science and research have proved that   
the contrary statement would be  rather 
more exact4          ,,ix               
,,experiments      ,we are all          
speculating about the changes to be     
brought about in this  century from     
which we women hope so much1 and a great
 many people are  making practical      
experiments4 ,myself1 ,i am of that     
tranquil nature  which willingly follows
 the advice of ,punch when he says3     
8,never  practise what you preach1 to do
 so is to hold up your opinions to      
obvious ridicule40    ,i must confess to
 an altogether selfish concern for my   
own comfort4  ,i dislike the home       
because it means that one has to live   
with people  who are privileged to      
behave without politeness in each       
other's  company4 ,most of us share the 
feeling1 ,i think1 that we like to be   
the  worst-behaved person present4 ,this
 can only be achieved satisfactorily  to

 all when one lives by oneself4 ,my own 
experiments have mostly been  in the    
attempt to modify the solitary life with
 an exactly pleasant  proportion of     
social life4 ,i was brought up in a     
large family until ,i  was twenty-three1
 and ,i lived the orthodox married life 
for four years1  so that ,i have given  
home and the family as much trial as    
seemed  necessary4    ,as a hermit with 
mitigating friends and enemies1 and the 
various  societies ,i have helped to    
run1 my life has been unusually full of 
varied interests4 ,i have no regrets1   
because my failures have been some  of  
my most valuable experiences1 and my    
moments of bitterness have been  the    
cause of my greatest contentment4    ,at
 the same time1 one is horribly afraid  
that one might induce courage  in some  
other person whose heart is too tender  
to get through trouble4  ,one is rather 
apt to dread the grey life of a patient 
woman without any  kind of artistic     
talent1 who makes a muddle of her       

affairs because she  religiously        
practises instead of preaching4    ,some
 people say that example is better than 
precept2 but in the case  of social     
reform and the need of a real change in 
public opinion1 my  experience shows me 
that precept is no good at all1 if one  
is suspected  of inventing it to serve  
one's own purposes of self-indulgence4  
,i own  ,i have indulged myself by      
leading a solitary life as described    
above1  therefore ,i do not propose to  
try to destroy the home and family life4
  ,those who are suffering from the home
 want to do away with it4 ,with         
philosophic calm ,i can suggest         
improvements and ways of escape that    
would make it bearable1 but would not   
destroy it4 ,as a matter of fact  the   
home is in a very poor way just at      
present4 ,public-houses1 clubs1         
restaurants1 the servant difficulty are 
all devastating it4 ,still1 it  does not
 do to say we are glad1 so ,i register  
the fact with as long a  face as ,i can 

pull1 and trust my readers will         
recognize the sad truth  in the same    
serious spirit4    ,but1 to return to   
experiments1 let us go back a little in 
time1 and  we find that all gay         
societies1 such as that under ,louis    
,,xiv and ,,xv  of ,france1 ,the ,empire
 and the ,second ,empire1 practised     
every kind of  experiment4 ,yet one     
looks upon ,rousseau1 ,mary             
,wolstonecraft1 ,shelley1  and ,godwin  
as the real pioneers of experiment1     
because they made a kind  of religion of
 their protests against convention4 ,of 
late years it has  become the fashion to
 solemnly register a protest every time 
one omits  to register one's marriage4  
,it is partly my stupid objection to    
public indecency that makes me  object  
to the advertisement of marriage1 legal 
or illegal4 ,one has to  clean one's    
teeth1 some people have to marry1 but   
for the life of me  ,i cannot see the   
use of talking about either of these    
necessities4  ,surely the whole object  

of modern civilization is to conceal the
 fact  that we are animals4 ,it is true 
that we have begun to make a public  art
 of eating1 but although we permit      
ourselves to munch in public1  we       
disguise the nature of our food1 and we 
have sternly suppressed  the more       
ancient freedoms of the dinner-table4   
,we no longer think it  polite to go    
about when we suffer from catarrh1 and  
it is seldom that  we encounter         
unpleasant expectorations1 except in the
 immediate haunts  of admittedly        
hooligan circles4    ,they say that     
nowadays it is possible to talk of any  
subject as long  as one does so with    
sufficient delicacy and avoids the words
 of the  gutter and the club            
smoking-room4 ,still1 ,i admit that it  
is difficult  to explain that just as we
 feel that every other necessary        
function  of nature should be performed 
without attracting attention to it1  so 
,i feel that ,i would rather not be     
informed every time the bold            

experimenters in marriage see fit to    
take a partner4    ,when outspokenness  
is for the public good1 when a          
8hushed-up disease0  becomes disastrous 
simply because it is 8hushed up10 then  
there is some  meaning in making a      
gospel and parade of the truth4 ,but ,i 
really think  it is time we accepted the
 convention that men and women seek each
  other's society in order to exchange  
ideas4    ,strangely enough it is often 
the case4 ,a woman has only to talk and 
listen well1 and she will find that the 
less she desires love the more          
friendliness she will receive from men4 
,saint ,teresa of ,spain was an         
excellent example of this4 ,i suppose   
she had more warmly affectionate        
friendships with men1 without a shadow  
of scandal1 than any other  woman4 ,a   
perfectly frank woman will generally    
keep men as her friends1  they will not 
dare to be her lovers unless she        
deliberately ceases to  be frank4       
,unfortunately experimenters have to be 

original in order to be  successful4    
,the people for whom ,i am sorry are    
those who are led into  making          
experiments which are unnatural to them 
by the hypnotic power of  seductive     
example4    ,save us from our imitators 
is the cry of all great poets2 and the  
only  valuable advice one can give is1  
if you must experiment be careful that  
you lead the way and are not seduced by 
the example of anyone else4  ,if by     
nature you must follow1 it is a sign    
that you are a gregarious  animal1 and  
had better remain with the main body of 
the herd4 ,the real  experimenters are  
quite ready for solitude1 and when they 
have found  fair country and good       
pasture the rest of the herd will come  
over in a  body with one accord4 ,it is 
no use perishing with cold on the way to
  the ,pole1 unless you have the        
capacity to find it4 ,much better stop  
at  home by the fireside4          ,x   
,,the ,,savage1 ,,the ,,barbarian1 ,,the
 ,,civilized      ,the stately          

,spaniard1 graceful as a tree swaying in
 its dance with the  wind1 savage and   
noble4    ,the ,nihilist ,russian1      
watching in her lair1 instinctive and   
ready to  kill4 ,her hatred of          
government marking her as the free      
barbarian4    ,the ,parisian1 knowing   
the correct convention of a funeral or  
an  adultery1 civilized and logical to  
her glove-tips4    ,of the three women  
the two first are simple1 but           
civilization is  complex1 and it may    
mean to be cultivated with regard to    
intellect like  the ,jesuits1 art like  
the ,greeks1 morals like the ,irish1 or 
religion  like the ,arab4    ,in which  
way will the women of the future        
develop8 ,will she strive  like the     
frequenters of the salon of ,madame de  
,rambouillet to excel  in intellect1 or 
like ,saint ,teresa of ,spain as a      
religious mystic8 ,we  have seen both   
these types1 and ,i have no doubt that  
we shall see many  shining examples of  
morality1 but at the moment ,i cannot   

think of any  conspicuous woman of whom 
no one has whispered scandal4 ,for in   
these  days if people do not trip in one
 direction1 it is said it is because    
they prefer to trip in another2 and soon
 it will be taken as a sign  of evil    
life that one should live in a desert on
 bread and water4 ,i  mention in passing
 that our late ,queen is usually        
admitted to have been  conspicuously    
moral4 ,in the arts we have seen1 and   
hope to see again1  great women         
novelists and actresses4 ,in history we 
have an array of  splendid uncivilized  
women immortalized from all             
time--,medea1 ,electra1  the ,roman     
empresses1 ,queen ,maive of ,connaught1 
the ,russian heroines4  ,whether they   
excelled most as noble savages or as    
gloriously barbaric  haters of ordered  
life1 ,i cannot stay to consider4       
,for ,i want the women who read this    
book not to dwell upon the past1 but  to
 look forward to the great century that 
is waiting for their alchemy1  to       

transmute its life by giving it a more  
intent purpose4 ,are we going  to be    
like the very badly dressed lady of     
title1 whom we heard the  other day     
imploring us to behave ourselves like   
other people1 just as  we dressed like  
other people1 in order not to be        
conspicuous6 ,or are we  really going to
 make something out of this brilliant   
opportunity given  us by the 8refusal of
 the vote10 and the quickly spreading   
passion of  enthusiasm which is moving  
the women of all nations to make a fight
  against the patriarchal faith of the  
goat-worshippers4    ,mr4 ,gorst says   
that the object of life is making       
7moral7 love4 ,i think  the object of   
our life is to make experiments1 as     
gardeners make  experiments in          
floriculture4 ,i quarrel with absorption
 in the family  because family jealousy 
is a bar to that kind of social         
intercourse  which is the only education
 worth having1 and the only experience  
which  can lead to any result worth     

having4 ,they say in ,france1 8,love is 
a  play in which the acts last five     
minutes1 and the entr'actes for any     
time you like40 ,if it filled the whole 
of life it would only mean that  life   
would be as short as that of the        
ephemeral winged creatures of  the      
insect world4 ,family love cannot absorb
 us if we wish to survive4  ,we are     
complicated1 and our possibilities of   
social and political  intercourse are a 
subject of endless interest and inquiry4
 ,let us then  start again on our       
voyages of discovery1 this time with a  
little more  purpose in our method and  
delight in our hearts4    ,women want   
the vote1 it is true1 but what they want
 more1 and what they  are getting1 is   
strength to hammer through the prisons  
which have kept  them for many centuries
 packed away conveniently for use on    
occasion4  ,they are all coming out into
 the daylight for the first time within 
our  memory1 and now the real movement  
of life begins4    ,we want to change   

public opinion about divorce1 contagious
 diseases1  and forethought with regard 
to breeding4 ,we want married women to  
recognize the various proportions of    
sexuality in each sex1 to make          
allowance for the passionate1 and to    
admit that we are greatly indebted  for 
our culture to individuals who do not   
desire to be parents4    ,in conclusion1
 all ,i can say is1 8,talk6 talk6 talk60
 ,we are more moved  by one conversation
 than by many eloquent discourses4      
,after all1 what  is so permanently     
delightful as communion of ideas8 ,so   
once again ,i  say1 8,go on talking     
until the savage1 the barbarian1 and the
 civilized  women have found out all    
they can learn from each other4 ,plenty 
of men  will be glad to help them in    
their discoveries40          ,,books by 
,,florence ,,farr      ,,the ,,dancing  
,,faun4 ,a ,novel4 ,cheap ,re-issue with
 cover design by ,,aubrey  ,,beardsley4 
8,full of bright parodox1 and parodox   
which is no mere topsy-turvy play  upon 

words1 but the product of serious       
thinking upon life40--,star4    8,the   
writing reveals in almost every sentence
 the cultured artist whose  every stroke
 adds strength and beauty to the        
picture40--,liverpool  ,mercury4    8,we
 welcome the light and merry pen of     
,miss ,farr as one of the deftest  that 
has been wielded in the style of to-day4
 ,she has written the  cleverest and the
 most cynical sensation story of the    
season40--,daily  ,post4      ,paper1   
#f;d4 net4    ,,the ,,mystery ,,of      
,,time4 ,a ,masque4      ,,books ,,for  
,,women      ,,the ,,burden ,,of        
,,women4 ,compiled by ,,frank ,,mond4   
#bcj pp4 ,wrapper1 #as4  #f;d4 net4     
,cloth1 #bs4 #f;d4 net4    8,contains   
things which ought to be said4444 ,the  
real burden of woman  is found to be the
 relation of the sexes in marriage1     
particularly in  regard to congenital   
and other diseases40--,the ,morning     
,leader4    8,the scope of the book is  
wide1 and it discusses not a few very   

delicate topics fearlessly1 but always  
with discretion and force1  whilst its  
general tone is                         
unexceptional40--,aberdeen ,free ,press4
      ,,woman',s ,,worst ,,enemy1       
,,woman4 ,by ,,beatrice ,,tina4 ,stiff  
,wrapper1 #as4  net4    8,miss ,tina has
 attempted to deal with the problem of  
marriage and  maternity1 and has        
succeeded in so far as she has given us 
something  to think about4 ,she has     
realised how imperative it is for the   
future  of society that a sane outlook  
upon sexual ethics1 fundamental as they 
are1 should be arrived at4 ,one cannot  
but admire ,miss ,tina's courage  in    
dragging various questions into the     
light of open day which have  hitherto  
been either tacitly ignored or          
deliberately swept into the  limbo of   
hypocrisy40--,the ,woman ,worker4       
8,it is intentionally provocative1 but  
there will be many shrinking  women     
grateful to so fearless an asserter of  
their inmost thoughts4  ,they will be a 

minority1 but they should be            
heard40--,leicester  ,pioneer4          
,,frank ,,palmer1 ,,publisher1 #ad ,,red
 ,,lion ,,court1   ,,fleet ,,street1    
,,london4      33      ,catalogues      
,free4      ,,the ,,common-,,sense ,,of 
,,the ,,woman ,,question4 ,by           
,,millicent ,,murby4  ,wrapper1 #f;d4   
net4 ,quarter canvas1 gilt1 #as4 net4   
8,this book ought certainly to make ,mr4
 ,belfort ,bax readjust his views  as to
 women's lack of power to form #8an     
objective and disinterested  judgment1' 
for a clearer1 more moderate and more   
precise presentation  of the woman's    
point of view than this of ,miss ,murby 
it would be  difficult to find4 ,to     
those even who differ from her          
conclusions will  come many plain       
statements of fact which will bear      
thinking over40--,t4  ,p4's ,weekly4    
8,we have read many books on the woman  
suffragist side1 but have not  met one  
which is so forcibly and sensibly       
written4 ,miss ,murby has the  acuteness

 to see that the voting is a mere       
surface question1 and she  examines the 
roots of the problem1 that is the       
fundamental relation of  women to       
society4 ,we recommend the book for its 
reasonableness and good  temper40       
,the ,leicester ,pioneer4      ,,the    
,,legal ,,subjection ,,of ,,men4 ,an    
,answer to the ,suffragettes4 ,by ,e4   
,,belfort ,,bax and ,another4 ,wrapper1 
#f;d4 net4 ,quarter canvas1 gilt1  #as4 
net4    ,the ,author in the ,preface    
says3--    8,the women's rights agitator
 has succeeded in inducing a credulous  
public to believe that the female sex is
 groaning under the weight of  the      
tyranny of man4 ,the facts show these   
individuals to be right in  one point1  
namely1 that sex-injustice and          
sex-inequality exist2 for  the facts    
show the said injustice and inequality  
to exist wholly and  solely in favour of
 women as against men40    8,the        
#8oppressed' woman does not appear so   
very #8oppressed' in these  pages4 ,all 

interested in the woman's suffrage      
movement should make a  point of        
studying this excellent book40          
,dundee ,advertiser4      ,,sexual      
,,ethics4 ,by ,professor ,,august       
,,forel1 ,m4,d41 ,,ph4,d41 ,,ll4,d4     
,with  ,introduction by ,dr4 ,c4 ,w4    
,saleeby1 ,f4,r4,s4 7,edin474 #bnd      
edition4 ,demy  #hvo4 ,stiff wrapper1   
#as4 net4 ,cloth gilt1 #bs4 net4    ,the
 present work consists of an analysis of
 sexual morals as they  exist to-day1   
together with a variety of constructive 
proposals for  the future4 ,it is a book
 which must be read by every social     
reformer  who realises that the first   
step on the road to progress is the     
reconstruction of human morals4    8,the
 author discusses frankly1 but          
scientifically1 and without  pruriency1 
the rights and wrongs of matters        
sexual40    ,the ,huddersfield ,worker4 
,,frank ,,palmer1 ,,publisher1 #ad ,,red
 ,,lion ,,court1   ,,fleet ,,street1    
,,london4      33      ,catalogues      

,free4