CHAPTER XVII.
The Same.
No. 3.—Letitia to Lesbia.
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‘Your reference to the theological aspect of the woman’s rights question, Lesbie, seems to compel us into examining the origin of the difference of sex; since we cannot expect the world to take our word that the female portion of mankind is the superior, unsupported by proof. There is no help for it, then, we must go to the root of the question, or leave it alone.
‘Well, I guess no one will dispute that the beauty of the race inheres mainly in its feminine portion. I do not speak of features merely, but all that constitutes grace,—the beauty of figure and movement, the sweetness of the voice, and the infinite variety of charm which woman generally possesses in contrast with man. That being so, what can there be in man which attracts woman downward toward him? I could understand the theory that the mutual love of human beings, in the angelic state of perfection which we profess to aspire to in professing religion, should require a bodily adaptation for union, but then it might be a similar one, not a different one, one sex, not two sexes. I do not understand why we are divided into two sexes or classes, whereof the one is, generally speaking, beautiful and refined, the other uncomely and coarse. The separation itself is to me unaccountable. How comes it that a genuine
