with a blush of gratification, for there breathes no flattery in
it--only the serious observations of an old man bent on getting
knowledge by personal experience. "A man may flatter himself as he
pleases," says Sir Richard Steele, "but he will find that the women have
more understanding in their own affairs than we have." Man suffers in
his loves for woman. She often casts him on the rocks like an angry
unfeeling sea, but when, at last she has smiled upon him, he becomes a
broader, better man. Without the companionship of woman, man is truly
half-made up. He loses his self-esteem, he lives without laws, without
churches, without hospitals.