WOMAN'S MISSION IN THIS WORLD
Naturalists make little difference between women and the other females
of the animal kingdom: they declare that the mission of woman is to be a
mother. Napoleon I., who was a naturalist, being asked to give a
definition of the best woman, answered: 'The one who bears most
children.' And as for him man was mere 'cannon flesh,' I am surprised he
did not say, 'The one who bears most boys.'
Moralists are kinder to women; they go so far as to grant that woman's
mission is twofold: that she is intended to be a wife and a mother; that
she is to be the guardian of the hearth, submissive and devoted to man,
her lord and master; to look after her household, and be absorbed by her
duties toward her husband and children.
No sinecure, this mission of woman, as you see--no joke either; but
moralists have no sense of humour--not a particle of it.
No doubt this double role of wife and mother is most respectable; it is
even sacred; but woman's nature demands something else. To restrict her
circle of activity and influence to her family is to misappreciate her
many faculties, her aspirations, her feelings, which, like those of men,
are entitled to respect; it amounts to not recognising that her mission
is not only familial, but social also.
I will not dwell on the part she is called upon to play in the family as
wife and mother. We men all know it, whether we are husbands or sons;
but we have also to consider what the role of woman is in that society
of which she is the great civilizing element as well as the greatest
ornament.
The most noble part that has been allotted to woman is that of the
flower in the vegetable kingdom. This role consists in throwing a spell
over the world, in making life more refined and poetical--in a word, in
spreading fragrance around her and imparting it to all who come in
contact with her. A wag once said that but for the women men could have
hoped for Paradise. Good! But what about this world? Is not woman the
direct or indirect motive for all our actions? Is she not the embodiment
of the beautiful, and therefore the mother of Art?
If she is sometimes the cause of a crime, is she not always the cause of
the most heroic deeds performed by man? Can we for a moment suppose
society without her? Why, without her it would fall into a state of
indolence and degradation, even of utter abjection. Would life be worth
living without the sweet presence of kind, cheerful, and amiable women?
Ah, my dear sir, make fun of woman in your club as much as you like;
crack jokes at her expense to your heart's content; but acknowledge
frankly that you are under her power--at least, I hope, under her
influence--and that you could no more do without her than without the
air which enables you to breathe.
Talk of woman's mission as wife and mother, as naturalists and moralists
do, but let all of us artists cry at the top of our voices that woman's
mission is to make life beautiful by the cultivation of her own beauty,
beauty of body, mind, and heart.
It is the duty of woman to look as beautiful as she can; it is her
imperious duty to charm the world by her sweetness and amiability. A
woman who neglects this duty is guilty toward her fellow-creatures, even
guilty toward her Maker, by not helping the destiny for which she was
created. Countries are civilized in proportion to the influence that
women have over men in them.
As long as gardens have flowers and the world has beautiful and amiable
women, so long will life be worth living.