Deception on the part of a woman is merely diplomacy;
Women deceive only be cause man is too blind to see. That is to
say,
Since man in past ages has never allowed woman either freedom of action
or frankness of speech, it is not to be expected of her that she should
be all at once an adept in their use.--To her credit be it said that,
Generally a woman deceives only n order to arouse or to retain the
admiration of man. For example,
Many a woman has surreptitiously made love to the man--and few are the
men who have detected it.
* * *
Why this woman fascinates all who come within the sphere of their
influence, and that women, does not, no earthly sage will ever know. As
well ask what makes one man a Napoleon, another a poltroon. So, too,
It is impossible for a woman to say 'I will be loved,' as it is for a man
to say 'I will be obeyed.'--Perhaps
Love and Power are divine miracles.
* * *
(At the risk of treading on delicate ground, ground off which I shall be
hooted by the modern woman, I venture to say that)
The idea that a woman is the property of the man of her choice, rail as
it as the woman may, has not yet been ousted from the feminine mind--and
heart. Indeed,
So firmly implanted in the feminine breast is the idea of the ownership
of her by the man, that it is to the man who assumes and exercises
ownership that she clings. This is why
A woman easily changes her allegiance; since,
Allegiance, to a woman, means loyalty to the man who assumes and
exercises ownership over her:
Let a man who a fractional part of a second evince the shadow of a doubt
of his proprietorship--at once he undermines a woman's allegiance.
Consequently,
It is folly for men to express amazement at the ease with which a woman
will transfer herself and her affections.
A woman will transfer herself bodily over and over again, but only
because the previous owner lightly esteemed, or weakly maintained, his
ownership. As a matter of fact
In pristine days woman was, naturally and necessarily, the property, the
chattel, of the man: marriage was not then a matrimonial syndicate of
two: marriage meant that a woman sought a provider, a supporter, a
defender; the man a mate for his delight, his comfort, and his solace, a
keeper op is cave or hut, a mother and nurse for his heirs. And
provision, support, and defense, being, in pristine days, matters of
strength, prowess, or cunning, naturally and necessarily pristine man 65
gained him and kept him a mate by strength, prowess, or cunning; he
regarded that mate as his by right of force, not as a partner in a
compact. And
The most complicated of modern communities has no whit altered the
relationship of man to mate, conceal though it may the origin and history
of marriage. Finally,
No woman at the bottom of her heart has any objection to being owned.
Indeed (though no woman would say it, a man may),
Every woman at the bottom of her heart delights to be owned, and tacitly
and secretly seeks the man who she thinks will glory in that ownership
and keep his property safe--not only from material harms, but from
temptations to changes of ownership. In which last little fact lies a
curious truth.
Women like to be defended against themselves. In this little matter men
and women differ: That any other man should dare for one instant to
covet or alienate (5) that most precious of his possessions, his mate,
--nothing rouses to a higher pitch man's unappeasable wrath than this;
Against the man so daring, a woman's wrath is never roused: rather she
regards him as one having discernment, and his daring is a commendable
compliment to herself. In fine, and in short,
Allegiance, to a man, on the part of a woman, means, in her eyes, loyalty
to him who properly exercises the right of ownership. In simple truth,
A woman gives herself to a man: to the man who proves himself worthy the
gift, she is true.
And this is why women, all women, even the New ones, love being petted
and admired and made much of all their lives: this but proves the
possession of the gift to be appreciated. Besides,
The male is the dominant animal--not necessarily in his cave or his hut,
--by no means, but in the stress and struggle of life; and women tacitly
(though never openly) look up to and admire this dominance, even when
exercised over themselves; since THIS, in turn, proves the masterfulness,
the worth, of the man; albeit sometimes they rebel against it if carried
to far. At least,
Unless a man continues to exhibit his appreciation of the gift by word as
well as by deed, the woman is apt to imagine that that appreciation is on
the wane.
(5) How women must laugh in their sleeves at the fact that one man may
sue another in a court of law for "alienating his wife's affections"!
* * *