8.—“_Where lies her richest gift_, ...”
“As I have already said more than once, I consider it presumption in
anyone to pretend to decide what women are or are not, can or cannot be
by natural constitution. They have always hitherto been kept, as far as
regards spontaneous development, in so unnatural a state, that their
nature cannot but have been greatly distorted and disguised, and no one
can safely pronounce that if women’s nature were left to choose its
direction as freely as men’s, and if no artificial bent were attempted
to be given to it except that required by the conditions of human
society, and given to both sexes alike, there would be any material
difference, or perhaps any difference at all, in the character and
capacities which would unfold themselves.”—J. S. Mill (“The Subjection
of Women,” p. 104).