“What highest prize hath woman won In science or in art? What mightiest work by woman done Boasts city, field, or mart? ‘She hath no Raphael!’ Painting saith; ‘No Newton!’ Learning cries. ‘Show us her steamship! her Macbeth! Her thought-won victories!’
Wait, boastful man! though worthy are Thy deeds, when thou are true, Things worthier still, and holier far, Our sister yet will do; For this the worth of woman shows On every peopled shore, That still as man in wisdom grows, He honours her the more.
Oh, not for wealth, or fame, or power, Hath man’s meek angel striven; But, silent as the growing flower, To make of earth a heaven! And in her garden of the sun, Heaven’s brightest rose shall bloom; For woman’s best is unbegun, Her advent yet to come.”
Miss Becker, of Manchester, in a paper on some supposed differences in the minds of men and women, read before the British Association for the Advancement of Science, in Norwich, August 25, 1868, submits the three following propositions:—“I. That the attribute of sex does not extend to mind: that there is no distinction between the intellects of men and women, corresponding to and dependent on the special organization of their bodies. II. That any broad marks of distinction which may at the present time be observed to exist between the minds of men and women collectively, are fairly traceable to the influence of the different circumstances under which they pass their lives, and cannot be proved to adhere in each class, in virtue of sex. III. That in spite of the external circumstances which tend to cause divergence in the tone of mind, habits of thought, and opinions of men and women; it is a matter of fact that these do not differ more among persons of opposite sexes than they do among persons of the same; that comparing any one man with any one woman, or any class of men with any class of women, the difference between their mental characteristics will not be greater than may be found between two individuals or classes, compared with others of the same sex.”
The capacity for goodness is greater and nobler than the ability to acquire knowledge; and it is almost universally admitted that woman is more largely endowed with the lofty moral sense and the generous affection from which all true greatness springs, than man. Intellectual glory cannot compare with the moral halo that gilds the following picture: “Take a woman who is possessed of a large intellect, say—but intellect well disciplined, well stored—gifted with mind, and graced with its specific piety, whose chief delight it is to do kind deeds to those beloved. Her life is poured out like the fair light of heaven around the bedside of the sick; she becomes like a last sacrament to the dying man, bringing back a reminiscence of the best things of mortal life, and giving a foretasted prophecy of the joys of heaven—her very presence an alabaster box of ointment exceeding precious, filling the house with its balm of a thousand flowers. Her love adorns the path in which she teaches youthful feet to tread, and blooms in amaranthine loveliness above the head laid low in earth. She would feel insulted by gratitude. God can give no greater joy to mortal men than the consciousness whence such a life wells out. Not content with blessing the few whom friendship joins to her, her love enlarges and runs over the side of the private cup, and fills the bowl of many a needy and forsaken one. Oh, in the presence of such affection as this, the intellect of Plato would be abashed, and say,—‘Stand back, my soul, for here is something holier than thou. In sight of such excellence, I am ashamed of intellect; I would not look upon the greatest that ever spoke to ages yet unborn.’”