"
"Yet if these of Charlemont have not souls, they have no small
share of happiness on earth. I never heard more happy laughter from
human lips than from theirs. They must be happy."
"I doubt that also," was the reply. "See you not, uncle, that to
nine or ten women there are but three lads? Where the disproportion
is so great among the sexes, and where it is so unfavorable to the
weaker, women never can be happy. Their whole lives will be lives
of turmoil, jealousy, and pulling of caps. Nay, eyes shall not
be secure under such circumstances; and Nan's fingers shall be in
Doll's hair, and Doll's claws in Nanny's cheeks, whenever it shall
so happen, that Tom Jenkins shall incline to Nan, or John Dobbins
to Doll. Such a disparity between the sexes is one of the most
fruitful causes of domestic war."
"Warham, where do you think to go when you die?"
"Where there shall be no great inequality in the population. Believe
me, uncle, though I am sometimes disposed to think with Mahomet,
and deny the possession of souls to the sex, I also incline to
believe, with other more charitable teachers--however difficult
it may be to reconcile the two philosophies--that there will be no
lack of them in either world.
Pages:
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48