Womanhood’s Infinite Worth
I am the poet of the woman the same as the man,
And I say it is as great to be a woman as to be a man,
And I say there is nothing greater than the mother of men.
—Walt Whitman.
Woman’s Mission
Woman’s mission is always the same; it is summed up in one word,—Love. It is the only work in which there can never be too many workers; it grows by cooperation; it has nothing to fear from competition. Women are charged with the education of sympathy, the source of real human unity; and their highest happiness is reached when they have the full consciousness of their vocation and are free to follow it. It is the admirable feature of their social mission, that it invites them to cultivate qualities which are natural to them, it calls into exercise emotions which all allow to be the most pleasurable. All that is required of them in a better organization of society is a better adaptation of their circumstances to their vocation, and improvements in their internal condition. They must be relieved from outdoor labor, and other means must be taken to secure due weight to their moral influence. … As men become more and more grateful for the blessing of the moral influence of women they will give expression to their chivalry in a systematic form. It will be a kind of worship of womanhood; an exaltation of mother-love to universal and thankful reverence.
—Auguste Comte.
Three Roses
Three roses, wan as moonlight, and weighed down
Each with its loveliness as with a crown,
Drooped in a florist’s window in a town.
The first a lover bought. It lay at rest,
Like flower on flower, that night, on Beauty’s breast.
The second rose, as virginal and fair,
Shrunk in the tangles of a harlot’s hair.
The third, a widow, with new grief made wild,
Shut in the icy palm of her dead child.
—Thomas B. Aldrich.
Alternate Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13.