I would not imply that womanliness does not exist in those women whom
superior talents have raised above the average man. A great lecturer,
after holding her audience long by her eloquent appeals for reforms,
stepped down into the crowd slowly departing, and earnestly inquired
after this sick friend, that poor one, and the prosperity of another.
The marvel of her womanliness was even more striking than the power
of her oratory.
As I said at first, girls, girlishness, while inferior to womanliness,
is no hindrance to it. It is most proper for girls to discuss tucks
and ruffles, gloves and boots, bangs and twists. They think about these
things properly enough, too, or they would not make such good use of
them. They are in no danger of becoming less worthy women, provided
they do not exclude thoughts on higher things. But girlishness,
construed to mean just a love of dress and finery, does not make
womanliness. If it did, every well-clothed girl on the street would be
virtuous. I confess, however, that it would require a good deal of
persuasion to make me believe that untidy skirts, buttons clinging by a
thread, or utter inattention to style, to neatness and wholeness, were
traits in a womanly woman.
We are told that true manliness and true womanliness are one and the
same. At some points, these qualities meet and mingle. In the strongest
parts of character, men and women are the same.
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