Page:The Higher Education of Women.djvu/193

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CONCLUSION.
189

manner—for the defence of hapless wives and children. It can scarcely be the true policy of an age which professes to be enlightened and humane, to suffer general licence to prevail, in order that a few rare souls, able to be a law to themselves and other people, may have the occasion for displaying exceptional heroism. If the scheme of Divine Providence requires that there should be outlets for the protective energies, they are likely to be found for a long time yet, in the infirmities of age, of infancy, and of poverty, without encouraging morbid or affected weakness in human beings intended by nature to be healthy and strong. There is still plenty of fighting to do, though the progress of civilisation has removed