Page:The rights of women and the sexual relations.djvu/270

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
254
THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN

who hated a negro woman on account of her color. To the disgrace of our nationality be it said that there are hundreds of thousands of German male "Democrats," but to the honor of our sex be it likewise said, very few female "Democrats."

The test has never yet been made how much woman in general can accomplish, but rather the test to what degree her capacities can be curbed. And yet the sons of the mothers who have been put to this test have not all turned out idiots and barbarians! Ought not that to arouse a desire in men to see what can be made of women, if they are not only placed on a footing of equality with men, but also receive equal liberty and opportunity to develop their capacities and unfold their activities? We always point with satisfaction to the fact that great men usually had excellent mothers. The qualities of the mothers are therefore to be considered an index to the qualities of the sons, and the influence of a mother does not seldom decide the trend of a whole life. And yet there seems to be a determination to limit the number of superior women as much as possible, by hindering the development of their faculties. Do not the men thus defraud themselves most surely, while they think they are working for their own best interests? When the mothers are enslaved and degraded, the sons can not be born as champions of liberty and men of genius. Let us turn our eyes to the Orient. Is it not, and will it not always be, an intellectual desert,