"society," then certainly a wholly new reform must expect no better fate.

As a matter of fact, I apprehend that what is called "society," in the
sense of the more fastidious or exclusive social circle in any community,
exists for one sole object,--the preservation of good manners and social
refinements. For this purpose it is put very largely under the sway of
women, who have, all the world over, a better instinct for these important
things. It is true that "society" is apt to do even this duty very
imperfectly, and often tolerates, and sometimes even cultivates, just the
rudeness and discourtesy that it is set to cure. Nevertheless, this is its
mission; but so soon as it steps beyond this, and attempts to claim any
special weight outside the sphere of good manners, it shows its weakness,
and must yield to stronger forces.

One of these stronger forces is religion, which should train men and women
to a far higher standard than "society" alone can teach. This standard
should be embodied, theoretically, in the Christian Church; but unhappily
"society" is too often stronger than this embodiment, and turns the church
itself into a mere temple of fashion. Other opposing forces are known as
science and common-sense, which is only science written in shorthand. On
some of these various forces all reforms are based, the woman-suffrage
reform among them. If it could really be shown that some limited social
circle was opposed to this, then the moral would seem to be, "So much the
worse for the social circle." It used to be thought in anti-slavery days
that one of the most blessed results of that agitation was the education it
gave to young men and women who would otherwise have merely grown up "in
society," but were happily taken in hand by a stronger influence. It is
Goethe who suggests, when discussing Hamlet in "Wilhelm Meister," that, if
an oak be planted in a flower-pot, it will be worse in the end for the
flower-pot than for the tree. And to those who watch, year after year, the