These faculties belong to both sexes, yet the two are distinguished by the preponderance of the opposing characteristics.[156]
Were these opposites in perfect harmony, they would respond to and complete each other.
Why does this harmony not prevail?
Because, as man came before woman, power before beauty, he kept his ascendency, and enslaved her.
Woman in turn rose by her moral power, which a growing civilization recognized.
Man became more just and kind, but failed to see that woman was half himself, and that, by the laws of their common being, he could never reach his true proportions while she remained shorn of hers. And so it has gone on to our day.
Pure love, poetic genius, and true religion have done much to vindicate and to restore the normal harmony.
The time has now come when a clearer vision and better action are possible,—when man and woman may stand as pillars of one temple, priests of one worship.
This hope should attain its amplest fruition in our own country, and will do so if the principles from which sprang our national life are adhered to.
Women should now be the best helpers of women. Of men, we need only ask the removal of arbitrary barriers.