ABSTRACT
It is acknowledged that daughters are brought into the world without the possibility of asking their own consent. It is acknowledged that they have then but two alternatives. Now, in the ordinary course of an ordinary woman's life, she is asking people to marry her all day long. Men only ask once and occasionally. There are three things on which marriage is generally founded, – a good opinion of a person, a desire to love and be loved, and a wish to escape dissatisfaction at home. Any real attraction is difficult because there is so little choice, for there must be similarity of means and age. Daughters can do nothing but what their parents approve. They cannot make even of their drawing a pursuit, for fear of appearing singular, of not performing what are called the 'social duties'. Children cannot give love and duty for binding them down, for crushing their heart.
