"
"Alas, Miss Lucy, even this was not in my thought, so much are we men
ignorant of or indifferent to those things which are thought of so much
real importance. We seldom regard matters which are not of present
enjoyment. The case is otherwise with you. There is far more truth, my
own experience tells me, in the profession of your sex, whether in love
or in religion, than in ours--and believe me, I mean this as no idle
compliment--I feel it to be true. The fact is, society itself puts you
into a sphere and condition, which, taking from you much of your
individuality, makes you less exclusive in your affections, and more
single in their exercise. Your existence being merged in that of the
stronger sex, you lose all that general selfishness which is the strict
result of our pursuits. Your impulses are narrowed to a single point or
two, and there all your hopes, fears and desires, become concentrated.
You acquire an intense susceptibility on a few subjects, by the loss of
those manifold influences which belong to the out-door habit of mankind.
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