"I was thinking," said she, "why it is that women must be excluded from such honors and pursuits as you are going to share to-night. Why should not your enjoyment be increased by our presence, instead of being selfishly reserved to yourselves? Do you think affection can be weakened by exercising the intellect, or are your festivals of such a nature that you fear her moral character will suffer from contamination?
"If God has given us intellectual faculties, why should we not use them, as well as you? What would be said of a young man, who, when his education is considered completed, should content himself with the frivolities of fashionable life? He would be regarded as weak and effeminate, lacking those noble qualities of heart and soul that lead to an honorable ambition, both for his own development and the world's good.
"To stimulate a woman's affections, which is done by educating her into the belief that that is her only sphere, and provide her with no means of access to other channels to absorb her attention when the object of them is withdrawn, is to subject her to a stern ordeal of mental suffering. The mind must have food of some kind or it will become a prey to itself. We are reproached for being silly and weak-minded, because we spend so much time on dress, and study nothing but fashion, when, really, it is you who have forced us to this kind of life, by giving us no other means of relaxation and amusement. Even the woman, who is oppressed with the burden and care of a family through the day, would often find it a rest
