Of the true females,-- the Mothers-Elect,-- there are very few indeed; and
these are treated like queens. So constantly and so reverentially are they
waited upon that they can seldom have any wishes to express. They are
relieved from every care of existence,-- except the duty of bearing
offspring. Night and day they are cared for in every possible manner. They
alone are superabundantly and richly fed:-- for the sake of the offspring
they must eat and drink and repose right royally; and their physiological
specialization allows of such indulgence ad libitum. They seldom go out,
and never unless attended by a powerful escort; as they cannot be permitted
to incur unnecessary fatigue or danger. Probably they have no great desire
to go out. Around them revolves the whole activity of the race: all its
intelligence and toil and thrift are directed solely toward the well-being
of these Mothers and of their children.


But last and least of the race rank the husbands of these Mothers,-- the
necessary Evils,-- the males. They appear only at a particular season, as I
have already observed; and their lives are very short. Some cannot even
boast of noble descent, though destined to royal wedlock; for they are not
royal offspring, but virgin-born,-- parthenogenetic children,-- and, for
that reason especially, inferior beings, the chance results of some
mysterious atavism. But of any sort of males the commonwealth tolerates but
few,-- barely enough to serve as husbands for the Mothers-Elect, and these
few perish almost as soon as their duty has been done. The meaning of
Nature's law, in this extraordinary world, is identical with Ruskin's
teaching that life without effort is crime; and since the males are useless
as workers or fighters, their existence is of only momentary importance.
They are not, indeed, sacrificed,-- like the Aztec victim chosen for the
festival of Tezcatlipoca, and allowed a honeymoon of twenty days before his