two sexes are mutually limited by nature. They would doubtless add that
this very fact is an argument for the enfranchisement of woman: for, if
woman is a mere duplicate of man, man can represent her; but if she has
traits of her own, absolutely distinct from his, then he cannot represent
her, and she should have a voice and a vote of her own.

To this last body of believers I belong. I think that all legal or
conventional obstacles should be removed, which debar woman from
determining for herself, as freely as man determines, what the real
limitations of sex are, and what restrictions are merely conventional. But,
when all is said and done, there is no doubt that plenty of limitations
will remain on both sides.

That man has such limitations is clear. No matter how finely organized he
may be, how sympathetic, how tender, how loving, there is yet a barrier,
never to be passed, that separates him from the most precious part of the
woman's kingdom. All the wondrous world of motherhood, with its unspeakable
delights, its holy of holies, remains forever unknown by him; he
may gaze, but never enter. That halo of pure devotion, which makes a
Madonna out of so many a poor and ignorant woman, can never touch his brow.
Many a man loves children more than many a woman: but, after all, it is not
he who has borne them; to that peculiar sacredness of experience he can
never arrive. But never mind whether the loss be a great one or a small
one: it is distinctly a limitation; and to every loving mother it is a
limitation so important that she would be unable to weigh all the
privileges and powers of manhood against this peculiar possession of her
child.

Now, if this be true, and if man be thus distinctly limited by the mere
fact of sex, can the woman complain that she also should have some natural