named. And it is not only in civilized life and in Christendom that
woman has shown herself wise in governing; even among the wildest
savage tribes they have appeared, occasionally, as leaders and
rulers. This is a singular fact. It may be proved from the history of
this continent, and not only from the early records of Mexico and
Cuba and Hayti, but also from the reports of the earliest navigators
on our own coast, who here and there make mention incidentally of
this or that female chief or sachem. But a fact far more impressive
and truly elevating to the sex also appears on authority entirely
indisputable. While women are enjoined by the Word of God to
refrain from public teaching in the Church, there have been individual
women included among the Prophets, speaking under the direct
influence of the Most Holy Spirit of God, the highest dignity to which
human nature can attain. But all these individual cases, whether
political or religious, have been exceptional. The lesson to be
learned from them is plain. We gather naturally from these facts,
what may be learned also from other sources, that, while the
positions of the two sexes are as such distinct, the one a degree
superior, the other a degree inferior, the difference between them is
limited--it is not impassable in individual cases. The two make up
but one species, one body politic and religious. There are many
senses besides marriage in which the two are one. It is the right
hand and the left, both belonging to one body, moved by common
feeling, guided by common reason. The left hand may at times be
required to do the work of the right, the right to act as the left. Even
in this world there are occasions when the last are first, the first
last, without disturbing the general order of things. These
exceptional cases temper the general rule, but they can not abrogate
that rule as regards the entire sex. Man learns from them not to
exaggerate his superiority--a lesson very often needed. And woman