that she is standing in her own light; for the man whom she wishes
to look upon her, and her only, will soon be a pure negation, a mere
machine, an echo of her own jealousy and selfish pride. Now,
freedom, or his liberty, would give him the right to mingle and
converse with other women; then he would know what his wife was to
him, while he would retain himself and give to her his manhood,
instead of the mere return of her own self. At present he dare not
utter a word to which she does not fully subscribe. She talks of his
'love' for her; it should be his 'servility.' They live in too close
relation to be all they might to each other. I have heard her
proudly assert, that he never spent an evening from home! I think
they are both to be pitied; but, am I making the subject of freedom
in any degree clear to your mind, my patient wife?"

"Yes, I begin to see that it is higher and nobler to be free, and
far purer than I supposed."

"Yes, dear one," he said, drawing her close to his heart, "we must
at times go from what we most tenderly love, in order to be drawn
closer. The closest links are those which do not bind at all. It is
a great mistake to keep the marriage tie so binding, and to force
upon society such a dearth of social life as we see around us daily.
Give men and women liberty to enjoy themselves on high social
planes, and we shall not have the debasing things which are
occurring daily, and are constantly on the increase. If I should
take a lady of culture and refinement to a concert, a lecture, or to
a theatre, would not society lift up its hands in holy horror, and
scandal-mongers go from house to house? If men and women come not
together on high planes, they will meet on debasing ones. Give us
more liberty, and we shall have more purity. I speak these words not