Custom lies upon them with a weight
Heavy as frost and deep almost as life.
The usual reasoning as to the ability of women also overlooks the fact
that many women are larger and stronger than many men, and some
of them possessed of tremendous energy, will, wit, endurance, and
sagacity. This type appears in all classes of society, but more
frequently in the lower classes and among peasants, both because the
natural qualities are less glozed over there by aristocratic custom,
and because these classes are bred truer to nature. Unfortunately, the
attention of the women of these classes is limited to very immediate
concerns; but, on the other hand, they present the true qualities of
the female type, and few, I believe, will deny that the peasant woman
described below would shine in intellectual walks if fate had called
her there:
Mother was a large, stout, full-blooded woman of great
strength. She could not read or write, and yet she was well
thought of. There are all sorts of educations, and though
reading and writing are very well in their way, they would not
have done mother any good.
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