" Or, laughing at men
who meddle in household affairs, she will affirm that "men do not
understand some things."
The number of things which you do not understand increases day by day.
One fine morning, you will see in your little church two altars, where
before you never worshiped but at one. The altar of your wife and your
own altar have become distinct, and this distinction will go on
increasing, always in accordance with the system founded upon the
dignity of woman.
Then the following ideas will appear, and they will be inculcated in
you whether you like it or not, by means of a living force very
ancient in origin and little known. Steam-power, horse-power,
man-power, and water-power are good inventions, but nature has
provided
women with a moral power, in comparison with which all other powers
are nothing; we may call it _rattle-power_. This force consists in a
continuance of the same sound, in an exact repetition of the same
words, in a reversion, over and over again, to the same ideas, and
this so unvaried, that from hearing them over and over again you will
admit them, in order to be delivered from the discussion. Thus the
power of the rattle will prove to you:
That you are very fortunate to have such an excellent wife;
That she has done you too much honor in marrying you;
That women often see clearer than men;
That you ought to take the advice of your wife in everything, and
almost always ought to follow it;
That you ought to respect the mother of your children, to honor her
and have confidence in her;
That the best way to escape being deceived, is to rely upon a wife's
refinement, for according to certain old ideas which we have had the
weakness to give credit, it is impossible for a man to prevent his
wife from minotaurizing him;
That a lawful wife is a man's best friend;
That a woman is mistress in her own house and queen in her
drawing-room, etc.
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