There is something which, even at this distance of time, penetrates one with pathos in the spectacle of their ennuied, undeveloped lives, stunted at marriage, their narrow horizon, bounded so often, physically, by the four walls of home, and morally by a petty circle of personal interests.

I speak now, not of the poorer classes, who were generally worked to death, but also of the well-to-do and rich.

From the great sorrows, as well as the petty frets of life, they had no refuge in the breezy outdoor world of human affairs, nor any interests save those of the family.

Such an existence would have softened men's brains or driven them mad.

All that is changed to-day.
No woman is heard nowadays wishing she were a man, nor parents desiring boy rather than girl children.