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Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, 1860-1935

"Herland"

"You see, almost
every woman values her maternity above everything else. Each
girl holds it close and dear, an exquisite joy, a crowning honor,
the most intimate, most personal, most precious thing. That is,
the child-rearing has come to be with us a culture so profoundly
studied, practiced with such subtlety and skill, that the more we
love our children the less we are willing to trust that process to
unskilled hands--even our own."
"But a mother's love--" I ventured.
She studied my face, trying to work out a means of clear explanation.
"You told us about your dentists," she said, at length, "those
quaintly specialized persons who spend their lives filling little
holes in other persons' teeth--even in children's teeth sometimes."
"Yes?" I said, not getting her drift.
"Does mother-love urge mothers--with you--to fill their
own children's teeth? Or to wish to?"
"Why no--of course not," I protested. "But that is a highly
specialized craft.


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