And yet "the path of true love never did run smooth"; this
period of courtship was full of the most unsuspected pitfalls.
Writing this as late as I do, after manifold experiences both
in Herland and, later, in my own land, I can now understand and
philosophize about what was then a continual astonishment and
often a temporary tragedy.
The "long suit" in most courtships is sex attraction, of course.
Then gradually develops such comradeship as the two temperaments
allow. Then, after marriage, there is either the establishment
of a slow-growing, widely based friendship, the deepest, tenderest,
sweetest of relations, all lit and warmed by the recurrent flame
of love; or else that process is reversed, love cools and fades,
no friendship grows, the whole relation turns from beauty to ashes.
Here everything was different. There was no sex-feeling to
appeal to, or practically none. Two thousand years' disuse had
left very little of the instinct; also we must remember that those
who had at times manifested it as atavistic exceptions were often,
by that very fact, denied motherhood.
Pages:
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204