Show WOMEN tim the lOwing fo tribute by the late count leo tolstoy gives elves his bis decint definition odthe mission of man and woman the article appeared in the pacific monthly and it breathes such a noble thought though chrt it is well north preserving the for which every individual exists whether man or woman Is to be of cf use to others to society I 1 think that with mth this general proposition all people who are not immoral will agree the difference between men and women in the fulfillment of tills this appointed function is only in the means by which they attain it the manner in which they serve their fel low men men serve society with bodily exertions which create food clothing etc and and with mental exertions ert ions by studying the laws of nature in order to make it serve our needs and also with work of a public character the establishment of forms of life by ordaining the right relations for men to sustain to one another the means by which a man may serve mankind are thus various the whole field ot of hil human hilan an effort with the single exception of bearing and nursing children is his field of oe work on the other hand while women may be of use in all the forms of work that are open to men they are drawn nevertheless inevitably into that one service which their physical constitution permits to them and forbids to men the service OC 0 humanity thus naturally divides itself into two parts one of them is the prom promotion otien of the welfare or of the existing human beings the second is the reproduction reproduce ori and replacement of humanity itself men alen are preemptor ily callad to the first service by being absolutely barred from the second to the s second service women are prell called ly jy the fact that no one else can perform it this difference one must not cannot ignore and indeed it would be i 1 sin sill and a wrong to forget it out of this difference arises the duties of each duties which are not invented aymen but existing in the nature KLat ure of things t upon n this difference rests our estimate and understanding of what is virtue and vice in men and women a moral verdict pronounced by all ages h reto fore pronounced by ourselves also and which will always hereafter be pronounced as long as human beings are intelligent creatures it has been and always will be true that the man who spends the greater part ot of his life in the various bodil bodily Y mental and public activities which are natural to him and that the woman who spends the greater part of her life in the work that is 4 naturally and exclusively hers namely the bearing nursing and rearing of children will alike feel that they have done their duty so living each will equally earn the respect and love of their fellow men for each will have done what each was made to do the mans function then Is more varied and ox extensive the comans womans wo Vo mans mang more uniform and intensive and more deeply a part of her moral nature so it has ever aver been and will ever be that a man who has hundreds of duties may tail fall in the performance ol of some of them and still remain a harmless not bad man who has been of some use in the world and on the other hand since the imperative duties ol of the woman are so few she falls mor ally lower by violation of one of those few obligations than a man by f tail ail ing in ten out of his hundred suet such has ever been and will ever lie be the verdict of mankind for such Is the essence ot of the affair A man in order to fulfill the will of god must serve him in the held field of bodily toil of thought and of social morality in all these fields he is able to fulfill his function for a woman the means of serving god are arc pre emi bently and almost exclusively uslyce she alone can perform the service children only through his work is tile the man called upon to serve god only through her children is the wo we maa called cal el upon to serve and L k irve r e of h her er children which is unborn in the woman the ex exclusive elusive love which reason cannot no abate or affect will always be and M mist be natural to the woman who ulio Is 1 pother mother this love tor for a little child in ia his infancy is not necessarily tinged with v ich egotism it at al dalier rrt lier it Is the love of 0 the worl worker er tor for the work which he be makes wh while ile it is yet on his bis hands take away from the worker his love ot of his work and achievement becomes impossible just so it is with the mother the man is called upon to servo serve mankind in ciany many ways and an hc loves his p picture c while he pa paints ints it and his poem while he be writes 14 it and his bis acre of grain while he harvests it the wo man Is called upon to serve the race through gh her children and it cannot be otherwise tha than n that she shou should id love lore them while she Is bringing them into the world feeding thorn them from her breast and raising them to manhood and womanhood their general funch function I 1 on being the same to serve god and man men and women are perfectly equal in spite of their services differing in form their equality lies in the fact that each service is as important as the other that they are interdependent and that tor for the actual performance of either duty the knowledge of truth is equally necessary since without knowledge of truth the activity of man and woman alike loses its usefulness ful ness goes astray and becomes actually injurious to society man alan Is called to the fulfilling ot of his various tasks but his hia work is ie only useful and hia ha bodily mental and social efforts are arc only obly arul fruitful when they are performed in the light of truth and so as to advance the welfare ot of others so it is with the womans comans mission her bearing nursing and raising children will be useful to humanity only when she brings up children not merely to seek pleasure but to be truly the i servant of mankind only when her raising of the children is 19 fulfilled in the light of truth and for the we welfare alfare of the people namely when she raises the children that they may be th the best workers for other people well then how bow shall it ie be with those that have no children or did not get married or are widows their duty shall be fulfilled ii if they work at the varied tasks of the men any woman that cannot perform her peculiar function of childbearing child bearing may successfully occupy herself in helping men in their work the help that a woman may bo be in this work is very evident but to see a young voni V vo who is able to bear chit children dran 0 occupying c herself with mens w nork ork will vill always be painful Y to see such c won so occupied Is just like seeing a p relious precious plot I 1 of rich earth diverted from harvest and nd made s z barren drill ground or pram enade N nay ay it is oven even more for tills this earth could berar bear only besiie but the woman coad cd abrl s firpi a ivalue which cannot I 1 be there is nothing hothir g than ta andRs I 1 5 a human being and only afi alone can do it J 7 |