"
"Your experience must have been very wide," I answered by way of
pleasantry, "since, as you hint, it includes the whole world."
He stared for a moment, did not respond to my smile, but continued in
the same imperturbable monotone:
"When God abstracted that seventh or ninth rib from Adam, and
fashioned a woman of it, the result was, _entre nous_, nothing to
boast of. I have ever ceased to regret that Adam did not wake up in
time to thwart that hazardous experiment. It may have been necessary
to introduce some tragic element into our lives, and if that was the
intention, I admit that the means were ingenious. To my mind the only
hope of salvation for the human race lies in its gradual emancipation
from that baleful passion which draws men and women so irresistibly to
each other. Love and reason in a well-regulated human being, form at
best an armed neutrality, but can never cordially co-operate. But few
men arrive in this life at this ideal state, and women never. As it is
now, our best energies are wasted in vain endeavors to solve the
matrimonial problem at the very time when our vitality is greatest and
our strength might be expended with the best effect in the service of
the race, for the advancement of science, art, or industry.
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