“By no means,” said Mr. Lister. “The women were very careful in framing the statement of their grievances, not only to acknowledge but to distinctly proclaim their belief that man was the true head of woman, and as such, was, when a true relationship should be established, entitled to her most loyal recognition. But while she thus nobly recognised his dynamic character, she none the less declared, as I have told you, that she was his indispensable complement, that she was not a whit less essential than he in the great plan of the universe, and that she was, therefore, clearly entitled to the free development of her own nature, untrammelled by the heavy burdens which have been heaped upon her. Woman, who was made to be the glory of man, claims that man knows nothing whatever of what that glory might be if she existed in an atmosphere of freedom. She would be like the electric light as compared with the tallow candle of our forefathers. It would be a glory that would dazzle mankind.” “But what is this freedom that woman seeks?” I said. “I beg you to tell me at once what this great right is that she calls her MAGNA CHARTA.” “It is,” said Mr. Lister, turning and looking me squarely in the face, “the right to the perfect ownership of her own person.” [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER VII. I did not fully understand the meaning of Mr. Lister’s words. “In what respect,” I said, “does woman want the ownership of her own person? Does she not have it already?” “In respect to maternity,” he replied. “I do not understand you,” I said; “please explain more fully.” “Well,” said Mr. Lister, “the women say that while they are willing, under all proper conditions, to undergo what George Sand grandly called ‘the august martyrdom of maternity,’ they utterly refuse to have that martyrdom imposed upon them any longer. They say that maternity, multiplied and practically enforced as it is, constitutes the primeval curse that has rested upon them since they were driven out from the Garden of Eden. They say that they can bear that curse no longer, and that the time has come for man, by the same enlightenment that is flooding all other fields of knowledge, to adopt a manner of life that shall remove it.” “In short, they demand, as a final, inalienable right, that man shall give them an irrevocable, perpetual guarantee, that no woman from this time forth and forever, shall be subjected to the woes of maternity without her free and specific consent in all cases.” “What a preposterous idea!” I exclaimed in astonishment. “Upon what ground do they base this extraordinary claim?”