Poor women! they were under no illusion about the superficial effect they for the most part produced; they knew that perhaps it would all amount to no more than an outward show of improvement, and that at bottom man would remain the vulgar and self-seeking creature he was.[169] This thought confirmed them in their platonism and their virtue; if there was no better result, they told themselves that, after all, to awaken mere sensibility was not an absolute waste of time; that it was a merit to refine vice, to “polish it up,” to drape it with hypocrisy, to rule men and impress their intelligence even by indirect means: they found the occupation every whit as interesting as piling up household linen or polishing the furniture. They hoped that the future would justify their devotion. After all their love was only a means; the end was to pour upon life a little joy, a little balm, light, power, happiness—to shower happiness everywhere. CHAPTER III THE MISSION OF BEAUTY Before we can make others happy we must draw upon the sources of happiness in our own nature and in the world around. It is reason’s ungracious way to show us the realities of life in the mass, and even in their darker aspects; it is aestheticism that turns their bright side to us. Absolute ugliness does not exist, any more than absolute beauty, and a careful analysis detects an element of beauty and love in everything. The quest for this element is women’s work. In moulding us into beings sensitive to the least manifestation of happiness, they restore us to health. Their first duty is to exhibit in themselves every loveable quality, physical and moral; for platonism is not the art of loving, but the art of guiding men towards happiness through love. Their second duty is to make good use of the elements at their disposal, and force life to yield the very pith and essence of the Beautiful. Or we may liken them to conductors of orchestras, who draw unexpected tones out of space. How noble, how difficult is the task! Surely there is enough in it to fill a lifetime! What intelligence, what knowledge, what skill, even to charming sympathetic accents from a stone, are needed! Platonism would be narrow and inadequate indeed—would be indistinguishable from the most hackneyed sentiments—if it were satisfied with the triumph of feminine coquetry, and did not extend its mission to the whole of nature. To render themselves beautiful and admirable, therefore, women will have to make the most of their resources. Whatever their occupation, they can always mingle with it something of the ideal, or turn it to the glory of their sex, even if it is a mere matter of dining or of walking in a meadow; how much more so if it is a question of the manifold usages of social life, and more especially of its intellectual occupations! Through their fostering care all things should become imbued with a sentiment of peace and love, and tend in common towards happiness. That is where their talent lies.