Note 69 — Chapter X · Marriage as a Means of Support.

In “Les Femmes qui tuent et les femmes qui votent,” Alexander Dumas, jr., relates that an eminent Catholic clergyman had told him that among hundred of his former female pupils who had become married, at least eighty came to him after a few months had elapsed and told him that marriage was a disappointment to them and that they regretted having married. That seems very plausible indeed. The French bourgeoisie find it compatible with their conscience to have their daughters reared in convents. They are influenced by the assumption that an ignorant woman is more easily guided than an enlightened one. Conflicts and disappointments in marriage are the inevitable result. Laboulaye even frankly advises to maintain the women in moderate ignorance, for “notre empire est détruit si l’homme est reconnu.” (Our rule will be destroyed if man is recognized.)