The
first reason is, that the female operative, of whatever sort, has, as
a rule, passed through the first critical epoch of woman's life: she
has got fairly by it. In her case, as a rule, unfortunately there are
too many exceptions to it, the catamenia have been established; the
function is in good running order; the reproductive apparatus--the
engine within an engine--has been constructed, and she will not be
called upon to furnish force for building it again. The female
student, on the contrary, has got these tasks before her, and must
perform them while getting her education; for the period of female
sexual development coincides with the educational period. The same
five years of life must be given to both tasks. After the function is
normally established, and the apparatus made, woman can labor mentally
or physically, or both, with very much greater persistence and
intensity, than during the age of development. She still retains the
type of periodicity; and her best work, both as to quality and amount,
is accomplished when the order of her labor partakes of the rhythmic
order of her constitution. Still the fact remains, that she can do
more than before; her fibre has acquired toughness; the system is
consolidated; its fountains are less easily stirred.
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