as Adam was created before Eve, Adam was intended to be superior. I think, Sir, that this argument is singularly unhappy. Why we read that the birds, beasts, and fishes were created before Adam, and if my friend's logic were sound, Adam must be inferior to the said birds, beasts, and fishes in consequence: an argument, as I take it, not quite supported by fact. Sir, so far as we can judge, the most important creatures seem to have been formed last,-and therefore Eve must, according to that, be not only not inferior, but superior to Adam.

Why what was
Now it seems

Then as to the argument about the rib. Adam formed out of? The dust of the earth. to me that a living rib is a much more dignified thing to be made out of, than the lifeless dust of the ground and if so, my friend's argument turns against himself rather than against the ladies.

I heard the gentleman say, too, and I confess I heard it with some impatience, that woman's sphere does not require so much intellect as man's. Whence he got such an argument I cannot imagine, for I think it by no means creditable either to his taste or to his discernment. Who has to rear

the infant mind? to tend and instruct the growing child? to teach it truth, and goodness, and piety? Not impetuous, impatient man, but enduring, gentle, and considerate woman. What more important or more difficult task could mortal undertake? It requires the noblest intellect to teach a child, and that intellect being required in woman, I feel sure that she possesses it. Although, then, I own, that there are great and inborn differences between the intellectual capacities of the sexes, I cannot for an instant imagine that the one is, in the aggregate, a whit inferior to the other.

Fifteenth Speaker.-Sir, I have reflected calmly and dispassionately upon the question before us, whilst I have been listening to the speeches made by my friends around me, and although I own that I was at first inclined to vote in the affirmative of this question, I am not ashamed to say that my views have undergone a material alteration during the debate, and that I have now made up my mind to defend and vote for the ladies.

In the first place, Sir, I think we are necessarily unfair judges we are interested in the verdict, and therefore ought not to sit upon the judgment-seat. It gratifies our pride to think that we are superior to the other sex; and reflection upon this point has convinced me, that upon the ground of good taste and modesty alone, we ought at once to give up the

point, and admit woman's claims to be at least equal to our

own.

I

Reason also moves me to adopt the same conclusion. concede at once that there are great differences between the capacities of the sexes; but not greater than between different races of our own sex. The African savage is inferior to the European philosopher. Why? Because he has not been educated. So with woman. When you can show me that woman has received the same advantages as man, and has not then equalled him, why then I will vote against her-but not till then.

Besides,-the differences, though innate, are not differences of amount, but of detail. A man who has a five-shilling piece, and a man who has ten sixpences, are equally rich: just in the same manner woman may be as intellectually great as man, only possessing her mental wealth in different coin from his. He has one set of qualities; she has another. He has judgment,--she has tact. He has boldness,-she has prudence. He has courage,—she has caution. He has reason,—she has hope! Add up the two sides, and though the figures are different, the amount will be the same.

It has been said that as woman is commanded in Scripture to obey, she must necessarily be inferior. This by no means follows. There must be a head: they cannot both rule though equal, therefore, one must submit. The philosophers and statesmen of this country obey the sovereign who is placed over them; but that does not prove them to be inferior to that sovereign in intellect. This argument has in fact nothing to do with the matter.

In conclusion, I would say, that as the Creator formed woman to be a help meet for man, I cannot believe that she was made inferior. She was given to him as a companion and a friend, not as a slave and servant, and I cannot but think that we are displaying great arrogance and presumption, as well as a contemptuous depreciation of our Great Creator's best gifts, if we declare and decide that she who adorns and beautifies and delights our existence, is inferior to ourselves in that intelligence which became a part of man's soul when God breathed into him the breath of life.

First Speaker (in reply).—Mr. Chairman,-You have called on me to reply. Now I beg at once and frankly to say, that I, like the last speaker, have undergone conviction during this debate, and that I mean to vote against the proposition which a short time ago I recommended.

I was misled by appearances. I looked into history; but I did not examine it correctly. I looked at the surface only.

I saw great deeds, and I saw that men had performed them; but I did not estimate what had been done silently. I forgot to ask myself how much of the good these men wrought, was owing to the wisdom and goodness taught to them in their infancy by their mothers. So with philosophy, so with science. The glitter caught me and I fear I lost the substance.

I am not sorry, however, that I introduced the question. It has changed those who were wrong,-it has confirmed those who were right, and it has caused all to think. Let me hope that all who spoke on my side of the question are, like their leader, converted; and let me in conclusion say, that I trust we shall take to our hearts the truth we adopt ; and whilst we vote here, that the mental capacity of the female sex is fully equal to our own, show by our conduct towards that sex, that we feel their high value and dignity and treat them in every respect as our full equals and as our best friends.

[Extracted by permission of Messrs. Longman & Co. from the Debater;' a series of complete debates, outlines of debates and questions for discussion, with ample references to the best sources of information.-By F. Rowton.]

X

Ex. 202.

HUMOROUS EXTRACTS.

The Chameleon.

Oft has it been my lot to mark
A proud, conceited, talking spark—
With eyes that hardly served at most
To guard their master 'gainst a post;
Yet round the world the blade had been
To see whatever could be seen-
Returning from his finished tour,
Grown ten times perter than before :
Whatever word you chance to drop,
The travelled fool your mouth will stop-
'Sir, if my judgment you'll allow,
I've seen, and sure I ought to know.'-
So begs you'd pay a due submission,
And acquiesce in his decision.

Two travellers, of such a cast-
As o'er Arabia's wilds they passed,
And on their way, in friendly chat,
Now talked of this, and then of that-
Discoursed awhile, mongst other matter,
Of the Chameleon's form and nature.
'A stranger animal,' cries one,
'Sure never lived beneath the sun!
A lizard's body, lean and long,
A fish's head, a serpent's tongue,
Its foot with triple claw disjoined;
And what a length of tail behind!
How slow its pace! and then its hue-
Who ever saw so fine a blue !'

'Hold there !' the other quick replies,
" "Tis green-I saw it with these eyes,
As late with open mouth it lay,
And warmed it in the sunny ray;
Stretched at its ease, the beast I viewed,
And saw it eat the air for food.'

'I've seen it, sir, as well as you,
And must again affirm it blue;
At leisure I the beast surveyed,
Extended in the cooling shade.'

'Tis green, 'tis green, sir, I assure ye.'—
'Green!' cries the other in a fury;
'Why, sir-d'ye think I've lost my eyes?'
''Twere no great loss,' the friend replies;

Ex. 203.

'For, if they always serve you thus,
You'll find 'em but of little use!'
So high at last the contest rose,

From words they almost came to blows;
When luckily came by a third :
To him the question they referred ;
And begged he'd tell 'em if he knew
Whether the thing was green or blue.

6 Sirs,'
,' cries the umpire, cease your pother;
The creature's neither one nor t'other.
I caught the animal last night,
And viewed it o'er by candle-light;
I marked it well-'twas black as jet-
You stare-but, sirs, I've got it yet,
And can produce it.'-' Pray, sir, do:
'I'll lay my life the thing is blue.'

' And I'll be sworn, that when you've seen
The reptile, you'll pronounce him green.'
'Well then, at once to end the doubt,'
Replies the man, 'I'll turn him out;
And when before your eyes I've set him,
you don't find him black, I'll eat him.'
He said; then full before their sight

If

Produced the beast, and lo !-'twas white.

Merrick.

Eyes and Nose.

Between Nose and Eyes a strange contest arose,
The spectacles set them unhappily wrong;
The point in dispute was, as all the world knows,
To which the said spectacles ought to belong.

So the Tongue was the lawyer, and argued the cause
With a great deal of skill, and a wig full of learning ;
While chief baron Ear sat to balance the laws,

So famed for his talent in nicely discerning.

"In behalf of the Nose, it will quickly appear,

And your Lordship,' said Tongue, will undoubtedly find

That the Nose has had spectacles always in wear,

Which amounts to possession, time out of mind.'

Then holding the spectacles up to the court

'Your lordship observes they are made with a straddle, As wide as the ridge of the nose is; in short, Designed to sit close to it, just like a saddle.