And the first step
towards a right handling of it is to accept the fact of it gladly and
openly. The convention lingers that it is a little weak in a man to
admit that he needs and craves woman's society, and that for a girl to
admit the converse is not quite modest. And thus there is often a
certain furtive element in the relations of the sexes between fifteen
and twenty-five which is all of it a great pity. It is here that Mrs.
Grundy has done us real injury. The poor old dear has been so fussy and
nervous about it all. She has often tried to close the doors upon free
and wholesome fellowship, and so has driven the young to find out other
ways of meeting. But even she has not been able to keep the sexes
apart. The truth is that the mutual relations of men and women in the
realm of comradeship, and quite apart from marriage, may be so happy
and enriching--so exhilarating and so bracing--that one may reverently
say the whole arrangement of having divided mankind into two such
groups, is one of the most splendid of the divine thoughts.
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