Ledyard’s Praise of Women
Through many a land and clime a ranger
With toilsome steps, I’ve held my way,
A lonely, unprotected stranger,
To all the stranger’s ills a prey.
While steering thus my course precarious,
My fortune still had been to find
Men’s hearts and dispositions various,
But gentle Woman ever kind.
Alive to every tender feeling,
To deeds of mercy ever prone,
The wounds of pain and sorrow healing
With soft compassion’s sweetest tone.
No proud delay, no dark suspicion,
Stints the free bounty of their heart;
They turn not from the sad petition,
But cheerful aid at once impart.
Formed in benevolence of nature,
Obliging, modest, gay, and mild,
Woman’s the same endearing creature
In courtly town and savage wild.
When parched with thirst, with hunger wasted,
Her friendly hand refreshment gave,
How sweet the coarsest food has tasted!
What cordial in the simple wave!
Her courteous looks, her words caressing,
Shed comfort on the fainting soul:
Woman’s the stranger’s general blessing,
From sultry India to the Pole.