At the same time they stand in
no such direct organic relation to the industrial process at
large as would tend strongly to break down those habits of
thought which, for the modern industrial purpose, are obsolete.
That is to say, the peculiar devoutness of women is a particular
expression of that conservatism which the women of civilized
communities owe, in great measure, to their economic position.
For the modern man the patriarchal relation of status is by no
means the dominant feature of life; but for the women on the
other hand, and for the upper middle-class women especially,
confined as they are by prescription and by economic
circumstances to their "domestic sphere," this relation is the
most real and most formative factor of life. Hence a habit of
mind favorable to devout observances and to the interpretation of
the facts of life generally in terms of personal status. The
logic, and the logical processes, of her everyday domestic life
are carried over into the realm of the supernatural, and the
woman finds herself at home and content in a range of ideas which
to the man are in great measure alien and imbecile.
Still the men of this class are also not devoid of piety,
although it is commonly not piety of an aggressive or exuberant
kind.
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