herself to the lust of scoundrels.  But the minds of legislators pass understanding; and when, a few years ago, a woman in the Legislature of Colorado proposed to have the age of consent raised from sixteen to twenty-one, such a storm of protest came from her male colleagues that the measure had to be abandoned.  In the second place the public should be made better acquainted with the facts of prostitution.  When people once realise thoroughly what sickness and social ulcers result from the presence in the city of New York of 100,000 debauched women (and the estimate is conservative)—­when they begin to reflect that their children must grow up in such surroundings, then perhaps they will question the expediency of the double standard of morality and will insist that what is wrong for a woman is wrong for a man.  It is a fact, to be borne carefully in mind, that the vast majority of prostitutes begin their career below the age of eighteen and usually at the instigation of adult men, who take advantage of their ignorance or of their poverty.  If the miserable Thaw trial did nothing else, it at least once more called public attention to conditions which every intelligent man knows have existed for years.  Something can also be done by statute.  New York has made adultery a crime; and the State of Washington requires a physical examination of the parties before marriage.  In the third place, physicians should take more pains to educate men to the knowledge that a continent life is not a detriment to health—­the contrary belief being more widely spread than is usually suspected.

II.  In the training of women, care should be taken to impress upon them that they are not toys or spoiled children, but fellow-citizens, devoted to the common task of advancing the ideals of the nation to their goal.

    The woman’s cause is man’s; they rise or sink
    Together, dwarf’d or godlike, bond or free: 
    If she be small, slight-natured, miserable,
    How shall men grow?

TENNYSON, The Princess.

    A Being breathing thoughtful breath,
    A Traveller between life and death;
    The reason firm, the temperate will,
    Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;
    A perfect Woman, nobly planned,
    To warn, to comfort, and command;
    And yet a Spirit still, and bright
    With something of an angel light.

WORDSWORTH.

Towards a higher conception of their duties, women are steadily advancing.  It often happens that the history of words will give a hint of the progress of civilisation.  Such a story is told by the use of lady and woman.  Not many decades ago the use of the word woman in referring to respectable members of the sex was interpreted as a lack of courtesy.  To-day, women prefer to be called women.

III.  Women should be given the full right to enter any profession or business which they may desire.  As John Stuart Mill says: