Nora received a letter from Edna Whitely.

“I have some news for all of your girls.  Mollie Long and Sallie Davis are going to marry clergymen.  They are brothers.  Sallie’s husband is going to be a missionary to China.”

“Isn’t that awful?” said Mrs. Hollister.  “Sallie will be massacred as sure as fate—­that’s the end of missionaries.  I had a second cousin who went and both she and her husband were victims.  I wouldn’t allow a child of mine to marry one.  Let him stay in his own country, but to drag a young girl out into those heathen places—­it’s an outrage.”

“Well, our Ohio Camp Fire will resolve itself into only half, I fear,” said Nora.  “There’s poor Mattie, Miss Kate, Sallie and Mollie from right there.  I wonder who’s going to take their places.”

“Perhaps,” said Ethel, “little Mollie Hastings if she’s pronounced cured.  It may be of great benefit to her.  Let’s see what can be done.”

“Dorothy Kip might become an Ohio girl and spend her summers up there with us too,” suggested Nora.  “And if Dr. Bigelow goes with the Scouts Nannie can join.”

“We’ll see,” replied Ethel.  “It’s quite a few months before next summer.  ‘Sufficient unto the day, etc.’”

Ethel was getting along famously at Barnard.

“What profession shall you follow—­the law or ministry?” Harvey would ask jokingly.

“Something that shall enable me to become self supporting,” Ethel would reply seriously.

“There’s where you make a mistake,” said Harvey.  “A woman was made to be supported by a man—­not to support herself.”

“Why not?” asked Ethel.  “How many wives today support their husbands?  Have you any idea of the number?”

“Oh, well, then it’s because the men are lazy or sick.  No decent, self-respecting man would allow it.”

“Supposing a woman can not marry.  She can’t propose to a man.  What can she do in that case—­starve?  No, Dr. Bigelow, you can’t even argue.  Every woman should have in her hand, say, a weapon or trade with which to take care of herself.  Then when the time comes she’s ready to start in the battle of life, and not sit around helpless while others do for her, or become dependent upon charity, or worse.  The day of Elsie Dinsmores has gone.  In her place we have strong, capable, broad-minded women.  Seldom do we hear of a woman fainting today, yet look back sixty years and recall the Lydia Languish females with long ringlets and wasp waists, who invariably carried smelling salts.  I’m proud to belong to the women of today—­healthy, strong, athletic, and brave—­women who do and are not ashamed of it.  Look at Aunt Susan.  There’s a woman who is an example.  I hope I may amount to as much as she before I die.”

“Ethel, I fear you are strong-minded,” laughed Harvey.

“Don’t fear, but know it.  I try to be strong in mind and body.  I believe in a woman getting all that’s coming to her and working for that end.”