have worked, not so much in the publicity it may give but in the sense of mental expansion; and, in the instance of war, the passion of usefulness, the sense of dedication to a high cause, the necessary frequent suppression of self, stamp the soul with an impress that never can be obliterated.  That these women engaged in good works often quarrel like angry cats, or fight for their relief organization as a lioness would fight for her hungry cub, is beside the point.  That is merely another way of admitting they are human beings; not necessarily women, but just human beings.  As it was in the beginning, is now, etc.  Far better let loose their angry passions in behalf of the men who are fighting to save the world from a reversion to barbarism, than rowing their dressmakers, glaring across the bridge table, and having their blood poisoned by eternal jealousy over some man.

And if it will hasten the emancipation of the American man from the thralldom of snobbery still another barrier will go down in the path of the average woman.  Just consider for a moment how many men are failures.  They struggle along until forty or forty-five “on their own,” although fitted by nature to be clerks and no more, striving desperately to keep up appearances—­for the sake of their own pride, for the sake of their families, even for the sake of being “looked up to” by their wife and observant offspring.  But without real hope, because without real ability (they soon, unless fools, outlive the illusions of youth when the conquest of fortune was a matter of course) always in debt, and doomed to defeat.

How many women have said to me—­women in their thirties or early forties, and with two or three children of increasing demands:  “Oh, if I could help!  How unjust of parents not to train girls to do something they can fall back on.  I want to go to work myself and insure my children a good education and a start in the world, but what can I do?  If I had been specialized in any one thing I’d use it now whether my husband liked it or not.  But although I have plenty of energy and courage and feel that I could succeed in almost anything I haven’t the least idea how to go about it.”

If a woman’s husband collapses into death or desuetude while her children are young, it certainly is the bounden duty of some member of her family to support her until her children are old enough to go to school, for no one can take her place in the home before that period.  Moreover, her mind should be as free of anxiety as her body of strain.  But what a ghastly reflection upon civilization it is when she is obliged to stand on her feet all day in a shop or factory, or make tempting edibles for some Woman’s Exchange, because she cannot afford to spend time upon a belated training that might admit her lucratively to one of the professions or business industries.

The childless woman solves the problem with comparative ease.  She invariably shows more energy and decision, provided, of course, these qualities have been latent within her.