
you they are very happy in it. It seems to us that women were more than any
other class the victims of your civilization. There is something which, even at
this distance of time, penetrates one with pathos in the spectacle of their
ennuied, undeveloped lives, stunted at marriage, their narrow horizon, bounded
so often, physically, by the four walls of home, and morally by a petty circle
of personal interests. I speak now, not of the poorer classes, who were
generally worked to death, but also of the well-to-do and rich. From the great
sorrows, as well as the petty frets of life, they had no refuge in the breezy
outdoor world of human affairs, nor any interests save those of the family. Such
an existence would have softened men's brains or driven them mad. All that is
changed to-day. No woman is heard nowadays wishing she were a man, nor parents
desiring boy rather than girl children. Our girls are as full of ambition for
their careers as our boys. Marriage, when it comes, does not mean incarceration
for them, nor does it separate them in any way from the larger interests of
society, the bustling life of the world. Only when maternity fills a woman's
mind with new interests does she withdraw from the world for a time. Afterwards,
and at any time, she may return to her place among her comrades, nor need she
ever lose touch with them. Women are a very happy race nowadays, as compared
with what they ever were before in the world's history, and their power of
giving happiness to men has been of course increased in proportion.«
    »I should imagine it possible,« I said, »that the interest which girls take
in their careers as members of the industrial army and candidates for its
distinctions might have an effect to deter them from marriage.«
    Dr. Leete smiled. »Have no anxiety on that score, Mr. West,« he replied.
»The Creator took very good care that whatever other modifications the
dispositions of men and women might with time take on, their attraction for each
other should remain constant. The mere fact that in an age like yours, when the
struggle for existence must have left people little time for other thoughts, and
the future was so uncertain that to assume parental responsibilities must have
often seemed like a criminal risk, there was even then marrying and giving in
marriage, should be conclusive on this point. As for love nowadays, one of our
authors says that the vacuum left
