in the minds of men and women by the absence
of care for one's livelihood has been entirely taken up by the tender passion.
That, however, I beg you to believe, is something of an exaggeration. For the
rest, so far is marriage from being an interference with a woman's career, that
the higher positions in the feminine army of industry are intrusted only to
women who have been both wives and mothers, as they alone fully represent their
sex.«
    »Are credit cards issued to the women just as to the men?«
    »Certainly.«
    »The credits of the women, I suppose, are for smaller sums, owing to the
frequent suspension of their labor on account of family responsibilities.«
    »Smaller!« exclaimed Dr. Leete, »oh, no! The maintenance of all our people
is the same. There are no exceptions to that rule, but if any difference were
made on account of the interruptions you speak of, it would be by making the
woman's credit larger, not smaller. Can you think of any service constituting a
stronger claim on the nation's gratitude than bearing and nursing the nation's
children? According to our view, none deserve so well of the world as good
parents. There is no task so unselfish, so necessarily without return, though
the heart is well rewarded, as the nurture of the children who are to make the
world for one another when we are gone.«
    »It would seem to follow, from what you have said, that wives are in no way
dependent on their husbands for maintenance.«
    »Of course they are not,« replied Dr. Leete, »nor children on their parents
either, that is, for means of support, though of course they are for the offices
of affection. The child's labor, when he grows up, will go to increase the
common stork, not his parents', who will be dead, and therefore he is properly
nurtured out of the common stock. The account of every person, man, woman, and
child, you must understand, is always with the nation directly, and never
through any intermediary, except, of course, that parents, to a certain extent,
act for children as their guardians. You see that it is by virtue of the
relation of individuals to the nation, of their membership in it, that they are
entitled to support; and this title is in no way connected with or affected by
their relations to other individuals who are fellow members of the nation with
them