was among the
women. The exiled men themselves admitted to me that when it came to the
endurance of suffering against which no fight could be made and from
which there was no escape, the women were greatly their superiors. The
infrequency of self-destruction among women, as compared with that among
men, seems to me to be due, not to their comparative immunity from
suffering, but to three other causes, namely, first, a greater power of
patient, passive endurance, when there is no fight to be made; second, a
mind and heart that are more influenced by feelings and beliefs that may
be called religious; and, third, a peculiar capacity for self-restraint
and self-preservation, based on the maternal instinct, that is, on
closer and more intimate relations with, stronger love for, and greater
devotion to young children.

A study of the relation that suicide bears to occupation discloses some
interesting and noteworthy facts. The first is that soldiers, both in
Europe and in the United States, must be put in a class by themselves,
for the reason that the suicide rate of army officers and men is so much
higher than that of the populations to which they belong that they can
hardly be included in the same category. In Prussia, for example, the
proportion of military suicides to civilian suicides is 1-1/2 to 1; in
England 2-1/2 to 1; in Italy 5 to 1; in Austria 10 to 1; and in Russia
nearly 11 to 1. Even in the United States, the tendency of soldiers to
kill themselves is 8-1/2 times that of adult men in civil life.

This disproportionately high suicide rate in armies is not easy of
explanation. In countries where military service is compulsory, and
where inexperienced young men, torn suddenly from their families, are
subjected to rigorous discipline in a strange and uncongenial
environment, the suicidal impulse may be intensified by homesickness,
loneliness, humiliation, and the monotony of camp or barrack life; but
in our own country, where the army is filled by voluntary enlistment,
and where the relations between officers and men are fairly sympathetic
and cordial, there would seem to be fewer reasons for unhappiness and
suffering than in the military service of Italy, Austria, or Russia. The
American soldier is generally well taken care of and well treated; and
while his life, in time of peace, is not exciting, it is easier and less
monotonous than that of a factory operative, and it is hard to
understand why he should be abn