geable, nor will anyone nowadays be found to
question that neither children nor mothers should work in the ordinary
sense of that word, since the proper work of children who are to work
well when they grow up is play, and since the mother's natural work is
the most important that she can perform. It remains, then, for us to
determine by whom mothers and children in the modern and future State
are to be provided for.

The conditions of mothers are various, and we shall best approach the
problem by the consideration of different cases.

The simplest is that of the widowed mother who is without means. It is
only too common a case, and we have already seen certain causes which
contribute to the enormous number of widows in the community. Men do not
live as long as women, and men are older when they marry. These natural
causes of widowhood, as they may be called, are greatly aggravated by
the destructive influence of alcohol upon fatherhood, as will be shown
in the chapter dealing with alcohol and womanhood.

On the individualistic theory of the State, a theory so brutal and so
impracticable that no one consistently upholds it, the widow's
misfortune is her private affair, but does not really concern us. Her
husband should have provided for her. Indeed she should, and indeed we
should have seen that he did. But if he and we failed in our duty to
her, the consequences must be met. The hour is at hand when the State
will discover that children are its most precious possessions, more
precious as they grow scarcer, and efficient support will then be
forthcoming, as a matter of course, for the widowed mother and her
children. The feature which will distinguish this support from any past
or present provision will be that it recognizes the natural sanctity and
the natural economy of the relation between mother and children. It will
be agreed not merely that the children must be provided for, but that
they must be provided for through her. The current device is to divorce
mother and children. "Whom God hath joined together, let no man put
asunder," is quoted by many against the divorce of a married pair whom,
as is plain, not God but the devil has joined together; but the
principle of that quotation verily applies to the natural and divine
association of mother and children.

If, then, the State is to provide in future for all widowed mothers and
their children, husbands need no longer trouble to insure or make
provision for the