the soundness of their party's
opinion. In one of the Parliaments of the West there sat for twelve
years an honored member who never once broke the silence of the back
benches except to say, "Aye," when he was told to say, "Aye." But on
toward the end of the thirteenth year he gave unmistakable signs of
life. A window had been left open behind him, and when the draft blew
over him--he sneezed! Shortly after, he got up and shut the window!

Looking down upon such tranquil scenes as these there are women who
have said in their boastful way that they believe they could do just
as well--with a little practice!

Women who sit in Parliament will do so by sheer merit, for there is
still enough prejudice to keep them out if any reason for so doing can
be found. Their greatest contribution, in Parliament and out of it,
will be independence of thought.

Women have not the strong party affiliations which men have. They have
no political past, no political promises to keep, no political sins to
expiate. They start fair and with a clean sheet. Those who make the
mistake of falling into old party lines, and of accepting ready-made
opinions and prejudices, will make no difference in the political
life of the country except to enlarge the voters' list and increase
the expenses of elections.

Just now partyism is falling into disfavor, for there are too many
serious questions to be fought out. There are still a few people who
would rather lose the war than have their party defeated, but not
many. "When the Empire is in danger is no time to think of men,"
appeals to the average thinking man and woman. The independent man who
carefully thinks out issues for himself, and who is not led away by
election cries, is the factor who has held things steady in the past.
Now it seems that this independent body will be increased by the new
voters, and if so, they will hold in their hands the balance of power
in any province, and really become a terror to evil-doers as well as a
praise to those who do well!

Old things are passing away, and those who have eyes to see it know
that all things are becoming new. The political ideals of the far-off,
easy days of peace will not do for these new and searching times.
Political ideals have been different from any other. Men who would
not rob a bank or sandbag a traveler, and who are quite punctilious
about paying their butcher and their baker, have been known to rob the
country quite freely and even hil