personal joy, but a nation's hope. Their
twenty-five daughters in turn, with a stronger hope, a richer, wider
outlook, with the devoted love and care of all the surviving population,
grew up as a holy sisterhood, their whole ardent youth looking
forward to their great office. And at last they were left alone; the
white-haired First Mother was gone, and this one family, five sisters,
twenty-five first cousins, and a hundred and twenty-five second cousins,
began a new race.

Here you have human beings, unquestionably, but what we were slow in
understanding was how these ultra-women, inheriting only from women, had
eliminated not only certain masculine characteristics, which of
course we did not look for, but so much of what we had always thought
essentially feminine.

The tradition of men as guardians and protectors had quite died out.
These stalwart virgins had no men to fear and therefore no need of
protection. As to wild beasts--there were none in their sheltered land.

The power of mother-love, that maternal instinct we so highly laud, was
theirs of course, raised to its highest power; and a sister-love which,
even while recognizing the actual relationship, we found it hard to
credit.

Terry, incredulous, even contemptuous, when we were alone, refused to
believe the story. "A lot of traditions as old as Herodotus--and
about as trustworthy!" he said. "It's likely women--just a pack of
women--would have hung together like that! We all know women can't
organize--that they scrap like anything--are frightfully jealous."

"But these New Ladies didn't have anyone to be jealous of, remember,"
drawled Jeff.

"That's a likely story," Terry sneered.

"Why don't you invent a likelier one?" I asked him. "Here ARE the
women--nothing but women, and you yourself admit there's no trace of a
man in the country." This was after we had been about a good deal.

"I'll admit that," he growled. "And it's a big miss, too. There's not
only no fun without 'em--no real sport--no competition; but these women
aren't WOMANLY. You know they aren't."

That kind of talk always set Jeff going; and I gradually grew to side
with him. "Then you don't call a breed of women whose one concern is
motherhood--womanly?" he asked.

"Indeed I don't," snapped Terry. "What does a man care for
motherhood--when he hasn't a ghost of a chance at fatherhood? And
besides--what's the good of talking sentiment when we are just men
together? What a man wants o