ith them is to give them anything they ask, within reason, of course,
to keep them busy and happy, buy them presents, soft-soap them, jolly
them along. I suppose that personally, I wouldn't have minded their
flying a little every afternoon, as long as they took the proper care.
I mean by that, not to fly too far out to sea or too high in the air
and never when we were at home, so long, in short, as they followed the
rules that we laid down for them. You fellows seem to have the idea
if we let them do that we'd lose them. But if there's one general
proposition fixed more firmly in my nut than any other, it is that you
can't lose them. But of course I intend always to stand by whatever
you-all say."

"I don't know," Billy burst in hotly, "which of you two makes me sickest
and which is the most insulting in his attitude towards women, you,
Ralph, who treat them as if they were household pets, or you, Honey, who
treat them as if they were dolls. In my opinion there is only one law to
govern a man's relation with a woman--the law of chivalry. To love her,
and cherish her, to do all the hard work of the world for her, to stand
between her and everything that is unbeautiful and unpleasant, to think
for her, to put her on a pedestal and worship her; to my mind that sums
up the whole duty of man to woman."

"They're better than goddesses on pedestals," Pete said. "They're
creatures neither of flesh nor of marble--they're ideals. They're made
of stars, sunlight, moonshine. I believe in treating them like beings of
a higher world."

"I disagree with all of you," Frank said ponderously, "I don't believe
in treating them as if they were pets or dolls, or goddesses on
pedestals or ideals. I believe in treating them like human beings, the
other half of the race. I don't see that they are any better or any
worse than we--they're about the same. Soon after we captured them, you
remember, we entered into an agreement that no one of us would ever let
his wife's wings grow without the consent of all the others. One minute
after I had given my word, I was sorry for it. But you kept your word to
me in the agreement that I forced on you before the capture; and, so,
I shall always keep mine to you. But I regret it more and more as
time goes on. You see I'm so constituted that I can't see anything but
abstract justice. And according to abstract justice we have no right
to hold these women bound to the earth. If the air is their natural
habit