s of discipline for the moment relaxed, the
rank and file would still follow his judgment. What a few general officers
see to be the best to-day, the sergeants and corporals and private soldiers
will usually see to be best to-morrow.

In peace, also, there is a silent leadership; only that in peace, as there
is more time to spare, the leaders are expected to persuade the rank and
file, instead of commanding them. Yet it comes to the same thing in the
end. The movement begins with certain guides, and if you wish to know the
future, keep your eye on them. If you wish to know what is already decided,
ask the majority; but if you wish to find out what is likely to be done
next, ask the leaders.

It is constantly said that the majority of women do not yet desire to vote,
and it is true. But to find out whether they are likely to wish for it, we
must keep our eyes on the women who lead their sex. The representative
women,--those who naturally stand for the rest, those most eminent for
knowledge and self-devotion,--how do they view the thing? The rank and file
do not yet demand the ballot, you say; but how is it with the general
officers?

Now, it is a remarkable fact, about which those who have watched this
movement for twenty years can hardly be mistaken, that almost any woman who
reaches a certain point of intellectual or moral development will presently
be found desiring the ballot for her sex. If this be so, it predicts the
future. It is the judgment of Grant and Sherman and Sheridan as against
that of the average private soldier of the Two Hundredth Infantry. Set
aside, if you please, the specialists of this particular agitation,--those
who were first known to the public through its advocacy. There is no just
reason why they should be set aside, yet concede that for a moment. The
fact remains that the ablest women in the land--those who were recognized
as ablest in other spheres, before they took this particular duty upon
them--are extremely apt to assume this cross when they reach a certain
stage of development.

When Margaret Fuller first came forward into literature, she supposed that
literature was all she wanted. It was not till she came to write upon
woman's position that she discovered what woman needed. Clara Barton,
driving her ambulance or her supply wagon at the battle's edge, did not
foresee, perhaps, that she should make that touching appeal, when the
battle was over, imploring her own enfranchisement fro