the line of least resistance. I may even confess that I might
have gone with the current, had I not seen the harm and unhappiness that
resulted. _It does not pay to be self-indulgent._

"LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION"

The suspicion that many women are disingenuous in regard to these
irregularities of conduct was forced upon me some years ago in a
conversation with Kendall Brown, who, for all his eccentricities, is a
keen observer of life.

I give the conversation at some length just as I wrote it down in my
diary:

"Kendall insists that women like me--he calls me a Class A woman which
makes me furious for I'm afraid I am one--are never really on the level
in sentimental affairs. If we were on the level, he says, we would not
make such a fuss about the grand conspiracy of men against our virtue.
There would be no point to it, for our virtue would never be in any
danger unless we half-wished it to be. He says that the three great sins
mentioned in the Bible and in all religions are killing, stealing and
sex offences. Now, the attitude of the human race toward these sins, as
established by centuries of habit, makes it almost impossible for the
average citizen, man or woman, to either kill or steal. 'Isn't that
true?' he asked.

"I agreed that the thought of stealing is so abhorrent to me that I
could not imagine any temptation strong enough to make me a thief. I
might have some reserves about killing, however, in fact I have once or
twice felt a sympathy for ... well, no!

"'All right,' he went on. 'Now, if women were on the level in guarding
their virtue and always had been, just as they are on the level in
regard to stealing, don't you see that it would be utterly impossible
for any man under any circumstances (barring violence which does not
happen once in ten thousand times) to have his way with a woman? This
habit of virtue would be so deeply ground into you women, into the very
depth of your being, that nothing could overcome it. But as we look
about us and observe women in all classes of society, we see that there
is no such condition, no such habit, which proves that women are not and
never have been on the level. What do you say to that, speaking as a
pretty woman?'

"I did not say anything, I was so indignant--speechless--at his
impertinence, and while I was searching for some answer to this
outrageous statement, my poet friend proceeded:

"'You know how strong habits are, Penelope, all habits. Take sm