without the ability to function. The mere superinducing
of passivity, as in the extreme case of solitary confinement, is
sufficient to produce insanity; and the emotion of dread, or passive
fear, is said to be the most painful of emotions, because there is
no possibility of relief by action. Modern woman is in a similar
condition of constraint and unrest, which produces organic ravages for
which no luxury can compensate. The general ill-health of girls of the
better classes, and the equally general post-matrimonial breakdown,
are probably due largely to the fact that the nervous organization
demands more normal stimulations and reactions than are supplied.
The American woman of the better classes has superior rights and no
duties, and yet she is worrying herself to death--not over specific
troubles, but because she has lost her connection with reality.
Many women, more intelligent and energetic than their husbands and
brothers, have no more serious occupations than to play the house-cat,
with or without ornament. It is a wonder that more of them do not
lose their minds; and that more of them do not break with the system
entirely is due solely to the inhibitive effects of early habit and
suggestion.

As long as woman is comfortably cared for by the men of her group or
by marriage, she is not likely to do anything rash, especially if
the moral standards in her family and community are severe. But an
unattached woman has a tendency to become an adventuress--not so much
on economic as on psychological grounds. Life is rarely so hard that a
young woman cannot earn her bread; but she cannot always live and have
the stimulations she craves. As long, however, as she remains with
her people and is known to the whole community, she realizes that any
infraction of the habits of the group, any immodesty or immorality,
will ruin her standing and her chance of marriage, and bring her
into shame and confusion. Consequently, good behavior is a protective
measure--instinctive, of course; for it is not true that the ordinary
girl has imagination enough to think out a general attitude toward
life other than that which is habitual in her group. But when she
becomes detached from home and group, and is removed not only from
surveillance, but from the ordinary stimulation and interest afforded
by social life and acquaintanceship, her inhibitions are likely to be
relaxed.

The girl coming from the country to the city affords one of the
cle