have made the best wives and the
best mothers--and they will leave at home the timid, the stupid and
the dull to help in the deterioration of the race and to breed sons as
sluggish as themselves. In the New World women have taken an important
part in the work of the National Grange, the greatest agency in
bettering the economic and social conditions of the agricultural
population in the States. In Ireland the women must be welcomed into
the work of building up a rural civilization, and be aided by men in the
promotion of those industries with which women have been immemorially
associated. We should not want to see women separated from the
activities and ideals and inspirations of men. We should want to see
them working together and in harmony. If the women carry on their work
in connection with the associations by which men earn their living they
will have a greater certainty of permanence. I have seen too many little
industries and little associations of women workers spring up and perish
in Ireland, which depended on the efforts of some one person who had not
drunk of the elixir of immortal youth, and could not always continue
the work she started; and I have come to the conclusion that the women's
organizations must be connected with the men's organizations, must use
their premises, village halls, and rooms for women's meetings. I do not
believe women's work can be promoted so well in any other way. Men and
women have been companions in the world from the dawn of time. I do not
know where they are journeying to, but I believe they will never get to
the Delectable City if they journey apart from each other, and do not
share each other's burdens.

Working so, we create the conditions in which the spirit of the
community grows strong. We create the true communal idea, which
the Socialists miss in their dream of a vast amalgamation of whole
nationalities in one great commercial undertaking. The true idea of the
clan or commune or tribe is to have in it as many people as will give
it strength and importance, and so few people that a personal tie may
be established between them. Humanity has always grouped itself
instinctively in this way. It did so in the ancient clans and rural
communes, and it does so in the parishes and co-operative associations.
If they were larger they would lose the sense of unity. If they were
smaller they would be too feeble for effectual work, and could not take
over the affairs of their district