ar upon the opportunity, and a
still larger number to feel an obscure sense of revolt against man for
his failure to uphold civilization against the Prussian anachronism,
combined with a more definite desire for personal liberty. And both of
these divisions of their sex are likely to alter the course of
history--far more radically than has ever happened before at the close
of any fighting period. Even the much depended upon maternal instinct
may subside, partly under the horrors of field hospitals where so many
mother's sons are ghastly wrecks, partly under a heavy landslide of
disgust that the sex that has ruled the world should apparently be so
helpless against so obscene a fate.

They will reflect that if women are weak (comparatively) physically,
there is all the more hope they may develop into giants mentally; one
of man's handicaps being that his more highly vitalized body with its
coercive demands, is ever waging war with a consistent and complete
development of the mind. And in these days, when the science of the
body is so thoroughly understood, any woman, unless afflicted with an
organic disease, is able to keep her brain constantly supplied with
red unpoisoned blood, and may wax in mental powers (there being no
natural physical deteriorations in the brain as in the body) so long
as life lasts.

Certainly these women will say: We could have done no worse than these
chess players of Europe and we might have done better. Assuredly if we
grasp and hold the reins of the world there will never be another war.
We are not, in the first place, as greedy as men; we will divide the
world up in strict accordance with race, and let every nation have its
own place in the sun. Commercial greed has no place in our make-up,
and with the hideous examples of history it will never obtain
entrance.

How often has it been the cynical pleasure of mere ministers of state
to use kings as pawns? Well, we despise the game. Also, we shall have
no kings, and republics are loth to make war. Our instincts are
humanitarian. We should like to see all the world as happy as that
lovely countryside of Northeastern France before August 1914. We at
least recognize that the human mind is as yet imperfectly developed;
and if, instead of setting the world back periodically, and drenching
mankind in misery, we would have all men and women as happy as human
nature will permit, we should devote our abilities, uninterrupted by
war, to solving the pr