s been very ill with rheumatism and I have been here with
him for several weeks. He is better now and I return to my work
tomorrow."

Months later she was called again to the bedside of this son, and with
all the tenderness of mother-love, he was cared for until he too
passed over the river. Again she took up her work on the platform,
where she inspired many young women to do their best in life, and
called many to righteousness. She was the salt of the earth, the
embodiment of nobility, the soul of truth; and not only her own state
but the whole country is better because she lived.

Ask the author of the novel for the _real_ to his story; he cannot
name her; she does not live in England or America. Ask me for mine and
I answer Clara C. Hoffman, for years the associate of Frances E.
Willard as national officer of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union,
and state president of the white ribboners of Missouri.

In a magazine article an author said: "Out of one hundred and
forty-five graduates of a certain female college, only fifteen have
married." A Chicago editor quoted the statement and asked: "Is it
possible education breeds in woman a distaste for matrimony and home
life?" In the first place, I would answer: "You never can know how
many are going to marry until they are all dead."

Another explanation is that the average school girl goes out of school
at that impulsive age when "love acts independent of all law, and is
subject to nothing but its own sweet will," no matter how many years
father has toiled to give her the comforts of life, nor how many
sleepless nights mother has spent to give her rest. She meets a young
man; he is handsome, dresses well and talks fluently. She falls in
love, and sees in "love at first sight," the "inspiration of all
wisdom." In a week, though she knows nothing of the young man's
character or disposition, she is ready to say to her parents: "I
appreciate all you have done for me: I love you devotedly, but I have
met such a nice fellow; he has asked me to marry him, and I have
accepted; ta-ta!" She's gone. If her parents ask about the prospect
for a living, she answers as did the young girl whose father said:
"Mary, are you determined to marry that young man?"

"I am, Father."

"Why, my child, he has no trade, no money, and very little education;
what are you going to do for a living?"

She replied: "Aunt is going to give me a hen for a wedding present.
You know, Father, it is sa