man may ruin a young girl of sixteen and one day, and if the girl says she consented to her own ruin nothing is done to the man, although the poor "child," as Mr. Smith calls her, may have been intimidated, coerced, or bribed into saying she consented to the stealing of "the immediate jewel of the soul"—her good name. It is a great pity these kindly gentlemen, such as Mr. Horace Smith, do not look after the young girls in the right way; it is because there are such disgraceful laws on the statute-book of this country—these one-sided laws—that we are fighting for the votes for women. We should very much like to see our girls, the girls of the working classes, in the schoolroom until they are sixteen; but alas! poor souls, many of them have to be in the factories, the mills, and the shops two years before that age, and many have to earn money in other ways long before they are fourteen and before they leave school. It is a very good sympathy, Mr. Smith; carry it into effect for the poor unprotected working women's daughters who are subjected to all kinds of temptation in coming and going, aye and even in their work. Protect the poor girls' good names at least as long as you protect the rich girls' property. In the States which gave women the vote the first reform was to raise the age of consent; in fact, to look after the welfare of the future mothers. What could be better than that? South Australia brought in many Bills to deal with the children. It is with the children every country should help to reform itself.
Germany owes her progress not to her Protective policy but to the way she deals with her children.
