weak and the ailing the greatest tenderness would be shown. So will it be in the State of the future when men and women work together in harmony.
It is assumed by those who to-day oppose the entry of women into the larger life of citizenship that family cares and opportunities and joys are sufficient to fill up her days, and delightful pictures are drawn of women, as daughters, gladdening the home by their beauty and enriching it by their loyal service; as wives, ruling the home with dignity and wisdom; and, even in old age, giving their love and experience freely to the family. That is indeed a fair vision. Such an one, I sometimes think, must have been floating through the mind of Mr. Asquith when he made his memorable answer to the women of Fife who, hearing that he refused to support their demands for citizenship, sent a deputation to see him. He expressed his dread lest, if women entered upon the political arena, they might lose their great influence—their unique position. Mr. Asquith need not tremble about the future. Unless human nature undergoes an extraordinary change we shall still have wives and mothers. But, in the better era to which I look forward, it will be recognised that all women cannot marry, and that there are women, as there are men, who are unfit for family life. Then again, the woman who marries and has children is not occupied with husband and children during the whole of her life. It is not necessary that it should be so, and when the larger life of the future offers her opportunities of service to the great family, the State, which will be then to each of us what it was in the old Greek
