until the pessimist beholds the realization of his worst fears; until
the optimist can take heart again, and reviving his crushed and
withered hopes once more set their fulfillment forward in the future.

In spite of all, the idealist is ever justified. He is justified today
in Europe no less than in America; justified by the ruin and waste
that have come in the train of following outworn political creeds, and
yielding to animosities inherited from past centuries; justified by
the disastrous results of unchecked national economic competition,
when the age of international coöperation is already upon us;
justified by the utter contempt shown by masculine rulers and
statesmen for the constructive and the fostering side of life,
typified and embodied in the woman half of society.

No! our ideals are not changed, nor are they in aught belittled
by what has occurred. It is for us to cherish and guard them more
faithfully, to serve them more devotedly than ever. Even if we must
from now on walk softly all the days of our life, and prepare to
accept unresentfully disappointment and heart-sickening delay, we can
still draw comfort from this:

Hope thou not much, and fear thou not at all.

Meanwhile we sit, as it were, facing a vast stage, in front of us a
dropped curtain. From behind that veil there reaches our strained ears
now and then a cry of agony unspeakable, and again a faint whisper of
hope.

But until that curtain is raised, after the hand of the war-fiend is
stayed; until we can again communicate, each with the other as human