rendered it no other service. Lord Bacon says that "he that hath wife and
children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great
enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. Certainly the best works, and of
greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried or
childless men; which, both in affection and means, have married and endowed
the public." And this is the view generally accepted,--that the public is
in such cases rather the gainer than the loser, and has no right to
complain.

Since, therefore, every child must have a father and a mother both, and
neither will alone suffice, why should we thus heap gratitude on men who
from preference or from necessity have remained childless, and yet
habitually treat women as if they could render no service to their country
except by giving it children? If it be folly and shame, as I think, to
belittle and decry the dignity and worth of motherhood, as some are said to
do, it is no less folly, and shame quite as great, to deny the grand and
patriotic service of many women who have died and left no children among
their mourners. Plato puts into the mouth of a woman,--the eloquent
Diotima, in the "Banquet,"--that, after all, we are more grateful to Homer
and Hesiod for the children of their brain than if they had left human
offspring.




THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO MOTHERS


From the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals we have now
advanced to a similar society for the benefit of children. When shall we