and injudicious nursery management lie at the root of this evil."

We must be sure not to forget that this prevailing invalidism of
women, which is one hinderance to their obtaining culture, can be
traced directly back to the ignorance of mothers, for this point has
an important bearing on the solution of our problem.





CHAPTER II.

ONE CAUSE OF THE SITUATION.--A PART OF "WOMAN'S MISSION" CONSIDERED.


The question, How may work and culture be combined? was recently
submitted, in my hearing, to a highly intelligent lady. She answered
with a sigh, "It can't be done. I've tried it; but, as things are now,
it can't be done." By "as things are now" she meant, with the
established ideas regarding dress, food, appearance, style, and the
objects for which woman should spend her time and herself. Suppose we
investigate the causes of the present state of things, which, as being
a hinderance to culture, is to us so unsatisfactory. A little
reflection will enable us to discover several. Chief among them all, I
think, is one which may require close inspection before it is
recognized to be such. It seems to me that the great underlying
cause--the cause of all the other causes--is the want of insight, the
unenlightemnent, which prevails concerning, not what woman's mission
is, but the ways and means by which she is to accomplish it. Let us