nce brought greater recognition of woman's
activities in social and philanthropic measures and a corresponding
increase of responsibility on her part. There are many women of this
century whose noble deeds will never be forgotten, but one may be
singled out as a splendid example of self-sacrifice and devotion to
others, Mrs. Elizabeth Fry was a Quakeress of gentle birth, though
the mother of a large family, she made the condition of the social
outcasts her constant care. She was, in truth, a worthy successor to
John Howard. The moral and physical degradation and suffering of the
inmates of prisons particularly appealed to her compassionate nature,
and she set herself the task of alleviating their condition. Her
first visit to Newgate Prison was in 1813; alone and unprotected, she
entered the pandemonium where nearly two hundred women were confined,
among them some of the most degraded and desperate of their sex.
Mrs. Fry's sincere compassion, gentleness, and purity conquered
these women. Four years later she organized an association for the
reformation of female prisoners. Though her name is chiefly associated
with the reform of prisons and prisoners, her philanthropy embraced
the promotion of education of the needy, religious movements, the
cause of freedom, and private charity. The influence of this good
woman was widespread, and her labors were not confined to her own
country, but extended to the continent of Europe.

One of the most striking of the phenomena of modern life which came
about in the nineteenth century is the fusion of classes, making it
increasingly difficult to use class definitions. The passage from
one to another has become so easy as to make mobility the principal
characteristic of modern society. Travel, education, art appreciation,
and home decoration are not confined to any section or class. The
degree of luxury of living, and not the distinction between luxury and
lack, is the only way to set aside one circle of society from another.
A result of this wider diffusion of the comforts of life has been the
awakening of the altruistic spirit, which finds expression in many and
varied benevolences--so many, in fact, that the danger of the times
is over-organization. This tendency, if pursued, will react to
the disadvantage of women by depriving them of a sense of personal
responsibility and individual initiative.

The assumption by society, as a whole, of the responsibility of its
members of necess