he destinies of our nation in more ways than are perceptible to the
casual observer. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union, for example,
was strong enough to procure the abolishment of the army canteen, even
against the influence of the most powerful men in the army itself. That
Congress, as a body, was in favor of the action is a belief which would
find few thoughtful supporters; yet Congress gave the Temperance Union
the legislation it desired, and that with but little opposition. In
seeking the cause for this we touch the secret of the great power which
is admittedly swayed by our feminine organizations, a power far greater
than that belonging to any cognate ones of masculine membership. The
secret is this: because of the purity and height of their aims, the
councils of the women of our country have as ally that greatest of all
influences, public opinion. Moreover, this public opinion always looks
to the great end in view and but little to the wisdom of the proposed
means to that end; therefore, it supports any movement which tends
toward an amelioration of public morality, as in the example cited, even
where the movement takes a direction which is too radical to effect its
proper ends. Therefore, the womanhood of our country, as organized and
concentrated, holds to-day in its hands a power which it must exercise
with discretion and moderation, or there will result from its
unregulated exertion chaos and cataclysm; yet a power which, properly
exerted, will tend ever to the positing of higher standards of morality
and nobler goals of power, and generally to the upward as well as the
onward march of our nation and kind.

There is in all this access of power and influence a danger which it is
well to recognize and face,--the danger of hysteria. This is in many
respects a hysterical age, and neither sex can claim immunity from this
dread disease. There are many organizations and movements, masculine as
well as feminine, which have their birth and tendency in nothing else
than hysteria, and there are others, admirable in inception and purpose,
of which the conduct is governed largely by this emotional influence.
The feminine sex is far more prone to unthinking enthusiasm than is the
masculine, and they have given proof of this in many instances. Often,
beginning some new movement with admirable and definite aims, our
womanhood allows itself to be carried beyond its legitimate purpose by
the urging of undisciplined emotion