reams, conquers
pests, overcomes gravity, brings the ends of the earth together by
"wireless" or by rail; he provides for the weak and the helpless--his
own progeny--or, incarnated in the body of a Hoover, he gives life to
the children of the world.

In woman, the dominant force is the nurturing instinct. Child and man
of her own come first, but when these are lacking, to paraphrase
Kipling, in default of closer ties, she is wedded to convictions;
Heaven help him who denies! Only as a career opens up full vent for
this nurturing instinct, will it provide satisfactory substitute in
sublimation. Its natural trend can be seen in the recent tidal wave of
social legislation--for prohibition, child-labor laws, sanitation,
recognition and control of venereal disease, acknowledgment of
paternity to the illegitimate child.

Since the women of the day, in numbers up to the million, have been
compelled to sacrifice both man and unformed babe to the grim
Juggernaut of war, this nurturing urge may press hard against many of
the social and business barriers now impeding its flow. But if society
understands and readjusts these barriers, making it possible for its
citizens--women as well as men--to approximate the natural instinctive
bent, it will not only save itself much unrest but will also go far
toward preventing the spread of nervous invalidism.

SUMMARY

That which a nervous invalid most needs is a redirection of energy.
Since, in spite of appearances, there is never any real lack of
energy, no time is needed for the making of strength, and a cure can
take place just as soon as the inner forces allow the energy to flow
out in the right direction. Sometimes, indeed, an outer change may
start the inner process. Often the "work cure" does cure; occasionally
the sudden necessity to earn one's living or to mother a little child
frees the life-force from its old preoccupation and forces it into
other channels. In most cases, however, the nervous invalid is
suffering not from lack of opportunities for outside interest but from
an inner inability to meet the opportunities which present themselves.
The great change that has to be made is not in external conditions and
habits but in the hidden corners of the mind; a change that can be
accomplished only by self-knowledge and re-education.

But if self-knowledge is the first step in any cure, so self-giving
must be the final step. Sooner or later in the life of every nervous
invali