n have only
two concerns in life, cooking and children, and the German women have
accepted his dictum. They are good cooks and faithful nurses to their
children.

According to the theories of the world, the sons of such women should
be the gentlest men on earth. Their home has been so sacred, and
well-kept; their mother has been so gentle, patient and unworldly--she
has never lowered the standard of her womanhood by asking to vote, or
to mingle in the "hurly burly" of politics. She has been humble, and
loving, and always hoped for the best.

According to the theories of the world, the gentle sons of gentle
mothers will respect and reverence all womankind everywhere. Yet, we
know that in the invasion of Belgium, the German soldiers made a shield
of Belgian women and children in front of their army; no child was too
young, no woman too old, to escape their cruelty; no mother's prayers,
no child's appeal could stay their fury! These chivalrous sons of
gentle, loving mothers marched through the land of Belgium, their
nearest neighbor, leaving behind them smoking trails of ruin, black as
their own hard hearts!

What, then, is the matter with the theory? Nothing, except that there
is nothing in it--it will not work. Women who set a low value on
themselves make life hard for all women. The German woman's ways have
been ways of pleasantness, but her paths have not been paths of peace;
and now, women everywhere are thinking of her, rather bitterly. Her
peaceful, humble, patient ways have suddenly ceased to appear virtuous
in our eyes and we see now, it is not so much a woman's duty to bring
children into the world, as to see what sort of a world she is bringing
them into, and what their contribution will be to it. Bertha Krupp has
made good guns and the German women have raised good soldiers--if guns
and soldiers can be called "good"--and between them they have manned
the most terrible and destructive war machine that the world has ever
known. We are not grateful to either of them.

The nimble fingers of the knitting women are transforming balls of wool
into socks and comforters, but even a greater change is being wrought
in their own hearts. Into their gentle souls have come bitter thoughts
of rebellion. They realize now how little human life is valued, as
opposed to the greed and ambition of nations. They think bitterly of
Napoleon's utterance on the subject of women--that the greatest woman
in the world is