ictories and defeats, and the face of
things continues to change more and more rapidly.

It seems an ungracious task, unfair--perhaps it seems above all
retrograde and ignorant--to express doubt and not to think hopefully
of a cause in which so many lives have been spent with singular
disinterestedness and self-devotion. Yet these adverse thoughts are in
the air, not only amongst those who are unable to win in the race, but
amongst those who have won, and also amongst those who look out upon
it all with undistracted and unbiassed interest; older men, who look
to the end and outcome of things, to the ultimate direction when
the forces have adjusted themselves. Those who think of the next
generation are not quite satisfied with what is being done for our
girls or by them.

Catholics have been spurred hotly into the movement by those who are
keenly anxious that we should not be left behind, but should show
ourselves able to be with the best in all these things. Perhaps at the
stage which has been reached we have more reason than others to be
dissatisfied with the results of success, since we are more beset than
others by the haunting question--_what then_? For those who have to
devote themselves to the cause of Catholic education it is often and
increasingly necessary to win degrees or their equivalents, not
altogether for their own value, but as the key that fits the lock, for
the gates to the domain of education are kept locked by the State. And
so in other spheres of Catholic usefulness the key may become more and
more necessary. But--may it be suggested--in their own education, a degree
for a man and a degree for a girl mean very different things, even if
the degree is the same. For a girl it is the certificate of a course of
studies. For a man an Oxford or Cambridge degree means atmosphere unique
in character, immemorial tradition, association, all kinds of interests
and subtle influences out of the past, the impressiveness of numbers,
among which the individual shows in very modest proportions indeed
whatever may be his gifts. The difference is that of two worlds. Bat
even at other universities the degree means more to a man if it is
anything beyond a mere gate-key. It is his initial effort, after which
comes the full stress of his life's work. For a girl, except in the
rarest cases, it is either a gate-key or a final effort, either her
life's work takes a different turn, or she thinks she has had enough.
The line