up to them. Ruskin says, 'The soul's
armor is never well set to a heart unless a woman's hand has braced it;
and it is only when she braces it loosely that the honor of manhood
fails.'"

"It's putting a great responsibility on women, isn't it?" sighed Helen.

"Yes, daughter, but no greater than is placed on man. Each sex should be
the protector and inspirer of the other. But instead of that, they often
tempt and mislead each other."

"Good girls don't tempt boys, father."

"I'm afraid that they do, dear. They may not be aware of what they are
doing, but nevertheless they may be sources of temptation."

"I really don't see how."

"Probably not, but I can tell you, for I remember my own youth and know
how girls may tempt boys unwittingly. When in college I was a boarder in
a family where there were several other students, and two or three
pretty High School girls. One of them was very coquettish, and was
always 'making goo-goo eyes,' at the boys, as they say now-a-days. She
couldn't talk in a straightforward manner, but always with sidewise
glances from downcast lids that seemed invitations to a nearer
approach.

"Among the students was one who was very retiring and bashful. He rarely
spoke to the girls and seemed quite embarrassed if they spoke to him.
This girl seemed to set herself to work to flirt with him. She would
glance up at him so appealingly that we boys couldn't help guying him
about it. One evening when she was plying her arts--not with evil
intent, but she loved to flirt and did not understand what that might
mean to a young man--all at once he seized her around the waist and
kissed her furiously. She was in a rage in a moment, and said some
pretty sharp things about his lack of gentlemanliness.

"He stood his ground without flinching. 'I'm as much of a gentleman as
you are a lady,' he said. 'I have let you alone, but you have been
tormenting me for weeks. You liked to try how far you could go, and
thought yourself virtuous because you felt no temptation. You didn't
care how you tempted me, or the other boys. You have tried your powers
in public. O, yes, you are too good to be sly! And so I determined to
give you a public lesson, and everybody here, I am sure, is thankful
to me for it. Now, perhaps, you will let us alone. We want to be good,
we want to treat all women with respect; yet, when you pretty
pink-and-white creatures smile and smirk and set us on fire, then you
say we are bad, we are not