o. You
tried freedom and found it lacking."

"And what is your conclusion, Tom?" asked Ruth, baring herself, it
seemed to me, to the onslaught of Tom's opposition.

"My conclusion! Do I need even to state it?" he inquired, as if
flourishing the flag before sticking its staff into the pinnacle of
Ruth's defense. "Is it not self-evident? If you had married five years
ago, today you would have a permanent family of your own instead of a
borrowed one for eight months. Your freedom has robbed you of what you
imply you desire--a home, I mean. My conclusion is that your own history
proves that freedom is a dangerous thing for women."

Ruth answered Tom quietly. I thrilled at her mild and gentle manner. We
all listened intently.

"Tom," she said slowly and with conviction, "my own history proves just
the opposite. The very fact that I do feel the deficiencies of freedom,
is proof that it has not been a dangerous tool. If it had killed in me
the home instinct, then I might concede that your fears were justified,
but if, as you say, most women do not rove far but come home in answer
to their heart's call, then men need not fear to cut the leash." With
some such words Ruth pulled Tom's flag from out her fortress where he
had planted it. As Tom made no reply she went on talking. "Once I had no
excuse for existence unless I married. My efforts were narrowed to that
one accomplishment. I sought marriage, desperately, to escape the stigma
of becoming a superfluous and unoccupied female. Today if I marry it
will be in answer to my great desire, and, whether married or not, a
broader outlook and a deeper appreciation are mine. I believe that
working hard for something worth while pays dividends to a woman
always. If I never have a home of my own," Ruth went on, "and I may
not--spinsters," she added playfully, "like the poor must always be with
us--at least I have a trade by which I can be self-supporting. I'm
better equipped whatever happens. Oh, I don't regret having gone forth.
No, Tom, pioneers must expect to pay. I'm so convinced," she burst forth
eagerly, "that wider activities and broader outlooks for women generally
are a wise thing, that if I had a fortune left me I would spend it in
establishing trade-schools in little towns all over the country, like
the Carnegie libraries, so that all girls could have easy access to
self-support. I'd make it the custom for girls to have a trade as well
as an education and athletic and par