ke into account the result of combination of traits. Otherwise we
should not only find nothing but inconsistency as a consequence of our
study, but we should utterly fail to understand the tendencies of that
which we learn. We must be broad in our judgments if we are to judge
truly. When we read of the Spartan women sending forth their sons to die
for their country, we must not believe that they were lacking in the
depth of maternal affection which is one of the most beautiful
characteristics of the feminine nature. Doubtless they suffered as
keenly as does the modern mother at the death of her son; but they were
trained to subordinate their feelings in this wise, and their training
stood them in stead of stoicism. Nay, even when we read of the
profligacy of the women of imperial Rome, we must not look upon these
women as by nature imbruted and degraded, but we must understand that
they but yielded to the spirit of their environment and their schooling.
They were not different at heart, those reckless Maenads and votaries of
Venus, from the chaste Lucretias or holy Catherines of another day; they
simply lacked direction of impulse in right method, and so missed the
culmination of their highest possibilities.

There is an old saying which tells us that women are what men make them.
Thus generally stated, the saying may be summed up as a slander; but it
has an application in history. There can be no doubt that for
millenniums of the world's adolescence women were controlled and their
bearing and place in society modified by the thought of their times,
which thought was of masculine origin and formation. This state of
affairs has long since passed away, and it may be said that for at least
a thousand years, in adaptation of the saying which I have quoted, the
times have been what women have made them. It was the influence of women
which brought about the outgrowths of civilisation in the dawn of
Christianity that have survived until now. It was the influence, if not
the actual activity, of women that was responsible for the birth of
chivalry and the rise of the spirit of purity. It was the influence of
women that made possible such characters as those of Bayard and Sir
Philip Sydney. It was the influence of women that softened the roughness
and licentiousness of a past day into the refinement and virtue which
are the possessions of the present age.

There has always, in the worst days, been an undercurrent of good, and
it