or a time to have of being
taken seriously by the British Government, but had very nearly
alienated the many thousands of women without the ranks that were
wavering in the balance. This was their most serious mistake, for the
chief handicap of the militants had been that too few women were
disposed toward suffrage, or even interested. The history of the world
shows that when any large body of people in a community want anything
long enough and hard enough, and go after it with practical methods,
they obtain it in one form or another. But the women of Britain as
well as the awakening women of other nations east and west of the
Atlantic, were so disgusted and alarmed by this persisting lack of
self-control in embryonic politicians of their sex that they voted
silently to preserve their sanity under the existing regime. It has
formed one of the secret sources of the strength of the antis, that
fear of the complete demoralization of their sex if freed from the
immemorial restraints imposed by man.

This attitude of mind does not argue a very distinguished order of
reasoning powers or of clear thinking; but then not too many men, in
spite of their centuries of uninterrupted opportunity, face
innovations or radical reforms with unerring foresight. There is a
strong conservative instinct in the average man or woman, born of the
hereditary fear of life, that prompts them to cling to old standards,
or, if too intelligent to look inhospitably upon progress, to move
very slowly. Both types are the brakes and wheel-horses necessary to a
stable civilization, but history, even current history in the
newspapers, would be dull reading if there were no adventurous spirits
willing to do battle for new ideas. The militant women of England
would have accomplished wonders if their nervous systems had not
broken down under the prolonged strain.

It is probable that after this war is over the women of the
belligerent nations will be given the franchise by the weary men that
are left, if they choose to insist upon it. They have shown the same
bravery, endurance, self-sacrifice, resource, and grim determination
as the men. In every war, it may be argued, women have displayed the
same spirit and the same qualities, proving that they needed but the
touchstone of opportunity to reveal the splendor of their endowment,
but treated by man, as soon as peace was restored, as the same old
inferior annex.

This is true enough, but the point of differ