the fetid atmosphere of crowded and noisy shops,
stitching everlastingly at lingerie, there, it seems to me, lies the
danger of breakdown. The life they lead now, arduous as it is, not
only has developed their muscles, their lungs, the power to digest
their food, but they are useful members of society on the grand scale,
and to fall from any height is not conducive to the well-being of body
or spirit. No doubt, when the sudden release comes, they will return
to the lighter tasks with a sense of immense relief; but will it last?
Will it be more than a momentary reaction to the habit of their own
years and of the centuries behind, or will they gradually become aware
(after they have rested and romped and enjoyed the old life in the
old fashion when off duty) that with the inferior task they have
become the inferior sex again. The wife, to be sure, will feel
something more than her husband's equal, and the Frenchwoman never has
felt herself the inferior in the matrimonial partnership. But how
about the wage earners? Those that made ten to fifteen francs a day in
the _Usines de Guerre_, and will now be making four or five? How about
the girls who cannot marry because their families are no longer in a
position to pay the dot, without which no French girl dreams of
marrying? These girls not only have been extraordinarily (for
Frenchwomen of their class) affluent during the long period of the
war, but they order men about, and they are further upheld with the
thought that they are helping their beloved France to conquer the
enemy. They live on another plane, and life is apt to seem very mean
and commonplace under the old conditions.

That these women are not masculinized is proved by the fact that many
have borne children during the second year of the war, their tasks
being made lighter until they are restored to full strength again.
They invariably return as soon as possible, however. It may be, of
course, that the young men and women of the lower bourgeoisie will
forswear the dot, for it would be but one more old custom giving way
to necessity. In that case the sincere, hardworking and not very
humorous women of this class no doubt would find full compensation in
the home, and promptly do her duty by the State. But I doubt if any
other alternative will console any but the poorest intelligence or the
naturally indolent--and perhaps Frenchwomen, unless good old-fashioned
butterflies, have less laziness in their make-up than a