either entirely abandoned, or given to the State, and the
solidarity of the family suffers in consequence.

Then again a generation of women with new ideas has
arisen, who think they should have, if they wish it, the
right to live alone and by themselves, without a hus-
band's protection. However much some of us may re-
gret this attitude, it is one which must be accepted,
since I cannot believe that the worst tyrants would
dare to make marriage obligatory. These women have
a right to live, and consequently a right to work. Also
there are the widows and the abandoned women.

Women first took places which seemed best fit for
them, and which the men turned over to them because
the work appeared to be of a character suitable to the
feminine sex. But the modern woman has had enough
of the meagre salary which is to be obtained by means
of needle-work, and she has invaded the shop, the
office, the desks of the banks and post office. In in-
dustry also she has taken her place by the side of the
working-man, who has made room for her first with
ironical grace, then with grumbling, and sometimes with
anger. I believe that in Europe at least this kind of
difficulty will have to be faced in the future.

As to the rich woman (and in LA FEMME SEULE I
have treated this subject only slightly because it is one
to which I expect to come back), they have been driven
from the home where the progress of domestic science
has left them very little to do. We have reached a kind
of hypocritical form of State Socialism, or perhaps it
would be better to say Collectivism, and this will pro-
foundly change the moral outlook. All, or nearly all, of
the work of the home seems to be done by people from
the outside -- from the cleaning of the windows to the
education of the children. The modern home is but
a fireside around which one hardly sees the family
gathered for intimate talk.

-viii-