THE WOMEN WHO SAVE THE RACE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 305, 3 June 1915, Page 6

THE WOMEN WHO SAVE THE RACE.

"The deciding factor which determines the fate of every nation in peace or war is—What will lie the numbers of the next generation and wlio will bo their parents ?" "There was one Frenchman in the ward to whom I went to say good-bye. He said 'Good-bye, nurse. Are you going?' "I said, 'Yes; only for a few days—to spend Christmas with my five little children.' "And he asked, Have you got five children ?' "'Yes,' I said, 'fire beauties.' "He answered, 'Your country must be proud of you; you have done more for it -than I could ever do for mine.'" (From Mrs. Harben's speech at the Kinysway Hall, London). THE DECIDING FACTOR. "The worst of the war is yet to come," says the Xew York Independent. "Not next month, nor next year, but twenty years from now and after will its most serious effects become apparent. Then for the first time will we know \yhich country has really been defeated. It matters comparatively little where the boundary lines are drawn or how much the indemnity is or who pays it. The deciding factor will Tie that which ultimately determines the fate of every nation in peace or war, that is, what will be the number of the next generation and who will be their .parents? WHY FRANCE SUFFERS. "Why is it that fair Champagne and the rich northland of France ■ are now crushed beneath the iron heel of tho invader? Not because of French misfortune in 1870-T1; not because of German prowess is 1914-15; but because in tho years of peace and prosperity in between Frante took no thought for the morrow. Year by year the French have been growing richer, year by year the birth-rate has fallen until it oame to pass that the coffins outnumbered tho cradles. Through love of ease and fear of suffering, -through avarice and vice, Frenchmen and Frenchwomen have sacrificed posterity to selfishness. They paid no heed to the warnings of their statesmen and statisticians or the counsels of pastor and priest, although the necessary consequences of such a course were patent to all. "The decline of 'France dates not from 1871, but from 1881. Since that time it is as if she had lost a battle a menu.. The invasion of France did not begin in August last, but long before, and it was not Germans only who took part in it, but Belgians, Italians, Spanish; from every side foreigners flowed in to fill the vacant places, for nature abhors a vacuum. "France would have been defeated if peace had continued, but it may be that the war will save her as well as the ether countries that were drifting toward race suicide. "Such a crisis throws men and women back upon the elemental facts of liuman nature; it tears away the veil of artificiality and reveals the secrets of life and death. From all lands we hear of a religious awakening and a turning toward the old. standards of morality. '.Marriage is once more coming into fashion in circles where a few months ago it was regarded as an antiquated and superfluous institution. "In Vienna and Paris couples who had been living in what is called 'free union' nave legitimised their relation. The tees of the Church and the restrictions of the State which have been in part the cause or the excuse of such irregular unions have been remitted or relaxed. "In (France, Germany and Austria recruits who have fiancees have been given a furlough in order to make thorn wives. In Prussia Prince Adalbert set the example by marrying in August. "In England the Archbishops are urging the volunteers to marry before going to the front. THE LAST OF THE LINE. "Many a young man who in time of peace might have drifted through thoughtlessness or selfishness into confirmed bachelorhood has been suddenly confronted with the question whether he would wish to be the last of his lineage and 'has decided to follow the example of his fathers. Many a young woman, indifferent or averse to the thought of marriage and motherhood, has been called upon to make an immediate decision, and come to realise that | she, too, has a duty toward her country and the future. A titled lady of England in urging the young women to marry, the volunteers met the objection that they must part so soon by the remark, '' 'Better be married a minute than die an old maid.'

all married together. Khaki and feldgrau prove as fascinating as ever were brass buttons and gay cloth. And only those in uniform stand any chance of getting partners at a ball. 'None but tho brave deserve the fair' regains now a meaning that had been forgotten in times of peace, and so we need not fear that tho young men of l!)3fi will be solely the sons of the cowardly, the incompetent and others left behind because they are of no use at the front. "In such hasty and wholesale marriage there will no doubt be many a sad mismatihg, but this is not always avoided in time of more deliberation. A ' week's honeymoon and a widow's peniiion are all too little of love and comlort for ,a woman's life, but unfortunately they are more than some women get 'in tbe best of times. There are women ! in -this country who have lived lonely Mvca for half a century, widowed in spirit though not in law, because they refused to marry their lovers going off to the war. "As the crisis is calling forth latent manhood, so also it is arousing true womanhood to a sense of duty and responsibility. Women have suddenly been brought to realise not merely their own importance to society as temporary and more or less competent substitutes for men in industry but their supreme and unique importance as women. Tlie men may save the country, but it is only the women who can save the race. THE WAR BRIDES. "The war brides havo undertaken a, duty more essential and requiring no less courage than that which called their husbands to the trenches for the percentage of casualties in their branch of tho service is nearly as great. Those of the older generation know what it means. "There is an old song which is poriiipi ! not great music or great poetry, but which touches the hearts of many still living. It was arranged for female voices, for bass and tenor were wanting. The tune is in a, minor key, yet with a triumphant note in it after all. ' The chorus, if we remember it right, runs this way: "Brave boys are they! Gone at tlieii country's call, And yet—and yet— We cannot forget That many brave boys must fall. AFTER 5-0 YEARS. "Sing that in an audience of whitahaired men and women in the Stateß, and you 'will see the bent backs straighten and upon their uplifted faces smiles and tears as they look into the past. They are thinking of the time when they first heard that song over fifty years ago when it was sung by a quartette or a choir of soldiers' wives dressed all. in white which somo of them were soon to change to black. '•(But the brave boys who fell at the front did not wholly die. The soldier's widow devoted her life to bringing up a soldier's son, teaching him to honor the memory of the father who never saw him, training him to the ideals of loyalty and courage so that whenever called upon in war or peace he might be as willing to sacrifice himself for others as was his father —and his mother. If it had not been for such women this country would in the early eighties have sunk to a lower depth of political and social corruption than it did. TO-'MORROW'S CHILDREN. "There is, we believe, less chance than ever before in history that a child born now should fall a prey to militarism. One of our reasons for believing that a long if not a permanent peace will follow tho Great War is that woman's value to the State is becoming recognised as, never before, both by herself and by j man and when it becomes once accepted that her service in bearing children is fully the equivalent of his in bearing arms and worthy of more respect, then woman's voice will be heard on the question what shall become of her children and "his. "Just now when man's energies are turned aside toward destructiveness is tho time when women's creative energies arc most needed and will receive fullest recognition. We hope that the world will have less need for soldiers in the future, but it will have more need for farmers and merchants, for mechanics and engineers, for scientists and artists, and the world is dependent upon the war brides to prevent the total loss of the talent and genius now being wantonly sacrificed in the trenches."

Shampooing, Hairdrcssing, and Twisting. Electrolysis for the permanent removal of superfluous hair. Switches, Toupees, etc. Ladies' combings made up lo any design. Mrs. BEADLE. Egmont Toilet Parlors, Griffiths' Buildings, near Carnepe Librwv