When that custom has been established, be sure that it will affect enormously the habits and views of the male population.

The mass of men at present regard women as creatures hoodwinked for them by nature--or at all events by society.

When they can no longer act on that assumption, interest and, let us hope, an expanding sense of honour will lead them to see the marriage contract, and all connected with it, in altogether a different light." He drank off a glass of water, listening the while to resonant applause.

There was still twenty minutes, and he decided to use the time in offering solace to the army of women who, by force of mere statistics, are fated to the frustration of their _raison d'etre_.

On this subject he had nothing very remarkable to say, and, indeed, the maiden ladies who heard him must have felt that it all amounted to a pitying shrug of the shoulders.