If anæmia and nervousness are terribly on the increase among the women of the present day, a pressure of work would tell still more seriously upon them; and what would be the unhappy results of enfeebled constitutions, and of conditions of nervous excitement in mothers, upon future generations! Women may be adduced who have belied these fears. The Empress Maria Theresa was the mother of sixteen children, and was yet enabled, with but short interruptions, to devote her whole mind to the cares of State without detriment to the physical well-being of her offspring. But Maria Theresa had a splendid constitution and was endowed with exceptional power of mind, and perhaps among a million it would be hard to find another woman so well able to combine her natural duties

with those of the State as she was. Or the women of the lower orders may be instanced to us, where the

on with her work until the

and yet remains healthy,

mother keeps

baby's birth,

and brings

strong children into the world; though people forget how many a working woman dies in childbed, or suffers some lifelong injury brought on by the overtaxing of her strength, and how many children of the poor are brought into the world still-boru, or sickly and crippled from their birth. Moreover, nature comes to the assistance of the poor, and gives both mother and children tougher constitutions. A highborn mother, despite the strain of a large family, through the care and comfort by which she is surrounded, can preserve her health for many years. The women of

the middle classes, to whom the equality of the sexes will have apportioned her share in some arduous calling, must early fall a victim to the strain of repeated motherhood, because she can neither enjoy the rest and care accorded to the wealthy, nor has she the stronger constitution of the working-class.

If, therefore, woman's natural vocation of motherhood be carefully considered, it forms a powerful factor against the agitation for perfect equality between the two sexes.

We come now to the important question of the education of her children by the business or professional woman. "Education," says Garve, "is not only the most weighty of all family duties, but the most important duty of the State." A woman who educates her children well, prepares them for school, who

endeavours to train them in mind, is fulfilling the greatest part towards the education of the · human species. The after-work of teachers and schools can only be successful if the mother's care has made the child's heart and mind properly receptive. In doing this a woman renders her highest service to the State and to humanity.

Napoleon I. once said to Madame Campan, the founder of the Pension des Demoiselles at St. Germain, "The old systems of education are worthless—our young girls are not welltrained; what is wrong with education in France?" "The mothers," replied Madame de Campan. emperor, quickly.

"You are right," answered the

"In that one word is com

prised the system of the whole world's education.

You must train us mothers who know how to educate their children,"

In these words did the great, clear-sighted Corsican elevate and establish the importance of woman's mission, as mother and instructress, upon the development of the human race. In the same sense did the Minister of Education, Baron Von Gautsch, reply when interrogated in the Austrian Imperial Parliament upon the question of "The Education of Women." "The first and highest duty of the Department of Education in what concerns the education of women, must ever be to train a woman to bring up her own children well."

We know that the most eminent men have acknowledged that it is principally to the early education and maternal influence that they owe the happy development of their talents and genius, and that they lay the world partly under obligation to them for all they