The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-08-31

NHD has gone, God bless her!
Paris without her is beginning
to look like deserted village.
In her natty uniform with her Sam
Browne belt, her broad brimmed sailor
. hat set well back on her head, wide
hipped and with strong, ardent stride
she had become one of the. character
istfcs Of the Paris boulevards. Thread
ing her way in and out among thou
sands Of uniformed men she passed
with swift sidelong glance, the femi-
nine French variety in short skirts,
high heels and mincing step-like a
splendid Atalanta or some belated
Lysistrata hurrying to a rendezvous of
mighty portent. If Brieux does not i'm
mortaliZe her in a revised and chas-
; tened demi-vierge, he will have missed
q great opportunity for rshting him
self on the subject of la femme seule.
Inc role or woman IN this war mas
been nightly complex; she has been
given many parts to play, and she has
played them well. The fine girls sent
over here have had man revealed to
them as never before, and many are
going back sobered to the true mission
: of woman in life-that OF ministering
to others, and to man In particular.
If they ask for the vote now they will
90 SO intelligently and with a serious
object in view. This war in place of
having brought the sexes closer to-
gether on a footing of equality has
widened the breach. Each, in the
strenuous demands of war, has real
lied what he is best fitted by nature
to do, what he could do, and what he
could not.
It was for man TO shoulder the pack,
to build the railroads and the bridges,
to die If need be, with his face to the
enemy; for woman, she was there in
the background with the soup kettle
and the sponge, ready to do what he
could not do for himself-zto minister
to his sufferings, to bind up his
wounds, feed him when he was hun
cry, amuse him when he was lonely
and perhaps more than all these, to
console him when he was downhearted
to listen to his troubles and tc
strengthen his moral courage.
In this war woman has discovered
her own shortcomings perhaps but she
has also discovered her strength. These
Red Cross girls, from the very nature
OF their experiences, have been sobered
into a deeper sympathy with all sorts
and conditions of men, and If do not
make a mistake they will be less ex-
acting as wives; they will be more
90 eli hon OH
slidings in their husbands and it is
morally certain they will make better
mothers.
Hope to BE Homemakers.
Apropos they are talking and think
/. ing good deal about their future
homes-and husbands. And do you
know what they are saying? Mister
Man had better look to his laurels as
the chief god of nature because these
war women, even the very young ones
are talking now chiefly about marrying
in order to have children and a home
; Man Is to be only an incident there
. unto. Hal They have come to know
man very well while acting as hi:
ministering angel; they have taken an.
other viewpoint, a practical sensible
one. They have already served theil
apprenticeship, such as is Usually re-
} served for youIlg wives; they have lost
some of their illusions as to what 1;
10 be expected even from the best o.
husbands.
II man has been strong on the line;
he has revealed many weaknesses bach
OF them; he has uncovered his real
guard and shown himself the big baby
that he is, wholly dependent on woman
for whatever happiness he hopes to ge
. out OF life. He fights at the front, bu
, after all he is only fighting for her
and even II he slips off to a prize figh
; occasionally he only loves her all tn,
more when he gets away from thu
; bloody encounter.
Leonardo da Vinci spent his life try
ing to discover the origin OF good anC
; evil in human beings he painted fol
: four years on his Mona Lisa to tina
effect and then never finished the por
!. trait. He left on that beautiful fac,
only a composite of fleeting expires
sions which will battle all humanity al
long as the picture endures. II he hat
; taken man for his experiment the tasl
might have been simpler because h,