charity alone, but in the cause of justice, "that each should have what he has justly earned is the first necessity of social life." One province of the protective work is to endeavor to make more clear the obligation of the employer and employee, and especially in the domain of household service to place the relation on a commercial basis. The problem of unskilled labor in the home is the principal difficulty in the way of such reform, and until the household economic and kindred associations shall bear more fruit it may prove an insurmountable barrier to complete success. During the last ten years the attention of the humanitarian has been frequently called to the injustice of our laws regulating the "age of consent." In some States the age has been raised to sixteen or eighteen years and penalties increased, but through widespread ignorance of the law it is often a dead letter in both small towns and large cities. A law so constantly broken and with impunity provides little protection for the young of both sexes, in whose interest it is framed, and it is a _dead_ letter because of the indifference of the public. To spread abroad a knowledge of and help to enforce these laws, which so intimately affect the purity of the home, is worthy the consecrated effort of the noblest and most cultivated women in our land. For this and other like ends the number of protective agencies should be largely increased. In every town, or at least in every county, such an association might be formed. There are only required a few women with brave hearts and clear heads, willing to give one afternoon or evening a week, the free services of one or more able lawyers (which will never be found lacking), a small room for a meeting place, and the work can begin. Let notice be given through the press or in the churches that a protective agency is formed and stands ready to offer sympathy and advice to all women in need. Methods of work are very simple: printed blanks are important to properly record the cases, and letterheads which shall give names of committee and those of the attorneys; when a claim for wages is presented, a courteous letter stating the fact that the wage-earner has asked the assistance of the protective agency, and requesting the defendant to answer personally or by letter and to state his side of the case, will generally receive response; great care must be observed to be just to both parties, and not to make hasty nor unwarrantable decisions.