Kendrick pondered over this naive speech of his wife for a long time. Any person who could take that trouble to do the best thing for the interests of the country, might, he thought, have as good a right to political freedom as the newly-enfranchised slaves! But then, even he was becoming tinctured with radical ideas. Not long before Susie’s return, she wrote to Clara a long letter, describing life in the Social Palace at Guise. “I am,” she said, “so impatient of this slow process of communicating my thoughts and feelings, and I long to sit down by your side and talk a few volumes. Truly I am a fortunate being, in having the rare advantage of coming here. It is something to think of with pride and delight, as long as I live. “The people who live here are most of them nothing but poor, uneducated working people, and you can tell at a glance those who have but just arrived from the older residents. A single year, surrounded by such order and beauty, such social advantages of every kind, works wonders. The women at first, some of them, set up their cook-stoves, and wash and cook in their apartments; but the first time they take their linen to the laundries, they see the advantage of washing there, and the custom is soon established. So of cooking; they find that the great public kitchen, cooks better than they can, and they are glad to send there for their soups and meats, which are so cheap, that it does not pay to broil themselves over their own stoves. This, alone, is a most important thing in the emancipation of women. Mr. Godin has thought of everything. But the nursery and the schools! Oh, Clara, I wish you could see them. I said everything was free; there is one exception. No one can keep his children out of school. Every child is bound to have a good practical and industrial education. “One thing struck me as strange: all drink wine at dinner, even to the small children; but for these it is diluted with water. Yet I have not seen a case of intoxication since I have been here—not even in the café and billiard-room, where there is much discussion and lively conversation. The best comment on the temperance and order of the place, is the fact that there has not been a single police case in the Familistère since it was founded, and yet there are over a thousand people living here. “I sit in the council of twelve (women), whenever they meet, so that I may learn how they conduct business. There are often very spirited discussions, but never disorder or any discourtesy. This council directs the internal interests, nurseries, schools, oversees the food and other supplies, but it is not limited to these; it can discuss all matters. By natural attraction, it is found the women’s council gravitate to this business. Sometimes the council of twelve men meets with and deliberates with the council of women.