"Forward let it be. But, remember, the race will be to the swift and the battle to the strong. To-night I call you to arms. To-night I remind you that among the ancient races of the world there were women who set us the example that we need. The story of the Amazons of old is no fable. They lived--they fought for supremacy. They won it and they held it. So can we!" Tumultuous cries, blended now with angry hisses from the men, disturbed the meeting. But so great was the ascendency which the Vice-President already had acquired over most of her hearers, that a wave of her hand stilled the uproar, and she was enabled to proceed. At the same moment, on a screen at the back of the platform, was thrown a startling life-sized picture of an Amazonian warrior: "Behold!" cried the orator, grasping the dramatic moment and extending her arm, "Behold Thalestris--Queen of the Amazons!" For an instant the vast audience paused--surprised, staring, almost bewildered. "You are asking yourselves who was Thalestris," the speaker continued. "The Amazons founded a state in Asia Minor on the coast of the Black Sea. Herodotus will tell you how they fought with the Greeks; how they hunted in the field and marched with the Scythians to battle. Well, Thalestris became their Queen. They styled her the daughter of Mars. She set the men to spin wool and do the work of the house. The women went to the wars, and the men stayed at home and employed themselves in those mean offices which in this country have been forced upon our sex. The Amazons went from strength to strength; they built cities, erected palaces, and created an empire. And there were other Amazonian nations. All of them acted on the same principle. The women kept the public offices and the magistracy in their own hands. Husbands submitted to the authority of their wives. They were not encouraged, or allowed, to throw off the yoke. The women, in order to maintain their authority, cultivated every art of war. For this is certain--all history proves it: force is the ultimate remedy in all things. That was why the Amazons of old learnt how to draw the bow and throw the javelin." "For shame! for shame!" roared a man's voice from the balcony. "There is plenty of cause for shame," was the speaker's swift retort, "but the shame is on the men, the swaggering, bullying, self-sufficient men who in times past held women in subjection. Why, there were men in England not so very long ago who would put a halter round a wife's neck and bring her into open market, for sale to the highest bidder. It used to be the law of England that men might chastise their wives with a rod of specified dimensions...." "We don't do it now," shouted the same voice.