Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Lisa Reigel, Michael Zeug, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned images of public domain material from the Google Print project.) WOMEN'S WILD OATS ESSAYS ON THE RE-FIXING OF MORAL STANDARDS BY C. GASQUOINE HARTLEY _Author of "The Truth About Woman," "Motherhood and the Relationships of the Sexes," etc._ [Illustration] "_For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead._"--PROV. ii. 18. NEW YORK FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY PUBLISHERS _Copyright, 1920, by_ FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY _All Rights Reserved_ To MY HUSBAND AND MY SON CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTORY 7 THE PROSPERITY OF FOOLS 19 THE COVENANT OF GOD 52 THAT WHICH IS WANTING 81 "GIVE, GIVE!" 113 IF A CHILD COULD CHOOSE? 150 FORESEEING EVIL 192 CONCLUSION 223 APPENDICES 229 WOMEN'S WILD OATS INTRODUCTORY WOMAN'S CARNIVAL "To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet."--Prov. xxvii. 7. The sudden collapse of the war left us in a daze. After the years of inhuman strain it was hard to ease off tension to the almost forgotten conditions of peace. I recall that ever to be remembered day, November 11th, 1918--Victory Day. In the early hours before noon I was in London, and my young son was with me. Everywhere was an atmosphere of anxiety, an unusual stillness. Men in little groups of two and three stood here and there, soldiers in larger numbers loitered or walked slowly along the pavements; girls and women waited at the doors of business houses and shops, where inside nobody seemed attending to the few customers. Everyone was waiting; there was an expectancy so great and so stirring that ordinary life had stopped. The last hour seemed endless in its slow passing. I do not remember ever to have experienced the same anxious tension, which was felt so strongly by us all that, in a way I cannot explain, we seemed to gain liberation from ourselves, and, losing individuality, were brought to share a universal impulse. The colossal importance of that hour made itself felt.