Another of the signs of the great progress of our cause was the continual increase of the support given to it in modern drama. At this time nearly all the really telling plays by up-to-date writers were practically suffrage plays. Some—like _How the Vote was Won_, by Miss Cecily Hamilton; _Votes for Women_, by Miss Elizabeth Robins; and _Press Cuttings_, by Mr. Bernard Shaw—were propaganda plays pure and simple, and very good propaganda, too, extremely witty and amusing. Others, even more telling because a good deal more subtle in method, were by Sir James Barrie, Mr. Arnold Bennett, and many by Mr. Bernard Shaw. These were of very great service to our cause, as well as a sign of its progress; while the plays on the moral aspects of our movement, such as _Les Trois Filles de M. Dupont_ and _Les Avariés_, by M. Brieux, brought our message to thousands whom we could not have reached unaided. No wonder that, with all the influences enumerated in this chapter working in our favour, we felt we were on the eve of victory. We quoted, with an application to ourselves, Cavour's prophetic saying, "La cosa va." Seldom has a political movement had such a various army of allies: the Trades Union Congress, the Labour Party, the Church Congress, the annual meeting of the Society of Friends, the Ulster Unionist Council, the Press, the Pulpit, and the Theatre. But a great catastrophe was at hand, which for four and a half years concentrated all thoughts on national safety, and, above all, on the preservation of the principles of free representative government, not merely in our own country, but throughout the world. CHAPTER VII THE WORLD WAR AND WOMEN'S WAR WORK "What have I done for you, England, my England? What is there I would not do, England, my own? With your glorious eyes austere, As if the Lord were walking near, Whispering terrible things and dear As the song on your bugles blown, England— Round the world on your bugles blown." W. E. HENLEY.