she dwells in a constant state of turmoil and confusion. Not knowing in her disorder which way to turn, she assumes the attitude of questioning everything: the laws of marriage and the laws of society, the inner rights of women as opposed to those of man, and, always and forever, the husband's authority when it thwarts her in expressing what she calls her "own iden-. tity."

It is a very precious gift, direct from heaven itself, this of one's own identity. Express yours to the full, and you will become as one of the angels. But have you any idea of what your own identity means? Have you ever examined yourself rightly, to discover what it is, or tried to frame your needs at least as ideals? And do you suppose that the freedom which you crave, would give you your desired chance for expression? A wise writer, too little read, says that only those who live by the spirit are free, and hence above the law. If this be so, the spirit of love would mean emancipation from your troubles. I suppose though, that in these busy days you have no time to think of love. Yet that which you once gave Jack was very beautiful, “a revelation" I think you called it. Where is it now? Stored away, perhaps with your wedding-gown and slippers,-up in the garret, I was going to say, until I remembered you had a dry room in the cellar for trunks. Possibly the wedding garment with its memories is there. I would bring it out occasionally if I were you. It is good to air even a sweet sentiment now and then.

What is the trouble with marriage, you ask? A point of view, I think. That friend of yours, Nan, was very wise in the point of view she took when she dropped her old profession, to assume, as she said, a new one in marriage. She gave her time to studying how to be wife, housekeeper, and mother, quite as she had once tried to perfect herself in her bread-winning career. A wise woman, I repeat, is Nan. Few complaining wives want to better marriage, they want to get rid of husbands.

Without a point of view we never know how to make our readjustments as we grow, and the fundamental trouble with marriage is that both husbands and wives are growing and never seem to know it. They talk

often enough, heaven knows, of outgrowing, a convenient term covering many excuses. Recognize your own growth, my child, and readjust yourself. Take a broader view of life as it is now, and strength will come to meet the changed conditions. Your ideals need refreshing. Don't shirk your present duties; peace and freedom are never found that way; and don't discuss your grievances, it only invites the intruder. Nothing counts like the dignity of silence in a time of woe. Set a watch, too, upon your thoughts, those restless wandering undercurrents of criticism and revolt, as alienating and disastrous as deeds.

I grant that a knowledge of men entails many disappointments, but your letter is about husbands, which brings me to the real point of my answer! Train your sons to be husbands; not the kind that fetch and carry and so excite compassion in the foreigner, but the kind that understand the ins and outs of a woman's nature; the kind that are willing to touch hands and grow, in separate directions if necessary, but always with hands touching. Train them to a comprehension of not only her physical but her moral needs, those of individuality of thought, of other affections perhaps than those of the home, and of some independence in the spending of money, without having to hear: "Why I gave you your car-fare last week." Train them how to rest with their wives, how to take their pleasures in common. Teach them rever

ence for women.

No one can do this better than you, for the sufferings to which you refer should have quickened and enlightened you. Dip into your own heart, therefore, and out of its wreckage build ideals to guide your sons to better action. Three other women at least will then find the happiness you have lacked.

You won't do it! That is because the eternal jealousy of the other woman comes in, that inherent unbelief of mothers in their daughters-in-law. You want happiness for yourself. It would be more generous to give it. And yet what a magnificent work it would be for discontented wives, this training of sons to be husbands. The field certainly is a new one. How you laugh! But think it over and write again Granny.

to

IN the number of THE CENTURY for December, 1910, a very interesting article on "The Education of French Children" makes the following statement: "The laws forbid any religious teaching whatever. The very name of deity is forbidden." This statement is often made, but the actual text-books used in the French public schools show that it is a mistake. In Professor Bracq's "France under the Re

public," he gives, in Chapter Twelve, extracts from text-books of moral instruction used in French schools. One of these is as follows:

"Our Duties Toward God."

"Man cannot doubt the existence of God; and since God exists, what must we conclude? We must conclude that we have duties to fulfil toward him, namely, to know, love, and serve him."

Then follows much in explanation of this general statement. In another text-book we find the following:

"Everything reveals the existence and the power of God: the universe by its beauty, its grandeur, and its laws; man by the wonderful combination of his organs, by his reason, his intelligence, his conscience, and by the moral law engraved in his heart."

And in another:

"There is a name which has sustained, comforted, and strengthened thousands of generations of men-a name before which all men of all times have bowed. That name is God. . . . He is the Supreme Being, the author of the world, and the father of all men."

There are many pages of these extracts from different text-books used in French schools, but these will suffice to show that a statement to the contrary is a mistake, and does injustice to the French government.

Everett P. Wheeler.

REJOINDER

MR. WHEELER'S contention that in certain of the text

books used in the public schools in France there are a few pages devoted to the socalled "moral instruction" of pupils, is correct. It is in the application of such teaching and the restrictions imposed on teachers that render such instruction not only useless, but almost dangerous.

Moral instruction, by the rules governing the teaching body, is left to the individual choice of the instructor; which usually means that it is suppressed. They are not permitted to mention the word God without giving a philosophic interpretation to the name of deity;-God, it must be explained most painstakingly, stands for "the Creative Principle," or a "First Cause," and is a term common to all men of all religions. No reference, except in an historical sense, must be made to the Christian faith or religion.

As in my article on "The Education of French Children," I naturally used the word God in the Christian sense, the extracts from Professor Bracq's book, as given by Mr. Wheeler, only serve, it appears to me, to prove my statement.

Anna Bowman Dodd. Le Manoir de Vasouy, France.

A PERSIAN FAIRY TALE

BY MADGE C. JENISON

(The writer obtained the substance of this tale from
an American missionary to Persia.)

LONG, long ago, in those days when men were yet at times the victims of fraud and treachery, a man had a wife named Kadijah. The bonds of Hymen had not long been tied before Kadijah proved herself a frightful scold. Day and night her tongue ran as slick as a fiddle-stick, and always out of tune. Life with her became shortly so unbearable that the man took her by the hair of her head and cast her into a well-hole.

For a day he enjoyed sweet peace, and then there arose from the pit such a commotion as brought the man running to the edge. "Alas! Alas!" cried a piteous voice from the darkness.

The man seated himself easily on the edge of the pit; the voice was not Kadijah's.

"What's up?" he inquired with interest. The voice grew high, and shrill with excitement.

"It 's me. It's a dragon. Have pity, I beseech you! Rescue me! I am alone with a dreadful creature who harangues me day and night."

"Oh, that!" interrupted the man. "That's only a scold. That 's Kadijah," and he went on about his business.

The dragon did not cease for many days to implore help; but the man, from being deceived in a wife, had grown wary, and thought a well as good a place for a dragon

as any.

At length the dragon promised that if it

were released it would make the man grand vizir of the kingdom.

"But how can you do that?" said the man, who believed himself adapted to high life.

"I will place myself at the gate of the king's palace," said the dragon, "and I will devour all those who go out and those who come in. Then will the king issue a proclamation which will promise the man who rids the land of its affliction the hand of his daughter, in marriage, and the staff of his grand vizir. When you hear the proclamation, you can come, and I will go away."

The man was much pleased with this plan, and he hastened to pull the dragon from the pit. Everything happened as the dragon prophesied; the man became grand vizir; he had the princess for his bride; and his fame as a magician went through the land.

It was not difficult to conduct a magician business; until the third moon his prosperity continued. Then he was summoned in hot haste to the court of a neighboring king.

"Oh, man, live forever!" said the courier from the neighboring kingdom. "A dragon has seated itself at the gate of my lord's palace, and devours without ceasing all those who go forth and those who enter in. What may be done? Thy great name, oh, most excellent, has no power, and at its sound the monster licks its lips as if it hungered for your bones."

The man was at his wit's end. If he went, he judged that the dragon would do no less than make an end of him, and his princess would be left a widow. If he refused to go, the magician business would be bankrupt, and some one else would become grand vizir. After much thought, he hit upon a plan. Seating himself upon a snow-white palfrey, he gathered about him enough retinue to make his appearance imposing, and rode away to the neighboring kingdom. The dragon saw the retinue from afar off and began to spit fire in a most disconcerting manner. And when it saw the man seated upon the snow-white palfrey, it bellowed until the earth shook as with palsy, and fell upon him with an air of the keenest relish.

"Stop!" cried the man, nonchalantly lighting a cigarette at the dragon's breath. "I have let Kadijah out of the well-hole, and she is coming this way as fast as she can."

"Is she a good runner?" asked the dragon. "She is," replied the man, whereupon the dragon fell back hastily.

After a moment, the man removed his cigarette, and used his hands for a speakingtrumpet. "If I hear where you are, I'll send her your way," he shouted.

MORAL: Some men have the ability to use their misfortunes as stepping-stones to suc

cess.