Herland................................................................................................................................................................1

Charlotte Perkins Gilman .........................................................................................................................1

This is written from memory, unfortunately. If I could have brought with me the material I so carefully

prepared, this would be a very different story. Whole books full of notes, carefully copied records, firsthand

descriptions, and the picturesthat's the worst loss. We had some bird'seyes of the cities and parks; a lot of

lovely views of streets, of buildings, outside and in, and some of those gorgeous gardens, and, most important

Nobody will ever believe how they looked. Descriptions aren't any good when it comes to women, and I

never was good at descriptions anyhow. But it's got to be done somehow; the rest of the world needs to know

I haven't said where it was for fear some selfappointed missionaries, or traders, or landgreedy

expansionists, will take it upon themselves to push in. They will not be wanted, I can tell them that, and will

It began this way. There were three of us, classmates and friendsTerry O. Nicholson (we used to call him

We had known each other years and years, and in spite of our differences we had a good deal in common. All

Terry was rich enough to do as he pleased. His great aim was exploration. He used to make all kinds of a row

because there was nothing left to explore now, only patchwork and filling in, he said. He filled in well

enoughhe had a lot of talentsgreat on mechanics and electricity. Had all kinds of boats and motorcars,

Jeff Margrave was born to be a poet, a botanistor bothbut his folks persuaded him to be a doctor instead.

He was a good one, for his age, but his real interest was in what he loved to call "the wonders of science."

As for me, sociology's my major. You have to back that up with a lot of other sciences, of course. I'm

Terry was strong on factsgeography and meteorology and those; Jeff could beat him any time on biology,

and I didn't care what it was they talked about, so long as it connected with human life, somehow. There are

We three had a chance to join a big scientific expedition. They needed a doctor, and that gave Jeff an excuse

for dropping his just opening practice; they needed Terry's experience, his machine, and his money; and as

The expedition was up among the thousand tributaries and enormous hinterland of a great river, up where the

maps had to be made, savage dialects studied, and all manner of strange flora and fauna expected.

But this story is not about that expedition. That was only the merest starter for ours.

My interest was first roused by talk among our guides. I'm quick at languages, know a good many, and pick

them up readily. What with that and a really good interpreter we took with us, I made out quite a few legends

And as we got farther and farther upstream, in a dark tangle of rivers, lakes, morasses, and dense forests, with

here and there an unexpected long spur running out from the big mountains beyond, I noticed that more and

more of these savages had a story about a strange and terrible Woman Land in the high distance.

"Up yonder," "Over there," "Way up"was all the direction they could offer, but their legends all agreed on

the main point that there was this strange country where no men livedonly women and girl children.

None of them had ever seen it. It was dangerous, deadly, they said, for any man to go there. But there were

tales of long ago, when some brave investigator had seen ita Big Country, Big Houses, Plenty PeopleAll

Had no one else gone? Yesa good manybut they never came back. It was no place for menof that

I told the boys about these stories, and they laughed at them. Naturally I did myself. I knew the stuff that

But when we had reached our farthest point, just the day before we all had to turn around and start for home

The main encampment was on a spit of land running out into the main stream, or what we thought was the

main stream. It had the same muddy color we had been seeing for weeks past, the same taste.

I happened to speak of that river to our last guide, a rather superior fellow with quick, bright eyes.

He told me that there was another river"over there, short river, sweet water, red and blue."

I was interested in this and anxious to see if I had understood, so I showed him a red and blue pencil I carried,

Yes, he pointed to the river, and then to the southwestward. "Rivergood waterred and blue."

"Let's go," urged Terry. "Just us three. Maybe we can really find something. May be cinnabar in it."

It was early yet; we had just breakfasted; and leaving word that we'd be back before night, we got away

quietly, not wishing to be thought too gullible if we failed, and secretly hoping to have some nice little

It was a long two hours, nearer three. I fancy the savage could have done it alone much quicker. There was a

desperate tangle of wood and water and a swampy patch we never should have found our way across alone.

But there was one, and I could see Terry, with compass and notebook, marking directions and trying to place

We came after a while to a sort of marshy lake, very big, so that the circling forest looked quite low and dim

across it. Our guide told us that boats could go from there to our campbut "long wayall day."

This water was somewhat clearer than that we had left, but we could not judge well from the margin. We

skirted it for another half hour or so, the ground growing firmer as we advanced, and presently we turned the

corner of a wooded promontory and saw a quite different countrya sudden view of mountains, steep and

"One of those long easterly spurs," Terry said appraisingly. "May be hundreds of miles from the range. They

Suddenly we left the lake and struck directly toward the cliffs. We heard running water before we reached it,

It was short. We could see where it poured down a narrow vertical cataract from an opening in the face of the

But as to being red and blueit was greenish in tint. The guide seemed not at all surprised. He hunted about

a little and showed us a quiet marginal pool where there were smears of red along the border; yes, and of

"Chemicals of some sortI can't tell on the spot. Look to me like dyestuffs. Let's get nearer," he urged, "up

We scrambled along the steep banks and got close to the pool that foamed and boiled beneath the falling

water. Here we searched the border and found traces of color beyond dispute. MoreJeff suddenly held up

It was only a rag, a long, raveled fragment of cloth. But it was a wellwoven fabric, with a pattern, and of a

clear scarlet that the water had not faded. No savage tribe that we had heard of made such fabrics.

"One day blueone day redone day green," he told us, and pulled from his pouch another strip of

Then we were interested. We had our rest and lunch right there and pumped the man for further information.

He could tell us only what the others hada land of womenno menbabies, but all girls. No place for

I could see Terry's jaw set at that. No place for men? Dangerous? He looked as if he might shin up the

waterfall on the spot. But the guide would not hear of going up, even if there had been any possible method

But Terry stopped in his tracks. "Look here, fellows," he said. "This is our find. Let's not tell those cocky old

professors. Let's go on home with 'em, and then come backjust ushave a little expedition of our own."

We looked at him, much impressed. There was something attractive to a bunch of unattached young men in

"There is no such cloth made by any of these local tribes," I announced, examining those rags with great care.

"That would mean a considerable civilization, Van. There couldn't be such a placeand not known about."

"Oh, well, I don't know. What's that old republic up in the Pyrenees somewhereAndorra? Precious few

people know anything about that, and it's been minding its own business for a thousand years. Then there's

Montenegrosplendid little stateyou could lose a dozen Montenegroes up and down these great ranges."

We discussed it hotly all the way back to camp. We discussed it with care and privacy on the voyage home.

We discussed it after that, still only among ourselves, while Terry was making his arrangements.

He was hot about it. Lucky he had so much moneywe might have had to beg and advertise for years to

start the thing, and then it would have been a matter of public amusementjust sport for the papers.

But T. O. Nicholson could fix up his big steam yacht, load his speciallymade big motorboat aboard, and

tuck in a "dissembled" biplane without any more notice than a snip in the society column.

We had provisions and preventives and all manner of supplies. His previous experience stood him in good

We were to leave the yacht at the nearest safe port and go up that endless river in our motorboat, just the three

of us and a pilot; then drop the pilot when we got to that last stopping place of the previous party, and hunt up

The motorboat we were going to leave at anchor in that wide shallow lake. It had a special covering of fitted

"Those natives can't get into it, or hurt it, or move it," Terry explained proudly. "We'll start our flier from the

"We're not so sure about those ladies, you know," drawled Jeff. "There may be a contingent of gentlemen

"Go? You'll have to get an injunction to stop me!" Both Jeff and I were sure about that.

An ocean voyage is an excellent time for discussion. Now we had no eavesdroppers, we could loll and loaf in

our deck chairs and talk and talkthere was nothing else to do. Our absolute lack of facts only made the

"We'll leave papers with our consul where the yacht stays," Terry planned. "If we don't come back insay a

"A punitive expedition," I urged. "If the ladies do eat us we must make reprisals."

"They can locate that last stopping place easy enough, and I've made a sort of chart of that lake and cliff and

"Same way we do, of course. If three valuable American citizens are lost up there, they will follow

somehowto say nothing of the glittering attractions of that fair landlet's call it `Feminisia,'" he broke off.

"You're right, Terry. Once the story gets out, the river will crawl with expeditions and the airships rise like a

swarm of mosquitoes." I laughed as I thought of it. "We've made a great mistake not to let Mr. Yellow Press

"Not much!" said Terry grimly. "This is our party. We're going to find that place alone."

"What are you going to do with it when you do find itif you do?" Jeff asked mildly.

Jeff was a tender soul. I think he thought that countryif there was onewas just blossoming with roses

And Terry, in his secret heart, had visions of a sort of sublimated summer resortjust Girls and Girls and

Girlsand that he was going to bewell, Terry was popular among women even when there were other

men around, and it's not to be wondered at that he had pleasant dreams of what might happen. I could see it in

his eyes as he lay there, looking at the long blue rollers slipping by, and fingering that impressive mustache

But I thoughtthenthat I could form a far clearer idea of what was before us than either of them.

"You're all off, boys," I insisted. "If there is such a placeand there does seem some foundation for

believing ityou'll find it's built on a sort of matriarchal principle, that's all. The men have a separate cult of

their own, less socially developed than the women, and make them an annual visita sort of wedding call.

This is a condition known to have existedhere's just a survival. They've got some peculiarly isolated valley

or tableland up there, and their primeval customs have survived. That's all there is to it."

"Danger enough, Terry, and we'll have to be mighty careful. Women of that stage of culture are quite able to

And with all my airs of sociological superiority I was no nearer than any of them.

It was funny though, in the light of what we did find, those extremely clear ideas of ours as to what a country

of women would be like. It was no use to tell ourselves and one another that all this was idle speculation. We

"They would fight among themselves," Terry insisted. "Women always do. We mustn't look to find any sort

"You're dead wrong," Jeff told him. "It will be like a nunnery under an abbessa peaceful, harmonious

"Nuns, indeed! Your peaceful sisterhoods were all celibate, Jeff, and under vows of obedience. These are just

women, and mothers, and where there's motherhood you don't find sisterhoodnot much."

"No, sirthey'll scrap," agreed Terry. "Also we mustn't look for inventions and progress; it'll be awfully

We joked Terry about his modest impression that he would be warmly received, but he held his ground.

"You'll see," he insisted. "I'll get solid with them alland play one bunch against another. I'll get myself

"Where do we come in on that deal?" I demanded. "Aren't we Viziers or anything?"

"Couldn't risk it," he asserted solemnly. "You might start a revolutionprobably would. No, you'll have to

"You'd have to do it yourself, remember," grinned Jeff. "No husky black slaves and mamelukes! And there'd

Jeff's ideas and Terry's were so far apart that sometimes it was all I could do to keep the peace between them.

Jeff idealized women in the best Southern style. He was full of chivalry and sentiment, and all that. And he

You might say Terry did, too, if you can call his views about women anything so polite as ideals. I always

liked Terry. He was a man's man, very much so, generous and brave and clever; but I don't think any of us in

college days was quite pleased to have him with our sisters. We weren't very stringent, heavens no! But Terry

was "the limit." Later onwhy, of course a man's life is his own, we held, and asked no questions.

But barring a possible exception in favor of a not impossible wife, or of his mother, or, of course, the fair

relatives of his friends, Terry's idea seemed to be that pretty women were just so much game and homely

But I got out of patience with Jeff, too. He had such rose colored halos on his womenfolks. I held a middle

ground, highly scientific, of course, and used to argue learnedly about the physiological limitations of the sex.

So we joked and disputed and speculated, and after an interminable journey, we got to our old camping place

It was not hard to find the river, just poking along that side till we came to it, and it was navigable as far as

When we reached that and slid out on its broad glistening bosom, with that high gray promontory running out

toward us, and the straight white fall clearly visible, it began to be really exciting.

There was some talk, even then, of skirting the rock wall and seeking a possible footway up, but the marshy

"Nonsense, fellows! We've decided that. It might take monthswe haven't got the provisions. No,

sirwe've got to take our chances. If we get back safeall right. If we don't, why, we're not the first

So we got the big biplane together and loaded it with our scientifically compressed baggage: the camera, of

course; the glasses; a supply of concentrated food. Our pockets were magazines of small necessities, and we

Up and up and up we sailed, way up at first, to get "the lay of the land" and make note of it.

Out of that dark green sea of crowding forest this high standing spur rose steeply. It ran back on either side,

apparently, to the faroff whitecrowned peaks in the distance, themselves probably inaccessible.

"Let's make the first trip geographical," I suggested. "Spy out the land, and drop back here for more gasoline.

With your tremendous speed we can reach that range and back all right. Then we can leave a sort of map on

"There's sense in that," Terry agreed. "I'll put off being king of Ladyland for one more day."

So we made a long skirting voyage, turned the point of the cape which was close by, ran up one side of the

triangle at our best speed, crossed over the base where it left the higher mountains, and so back to our lake by

"That's not a bad little kingdom," we agreed when it was roughly drawn and measured. We could tell the size

fairly by our speed. And from what we could see of the sidesand that icy ridge at the back end"It's a

Of course we had looked at the land itselfeagerly, but we were too high and going too fast to see much. It

appeared to be well forested about the edges, but in the interior there were wide plains, and everywhere

There were cities, too; that I insisted. It lookedwell, it looked like any other countrya civilized one, I

We had to sleep after that long sweep through the air, but we turned out early enough next day, and again we

rose softly up the height till we could top the crowning trees and see the broad fair land at our pleasure.

"Semitropical. Looks like a firstrate climate. It's wonderful what a little height will do for temperature."

"Little height! Is that what you call little?" I asked. Our instruments measured it clearly. We had not realized

"Mighty lucky piece of land, I call it," Terry pursued. "Now for the folksI've had enough scenery."

So we sailed low, crossing back and forth, quartering the country as we went, and studying it. We sawI

can't remember now how much of this we noted then and how much was supplemented by our later

knowledge, but we could not help seeing this much, even on that excited daya land in a state of perfect

cultivation, where even the forests looked as if they were cared for; a land that looked like an enormous park,

"I don't see any cattle," I suggested, but Terry was silent. We were approaching a village.

I confess that we paid small attention to the clean, wellbuilt roads, to the attractive architecture, to the

ordered beauty of the little town. We had our glasses out; even Terry, setting his machine for a spiral glide,

They heard our whirring screw. They ran out of the houses they gathered in from the fields, swiftrunning

light figures, crowds of them. We stared and stared until it was almost too late to catch the levers, sweep off

"But they lookwhy, this is a CIVILIZED country!" I protested. "There must be men."

He refused to listen to Jeff's suggestion that we examine the country further before we risked leaving our

"There's a fine landing place right there where we came over," he insisted, and it was an excellent onea

wide, flattopped rock, overlooking the lake, and quite out of sight from the interior.

"They won't find this in a hurry," he asserted, as we scrambled with the utmost difficulty down to safer

It was quite easy to see afterward that our best plan was to have studied the country more fully before we left

our swooping airship and trusted ourselves to mere foot service. But we were three young men. We had been

talking about this country for over a year, hardly believing that there was such a place, and now we were in

It looked safe and civilized enough, and among those upturned, crowding faces, though some were terrified

Not more than ten or fifteen miles we judged it from our landing rock to that last village. For all our

Even Terry's ardor was held in check by his firm conviction that there were men to be met, and we saw to it

"They may be scarce, and they may be hidden away somewhere some kind of a matriarchate, as Jeff tells

us; for that matter, they may live up in the mountains yonder and keep the women in this part of the

countrysort of a national harem! But there are men somewheredidn't you see the babies?"

We had all seen babies, children big and little, everywhere that we had come near enough to distinguish the

people. And though by dress we could not be sure of all the grown persons, still there had not been one man

"I always liked that Arab saying, `First tie your camel and then trust in the Lord,'" Jeff murmured; so we all

had our weapons in hand, and stole cautiously through the forest. Terry studied it as we progressed.

"Talk of civilization," he cried softly in restrained enthusiasm. "I never saw a forest so petted, even in

Germany. Look, there's not a dead boughthe vines are trainedactually! And see here"he stopped and

"Foodbearing, practically all of them," they announced returning. "The rest, splendid hardwood. Call this a

"Good thing to have a botanist on hand," I agreed. "Sure there are no medicinal ones? Or any for pure

As a matter of fact they were quite right. These towering trees were under as careful cultivation as so many

cabbages. In other conditions we should have found those woods full of fair foresters and fruit gatherers; but

an airship is a conspicuous object, and by no means quietand women are cautious.

All we found moving in those woods, as we started through them, were birds, some gorgeous, some musical,

all so tame that it seemed almost to contradict our theory of cultivationat least until we came upon

occasional little glades, where carved stone seats and tables stood in the shade beside clear fountains, with

"They don't kill birds, and apparently they do kill cats," Terry declared. "MUST be men here. Hark!"

We had heard something: something not in the least like a birdsong, and very much like a suppressed whisper

of laughter a little happy sound, instantly smothered. We stood like so many pointers, and then used our

"It couldn't have been far off," said Terry excitedly. "How about this big tree?"

There was a very large and beautiful tree in the glade we had just entered, with thick widespreading

branches that sloped out in lapping fans like a beech or pine. It was trimmed underneath some twenty feet up,

"Look," he pursued. "There are short stumps of branches left to climb on. There's someone up that tree, I

"Look out for a poisoned arrow in your eye," I suggested, but Terry pressed forward, sprang up on the

seatback, and grasped the trunk. "In my heart, more likely," he answered. "Gee! Look, boys!"

We rushed close in and looked up. There among the boughs overhead was somethingmore than one

somethingthat clung motionless, close to the great trunk at first, and then, as one and all we started up the

tree, separated into three swiftmoving figures and fled upward. As we climbed we could catch glimpses of

them scattering above us. By the time we had reached about as far as three men together dared push, they had

left the main trunk and moved outward, each one balanced on a long branch that dipped and swayed beneath

We paused uncertain. If we pursued further, the boughs would break under the double burden. We might

shake them off, perhaps, but none of us was so inclined. In the soft dappled light of these high regions,

breathless with our rapid climb, we rested awhile, eagerly studying our objects of pursuit; while they in turn,

with no more terror than a set of frolicsome children in a game of tag, sat as lightly as so many big bright

"Girls!" whispered Jeff, under his breath, as if they might fly if he spoke aloud.

They were girls, of course, no boys could ever have shown that sparkling beauty, and yet none of us was

We saw short hair, hatless, loose, and shining; a suit of some light firm stuff, the closest of tunics and

kneebreeches, met by trim gaiters. As bright and smooth as parrots and as unaware of danger, they swung

there before us, wholly at ease, staring as we stared, till first one, and then all of them burst into peals of

Then there was a torrent of soft talk tossed back and forth; no savage singsong, but clear musical fluent

We met their laughter cordially, and doffed our hats to them, at which they laughed again, delightedly.

Then Terry, wholly in his element, made a polite speech, with explanatory gestures, and proceeded to

introduce us, with pointing finger. "Mr. Jeff Margrave," he said clearly; Jeff bowed as gracefully as a man

could in the fork of a great limb. "Mr. Vandyck Jennings"I also tried to make an effective salute and nearly

Then Terry laid his hand upon his chesta fine chest he had, too, and introduced himself; he was braced

"Celis," she said distinctly, pointing to the one in blue; "Alima"the one in rose; then, with a vivid imitation

of Terry's impressive manner, she laid a firm delicate hand on her gold green jerkin"Ellador." This was

"We can't sit here and learn the language," Terry protested. He beckoned to them to come nearer, most

winninglybut they gaily shook their heads. He suggested, by signs, that we all go down together; but again

they shook their heads, still merrily. Then Ellador clearly indicated that we should go down, pointing to each

and all of us, with unmistakable firmness; and further seeming to imply by the sweep of a lithe arm that we

not only go downward, but go away altogetherat which we shook our heads in turn.

"Have to use bait," grinned Terry. "I don't know about you fellows, but I came prepared." He produced from

an inner pocket a little box of purple velvet, that opened with a snapand out of it he drew a long sparkling

thing, a necklace of big varicolored stones that would have been worth a million if real ones. He held it up,

swung it, glittering in the sun, offered it first to one, then to another, holding it out as far as he could reach

toward the girl nearest him. He stood braced in the fork, held firmly by one hand the other, swinging his

bright temptation, reached far out along the bough, but not quite to his full stretch.

She was visibly moved, I noted, hesitated, spoke to her companions. They chattered softly together, one

evidently warning her, the other encouraging. Then, softly and slowly, she drew nearer. This was Alima, a

tall longlimbed lass, wellknit and evidently both strong and agile. Her eyes were splendid, wide, fearless,

as free from suspicion as a child's who has never been rebuked. Her interest was more that of an intent boy

The others moved a bit farther out, holding firmly, watching. Terry's smile was irreproachable, but I did not

like the look in his eyesit was like a creature about to spring. I could already see it happenthe dropped

necklace, the sudden clutching hand, the girl's sharp cry as he seized her and drew her in. But it didn't happen.

She made a timid reach with her right hand for the gay swinging thinghe held it a little nearerthen, swift

as light, she seized it from him with her left, and dropped on the instant to the bough below.

He made his snatch, quite vainly, almost losing his position as his hand clutched only air; and then, with

inconceivable rapidity, the three bright creatures were gone. They dropped from the ends of the big boughs to

those below, fairly pouring themselves off the tree, while we climbed downward as swiftly as we could. We

heard their vanishing gay laughter, we saw them fleeting away in the wide open reaches of the forest, and

gave chase, but we might as well have chased wild antelopes; so we stopped at length somewhat breathless.

"No use," gasped Terry. "They got away with it. My word! The men of this country must be good sprinters!"

"Inhabitants evidently arboreal," I grimly suggested. "Civilized and still arborealpeculiar people."

"You shouldn't have tried that way," Jeff protested. "They were perfectly friendly; now we've scared them."

But it was no use grumbling, and Terry refused to admit any mistake. "Nonsense," he said. "They expected it.

Women like to be run after. Come on, let's get to that town; maybe we'll find them there. Let's see, it was in

When we reached the edge of the open country we reconnoitered with our field glasses. There it was, about

four miles off, the same town, we concluded, unless, as Jeff ventured, they all had pink houses. The broad

green fields and closely cultivated gardens sloped away at our feet, a long easy slant, with good roads

Sure enough, close to the town, across a wide meadow, three brighthued figures were running swiftly.

"How could they have got that far in this time? It can't be the same ones," I urged. But through the glasses we

Terry watched them, we all did for that matter, till they disappeared among the houses. Then he put down his

glass and turned to us, drawing a long breath. "Mother of Mike, boyswhat Gorgeous Girls! To climb like

that! to run like that! and afraid of nothing. This country suits me all right. Let's get ahead."

"Nothing venture, nothing have," I suggested, but Terry preferred "Faint heart ne'er won fair lady."

We set forth in the open, walking briskly. "If there are any men, we'd better keep an eye out," I suggested, but

The road was some sort of hard manufactured stuff, sloped slightly to shed rain, with every curve and grade

and gutter as perfect as if it were Europe's best. "No men, eh?" sneered Terry. On either side a double row of

trees shaded the footpaths; between the trees bushes or vines, all fruitbearing, now and then seats and little

"We'd better import some of these ladies and set 'em to parking the United States," I suggested. "Mighty nice

place they've got here." We rested a few moments by one of the fountains, tested the fruit that looked ripe,

and went on, impressed, for all our gay bravado by the sense of quiet potency which lay about us.

Here was evidently a people highly skilled, efficient, caring for their country as a florist cares for his costliest

orchids. Under the soft brilliant blue of that clear sky, in the pleasant shade of those endless rows of trees, we

Presently there lay before us at the foot of a long hill the town or village we were aiming for. We stopped and

Jeff drew a long breath. "I wouldn't have believed a collection of houses could look so lovely," he said.

"They've got architects and landscape gardeners in plenty, that's sure," agreed Terry.

I was astonished myself. You see, I come from California, and there's no country lovelier, but when it comes

to towns! I have often groaned at home to see the offensive mess man made in the face of nature, even

though I'm no art sharp, like Jeff. But this place! It was built mostly of a sort of dull rosecolored stone, with

here and there some clear white houses; and it lay abroad among the green groves and gardens like a broken

"Those big white ones are public buildings evidently," Terry declared. "This is no savage country, my friend.

The place had an odd look, more impressive as we approached. "It's like an exposition." "It's too pretty to be

true." "Plenty of palaces, but where are the homes?" "Oh there are little ones enoughbut." It certainly

"There's no dirt," said Jeff suddenly. "There's no smoke, "he added after a little.

"There's no noise," I offered; but Terry snubbed me"That's because they are laying low for us; we'd better

Everything was beauty, order, perfect cleanness, and the pleasantest sense of home over it all. As we neared

the center of the town the houses stood thicker, ran together as it were, grew into rambling palaces grouped

among parks and open squares, something as college buildings stand in their quiet greens.

And then, turning a corner, we came into a broad paved space and saw before us a band of women standing

We stopped a moment and looked back. The street behind was closed by another band, marching steadily,

shoulder to shoulder. We went onthere seemed no other way to goand presently found ourselves quite

They were not young. They were not old. They were not, in the girl sense, beautiful. They were not in the

least ferocious. And yet, as I looked from face to face, calm, grave, wise, wholly unafraid, evidently assured

and determined, I had the funniest feelinga very early feelinga feeling that I traced back and back in

memory until I caught up with it at last. It was that sense of being hopelessly in the wrong that I had so often

felt in early youth when my short legs' utmost effort failed to overcome the fact that I was late to school.

Jeff felt it too; I could see he did. We felt like small boys, very small boys, caught doing mischief in some

gracious lady's house. But Terry showed no such consciousness. I saw his quick eyes darting here and there,

estimating numbers, measuring distances, judging chances of escape. He examined the close ranks about us,

reaching back far on every side, and murmured softly to me, "Every one of 'em over forty as I'm a sinner."

Yet they were not old women. Each was in the full bloom of rosy health, erect, serene, standing surefooted

and light as any pugilist. They had no weapons, and we had, but we had no wish to shoot.

"I'd as soon shoot my aunts," muttered Terry again. "What do they want with us anyhow? They seem to mean

business." But in spite of that businesslike aspect, he determined to try his favorite tactics. Terry had come

He stepped forward, with his brilliant ingratiating smile, and made low obeisance to the women before him.

Then he produced another tribute, a broad soft scarf of filmy texture, rich in color and pattern, a lovely thing,

even to my eye, and offered it with a deep bow to the tall unsmiling woman who seemed to head the ranks

before him. She took it with a gracious nod of acknowledgment, and passed it on to those behind her.

He tried again, this time bringing out a circlet of rhinestones, a glittering crown that should have pleased any

woman on earth. He made a brief address, including Jeff and me as partners in his enterprise, and with

another bow presented this. Again his gift was accepted and, as before, passed out of sight.

"If they were only younger," he muttered between his teeth. "What on earth is a fellow to say to a regiment of

In all our discussions and speculations we had always unconsciously assumed that the women, whatever else

"Woman" in the abstract is young, and, we assume, charming. As they get older they pass off the stage,

somehow, into private ownership mostly, or out of it altogether. But these good ladies were very much on the

For uneasiness, for curiosity, for excitementand all we saw was what might have been a vigilance

committee of women doctors, as cool as cucumbers, and evidently meaning to take us to task for being there.

Six of them stepped forward now, one on either side of each of us, and indicated that we were to go with

them. We thought it best to accede, at first anyway, and marched along, one of these close at each elbow, and

A large building opened before us, a very heavy thickwalled impressive place, big, and oldlooking; of gray

"This won't do!" said Terry to us, quickly. "We mustn't let them get us in this, boys. All together, now"

We stopped in our tracks. We began to explain, to make signs pointing away toward the big

It makes me laugh, knowing all I do now, to think of us three boysnothing else; three audacious

impertinent boysbutting into an unknown country without any sort of a guard or defense. We seemed to

think that if there were men we could fight them, and if there were only womenwhy, they would be no

Jeff, with his gentle romantic oldfashioned notions of women as clinging vines. Terry, with his clear

decided practical theories that there were two kinds of womenthose he wanted and those he didn't;

Desirable and Undesirable was his demarcation. The latter as a large class, but negligiblehe had never

And now here they were, in great numbers, evidently indifferent to what he might think, evidently determined

on some purpose of their own regarding him, and apparently well able to enforce their purpose.

We all thought hard just then. It had not seemed wise to object to going with them, even if we could have; our

But once inside that building, there was no knowing what these determined ladies might do to us. Even a

peaceful detention was not to our minds, and when we named it imprisonment it looked even worse.

So we made a stand, trying to make clear that we preferred the open country. One of them came forward with

a sketch of our flier, asking by signs if we were the aerial visitors they had seen.

They pointed to it again, and to the outlying country, in different directionsbut we pretended we did not

know where it was, and in truth we were not quite sure and gave a rather wild indication of its whereabouts.

Again they motioned us to advance, standing so packed about the door that there remained but the one

straight path open. All around us and behind they were massed solidlythere was simply nothing to do but

"I never fought with women in my life," said Terry, greatly perturbed, "but I'm not going in there. I'm not

"We can't fight them, of course," Jeff urged. "They're all women, in spite of their nondescript clothes; nice

"We may never get out, if we do," I told them. "Strong and sensible, yes; but I'm not so sure about the good.

They had stood at ease, waiting while we conferred together, but never relaxing their close attention.

Their attitude was not the rigid discipline of soldiers; there was no sense of compulsion about them. Terry's

term of a "vigilance committee" was highly descriptive. They had just the aspect of sturdy burghers, gathered

hastily to meet some common need or peril, all moved by precisely the same feelings, to the same end.

Never, anywhere before, had I seen women of precisely this quality. Fishwives and market women might

show similar strength, but it was coarse and heavy. These were merely athleticlight and powerful. College

professors, teachers, writersmany women showed similar intelligence but often wore a strained nervous

We observed pretty closely just then, for all of us felt that it was a crucial moment.

The leader gave some word of command and beckoned us on, and the surrounding mass moved a step nearer.

"I vote to go in," Jeff urged. But we were two to one against him and he loyally stood by us. We made one

"Now for a rush, boys!" Terry said. "And if we can't break 'em, I'll shoot in the air."

Then we found ourselves much in the position of the suffragette trying to get to the Parliament buildings

The solidity of those women was something amazing. Terry soon found that it was useless, tore himself loose

for a moment, pulled his revolver, and fired upward. As they caught at it, he fired againwe heard a cry.

Instantly each of us was seized by five women, each holding arm or leg or head; we were lifted like children,

straddling helpless children, and borne onward, wriggling indeed, but most ineffectually.

We were borne inside, struggling manfully, but held secure most womanfully, in spite of our best endeavors.

So carried and so held, we came into a high inner hall, gray and bare, and were brought before a majestic

There was some talk, not much, among them, and then suddenly there fell upon each of us at once a firm

hand holding a wetted cloth before mouth and nosean order of swimming sweetnessanesthesia.

From a slumber as deep as death, as refreshing as that of a healthy child, I slowly awakened.

It was like rising up, up, up through a deep warm ocean, nearer and nearer to full light and stirring air. Or like

the return to consciousness after concussion of the brain. I was once thrown from a horse while on a visit to a

wild mountainous country quite new to me, and I can clearly remember the mental experience of coming

back to life, through lifting veils of dream. When I first dimly heard the voices of those about me, and saw

the shining snowpeaks of that mighty range, I assumed that this too would pass, and I should presently find

That was precisely the experience of this awakening: receding waves of halfcaught swirling vision,

memories of home, the steamer, the boat, the airship, the forestat last all sinking away one after another,

The most prominent sensation was of absolute physical comfort. I was lying in a perfect bed: long, broad,

smooth; firmly soft and level; with the finest linen, some warm light quilt of blanket, and a counterpane that

was a joy to the eye. The sheet turned down some fifteen inches, yet I could stretch my feet at the foot of the

I felt as light and clean as a white feather. It took me some time to conscientiously locate my arms and legs,

to feel the vivid sense of life radiate from the wakening center to the extremities.

A big room, high and wide, with many lofty windows whose closed blinds let through soft greenlit air; a

beautiful room, in proportion, in color, in smooth simplicity; a scent of blossoming gardens outside.

I lay perfectly still, quite happy, quite conscious, and yet not actively realizing what had happened till I heard

I turned my head. There were three beds in this chamber, and plenty of room for them.

Terry was sitting up, looking about him, alert as ever. His remark, though not loud, roused Jeff also. We all

Terry swung his legs out of bed, stood up, stretched himself mightily. He was in a long nightrobe, a sort of

seamless garment, undoubtedly comfortablewe all found ourselves so covered. Shoes were beside each

We looked for our clothesthey were not there, nor anything of all the varied contents of our pockets.

A door stood somewhat ajar; it opened into a most attractive bathroom, copiously provided with towels, soap,

mirrors, and all such convenient comforts, with indeed our toothbrushes and combs, our notebooks, and thank

Then we made a search of the big room again and found a large airy closet, holding plenty of clothing, but

"A council of war!" demanded Terry. "Come on back to bed the bed's all right anyhow. Now then, my

"They haven't hurt us in the least!" he said. "They could have killed usoror anythingand I never felt

"That argues that they are all women," I suggested, "and highly civilized. You know you hit one in the last

Terry was grinning at us. "So you realize what these ladies have done to us?" he pleasantly inquired. "They

have taken away all our possessions, all our clothesevery stitch. We have been stripped and washed and

Jeff actually blushed. He had a poetic imagination. Terry had imagination enough, of a different kind. So had

I, also different. I always flattered myself I had the scientific imagination, which, incidentally, I considered

the highest sort. One has a right to a certain amount of egotism if founded on factand kept to one's selfI

"No use kicking, boys," I said. "They've got us, and apparently they're perfectly harmless. It remains for us to

cook up some plan of escape like any other bottled heroes. Meanwhile we've got to put on these

The garments were simple in the extreme, and absolutely comfortable, physically, though of course we all felt

like supes in the theater. There was a onepiece cotton undergarment, thin and soft, that reached over the

knees and shoulders, something like the onepiece pajamas some fellows wear, and a kind of halfhose, that

came up to just under the knee and stayed there had elastic tops of their own, and covered the edges of the

Then there was a thicker variety of union suit, a lot of them in the closet, of varying weights and somewhat

sturdier material evidently they would do at a pinch with nothing further. Then there were tunics,

"Not half bad," said Terry, surveying himself in a long mirror. His hair was somewhat longer than when we

left the last barber, and the hats provided were much like those seen on the prince in the fairy tale, lacking the

The costume was similar to that which we had seen on all the women, though some of them, those working in

the fields, glimpsed by our glasses when we first flew over, wore only the first two.

I settled my shoulders and stretched my arms, remarking: "They have worked out a mighty sensible dress, I'll

"Now then," Terry proclaimed, "we've had a fine long sleep we've had a good bathwe're clothed and in

our right minds, though feeling like a lot of neuters. Do you think these highly civilized ladies are going to

"Of course they will," Jeff asserted confidently. "If they had meant to kill us, they would have done it before.

"Studied as curiosities," I told them. "But anyhow, we want food. So now for a sortie!"

The bathroom only opened into our chamber, and that had but one outlet, a big heavy door, which was

Outside was another large room, furnished with a great table at one end, long benches or couches against the

wall, some smaller tables and chairs. All these were solid, strong, simple in structure, and comfortable in

This room was occupied by a number of women, eighteen to be exact, some of whom we distinctly recalled.

Jeff, however, advanced and bowed in his best manner; so did we all, and we were saluted civilly by the

We had no need to make pathetic pantomime of hunger; the smaller tables were already laid with food, and

we were gravely invited to be seated. The tables were set for two; each of us found ourselves placed

visavis with one of our hosts, and each table had five other stalwarts nearby, unobtrusively watching. We

The breakfast was not profuse, but sufficient in amount and excellent in quality. We were all too good

travelers to object to novelty, and this repast with its new but delicious fruit, its dish of large richflavored

nuts, and its highly satisfactory little cakes was most agreeable. There was water to drink, and a hot beverage

And then and there, willynilly, before we had satisfied our appetites, our education began.

By each of our plates lay a little book, a real printed book, though different from ours both in paper and

We were indeed to learn the language, and not only that, but to teach our own. There were blank books with

parallel columns, neatly ruled, evidently prepared for the occasion, and in these, as fast as we learned and

wrote down the name of anything, we were urged to write our own name for it by its side.

The book we had to study was evidently a schoolbook, one in which children learned to read, and we judged

from this, and from their frequent consultation as to methods, that they had had no previous experience in the

On the other hand, what they lacked in experience, they made up for in genius. Such subtle understanding,

such instant recognition of our difficulties, and readiness to meet them, were a constant surprise to us.

Of course, we were willing to meet them halfway. It was wholly to our advantage to be able to understand

and speak with them, and as to refusing to teach themwhy should we? Later on we did try open rebellion,

That first meal was pleasant enough, each of us quietly studying his companion, Jeff with sincere admiration,

Terry with that highly technical look of his, as of a past masterlike a lion tamer, a serpent charmer, or

It was evident that those sets of five were there to check any outbreak on our part. We had no weapons, and if

we did try to do any damage, with a chair, say, why five to one was too many for us, even if they were

women; that we had found out to our sorrow. It was not pleasant, having them always around, but we soon

"It's better than being physically restrained ourselves," Jeff philosophically suggested when we were alone.

"They've given us a roomwith no great possibility of escapeand personal libertyheavily chaperoned.

"ManCountry! Do you really believe there are no men here, you innocent? Don't you know there must be?"

"They may have some peculiar division of labor we've never heard of," I suggested. "The men may live in

separate towns, or they may have subdued themsomehowand keep them shut up. But there must be

"That last suggestion of yours is a nice one, Van," Terry protested. "Same as they've got us subdued and shut

"Well, figure it out for yourself, anyway you please. We saw plenty of kids, the first day, and we've seen

"Real girls!" Terry agreed, in immense relief. "Glad you mentioned 'em. I declare, if I thought there was

We looked out of all the windows. The blinds opened easily enough, and there were no bars, but the prospect

This was not the pinkwalled town we had so rashly entered the day before. Our chamber was high up, in a

projecting wing of a sort of castle, built out on a steep spur of rock. Immediately below us were gardens,

fruitful and fragrant, but their high walls followed the edge of the cliff which dropped sheer down, we could

We could look out east, west, and south. To the southeastward stretched the open country, lying bright and

fair in the morning light, but on either side, and evidently behind, rose great mountains.

"This thing is a regular fortressand no women built it, I can tell you that," said Terry. We nodded

agreeingly. "It's right up among the hillsthey must have brought us a long way."

"We saw some kind of swiftmoving vehicles the first day," Jeff reminded us. "If they've got motors, they

"Civilized or not, we've got our work cut out for us to get away from here. I don't propose to make a rope of

Jeff continued thoughtful. "All the same, there's something funny about it," he urged. "It isn't just that we

don't see any men but we don't see any signs of them. Thethereaction of these women is different

"There is something in what you say, Jeff," I agreed. "There is a differentatmosphere."

"They don't seem to notice our being men," he went on. "They treat uswelljust as they do one another.

"Fiddlesticks!" he said. "It's because of their advanced age. They're all grandmas, I tell youor ought to be.

"Yes" Jeff agreed, still slowly. "But they weren't afraid they flew up that tree and hid, like schoolboys

Terry was moody as the days passed. He seemed to mind our confinement more than Jeff or I did; and he

harped on Alima, and how near he'd come to catching her. "If I had" he would say, rather savagely, "we'd

But Jeff was getting on excellent terms with his tutor, and even his guards, and so was I. It interested me

profoundly to note and study the subtle difference between these women and other women, and try to account

for them. In the matter of personal appearance, there was a great difference. They all wore short hair, some

"If their hair was only long," Jeff would complain, "they would look so much more feminine."

I rather liked it myself, after I got used to it. Why we should so admire "a woman's crown of hair" and not

admire a Chinaman's queue is hard to explain, except that we are so convinced that the long hair "belongs" to

a woman. Whereas the "mane" in horses is on both, and in lions, buffalos, and such creatures only on the

Our time was quite pleasantly filled. We were free of the garden below our windows, quite long in its

irregular rambling shape, bordering the cliff. The walls were perfectly smooth and high, ending in the

masonry of the building; and as I studied the great stones I became convinced that the whole structure was

extremely old. It was built like the preIncan architecture in Peru, of enormous monoliths, fitted as closely as

"These folks have a history, that's sure," I told the others. "And SOME time they were fighterselse why a

I said we were free of the garden, but not wholly alone in it. There was always a string of those

uncomfortably strong women sitting about, always one of them watching us even if the others were reading,

"That doesn't prove anything," Jeff promptly replied. "Scotch shepherds knitalways knitting."

"When we get out" Terry stretched himself and looked at the far peaks, "when we get out of this and get to

"Well, what'll we do then?" I asked, rather gloomily. "How do you know we'll ever get out?"

This was an unpleasant idea, which we unanimously considered, returning with earnestness to our studies.

"If we are good boys and learn our lessons well," I suggested. "If we are quiet and respectful and polite and

they are not afraid of usthen perhaps they will let us out. And anywaywhen we do escape, it is of

Personally, I was tremendously interested in that language, and seeing they had books, was eager to get at

It was not hard to speak, smooth and pleasant to the ear, and so easy to read and write that I marveled at it.

They had an absolutely phonetic system, the whole thing was as scientific as Esparanto yet bore all the marks

We were free to study as much as we wished, and were not left merely to wander in the garden for recreation

but introduced to a great gymnasium, partly on the roof and partly in the story below. Here we learned real

respect for our tall guards. No change of costume was needed for this work, save to lay off outer clothing.

The first one was as perfect a garment for exercise as need be devised, absolutely free to move in, and, I had

"Fortyover fortysome of 'em fifty, I betand look at 'em!" grumbled Terry in reluctant admiration.

There were no spectacular acrobatics, such as only the young can perform, but for allaround development

they had a most excellent system. A good deal of music went with it, with posture dancing and, sometimes,

Jeff was much impressed by it. We did not know then how small a part of their physical culture methods this

Oh yes, we took part all right! It wasn't absolutely compulsory, but we thought it better to please.

Terry was the strongest of us, though I was wiry and had good staying power, and Jeff was a great sprinter

and hurdler, but I can tell you those old ladies gave us cards and spades. They ran like deer, by which I mean

that they ran not as if it was a performance, but as if it was their natural gait. We remembered those fleeting

They leaped like deer, too, with a quick folding motion of the legs, drawn up and turned to one side with a

sidelong twist of the body. I remembered the sprawling spreadeagle way in which some of the fellows used

to come over the lineand tried to learn the trick. We did not easily catch up with these experts, however.

"Never thought I'd live to be bossed by a lot of elderly lady acrobats," Terry protested.

They had games, too, a good many of them, but we found them rather uninteresting at first. It was like two

people playing solitaire to see who would get it first; more like a race or aa competitive examination, than

I philosophized a bit over this and told Terry it argued against their having any men about. "There isn't a

"But they are interestingI like them," Jeff objected, "and I'm sure they are educational."

"I'm sick and tired of being educated," Terry protested. "Fancy going to a dame schoolat our age. I want to

But we could not get out, and we were being educated swiftly. Our special tutors rose rapidly in our esteem.

They seemed of rather finer quality than the guards, though all were on terms of easy friendliness. Mine was

named Somel, Jeff's Zava, and Terry's Moadine. We tried to generalize from the names, those of the guards,

"They sound well enough, and they're mostly short, but there's no similarity of terminationand no two

There were many things we meant to askas soon as we could talk well enough. Better teaching I never

saw. From morning to night there was Somel, always on call except between two and four; always pleasant

with a steady friendly kindness that I grew to enjoy very much. Jeff said Miss Zavahe would put on a title,

though they apparently had nonewas a darling, that she reminded him of his Aunt Esther at home; but

Terry refused to be won, and rather jeered at his own companion, when we were alone.

"I'm sick of it!" he protested. "Sick of the whole thing. Here we are cooped up as helpless as a bunch of

threeyearold orphans, and being taught what they think is necessarywhether we like it or not. Confound

Nevertheless we were taught. They brought in a raised map of their country, beautifully made, and increased

our knowledge of geographical terms; but when we inquired for information as to the country outside, they

They brought pictures, not only the engravings in the books but colored studies of plants and trees and

flowers and birds. They brought tools and various small objectswe had plenty of "material" in our school.

If it had not been for Terry we would have been much more contented, but as the weeks ran into months he

"Don't act like a bear with a sore head," I begged him. "We're getting on finely. Every day we can understand

"LET out!" he stormed. "LET outlike children kept after school. I want to Get Out, and I'm going to. I

"Guess it's the girls you're most interested in," Jeff commented. "What are you going to fight WITHyour

"Yesor sticks and stonesI'd just like to!" And Terry squared off and tapped Jeff softly on the jaw. "Just

"Oh, don't croak, Van! If it isn't there, we'll find our way down somehowthe boat's there, I guess."

It was hard on Terry, so hard that he finally persuaded us to consider a plan of escape. It was difficult, it was

highly dangerous, but he declared that he'd go alone if we wouldn't go with him, and of course we couldn't

It appeared he had made a pretty careful study of the environment. From our end window that faced the point

of the promontory we could get a fair idea of the stretch of wall, and the drop below. Also from the roof we

could make out more, and even, in one place, glimpse a sort of path below the wall.

"It's a question of three things," he said. "Ropes, agility, and not being seen."

"That's the hardest part," I urged, still hoping to dissuade him. "One or another pair of eyes is on us every

"We've got to think that if they catch us we may not be so well treated afterward," said Jeff.

"That's the business risk we must take. I'm goingif I break my neck." There was no changing him.

The rope problem was not easy. Something strong enough to hold a man and long enough to let us down into

the garden, and then down over the wall. There were plenty of strong ropes in the gymnasiumthey seemed

We should have to piece it out from our bedding, rugs, and garments, and moreover, we should have to do it

after we were shut in for the night, for every day the place was cleaned to perfection by two of our guardians.

We had no shears, no knives, but Terry was resourceful. "These Jennies have glass and china, you see. We'll

break a glass from the bathroom and use that. `Love will find out a way,'" he hummed. "When we're all out of

the window, we'll stand threeman high and cut the rope as far up as we can reach, so as to have more for the

wall. I know just where I saw that bit of path below, and there's a big tree there, too, or a vine or

It seemed a crazy risk to take, but this was, in a way, Terry's expedition, and we were all tired of our

So we waited for full moon, retired early, and spent an anxious hour or two in the unskilled manufacture of

To retire into the depths of the closet, muffle a glass in thick cloth, and break it without noise was not

difficult, and broken glass will cut, though not as deftly as a pair of scissors.

The broad moonlight streamed in through four of our windowswe had not dared leave our lights on too

Hangings, rugs, robes, towels, as well as bedfurnitureeven the mattress coverswe left not one stitch

Then at an end window, as less liable to observation, we fastened one end of our cable, strongly, to the

firmset hinge of the inner blind, and dropped our coiled bundle of rope softly over.

So I slipped down first, and stood, well braced against the wall; then Jeff on my shoulders, then Terry, who

shook us a little as he sawed through the cord above his head. Then I slowly dropped to the ground, Jeff

following, and at last we all three stood safe in the garden, with most of our rope with us.

"Goodbye, Grandma!" whispered Terry, under his breath, and we crept softly toward the wall, taking

advantage of the shadow of every bush and tree. He had been foresighted enough to mark the very spot, only

a scratch of stone on stone, but we could see to read in that light. For anchorage there was a tough, fairsized

"Now I'll climb up on you two again and go over first," said Terry. "That'll hold the rope firm till you both

get up on top. Then I'll go down to the end. If I can get off safely, you can see me and followor, say, I'll

twitch it three times. If I find there's absolutely no footingwhy I'll climb up again, that's all. I don't think

From the top he reconnoitered carefully, waved his hand, and whispered, "OK," then slipped over. Jeff

climbed up and I followed, and we rather shivered to see how far down that swaying, wavering figure

Then there were three quick pulls, and Jeff and I, not without a joyous sense of recovered freedom,

We were standing on a narrow, irregular, all too slanting little ledge, and should doubtless have

ignominiously slipped off and broken our rash necks but for the vine. This was a thickleaved,

"It's not QUITE vertical here, you see," said Terry, full of pride and enthusiasm. "This thing never would

hold our direct weight, but I think if we sort of slide down on it, one at a time, sticking in with hands and feet,

"As we do not wish to get up our rope againand can't comfortably stay hereI approve," said Jeff

Terry slid down firstsaid he'd show us how a Christian meets his death. Luck was with us. We had put on

the thickest of those intermediate suits, leaving our tunics behind, and made this scramble quite successfully,

though I got a pretty heavy fall just at the end, and was only kept on the second ledge by main force. The next

stage was down a sort of "chimney"a long irregular fissure; and so with scratches many and painful and

It was darker there, but we felt it highly necessary to put as much distance as possible behind us; so we

waded, jumped, and clambered down that rocky riverbed, in the flickering black and white moonlight and

We found a friendly nuttree, those large, satisfying, soft shelled nuts we already knew so well, and filled

I see that I have not remarked that these women had pockets in surprising number and variety. They were in

all their garments, and the middle one in particular was shingled with them. So we stocked up with nuts till

we bulged like Prussian privates in marching order, drank all we could hold, and retired for the day.

It was not a very comfortable place, not at all easy to get at, just a sort of crevice high up along the steep

bank, but it was well veiled with foliage and dry. After our exhaustive three or four hour scramble and the

good breakfast food, we all lay down along that crackheads and tails, as it wereand slept till the

We had room to stretch, if not to turn around; but we could very carefully roll over, one at a time, behind the

It was no use to leave there by daylight. We could not see much of the country, but enough to know that we

were now at the beginning of the cultivated area, and no doubt there would be an alarm sent out far and wide.

Terry chuckled softly to himself, lying there on that hot narrow little rim of rock. He dilated on the

I reminded him that we had still a long way to go before getting to the place where we'd left our machine, and

no probability of finding it there; but he only kicked me, mildly, for a croaker.

"If you can't boost, don't knock," he protested. "I never said 'twould be a picnic. But I'd run away in the

The long rest and penetrating dry heat were good for us, and that night we covered a considerable distance,

keeping always in the rough forested belt of land which we knew bordered the whole country. Sometimes we

were near the outer edge, and caught sudden glimpses of the tremendous depths beyond.

"This piece of geography stands up like a basalt column," Jeff said. "Nice time we'll have getting down if

they have confiscated our machine!" For which suggestion he received summary chastisement.

What we could see inland was peaceable enough, but only moonlit glimpses; by daylight we lay very close.

As Terry said, we did not wish to kill the old ladieseven if we could; and short of that they were perfectly

competent to pick us up bodily and carry us back, if discovered. There was nothing for it but to lie low, and

There wasn't much talking done. At night we had our marathonobstacle race; we "stayed not for brake and

we stopped not for stone," and swam whatever water was too deep to wade and could not be got around; but

that was only necessary twice. By day, sleep, sound and sweet. Mighty lucky it was that we could live off the

But Jeff thoughtfully suggested that that very thing showed how careful we should have to be, as we might

run into some stalwart group of gardeners or foresters or nutgatherers at any minute. Careful we were,

feeling pretty sure that if we did not make good this time we were not likely to have another opportunity; and

at last we reached a point from which we could see, far below, the broad stretch of that still lake from which

"That looks pretty good to me!" said Terry, gazing down at it. "Now, if we can't find the 'plane, we know

The wall at that point was singularly uninviting. It rose so straight that we had to put our heads over to see the

base, and the country below seemed to be a faroff marshy tangle of rank vegetation. We did not have to risk

our necks to that extent, however, for at last, stealing along among the rocks and trees like so many creeping

savages, we came to that flat space where we had landed; and there, in unbelievable good fortune, we found

"Covered, too, by jingo! Would you think they had that much sense?" cried Terry.

"If they had that much, they're likely to have more," I warned him, softly. "Bet you the thing's watched."

We reconnoitered as widely as we could in the failing moonlight moons are of a painfully unreliable

nature; but the growing dawn showed us the familiar shape, shrouded in some heavy cloth like canvas, and no

slightest sign of any watchman near. We decided to make a quick dash as soon as the light was strong enough

"I don't care if the old thing'll go or not," Terry declared. "We can run her to the edge, get aboard, and just

Sure enoughthere was our motor, lying like a gray cocoon on the flat pale sheet of water.

Quietly but swiftly we rushed forward and began to tug at the fastenings of that cover.

"Confound the thing!" Terry cried in desperate impatience. "They've got it sewed up in a bag! And we've not

Then, as we tugged and pulled at that tough cloth we heard a sound that made Terry lift his head like a war

There they wereCelis, Alima, Elladorlooking just as they had when we first saw them, standing a little

"Let us appeal to their kind hearts," Jeff urged. "I think they will help us. Perhaps they've got knives."

"It's no use rushing them, anyhow," I was absolutely holding on to Terry. "We know they can outrun and

He reluctantly admitted this; and after a brief parley among ourselves, we all advanced slowly toward them,

They stood their ground till we had come fairly near, and then indicated that we should stop. To make sure,

we advanced a step or two and they promptly and swiftly withdrew. So we stopped at the distance specified.

Then we used their language, as far as we were able, to explain our plight, telling how we were imprisoned,

how we had escapeda good deal of pantomime here and vivid interest on their parthow we had traveled

by night and hidden by day, living on nutsand here Terry pretended great hunger.

I know he could not have been hungry; we had found plenty to eat and had not been sparing in helping

ourselves. But they seemed somewhat impressed; and after a murmured consultation they produced from

their pockets certain little packages, and with the utmost ease and accuracy tossed them into our hands.

Jeff was most appreciative of this; and Terry made extravagant gestures of admiration, which seemed to set

them off, boy fashion, to show their skill. While we ate the excellent biscuits they had thrown us, and while

Ellador kept a watchful eye on our movements, Celis ran off to some distance, and set up a sort of

"duckonarock" arrangement, a big yellow nut on top of three balanced sticks; Alima, meanwhile,

They urged us to throw at it, and we did, but the thing was a long way off, and it was only after a number of

failures, at which those elvish damsels laughed delightedly, that Jeff succeeded in bringing the whole

structure to the ground. It took me still longer, and Terry, to his intense annoyance, came third.

Then Celis set up the little tripod again, and looked back at us, knocking it down, pointing at it, and shaking

her short curls severely. "No," she said. "Badwrong!" We were quite able to follow her.

Then she set it up once more, put the fat nut on top, and returned to the others; and there those aggravating

girls sat and took turns throwing little stones at that thing, while one stayed by as a setterup; and they just

popped that nut off, two times out of three, without upsetting the sticks. Pleased as Punch they were, too, and

We got very friendly over this game, but I told Terry we'd be sorry if we didn't get off while we could, and

then we begged for knives. It was easy to show what we wanted to do, and they each proudly produced a sort

"Yes," we said eagerly, "that's it! Please" We had learned quite a bit of their language, you see. And we

just begged for those knives, but they would not give them to us. If we came a step too near they backed off,

"It's no sort of use," I said. "Come onlet's get a sharp stone or somethingwe must get this thing off."

So we hunted about and found what edged fragments we could, and hacked away, but it was like trying to cut

Terry hacked and dug, but said to us under his breath. "Boys, we're in pretty good conditionlet's make a

They had drawn rather nearer to watch our efforts, and we did take them rather by surprise; also, as Terry

said, our recent training had strengthened us in wind and limb, and for a few desperate moments those girls

But just as we stretched out our hands, the distance between us widened; they had got their pace apparently,

and then, though we ran at our utmost speed, and much farther than I thought wise, they kept just out of reach

"This is stark foolishness," I urged. "They are doing it on purposecome back or you'll be sorry."

As we reached our swaddled machine, and sought again to tear loose its covering, there rose up from all

It was no use to fight. These women evidently relied on numbers, not so much as a drilled force but as a

multitude actuated by a common impulse. They showed no sign of fear, and since we had no weapons

whatever and there were at least a hundred of them, standing ten deep about us, we gave in as gracefully as

Of course we looked for punishmenta closer imprisonment, solitary confinement maybebut nothing of

the kind happened. They treated us as truants only, and as if they quite understood our truancy.

Back we went, not under an anesthetic this time but skimming along in electric motors enough like ours to be

quite recognizable, each of us in a separate vehicle with one ablebodied lady on either side and three facing

They were all pleasant enough, and talked to us as much as was possible with our limited powers. And

though Terry was keenly mortified, and at first we all rather dreaded harsh treatment, I for one soon began to

Here were my five familiar companions, all goodnatured as could be, seeming to have no worse feeling than

a mild triumph as of winning some simple game; and even that they politely suppressed.

This was a good opportunity to see the country, too, and the more I saw of it, the better I liked it. We went

too swiftly for close observation, but I could appreciate perfect roads, as dustless as a swept floor; the shade

of endless lines of trees; the ribbon of flowers that unrolled beneath them; and the rich comfortable country

We rolled through many villages and towns, and I soon saw that the parklike beauty of our firstseen city

was no exception. Our swift highsweeping view from the 'plane had been most attractive, but lacked detail;

and in that first day of struggle and capture, we noticed little. But now we were swept along at an easy rate of

We stopped for lunch in quite a sizable town, and here, rolling slowly through the streets, we saw more of the

population. They had come out to look at us everywhere we had passed, but here were more; and when we

went in to eat, in a big garden place with little shaded tables among the trees and flowers, many eyes were

upon us. And everywhere, open country, village, or city only women. Old women and young women and a

great majority who seemed neither young nor old, but just women; young girls, also, though these, and the

children, seeming to be in groups by themselves generally, were less in evidence. We caught many glimpses

of girls and children in what seemed to be schools or in playgrounds, and so far as we could judge there were

no boys. We all looked, carefully. Everyone gazed at us politely, kindly, and with eager interest. No one was

impertinent. We could catch quite a bit of the talk now, and all they said seemed pleasant enough.

Wellbefore nightfall we were all safely back in our big room. The damage we had done was quite ignored;

the beds as smooth and comfortable as before, new clothing and towels supplied. The only thing those

women did was to illuminate the gardens at night, and to set an extra watch. But they called us to account

next day. Our three tutors, who had not joined in the recapturing expedition, had been quite busy in preparing

They knew well we would make for our machine, and also that there was no other way of getting

downalive. So our flight had troubled no one; all they did was to call the inhabitants to keep an eye on our

movements all along the edge of the forest between the two points. It appeared that many of those nights we

had been seen, by careful ladies sitting snugly in big trees by the riverbed, or up among the rocks.

Terry looked immensely disgusted, but it struck me as extremely funny. Here we had been risking our lives,

hiding and prowling like outlaws, living on nuts and fruit, getting wet and cold at night, and dry and hot by

day, and all the while these estimable women had just been waiting for us to come out.

Now they began to explain, carefully using such words as we could understand. It appeared that we were

considered as guests of the countrysort of public wards. Our first violence had made it necessary to keep

us safeguarded for a while, but as soon as we learned the languageand would agree to do no harmthey

Jeff was eager to reassure them. Of course he did not tell on Terry, but he made it clear that he was ashamed

of himself, and that he would now conform. As to the languagewe all fell upon it with redoubled energy.

"Pretty punk literature," Terry burst forth one day, when we were in the privacy of our own room. "Of course

one expects to begin on childstories, but I would like something more interesting now."

"Can't expect stirring romance and wild adventure without men, can you?" I asked. Nothing irritated Terry

more than to have us assume that there were no men; but there were no signs of them in the books they gave

"Shut up!" he growled. "What infernal nonsense you talk! I'm going to ask 'em outrightwe know enough

In truth we had been using our best efforts to master the language, and were able to read fluently and to

That afternoon we were all sitting together on the roofwe three and the tutors gathered about a table, no

guards about. We had been made to understand some time earlier that if we would agree to do no violence

So there we sat, at ease; all in similar dress; our hair, by now, as long as theirs, only our beards to distinguish

us. We did not want those beards, but had so far been unable to induce them to give us any cutting

"Ladies," Terry began, out of a clear sky, as it were, "are there no men in this country?"

"Yes, men," Terry indicated his beard, and threw back his broad shoulders. "Men, real men."

"No," she answered quietly. "There are no men in this country. There has not been a man among us for two

Her look was clear and truthful and she did not advance this astonishing statement as if it was astonishing,

"Butthe peoplethe children," he protested, not believing her in the least, but not wishing to say so.

"Oh yes," she smiled. "I do not wonder you are puzzled. We are mothersall of usbut there are no fathers.

We thought you would ask about that long agowhy have you not?" Her look was as frankly kind as

Terry explained that we had not felt sufficiently used to the language, making rather a mess of it, I thought,

"Will you excuse us all," he said, "if we admit that we find it hard to believe? There is no

"Wellthere are some rather high forms of insect life in which it occurs. Parthenogenesis, we call itthat

Terry looked uncomfortable, but Jeff met the question quite calmly. "Among mating animals, the term

"Oh, I see. And does it apply to the male also? Or is there a different term for him?"

He passed this over rather hurriedly, saying that the same term would apply, but was seldom used.

"No?" she said. "But one cannot mate without the other surely. Is not each thenvirginbefore mating?

And, tell me, have you any forms of life in which there is birth from a father only?"

"You ask us to believe that for two thousand years there have been only women here, and only girl babies

"Exactly," answered Somel, nodding gravely. "Of course we know that among other animals it is not so, that

there are fathers as well as mothers; and we see that you are fathers, that you come from a people who are of

both kinds. We have been waiting, you see, for you to be able to speak freely with us, and teach us about your

country and the rest of the world. You know so much, you see, and we know only our own land."

In the course of our previous studies we had been at some pains to tell them about the big world outside, to

draw sketches, maps, to make a globe, even, out of a spherical fruit, and show the size and relation of the

countries, and to tell of the numbers of their people. All this had been scant and in outline, but they quite

I find I succeed very poorly in conveying the impression I would like to of these women. So far from being

ignorant, they were deeply wisethat we realized more and more; and for clear reasoning, for real brain

scope and power they were A No. 1, but there were a lot of things they did not know.

They had the evenest tempers, the most perfect patience and good natureone of the things most impressive

about them all was the absence of irritability. So far we had only this group to study, but afterward I found it

We had gradually come to feel that we were in the hands of friends, and very capable ones at thatbut we

"We want you to teach us all you can," Somel went on, her firm shapely hands clasped on the table before

her, her clear quiet eyes meeting ours frankly. "And we want to teach you what we have that is novel and

useful. You can well imagine that it is a wonderful event to us, to have men among usafter two thousand

What she said about our importance gave instant pleasure to Terry. I could see by the way he lifted his head

that it pleased him. But when she spoke of our womensomeway I had a queer little indescribable feeling,

"Will you tell us how it came about?" Jeff pursued. "You said `for two thousand years'did you have men

"You should have our full history to readdo not be alarmed it has been made clear and short. It took us a

"It would be so wonderfulwould it not? To compare the history of two thousand years, to see what the

differences are between us, who are only mothers, and you, who are mothers and fathers, too. Of course

we see, with our birds, that the father is as useful as the mother, almost. But among insects we find him of

"Oh, yes, birds and bugs," Terry said, "but not among animals have you NO animals?"

"Have you no cattlesheephorses?" I drew some rough outlines of these beasts and showed them to her.

"We had, in the very old days, these," said Somel, and sketched with swift sure touches a sort of sheep or

llama," and these"dogs, of two or three kinds, "that that"pointing to my absurd but recognizable horse.

"We do not want them anymore. They took up too much roomwe need all our land to feed our people. It is

"ButbutI mean for cookingfor grown people," Terry blundered, while they looked amazed and a

Jeff came to the rescue. "We keep cattle for their milk, as well as for their meat," he explained. "Cow's milk

is a staple article of diet. There is a great milk industryto collect and distribute it."

Still they looked puzzled. I pointed to my outline of a cow. "The farmer milks the cow," I said, and sketched

a milk pail, the stool, and in pantomime showed the man milking. "Then it is carried to the city and

It took some time to make clear to those three sweetfaced women the process which robs the cow of her

calf, and the calf of its true food; and the talk led us into a further discussion of the meat business. They heard

It is no use for me to try to piece out this account with adventures. If the people who read it are not interested

As for usthree young men to a whole landful of women what could we do? We did get away, as

described, and were peacefully brought back again without, as Terry complained, even the satisfaction of

There were no adventures because there was nothing to fight. There were no wild beasts in the country and

very few tame ones. Of these I might as well stop to describe the one common pet of the country. Cats, of

What do you suppose these Lady Burbanks had done with their cats? By the most prolonged and careful

selection and exclusion they had developed a race of cats that did not sing! That's a fact. The most those poor

dumb brutes could do was to make a kind of squeak when they were hungry or wanted the door open, and, of

Moreover, they had ceased to kill birds. They were rigorously bred to destroy mice and moles and all such

While we were discussing birds, Terry asked them if they used feathers for their hats, and they seemed

amused at the idea. He made a few sketches of our women's hats, with plumes and quills and those various

tickling things that stick out so far; and they were eagerly interested, as at everything about our women.

As for them, they said they only wore hats for shade when working in the sun; and those were big light straw

hats, something like those used in China and Japan. In cold weather they wore caps or hoods.

"But for decorative purposesdon't you think they would be becoming?" pursued Terry, making as pretty a

They by no means agreed to that, asking quite simply if the men wore the same kind. We hastened to assure

"Only Indians," Jeff explained. "Savages, you know." And he sketched a war bonnet to show them.

They never expressed horror or disapproval, nor indeed much surprise just a keen interest. And the notes

But to return to our pussycats. We were a good deal impressed by this achievement in breeding, and when

they questioned usI can tell you we were well pumped for informationwe told of what had been done

for dogs and horses and cattle, but that there was no effort applied to cats, except for show purposes.

I wish I could represent the kind, quiet, steady, ingenious way they questioned us. It was not just

curiositythey weren't a bit more curious about us than we were about them, if as much. But they were bent

on understanding our kind of civilization, and their lines of interrogation would gradually surround us and

drive us in till we found ourselves up against some admissions we did not want to make.

"Ohuseful! Why, the hunting dogs and watchdogs and sheepdogs are usefuland sleddogs of

course!and ratters, I suppose, but we don't keep dogs for their USEFULNESS. The dog is `the friend of

That they understood. "We love our cats that way. They surely are our friends, and helpers, too. You can see

It was a fact. I'd never seen such cats, except in a few rare instances. Big, handsome silky things, friendly

"You must have a heartbreaking time drowning kittens," we suggested. But they said, "Oh, no! You see we

care for them as you do for your valuable cattle. The fathers are few compared to the mothers, just a few very

fine ones in each town; they live quite happily in walled gardens and the houses of their friends. But they

"Oh, notruly! You see, it is many centuries that we have been breeding the kind of cats we wanted. They

are healthy and happy and friendly, as you see. How do you manage with your dogs? Do you keep them in

Then we explained thatwell, that it wasn't a question of fathers exactly; that nobody wanted aa mother

dog; that, well, that practically all our dogs were malesthere was only a very small percentage of females

Then Zava, observing Terry with her grave sweet smile, quoted back at him: "Rather hard on Thomas, isn't

it? Do they enjoy itliving without mates? Are your dogs as uniformly healthy and sweettempered as our

Jeff laughed, eyeing Terry mischievously. As a matter of fact we began to feel Jeff something of a

traitorhe so often flopped over and took their side of things; also his medical knowledge gave him a

"I'm sorry to admit," he told them, "that the dog, with us, is the most diseased of any animalnext to man.

And as to temper there are always some dogs who bite peopleespecially children."

That was pure malice. You see, children were thethe RAISON D'ETRE in this country. All our

interlocutors sat up straight at once. They were still gentle, still restrained, but there was a note of deep

"Do we understand that you keep an animalan unmated male animal that bites children? About how

"Thousandsin a large city," said Jeff, "and nearly every family has one in the country."

Terry broke in at this. "You must not imagine they are all dangerousit's not one in a hundred that ever bites

anybody. Why, they are the best friends of the childrena boy doesn't have half a chance that hasn't a dog to

"Ohgirlswhy they like them too," he said, but his voice flatted a little. They always noticed little things

Little by little they wrung from us the fact that the friend of man, in the city, was a prisoner; was taken out for

his meager exercise on a leash; was liable not only to many diseases but to the one destroying horror of

rabies; and, in many cases, for the safety of the citizens, had to go muzzled. Jeff maliciously added vivid

They did not scold or fuss about it. Calm as judges, those women were. But they made notes; Moadine read

"Please tell me if I have the facts correct," she said. "In your countryand in others too?"

"In most civilized countries a kind of animal is kept which is no longer useful"

Then she made notes of "burglars" and went on: "because of the love which people bear to this animal."

Zava interrupted here. "Is it the men or the women who love this animal so much?"

And Jeff said, "Nonsense, Terryyou know men like dogs better than women doas a whole."

"Because they love it so muchespecially men. This animal is kept shut up, or chained."

"Why?" suddenly asked Somel. "We keep our father cats shut up because we do not want too much fathering;

"A valuable dog would be stolen if he was let loose," I said. "We put collars on them, with the owner's name,

in case they do stray. Besides, they get into fightsa valuable dog might easily be killed by a bigger one."

"I see," she said. "They fight when they meetis that common?" We admitted that it was.

"They are kept shut up, or chained." She paused again, and asked, "Is not a dog fond of running? Are they not

built for speed?" That we admitted, too, and Jeff, still malicious, enlightened them further.

"I've always thought it was a pathetic sight, both waysto see a man or a woman taking a dog to walkat

"Have you bred them to be as neat in their habits as cats are?" was the next question. And when Jeff told

them of the effect of dogs on sidewalk merchandise and the streets generally, they found it hard to believe.

You see, their country was as neat as a Dutch kitchen, and as to sanitationbut I might as well start in now

with as much as I can remember of the history of this amazing country before further description.

And I'll summarize here a bit as to our opportunities for learning it. I will not try to repeat the careful,

detailed account I lost; I'll just say that we were kept in that fortress a good six months all told, and after that,

three in a pleasant enough city whereto Terry's infinite disgustthere were only "Colonels" and little

childrenno young women whatever. Then we were under surveillance for three morealways with a tutor

or a guard or both. But those months were pleasant because we were really getting acquainted with the girls.

We learned their language pretty thoroughlyhad to; and they learned ours much more quickly and used it

Jeff, who was never without reading matter of some sort, had two little books with him, a novel and a little

anthology of verse; and I had one of those pocket encyclopediasa fat little thing, bursting with facts. These

were used in our educationand theirs. Then as soon as we were up to it, they furnished us with plenty of

their own books, and I went in for the history partI wanted to understand the genesis of this miracle of

As to geographyat about the time of the Christian era this land had a free passage to the sea. I'm not saying

where, for good reasons. But there was a fairly easy pass through that wall of mountains behind us, and there

is no doubt in my mind that these people were of Aryan stock, and were once in contact with the best

civilization of the old world. They were "white," but somewhat darker than our northern races because of

The country was far larger then, including much land beyond the pass, and a strip of coast. They had ships,

commerce, an army, a kingfor at that time they were what they so calmly called us a bisexual race.

What happened to them first was merely a succession of historic misfortunes such as have befallen other

nations often enough. They were decimated by war, driven up from their coastline till finally the reduced

population, with many of the men killed in battle, occupied this hinterland, and defended it for years, in the

mountain passes. Where it was open to any possible attack from below they strengthened the natural defenses

They were a polygamous people, and a slaveholding people, like all of their time; and during the generation

or two of this struggle to defend their mountain home they built the fortresses, such as the one we were held

in, and other of their oldest buildings, some still in use. Nothing but earthquakes could destroy such

architecturehuge solid blocks, holding by their own weight. They must have had efficient workmen and

They made a brave fight for their existence, but no nation can stand up against what the steamship companies

call "an act of God." While the whole fighting force was doing its best to defend their mountain pathway,

there occurred a volcanic outburst, with some local tremors, and the result was the complete filling up of the

passtheir only outlet. Instead of a passage, a new ridge, sheer and high, stood between them and the sea;

they were walled in, and beneath that wall lay their whole little army. Very few men were left alive, save the

slaves; and these now seized their opportunity, rose in revolt, killed their remaining masters even to the

youngest boy, killed the old women too, and the mothers, intending to take possession of the country with the

But this succession of misfortunes was too much for those infuriated virgins. There were many of them, and

but few of these wouldbe masters, so the young women, instead of submitting, rose in sheer desperation and

This sounds like Titus Andronicus, I know, but that is their account. I suppose they were about crazycan

There was literally no one left on this beautiful high garden land but a bunch of hysterical girls and some

At first there was a period of sheer despair. The mountains towered between them and their old enemies, but

also between them and escape. There was no way up or down or outthey simply had to stay there. Some

were for suicide, but not the majority. They must have been a plucky lot, as a whole, and they decided to

liveas long as they did live. Of course they had hope, as youth must, that something would happen to

So they set to work, to bury the dead, to plow and sow, to care for one another.

Speaking of burying the dead, I will set down while I think of it, that they had adopted cremation in about the

thirteenth century, for the same reason that they had left off raising cattle they could not spare the room.

They were much surprised to learn that we were still buryingasked our reasons for it, and were much

dissatisfied with what we gave. We told them of the belief in the resurrection of the body, and they asked if

our God was not as well able to resurrect from ashes as from long corruption. We told them of how people

thought it repugnant to have their loved ones burn, and they asked if it was less repugnant to have them

Wellthat original bunch of girls set to work to clean up the place and make their living as best they could.

Some of the remaining slave women rendered invaluable service, teaching such trades as they knew. They

had such records as were then kept, all the tools and implements of the time, and a most fertile land to work

There were a handful of the younger matrons who had escaped slaughter, and a few babies were born after

For five or ten years they worked together, growing stronger and wiser and more and more mutually attached,

and then the miracle happenedone of these young women bore a child. Of course they all thought there

must be a man somewhere, but none was found. Then they decided it must be a direct gift from the gods, and

placed the proud mother in the Temple of Maaia their Goddess of Motherhoodunder strict watch. And

there, as years passed, this wonderwoman bore child after child, five of themall girls.

I did my best, keenly interested as I have always been in sociology and social psychology, to reconstruct in

my mind the real position of these ancient women. There were some five or six hundred of them, and they

were harembred; yet for the few preceding generations they had been reared in the atmosphere of such

heroic struggle that the stock must have been toughened somewhat. Left alone in that terrific orphanhood,

they had clung together, supporting one another and their little sisters, and developing unknown powers in the

stress of new necessity. To this painhardened and workstrengthened group, who had lost not only the love

and care of parents, but the hope of ever having children of their own, there now dawned the new hope.

Here at last was Motherhood, and though it was not for all of them personally, it mightif the power was

It may be imagined how those five Daughters of Maaia, Children of the Temple, Mothers of the

Futurethey had all the titles that love and hope and reverence could givewere reared. The whole little

nation of women surrounded them with loving service, and waited, between a boundless hope and an equally

And they were! As fast as they reached the age of twentyfive they began bearing. Each of them, like her

mother, bore five daughters. Presently there were twentyfive New Women, Mothers in their own right, and

the whole spirit of the country changed from mourning and mere courageous resignation to proud joy. The

older women, those who remembered men, died off; the youngest of all the first lot of course died too, after a

while, and by that time there were left one hundred and fiftyfive parthenogenetic women, founding a new

They inherited all that the devoted care of that declining band of original ones could leave them. Their little

country was quite safe. Their farms and gardens were all in full production. Such industries as they had were

in careful order. The records of their past were all preserved, and for years the older women had spent their

time in the best teaching they were capable of, that they might leave to the little group of sisters and mothers

There you have the start of Herland! One family, all descended from one mother! She lived to a hundred

years old; lived to see her hundred and twentyfive greatgranddaughters born; lived as

QueenPriestessMother of them all; and died with a nobler pride and a fuller joy than perhaps any human

The first five daughters had grown up in an atmosphere of holy calm, of awed watchful waiting, of breathless

prayer. To them the longedfor motherhood was not only a personal joy, but a nation's hope. Their

twentyfive daughters in turn, with a stronger hope, a richer, wider outlook, with the devoted love and care of

all the surviving population, grew up as a holy sisterhood, their whole ardent youth looking forward to their

great office. And at last they were left alone; the whitehaired First Mother was gone, and this one family,

five sisters, twentyfive first cousins, and a hundred and twentyfive second cousins, began a new race.

Here you have human beings, unquestionably, but what we were slow in understanding was how these

ultrawomen, inheriting only from women, had eliminated not only certain masculine characteristics, which

of course we did not look for, but so much of what we had always thought essentially feminine.

The tradition of men as guardians and protectors had quite died out. These stalwart virgins had no men to fear

and therefore no need of protection. As to wild beaststhere were none in their sheltered land.

The power of motherlove, that maternal instinct we so highly laud, was theirs of course, raised to its highest

power; and a sisterlove which, even while recognizing the actual relationship, we found it hard to credit.

Terry, incredulous, even contemptuous, when we were alone, refused to believe the story. "A lot of traditions

as old as Herodotusand about as trustworthy!" he said. "It's likely women just a pack of womenwould

have hung together like that! We all know women can't organizethat they scrap like anything are

"But these New Ladies didn't have anyone to be jealous of, remember," drawled Jeff.

"Why don't you invent a likelier one?" I asked him. "Here ARE the womennothing but women, and you

yourself admit there's no trace of a man in the country." This was after we had been about a good deal.

"I'll admit that," he growled. "And it's a big miss, too. There's not only no fun without 'emno real

That kind of talk always set Jeff going; and I gradually grew to side with him. "Then you don't call a breed of

"Indeed I don't," snapped Terry. "What does a man care for motherhoodwhen he hasn't a ghost of a chance

at fatherhood? And besideswhat's the good of talking sentiment when we are just men together? What a

We were as patient as possible with Terry. He had lived about nine months among the "Colonels" when he

made that outburst; and with no chance at any more strenuous excitement than our gymnastics gave ussave

for our escape fiasco. I don't suppose Terry had ever lived so long with neither Love, Combat, nor Danger to

employ his superabundant energies, and he was irritable. Neither Jeff nor I found it so wearing. I was so

much interested intellectually that our confinement did not wear on me; and as for Jeff, bless his heart!he

enjoyed the society of that tutor of his almost as much as if she had been a girlI don't know but more.

As to Terry's criticism, it was true. These women, whose essential distinction of motherhood was the

dominant note of their whole culture, were strikingly deficient in what we call "femininity." This led me very

promptly to the conviction that those "feminine charms" we are so fond of are not feminine at all, but mere

reflected masculinitydeveloped to please us because they had to please us, and in no way essential to the

Then we both cautioned him. "Look here, Terry, my boy! You be careful! They've been mighty good to

usbut do you remember the anesthesia? If you do any mischief in this virgin land, beware of the vengeance

They began at once to plan and built for their children, all the strength and intelligence of the whole of them

devoted to that one thing. Each girl, of course, was reared in full knowledge of her Crowning Office, and they

had, even then, very high ideas of the molding powers of the mother, as well as those of education.

Such high ideals as they had! Beauty, Health, Strength, Intellect, Goodnessfor those they prayed and

They had no enemies; they themselves were all sisters and friends. The land was fair before them, and a great

The religion they had to begin with was much like that of old Greecea number of gods and goddesses; but

they lost all interest in deities of war and plunder, and gradually centered on their Mother Goddess altogether.

Then, as they grew more intelligent, this had turned into a sort of Maternal Pantheism.

Here was Mother Earth, bearing fruit. All that they ate was fruit of motherhood, from seed or egg or their

product. By motherhood they were born and by motherhood they livedlife was, to them, just the long cycle

But very early they recognized the need of improvement as well as of mere repetition, and devoted their

combined intelligence to that problemhow to make the best kind of people. First this was merely the hope

of bearing better ones, and then they recognized that however the children differed at birth, the real growth

As I learned more and more to appreciate what these women had accomplished, the less proud I was of what

You see, they had had no wars. They had had no kings, and no priests, and no aristocracies. They were

sisters, and as they grew, they grew togethernot by competition, but by united action.

We tried to put in a good word for competition, and they were keenly interested. Indeed, we soon found from

their earnest questions of us that they were prepared to believe our world must be better than theirs. They

were not sure; they wanted to know; but there was no such arrogance about them as might have been

We rather spread ourselves, telling of the advantages of competition: how it developed fine qualities; that

without it there would be "no stimulus to industry." Terry was very strong on that point.

"No stimulus to industry," they repeated, with that puzzled look we had learned to know so well.

"No, indeed!" he said hastily. "No one, I mean, man or woman, would work without incentive. Competition

"It is not with us," they explained gently, "so it is hard for us to understand. Do you mean, for instance, that

with you no mother would work for her children without the stimulus of competition?"

No, he admitted that he did not mean that. Mothers, he supposed, would of course work for their children in

the home; but the world's work was differentthat had to be done by men, and required the competitive

"We want so much to knowyou have the whole world to tell us of, and we have only our little land! And

there are two of youthe two sexes to love and help one another. It must be a rich and wonderful world.

"Oh, everything," Terry said grandly. "The men do everything, with us." He squared his broad shoulders and

lifted his chest. "We do not allow our women to work. Women are lovedidolizedhonoredkept in the

I had always been proud of my country, of course. Everyone is. Compared with the other lands and other

races I knew, the United States of America had always seemed to me, speaking modestly, as good as the best

But just as a cleareyed, intelligent, perfectly honest, and wellmeaning child will frequently jar one's

selfesteem by innocent questions, so did these women, without the slightest appearance of malice or satire,

continually bring up points of discussion which we spent our best efforts in evading.

Now that we were fairly proficient in their language, had read a lot about their history, and had given them

So when Jeff admitted the number of "women wage earners" we had, they instantly asked for the total

population, for the proportion of adult women, and found that there were but twenty million or so at the

"Then at least a third of your women arewhat is it you call themwage earners? And they are all POOR.

"Ours is the best country in the world as to poverty," Terry told them. "We do not have the wretched paupers

and beggars of the older countries, I assure you. Why, European visitors tell us, we don't know what poverty

Terry put it up to me, saying I was the sociologist, and I explained that the laws of nature require a struggle

for existence, and that in the struggle the fittest survive, and the unfit perish. In our economic struggle, I

continued, there was always plenty of opportunity for the fittest to reach the top, which they did, in great

numbers, particularly in our country; that where there was severe economic pressure the lowest classes of

course felt it the worst, and that among the poorest of all the women were driven into the labor market by

"About onethird, then, belong to the poorest class," observed Moadine gravely. "And twothirds are the

ones who are how was it you so beautifully put it?`loved, honored, kept in the home to care for the

Jeffhe was getting as bad as they weresolemnly replied that, on the contrary, the poorer they were, the

more children they had. That too, he explained, was a law of nature: "Reproduction is in inverse proportion to

"I should say not!" protested Terry. "We have systems of law that go back thousands and thousands of

"Oh no," Moadine told him. "We have no laws over a hundred years old, and most of them are under twenty.

In a few weeks more," she continued, "we are going to have the pleasure of showing you over our little land

and explaining everything you care to know about. We want you to see our people."

Terry brightened up immensely at this news, and reconciled himself to the renewed demands upon our

capacity as teachers. It was lucky that we knew so little, really, and had no books to refer to, else, I fancy we

might all be there yet, teaching those eagerminded women about the rest of the world.

As to geography, they had the tradition of the Great Sea, beyond the mountains; and they could see for

themselves the endless thickforested plains below themthat was all. But from the few records of their

ancient conditionnot "before the flood" with them, but before that mighty quake which had cut them off so

As to anthropology, they had those same remnants of information about other peoples, and the knowledge of

the savagery of the occupants of those dim forests below. Nevertheless, they had inferred (marvelously keen

on inference and deduction their minds were!) the existence and development of civilization in other places,

When our biplane came whirring over their heads in that first scouting flight of ours, they had instantly

accepted it as proof of the high development of Some Where Else, and had prepared to receive us as

cautiously and eagerly as we might prepare to welcome visitors who came "by meteor" from Mars.

Of historyoutside their ownthey knew nothing, of course, save for their ancient traditions.

Of astronomy they had a fair working knowledgethat is a very old science; and with it, a surprising range

Physiology they were quite familiar with. Indeed, when it came to the simpler and more concrete sciences,

wherein the subject matter was at hand and they had but to exercise their minds upon it, the results were

surprising. They had worked out a chemistry, a botany, a physics, with all the blends where a science touches

an art, or merges into an industry, to such fullness of knowledge as made us feel like schoolchildren.

Also we found this outas soon as we were free of the country, and by further study and questionthat

I talked later with little mountain girls from the firdark valleys away up at their highest part, and with

sunburned plains women and agile foresters, all over the country, as well as those in the towns, and

everywhere there was the same high level of intelligence. Some knew far more than others about one thing

they were specialized, of course; but all of them knew more about everythingthat is, about everything the

We boast a good deal of our "high level of general intelligence" and our "compulsory public education," but

in proportion to their opportunities they were far better educated than our people.

With what we told them, from what sketches and models we were able to prepare, they constructed a sort of

A big globe was made, and our uncertain maps, helped out by those in that precious yearbook thing I had,

They sat in eager groups, masses of them who came for the purpose, and listened while Jeff roughly ran over

the geologic history of the earth, and showed them their own land in relation to the others. Out of that same

pocket reference book of mine came facts and figures which were seized upon and placed in right relation

Even Terry grew interested in this work. "If we can keep this up, they'll be having us lecture to all the girls'

schools and colleges how about that?" he suggested to us. "Don't know as I'd object to being an Authority

They did, in fact, urge us to give public lectures later, but not to the hearers or with the purpose we expected.

What they were doing with us was likelikewell, say like Napoleon extracting military information from

a few illiterate peasants. They knew just what to ask, and just what use to make of it; they had mechanical

appliances for disseminating information almost equal to ours at home; and by the time we were led forth to

lecture, our audiences had thoroughly mastered a well arranged digest of all we had previously given to our

teachers, and were prepared with such notes and questions as might have intimidated a university professor.

They were not audiences of girls, either. It was some time before we were allowed to meet the young women.

"Do you mind telling what you intend to do with us?" Terry burst forth one day, facing the calm and friendly

Moadine with that funny halfblustering air of his. At first he used to storm and flourish quite a good deal,

but nothing seemed to amuse them more; they would gather around and watch him as if it was an exhibition,

politely, but with evident interest. So he learned to check himself, and was almost reasonable in his

She announced smoothly and evenly: "Not in the least. I thought it was quite plain. We are trying to learn of

"Because we do not feel quite safe in allowing you at large where there are so many young women."

Terry was really pleased at that. He had thought as much, inwardly; but he pushed the question. "Why should

"You surely do not think that any of us," he said it with a good deal of emphasis on the "us," "would hurt

"Oh no," she said quickly, in real surprise. "The danger is quite the other way. They might hurt you. If, by

any accident, you did harm any one of us, you would have to face a million mothers."

He looked so amazed and outraged that Jeff and I laughed outright, but she went on gently.

"I do not think you quite understand yet. You are but men, three men, in a country where the whole

population are mothers or are going to be. Motherhood means to us something which I cannot yet discover

in any of the countries of which you tell us. You have spoken"she turned to Jeff, "of Human Brotherhood

as a great idea among you, but even that I judge is far from a practical expression?"

"Here we have Human Motherhoodin full working use," she went on. "Nothing else except the literal

sisterhood of our origin, and the far higher and deeper union of our social growth.

"The children in this country are the one center and focus of all our thoughts. Every step of our advance is

always considered in its effect on themon the race. You see, we are MOTHERS," she repeated, as if in that

"I don't see how that factwhich is shared by all women constitutes any risk to us," Terry persisted. "You

mean they would defend their children from attack. Of course. Any mothers would. But we are not savages,

They looked at one another and shook their heads a little, but Zava turned to Jeff and urged him to make us

I can see it now, or at least much more of it, but it has taken me a long time, and a good deal of honest

They began with a really high degree of social development, something like that of Ancient Egypt or Greece.

Then they suffered the loss of everything masculine, and supposed at first that all human power and safety

had gone too. Then they developed this virgin birth capacity. Then, since the prosperity of their children

I remember how long Terry balked at the evident unanimity of these womenthe most conspicuous feature

of their whole culture. "It's impossible!" he would insist. "Women cannot cooperateit's against nature."

When we urged the obvious facts he would say: "Fiddlesticks!" or "Hang your factsI tell you it can't be

done!" And we never succeeded in shutting him up till Jeff dragged in the hymenoptera.

"`Go to the ant, thou sluggard'and learn something," he said triumphantly. "Don't they cooperate pretty

well? You can't beat it. This place is just like an enormous anthillyou know an anthill is nothing but a

nursery. And how about bees? Don't they manage to cooperate and love one another?

as that precious Constable had it. Just show me a combination of male creatures, bird, bug, or beast, that

works as well, will you? Or one of our masculine countries where the people work together as well as they do

Terry had to learn a good many things he did not want to. To go back to my little analysis of what happened:

They developed all this close interservice in the interests of their children. To do the best work they had to

specialize, of course; the children needed spinners and weavers, farmers and gardeners, carpenters and

Then came the filling up of the place. When a population multiplies by five every thirty years it soon reaches

the limits of a country, especially a small one like this. They very soon eliminated all the grazing

cattlesheep were the last to go, I believe. Also, they worked out a system of intensive agriculture

surpassing anything I ever heard of, with the very forests all reset with fruit or nutbearing trees.

Do what they would, however, there soon came a time when they were confronted with the problem of "the

pressure of population" in an acute form. There was really crowding, and with it, unavoidably, a decline in

Not by a "struggle for existence" which would result in an everlasting writhing mass of underbred people

trying to get ahead of one anothersome few on top, temporarily, many constantly crushed out underneath,

a hopeless substratum of paupers and degenerates, and no serenity or peace for anyone, no possibility for

Neither did they start off on predatory excursions to get more land from somebody else, or to get more food

Not at all. They sat down in council together and thought it out. Very clear, strong thinkers they were. They

said: "With our best endeavors this country will support about so many people, with the standard of peace,

comfort, health, beauty, and progress we demand. Very well. That is all the people we will make."

There you have it. You see, they were Mothers, not in our sense of helpless involuntary fecundity, forced to

fill and overfill the land, every land, and then see their children suffer, sin, and die, fighting horribly with one

another; but in the sense of Conscious Makers of People. Motherlove with them was not a brute passion, a

It included that limitless feeling of sisterhood, that wide unity in service, which was so difficult for us to

We are used to seeing what we call "a mother" completely wrapped up in her own pink bundle of fascinating

babyhood, and taking but the faintest theoretic interest in anybody else's bundle, to say nothing of the

common needs of ALL the bundles. But these women were working all together at the grandest of

There followed a period of "negative eugenics" which must have been an appalling sacrifice. We are

commonly willing to "lay down our lives" for our country, but they had to forego motherhood for their

When I got this far in my reading I went to Somel for more light. We were as friendly by that time as I had

ever been in my life with any woman. A mighty comfortable soul she was, giving one the nice smooth

motherfeeling a man likes in a woman, and yet giving also the clear intelligence and dependableness I used

"See here," said I. "Here was this dreadful period when they got far too thick, and decided to limit the

population. We have a lot of talk about that among us, but your position is so different that I'd like to know a

"I understand that you make Motherhood the highest social service a sacrament, really; that it is only

undertaken once, by the majority of the population; that those held unfit are not allowed even that; and that to

be encouraged to bear more than one child is the very highest reward and honor in the power of the state."

(She interpolated here that the nearest approach to an aristocracy they had was to come of a line of "Over

"But what I do not understand, naturally, is how you prevent it. I gathered that each woman had five. You

have no tyrannical husbands to hold in checkand you surely do not destroy the unborn"

The look of ghastly horror she gave me I shall never forget. She started from her chair, pale, her eyes blazing.

"Destroy the unborn!" she said in a hard whisper. "Do men do that in your country?"

"Men!" I began to answer, rather hotly, and then saw the gulf before me. None of us wanted these women to

think that OUR women, of whom we boasted so proudly, were in any way inferior to them. I am ashamed to

say that I equivocated. I told her of certain criminal types of womenperverts, or crazy, who had been

known to commit infanticide. I told her, truly enough, that there was much in our land which was open to

criticism, but that I hated to dwell on our defects until they understood us and our conditions better.

And, making a wide detour, I scrambled back to my question of how they limited the population.

As for Somel, she seemed sorry, a little ashamed even, of her too clearly expressed amazement. As I look

back now, knowing them better, I am more and more and more amazed as I appreciate the exquisite courtesy

with which they had received over and over again statements and admissions on our part which must have

She explained to me, with sweet seriousness, that as I had supposed, at first each woman bore five children;

and that, in their eager desire to build up a nation, they had gone on in that way for a few centuries, till they

were confronted with the absolute need of a limit. This fact was equally plain to allall were equally

They were now as anxious to check their wonderful power as they had been to develop it; and for some

"We were living on rations before we worked it out," she said. "But we did work it out. You see, before a

child comes to one of us there is a period of utter exaltationthe whole being is uplifted and filled with a

concentrated desire for that child. We learned to look forward to that period with the greatest caution. Often

our young women, those to whom motherhood had not yet come, would voluntarily defer it. When that deep

inner demand for a child began to be felt she would deliberately engage in the most active work, physical and

mental; and even more important, would solace her longing by the direct care and service of the babies we

"We soon grew to see that motherlove has more than one channel of expression. I think the reason our

children are soso fully loved, by all of us, is that we neverany of ushave enough of our own."

This seemed to me infinitely pathetic, and I said so. "We have much that is bitter and hard in our life at

home," I told her, "but this seems to me piteous beyond wordsa whole nation of starving mothers!"

"We each go without a certain range of personal joy," she said, "but rememberwe each have a million

It was beyond me. To hear a lot of women talk about "our children"! But I suppose that is the way the ants

When a woman chose to be a mother, she allowed the child longing to grow within her till it worked its

natural miracle. When she did not so choose she put the whole thing out of her mind, and fed her heart with

Let me seewith us, childrenminors, that isconstitute about threefifths of the population; with them

only about one third, or less. And precious! No sole heir to an empire's throne, no solitary millionaire

baby, no only child of middleaged parents, could compare as an idol with these Herland children.

But before I start on that subject I must finish up that little analysis I was trying to make.

They did effectually and permanently limit the population in numbers, so that the country furnished plenty

for the fullest, richest life for all of them: plenty of everything, including room, air, solitude even.

And then they set to work to improve that population in quality since they were restricted in quantity. This

they had been at work on, uninterruptedly, for some fifteen hundred years. Do you wonder they were nice

Physiology, hygiene, sanitation, physical cultureall that line of work had been perfected long since.

Sickness was almost wholly unknown among them, so much so that a previously high development in what

we call the "science of medicine" had become practically a lost art. They were a cleanbred, vigorous lot,

When it came to psychologythere was no one thing which left us so dumbfounded, so really awed, as the

everyday working knowledgeand practicethey had in this line. As we learned more and more of it, we

learned to appreciate the exquisite mastery with which we ourselves, strangers of alien race, of unknown

With this wide, deep, thorough knowledge, they had met and solved the problems of education in ways some

of which I hope to make clear later. Those nationloved children of theirs compared with the average in our

country as the most perfectly cultivated, richly developed roses compare withtumbleweeds. Yet they did

And this people, steadily developing in mental capacity, in will power, in social devotion, had been playing

with the arts and sciencesas far as they knew themfor a good many centuries now with inevitable

Into this quiet lovely land, among these wise, sweet, strong women, we, in our easy assumption of

superiority, had suddenly arrived; and now, tamed and trained to a degree they considered safe, we were at

Being at last considered sufficiently tamed and trained to be trusted with scissors, we barbered ourselves as

best we could. A closetrimmed beard is certainly more comfortable than a full one. Razors, naturally, they

"With so many old women you'd think there'd be some razors," sneered Terry. Whereat Jeff pointed out that

"Looks to me as if the absence of men made them more feminine in that regard, anyhow," he suggested.

"Well, it's the only one then," Terry reluctantly agreed. "A less feminine lot I never saw. A child apiece

Terry's idea of motherliness was the usual one, involving a baby in arms, or "a little flock about her knees,"

and the complete absorption of the mother in said baby or flock. A motherliness which dominated society,

which influenced every art and industry, which absolutely protected all childhood, and gave to it the most

We had become well used to the clothes. They were quite as comfortable as our ownin some ways more

soand undeniably better looking. As to pockets, they left nothing to be desired. That second garment was

fairly quilted with pockets. They were most ingeniously arranged, so as to be convenient to the hand and not

inconvenient to the body, and were so placed as at once to strengthen the garment and add decorative lines of

In this, as in so many other points we had now to observe, there was shown the action of a practical

intelligence, coupled with fine artistic feeling, and, apparently, untrammeled by any injurious influences.

Our first step of comparative freedom was a personally conducted tour of the country. No pentagonal

bodyguard now! Only our special tutors, and we got on famously with them. Jeff said he loved Zava like an

aunt"only jollier than any aunt I ever saw"; Somel and I were as chummy as could bethe best of friends;

but it was funny to watch Terry and Moadine. She was patient with him, and courteous, but it was like the

patience and courtesy of some great man, say a skilled, experienced diplomat, with a schoolgirl. Her grave

acquiescence with his most preposterous expression of feeling; her genial laughter, not only with, but, I often

felt, at himthough impeccably polite; her innocent questions, which almost invariably led him to say more

He never seemed to recognize that quiet background of superiority. When she dropped an argument he

always thought he had silenced her; when she laughed he thought it tribute to his wit.

I hated to admit to myself how much Terry had sunk in my esteem. Jeff felt it too, I am sure; but neither of us

admitted it to the other. At home we had measured him with other men, and, though we knew his failings, he

was by no means an unusual type. We knew his virtues too, and they had always seemed more prominent

than the faults. Measured among womenour women at home, I meanhe had always stood high. He was

visibly popular. Even where his habits were known, there was no discrimination against him; in some cases

his reputation for what was felicitously termed "gaiety" seemed a special charm.

But here, against the calm wisdom and quiet restrained humor of these women, with only that blessed Jeff

As "a man among men," he didn't; as a man amongI shall have to say, "females," he didn't; his intense

masculinity seemed only fit complement to their intense femininity. But here he was all out of drawing.

Moadine was a big woman, with a balanced strength that seldom showed. Her eye was as quietly watchful as

a fencer's. She maintained a pleasant relation with her charge, but I doubt if many, even in that country, could

He called her "Maud," amongst ourselves, and said she was "a good old soul, but a little slow"; wherein he

was quite wrong. Needless to say, he called Jeff's teacher "Java," and sometimes "Mocha," or plain "Coffee";

when specially mischievous, "Chicory," and even "Postum." But Somel rather escaped this form of humor,

"Don't you people have but one name?" he asked one day, after we had been introduced to a whole group of

"Oh yes," Moadine told him. "A good many of us have another, as we get on in lifea descriptive one. That

is the name we earn. Sometimes even that is changed, or added to, in an unusually rich life. Such as our

present Land Motherwhat you call president or king, I believe. She was called Mera, even as a child; that

means `thinker.' Later there was added DuDuMera the wise thinker, and now we all know her as

"No surnames at all then?" pursued Terry, with his somewhat patronizing air. "No family name?"

"Why no," she said. "Why should we? We are all descended from a common sourceall one `family' in

reality. You see, our comparatively brief and limited history gives us that advantage at least."

"We keep the most careful records," said Somel. "Each one of us has our exact line of descent all the way

back to our dear First Mother. There are many reasons for doing that. But as to everyone knowing which

Here, as in so many other instances, we were led to feel the difference between the purely maternal and the

paternal attitude of mind. The element of personal pride seemed strangely lacking.

"How about your other works?" asked Jeff. "Don't you sign your names to thembooks and statues and so

"Yes, surely, we are all glad and proud to. Not only books and statues, but all kinds of work. You will find

little names on the houses, on the furniture, on the dishes sometimes. Because otherwise one is likely to

"You speak as if it were done for the convenience of the consumernot the pride of the producer," I

Moadine turned to him with her slightly quizzical smile. "Because the finished product is not a private one.

When they are babies, we do speak of them, at times, as `Essa's Lato,' or `Novine's Amel'; but that is merely

descriptive and conversational. In the records, of course, the child stands in her own line of mothers; but in

dealing with it personally it is Lato, or Amel, without dragging in its ancestors."

Then they asked about our methods, and found first that "we" did so and so, and then that other nations did

differently. Upon which they wanted to know which method has been proved bestand we had to admit that

so far as we knew there had been no attempt at comparison, each people pursuing its own custom in the fond

With these women the most salient quality in all their institutions was reasonableness. When I dug into the

records to follow out any line of development, that was the most astonishing thingthe conscious effort to

They had early observed the value of certain improvements, had easily inferred that there was room for more,

and took the greatest pains to develop two kinds of mindsthe critic and inventor. Those who showed an

early tendency to observe, to discriminate, to suggest, were given special training for that function; and some

of their highest officials spent their time in the most careful study of one or another branch of work, with a

In each generation there was sure to arrive some new mind to detect faults and show need of alterations; and

the whole corps of inventors was at hand to apply their special faculty at the point criticized, and offer

We had learned by this time not to open a discussion on any of their characteristics without first priming

ourselves to answer questions about our own methods; so I kept rather quiet on this matter of conscious

There was growing in our minds, at least in Jeff's and mine, a keen appreciation of the advantages of this

strange country and its management. Terry remained critical. We laid most of it to his nerves. He certainly

The most conspicuous feature of the whole land was the perfection of its food supply. We had begun to

notice from that very first walk in the forest, the first partial view from our 'plane. Now we were taken to see

The country was about the size of Holland, some ten or twelve thousand square miles. One could lose a good

many Hollands along the forestsmothered flanks of those mighty mountains. They had a population of about

three millionnot a large one, but quality is something. Three million is quite enough to allow for

considerable variation, and these people varied more widely than we could at first account for.

Terry had insisted that if they were parthenogenetic they'd be as alike as so many ants or aphids; he urged

But when we asked them, in our later, more intimate conversations, how they accounted for so much

divergence without crossfertilization, they attributed it partly to the careful education, which followed each

slight tendency to differ, and partly to the law of mutation. This they had found in their work with plants, and

Physically they were more alike than we, as they lacked all morbid or excessive types. They were tall, strong,

healthy, and beautiful as a race, but differed individually in a wide range of feature, coloring, and expression.

"But surely the most important growth is in mindand in the things we make," urged Somel. "Do you find

your physical variation accompanied by a proportionate variation in ideas, feelings, and products? Or, among

people who look more alike, do you find their internal life and their work as similar?"

We were rather doubtful on this point, and inclined to hold that there was more chance of improvement in

"It certainly should be," Zava admitted. "We have always thought it a grave initial misfortune to have lost

half our little world. Perhaps that is one reason why we have so striven for conscious improvement."

"But acquired traits are not transmissible," Terry declared. "Weissman has proved that."

"If that is so, then our improvement must be due either to mutation, or solely to education," she gravely

pursued. "We certainly have improved. It may be that all these higher qualities were latent in the original

mother, that careful education is bringing them out, and that our personal differences depend on slight

"I think it is more in your accumulated culture," Jeff suggested. "And in the amazing psychic growth you

have made. We know very little about methods of real soul cultureand you seem to know a great deal."

Be that as it might, they certainly presented a higher level of active intelligence, and of behavior, than we had

so far really grasped. Having known in our lives several people who showed the same delicate courtesy and

were equally pleasant to live with, at least when they wore their "company manners," we had assumed that

our companions were a carefully chosen few. Later we were more and more impressed that all this gentle

breeding was breeding; that they were born to it, reared in it, that it was as natural and universal with them as

As for the intelligence, I confess that this was the most impressive and, to me, most mortifying, of any single

feature of Herland. We soon ceased to comment on this or other matters which to them were such obvious

This was nowhere better shown than in that matter of food supply, which I will now attempt to describe.

Having improved their agriculture to the highest point, and carefully estimated the number of persons who

could comfortably live on their square miles; having then limited their population to that number, one would

think that was all there was to be done. But they had not thought so. To them the country was a unitit was

theirs. They themselves were a unit, a conscious group; they thought in terms of the community. As such,

their timesense was not limited to the hopes and ambitions of an individual life. Therefore, they habitually

I had never seen, had scarcely imagined, human beings undertaking such a work as the deliberate replanting

of an entire forest area with different kinds of trees. Yet this seemed to them the simplest common sense, like

a man's plowing up an inferior lawn and reseeding it. Now every tree bore fruitedible fruit, that is. In the

case of one tree, in which they took especial pride, it had originally no fruit at allthat is, none humanly

edible yet was so beautiful that they wished to keep it. For nine hundred years they had experimented, and

now showed us this particularly lovely graceful tree, with a profuse crop of nutritious seeds.

They had early decided that trees were the best food plants, requiring far less labor in tilling the soil, and

bearing a larger amount of food for the same ground space; also doing much to preserve and enrich the soil.

Due regard had been paid to seasonable crops, and their fruit and nuts, grains and berries, kept on almost the

On the higher part of the country, near the backing wall of mountains, they had a real winter with snow.

Toward the south eastern point, where there was a large valley with a lake whose outlet was subterranean,

the climate was like that of California, and citrus fruits, figs, and olives grew abundantly.

What impressed me particularly was their scheme of fertilization. Here was this little shutin piece of land

where one would have thought an ordinary people would have been starved out long ago or reduced to an

annual struggle for life. These careful culturists had worked out a perfect scheme of refeeding the soil with all

that came out of it. All the scraps and leavings of their food, plant waste from lumber work or textile industry,

all the solid matter from the sewage, properly treated and combined everything which came from the earth

The practical result was like that in any healthy forest; an increasingly valuable soil was being built, instead

When this first burst upon us we made such approving comments that they were surprised that such obvious

common sense should be praised; asked what our methods were; and we had some difficulty inwell, in

diverting them, by referring to the extent of our own land, and theadmittedcarelessness with which we

At least we thought we had diverted them. Later I found that besides keeping a careful and accurate account

of all we told them, they had a sort of skeleton chart, on which the things we said and the things we palpably

avoided saying were all set down and studied. It really was child's play for those profound educators to work

out a painfully accurate estimate of our conditions in some lines. When a given line of observation seemed

to lead to some very dreadful inference they always gave us the benefit of the doubt, leaving it open to further

knowledge. Some of the things we had grown to accept as perfectly natural, or as belonging to our human

limitations, they literally could not have believed; and, as I have said, we had all of us joined in a tacit

"Confound their grandmotherly minds!" Terry said. "Of course they can't understand a Man's World! They

aren't human they're just a pack of FeFeFemales!" This was after he had to admit their parthenogenesis.

"I wish our grandfatherly minds had managed as well," said Jeff. "Do you really think it's to our credit that

we have muddled along with all our poverty and disease and the like? They have peace and plenty, wealth

"You'll find they have their faults too," Terry insisted; and partly in selfdefense, we all three began to look

for those faults of theirs. We had been very strong on this subject before we got therein those baseless

"Suppose there is a country of women only," Jeff had put it, over and over. "What'll they be like?"

And we had been cocksure as to the inevitable limitations, the faults and vices, of a lot of women. We had

expected them to be given over to what we called "feminine vanity""frills and furbelows," and we found

they had evolved a costume more perfect than the Chinese dress, richly beautiful when so desired, always

We had expected a dull submissive monotony, and found a daring social inventiveness far beyond our own,

We had expected pettiness, and found a social consciousness besides which our nations looked like

We had expected jealousy, and found a broad sisterly affection, a fairminded intelligence, to which we

We had expected hysteria, and found a standard of health and vigor, a calmness of temper, to which the habit

All these things even Terry had to admit, but he still insisted that we should find out the other side pretty

"It stands to reason, doesn't it?" he argued. "The whole thing's deuced unnaturalI'd say impossible if we

weren't in it. And an unnatural condition's sure to have unnatural results. You'll find some awful

characteristicssee if you don't! For instancewe don't know yet what they do with their criminals their

defectivestheir aged. You notice we haven't seen any! There's got to be something!"

I was inclined to believe that there had to be something, so I took the bull by the hornsthe cow, I should

"I want to find some flaw in all this perfection," I told her flatly. "It simply isn't possible that three million

people have no faults. We are trying our best to understand and learnwould you mind helping us by saying

what, to your minds, are the worst qualities of this unique civilization of yours?"

We were sitting together in a shaded arbor, in one of those eatinggardens of theirs. The delicious food had

been eaten, a plate of fruit still before us. We could look out on one side over a stretch of open country,

quietly rich and lovely; on the other, the garden, with tables here and there, far apart enough for privacy. Let

me say right here that with all their careful "balance of population" there was no crowding in this country.

Somel set her chin upon her hand, her elbow on the low wall beside her, and looked off over the fair land.

"Of course we have faultsall of us," she said. "In one way you might say that we have more than we used

tothat is, our standard of perfection seems to get farther and farther away. But we are not discouraged,

"When we beganeven with the start of one particularly noble motherwe inherited the characteristics of a

long race record behind her. And they cropped out from time to time alarmingly. But it isyes, quite six

"We have, of course, made it our first business to train out, to breed out, when possible, the lowest types."

"If the girl showing the bad qualities had still the power to appreciate social duty, we appealed to her, by that,

to renounce motherhood. Some of the few worst types were, fortunately, unable to reproduce. But if the fault

was in a disproportionate egotismthen the girl was sure she had the right to have children, even that hers

"I can see that," I said. "And then she would be likely to rear them in the same spirit."

"Motherhoodyes, that is, maternity, to bear a child. But education is our highest art, only allowed to our

"Education?" I was puzzled again. "I don't mean education. I mean by motherhood not only childbearing,

"The care of babies involves education, and is entrusted only to the most fit," she repeated.

"Then you separate mother and child!" I cried in cold horror, something of Terry's feeling creeping over me,

"Not usually," she patiently explained. "You see, almost every woman values her maternity above everything

else. Each girl holds it close and dear, an exquisite joy, a crowning honor, the most intimate, most personal,

most precious thing. That is, the childrearing has come to be with us a culture so profoundly studied,

practiced with such subtlety and skill, that the more we love our children the less we are willing to trust that

"You told us about your dentists," she said, at length, "those quaintly specialized persons who spend their

lives filling little holes in other persons' teetheven in children's teeth sometimes."

"Does motherlove urge motherswith youto fill their own children's teeth? Or to wish to?"

"Why noof course not," I protested. "But that is a highly specialized craft. Surely the care of babies is open

"We do not think so," she gently replied. "Those of us who are the most highly competent fulfill that office;

and a majority of our girls eagerly try for itI assure you we have the very best."

"Oh no!" she earnestly assured me. "Not in the least bereaved. It is her baby stillit is with hershe has not

lost it. But she is not the only one to care for it. There are others whom she knows to be wiser. She knows it

because she has studied as they did, practiced as they did, and honors their real superiority. For the child's

I was unconvinced. Besides, this was only hearsay; I had yet to see the motherhood of Herland.

At last Terry's ambition was realized. We were invited, always courteously and with free choice on our part,

I remember the first timeand how careful we were about our clothes, and our amateur barbering. Terry, in

particular, was fussy to a degree about the cut of his beard, and so critical of our combined efforts, that we

handed him the shears and told him to please himself. We began to rather prize those beards of ours; they

were almost our sole distinction among those tall and sturdy women, with their cropped hair and sexless

costume. Being offered a wide selection of garments, we had chosen according to our personal taste, and

were surprised to find, on meeting large audiences, that we were the most highly decorated, especially Terry.

He was a very impressive figure, his strong features softened by the somewhat longer hairthough he made

me trim it as closely as I knew how; and he wore his richly embroidered tunic with its broad, loose girdle

with quite a Henry V air. Jeff looked more likewell, like a Huguenot Lover; and I don't know what I

looked like, only that I felt very comfortable. When I got back to our own padded armor and its starched

borders I realized with acute regret how comfortable were those Herland clothes.

We scanned that audience, looking for the three bright faces we knew; but they were not to be seen. Just a

multitude of girls: quiet, eager, watchful, all eyes and ears to listen and learn.

We had been urged to give, as fully as we cared to, a sort of synopsis of world history, in brief, and to answer

"We are so utterly ignorant, you see," Moadine had explained to us. "We know nothing but such science as

we have worked out for ourselves, just the brain work of one small half country; and you, we gather, have

helped one another all over the globe, sharing your discoveries, pooling your progress. How wonderful, how

"You do not have to begin all over again, as you did with us. We have made a sort of digest of what we have

learned from you, and it has been eagerly absorbed, all over the country. Perhaps you would like to see our

We were eager to see it, and deeply impressed. To us, at first, these women, unavoidably ignorant of what to

us was the basic commonplace of knowledge, had seemed on the plane of children, or of savages. What we

had been forced to admit, with growing acquaintance, was that they were ignorant as Plato and Aristotle

were, but with a highly developed mentality quite comparable to that of Ancient Greece.

Far be it from me to lumber these pages with an account of what we so imperfectly strove to teach them. The

memorable fact is what they taught us, or some faint glimpse of it. And at present, our major interest was not

Girlshundreds of themeager, brighteyed, attentive young faces; crowding questions, and, I regret to

Our special guides, who were on the platform with us, and sometimes aided in clarifying a question or,

oftener, an answer, noticed this effect, and closed the formal lecture part of the evening rather shortly.

"Our young women will be glad to meet you," Somel suggested, "to talk with you more personally, if you are

Willing! We were impatient and said as much, at which I saw a flickering little smile cross Moadine's face.

Even then, with all those eager young things waiting to talk to us, a sudden question crossed my mind: "What

Terry plunged in among those young creatures with a sort of rapture, somewhat as a glad swimmer takes to

the sea. Jeff, with a rapt look on his highbred face, approached as to a sacrament. But I was a little chilled

by that last thought of mine, and kept my eyes open. I found time to watch Jeff, even while I was surrounded

by an eager group of questionersas we all were and saw how his worshipping eyes, his grave courtesy,

pleased and drew some of them; while others, rather stronger spirits they looked to be, drew away from his

I watched Terry with special interest, knowing how he had longed for this time, and how irresistible he had

always been at home. And I could see, just in snatches, of course, how his suave and masterful approach

seemed to irritate them; his toointimate glances were vaguely resented, his compliments puzzled and

annoyed. Sometimes a girl would flush, not with drooped eyelids and inviting timidity, but with anger and a

quick lift of the head. Girl after girl turned on her heel and left him, till he had but a small ring of questioners,

I saw him looking pleased at first, as if he thought he was making a strong impression; but, finally, casting a

As for me, I was most agreeably surprised. At home I never was "popular." I had my girl friends, good ones,

but they were friendsnothing else. Also they were of somewhat the same clan, not popular in the sense of

swarming admirers. But here, to my astonishment, I found my crowd was the largest.

I have to generalize, of course, rather telescoping many impressions; but the first evening was a good sample

of the impression we made. Jeff had a following, if I may call it that, of the more sentimentalthough that's

not the word I want. The less practical, perhaps; the girls who were artists of some sort, ethicists,

Terry was reduced to a rather combative group: keen, logical, inquiring minds, not overly sensitive, the very

kind he liked least; while, as for meI became quite cocky over my general popularity.

"Girls!" he burst forth, when that evening was over and we were by ourselves once more. "Call those

"Most delightful girls, I call them," said Jeff, his blue eyes dreamily contented.

"Boys! Nothing but boys, most of 'em. A standoffish, disagreeable lot at that. Critical, impertinent

He was angry and severe, not a little jealous, too, I think. Afterward, when he found out just what it was they

did not like, he changed his manner somewhat and got on better. He had to. For, in spite of his criticism, they

were girls, and, furthermore, all the girls there were! Always excepting our three!with whom we presently

When it came to courtship, which it soon did, I can of course best describe my ownand am least inclined

to. But of Jeff I heard somewhat; he was inclined to dwell reverently and admiringly, at some length, on the

exalted sentiment and measureless perfection of his Celis; and TerryTerry made so many false starts and

met so many rebuffs, that by the time he really settled down to win Alima, he was considerably wiser. At

that, it was not smooth sailing. They broke and quarreled, over and over; he would rush off to console himself

with some other fair onethe other fair one would have none of himand he would drift back to Alima,

She never gave an inch. A big, handsome creature, rather exceptionally strong even in that race of strong

women, with a proud head and sweeping level brows that lined across above her dark eager eyes like the

I was good friends with all three of them but best of all with Ellador, long before that feeling changed, for

From her, and from Somel, who talked very freely with me, I learned at last something of the viewpoint of

Here they were, isolated, happy, contented, when the booming buzz of our biplane tore the air above them.

Everybody heard itsaw itfor miles and miles, word flashed all over the country, and a council was held

"From another country. Probably men. Evidently highly civilized. Doubtless possessed of much valuable

knowledge. May be dangerous. Catch them if possible; tame and train them if necessary This may be a

They were not afraid of usthree million highly intelligent womenor two million, counting only

grownupswere not likely to be afraid of three young men. We thought of them as "Women," and

therefore timid; but it was two thousand years since they had had anything to be afraid of, and certainly more

We thoughtat least Terry didthat we could have our pick of them. They thoughtvery cautiously and

All that time we were in training they studied us, analyzed us, prepared reports about us, and this information

Not a girl in that country had not been learning for months as much as could be gathered about our country,

our culture, our personal characters. No wonder their questions were hard to answer. But I am sorry to say,

when we were at last brought out andexhibited (I hate to call it that, but that's what it was), there was no

rush of takers. Here was poor old Terry fondly imagining that at last he was free to stray in "a rosebud garden

of girls" and behold! the rosebuds were all with keen appraising eye, studying us.

They were interested, profoundly interested, but it was not the kind of interest we were looking for.

To get an idea of their attitude you have to hold in mind their extremely high sense of solidarity. They were

not each choosing a lover; they hadn't the faintest idea of lovesexlove, that is. These girlsto each of

whom motherhood was a lodestar, and that motherhood exalted above a mere personal function, looked

forward to as the highest social service, as the sacrament of a lifetimewere now confronted with an

opportunity to make the great step of changing their whole status, of reverting to their earlier bisexual order

Beside this underlying consideration there was the limitless interest and curiosity in our civilization, purely

It was small wonder that our lectures were not a success; and none at all that our, or at least Terry's, advances

were so ill received. The reason for my own comparative success was at first far from pleasing to my pride.

"More like a lot of women!" I thought to myself disgustedly, and then remembered how little like "women,"

"We can quite see that we do not seem likewomento you. Of course, in a bisexual race the distinctive

feature of each sex must be intensified. But surely there are characteristics enough which belong to People,

aren't there? That's what I mean about you being more like usmore like People. We feel at ease with you."

Jeff's difficulty was his exalted gallantry. He idealized women, and was always looking for a chance to

"protect" or to "serve" them. These needed neither protection nor service. They were living in peace and

Of course we could promise whatsoever we might of advantages, if they would come to our country; but the

Terry's jewels and trinkets they prized as curios; handed them about, asking questions as to workmanship, not

in the least as to value; and discussed not ownership, but which museum to put them in.

When a man has nothing to give a woman, is dependent wholly on his personal attraction, his courtship is

They were considering these two things: the advisability of making the Great Change; and the degree of

Here we had the advantage of our small personal experience with those three fleet forest girls; and that served

As for Ellador: Suppose you come to a strange land and find it pleasant enoughjust a little more than

ordinarily pleasant and then you find rich farmland, and then gardens, gorgeous gardens, and then palaces

full of rare and curious treasures incalculable, inexhaustible, and thenmountainslike the Himalayas,

I liked her that day she balanced on the branch before me and named the trio. I thought of her most.

Afterward I turned to her like a friend when we met for the third time, and continued the acquaintance. While

Jeff's ultradevotion rather puzzled Celis, really put off their day of happiness, while Terry and Alima

quarreled and parted, remet and reparted, Ellador and I grew to be close friends.

We talked and talked. We took long walks together. She showed me things, explained them, interpreted much

that I had not understood. Through her sympathetic intelligence I became more and more comprehending of

the spirit of the people of Herland, more and more appreciative of its marvelous inner growth as well as outer

I ceased to feel a stranger, a prisoner. There was a sense of understanding, of identity, of purpose. We

discussedeverything. And, as I traveled farther and farther, exploring the rich, sweet soul of her, my sense

of pleasant friendship became but a broad foundation for such height, such breadth, such interlocked

As I've said, I had never cared very much for women, nor they for menot Terryfashion. But this one

At first I never even thought of her "in that way," as the girls have it. I had not come to the country with any

Turkishharem intentions, and I was no womanworshipper like Jeff. I just liked that girl "as a friend," as we

say. That friendship grew like a tree. She was SUCH a good sport! We did all kinds of things together. She

taught me games and I taught her games, and we raced and rowed and had all manner of fun, as well as

Then, as I got on farther, the palace and treasures and snowy mountain ranges opened up. I had never known

there could be such a human being. Sogreat. I don't mean talented. She was a foresterone of the

bestbut it was not that gift I mean. When I say GREAT, I mean greatbig, all through. If I had known

more of those women, as intimately, I should not have found her so unique; but even among them she was

So she told me more and more of her beautiful land; and I told her as much, yes, more than I wanted to, about

mine; and we became inseparable. Then this deeper recognition came and grew. I felt my own soul rise and

lift its wings, as it were. Life got bigger. It seemed as if I understoodas I never had before as if I could

Do thingsas if I too could growif she would help me. And then It cameto both of us, all at once.

A still dayon the edge of the world, their world. The two of us, gazing out over the far dim forestland

below, talking of heaven and earth and human life, and of my land and other lands and what they needed and

She turned to me, with that high, sweet look of hers, and then, as her eyes rested in mine and her hands

toothen suddenly there blazed out between us a farther glory, instant, overwhelming quite beyond any

Celis was a blueandgoldandrose person; Alma, black andwhiteandred, a blazing beauty. Ellador

was brown: hair dark and soft, like a seal coat; clear brown skin with a healthy red in it; brown eyesall the

They had seen us first of all, far down in the lake below, and flashed the tidings across the land even before

our first exploring flight. They had watched our landing, flitted through the forest with us, hidden in that tree

They had kept watch over our hooded machine, taking turns at it; and when our escape was announced, had

followed along side for a day or two, and been there at the last, as described. They felt a special claim on

uscalled us "their men"and when we were at liberty to study the land and people, and be studied by

But I felt, we all did, that we should have chosen them among millions, unerringly.

And yet "the path of true love never did run smooth"; this period of courtship was full of the most

Writing this as late as I do, after manifold experiences both in Herland and, later, in my own land, I can now

understand and philosophize about what was then a continual astonishment and often a temporary tragedy.

The "long suit" in most courtships is sex attraction, of course. Then gradually develops such comradeship as

the two temperaments allow. Then, after marriage, there is either the establishment of a slowgrowing,

widely based friendship, the deepest, tenderest, sweetest of relations, all lit and warmed by the recurrent

flame of love; or else that process is reversed, love cools and fades, no friendship grows, the whole relation

Here everything was different. There was no sexfeeling to appeal to, or practically none. Two thousand

years' disuse had left very little of the instinct; also we must remember that those who had at times

manifested it as atavistic exceptions were often, by that very fact, denied motherhood.

Yet while the mother process remains, the inherent ground for sexdistinction remains also; and who shall

say what long forgotten feeling, vague and nameless, was stirred in some of these mother hearts by our

What left us even more at sea in our approach was the lack of any sextradition. There was no accepted

When Jeff said, taking the fruit basket from his adored one, "A woman should not carry anything," Celis said,

"Why?" with the frankest amazement. He could not look that fleetfooted, deepchested young forester in

the face and say, "Because she is weaker." She wasn't. One does not call a race horse weak because it is

She looked out across the fields to where some women were working, building a new bit of wall out of large

stones; looked back at the nearest town with its womanbuilt houses; down at the smooth, hard road we were

"I don't understand," she said quite sweetly. "Are the women in your country so weak that they could not

"It is a convention," he said. "We assume that motherhood is a sufficient burdenthat men should carry all

"Does it work?" asked Alima, in her keen, swift way. "Do all men in all countries carry everything? Or is it

"Don't be so literal," Terry begged lazily. "Why aren't you willing to be worshipped and waited on? We like

"That's different," he said, annoyed; and when she said, "Why is it?" he quite sulked, referring her to me,

Ellador and I talked it all out together, so that we had an easier experience of it when the real miracle time

came. Also, between us, we made things clearer to Jeff and Celis. But Terry would not listen to reason.

He was madly in love with Alima. He wanted to take her by storm, and nearly lost her forever.

You see, if a man loves a girl who is in the first place young and inexperienced; who in the second place is

educated with a background of caveman tradition, a middleground of poetry and romance, and a foreground

of unspoken hope and interest all centering upon the one Event; and who has, furthermore, absolutely no

other hope or interest worthy of the name why, it is a comparatively easy matter to sweep her off her feet

with a dashing attack. Terry was a past master in this process. He tried it here, and Alima was so affronted, so

The more coldly she denied him, the hotter his determination; he was not used to real refusal. The approach

of flattery she dismissed with laughter, gifts and such "attentions" we could not bring to bear, pathos and

complaint of cruelty stirred only a reasoning inquiry. It took Terry a long time.

I doubt if she ever accepted her strange lover as fully as did Celis and Ellador theirs. He had hurt and

But I think Alima retained some faint vestige of long descended feeling which made Terry more possible to

her than to others; and that she had made up her mind to the experiment and hated to renounce it.

However it came about, we all three at length achieved full understanding, and solemnly faced what was to

them a step of measureless importance, a grave question as well as a great happiness; to us a strange, new joy.

Of marriage as a ceremony they knew nothing. Jeff was for bringing them to our country for the religious and

"We can't expect them to want to go with usyet," said Terry sagely. "Wait a bit, boys. We've got to take

'em on their own termsif at all." This, in rueful reminiscence of his repeated failures.

"But our time's coming," he added cheerfully. "These women have never been mastered, you see" This, as

"You'd better not try to do any mastering if you value your chances," I told him seriously; but he only

If the lack of tradition of courtship left us much at sea in our wooing, we found ourselves still more

And here again, I have to draw on later experience, and as deep an acquaintance with their culture as I could

Two thousand years of one continuous culture with no men. Back of that, only traditions of the harem. They

had no exact analogue for our word HOME, any more than they had for our Romanbased FAMILY.

They loved one another with a practically universal affection, rising to exquisite and unbroken friendships,

and broadening to a devotion to their country and people for which our word PATRIOTISM is no definition

Patriotism, red hot, is compatible with the existence of a neglect of national interests, a dishonesty, a cold

indifference to the suffering of millions. Patriotism is largely pride, and very largely combativeness.

This country had no other country to measure itself bysave the few poor savages far below, with whom

They loved their country because it was their nursery, playground, and workshoptheirs and their children's.

They were proud of it as a workshop, proud of their record of everincreasing efficiency; they had made a

pleasant garden of it, a very practical little heaven; but most of all they valued itand here it is hard for us to

From those first breathlessly guarded, halfadored race mothers, all up the ascending line, they had this

All the surrendering devotion our women have put into their private families, these women put into their

country and race. All the loyalty and service men expect of wives, they gave, not singly to men, but

And the mother instinct, with us so painfully intense, so thwarted by conditions, so concentrated in personal

devotion to a few, so bitterly hurt by death, disease, or barrenness, and even by the mere growth of the

children, leaving the mother alone in her empty nestall this feeling with them flowed out in a strong, wide

current, unbroken through the generations, deepening and widening through the years, including every child

With their united power and wisdom, they had studied and overcome the "diseases of childhood"their

They had faced the problems of education and so solved them that their children grew up as naturally as

young trees; learning through every sense; taught continuously but unconsciously never knowing they

In fact, they did not use the word as we do. Their idea of education was the special training they took, when

half grown up, under experts. Then the eager young minds fairly flung themselves on their chosen subjects,

and acquired with an ease, a breadth, a grasp, at which I never ceased to wonder.

But the babies and little children never felt the pressure of that "forcible feeding" of the mind that we call

What I'm trying to show here is that with these women the whole relationship of life counted in a glad, eager

growingup to join the ranks of workers in the line best loved; a deep, tender reverence for one's own

mothertoo deep for them to speak of freelyand beyond that, the whole, free, wide range of sisterhood,

To these women we came, filled with the ideas, convictions, traditions, of our culture, and undertook to rouse

However much, or little, of true sexfeeling there was between us, it phrased itself in their minds in terms of

friendship, the one purely personal love they knew, and of ultimate parentage. Visibly we were not mothers,

That we should pair off together in our courting days was natural to them; that we three should remain much

together, as they did themselves, was also natural. We had as yet no work, so we hung about them in their

But when we began to talk about each couple having "homes" of our own, they could not understand it.

"Our work takes us all around the country," explained Celis. "We cannot live in one place all the time."

"We are together now," urged Alima, looking proudly at Terry's stalwart nearness. (This was one of the times

"It's not the same thing at all," he insisted. "A man wants a home of his own, with his wife and family in it."

Then Terry patiently explained again that our women did not workwith reservations.

"Why yes. The children play about, and the mother has charge of it all. There are servants, of course."

It seemed so obvious, so natural to Terry, that he always grew impatient; but the girls were honestly anxious

"How many children do your women have?" Alima had her notebook out now, and a rather firm set of lip.

"There is no set number, my dear," he explained. "Some have more, some have less."

They pounced on this admission and soon wrung from us the general fact that those women who had the most

children had the least servants, and those who had the most servants had the least children.

"There!" triumphed Alima. "One or two or no children, and three or four servants. Now what do those women

We explained as best we might. We talked of "social duties," disingenuously banking on their not interpreting

the words as we did; we talked of hospitality, entertainment, and various "interests." All the time we knew

that to these largeminded women whose whole mental outlook was so collective, the limitations of a wholly

"We cannot really understand it," Ellador concluded. "We are only half a people. We have our womanways

and they have their manways and their bothways. We have worked out a system of living which is, of

course, limited. They must have a broader, richer, better one. I should like to see it."

"There's nothing to smoke," complained Terry. He was in the midst of a prolonged quarrel with Alima, and

needed a sedative. "There's nothing to drink. These blessed women have no pleasant vices. I wish we could

This wish was vain. We were always under a certain degree of watchfulness. When Terry burst forth to tramp

the streets at night he always found a "Colonel" here or there; and when, on an occasion of fierce though

temporary despair, he had plunged to the cliff edge with some vague view to escape, he found several of them

"Wish they had!" Terry persisted. "They've neither the vices of men, nor the virtues of womenthey're

I was thinking of Ellador's eyes when they gave me a certain look, a look she did not at all realize.

Jeff was equally incensed. "I don't know what `virtues of women' you miss. Seems to me they have all of

"They've no modesty," snapped Terry. "No patience, no submissiveness, none of that natural yielding which

I shook my head pityingly. "Go and apologize and make friends again, Terry. You've got a grouch, that's all.

These women have the virtue of humanity, with less of its faults than any folks I ever saw. As for

patiencethey'd have pitched us over the cliffs the first day we lit among 'em, if they hadn't that."

"There are nodistractions," he grumbled. "Nowhere a man can go and cut loose a bit. It's an everlasting

"and workshop," I added. "And school, and office, and laboratory, and studio, and theater, andhome."

"There isn't anything else, and you know it," Jeff retorted hotly. "I never saw, I never dreamed of, such

"Oh, well, of course, if you like a perpetual Sunday school, it's all very well. But I like Something Doing.

There was something to this criticism. The years of pioneering lay far behind them. Theirs was a civilization

in which the initial difficulties had long since been overcome. The untroubled peace, the unmeasured plenty,

the steady health, the large good will and smooth management which ordered everything, left nothing to

overcome. It was like a pleasant family in an old established, perfectly run country place.

I liked it because of my eager and continued interest in the sociological achievements involved. Jeff liked it

Terry did not like it because he found nothing to oppose, to struggle with, to conquer.

"Life is a struggle, has to be," he insisted. "If there is no struggle, there is no lifethat's all."

"You're talking nonsensemasculine nonsense," the peaceful Jeff replied. He was certainly a warm defender

of Herland. "Ants don't raise their myriads by a struggle, do they? Or the bees?"

"Oh, if you go back to insectsand want to live in an anthill! I tell you the higher grades of life are

reached only through strugglecombat. There's no Drama here. Look at their plays! They make me sick."

He rather had us there. The drama of the country wasto our tasterather flat. You see, they lacked the sex

motive and, with it, jealousy. They had no interplay of warring nations, no aristocracy and its ambitions, no

I see I have said little about the economics of the place; it should have come before, but I'll go on about the

They had their own kind. There was a most impressive array of pageantry, of processions, a sort of grand

ritual, with their arts and their religion broadly blended. The very babies joined in it. To see one of their great

annual festivals, with the massed and marching stateliness of those great mothers, the young women brave

and noble, beautiful and strong; and then the children, taking part as naturally as ours would frolic round a

They had begun at a period when the drama, the dance, music, religion, and education were all very close

together; and instead of developing them in detached lines, they had kept the connection. Let me try again to

give, if I can, a faint sense of the difference in the life viewthe background and basis on which their culture

Ellador told me a lot about it. She took me to see the children, the growing girls, the special teachers. She

picked out books for me to read. She always seemed to understand just what I wanted to know, and how to

While Terry and Alima struck sparks and partedhe always madly drawn to her and she to himshe must

have been, or she'd never have stood the way he behavedEllador and I had already a deep, restful feeling,

as if we'd always had one another. Jeff and Celis were happy; there was no question of that; but it didn't seem

Well, here is the Herland child facing lifeas Ellador tried to show it to me. From the first memory, they

knew Peace, Beauty, Order, Safety, Love, Wisdom, Justice, Patience, and Plenty. By "plenty" I mean that the

babies grew up in an environment which met their needs, just as young fawns might grow up in dewy forest

glades and brookfed meadows. And they enjoyed it as frankly and utterly as the fawns would.

They found themselves in a big bright lovely world, full of the most interesting and enchanting things to learn

about and to do. The people everywhere were friendly and polite. No Herland child ever met the overbearing

rudeness we so commonly show to children. They were People, too, from the first; the most precious part of

In each step of the rich experience of living, they found the instance they were studying widen out into

contact with an endless range of common interests. The things they learned were RELATED, from the first;

"It was a butterfly that made me a forester," said Ellador. "I was about eleven years old, and I found a big

purpleandgreen butterfly on a low flower. I caught it, very carefully, by the closed wings, as I had been

told to do, and carried it to the nearest insect teacher"I made a note there to ask her what on earth an insect

teacher was"to ask her its name. She took it from me with a little cry of delight. `Oh, you blessed child,'

she said. `Do you like obernuts?' Of course I liked obernuts, and said so. It is our best foodnut, you know.

`This is a female of the obernut moth,' she told me. `They are almost gone. We have been trying to

exterminate them for centuries. If you had not caught this one, it might have laid eggs enough to raise worms

enough to destroy thousands of our nut treesthousands of bushels of nutsand make years and years of

"Everybody congratulated me. The children all over the country were told to watch for that moth, if there

were any more. I was shown the history of the creature, and an account of the damage it used to do and of

how long and hard our foremothers had worked to save that tree for us. I grew a foot, it seemed to me, and

This is but an instance; she showed me many. The big difference was that whereas our children grow up in

private homes and families, with every effort made to protect and seclude them from a dangerous world, here

Their childliterature was a wonderful thing. I could have spent years following the delicate subtleties, the

smooth simplicities with which they had bent that great art to the service of the child mind.

We have two life cycles: the man's and the woman's. To the man there is growth, struggle, conquest, the

establishment of his family, and as much further success in gain or ambition as he can achieve.

To the woman, growth, the securing of a husband, the subordinate activities of family life, and afterward such

The child entered upon a broad open field of life, in which motherhood was the one great personal

contribution to the national life, and all the rest the individual share in their common activities. Every girl I

talked to, at any age above babyhood, had her cheerful determination as to what she was going to be when

What Terry meant by saying they had no "modesty" was that this great lifeview had no shady places; they

had a high sense of personal decorum, but no shameno knowledge of anything to be ashamed of.

Even their shortcomings and misdeeds in childhood never were presented to them as sins; merely as errors

and misplays as in a game. Some of them, who were palpably less agreeable than others or who had a real

weakness or fault, were treated with cheerful allowance, as a friendly group at whist would treat a poor

Their religion, you see, was maternal; and their ethics, based on the full perception of evolution, showed the

principle of growth and the beauty of wise culture. They had no theory of the essential opposition of good

and evil; life to them was growth; their pleasure was in growing, and their duty also.

With this background, with their sublimated motherlove, expressed in terms of widest social activity, every

phase of their work was modified by its effect on the national growth. The language itself they had

deliberately clarified, simplified, made easy and beautiful, for the sake of the children.

This seemed to us a wholly incredible thing: first, that any nation should have the foresight, the strength, and

the persistence to plan and fulfill such a task; and second, that women should have had so much initiative. We

have assumed, as a matter of course, that women had none; that only the man, with his natural energy and

Here we found that the pressure of life upon the environment develops in the human mind its inventive

reactions, regardless of sex; and further, that a fully awakened motherhood plans and works without limit, for

That the children might be most nobly born, and reared in an environment calculated to allow the richest,

I do not mean in the least that they stopped at that, any more than a child stops at childhood. The most

impressive part of their whole culture beyond this perfect system of childrearing was the range of interests

and associations open to them all, for life. But in the field of literature I was most struck, at first, by the

They had the same gradation of simple repetitive verse and story that we are familiar with, and the most

exquisite, imaginative tales; but where, with us, these are the dribbled remnants of ancient folk myths and

primitive lullabies, theirs were the exquisite work of great artists; not only simple and unfailing in appeal to

To sit in one of their nurseries for a day was to change one's views forever as to babyhood. The youngest

ones, rosy fatlings in their mothers' arms, or sleeping lightly in the flowersweet air, seemed natural enough,

save that they never cried. I never heard a child cry in Herland, save once or twice at a bad fall; and then

Each mother had her year of glory; the time to love and learn, living closely with her child, nursing it

proudly, often for two years or more. This perhaps was one reason for their wonderful vigor.

But after the babyyear the mother was not so constantly in attendance, unless, indeed, her work was among

the little ones. She was never far off, however, and her attitude toward the comothers, whose proud

As for the babiesa group of those naked darlings playing on short velvet grass, cleanswept; or rugs as

soft; or in shallow pools of bright water; tumbling over with bubbling joyous baby laughter it was a view

The babies were reared in the warmer part of the country, and gradually acclimated to the cooler heights as

Sturdy children of ten and twelve played in the snow as joyfully as ours do; there were continuous excursions

of them, from one part of the land to another, so that to each child the whole country might be home.

It was all theirs, waiting for them to learn, to love, to use, to serve; as our own little boys plan to be "a big

soldier," or "a cowboy," or whatever pleases their fancy; and our little girls plan for the kind of home they

mean to have, or how many children; these planned, freely and gaily with much happy chattering, of what

It was the eager happiness of the children and young people which first made me see the folly of that

common notion of ours that if life was smooth and happy, people would not enjoy it.

As I studied these youngsters, vigorous, joyous, eager little creatures, and their voracious appetite for life, it

shook my previous ideas so thoroughly that they have never been reestablished. The steady level of good

health gave them all that natural stimulus we used to call "animal spirits"an odd contradiction in terms.

They found themselves in an immediate environment which was agreeable and interesting, and before them

stretched the years of learning and discovery, the fascinating, endless process of education.

As I looked into these methods and compared them with our own, my strange uncomfortable sense of

Ellador could not understand my astonishment. She explained things kindly and sweetly, but with some

amazement that they needed explaining, and with sudden questions as to how we did it that left me meeker

I betook myself to Somel one day, carefully not taking Ellador. I did not mind seeming foolish to

"I want a chapter of explanation," I told her. "You know my stupidities by heart, and I do not want to show

She smiled delightedly. "It is beautiful to see," she told me, "this new wonderful love between you. The

I had not thought of that. We say: "All the world loves a lover," but to have a couple of million people

"Tell me about your theory of education," I said. "Make it short and easy. And, to show you what puzzles me,

I'll tell you that in our theory great stress is laid on the forced exertion of the child's mind; we think it is good

"Of course it is," she unexpectedly agreed. "All our children do thatthey love to."

"Our theory is this," she went on carefully. "Here is a young human being. The mind is as natural a thing as

the body, a thing that grows, a thing to use and enjoy. We seek to nourish, to stimulate, to exercise the mind

of a child as we do the body. There are the two main divisions in educationyou have those of course?the

"Yes. Our general plan is this: In the matter of feeding the mind, of furnishing information, we use our best

powers to meet the natural appetite of a healthy young brain; not to overfeed it, to provide such amount and

variety of impressions as seem most welcome to each child. That is the easiest part. The other division is in

arranging a properly graduated series of exercises which will best develop each mind; the common faculties

we all have, and most carefully, the especial faculties some of us have. You do this also, do you not?"

"In a way," I said rather lamely. "We have not so subtle and highly developed a system as you, not

approaching it; but tell me more. As to the informationhow do you manage? It appears that all of you

This she laughingly disclaimed. "By no means. We are, as you soon found out, extremely limited in

knowledge. I wish you could realize what a ferment the country is in over the new things you have told us;

the passionate eagerness among thousands of us to go to your country and learnlearnlearn! But what we

do know is readily divisible into common knowledge and special knowledge. The common knowledge we

have long since learned to feed into the minds of our little ones with no waste of time or strength; the special

knowledge is open to all, as they desire it. Some of us specialize in one line only. But most take up several

"Yes. When one settles too close in one kind of work there is a tendency to atrophy in the disused portions of

"As much as we know of the different sciences. We have, within our limits, a good deal of knowledge of

anatomy, physiology, nutritionall that pertains to a full and beautiful personal life. We have our botany and

chemistry, and so onvery rudimentary, but interesting; our own history, with its accumulating

"Of course. It is ours; it is among and between us, and it changes with the succeeding and improving

generations. We are at work, slowly and carefully, developing our whole people along these lines. It is

glorious worksplendid! To see the thousands of babies improving, showing stronger clearer minds, sweeter

This I evaded flatly. I remembered the cheerless claim that the human mind was no better than in its earliest

"We try most earnestly for two powers," Somel continued. "The two that seem to us basically necessary for

all noble life: a clear, farreaching judgment, and a strong wellused will. We spend our best efforts, all

through childhood and youth, in developing these faculties, individual judgment and will."

"Exactly. As the most valuable part. With the babies, as you may have noticed, we first provide an

environment which feeds the mind without tiring it; all manner of simple and interesting things to do, as soon

as they are old enough to do them; physical properties, of course, come first. But as early as possible, going

very carefully, not to tax the mind, we provide choices, simple choices, with very obvious causes and

I had. The children seemed always playing something; or else, sometimes, engaged in peaceful researches of

their own. I had wondered at first when they went to school, but soon found that they never did to their

"We have been working for some sixteen hundred years, devising better and better games for children,"

Then I remembered the kindergarten, and the "material" devised by Signora Montessori, and guardedly

replied: "To some extent." But most of our games, I told her, were very oldcame down from child to child,

"And what is their effect?" she asked. "Do they develop the faculties you wish to encourage?"

Again I remembered the claims made by the advocates of "sports," and again replied guardedly that that was,

"But do the children LIKE it?" I asked. "Having things made up and set before them that way? Don't they

"You can see the children," she answered. "Are yours more contentedmore interestedhappier?"

Then I thought, as in truth I never had thought before, of the dull, bored children I had seen, whining; "What

can I do now?"; of the little groups and gangs hanging about; of the value of some one strong spirit who

possessed initiative and would "start something"; of the children's parties and the onerous duties of the older

people set to "amuse the children"; also of that troubled ocean of misdirected activity we call "mischief," the

The Herland child was born not only into a world carefully prepared, full of the most fascinating materials

and opportunities to learn, but into the society of plentiful numbers of teachers, teachers born and trained,

whose business it was to accompany the children along that, to us, impossible thingthe royal road to

There was no mystery in their methods. Being adapted to children it was at least comprehensible to adults. I

spent many days with the little ones, sometimes with Ellador, sometimes without, and began to feel a

The houses and gardens planned for babies had in them nothing to hurtno stairs, no corners, no small loose

objects to swallow, no firejust a babies' paradise. They were taught, as rapidly as feasible, to use and

control their own bodies, and never did I see such surefooted, steadyhanded, clearheaded little things. It

was a joy to watch a row of toddlers learning to walk, not only on a level floor, but, a little later, on a sort of

rubber rail raised an inch or two above the soft turf or heavy rugs, and falling off with shrieks of infant joy, to

rush back to the end of the line and try again. Surely we have noticed how children love to get up on

something and walk along it! But we have never thought to provide that simple and inexhaustible form of

Water they had, of course, and could swim even before they walked. If I feared at first the effects of a too

intensive system of culture, that fear was dissipated by seeing the long sunny days of pure physical merriment

and natural sleep in which these heavenly babies passed their first years. They never knew they were being

educated. They did not dream that in this association of hilarious experiment and achievement they were

laying the foundation for that close beautiful group feeling into which they grew so firmly with the years.

It took me a long time, as a man, a foreigner, and a species of ChristianI was that as much as anythingto

Its deification of motherhood was obvious enough; but there was far more to it than that; or, at least, than my

I think it was only as I grew to love Ellador more than I believed anyone could love anybody, as I grew

faintly to appreciate her inner attitude and state of mind, that I began to get some glimpses of this faith of

When I asked her about it, she tried at first to tell me, and then, seeing me flounder, asked for more

information about ours. She soon found that we had many, that they varied widely, but had some points in

common. A clear methodical luminous mind had my Ellador, not only reasonable, but swiftly perceptive.

She made a sort of chart, superimposing the different religions as I described them, with a pin run through

them all, as it were; their common basis being a Dominant Power or Powers, and some Special Behavior,

mostly taboos, to please or placate. There were some common features in certain groups of religions, but the

one always present was this Power, and the things which must be done or not done because of it. It was not

hard to trace our human imagery of the Divine Force up through successive stages of bloodthirsty, sensual,

proud, and cruel gods of early times to the conception of a Common Father with its corollary of a Common

This pleased her very much, and when I expatiated on the Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and so

on, of our God, and of the loving kindness taught by his Son, she was much impressed.

The story of the Virgin birth naturally did not astonish her, but she was greatly puzzled by the Sacrifice, and

When in an inadvertent moment I said that certain sects had believed in infant damnationand explained

"And yet that such a God could put little new babies to burn for eternity?" She fell into a sudden

Every smallest village had its temple, and in those gracious retreats sat wise and noble women, quietly busy

at some work of their own until they were wanted, always ready to give comfort, light, or help, to any

Ellador told me afterward how easily this grief of hers was assuaged, and seemed ashamed of not having

"You see, we are not accustomed to horrible ideas," she said, coming back to me rather apologetically. "We

haven't any. And when we get a thing like that into our minds it's likeoh, like red pepper in your eyes. So I

just ran to her, blinded and almost screaming, and she took it out so quicklyso easily!"

"`Why, you blessed child,' she said, `you've got the wrong idea altogether. You do not have to think that there

ever was such a Godfor there wasn't. Or such a happeningfor there wasn't. Nor even that this hideous

false idea was believed by anybody. But only thisthat people who are utterly ignorant will believe

This was a lesson to me. No wonder this whole nation of women was peaceful and sweet in expressionthey

"Oh, yes, no doubt. But as soon as our religion grew to any height at all we left them out, of course."

From this, as from many other things, I grew to see what I finally put in words.

"Have you no respect for the past? For what was thought and believed by your foremothers?"

"Why, no," she said. "Why should we? They are all gone. They knew less than we do. If we are not beyond

them, we are unworthy of themand unworthy of the children who must go beyond us."

This set me thinking in good earnest. I had always imagined simply from hearing it said, I supposethat

women were by nature conservative. Yet these women, quite unassisted by any masculine spirit of enterprise,

Ellador watched me think. She seemed to know pretty much what was going on in my mind.

"It's because we began in a new way, I suppose. All our folks were swept away at once, and then, after that

time of despair, came those wonder childrenthe first. And then the whole breathless hope of us was for

THEIR childrenif they should have them. And they did! Then there was the period of pride and triumph

till we grew too numerous; and after that, when it all came down to one child apiece, we began to really

"But how does this account for such a radical difference in your religion?" I persisted.

She said she couldn't talk about the difference very intelligently, not being familiar with other religions, but

that theirs seemed simple enough. Their great Mother Spirit was to them what their own motherhood

wasonly magnified beyond human limits. That meant that they felt beneath and behind them an upholding,

unfailing, serviceable loveperhaps it was really the accumulated motherlove of the race they feltbut it

I found it singularly difficult to explain. This Divine Love which they felt so strongly did not seem to ask

"But surely your mothers expect honor, reverence, obedience, from you. You have to do things for your

"Oh, no," she insisted, smiling, shaking her soft brown hair. "We do things FROM our mothersnot FOR

them. We don't have to do things FOR themthey don't need it, you know. But we have to live

I meditated again. I thought of that God of Battles of ours, that Jealous God, that Vengeanceismine God. I

Ellador laughed. Her eyes were as bright as stars, and there were tears in them, too. She was so sorry for me.

"How could we?" she asked, fairly enough. "We have no punishments in life, you see, so we don't imagine

"Have you NO punishments? Neither for children nor criminals such mild criminals as you have?" I urged.

"Do you punish a person for a broken leg or a fever? We have preventive measures, and cures; sometimes we

have to `send the patient to bed,' as it were; but that's not a punishmentit's only part of the treatment," she

Then studying my point of view more closely, she added: "You see, we recognize, in our human motherhood,

a great tender limitless uplifting forcepatience and wisdom and all subtlety of delicate method. We credit

Godour idea of Godwith all that and more. Our mothers are not angry with uswhy should God be?"

This she thought over a little. "Whyin trying to get close to it in our minds we personify the idea, naturally;

but we certainly do not assume a Big Woman somewhere, who is God. What we call God is a Pervading

Power, you know, an Indwelling Spirit, something inside of us that we want more of. Is your God a Big

"Whyyes, to most of us, I think. Of course we call it an Indwelling Spirit just as you do, but we insist that

"On the contrary, we shave them offbecause it seems cleaner and more comfortable."

I was thinking over the pictures of God I had seenrash advances of the devout mind of man, representing

his Omnipotent Deity as an old man in a flowing robe, flowing hair, flowing beard, and in the light of her

I explained that the God of the Christian world was really the ancient Hebrew God, and that we had simply

taken over the patriarchal ideathat ancient one which quite inevitably clothed its thought of God with the

"I see," she said eagerly, after I had explained the genesis and development of our religious ideals. "They

lived in separate groups, with a male head, and he was probably a littledomineering?"

"And we live together without any `head,' in that sensejust our chosen leadersthat DOES make a

"Your difference is deeper than that," I assured her. "It is in your common motherhood. Your children grow

up in a world where everybody loves them. They find life made rich and happy for them by the diffused love

and wisdom of all mothers. So it is easy for you to think of God in the terms of a similar diffused and

"What I cannot understand," she pursued carefully, "is your preservation of such a very ancient state of mind.

"We certainly have. But religion is different. You see, our religions come from behind us, and are initiated by

some great teacher who is dead. He is supposed to have known the whole thing and taught it, finally. All we

"Ohthere it was different. The Hebrew religion is an accumulation of extremely ancient traditions, some

far older than their people, and grew by accretion down the ages. We consider it inspired`the Word of

I began to try to recall some text that did say so, and could not bring it to mind.

"Apart from that," she pursued, "what I cannot understand is why you keep these early religious ideas so

"Pretty generally," I agreed. "But this we call `revealed religion,' and think it is final. But tell me more about

Then she gave me an extended lesson in applied religion, which I will endeavor to concentrate.

They developed their central theory of a Loving Power, and assumed that its relation to them was

motherlythat it desired their welfare and especially their development. Their relation to it, similarly, was

filial, a loving appreciation and a glad fulfillment of its high purposes. Then, being nothing if not practical,

they set their keen and active minds to discover the kind of conduct expected of them. This worked out in a

most admirable system of ethics. The principle of Love was universally recognizedand used.

Patience, gentleness, courtesy, all that we call "good breeding," was part of their code of conduct. But where

they went far beyond us was in the special application of religious feeling to every field of life. They had no

ritual, no little set of performances called "divine service," save those religious pageants I have spoken of,

and those were as much educational as religious, and as much social as either. But they had a clear

established connection between everything they didand God. Their cleanliness, their health, their exquisite

order, the rich peaceful beauty of the whole land, the happiness of the children, and above all the constant

They applied their minds to the thought of God, and worked out the theory that such an inner power

demanded outward expression. They lived as if God was real and at work within them.

As for those little temples everywheresome of the women were more skilled, more temperamentally

inclined, in this direction, than others. These, whatever their work might be, gave certain hours to the Temple

Service, which meant being there with all their love and wisdom and trained thought, to smooth out rough

places for anyone who needed it. Sometimes it was a real grief, very rarely a quarrel, most often a perplexity;

even in Herland the human soul had its hours of darkness. But all through the country their best and wisest

If the difficulty was unusually profound, the applicant was directed to someone more specially experienced in

Here was a religion which gave to the searching mind a rational basis in life, the concept of an immense

Loving Power working steadily out through them, toward good. It gave to the "soul" that sense of contact

with the inmost force, of perception of the uttermost purpose, which we always crave. It gave to the "heart"

the blessed feeling of being loved, loved and UNDERSTOOD. It gave clear, simple, rational directions as to

how we should liveand why. And for ritual it gave first those triumphant group demonstrations, when with

a union of all the arts, the revivifying combination of great multitudes moved rhythmically with march and

dance, song and music, among their own noblest products and the open beauty of their groves and hills.

Second, it gave these numerous little centers of wisdom where the least wise could go to the most wise and be

"It is beautiful!" I cried enthusiastically. "It is the most practical, comforting, progressive religion I ever heard

of. You DO love one anotheryou DO bear one another's burdensyou DO realize that a little child is a

type of the kingdom of heaven. You are more Christian than any people I ever saw. Buthow about death?

What indeed? I tried, for the first time in my life, to get a real hold on the idea.

"Yes, the same person, unending, immortal." I was pleased to think that I had something to teach from our

"Here?" asked Ellador. "Never to diehere?" I could see her practical mind heaping up the people, and

"Oh no, indeed, not herehereafter. We must die here, of course, but then we `enter into eternal life.' The

"I won't attempt to prove it to you," I hastily continued. "Let us assume it to be so. How does this idea strike

Again she smiled at me, that adorable, dimpling, tender, mischievous, motherly smile of hers. "Shall I be

"You couldn't be anything else," I said, half gladly and half a little sorry. The transparent honesty of these

"It seems to me a singularly foolish idea," she said calmly. "And if true, most disagreeable."

Now I had always accepted the doctrine of personal immortality as a thing established. The efforts of

inquiring spiritualists, always seeking to woo their beloved ghosts back again, never seemed to me necessary.

I don't say I had ever seriously and courageously discussed the subject with myself even; I had simply

assumed it to be a fact. And here was the girl I loved, this creature whose character constantly revealed new

heights and ranges far beyond my own, this superwoman of a superland, saying she thought immortality

"How can you NOT want it!" I protested. "Do you want to go out like a candle? Don't you want to go on and

"Why, no," she said. "I don't in the least. I want my child and my child's childto go onand they will.

"But it means Heaven!" I insisted. "Peace and Beauty and Comfort and Lovewith God." I had never been

so eloquent on the subject of religion. She could be horrified at Damnation, and question the justice of

"Why, Van," she said, holding out her hands to me. "Why Vandarling! How splendid of you to feel it so

keenly. That's what we all want, of coursePeace and Beauty, and Comfort and Lovewith God! And

Progress too, remember; Growth, always and always. That is what our religion teaches us to want and to

"Well? And do not you in your country, with your beautiful religion of love and service have it here,

None of us were willing to tell the women of Herland about the evils of our own beloved land. It was all very

well for us to assume them to be necessary and essential, and to criticize strictly among ourselvestheir

alltooperfect civilization, but when it came to telling them about the failures and wastes of our own, we

Moreover, we sought to avoid too much discussion, and to press the subject of our approaching marriages.

"Of course they haven't any marriage ceremony or service, but we can make it a sort of Quaker wedding, and

It was. There was so little, after all, that we could do for them. Here we were, penniless guests and strangers,

with no chance even to use our strength and couragenothing to defend them from or protect them against.

They were very sweet about it, quite willing to do whatever we asked, to please us. As to the names, Alima,

Terry, always irritating her, said it was a sign of possession. "You are going to be Mrs. Nicholson," he said.

But Jeff took it up eagerly: "And a husband is the man who belongs to a woman. It is because we are

monogamous, you know. And marriage is the ceremony, civil and religious, that joins the two

together`until death do us part,'" he finished, looking at Celis with unutterable devotion.

"What makes us all feel foolish," I told the girls, "is that here we have nothing to give youexcept, of

"Why, yes," Jeff explained. "They have their maiden names their father's names, that is."

"Then she just loses hers and takes a new onehow unpleasant! We won't do that!" Alima said decidedly.

Terry was goodhumored about it. "I don't care what you do or don't do so long as we have that wedding

pretty soon," he said, reaching a strong brown hand after Alima's, quite as brown and nearly as strong.

"As to giving us thingsof course we can see that you'd like to, but we are glad you can't," Celis continued.

"You see, we love you just for yourselveswe wouldn't want you toto pay anything. Isn't it enough to

Enough or not, that was the way we were married. We had a great triple wedding in the biggest temple of all,

and it looked as if most of the nation was present. It was very solemn and very beautiful. Someone had

written a new song for the occasion, nobly beautiful, about the New Hope for their peoplethe New Tie

with other landsBrotherhood as well as Sisterhood, and, with evident awe, Fatherhood.

Terry was always restive under their talk of fatherhood. "Anybody'd think we were High Priests ofof

Philoprogenitiveness!" he protested. "These women think of NOTHING but children, seems to me! We'll

He was so certain of what he was going to teach, and Alima so uncertain in her moods of reception, that Jeff

and I feared the worst. We tried to caution himmuch good that did. The big handsome fellow drew himself

"There are three separate marriages," he said. "I won't interfere with yoursnor you with mine."

So the great day came, and the countless crowds of women, and we three bridegrooms without any

supporting "best men," or any other men to back us up, felt strangely small as we came forward.

Somel and Zava and Moadine were on hand; we were thankful to have them, toothey seemed almost like

There was a splendid procession, wreathing dances, the new anthem I spoke of, and the whole great place

pulsed with feeling the deep awe, the sweet hope, the wondering expectation of a new miracle.

"There has been nothing like this in the country since our Motherhood began!" Somel said softly to me, while

we watched the symbolic marches. "You see, it is the dawn of a new era. You don't know how much you

mean to us. It is not only Fatherhood that marvelous dual parentage to which we are strangersthe

miracle of union in lifegivingbut it is Brotherhood. You are the rest of the world. You join us to our

kindto all the strange lands and peoples we have never seen. We hope to know them to love and help

Thousands of voices rose in the soaring climax of that great Hymn of The Coming Life. By the great Altar of

Motherhood, with its crown of fruit and flowers, stood a new one, crowned as well. Before the Great Over

Mother of the Land and her ring of High Temple Counsellors, before that vast multitude of calm faced

mothers and holyeyed maidens, came forward our own three chosen ones, and we, three men alone in all

We say, "Marriage is a lottery"; also "Marriages are made in Heaven"but this is not so widely accepted as

We have a wellfounded theory that it is best to marry "in one's class," and certain wellgrounded suspicions

of international marriages, which seem to persist in the interests of social progress, rather than in those of the

But no combination of alien races, of color, of caste, or creed, was ever so basically difficult to establish as

It is all very well to say that we should have been frank about it beforehand. We had been frank. We had

discussedat least Ellador and I hadthe conditions of The Great Adventure, and thought the path was

clear before us. But there are some things one takes for granted, supposes are mutually understood, and to

The differences in the education of the average man and woman are great enough, but the trouble they make

is not mostly for the man; he generally carries out his own views of the case. The woman may have imagined

the conditions of married life to be different; but what she imagined, was ignorant of, or might have

I can see clearly and speak calmly about this now, writing after a lapse of years, years full of growth and

education, but at the time it was rather hard sledding for all of usespecially for Terry. Poor Terry! You see,

in any other imaginable marriage among the peoples of the earth, whether the woman were black, red,

yellow, brown, or white; whether she were ignorant or educated, submissive or rebellious, she would have

behind her the marriage tradition of our general history. This tradition relates the woman to the man. He goes

on with his business, and she adapts herself to him and to it. Even in citizenship, by some strange

hocuspocus, that fact of birth and geography was waved aside, and the woman automatically acquired the

Wellhere were we, three aliens in this land of women. It was small in area, and the external differences

were not so great as to astound us. We did not yet appreciate the differences between the racemind of this

In the first place, they were a "pure stock" of two thousand uninterrupted years. Where we have some long

connected lines of thought and feeling, together with a wide range of differences, often irreconcilable, these

people were smoothly and firmly agreed on most of the basic principles of their life; and not only agreed in

principle, but accustomed for these sixtyodd generations to act on those principles.

This is one thing which we did not understandhad made no allowance for. When in our premarital

discussions one of those dear girls had said: "We understand it thus and thus," or "We hold such and such to

be true," we men, in our own deepseated convictions of the power of love, and our easy views about beliefs

and principles, fondly imagined that we could convince them otherwise. What we imagined, before marriage,

did not matter any more than what an average innocent young girl imagines. We found the facts to be

It was not that they did not love us; they did, deeply and warmly. But there are you againwhat they meant

Perhaps it seems rather coldblooded to say "we" and "they," as if we were not separate couples, with our

separate joys and sorrows, but our positions as aliens drove us together constantly. The whole strange

experience had made our friendship more close and intimate than it would ever have become in a free and

easy lifetime among our own people. Also, as men, with our masculine tradition of far more than two

thousand years, we were a unit, small but firm, against this far larger unit of feminine tradition.

I think I can make clear the points of difference without a too painful explicitness. The more external

disagreement was in the matter of "the home," and the housekeeping duties and pleasures we, by instinct and

I will give two illustrations, one away up, and the other away down, to show how completely disappointed

For the lower one, try to imagine a male ant, coming from some state of existence where ants live in pairs,

endeavoring to set up housekeeping with a female ant from a highly developed anthill. This female ant might

regard him with intense personal affection, but her ideas of parentage and economic management would be

on a very different scale from his. Now, of course, if she was a stray female in a country of pairing ants, he

For the higher one, try to imagine a devoted and impassioned man trying to set up housekeeping with a lady

angel, a real wingsandharpandhalo angel, accustomed to fulfilling divine missions all over interstellar

space. This angel might love the man with an affection quite beyond his power of return or even of

appreciation, but her ideas of service and duty would be on a very different scale from his. Of course, if she

was a stray angel in a country of men, he might have had his way with her; but if he was a stray man among

Terry, at his worst, in a black fury for which, as a man, I must have some sympathy, preferred the ant simile.

Jeffwell, Jeff always had a streak that was too good for this world! He's the kind that would have made a

saintly priest in parentagearlier times. He accepted the angel theory, swallowed it whole, tried to force it on

uswith varying effect. He so worshipped Celis, and not only Celis, but what she represented; he had

become so deeply convinced of the almost supernatural advantages of this country and people, that he took

Don't misunderstand me for a moment. Dear old Jeff was no milksop or mollycoddle either. He was a

strong, brave, efficient man, and an excellent fighter when fighting was necessary. But there was always this

angel streak in him. It was rather a wonder, Terry being so different, that he really loved Jeff as he did; but it

As for me, I stood between. I was no such gay Lothario as Terry, and no such Galahad as Jeff. But for all my

limitations I think I had the habit of using my brains in regard to behavior rather more frequently than either

The big point at issue between us and our wives was, as may easily be imagined, in the very nature of the

"Wives! Don't talk to me about wives!" stormed Terry. "They don't know what the word means."

Which is exactly the factthey didn't. How could they? Back in their prehistoric records of polygamy and

slavery there were no ideals of wifehood as we know it, and since then no possibility of forming such.

"The only thing they can think of about a man is FATHERHOOD!" said Terry in high scorn.

This also was correct. They had their long, wide, deep, rich experience of Motherhood, and their only

Aside from that, of course, was the whole range of personal love, love which as Jeff earnestly phrased it

"passeth the love of women!" It did, too. I can give no ideaeither now, after long and happy experience of

it, or as it seemed then, in the first measureless wonderof the beauty and power of the love they gave us.

Even Alimawho had a more stormy temperament than either of the others, and who, heaven knows, had far

more provocation even Alima was patience and tenderness and wisdom personified to the man she loved,

These, as Terry put it, "alleged or socalled wives" of ours, went right on with their profession as foresters.

We, having no special learnings, had long since qualified as assistants. We had to do something, if only to

This kept us out of doors with those dear girls, and more or less togethertoo much together sometimes.

These people had, it now became clear to us, the highest, keenest, most delicate sense of personal privacy, but

not the faintest idea of that SOLITUDE A DEUX we are so fond of. They had, every one of them, the "two

rooms and a bath" theory realized. From earliest childhood each had a separate bedroom with toilet

conveniences, and one of the marks of coming of age was the addition of an outer room in which to receive

Long since we had been given our own two rooms apiece, and as being of a different sex and race, these were

in a separate house. It seemed to be recognized that we should breathe easier if able to free our minds in real

For food we either went to any convenient eatinghouse, ordered a meal brought in, or took it with us to the

woods, always and equally good. All this we had become used to and enjoyedin our courting days.

After marriage there arose in us a somewhat unexpected urge of feeling that called for a separate house; but

"We ARE alone, dear," Ellador explained to me with gentle patience. "We are alone in these great forests; we

may go and eat in any little summerhousejust we two, or have a separate table anywhereor even have a

This was all very true. We had our pleasant mutual solitude about our work, and our pleasant evening talks in

their apartments or ours; we had, as it were, all the pleasures of courtship carried right on; but we had no

"Might as well not be married at all," growled Terry. "They only got up that ceremony to please usplease

I tried my best to get Ellador's point of view, and naturally I tried to give her mine. Of course, what we, as

men, wanted to make them see was that there were other, and as we proudly said "higher," uses in this

relation than what Terry called "mere parentage." In the highest terms I knew I tried to explain this to Ellador.

"Anything higher than for mutual love to hope to give life, as we did?" she said. "How is it higher?"

"It develops love," I explained. "All the power of beautiful permanent mated love comes through this higher

"Are you sure?" she asked gently. "How do you know that it was so developed? There are some birds who

love each other so that they mope and pine if separated, and never pair again if one dies, but they never mate

except in the mating season. Among your people do you find high and lasting affection appearing in

Of course I knew about those monogamous birds and beasts too, that mate for life and show every sign of

mutual affection, without ever having stretched the sex relationship beyond its original range. But what of it?

"Those are lower forms of life!" I protested. "They have no capacity for faithful and affectionate, and

apparently happy but oh, my dear! my dear!what can they know of such a love as draws us together?

Why, to touch youto be near youto come closer and closerto lose myself in yousurely you feel it

Her eyes were on mine, tender radiant, but steady and strong. There was something so powerful, so large and

changeless, in those eyes that I could not sweep her off her feet by my own emotion as I had unconsciously

It made me feel as, one might imagine, a man might feel who loved a goddessnot a Venus, though! She did

not resent my attitude, did not repel it, did not in the least fear it, evidently. There was not a shade of that

"You see, dearest," she said, "you have to be patient with us. We are not like the women of your country. We

"We" and "we" and "we"it was so hard to get her to be personal. And, as I thought that, I suddenly

Then I did my earnest best to picture to her the sweet intense joy of married lovers, and the result in higher

"Do you mean," she asked quite calmly, as if I was not holding her cool firm hands in my hot and rather

quivering ones, "that with you, when people marry, they go right on doing this in season and out of season,

"They do," I said, with some bitterness. "They are not mere parents. They are men and women, and they love

"There is something very beautiful in the idea," she admitted, still as if she were discussing life on Mars.

"This climactic expression, which, in all the other lifeforms, has but the one purpose, has with you become

specialized to higher, purer, nobler uses. It has I judge from what you tell methe most ennobling effect

on character. People marry, not only for parentage, but for this exquisite interchange and, as a result, you

have a world full of continuous lovers, ardent, happy, mutually devoted, always living on that high tide of

supreme emotion which we had supposed to belong only to one season and one use. And you say it has other

results, stimulating all high creative work. That must mean floods, oceans of such work, blossoming from this

She slipped one hand free, and was stroking my hair with it in a gentle motherly way. I bowed my hot head

on her shoulder and felt a dim sense of peace, a restfulness which was very pleasant.

"You must take me there someday, darling," she was saying. "It is not only that I love you so much, I want to

see your country your peopleyour mother" she paused reverently. "Oh, how I shall love your

I had not been in love many timesmy experience did not compare with Terry's. But such as I had was so

different from this that I was perplexed, and full of mixed feelings: partly a growing sense of common ground

between us, a pleasant rested calm feeling, which I had imagined could only be attained in one way; and

partly a bewildered resentment because what I found was not what I had looked for.

It was their confounded psychology! Here they were with this profound highly developed system of

education so bred into them that even if they were not teachers by profession they all had a general

And no child, stormily demanding a cookie "between meals," was ever more subtly diverted into an interest

in housebuilding than was I when I found an apparently imperative demand had disappeared without my

And all the time those tender mother eyes, those keen scientific eyes, noting every condition and

circumstance, and learning how to "take time by the forelock" and avoid discussion before occasion arose.

I was amazed at the results. I found that much, very much, of what I had honestly supposed to be a

physiological necessity was a psychological necessityor so believed. I found, after my ideas of what was

essential had changed, that my feelings changed also. And more than all, I found thisa factor of enormous

The thing that Terry had so complained of when we first camethat they weren't "feminine," they lacked

"charm," now became a great comfort. Their vigorous beauty was an aesthetic pleasure, not an irritant. Their

Even with my own Ellador, my wife, who had for a time unveiled a woman's heart and faced the strange new

hope and joy of dual parentage, she afterward withdrew again into the same good comrade she had been at

first. They were women, PLUS, and so much plus that when they did not choose to let the womanness appear,

I don't say it was easy for me; it wasn't. But when I made appeal to her sympathies I came up against another

immovable wall. She was sorry, honestly sorry, for my distresses, and made all manner of thoughtful

suggestions, often quite useful, as well as the wise foresight I have mentioned above, which often saved all

"If I thought it was really right and necessary, I could perhaps bring myself to it, for your sake, dear; but I do

not want tonot at all. You would not have a mere submission, would you? That is not the kind of high

romantic love you spoke of, surely? It is a pity, of course, that you should have to adjust your highly

Confound it! I hadn't married the nation, and I told her so. But she only smiled at her own limitations and

Confound it again! Here I'd have all my energies focused on one wish, and before I knew it she'd have them

dissipated in one direction or another, some subject of discussion that began just at the point I was talking

It must not be imagined that I was just repelled, ignored, left to cherish a grievance. Not at all. My happiness

was in the hands of a larger, sweeter womanhood than I had ever imagined. Before our marriage my own

ardor had perhaps blinded me to much of this. I was madly in love with not so much what was there as with

what I supposed to be there. Now I found an endlessly beautiful undiscovered country to explore, and in it the

sweetest wisdom and understanding. It was as if I had come to some new place and people, with a desire to

eat at all hours, and no other interests in particular; and as if my hosts, instead of merely saying, "You shall

not eat," had presently aroused in me a lively desire for music, for pictures, for games, for exercise, for

playing in the water, for running some ingenious machine; and, in the multitude of my satisfactions, I forgot

One of the cleverest and most ingenious of these tricks was only clear to me many years after, when we were

so wholly at one on this subject that I could laugh at my own predicament then. It was this: You see, with us,

women are kept as different as possible and as feminine as possible. We men have our own world, with only

men in it; we get tired of our ultramaleness and turn gladly to the ultrafemaleness. Also, in keeping our

women as feminine as possible, we see to it that when we turn to them we find the thing we want always in

evidence. Well, the atmosphere of this place was anything but seductive. The very numbers of these human

women, always in human relation, made them anything but alluring. When, in spite of this, my hereditary

instincts and racetraditions made me long for the feminine response in Ellador, instead of withdrawing so

that I should want her more, she deliberately gave me a little too much of her society. always

Here was I, with an Ideal in mind, for which I hotly longed, and here was she, deliberately obtruding in the

foreground of my consciousness a Facta fact which I coolly enjoyed, but which actually interfered with

what I wanted. I see now clearly enough why a certain kind of man, like Sir Almroth Wright, resents the

professional development of women. It gets in the way of the sex ideal; it temporarily covers and excludes

Of course, in this case, I was so fond of Ellador my friend, of Ellador my professional companion, that I

necessarily enjoyed her society on any terms. Onlywhen I had had her with me in her defeminine

capacity for a sixteenhour day, I could go to my own room and sleep without dreaming about her.

The witch! If ever anybody worked to woo and win and hold a human soul, she did, great superwoman that

she was. I couldn't then half comprehend the skill of it, the wonder. But this I soon began to find: that under

all our cultivated attitude of mind toward women, there is an older, deeper, more "natural" feeling, the restful

So we grew together in friendship and happiness, Ellador and I, and so did Jeff and Celis.

When it comes to Terry's part of it, and Alima's, I'm sorry and I'm ashamed. Of course I blame her

somewhat. She wasn't as fine a psychologist as Ellador, and what's more, I think she had a fardescended

atavistic trace of more marked femaleness, never apparent till Terry called it out. But when all is said, it

doesn't excuse him. I hadn't realized to the full Terry's character I couldn't, being a man.

The position was the same as with us, of course, only with these distinctions. Alima, a shade more alluring,

and several shades less able as a practical psychologist; Terry, a hundredfold more demandingand

Things grew strained very soon between them. I fancy at first, when they were together, in her great hope of

parentage and his keen joy of conquestthat Terry was inconsiderate. In fact, I know it, from things he said.

"You needn't talk to me," he snapped at Jeff one day, just before our weddings. "There never was a woman

yet that did not enjoy being MASTERED. All your pretty talk doesn't amount to a hill o'beansI KNOW."

The things that I learned from the yellow and black, They 'ave helped me a 'eap with the white.

Poor old Terry! The things he'd learned didn't help him a heap in Herland. His idea was to takehe thought

that was the way. He thought, he honestly believed, that women like it. Not the women of Herland! Not

I can see her nowone day in the very first week of their marriage, setting forth to her day's work with long

determined strides and hardset mouth, and sticking close to Ellador. She didn't wish to be alone with

He made a tremendous row about their separate establishments, tried to keep her in his rooms, tried to stay in

He came away one night, and stamped up and down the moonlit road, swearing under his breath. I was taking

a walk that night too, but I wasn't in his state of mind. To hear him rage you'd not have believed that he loved

Alima at allyou'd have thought that she was some quarry he was pursuing, something to catch and

I think that, owing to all those differences I spoke of, they soon lost the common ground they had at first, and

were unable to meet sanely and dispassionately. I fancy toothis is pure conjecturethat he had succeeded

in driving Alima beyond her best judgment, her real conscience, and that after that her own sense of shame,

They quarreled, really quarreled, and after making it up once or twice, they seemed to come to a real

breakshe would not be alone with him at all. And perhaps she was a bit nervous, I don't know, but she got

Moadine to come and stay next door to her. Also, she had a sturdy assistant detailed to accompany her in her

Terry had his own ideas, as I've tried to show. I daresay he thought he had a right to do as he did. Perhaps he

even convinced himself that it would be better for her. Anyhow, he hid himself in her bedroom one night . . .

The women of Herland have no fear of men. Why should they have? They are not timid in any sense. They

are not weak; and they all have strong trained athletic bodies. Othello could not have extinguished Alima

Terry put in practice his pet conviction that a woman loves to be mastered, and by sheer brute force, in all the

It did not work. I got a pretty clear account of it later from Ellador, but what we heard at the time was the

noise of a tremendous struggle, and Alima calling to Moadine. Moadine was close by and came at once; one

Terry dashed about like a madman; he would cheerfully have killed themhe told me that, himselfbut he

couldn't. When he swung a chair over his head one sprang in the air and caught it, two threw themselves

bodily upon him and forced him to the floor; it was only the work of a few moments to have him tied hand

There was a trial before the local Over Mother, and this woman, who did not enjoy being mastered, stated her

In a court in our country he would have been held quite "within his rights," of course. But this was not our

country; it was theirs. They seemed to measure the enormity of the offense by its effect upon a possible

He did let himself go once, and explained in definite terms that they were incapable of understanding a man's

needs, a man's desires, a man's point of view. He called them neuters, epicenes, bloodless, sexless creatures.

He said they could of course kill him as so many insects couldbut that he despised them nonetheless.

And all those stern grave mothers did not seem to mind his despising them, not in the least.

It was a long trial, and many interesting points were brought out as to their views of our habits, and after a

while Terry had his sentence. He waited, grim and defiant. The sentence was: "You must go home!"

We had all meant to go home again. Indeed we had NOT meant not by any meansto stay as long as we

had. But when it came to being turned out, dismissed, sent away for bad conduct, we none of us really liked

Terry said he did. He professed great scorn of the penalty and the trial, as well as all the other characteristics

of "this miserable halfcountry." But he knew, and we knew, that in any "whole" country we should never

"If the people had come after us according to the directions we left, there'd have been quite a different story!"

said Terry. We found out later why no reserve party had arrived. All our careful directions had been

destroyed in a fire. We might have all died there and no one at home have ever known our whereabouts.

Terry was under guard now, all the time, known as unsafe, convicted of what was to them an unpardonable

He laughed at their chill horror. "Parcel of old maids!" he called them. "They're all old maidschildren or

When Terry said SEX, sex with a very large _S_, he meant the male sex, naturally; its special values, its

profound conviction of being "the life force," its cheerful ignoring of the true life process, and its

I had learned to see these things very differently since living with Ellador; and as for Jeff, he was so

thoroughly Herlandized that he wasn't fair to Terry, who fretted sharply in his new restraint.

Moadine, grave and strong, as sadly patient as a mother with a degenerate child, kept steady watch on him,

with enough other women close at hand to prevent an outbreak. He had no weapons, and well knew that all

We were allowed to visit him freely, but he had only his room, and a small highwalled garden to walk in,

Three of us were to go: Terry, because he must; I, because two were safer for our flyer, and the long boat trip

If Jeff had elected to return, Celis would have gone toothey were the most absorbed of lovers; but Jeff had

"Why should I want to go back to all our noise and dirt, our vice and crime, our disease and degeneracy?" he

demanded of me privately. We never spoke like that before the women. "I wouldn't take Celis there for

anything on earth!" he protested. "She'd die! She'd die of horror and shame to see our slums and hospitals.

How can you risk it with Ellador? You'd better break it to her gently before she really makes up her mind."

Jeff was right. I ought to have told her more fully than I did, of all the things we had to be ashamed of. But it

is very hard to bridge the gulf of as deep a difference as existed between our life and theirs. I tried to.

"Look here, my dear," I said to her. "If you are really going to my country with me, you've got to be prepared

for a good many shocks. It's not as beautiful as thisthe cities, I mean, the civilized partsof course the

"I shall enjoy it all," she said, her eyes starry with hope. "I understand it's not like ours. I can see how

monotonous our quiet life must seem to you, how much more stirring yours must be. It must be like the

biological change you told me about when the second sex was introduceda far greater movement, constant

I had told her of the later biological theories of sex, and she was deeply convinced of the superior advantages

"We have done what we could alone; perhaps we have some things better in a quiet way, but you have the

whole worldall the people of the different nationsall the long rich history behind youall the

What could I do? I told her in so many words that we had our unsolved problems, that we had dishonesty and

corruption, vice and crime, disease and insanity, prisons and hospitals; and it made no more impression on

her than it would to tell a South Sea Islander about the temperature of the Arctic Circle. She could

intellectually see that it was bad to have those things; but she could not FEEL it.

We had quite easily come to accept the Herland life as normal, because it was normalnone of us make any

outcry over mere health and peace and happy industry. And the abnormal, to which we are all so sadly well

The two things she cared most to hear about, and wanted most to see, were these: the beautiful relation of

marriage and the lovely women who were mothers and nothing else; beyond these her keen, active mind

"I'm almost as anxious to go as you are yourself," she insisted, "and you must be desperately homesick."

I assured her that no one could be homesick in such a paradise as theirs, but she would have none of it.

"Oh, yesI know. It's like those little tropical islands you've told me about, shining like jewels in the big

blue seaI can't wait to see the sea! The little island may be as perfect as a garden, but you always want to

Ellador was more than willing. But the nearer it came to our really going, and to my having to take her back

to our "civilization," after the clean peace and beauty of theirs, the more I began to dread it, and the more I

Of course I had been homesick at first, while we were prisoners, before I had Ellador. And of course I had, at

first, rather idealized my country and its ways, in describing it. Also, I had always accepted certain evils as

integral parts of our civilization and never dwelt on them at all. Even when I tried to tell her the worst, I never

remembered some thingswhich, when she came to see them, impressed her at once, as they had never

impressed me. Now, in my efforts at explanation, I began to see both ways more keenly than I had before; to

In missing men we three visitors had naturally missed the larger part of life, and had unconsciously assumed

that they must miss it too. It took me a long time to realizeTerry never did realizehow little it meant to

them. When we say MEN, MAN, MANLY, MANHOOD, and all the other masculine derivatives, we have in

the background of our minds a huge vague crowded picture of the world and all its activities. To grow up and

"be a man," to "act like a man"the meaning and connotation is wide indeed. That vast background is full of

marching columns of men, of changing lines of men, of long processions of men; of men steering their ships

into new seas, exploring unknown mountains, breaking horses, herding cattle, ploughing and sowing and

reaping, toiling at the forge and furnace, digging in the mine, building roads and bridges and high cathedrals,

managing great businesses, teaching in all the colleges, preaching in all the churches; of men everywhere,

But to these women, in the unbroken sweep of this two thousandyearold feminine civilization, the word

WOMAN called up all that big background, so far as they had gone in social development; and the word

Of course we could TELL them that in our world men did everything; but that did not alter the background of

their minds. That man, "the male," did all these things was to them a statement, making no more change in

the point of view than was made in ours when we first faced the astounding factto usthat in Herland

We had been living there more than a year. We had learned their limited history, with its straight, smooth,

upreaching lines, reaching higher and going faster up to the smooth comfort of their present life. We had

learned a little of their psychology, a much wider field than the history, but here we could not follow so

readily. We were now well used to seeing women not as females but as people; people of all sorts, doing

This outbreak of Terry's, and the strong reaction against it, gave us a new light on their genuine femininity.

This was given me with great clearness by both Ellador and Somel. The feeling was the samesick

They had no faintest approach to such a thing in their minds, knowing nothing of the custom of marital

indulgence among us. To them the one high purpose of motherhood had been for so long the governing law

of life, and the contribution of the father, though known to them, so distinctly another method to the same

end, that they could not, with all their effort, get the point of view of the male creature whose desires quite

ignore parentage and seek only for what we euphoniously term "the joys of love."

When I tried to tell Ellador that women too felt so, with us, she drew away from me, and tried hard to grasp

"You meanthat with youlove between man and woman expresses itself in that waywithout regard to

"Yes, surely. It is love we think ofthe deep sweet love between two. Of course we want children, and

"Butbutit seems so against nature!" she said. "None of the creatures we know do that. Do other

"We are not animals!" I replied with some sharpness. "At least we are something moresomething higher.

This is a far nobler and more beautiful relation, as I have explained before. Your view seems to us

rathershall I say, practical? Prosaic? Merely a means to an end! With usoh, my dear girlcannot you

see? Cannot you feel? It is the last, sweetest, highest consummation of mutual love."

She was impressed visibly. She trembled in my arms, as I held her close, kissing her hungrily. But there rose

in her eyes that look I knew so well, that remote clear look as if she had gone far away even though I held her

beautiful body so close, and was now on some snowy mountain regarding me from a distance.

"I feel it quite clearly," she said to me. "It gives me a deep sympathy with what you feel, no doubt more

strongly still. But what I feel, even what you feel, dearest, does not convince me that it is right. Until I am

Ellador, at times like this, always reminded me of Epictetus. "I will put you in prison!" said his master. "My

body, you mean," replied Epictetus calmly. "I will cut your head off," said his master. "Have I said that my

What is this miracle by which a woman, even in your arms, may withdraw herself, utterly disappear till what

"Be patient with me, dear," she urged sweetly. "I know it is hard for you. And I begin to seea littlehow

"Oh, come, that's a pretty hard word for it. After all, Alima was his wife, you know," I urged, feeling at the

moment a sudden burst of sympathy for poor Terry. For a man of his temperament and habitsit must

But Ellador, for all her wide intellectual grasp, and the broad sympathy in which their religion trained them,

It was the more difficult to explain to her, because we three, in our constant talks and lectures about the rest

of the world, had naturally avoided the seamy side; not so much from a desire to deceive, but from wishing to

put the best foot foremost for our civilization, in the face of the beauty and comfort of theirs. Also, we really

thought some things were right, or at least unavoidable, which we could readily see would be repugnant to

them, and therefore did not discuss. Again there was much of our world's life which we, being used to it, had

not noticed as anything worth describing. And still further, there was about these women a colossal innocence

I am thus explicit about it because it shows how unexpectedly strong was the impression made upon Ellador

She urged me to be patient, and I was patient. You see, I loved her so much that even the restrictions she so

firmly established left me much happiness. We were lovers, and there is surely delight enough in that.

Do not imagine that these young women utterly refused "the Great New Hope," as they called it, that of dual

parentage. For that they had agreed to marry us, though the marrying part of it was a concession to our

prejudices rather than theirs. To them the process was the holy thingand they meant to keep it holy.

But so far only Celis, her blue eyes swimming in happy tears, her heart lifted with that tide of

racemotherhood which was their supreme passion, could with ineffable joy and pride announce that she was

to be a mother. "The New Motherhood" they called it, and the whole country knew. There was no pleasure,

no service, no honor in all the land that Celis might not have had. Almost like the breathless reverence with

which, two thousand years ago, that dwindling band of women had watched the miracle of virgin birth, was

the deep awe and warm expectancy with which they greeted this new miracle of union.

All mothers in that land were holy. To them, for long ages, the approach to motherhood has been by the most

intense and exquisite love and longing, by the Supreme Desire, the overmastering demand for a child. Every

thought they held in connection with the processes of maternity was open to the day, simple yet sacred. Every

woman of them placed motherhood not only higher than other duties, but so far higher that there were no

other duties, one might almost say. All their wide mutual love, all the subtle interplay of mutual friendship

and service, the urge of progressive thought and invention, the deepest religious emotion, every feeling and

every act was related to this great central Power, to the River of Life pouring through them, which made them

Of all this I learned more and morefrom their books, from talk, especially from Ellador. She was at first,

for a brief moment, envious of her frienda thought she put away from her at once and forever.

"It is better," she said to me. "It is much better that it has not come to me yetto us, that is. For if I am to go

with you to your country, we may have `adventures by sea and land,' as you say [and as in truth we did], and

it might not be at all safe for a baby. So we won't try again, dear, till it is safewill we?"

"Unless," she went on, "if one is coming, you will leave me behind. You can come back, you knowand I

Then that deep ancient chill of male jealousy of even his own progeny touched my heart.

"I'd rather have you, Ellador, than all the children in the world. I'd rather have you with meon your own

This was a very stupid saying. Of course I would! For if she wasn't there I should want all of her and have

none of her. But if she went along as a sort of sublimated sisteronly much closer and warmer than that,

reallywhy I should have all of her but that one thing. And I was beginning to find that Ellador's friendship,

Ellador's comradeship, Ellador's sisterly affection, Ellador's perfectly sincere lovenone the less deep that

she held it back on a definite line of reservewere enough to live on very happily.

I find it quite beyond me to describe what this woman was to me. We talk fine things about women, but in

our hearts we know that they are very limited beingsmost of them. We honor them for their functional

powers, even while we dishonor them by our use of it; we honor them for their carefully enforced virtue, even

while we show by our own conduct how little we think of that virtue; we value them, sincerely, for the

perverted maternal activities which make our wives the most comfortable of servants, bound to us for life

with the wages wholly at our own decision, their whole business, outside of the temporary duties of such

motherhood as they may achieve, to meet our needs in every way. Oh, we value them, all right, "in their

place," which place is the home, where they perform that mixture of duties so ably described by Mrs.

Josephine Dodge Daskam Bacon, in which the services of "a mistress" are carefully specified. She is a very

clear writer, Mrs. J. D. D. Bacon, and understands her subjectfrom her own point of view. Butthat

combination of industries, while convenient, and in a way economical, does not arouse the kind of emotion

commanded by the women of Herland. These were women one had to love "up," very high up, instead of

down. They were not pets. They were not servants. They were not timid, inexperienced, weak.

After I got over the jar to my pride (which Jeff, I truly think, never felthe was a born worshipper, and

which Terry never got overhe was quite clear in his ideas of "the position of women"), I found that loving

"up" was a very good sensation after all. It gave me a queer feeling, way down deep, as of the stirring of

some ancient dim prehistoric consciousness, a feeling that they were right somehowthat this was the way

to feel. It was likecoming home to mother. I don't mean the underflannels anddoughnuts mother, the

fussy person that waits on you and spoils you and doesn't really know you. I mean the feeling that a very little

child would have, who had been lostfor ever so long. It was a sense of getting home; of being clean and

rested; of safety and yet freedom; of love that was always there, warm like sunshine in May, not hot like a

I looked at Ellador as if I hadn't seen her before. "If you won't go," I said, "I'll get Terry to the coast and come

back alone. You can let me down a rope. And if you will gowhy you blessed wonderwomanI would

rather live with you all my lifelike thisthan to have any other woman I ever saw, or any number of

She was keen for coming. So the plans went on. She'd have liked to wait for that Marvel of Celis's, but Terry

had no such desire. He was crazy to be out of it all. It made him sick, he said, SICK; this everlasting

mothermothermothering. I don't think Terry had what the phrenologists call "the lump of

"Morbid onesided cripples," he called them, even when from his window he could see their splendid vigor

and beauty; even while Moadine, as patient and friendly as if she had never helped Alima to hold and bind

him, sat there in the room, the picture of wisdom and serene strength. "Sexless, epicene, undeveloped

Wellit was hard. He was madly in love with Alima, really; more so than he had ever been before, and their

tempestuous courtship, quarrels, and reconciliations had fanned the flame. And then when he sought by that

supreme conquest whichseems so natural a thing to that type of man, to force her to love him as her

masterto have the sturdy athletic furious woman rise up and master himshe and her friendsit was no

Come to think of it, I do not recall a similar case in all history or fiction. Women have killed themselves

rather than submit to outrage; they have killed the outrager; they have escaped; or they have

submittedsometimes seeming to get on very well with the victor afterward. There was that adventure of

"false Sextus," for instance, who "found Lucrese combing the fleece, under the midnight lamp." He

threatened, as I remember, that if she did not submit he would slay her, slay a slave and place him beside her

and say he found him there. A poor device, it always seemed to me. If Mr. Lucretius had asked him how he

came to be in his wife's bedroom overlooking her morals, what could he have said? But the point is Lucrese

"She kicked me," confided the embittered prisonerhe had to talk to someone. "I was doubled up with the

pain, of course, and she jumped on me and yelled for this old harpy [Moadine couldn't hear him] and they had

me trussed up in no time. I believe Alima could have done it alone," he added with reluctant admiration.

"She's as strong as a horse. And of course a man's helpless when you hit him like that. No woman with a

I had to grin at that, and even Terry did, sourly. He wasn't given to reasoning, but it did strike him that an

"I'd give a year of my life to have her alone again," he said slowly, his hands clenched till the knuckles were

But he never did. She left our end of the country entirely, went up into the firforest on the highest slopes,

and stayed there. Before we left he quite desperately longed to see her, but she would not come and he could

not go. They watched him like lynxes. (Do lynxes watch any better than mousing cats, I wonder!)

Wellwe had to get the flyer in order, and be sure there was enough fuel left, though Terry said we could

glide all right, down to that lake, once we got started. We'd have gone gladly in a week's time, of course, but

there was a great todo all over the country about Ellador's leaving them. She had interviews with some of

the leading ethicistswise women with still eyes, and with the best of the teachers. There was a stir, a thrill,

Our teaching about the rest of the world has given them all a sense of isolation, of remoteness, of being a

little outlying sample of a country, overlooked and forgotten among the family of nations. We had called it

They were deeply aroused on the subject of evolution; indeed, the whole field of natural science drew them

irresistibly. Any number of them would have risked everything to go to the strange unknown lands and study;

We planned greatly about coming back, about establishing a connecting route by water; about penetrating

those vast forests and civilizingor exterminatingthe dangerous savages. That is, we men talked of that

But meanwhile there was high council being held among the wisest of them all. The students and thinkers

who had been gathering facts from us all this time, collating and relating them, and making inferences, laid

Little had we thought that our careful efforts at concealment had been so easily seen through, with never a

word to show us that they saw. They had followed up words of ours on the science of optics, asked innocent

questions about glasses and the like, and were aware of the defective eyesight so common among us.

With the lightest touch, different women asking different questions at different times, and putting all our

answers together like a picture puzzle, they had figured out a sort of skeleton chart as to the prevalence of

disease among us. Even more subtly with no show of horror or condemnation, they had gathered

somethingfar from the truth, but something pretty clearabout poverty, vice, and crime. They even had a

goodly number of our dangers all itemized, from asking us about insurance and innocent things like that.

They were well posted as to the different races, beginning with their poisonarrow natives down below and

widening out to the broad racial divisions we had told them about. Never a shocked expression of the face or

exclamation of revolt had warned us; they had been extracting the evidence without our knowing it all this

time, and now were studying with the most devout earnestness the matter they had prepared.

The result was rather distressing to us. They first explained the matter fully to Ellador, as she was the one

who purposed visiting the Rest of the World. To Celis they said nothing. She must not be in any way

Finally Jeff and I were called in. Somel and Zava were there, and Ellador, with many others that we knew.

They had a great globe, quite fairly mapped out from the small section maps in that compendium of ours.

They had the different peoples of the earth roughly outlined, and their status in civilization indicated. They

had charts and figures and estimates, based on the facts in that traitorous little book and what they had

Somel explained: "We find that in all your historic period, so much longer than ours, that with all the

interplay of services, the exchange of inventions and discoveries, and the wonderful progress we so admire,

that in this widespread Other World of yours, there is still much disease, often contagious."

"Also there is still, in varying degree, ignorance, with prejudice and unbridled emotion."

"We find also that in spite of the advance of democracy and the increase of wealth, that there is still unrest

Yes, yes, we admitted it all. We were used to these things and saw no reason for so much seriousness.

"All things considered," they said, and they did not say a hundredth part of the things they were considering,

"we are unwilling to expose our country to free communication with the rest of the worldas yet. If Ellador

"So we have this to ask of you gentlemen [they knew that word was held a title of honor with us], that you

promise not in any way to betray the location of this country until permission after Ellador's return."

Jeff was perfectly satisfied. He thought they were quite right. He always did. I never saw an alien become

I studied it awhile, thinking of the time they'd have if some of our contagions got loose there, and concluded

Terry was the obstacle. "Indeed I won't!" he protested. "The first thing I'll do is to get an expedition fixed up