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highest civilization is that in which the largest number sense and are so placed as to realize the dignity and the beauty of the common experiences and obligations.

The courtesy of the publishers of the American Magazine in permitting the use here of those chapters which have appeared in that periodical is hereby acknowledged.

THE BUSINESS OF BEING

A WOMAN

CHAPTER I

THE UNEASY WOMAN

[TH THE most conspicuous occupation of the American woman of to-day, dressing herself aside, is self-discussion. It is a disquieting phenomenon. Chronic self-discussion argues chronic ferment of ve mind, and ferment of mind is a serious (alle handicap to both happiness and efficiency. Nor is self-discussion the only exhibit of restlessness the American woman gives. To an unaccustomed observer she seems always to be running about on the face of things with no other purpose

than to put in her time. He points to the triviality of the things in which she can immerse herself - her fantastic and ever-changing raiment, the welter of lectures and other culture schemes which she supports, the eagerness with which she transports herself to the ends of the earth

as marks of a spirit not at home with itself, and certainly not convinced that it is going in any particular direction or that it is committed to any particular worth-while task.

Perhaps the most disturbing side of the phenomenon is that it is coincident with the emancipation of woman. At a time when she is freer than at any other period of the world's history - save perhaps at one period in ancient Egypt she is apparently more uneasy.

Those who do not like the exhibit are inclined to treat her as if she were a new historical type. The reassuring fact is,

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