Many movements, to which she found it
impossible to refuse her name, had in themselves but small attraction;
and it was a real comfort to feel something approaching enthusiasm
for one branch of her public work. Not that there was any academic
consistency about her in the matter, for in private life amongst her
friends she was not narrowly dogmatic on the duty of wives to multiply
exceedingly. She thought imperially on the subject, without bigotry.
Large, healthy families, in all cases save individual ones! The prime
idea at the back of her mind was--National Expansion! Her motto, and
she intended if possible to make it the motto of the League, was:
'De l'audace, et encore de l'audace!' It was a question of the full
realization of the nation. She had a true, and in a sense touching
belief in 'the flag,' apart from what it might cover. It was her
idealism. "You may talk," she would say, "as much as you like about
directing national life in accordance with social justice! What does the
nation care about social justice? The thing is much bigger than that.
It's a matter of sentiment. We must expand!"
On the way to the meeting, occupied with her speech, she made no attempt
to draw Barbara into conversation. That must wait. The child, though
languid, and pale, was looking so beautiful that it was a pleasure to
have her support in such a movement.
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