ItwastheinauguralmeetingoftheSocietyforthePromotionoftheBirthRate,overwhichshehadpromisedtopreside。Theschemewasoneinwhichshehadbeenprominentfromthestart,appealingasitdidtoherlargeandfull—bloodednature。Manymovements,towhichshefounditimpossibletorefusehername,hadinthemselvesbutsmallattraction;anditwasarealcomforttofeelsomethingapproachingenthusiasmforonebranchofherpublicwork。Notthattherewasanyacademicconsistencyaboutherinthematter,forinprivatelifeamongstherfriendsshewasnotnarrowlydogmaticonthedutyofwivestomultiplyexceedingly。Shethoughtimperiallyonthesubject,withoutbigotry。Large,healthyfamilies,inallcasessaveindividualones！Theprimeideaatthebackofhermindwas——
NationalExpansion！Hermotto,andsheintendedifpossibletomakeitthemottooftheLeague,was:\'Del\'audace,etencoredel\'audace！\'Itwasaquestionofthefullrealizationofthenation。
Shehadatrue,andinasensetouchingbeliefin\'theflag,\'apartfromwhatitmightcover。Itwasheridealism。\"Youmaytalk,\"shewouldsay,\"asmuchasyoulikeaboutdirectingnationallifeinaccordancewithsocialjustice！Whatdoesthenationcareaboutsocialjustice？Thethingismuchbiggerthanthat。It\'samatterofsentiment。Wemustexpand！\"
Onthewaytothemeeting,occupiedwithherspeech,shemadenoattempttodrawBarbaraintoconversation。Thatmustwait。Thechild,thoughlanguid,andpale,waslookingsobeautifulthatitwasapleasuretohavehersupportinsuchamovement。
InalittledarkroombehindthehalltheCommitteewerealreadyassembled,andtheywentatonceontotheplatform。