to leslie

in writing at last this book on motherhood, which for so many years has had a place in my thoughts, one truth has forced itself upon me; the predominant position of woman in her natural relation to the race. the mother is the main stream of the racial life. all the hope of the future rests upon this faith in motherhood.

to whom, then, but to you, my son, can i dedicate my book? you came to me when i was still seeking out a way in the futility of individual ends; you reconciled my warring motives and desires; you brought me a new guiding principle. you taught me that the individual life is but as a bubble or cluster of foam on the great tide of humanity. i knew that the redemption of woman rests in the growing knowledge and consciousness of her responsibility to the race.