536 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ing tlie last ten years the attention of the humanitarian has been 

 frequently called to the injustice of our laws regulating the " age 

 of consent." In some States the age has been raised to sixteen or 

 eighteen years and penalties increased, but through •widespread 

 ignorance of the law it is often a dead letter in both small towns 

 and large cities. A law so constantly broken and with impunity 

 provides little protection for the young of both sexes, in whose in- 

 terest it is framed, and it is a dead letter because of the indifference 

 of the public. To spread abroad a knowledge of and help to en- 

 force these laws, which so intimately affect the purity of the home, 

 is worthy the consecrated effort of the noblest and most cultivated 

 women in our land. For this and other like ends the number of 

 protective agencies should be largely increased. In every town, or 

 at least in every county, such an association might be formed. 

 There are only required a few women with brave hearts and clear 

 lieads, willing to give one afternoon or evening a week, the free 

 services of one or more able lawyers (which will never be found 

 lacking), a small room for a meeting place, and the work can begin. 

 Let notice be given through the press or in the churches that a pro- 

 tective agency is formed and stands ready to offer sympathy and 

 advice to all women in need. Methods of work are very simple: 

 printed blanks are important to properly record the cases, and letter- 

 lieads which shall give names of committee and those of the attor- 

 neys; when a claim for wages is presented, a courteous letter stat- 

 ing the fact that the wage-earner has asked the assistance of the 

 protective agency, and requesting the defendant to answer person- 

 ally or by letter and to state his side of the case, will generally re- 

 ceive response; great care must be observed to be just to both par- 

 ties, and not to make hasty nor unwarrantable decisions. 



The laws affecting the rights and property of women of N^ew 

 York have been briefly compiled for the use of protective associa- 

 tions, and it is very easy to obtain in any State a copy of the laws 

 regulating domestic service for reference in making decisions. The 

 Legal Status of Women, compiled by Jessie J. Cassidy (a graduate 

 of Cornell), will be found useful. If in the beginning the work 

 of protection should be misunderstood and resented it matters 

 not; in time it will win the respect and co-operation of the best 

 elements in any community. What a moral force would an " end- 

 less chain" of such workers prove in the struggle for universal 

 brotherhood! To give courage to the most humble beginning we 

 have the word of our philosopher that " every reform was once a 

 private opinion." 



Domestic Training. — Scientific domestic training or household 

 science is becoming a subject of great interest to all who believe 



