THE ETHICS OF SEX 201 



And here we are reaching the secret of the 

 remoralisation of the sexes, of their highest 

 individual possibilities, and this for and by 

 lovers and celibates alike. Enough, however, 

 if for the present we keep to the children. 

 The boy's sword, the girl's doll ; here nature 

 gives the starting-points of the educator. 

 Encourage, boldly develop, the game of war, 

 let gun and trumpet have their little day, 

 better now in nursery than later on imperial 

 thrones. Drill and march, sham-fight and 

 snow-fight ; for it means discipline and valour ; 

 it means geography too, in which is all the 

 stuff of science; it means history, in which 

 is the stuff of literature. From holding a 

 mimic hill-fort as ancient Britons, or storming 

 it as Roman conquerors, and reading their 

 Caesar when tired of fighting, it is possible to 

 advance through history with vivid, albeit 

 simple, dramatisations. Fortification and 

 engineering come in, experiments in peaceful 

 handicraft and discipline in enduring hard- 

 ness all half in play and half in earnest at 

 once a culture of courage and a preparation 

 for life in the industrial world. Give them, 

 too, with all this, story and song and ballad, 

 give them individual banner and national 

 flag, for here is the simplest concrete symbol 

 of an ideal. These things done young enough, 

 from war-game to peace-game the transition 

 will be easy. 



But the girls meanwhile ? Where are they ? 

 Enjoying the fun, of course, first of all ; it is 

 no new physiology that laughter is trophic. 

 How their presence intensifies the fighting, 

 here rewards the victor, there consoles the 



