Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has been preserved.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.For a complete list, please see the end of this document.
A RECORD OF SPANISH PAINTING
PICTURES IN THE TATE GALLERY
The Prado (Spanish Series)
El Greco (Spanish Series)
Velazquez (Spanish Series)
MOORISH CITIES IN SPAIN
THINGS SEEN IN SPAIN
SPAIN REVISITED: A Summer Holiday in Galicia
SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA (Mediæval Towns Series)
CATHEDRALS OF SOUTHERN AND EASTERN SPAIN
In writing at last this book on Woman, which for so many yearshas had a place in my thoughts, one truth has forced itself uponme: the predominant position of Woman in her natural relation tothe race. The mother is the main stream of the racial life. Allthe hope of the future rests upon this faith in motherhood.
To whom, then, but to you, my little son, can I dedicate mybook? You came to me when I was still seeking out a way in thefutility of Individual ends; you reconciled my warring motivesand desires; you brought me a new guiding principle. You taughtme that the Individual Life is but as a bubble or cluster offoam on the great tide of humanity. I knew that the redemptionof Woman rests in the growing knowledge and consciousness of herresponsibility to the race.
"The social revolution which is impending in Europe is chieflyconcerned with the future of the workers and the women. It isfor this that I hope and wait, and for this I will work with allmy powers."—Ibsen.
It is very difficult to write a preface to a work which is expresslyintended as a revelation of the faith of the writer. The successivestages of thought and emotion that have been passed through are stilltoo near, and one feels too deeply. I have made several futileattempts to concentrate into a short note the Truths about Woman thatI have tried to convey in my book. I find it impossible to do this.The explanation of one's own book would really require the writing ofanother book, as Mr. Bernard Shaw has proved to us in his delightfulprefaces. But to do this one must be freed altogether from the limitsof l