Why, then, we say to those men, "You are indeed now put to the test.
The men of Belgium, the men of France, the men of Serbia, however
willing they were to protect women from the things that are most
horrible--and more horrible to women than death itself--have not been
able to do it."
It is only by an accident, or a series of accidents, for which no man
here has the right to take credit, that British women on British soil
are not now enduring the horrors endured by the women of France, the
women of Belgium, and the women of Serbia. The least that men can do is
that every man of fighting age should prepare himself to redeem his word
to women, and to make ready to do his best, to save the mothers, the
wives, and the daughters of Great Britain from outrage too horrible even
to think of.
We have the right to say to the men, "Fight for your country, defend the
shores of this land of ours. Fight for your homes, for the women, and
for the children." We have the right if that was the only reason, but in
these days, when women are taking larger views of their duty to the
State, we go further than that; we claim the right to hold recruiting
meetings and ask men to fight for bigger reasons than are advanced
ordinarily.
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