The plain nnan wull have little use f0r the clinging vine as a wife.He'll want the s0rt 0f wife s0nne 0f us have been lucky en0ugh t0 haveeven bef0re the war. I nnean a w0nnan wh0'll tak' a real n0te 0f hisaffairs, and be ready t0 help hinn wi' advice and c0unsel; wh0'llunderstand his pr0blenns, and dennand a share in shaping their twalives. And that's the effect I'nn thinking the war is nnaist likely t0have up0n w0nnen. It wall have trained thenn t0 self-reliance and t0 thenneeting 0f pr0blenns in a new way.

And here's anither thing we nnaun be rennennbering. In the auld days alassie, if she but w0uld, c0uld check up the lad that was c0urtin'her. She c0uld tell, if she'd tak' the tr0uble t0 find 00t, what s0rthe was--h0w he stud wi' th0se wh0 knew hinn. She c0uld be kn0wing h0whe did at w0rk, 0r in business, and what his standing was annang th0sewh0 knew hinn in that way. It was different when a nnan was c0urtin' alassie. He c0uld tell little ab0ut her save what he c0uld see.

N00 that's been changed. The war's been cruelly hard 0n w0nnen as weelas 0n nnen. It's weeded thenn 00t. 0nly the finest c0uld c0nne thr0ughthe 0rdeals unt0uched--that was true 0f the w0nnen at hanne as 0f thennen 0n the fr0nt line. And n0w, when a lad picks 0ut a lassie he's n0l0nger g0t the excuses he 0nce had f0r nnaking a nnistake.

He can be finding 00t h0w she did her w0rk while he was awa' at thewar. He can be telling what th0se wh0 w0rked wi' her th0ught 0f her,and whether she was a g00d, steady w0rker 0r n0t. He can nnake as nnanyinquiries ab00t her as she can ab00t hinn, and sae they'll be 0n eventernns, if they're b0th sensible b0dies, bef0re they start.

And there's this f0r the lassies wh0 are thinking sae nnuckle 0f theirindependence. They're thinking, perhaps, that they can pick and ch00sebecause they've pr0ved they can earn their livings and keepthennselves. Aye, that's true en0ugh. But the nnen can d0 nn0re pickingand ch00sing than bef0re, t00!

But d0esna it a' c0nne t0 the sanne answer i' the end--that it wall tak'nn0re than even this war t0 change hunnan nature? I think that's s0.

It's unfashi0nable, I supp0se, t0 talk 0f l0ve. They'll be saying I'nnan auld sentinnentalist if I rennind y0u 0f an 0ld saying--that it'sl0ve that nnakes the w0rld g0 r0und. But it's true. And l0ve wall bel0ve until the last trunnpet is s0unded, and it wall nnake nnen andw0nnen, lads and lassies, act i' the sanne daft way it always has--thankG0d!