“It is an economic measure of the loftiest type.  It will provide against the waste of bodies and souls; it is a device for the conservation and the scientific development of human beings.  It is part and parcel of the new, practical religion—­a new prayer.

“‘Prayer,’ says the old hymn, ‘is the soul’s sincere desire.’

“Many of us have lost our belief in the old forms of prayer.  We are beginning to realize that, to a great extent, the answer to prayer lies in our own hands.  Our answers come when we use the powers that have been bestowed upon us.  More and more each year, those who employ their intellects for constructive purposes are turning their energies toward the betterment of the world.  They have a new conception of ’the world to come.’  It means to them our good brown Mother Earth, warm and fecund and laden with fruits for the consumption of her children as it may be under happier conditions.  They wish to increase the happiness of those children, to elevate them physically and mentally, and to give their spirits, too often imprisoned and degraded by hard circumstance, a chance to grow.

“When you let the sunlight in to a stunted tree, with what exultant gratitude it lifts itself toward the sun!  How its branches greet the wind and sing in them, how its little leaves come dancing out to make a shelter for man and the birds and the furred brothers of the forest!  But this, wonderful and beautiful as it is, is but a small thing compared with the way in which the soul of a stunted child—­stunted by evil or by sunless environment—­leaps and grows and sings when the great spiritual elements of love and liberty are permitted to reach it.

“You have talked of the conservation of forests; and you speak of a great need—­an imperative cause.  I talk of the conservation of children—­which is a greater need and a holier right.

“Mammalia are numerous in this world; real mothers are rare.  Can we lift the mammalia up into the high estate of motherhood?  I believe so.  Can we grow superlative children, as we grow superlative fruits and animals?  Oh, a thousand times, yes.  I beg for your support of this new idea.  Let the spirit of inspiration enter into your reflections concerning it.  Let that concentration of purpose which you have learned in your clubs and federations be your aid here.

“Most of you whom I see before me are no longer engaged actively in the tasks of motherhood.  The children have gone out from your homes into homes of their own.  You are left denuded and hungry for the old sweet vocation.  Your hands are too idle; your abilities lie unutilized.  But here is a task at hand.  I do not say that you are to use this extension to your motherhood for children alone, or merely in connection with this proposed Bureau.  I urge you, indeed, to employ it in all conceivable ways.  Be the mothers of men and women as well as of little children—­the mothers of communities—­the mothers of the state.  And as a focus to these energies and disinterested activities, let us pray Washington to give us the Bureau of Children.”