Page:Hermione and her little group of serious thinkers (1923, c1916).djvu/172

Hermione I have given so much thought to it! It has become almost an obsession to me.

Only the other evening I was thinking about it. And without realizing that I spoke aloud I said, "I simply could not do without the Cosmos!"

Mamma—poor dear Mamma!—she is so terribly unadvanced, you know! Mamma said: "Hermione, I do not know what the Cosmos is. But this I do know—not another Sex Discussion or East Indian Swami will ever come into this house!"

"Mamma," I said to her, "I will not give up the Cosmos. It means everything to me; simply everything!"

I am always firm with Mamma; it is kinder, in the long run, to be quite positive. But what I suffer at home from objections to the advanced movements nobody knows!

Nobody but the Leaders of Thought can dream what Martyrdom is!

Sacrifice! Sacrifice! That is the keynote of the Liberal Life!

Nearly every night before I go to bed I ask myself: "Have I shown the Sacrificial Spirit to day? Or have I failed?"