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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29861-8.txt b/29861-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9e8fac8 --- /dev/null +++ b/29861-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4907 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of In Times Like These, by Nellie L. McClung + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: In Times Like These + +Author: Nellie L. McClung + +Release Date: November 24, 2009 [EBook #29861] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN TIMES LIKE THESE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +IN TIMES + +LIKE THESE + + +BY + +NELLIE L. McCLUNG + + + Author of "Sowing Seeds In Danny," "The Second Chance," + and "The Black Creek Stopping-house." + + + + + +TORONTO + +McLEOD & ALLEN + +1915 + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1915, + +BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + + +Printed in the United States of America + + + + +_DEDICATION_ + +I + +TO THE SUPERIOR PERSONS + +Who would not come to hear a woman speak being firmly convinced that it +is not "natural." + +Who takes the rather unassailable ground that "men are men and women +are women." + +Who answers all arguments by saying, "Woman's place is the home" and, +"The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world," and even sometimes +flashes out with the brilliant retort, "It would suit those women +better to stay at home and darn their children's stockings." + +To all these Superior Persons, men and women, who are inhospitable to +new ideas, and even suspicious of them, this book is respectfully +dedicated by + +THE AUTHOR. + + +Upon further deliberation I am beset with the fear that the above +dedication may not "take." The Superior Person may not appreciate the +kind and neighborly spirit I have tried to show. So I will dedicate +this book again. + + + + +_DEDICATION_ + +II + +Believing that the woman's claim to a common humanity is not an +unreasonable one, and that the successful issue of such claim rests +primarily upon the sense of fair play which people have or have not +according to how they were born, and + +Believing that the man or woman born with a sense of fair play, no +matter how obscured it has become by training, prejudice, or unhappy +experience, will ultimately see the light and do the square thing and-- + +Believing that the man or woman who has not been so endowed by nature, +no matter what advantages of education or association, will always +suffer from the affliction known as mental strabismus, over which no +feeble human ward has any power, and which can only be cast out by the +transforming power of God's grace. + +Therefore to men and women everywhere who love a fair deal, and are +willing to give it to everyone, even women, this book is respectfully +dedicated by the author. + +NELLIE L. McCLUNG. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE WAR THAT NEVER ENDS + II. THE WAR THAT ENDS IN EXHAUSTION SOMETIMES MISTAKEN FOR PEACE + III. WHAT DO WOMEN THINK OF WAR? (NOT THAT IT MATTERS) + IV. SHOULD WOMEN THINK? + V. THE NEW CHIVALRY + VI. HARDY PERENNIALS! + VII. GENTLE LADY + VIII. WOMEN AND THE CHURCH + IX. THE SORE THOUGHT + X. THE LAND OF THE FAIR DEAL + XI. AS A MAN THINKETH + XII. THE WAR AGAINST GLOOM + + + + +IN TIMES LIKE THESE + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WAR THAT NEVER ENDS + + If, at last the sword is sheathed, + And men, exhausted, call it peace, + Old Nature wears no olive wreath, + The weapons change--war does not cease. + + The little struggling blades of grass + That lift their heads and will not die, + The vines that climb where sunbeams pass, + And fight their way toward the sky! + + And every soul that God has made, + Who from despair their lives defend + And struggling upward through the shade, + Break every bond that will not bend, + These are the soldiers, unafraid + In the great war that has no end. + + +We will begin peaceably by contemplating the world of nature, trees and +plants and flowers, common green things against which there is no +law--for surely there is no corruption in carrots, no tricks in +turnips, no mixed motive in marigolds. + +To look abroad upon a peaceful field drowsing in the sunshine, lazily +touched by a wandering breeze, no one would suspect that any struggle +was going on in the tiny hearts of the flowers and grasses. The lilies +of the field have long ago been said to toil not, neither spin, and the +inference has been that they in common with all other flowers and +plants lead a "lady's life," untroubled by any thought of ambition or +activity. The whole world of nature seems to present a perfect picture +of obedience and peaceful meditation. + +But for all their quiet innocent ways, every plant has one ambition and +will attain it by any means. Plants have one ambition, and therein +they have the advantage of us, who sometimes have too many, and +sometimes none at all! Their ambition is to grow--to spread--to +travel--to get away from home. Home is their enemy, for if a plant +falls at its mother's knee it is doomed to death, or a miserable +stunted life. + +Every seed has its own little plan of escape. Some of them are pitiful +enough and stamped with failure, like the tiny screw of the Lucerne, +which might be of some use if the seed were started on its flight from +a considerable elevation, but as it is, it has hardly turned over +before it hits the ground. But the next seed tries the same +plan--always hoping for a happier result. With better success, the +maple seed uses its little spreading wings to conquer space, and if the +wind does its part the plan succeeds, and that the wind generally can +be depended upon to blow is shown by the wide dissemination of maple +trees. + +More subtle still are the little tricks that seeds have of getting +animals and people to give them a lift on their way. Many a bird has +picked a bright red berry from a bush, with a feeling of gratitude, no +doubt, that his temporal needs are thus graciously supplied. He +swallows the sweet husk, and incidentally the seed, paying no attention +to the latter, and flies on his way. The seed remains unchanged and +undigested, and is thus carried far from home, and gets its chance. +So, too, many seeds are provided with burrs and spikes, which stick in +sheep's wool, dog's hair, or the clothing of people, and so travel +abroad, to the far country--the land of growth, the land of promise. + +There is something pathetically human in the struggle plants make to +reach the light; tiny rootlets have been known to pierce rocks in their +stern determination to reach the light that their soul craves. They +refuse to be resigned to darkness and despair! Who has not marveled at +the intelligence shown by the canary vine, the wild cucumber plant, or +the morning glory, in the way their tendrils reach out and find the +rusty nail or sliver on the fence--anything on which they can rise into +the higher air; even as you and I reach out the trembling tendrils of +our souls for something solid to rest upon? + +There is no resignation in Nature, no quiet folding of the hands, no +hypocritical saying, "Thy will be done!" and giving in without a +struggle. Countless millions of seeds and plants are doomed each year +to death and failure, but all honor to them--they put up a fight to the +very end! Resignation is a cheap and indolent human virtue, which has +served as an excuse for much spiritual slothfulness. It is still +highly revered and commended. It is so much easier sometimes to sit +down and be resigned than to rise up and be indignant. + +Years ago people broke every law of sanitation and when plagues came +they were resigned and piously looked heavenward, and blamed God for +the whole thing. "Thy will be done," they said, and now we know it was +not God's will at all. It is never God's will that any should perish! +People were resigned when they should have been cleaning up! "Thy will +be done!" should ever be the prayer of our hearts, but it does not let +us out of any responsibility. It is not a weak acceptance of +misfortune, or sickness, or injustice or wrong, for these things are +not God's will. + +"Thy will be done" is a call to fight--to fight for better conditions, +for moral and physical health, for sweeter manners, cleaner laws, for a +fair chance for everyone, even women! + +The man or woman who tries to serve their generation need not cry out +as did the hymn writer of the last century against the danger of being +carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, for we know that flowery +beds of ease have never been a mode of locomotion to the skies. +Flowery beds of ease lead in an entirely opposite direction, which has +had the effect of discouraging celestial emigration, for humanity is +very partial to the easy way of traveling. People like not only to +travel the easy way, but to think along the beaten path, which is so +safe and comfortable, where the thoughts have been worked over so often +that the very words are ready made, and come easily. There is a good +deal of the cat in the human family. We like comfort and ease--a warm +cushion by a cosy fire, and then sweet sleep--and don't disturb me! +Disturbers are never popular--nobody ever really loved an alarm clock +in action--no matter how grateful they may have been afterwards for its +kind services! + +It was the people who did not like to be disturbed who crucified +Christ--the worst fault they had to find with Him was that He annoyed +them--He rebuked the carnal mind--He aroused the cat-spirit, and so +they crucified Him--and went back to sleep. Even yet new ideas blow +across some souls like a cold draught, and they naturally get up and +shut the door! They have even been known to slam it! + +The sin of the world has ever been indifference and slothfulness, more +than real active wickedness. Life, the real abundant life of one who +has a vision of what a human soul may aspire to be, becomes a great +struggle against conditions. Life is warfare--not one set of human +beings warring upon other human beings--that is murder, no matter by +what euphonious name it may be called; but war waged against ignorance, +selfishness, darkness, prejudice and cruelty, beginning always with the +roots of evil which we find in our own hearts. What a glorious thing +it would be if nations would organize and train for this warfare, whose +end is life, and peace, and joy everlasting, as they now train and +organize for the wholesale murder and burning and pillaging whose mark +of victory is the blackened trail of smoking piles of ruins, dead and +maimed human beings, interrupted trade and paralyzed industries! + +Once a man paid for his passage across the ocean in one of the great +Atlantic liners. He brought his provisions with him to save expenses, +but as the days went on he grew tired of cheese, and his biscuits began +to taste mousy, and the savory odors of the kitchen and dining-room +were more than he could resist. There was only one day more, but he +grew so ravenously hungry, he felt he must have one good meal, if it +took his last cent. He made his way to the dining-room, and asked the +man at the desk the price of a meal. In answer to his inquiry the man +asked to see his ticket. "It will not cost you anything," he said. +"Your ticket includes meals." + +That's the way it is in life--we have been traveling below our +privileges. There is enough for everyone, if we could get at it. +There is food and raiment, a chance to live, and love and labor--for +everyone; these things are included in our ticket, only some of us have +not known it, and some others have reached out and taken more than +their share, and try to excuse their "hoggishness" by declaring that +God did not intend all to travel on the same terms, but you and I know +God better than that. + +To bring this about--the even chance for everyone--is the plain and +simple meaning of life. This is the War that never ends. It has been +waged all down the centuries by brave men and women whose hearts God +has touched. It is a quiet war with no blare of trumpets to keep the +soldiers on the job, no flourish of flags or clinking of swords to +stimulate flagging courage. It may not be as romantic a warfare, from +the standpoint of our medieval ideas of romance, as the old way of +sharpening up a battle axe, and spreading our enemy to the evening +breeze, but the reward of victory is not seeing our brother man dead at +our feet; but rather seeing him alive and well, working by our side. + +To this end let us declare war on all meanness, snobbishness, petty or +great jealousies, all forms of injustice, all forms of special +privilege, all selfishness and all greed. Let us drop bombs on our +prejudices! Let us send submarines to blow up all our poor little +petty vanities, subterfuges and conceits, with which we have endeavored +to veil the face of Truth. Let us make a frontal attack on ignorance, +laziness, doubt, despondence, despair, and unbelief! + +The banner over us is "Love," and our watchword "A Fair Deal." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE WAR THAT ENDS IN EXHAUSTION SOMETIMES MISTAKEN FOR PEACE + + When a skirl of pipes came down the street, + And the blare of bands, and the march of feet, + I could not keep from marching, too; + For the pipes cried "Come!" and the bands said "Do," + And when I heard the pealing fife, + I cared no more for human life! + + +Away back in the cave-dwelling days, there was a simple and definite +distribution of labor. Men fought and women worked. Men fought +because they liked it; and women worked because it had to be done. Of +course the fighting had to be done too, there was always a warring +tribe out looking for trouble, while their womenfolk stayed at home and +worked. They were never threatened with a long peace. Somebody was +always willing to go "It." The young bloods could always be sure of +good fighting somewhere, and no questions asked. The masculine +attitude toward life was: "I feel good today; I'll go out and kill +something." Tribes fought for their existence, and so the work of the +warrior was held to be the most glorious of all; indeed, it was the +only work that counted. The woman's part consisted of tilling the +soil, gathering the food, tanning the skins and fashioning garments, +brewing the herbs, raising the children, dressing the warrior's wounds, +looking after the herds, and any other light and airy trifle which +might come to her notice. But all this was in the background. Plain +useful work has always been considered dull and drab. + +Everything depended on the warrior. When "the boys" came home there +was much festivity, music, and feasting, and tales of the chase and +fight. The women provided the feast and washed the dishes. The +soldier has always been the hero of our civilization, and yet almost +any man makes a good soldier. Nearly every man makes a good soldier, +but not every man, or nearly every man makes a good citizen: the tests +of war are not so searching as the tests of peace, but still the +soldier is the hero. + +Very early in the lives of our children we begin to inculcate the love +of battle and sieges and invasions, for we put the miniature weapons of +warfare into their little hands. We buy them boxes of tin soldiers at +Christmas, and help them to build forts and blow them up. We have +military training in our schools; and little fellows are taught to +shoot at targets, seeing in each an imaginary foe, who must be +destroyed because he is "not on our side." There is a song which runs +like this: + + If a lad a maid would marry + He must learn a gun to carry. + +thereby putting love and love-making on a military basis--but it goes! +Military music is in our ears, and even in our churches. "Onward +Christian soldiers, marching as to war" is a Sunday-school favorite. +We pray to the God of Battles, never by any chance to the God of +Workshops! + +Once a year, of course, we hold a Peace Sunday and on that day we pray +mightily that God will give us peace in our time and that war shall be +no more, and the spear shall be beaten into the pruning hook. But the +next day we show God that he need not take us too literally, for we go +on with the military training, and the building of the battleships, and +our orators say that in time of peace we must prepare for war. + +War is the antithesis of all our teaching. It breaks all the +commandments; it makes rich men poor, and strong men weak. It makes +well men sick, and by it living men are changed to dead men. Why, +then, does war continue? Why do men go so easily to war--for we may as +well admit that they do go easily? There is one explanation. They +like it! + +When the first contingent of soldiers went to the war from Manitoba, +there stood on the station platform a woman crying bitterly. (She was +not the only one.) She had in her arms an infant, and three small +children stood beside her wondering. + +"'E would go!" she sobbed in reply to the sympathy expressed by the +people who stood near her, "'E loves a fight--'e went through the South +African War, and 'e's never been 'appy since--when 'e 'ears war is on +he says I'll go--'e loves it--'e does!" + +'"E loves it!" + +That explains many things. + +"Father sent me out," said a little Irish girl, "to see if there's a +fight going on any place, because if there is, please, father would +like to be in it!" Unfortunately "father's" predilection to fight is +not wholly confined to the Irish! + +But although men like to fight, war is not inevitable. War is not of +God's making. War is a crime committed by men and, therefore, when +enough people say it shall not be, it cannot be. This will not happen +until women are allowed to say what they think of war. Up to the +present time women have had nothing to say about war, except pay the +price of war--this privilege has been theirs always. + +History, romance, legend and tradition having been written by men, have +shown the masculine aspect of war and have surrounded it with a false +glory and have sought to throw the veil of glamour over its hideous +face. Our histories have followed the wars. Invasions, conquests, +battles, sieges make up the subject-matter of our histories. + +Some glorious soul, looking out upon his neighbors, saw some country +that he thought he could use and so he levied a heavy tax on the +people, and with the money fitted out a splendid army. Men were called +from their honest work to go out and fight other honest men who had +never done them any harm; harvest fields were trampled by their horses' +feet, villages burned, women and children fled in terror, and perished +of starvation, streets ran blood and the Glorious Soul came home +victorious with captives chained to his chariot wheel. When he drove +through the streets of his own home town, all the people cheered, that +is, all who had not been killed, of course. + +What the people thought of all this, the historians do not say. The +people were not asked or expected to think. Thinking was the most +unpopular thing they could do. There were dark damp dungeons where +hungry rats prowled ceaselessly; there were headsmen's axes and other +things prepared for people who were disposed to think and specially +designed to allay restlessness among the people. + +The "people" were dealt with in one short paragraph at the end of the +chapter: "The People were very poor" (you wouldn't think they would +need to say that, and certainly there was no need to rub it in), and +they "ate black bread," and they were "very ignorant and +superstitious." Superstitious? Well, I should say they would +be--small wonder if they did see black cats and have rabbits cross +their paths, and hear death warnings, for there was always going to be +a death in the family, and they were always about to lose money! The +People were a great abstraction, infinite in number, inarticulate in +suffering--the people who fought and paid for their own killing. The +man who could get the people to do this on the largest scale was the +greatest hero of all and the historian told us much about him, his +dogs, his horses, the magnificence of his attire. + +Some day, please God, there will be new histories written, and they +will tell the story of the years from the standpoint of the people, and +the hero will not be any red-handed assassin who goes through peaceful +country places leaving behind him dead men looking sightlessly up to +the sky. The hero will be the man or woman who knows and loves and +serves. In the new histories we will be shown the tragedy, the +heartbreaking tragedy of war, which like some dreadful curse has +followed the human family, beaten down their plans, their hopes, wasted +their savings, destroyed their homes, and in every way turned back the +clock of progress. + +We have all wondered what would happen if the people some day decided +that they would no longer be the tools of the man higher up, what would +happen if the men who make the quarrel had to fight it out. How +glorious it would have been if this war could have been settled by +somebody taking the Kaiser out behind the barn! There would seem to be +some show of justice in a hand-to-hand encounter, where the best man +wins, but modern warfare has not even the faintest glimmering of fair +play. The exploding shell blows to pieces the strong, the brave, the +daring, just as readily as it does the cowardly, weak, or base. + +War proves nothing. To kill a man does not prove that he was in the +wrong. Bloodletting cannot change men's spirits, neither can the evil +of men's thoughts be driven out by blows. If I go to my neighbor's +house, and break her furniture, and smash her pictures, and bind her +children captive, it does not prove that I am fitter to live than +she--yet according to the ethics of nations it does. I have conquered +her and she must pay me for my trouble; and her house and all that is +left in it belongs to my heirs and successors forever. That is war! + +War twists our whole moral fabric. The object of all our teaching has +been to inculcate respect for the individual, respect for human life, +honor and purity. War sweeps that all aside. The human conscience in +these long years of peace, and its resultant opportunities for +education, has grown tender to the cry of agony--the pallid face of a +hungry child finds a quick response to its mute appeal; but when we +know that hundreds are rendered homeless every day, and countless +thousands are killed and wounded, men and boys mowed down like a field +of grain, and with as little compunction, we grow a little bit numb to +human misery. What does it matter if there is a family north of the +track living on soda biscuits and turnips? War hardens us to human +grief and misery. + +War takes the fit and leaves the unfit. The epileptic, the +consumptive, the inebriate, are left behind. They are not good enough +to go out to fight. So they stay at home, and perpetuate the race! +Statistics prove that the war is costing fifty millions a day, which is +a prodigious sum, but we would be getting off easy if that were all it +costs. The bitterest cost of war is not paid by us at all. It will be +paid by the unborn generations, in a lowered vitality, the loss of a +strong fatherhood, which they have never known. Napoleon lowered the +stature of the French by two inches, it is said. That is one way to +set your mark on your generation. + +But the greatest evil wrought by war is not the wanton destruction of +life and property, sinful though it is; it is not even the lowered +vitality of succeeding generations, though that is attended by +appalling injury to the moral nature--the real iniquity of war is that +it sets aside the arbitrament of right and justice, and looks to brute +force for its verdict! + +In the first days of panic, pessimism broke out among us, and we cried +in our despair that our civilization had failed, that Christianity had +broken down, and that God had forgotten the world. It seemed like it +at first. But now a wiser and better vision has come to us, and we +know that Christianity has not failed, for it is not fair to impute +failure to something which has never been tried. Civilization has +failed. Art, music, and culture have failed, and we know now that +underneath the thin veneer of civilization, unregenerate man is still a +savage; and we see now, what some have never seen before, that unless a +civilization is built upon love, and mutual trust, it must always end +in disaster, such as this. Up to August fourth, we often said that war +was impossible between Christian nations. We still say so, but we know +more now than we did then. We know now that there are no Christian +nations. + +Oh, yes. I know the story. It was a beautiful story and a beautiful +picture. The black prince of Abyssinia asked the young Queen of +England what was the secret of England's glory and she pointed to the +"open Bible." + +The dear Queen of sainted memory was wrong. She judged her nation by +the standard of her own pure heart. England did not draw her policy +from the open Bible when in 1840 she forced the opium traffic on the +Chinese. England does not draw her policy from the open Bible when she +takes revenues from the liquor traffic, which works such irreparable +ruin to countless thousands of her people. England does not draw her +policy from the open Bible when she denies her women the rights of +citizens, when women are refused degrees after passing examinations, +when lower pay is given women for the same work than if it were done by +men. Would this be tolerated if it were really so that we were a +Christian nation? God abominates a false balance, and delights in a +just weight. + +No, the principles of Christ have not yet been applied to nations. We +have only Christian people. You will see that in a second, if you look +at the disparity that there is between our conceptions of individual +duty and national duty. Take the case of the heathen--the people whom +we in our large-handed, superior way call the heathen. Individually we +believe it is our duty to send missionaries to them to convert them +into Christians. Nationally we send armies upon them (if necessary) +and convert them into customers! Individually we say: "We will send +you our religion." Nationally: "We will send you goods, and we'll make +you take them--we need the money!" Think of the bitter irony of a boat +leaving a Christian port loaded with missionaries upstairs and rum +below, both bound for the same place and for the same people--both for +the heathen "with our comp'ts." + +Individually we know it is wrong to rob anyone. Yet the state robs +freely, openly, and unashamed, by unjust taxation, by the legalized +liquor traffic, by imposing unjust laws upon at least one half of the +people. We wonder at the disparity between our individual ideals and +the national ideal, but when you remember that the national ideals have +been formed by one half of the world--and not the more spiritual +half--it is not so surprising. Our national policy is the result of +male statecraft. + +There is a curative power in human life just as there is in nature. +When the pot boils--it boils over. Evils cure themselves eventually. +But it is a long hard way. Yet it is the way humanity has always had +to learn. Christ realized that when he looked down at Jerusalem, and +wept over it: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered +you, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but you would +not." That was the trouble then, and it has been the trouble ever +since. Humanity has to travel a hard road to wisdom, and it has to +travel it with bleeding feet. + +But it is getting its lessons now--and paying double first-class rates +for its tuition! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +WHAT DO WOMEN THINK OF WAR? (NOT THAT IT MATTERS) + + Bands in the street, and resounding cheers, + And honor to him whom the army led! + But his mother moans thro' her blinding tears-- + "My boy is dead--is dead!" + + +"Madam," said Charles XI of Sweden to his wife when she appealed to him +for mercy to some prisoner, "I married you to give me children, not to +give me advice." That was said a long time ago, and the haughty old +Emperor put it rather crudely, but he put it straight. This is still +the attitude of the world towards women. That men are human beings, +but women are women, with one reason for their existence, has long been +the dictum of the world. + +More recent philosophers have been more adroit--they have sought to +soften the blow, and so they palaver the women by telling them what a +tremendous power they are for good. They quote the men who have said: +"All that I am my mother made me." They also quote that old iniquitous +lie, about the hand that rocks the cradle ruling the world. + +For a long time men have been able to hush women up by these means; and +many women have gladly allowed themselves to be deceived. Sometimes +when a little child goes driving with his father he is allowed to hold +the ends of the reins, and encouraged to believe that he is driving, +and it works quite well with a very small child. Women have been +deceived in the same way into believing that they are the controlling +factor in the world. Here and there, there have been doubters among +women who have said: "If it be true that the hand that rocks the cradle +rules the world, how comes the liquor traffic and the white slave +traffic to prevail among us unchecked? Do women wish for these things? +Do the gentle mothers whose hands rule the world declare in favor of +these things?" Every day the number of doubters has increased, and now +women everywhere realize that a bad old lie has been put over on them +for years. The hand that rocks the cradle does not rule the world. If +it did, human life would be held dearer and the world would be a +sweeter, cleaner, safer place than it is now! + +Women are naturally the guardians of the race, and every normal woman +desires children. Children are not a handicap in the race of life +either, they are an inspiration. We hear too much about the burden of +motherhood and too little of its benefits. The average child does well +for his parents, and teaches them many things. Bless his little soft +hands--he broadens our outlook, quickens our sympathies, and leads us, +if we will but let him, into all truth. A child pays well for his +board and keep. + +Deeply rooted in every woman's heart is the love and care of children. +A little girl's first toy is a doll, and so, too, her first great +sorrow is when her doll has its eyes poked out by her little brother. +Dolls have suffered many things at the hands of their maternal uncles. + + There, little girl, don't cry, + They have broken your doll, I know, + +contains in it the universal note of woman's woe! + +But just as the woman's greatest sorrow has come through her children, +so has her greatest development. Women learned to cook, so that their +children might be fed; they learned to sew that their children might be +clothed, and women are learning to think so that their children may be +guided. + +Since the war broke out women have done a great deal of knitting. +Looking at this great army of women struggling with rib and back seam, +some have seen nothing in it but a "fad" which has supplanted for the +time tatting and bridge. But it is more than that. It is the desire +to help, to care for, to minister; it is the same spirit which inspires +our nurses to go out and bind up the wounded and care for the dying. +The woman's outlook on life is to save, to care for, to help. Men make +wounds and women bind them up, and so the women, with their hearts +filled with love and sorrow, sit in their quiet homes and knit. + + + Comforter--they call it--yes-- + So it is for my distress, + For it gives my restless hands + Blessed work. God understands + How we women yearn to be + Doing something ceaselessly. + + +Women have not only been knitting--they have been thinking. Among +other things they have thought about the German women, those faithful, +patient, home-loving, obedient women, who never interfere in public +affairs, nor question man's ruling. The Kaiser says women have only +two concerns in life, cooking and children, and the German women have +accepted his dictum. They are good cooks and faithful nurses to their +children. + +According to the theories of the world, the sons of such women should +be the gentlest men on earth. Their home has been so sacred, and +well-kept; their mother has been so gentle, patient and unworldly--she +has never lowered the standard of her womanhood by asking to vote, or +to mingle in the "hurly burly" of politics. She has been humble, and +loving, and always hoped for the best. + +According to the theories of the world, the gentle sons of gentle +mothers will respect and reverence all womankind everywhere. Yet, we +know that in the invasion of Belgium, the German soldiers made a shield +of Belgian women and children in front of their army; no child was too +young, no woman too old, to escape their cruelty; no mother's prayers, +no child's appeal could stay their fury! These chivalrous sons of +gentle, loving mothers marched through the land of Belgium, their +nearest neighbor, leaving behind them smoking trails of ruin, black as +their own hard hearts! + +What, then, is the matter with the theory? Nothing, except that there +is nothing in it--it will not work. Women who set a low value on +themselves make life hard for all women. The German woman's ways have +been ways of pleasantness, but her paths have not been paths of peace; +and now, women everywhere are thinking of her, rather bitterly. Her +peaceful, humble, patient ways have suddenly ceased to appear virtuous +in our eyes and we see now, it is not so much a woman's duty to bring +children into the world, as to see what sort of a world she is bringing +them into, and what their contribution will be to it. Bertha Krupp has +made good guns and the German women have raised good soldiers--if guns +and soldiers can be called "good"--and between them they have manned +the most terrible and destructive war machine that the world has ever +known. We are not grateful to either of them. + +The nimble fingers of the knitting women are transforming balls of wool +into socks and comforters, but even a greater change is being wrought +in their own hearts. Into their gentle souls have come bitter thoughts +of rebellion. They realize now how little human life is valued, as +opposed to the greed and ambition of nations. They think bitterly of +Napoleon's utterance on the subject of women--that the greatest woman +in the world is the one who brings into the world the greatest number +of sons; they also remember that he said that a boy could stop a bullet +as well as a man, and that God is on the side of the heaviest +artillery. From these three statements they get the military idea of +women, children, and God, and the heart of the knitting woman recoils +in horror from the cold brutality of it all. They realize now +something of what is back of all the opposition to the woman's +advancement into all lines of activity and a share in government. + +Women are intended for two things, to bring children into the world and +to make men comfortable, and then they must keep quiet and if their +hearts break with grief, let them break quietly--that's all. No woman +is so unpopular as the noisy woman who protests against these things. + +The knitting women know now why the militant suffragettes broke windows +and destroyed property, and went to jail for it joyously, and without a +murmur--it was the protest of brave women against the world's estimate +of woman's position. It was the world-old struggle for liberty. The +knitting women remember now with shame and sorrow that they have said +hard things about the suffragettes, and thought they were unwomanly and +hysterical. Now they know that womanliness, and peaceful gentle ways, +prayers, petitions and tears have long been tried but are found +wanting; and now they know that these brave women in England, maligned, +ridiculed, persecuted, as they were, have been fighting every woman's +battle, fighting for the recognition of human life, and the mother's +point of view. Many of the knitting women have seen a light shine +around their pathway, as they have passed down the road from the heel +to the toe, and they know now that the explanation cannot be accepted +any longer that the English women are "crazy." That has been offered +so often and been accepted. + +Crazy! That's such an easy way to explain actions which we do not +understand. Crazy! and it gives such a delightful thrill of sanity to +the one who says it--such a pleasurable flash of superiority! + +Oh, no, they have not been crazy, unless acts of heroism and suffering +for the sake of others can be described as crazy! The knitting women +wish now that there had been "crazy" women in Germany to direct the +thought of the nation to the brutality of the military system, to have +aroused the women to struggle for a human civilization, instead of a +masculine civilization such as they have now. They would have fared +badly of course, even worse than the women in England, but they are +faring badly now, and to what purpose? The women of Belgium have fared +badly. After all, the greatest thing in life is not to live +comfortably--it is to live honorably, and when that becomes impossible, +to die honorably! + +The woman who knits is thinking sadly of the glad days of peace, now +unhappily gone by, when she was so sure it was her duty to bring +children into the world. She thinks of the glad rapture with which she +looked into the sweet face of her first-born twenty years ago--the +brave lad who went with the first contingent, and is now at the front. +She was so sure then that she had done a noble thing in giving this +young life to the world. He was to have been a great doctor, a great +healer, one who bound up wounds, and make weak men strong--and now--in +the trenches, he stands, this lad of hers, with the weapons of death in +his hands, with bitter hatred in his heart, not binding wounds, but +making them, sending poor human beings out in the dark to meet their +Maker, unprepared, surrounded by sights and sounds that must harden his +heart or break it. Oh! her sunny-hearted lad! So full of love and +tenderness and pity, so full of ambition and high resolves and noble +impulses, he is dead--dead already--and in his place there stands +"private 355" a man of hate, a man of blood! Many a time the knitting +has to be laid aside, for the bitter tears blur the stitches. + +The woman who knits thinks of all this and now she feels that she who +brought this boy into the world, who is responsible for his existence, +has some way been to blame. Is life really such a boon that any should +crave it? Do we really confer a favor on the innocent little souls we +bring into the world, or do we owe them an apology? + +She thinks now of Abraham's sacrifice, when he was willing at God's +command to offer his dearly beloved son on the altar; and now she knows +it was not so hard for Abraham, for he knew it was God who asked it, +and he had God's voice to guide him! Abraham was sure, but about +this--who knows? + +Then she thinks of the little one who dropped out of the race before it +was well begun, and of the inexplicable smile of peace which lay on his +small white face, that day, so many years ago now, when they laid him +away with such sorrow, and such agony of loss. She understands now why +the little one smiled, while all around him wept. + +And she thinks enviously of her neighbor across the way, who had no son +to give, the childless woman for whom in the old days she felt so +sorry, but whom now she envies. She is the happiest woman of all--so +thinks the knitting woman, as she sits alone in her quiet house; for +thoughts can grow very bitter when the house is still and the boyish +voice is heard no more shouting, "Mother" in the hall. + + + There, little girl, don't cry! + They have broken your heart, I know. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SHOULD WOMEN THINK? + + A woman, a spaniel, a walnut tree, + The more you beat 'em, the better they be. + --_From "Proverbs of All Nations._" + +A woman is not a person in matters of rights and privileges, but she is +a person in matters of pains and penalties.--_From the Common Law of +England_. + +No woman, idiot, lunatic, or criminal shall vote.--_From the Election +Act of the Dominion of Canada_. + + +Mary and Martha were sisters, and one day they had a quarrel, which +goes to show that sisters in Bible times were much the same as now. +Mary and Martha had a different attitude toward life. Martha was a +housekeeper--she reveled in housecleaning--she had a perfect mania for +sweeping and dusting. Mary was a thinker. She looked beyond the work, +and saw something better and more important, something more abiding and +satisfying. + +When Jesus came to their home to visit, Mary sat at his feet and +listened. She fed her soul, and in her sheer joy she forgot that there +were dirty dishes in all the world; she forgot that ever people grew +hungry, or floors became dusty; she forgot everything only the joy of +his presence. Martha never forgot. All days were alike to Martha, +only of course Monday was washday. The visit of the Master to Martha +meant another place at the table, and another plate to be washed. +Truly feminine was Martha, much commended in certain circles today. +She looked well to the needs of her family, physical needs, that is, +for she recognized no other. Martha not only liked to work herself, +but she liked to see other people work; so when Mary went and sat at +the Master's feet, while the dishes were yet unwashed, Martha +complained about it. + +"Lord, make Mary come and help me!" she said. The story says Martha +was wearied with much serving. Martha had cooked and served an +elaborate meal, and elaborate meals usually do make people cross either +before or after. Christ gently reproved her. "Mary hath chosen the +better part." + +Just here let us say something in Mary's favor. Martha by her protest +against Mary's behavior on this particular occasion, exonerates Mary +from the general charge of laziness which is often made against her. +If Mary had been habitually lazy, Martha would have long since ceased +to expect any help from her, but it seems pretty certain that Mary was +generally on the job. Trivial little incident, is it not? Strange +that it should find a place in the sacred record. But if Christ's +mission on earth had any meaning at all, it was to teach this very +lesson that the things which are not seen are greater than the things +which are seen--that the spiritual is greater than the temporal. The +life is more than meat and the body is more than raiment. + +Martha has a long line of weary, backaching, footsore successors. +Indeed there is a strain of Martha in all of us; we worry more over a +stain in the carpet than a stain on the soul; we bestow more thought on +the choice of hats than on the choice of friends; we tidy up bureau +drawers, sometimes, when we should be tidying up the inner recesses of +our mind and soul; we clean up the attic and burn up the rubbish which +has accumulated there, every spring, whether it needs it or not. But +when do we appoint a housecleaning day for the soul, when do we destroy +all the worn-out prejudices and beliefs which belong to a day gone by? + +Mary did take the better part, for she laid hold on the things which +are spiritual. Mary had learned the great truth that it is not the +house you live in or the food you eat, or the clothes you wear that +make you rich, but it is the thoughts you think. Christ put it well +when he said, "Mary hath chosen the better part." Life is a choice +every day. Every day we choose between the best and the second best, +if we are choosing wisely. It is not generally a choice between good +and bad--that is too easy. The choice in life is more subtle than +that, and not so easily decided. The good is the greatest rival of the +best. + +Sometimes we would like to take both the best and the second best, but +that is not according to the rules of the game. You take your choice +and leave the rest. Every gain in life means a corresponding loss; +development in one part means a shrinkage in some other. Wild wheat is +small and hard, quite capable of looking after itself, but its heads +contain only a few small kernels. Cultivated wheat has lost its +hardiness and its self-reliance, but its heads are filled with large +kernels which feed the nation. There has been a great gain in +usefulness, by cultivation, with a corresponding loss in hardiness. +When riches are increased, so also are anxieties and cares. Life is +full of compensation. + +So we ask, in all seriousness, and in no spirit of flippancy: "Should +women think?" They gain in power perhaps, but do they not lose in +happiness by thinking? If women must always labor under unjust +economic conditions, receiving less pay for the same work than men, if +women must always submit to the unjust social laws, based on the +barbaric mosaic decree that the woman is to be stoned, and the man +allowed to go free; if women must always see the children they have +brought into the world with infinite pain and weariness, taken away +from them to fight man-made battles over which no woman has any power; +if women must always see their sons degraded by man-made legislation +and man-protected evils--then I ask, Is it not a great mistake for +women to think? + +The Martha women, who fill their hands with labor and find their +highest delights in the day's work, are the happiest. That is, if +these things must always be, if we must always beat upon the bars of +the cage--we are foolish to beat; it is hard on the hands! Far better +for us to stop looking out and sit down and say: "Good old cage--I +always did like a cage, anyway!" + +But the question of whether or not women should think was settled long +ago. We must think because we were given something to think with, ages +ago, at the time of our creation. If God had not intended us to think, +he would not have given us our intelligence. It would be a shabby +trick, too, to give women brains to think, with no hope of results, for +thinking is just an aggravation if nothing comes of it. It is a law of +life that people will use what they have. That is one theory of what +caused the war. The nations were "so good and ready," they just +naturally fought. Mental activity is just as natural for the woman +peeling potatoes as it is for the man behind the plow, and a little +thinking will not hurt the quality of the work in either case. There +is in western Canada, one woman at least, who combines thinking and +working to great advantage. Her kitchen walls are hung with mottoes +and poems, which she commits to memory as she works, and so while her +hands are busy, she feeds her soul with the bread of life. + +The world has never been partial to the thinking woman--the wise ones +have always foreseen danger. Long years ago, when women asked for an +education, the world cried out that it would never do. If women +learned to read it would distract them from the real business of life +which was to make home happy for some good man. If women learned to +read there seemed to be a possibility that some day some good man might +come home and find his wife reading, and the dinner not ready--and +nothing could be imagined more horrible than that! That seems to be +the haunting fear of mankind--that the advancement of women will +sometime, someway, someplace, interfere with some man's comfort. There +are many people who believe that the physical needs of her family are a +woman's only care; and that strict attention to her husband's wardrobe +and meals will insure a happy marriage. Hand-embroidered slippers +warmed and carefully set out have ever been highly recommended as a +potent charm to hold masculine affection. They forget that men and +children are not only food-eating and clothes-wearing animals--they are +human beings with other and even greater needs than food and raiment. + +Any person who believes that the average man marries the woman of his +choice just because he wants a housekeeper and a cook, appraises +mankind lower than I do. Intelligence on the wife's part does not +destroy connubial bliss, neither does ignorance nor apathy ever make +for it. Ideas do not break up homes, but lack of ideas. The light and +airy silly fairy may get along beautifully in the days of courtship, +but she palls a bit in the steady wear and tear of married life. + +There was a picture in one of the popular woman's papers sometime ago, +which taught a significant lesson. It was a breakfast scene. The +young wife, daintily frilled in pink, sat at her end of the table in +very apparent ill-humor--the young husband, quite unconscious of her, +read the morning paper with evident interest. Below the picture there +was a sharp criticism of the young man's neglect of his pretty wife and +her dainty gown. Personally I sympathize with the young man and +believe it would be a happier home if she were as interested in the +paper as he and were reading the other half of it instead of sitting +around feeling hurt. + +But you see it is hard on the woman, just the same. All our +civilization has taught her that pink frills were the thing. When they +fail--she feels the bottom has dropped out of the world--he does not +love her any more and she will go back to mother! You see the woman +suffers every time. + +Sometime we will teach our daughters that marriage is a divine +partnership based on mutual love and community of interest, that sex +attraction augmented by pink frills is only one part of it and not the +most important; that the pleasant glowing embers of comradeship and +loving friendship give out a warmer, more lasting, and more comfortable +heat than the leaping flames of passion, and the happiest marriage is +the one where the husband and wife come to regard each other as the +dearest friend, the most congenial companion. + +Women must think if they are going to make good in life; and success in +marriage depends not alone on being good, but on making good! Men by +their occupation are brought in contact with the world of ideas and +affairs. They have been encouraged to be intelligent. Women have been +encouraged to be foolish, and later on punished for the same +foolishness, which is hardly fair. + +But women are beginning to learn. Women are helping each other to see. +They are coming together in clubs and societies and by this intercourse +they are gaining a philosophy of life, which is helping them over the +rough places of life. Most of us can get along very well on bright +days, and when the going is easy, but we need something to keep us +steady when the pathway is rough, and our wandering feet are in danger +of losing their way. The most deadly uninteresting person, and the one +who has the greatest temptation not to think at all, is the comfortable +and happily married woman--the woman who has a good man between her and +the world, who has not the saving privilege of having to work. A sort +of fatty degeneration of the conscience sets in that is disastrous to +the development of thought. + +If women could be made to think, they would not wear immodest clothes, +which suggest evil thoughts and awaken unlawful desires. If women +could be made to think, they would see that it is woman's place to lift +high the standard of morality. If women would only think, they would +not wear aigrets and bird plumage which has caused the death of God's +innocent and beautiful creatures. If women could be made to think, +they would be merciful. If women would only think, they would not +serve liquor to their guests, in the name of hospitality, and thus +contribute to the degradation of mankind, and perhaps start some young +man on the slippery way to ruin. If women would think about it, they +would see that some mother, old and heartbroken, sitting up waiting for +the staggering footsteps of her boy, might in her loneliness and grief +and trouble curse the white hands that gave her lad his first drink. +Women make life hard for other women because they do not think. And +thinking seems to come hardest to the comfortable woman. A woman told +me candidly and honestly not long ago that she was too comfortable to +be interested in other people, and I have admired her for her +truthfulness; she had diagnosed her own case accurately, and she did +not babble of woman's sphere being her own home--she frankly admitted +that she was selfish, and her comfort had caused it. I believe God +intended us all to be happy and comfortable, clothed, fed, and housed, +and there is no sin in comfort, unless we let it atrophy our souls, and +settle down upon us like a stupor. Then it becomes a sin which +destroys us. Let us pray! + + + From plague, pestilence and famine, + from battle, murder, sudden death, + and all forms of cowlike contentment, + Good Lord, deliver us! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE NEW CHIVALRY + +Brave women and fair men! + + +This seems to be a good time for us to jar ourselves loose from some of +the prejudices and beliefs which we have outgrown. It is time for +readjustment surely, a time for spiritual and mental house-cleaning, +when we are justified in looking things over very carefully and +deciding whether or not we shall ever need them again. + +Some of us have suspected for a long time that a good deal of the +teaching of the world regarding women has come under the general +heading of "dope." Now "dope" is not a slang word, as you may be +thinking, gentle reader. It is a good Anglo-Saxon word (or will be), +for it fills a real need, and there is none other to take its place. +"Dope" means anything that is calculated to soothe, or hush, or put to +sleep. "Sedative" is a synonym, but it lacks the oily softness of +"dope." + +One of the commonest forms of dope given to women to keep them quiet is +the one referred to in a previous chapter: "The hand that rocks the +cradle rules the World." It is a great favorite with politicians and +not being original with them it does contain a small element of truth. +They use it in their pre-election speeches, which they begin with the +honeyed words: "We are glad to see we have with us this evening so many +members of the fair sex; we are delighted to see that so many have come +to grace our gathering on this occasion; we realize that a woman's +intuition is ofttimes truer than a man's reasoning, and although women +have no actual voice in politics, they have something far more strong +and potent--they have the wonder power of indirect influence." Just +about here comes in "the hand that rocks!" + +Having thus administered the dope, in this pleasing mixture of molasses +and soft soap, which is supposed to keep the "fair sex" quiet and happy +for the balance of the evening, the aspirant for public honors passes +on to the serious business of the hour, and discusses the affairs of +state with the electorate. Right here, let us sound a small note of +warning. Keep your eye on the man who refers to women as the "fair +sex"--he is a dealer in dope! + +One of the oldest and falsest of our beliefs regarding women is that +they are protected--that some way in the battle of life they get the +best of it. People talk of men's chivalry, that vague, indefinite +quality which is supposed to transmute the common clay of life into +gold. + +Chivalry is a magic word. It seems to breathe of foreign strands and +moonlight groves and silver sands and knights and earls and kings; it +seems to tell of glorious deeds and waving plumes and prancing steeds +and belted earls--and things! + +People tell us of the good old days of chivalry when womanhood was +really respected and reverenced--when brave knight rode gaily forth to +die for his lady love. But in order to be really loved and respected +there was one hard and fast condition laid down, to which all women +must conform--they must be beautiful, no getting out of that. They +simply had to have starry eyes and golden hair, or else black as a +raven's wing; they had to have pale, white, and haughty brow, and a +laugh like a ripple of magic. Then they were all right and armored +knights would die for them quick as wink! + +The homely women were all witches, dreadful witches, and they drowned +them, on public holidays, in the mill pond! + +People tell us now that chivalry is dead, and women have killed it, +bold women who instead of staying at home, broidering pearls on a red +velvet sleeve, have gone out to work--have gone to college side by side +with men and have been so unwomanly sometimes as to take the prizes +away from men. Chivalry cannot live in such an atmosphere. Certainly +not! + +Of course women can hardly be blamed for going out and working when one +remembers that they must either work or starve. Broidering pearls will +not boil the kettle worth a cent! There are now thirty per cent of the +women of the U. S. A. and Canada, who are wage-earners, and we will +readily grant that necessity has driven most of them out of their +homes. Similarly, in England alone, there are a million and a half +more women than men. It would seem that all women cannot have homes of +their own--there does not seem to be enough men to go around. But +still there are people who tell us these women should all have homes of +their own--it is their own fault if they haven't; and once I heard of a +woman saying the hardest thing about men I ever heard--and she was an +ardent anti-suffragist too. She said that what was wrong with the +women in England was that they were too particular--that's why they +were not married, "and," she went on, "any person can tell, when they +look around at men in general, that God never intended women to be very +particular." I am glad I never said anything as hard as that about men. + +There are still with us some of the conventions of the old days of +chivalry. The pretty woman still has the advantage over her plainer +sister--and the opinion of the world is that women must be beautiful at +all costs. When a newspaper wishes to disprove a woman's contention, +or demolish her theories, it draws ugly pictures of her. If it can +show that she has big feet or red hands, or wears unbecoming clothes, +that certainly settles the case--and puts her where she belongs. + +This cruel convention that women must be beautiful accounts for the +popularity of face-washes, and beauty parlors, and the languor of +university extension lectures. Women cannot be blamed for this. All +our civilization has been to the end that women make themselves +attractive to men. The attractive woman has hitherto been the +successful woman. The pretty girl marries a millionaire, travels in +Europe, and is presented at court; her plainer sister, equally +intelligent, marries a boy from home, and does her own washing. I am +not comparing the two destinies as to which offers the greater +opportunities for happiness or usefulness, but rather to show how +widely divergent two lives may be. What caused the difference was a +wavy strand of hair, a rounder curve on a cheek. Is it any wonder that +women capitalize their good looks, even at the expense of their +intelligence? The economic dependence of women is perhaps the greatest +injustice that has been done to us, and has worked the greatest injury +to the race. + +Men are not entirely blameless in respect to the frivolity of women. +It is easy to blame women for dressing foolishly, extravagantly, but to +what end do they do it? To be attractive to men; and the reason they +continue to do it is that it is successful. Many a woman has found +that it pays to be foolish. Men like frivolity--before marriage; but +they demand all the sterner virtues afterwards. The little dainty, +fuzzy-haired, simpering dolly who chatters and wears toe-slippers has a +better chance in the matrimonial market than the clear-headed, plainer +girl, who dresses sensibly. A little boy once gave his mother +directions as to his birthday present--he said he wanted "something +foolish" and therein he expressed a purely masculine wish. + + + A man's ideal at seventeen + Must be a sprite-- + A dainty, fairy, elfish queen + Of pure delight; + But later on he sort of feels + He'd like a girl who could cook meals. + +Life is full of anomalies, and in the mating and pairing of men and +women there are many. + +Why is the careless, easy-going, irresponsible way of the young girl so +attractive to men? It does not make for domestic happiness; and why, +Oh why, do some of our best men marry such odd little sticks of +pin-head women, with a brain similar in caliber to a second-rate +butterfly, while the most intelligent, unselfish, and womanly women are +left unmated? I am going to ask about this the first morning I am in +heaven, if so be we are allowed to ask about the things which troubled +us while on our mortal journey. I have never been able to find out +about it here. + +Now this old belief that women are protected is of sturdy growth and +returns to life with great persistence. Theoretically women are +protected--on paper--traditionally--just like Belgium was, and with +just as disastrous results. + +A member of the English Parliament declared with great emphasis that +the women now have everything the heart could desire--they reign like +queens and can have their smallest wish gratified. ("Smallest" is +right.) And we very readily grant that there are many women living in +idleness and luxury on the bounty of their male relatives, and we say +it with sorrow and shame that these are estimated the successful women +in the opinion of the world. But while some feast in idleness, many +others slave in poverty. The great army of women workers are ill-paid, +badly housed, and their work is not honored or respected or paid for. +What share have they in man's chivalry? Chivalry is like a line of +credit. You can get plenty of it when you do not need it. When you +are prospering financially and your bank account is growing and you are +rated A1, you can get plenty of credit--it is offered to you; but when +the dark days of financial depression overtake you, and the people you +are depending upon do not "come through," and you must have +credit--must have it!--the very people who once urged it upon you will +now tell you that "money is tight!" + +The young and pretty woman, well dressed and attractive, can get all +the chivalry she wants. She will have seats offered her on street +cars, men will hasten to carry her parcels, or open doors for her; but +the poor old woman, beaten in the battle of life, sick of life's +struggles, and grown gray and weather-beaten facing life's storms--what +chivalry is shown her? She can go her weary way uncomforted and +unattended. People who need it do not get it. + +Anyway, chivalry is a poor substitute for justice, if one cannot have +both. Chivalry is something like the icing on the cake, sweet but not +nourishing. It is like the paper lace around the bonbon box--we could +get along without it. + +There are countless thousands of truly chivalrous men, who have the +true chivalry whose foundation is justice--who would protect all women +from injury or insult or injustice, but who know that they cannot do +it--who know that in spite of all they can do, women are often +outraged, insulted, ill-treated. The truly chivalrous man, who does +reverence all womankind, realizing this, says: "Let us give women every +weapon whereby they can defend themselves; let us remove the stigma of +political nonentity under which women have been placed. Let us give +women a fair deal!" + +This is the new chivalry--and on it we build our hope. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +HARDY PERENNIALS! + + I hold it true--I will not change, + For changes are a dreadful bore-- + That nothing must be done on earth + Unless it has been done before. + --_Anti-Suffrage Creed_. + + +If prejudices belonged to the vegetable world they would be described +under the general heading of: "Hardy Perennials; will grow in any soil, +and bloom without ceasing; requiring no cultivation; will do better +when left alone." + +In regard to tenacity of life, no old yellow cat has anything on a +prejudice. You may kill it with your own hands, bury it deep, and sit +on the grave, and behold! the next day, it will walk in at the back +door, purring. + +Take some of the prejudices regarding women that have been exploded and +blown to pieces many, many times and yet walk among us today in the +fulness of life and vigor. There is a belief that housekeeping is the +only occupation for women; that all women must be housekeepers, whether +they like it or not. Men may do as they like, and indulge their +individuality, but every true and womanly woman must take to the nutmeg +grater and the O-Cedar Mop. It is also believed that in the good old +days before woman suffrage was discussed, and when woman's clubs were +unheard of, that all women adored housework, and simply pined for +Monday morning to come to get at the weekly wash; that women cleaned +house with rapture and cooked joyously. Yet there is a story told of +one of the women of the old days, who arose at four o'clock in the +morning, and aroused all her family at an indecently early hour for +breakfast, her reason being that she wanted to get "one of these horrid +old meals over." This woman had never been at a suffrage meeting--so +where did she get the germ of discontent? + +At the present time there is much discontent among women, and many +people are seriously alarmed about it. They say women are no longer +contented with woman's sphere and woman's work--that the washboard has +lost its charm, and the days of the hair-wreath are ended. We may as +well admit that there is discontent among women. We cannot drive them +back to the spinning wheel and the mathook, for they will not go. But +there is really no cause for alarm, for discontent is not necessarily +wicked. There is such a thing as divine discontent just as there is +criminal contentment. Discontent may mean the stirring of ambition, +the desire to spread out, to improve and grow. Discontent is a sign of +life, corresponding to growing pains in a healthy child. The poor +woman who is making a brave struggle for existence is not saying much, +though she is thinking all the time. In the old days when a woman's +hours were from 5 A.M. to 5 A.M., we did not hear much of discontent +among women, because they had not time to even talk, and certainly +could not get together. The horse on the treadmill may be very +discontented, but he is not disposed to tell his troubles, for he +cannot stop to talk. + +It is the women, who now have leisure, who are doing the talking. For +generations women have been thinking and thought without expression is +dynamic, and gathers volume by repression. Evolution when blocked and +suppressed becomes revolution. The introduction of machinery and the +factory-made articles has given women more leisure than they had +formerly, and now the question arises, what are they going to do with +it? + +Custom and conventionality recommend many and varied occupations for +women, social functions intermixed with kindly deeds of charity, +embroidering altar cloths, making strong and durable garments for the +poor, visiting the sick, comforting the sad, all of which women have +faithfully done, but while they have been doing these things, they have +been wondering about the underlying causes of poverty, sadness and sin. +They notice that when the unemployed are fed on Christmas day, they are +just as hungry as ever on December the twenty-sixth, or at least on +December the twenty-seventh; they have been led to inquire into the +causes for little children being left in the care of the state, and +they find that in over half of the cases, the liquor traffic has +contributed to the poverty and unworthiness of the parents. The state +which licenses the traffic steps in and takes care, or tries to, of the +victims; the rich brewer whose business it is to encourage drinking, is +usually the largest giver to the work of the Children's Aid Society, +and is often extolled for his lavish generosity: and sometimes when +women think about these things they are struck by the absurdity of a +system which allows one man or a body of men to rob a child of his +father's love and care all year, and then gives him a stuffed dog and a +little red sleigh at Christmas and calls it charity! + +Women have always done their share of the charity work of the world. +The lady of the manor, in the old feudal days, made warm mittens and +woolen mufflers with her own white hands and carried them to the +cottages at Christmas, along with blankets and coals. And it was a +splendid arrangement all through, for it furnished the lady with mild +and pleasant occupation, and it helped to soothe the conscience of the +lord, and if the cottagers (who were often "low worthless fellows, much +given up to riotous thinking and disputing") were disposed to wonder +why they had to work all year and get nothing, while the lord of the +manor did nothing all year and got everything, the gift of blanket and +coals, the warm mufflers, and "a shawl for granny" showed them what +ungrateful souls they were. + +Women have dispensed charity for many, many years, but gradually it has +dawned upon them that the most of our charity is very ineffectual, and +merely smoothes things over, without ever reaching the root. A great +deal of our charity is like the kindly deed of the benevolent old +gentleman, who found a sick dog by the wayside, lying in the full glare +of a scorching sun. The tender-hearted old man climbed down from his +carriage, and, lifting the dog tenderly in his arms, carried him around +into the small patch of shade cast by his carriage. + +"Lie there, my poor fellow!" he said. "Lie there, in the cool shade, +where the sun's rays may not smite you!" + +Then he got into his carriage and drove away. + +Women have been led, through their charitable institutions and +philanthropic endeavors, to do some thinking about causes. + +Mrs. B. set out to be a "family friend" to the family of her washwoman. +Mrs. B. was a thoroughly charitable, kindly disposed woman, who had +never favored woman's suffrage and regarded the new movement among +women with suspicion. Her washwoman's family consisted of four +children, and a husband who blew in gaily once in a while when in need +of funds, or when recovering from a protracted spree, which made a few +days' nursing very welcome. His wife, a Polish woman, had the +old-world reverence for men, and obeyed him implicitly; she still felt +it was very sweet of him to come home at all. Mrs. B. had often +declared that Polly's devotion to her husband was a beautiful thing to +see. The two eldest boys had newspaper routes and turned in their +earnings regularly, and, although the husband did not contribute +anything but his occasional company, Polly was able to make the +payments on their little four-roomed cottage. In another year, it +would be all paid for. + +But one day Polly's husband began to look into the law--as all men +should--and he saw that he had been living far below his privileges. +The cottage was his--not that he had ever paid a cent on it, of course, +but his wife had, and she was his; and the cottage was in his name. + +So he sold it; naturally he did not consult Polly, for he was a quiet, +peaceful man, and not fond of scenes. So he sold it quietly, and with +equal quietness he withdrew from the Province, and took the money with +him. He did not even say good-by to Polly or the children, which was +rather ungrateful, for they had given him many a meal and night's +lodging. When Polly came crying one Monday morning and told her story, +Mrs. B. could not believe it, and assured Polly she must be mistaken, +but Polly declared that a man had come and asked her did she wish to +rent the house for he had bought it. Mrs. B. went at once to the +lawyers who had completed the deal. They were a reputable firm and +Mrs. B. knew one of the partners quite well. She was sure Polly's +husband could not sell the cottage. But the lawyers assured her it was +quite true. They were very gentle and patient with Mrs. B. and +listened courteously to her explanation, and did not dispute her word +at all when she explained that Polly and her two boys had paid every +cent on the house. It seemed that a trifling little thing like that +did not matter. It did not really matter who paid for the house; the +husband was the owner, for was he not the head of the house? and the +property was in his name. + +Polly was graciously allowed to rent her own cottage for $12.50 a +month, with an option of buying, and the two little boys are still on a +morning route delivering one of the city dailies. + +Mrs. B. has joined a suffrage society and makes speeches on the +injustice of the laws; and yet she began innocently enough, by making +strong and durable garments for her washwoman's children--and see what +has come of it! If women would only be content to snip away at the +symptoms of poverty and distress, feeding the hungry and clothing the +naked, all would be well and they would be much commended for their +kindness of heart; but when they begin to inquire into causes, they +find themselves in the sacred realm of politics where prejudice says no +women must enter. + +A woman may take an interest in factory girls, and hold meetings for +them, and encourage them to walk in virtue's ways all she likes, but if +she begins to advocate more sanitary surroundings for them, with some +respect for the common decencies of life, she will find herself again +in that sacred realm of politics---confronted by a factory act, on +which no profane female hand must be laid. + +Now politics simply means public affairs--yours and mine, +everybody's--and to say that politics are too corrupt for women is a +weak and foolish statement for any man to make. Any man who is +actively engaged in politics, and declares that politics are too +corrupt for women, admits one of two things, either that he is a party +to this corruption, or that he is unable to prevent it--and in either +case something should be done. Politics are not inherently vicious. +The office of lawmaker should be the highest in the land, equaled in +honor only by that of the minister of the gospel. In the old days, the +two were combined with very good effect; but they seem to have drifted +apart in more recent years. + +If politics are too corrupt for women, they are too corrupt for men; +for men and women are one--indissolubly joined together for good or +ill. Many men have tried to put all their religion and virtue in their +wife's name, but it does not work very well. When social conditions +are corrupt women cannot escape by shutting their eyes, and taking no +interest. It would be far better to give them a chance to clean them +up. + +What would you think of a man who would say to his wife: "This house to +which I am bringing you to live is very dirty and unsanitary, but I +will not allow you--the dear wife whom I have sworn to protect--to +touch it. It is too dirty for your precious little white hands! You +must stay upstairs, dear. Of course the odor from below may come up to +you, but use your smelling salts and think no evil. I do not hope to +ever be able to clean it up, but certainly you must never think of +trying." + +Do you think any woman would stand for that? She would say: "John, you +are all right in your way, but there are some places where your brain +skids. Perhaps you had better stay downtown today for lunch. But on +your way down please call at the grocer's, and send me a scrubbing +brush and a package of Dutch Cleanser, and some chloride of lime, and +now hurry." Women have cleaned up things since time began; and if +women ever get into politics there will be a cleaning-out of +pigeon-holes and forgotten corners, on which the dust of years has +fallen, and the sound of the political carpet-beater will be heard in +the land. + +There is another hardy perennial that constantly lifts its head above +the earth, persistently refusing to be ploughed under, and that is that +if women were ever given a chance to participate in outside affairs, +that family quarrels would result; that men and their wives who have +traveled the way of life together, side by side, for years, and come +safely through religious discussions, and discussions relating to "his" +people and "her" people, would angrily rend each other over politics, +and great damage to the furniture would be the result. Father and son +have been known to live under the same roof and vote differently, and +yet live! Not only live, but live peaceably! If a husband and wife +are going to quarrel they will find a cause for dispute easily enough, +and will not be compelled to wait for election day. And supposing that +they have never, never had a single dispute, and not a ripple has ever +marred the placid surface of their matrimonial sea, I believe that a +small family jar--or at least a real lively argument--will do them +good. It is in order to keep the white-winged angel of peace hovering +over the home that married women are not allowed to vote in many +places. Spinsters and widows are counted worthy of voice in the +selection of school trustee, and alderman, and mayor, but not the woman +who has taken to herself a husband and still has him. + +What a strange commentary on marriage that it should disqualify a woman +from voting. Why should marriage disqualify a woman? Men have been +known to vote for years after they were dead! + +Quite different from the "family jar" theory, another reason is +advanced against married women voting--it is said that they would all +vote with their husbands, and that the married man's vote would thereby +be doubled. We believe it is eminently right and proper that husband +and wife should vote the same way, and in that case no one would be +able to tell whether the wife was voting with the husband or the +husband voting with the wife. Neither would it matter. If giving the +franchise to women did nothing more than double the married man's vote +it would do a splendid thing for the country, for the married man is +the best voter we have; generally speaking, he is a man of family and +property--surely if we can depend on anyone we can depend upon him, and +if by giving his wife a vote we can double his--we have done something +to offset the irresponsible transient vote of the man who has no +interest in the community. + +There is another sturdy prejudice that blooms everywhere in all +climates, and that is that women would not vote if they had the +privilege; and this is many times used as a crushing argument against +woman suffrage. But why worry? If women do not use it, then surely +there is no harm done; but those who use the argument seem to imply +that a vote unused is a very dangerous thing to leave lying around, and +will probably spoil and blow up. In support of this statement +instances are cited of women letting their vote lie idle and unimproved +in elections for school trustee and alderman. Of course, the +percentage of men voting in these contests was quite small, too, but no +person finds fault with that. + +Women may have been careless about their franchise in elections where +no great issue is at stake, but when moral matters are being decided +women have not shown any lack of interest. As a result of the first +vote cast by the women of Illinois over one thousand saloons went out +of business. Ask the liquor dealers if they think women will use the +ballot. They do not object to woman suffrage on the ground that women +will not vote, but because they will. + +"Why, Uncle Henry!" exclaimed one man to another on election day. "I +never saw you out to vote before. What struck you?" + +"Hadn't voted for fifteen years," declared Uncle Henry, "but you bet I +came out today to vote against givin' these fool women a vote; what's +the good of givin' them a vote? they wouldn't use it!" + +Then, of course, on the other hand there are those who claim that women +would vote too much--that they would vote not wisely but too well; that +they would take up voting as a life work to the exclusion of husband, +home and children. There seems to be considerable misapprehension on +the subject of voting. It is really a simple and perfectly innocent +performance, quickly over, and with no bad after-effects. + +It is usually done in a vacant room in a school or the vestry of a +church, or a town hall. No drunken men stare at you. You are not +jostled or pushed--you wait your turn in an orderly line, much as you +have waited to buy a ticket at a railway station. Two tame and +quiet-looking men sit at a table, and when your turn comes, they ask +you your name, which is perhaps slightly embarrassing, but it is not as +bad as it might be, for they do not ask your age, or of what disease +did your grandmother die. You go behind the screen with your ballot +paper in your hand, and there you find a seal-brown pencil tied with a +chaste white string. Even the temptation of annexing the pencil is +removed from your frail humanity. You mark your ballot, and drop it in +the box, and come out into the sunlight again. If you had never heard +that you had done an unladylike thing you would not know it. It all +felt solemn, and serious, and very respectable to you, something like a +Sunday-school convention. Then, too, you are surprised at what a short +time you have been away from home. You put the potatoes on when you +left home, and now you are back in time to strain them. + +In spite of the testimony of many reputable women that they have been +able to vote and get the dinner on one and the same day, there still +exists a strong belief that the whole household machinery goes out of +order when a woman goes to vote. No person denies a woman the right to +go to church, and yet the church service takes a great deal more time +than voting. People even concede to women the right to go shopping, or +visiting a friend, or an occasional concert. But the wife and mother, +with her God-given, sacred trust of molding the young life of our land, +must never dream of going round the corner to vote. "Who will mind the +baby?" cried one of our public men, in great agony of spirit, "when the +mother goes to vote?" + +One woman replied that she thought she could get the person that minded +it when she went to pay her taxes--which seemed to be a fairly +reasonable proposition. Yet the hardy plant of prejudice flourishes, +and the funny pictures still bring a laugh. + +Father comes home, tired, weary, footsore, toe-nails ingrowing, caused +by undarned stockings, and finds the fire out, house cold and empty, +save for his half-dozen children, all crying. + +"Where is your mother?" the poor man asks in broken tones. For a +moment the sobs are hushed while little Ellie replies: "Out voting!" + +Father bursts into tears. + +Of course, people tell us, it is not the mere act of voting which +demoralizes women--if they would only vote and be done with it; but +women are creatures of habit, and habits once formed are hard to break; +and although the polls are only open every three or four years, if +women once get into the way of going to them, they will hang around +there all the rest of the time. It is in woman's impressionable nature +that the real danger lies. + +Another shoot of this hardy shrub of prejudice is that women are too +good to mingle in everyday life--they are too sweet and too frail--that +women are angels. If women are angels we should try to get them into +public life as soon as possible, for there is a great shortage of +angels there just at present, if all we hear is true. + +Then there is the pedestal theory--that women are away up on a +pedestal, and down below, looking up at them with deep adoration, are +men, their willing slaves. Sitting up on a pedestal does not appeal +very strongly to a healthy woman--and, besides, if a woman has been on +a pedestal for any length of time, it must be very hard to have to come +down and cut the wood. + +These tender-hearted and chivalrous gentlemen who tell you of their +adoration for women, cannot bear to think of women occupying public +positions. Their tender hearts shrink from the idea of women lawyers +or women policemen, or even women preachers; these positions would "rub +the bloom off the peach," to use their own eloquent words. They cannot +bear, they say, to see women leaving the sacred precincts of home--and +yet their offices are scrubbed by women who do their work while other +people sleep--poor women who leave the sacred precincts of home to earn +enough to keep the breath of life in them, who carry their scrub-pails +home, through the deserted streets, long after the cars have stopped +running. They are exposed to cold, to hunger, to insult--poor +souls--is there any pity felt for them? Not that we have heard of. +The tender-hearted ones can bear this with equanimity. It is the +thought of women getting into comfortable and well-paid positions which +wrings their manly hearts. + +Another aspect of the case is that women can do more with their +indirect influence than by the ballot; though just why they cannot do +better still with both does not appear to be very plain. The ballot is +a straight-forward dignified way of making your desire or choice felt. +There are some things which are not pleasant to talk about, but would +be delightful to vote against. Instead of having to beg, and coax, and +entreat, and beseech, and denounce as women have had to do all down the +centuries, in regard to the evil things which threaten to destroy their +homes and those whom they love, what a glorious thing it would be if +women could go out and vote against these things. It seems like a +straightforward and easy way of expressing one's opinion. + +But, of course, popular opinion says it is not "womanly." The "womanly +way" is to nag and tease. Women have often been told that if they go +about it right they can get anything. They are encouraged to plot and +scheme, and deceive, and wheedle, and coax for things. This is womanly +and sweet. Of course, if this fails, they still have tears--they can +always cry and have hysterics, and raise hob generally, but they must +do it in a womanly way. Will the time ever come when the word +"feminine" will have in it no trace of trickery? + +Women are too sentimental to vote, say the politicians sometimes. +Sentiment is nothing to be ashamed of, and perhaps an infusion of +sentiment in politics is what we need. Honor and honesty, love and +loyalty, are only sentiments, and yet they make the fabric out of which +our finest traditions are woven. The United States has sent carloads +of flour to starving Belgium because of a sentiment. Belgium refused +to let Germany march over her land because of a sentiment, and Canada +has responded to the SOS call of the Empire because of a sentiment. It +seems that it is sentiment which redeems our lives from sordidness and +selfishness, and occasionally gives us a glimpse of the upper country. + +For too long people have regarded politics as a scheme whereby easy +money might be obtained. Politics has meant favors, pulls, easy jobs +for friends, new telephone lines, ditches. The question has not been: +"What can I do for my country?" but: "What can I get? What is there in +this for me?" The test of a member of Parliament as voiced by his +constituents has been: "What has he got for us?" The good member who +will be elected the next time is the one who did not forget his +friends, who got us a Normal School, or a Court House, or an +Institution for the Blind, something that we could see or touch, eat or +drink. Surely a touch of sentiment in politics would do no harm. + +Then there is the problem of the foreign woman's vote. Many people +fear that the granting of woman suffrage would greatly increase the +unintelligent vote, because the foreign women would then have the +franchise, and in our blind egotism we class our foreign people as +ignorant people, if they do not know our ways and our language. They +may know many other languages, but if they have not yet mastered ours +they are poor, ignorant foreigners. We Anglo-Saxon people have a +decided sense of our own superiority, and we feel sure that our skin is +exactly the right color, and we people from Huron and Bruce feel sure +that we were born in the right place, too. So we naturally look down +upon those who happen to be of a different race and tongue than our own. + +It is a sad feature of humanity that we are disposed to hate what we do +not understand; we naturally suspect and distrust where we do not know. +Hens are like that, too! When a strange fowl comes into a farmyard all +the hens take a pick at it--not that it has done anything wrong, but +they just naturally do not like the look of its face because it is +strange. Now that may be very good ethics for hens, but it is hardly +good enough for human beings. Our attitude toward the foreign people +was well exemplified in one of the missions, where a little Italian +boy, who had been out two years, refused to sit beside a newly arrived +Italian boy, who, of course, could not speak a word of English. The +teacher asked him to sit with his lately arrived compatriot, so that he +might interpret for him. The older boy flatly refused, and told the +teacher he "had no use for them young dagos." + +"You see," said the teacher sadly, when telling the story, "he had +caught the Canadian spirit." + +People say hard things about the corruptible foreign vote, but they +place the emphasis in the wrong place. Instead of using our harsh +adjectives for the poor fellow who sells his vote, let us save them all +for the corrupt politician who buys it, for he cannot plead +ignorance--he knows what he is doing. The foreign people who come to +Canada, come with burning enthusiasm for the new land, this land of +liberty--land of freedom. Some have been seen kissing the ground in an +ecstacy of gladness when they arrive. It is the land of their dreams, +where they hope to find home and happiness. They come to us with +ideals of citizenship that shame our narrow, mercenary standards. +These men are of a race which has gladly shed its blood for freedom and +is doing it today. But what happens? They go out to work on +construction gangs for the summer, they earn money for several months, +and when the work closes down they drift back into the cities. They +have done the work we wanted them to do, and no further thought is +given to them. They may get off the earth so far as we are concerned. +One door stands invitingly open to them. There is one place they are +welcome--so long as their money lasts--and around the bar they get +their ideals of citizenship. + +When an election is held, all at once this new land of their adoption +begins to take an interest in them, and political heelers, well paid +for the job, well armed with whiskey, cigars and money, go among them, +and, in their own language, tell them which way they must vote--and +they do. Many an election, has been swung by this means. One new +arrival, just learning our language, expressed his contempt for us by +exclaiming: "Bah! Canada is not a country--it's just a place to make +money." That was all he had seen. He spoke correctly from his point +of view. + +Then when the elections are over, and the Government is sustained, the +men who have climbed back to power by these means speak eloquently of +our "foreign people who have come to our shores to find freedom under +the sheltering folds of our grand old flag (cheers), on which the sun +never sets, and under whose protection all men are free and equal--with +an equal chance of molding the destiny of the great Empire of which we +make a part." (Cheers and prolonged applause.) + +If we really understood how, with our low political ideals and +iniquitous election methods, we have corrupted the souls of these men +who have come to live among us, we would no longer cheer, when we hear +this old drivel of the "folds of the flag." We would think with shame +of how we have driven the patriotism out of these men and replaced it +by the greed of gain, and instead of cheers and applause we would cry: +"Lord, have mercy upon us!" + +The foreign women, whom politicians and others look upon as such a +menace, are differently dealt with than the men. They do not go out to +work, en masse, as the men do. They work one by one, and are brought +in close contact with their employers. The women who go out washing +and cleaning spend probably five days a week in the homes of other +women. Surely one of her five employers will take an interest in her, +and endeavor to instruct her in the duties of citizenship. Then, too, +the mission work is nearly all done for women and girls. The foreign +women generally speak English before the men, for the reason that they +are brought in closer contact with English-speaking people. When I +hear people speaking of the ignorant foreign women I think of "Mary," +and "Annie," and others I have known. I see their broad foreheads and +intelligent kindly faces, and think of the heroic struggle they are +making to bring their families up in thrift and decency. Would Mary +vote against liquor if she had the chance? She would. So would you if +your eyes had been blackened as often by a drunken husband. There is +no need to instruct these women on the evils of liquor drinking--they +are able to give you a few aspects of the case which perhaps you had +not thought of. We have no reason to be afraid of the foreign woman's +vote. I wish we were as sure of the ladies who live on the Avenue. + +There are people who tell us that the reason women must never be +allowed to vote is because they do not want to vote, the inference +being that women are never given anything that they do not want. It +sounds so chivalrous and protective and high-minded. But women have +always got things that they did not want. Women do not want the liquor +business, but they have it; women do not want less pay for the same +work as men, but they get it. Women did not want the present war, but +they have it. The fact of women's preference has never been taken very +seriously, but it serves here just as well as anything else. Even the +opponents of woman suffrage will admit that some women want to vote, +but they say they are a very small minority, and "not our best women." +That is a classification which is rather difficult of proof and of no +importance anyway. It does not matter whether it is the best, or +second best, or the worst who are asking for a share in citizenship; +voting is not based on morality, but on humanity. No man votes because +he is one of our best men. He votes because he is of the male sex, and +over twenty-one years of age. The fact that many women are indifferent +on the subject does not alter the situation. People are indifferent +about many things that they should be interested in. The indifference +of people on the subject of ventilation and hygiene does not change the +laws of health. The indifference of many parents on the subject of an +education for their children does not alter the value of education. If +one woman wants to vote, she should have that opportunity just as if +one woman desires a college education, she should not be held back +because of the indifferent careless ones who do not desire it. Why +should the mentally inert, careless, uninterested woman, who cares +nothing for humanity but is contented to patter along her own little +narrow way, set the pace for the others of us? Voting will not be +compulsory; the shrinking violets will not be torn from their shady +fence-corner; the "home bodies" will be able to still sit in rapt +contemplation of their own fireside. We will not force the vote upon +them, but why should they force their votelessness upon us? + +"My wife does not want to vote," declared one of our Canadian premiers +in reply to a delegation of women who asked for the vote. "My wife +would not vote if she had the chance," he further stated. No person +had asked about his wife, either. + +"I will not have my wife sit in Parliament," another man cried in +alarm, when he was asked to sign a petition giving women full right of +franchise. We tried to soothe his fears. We delicately and tactfully +declared that his wife was safe. She would not be asked to go to +Parliament by any of us--we gave him our word that she was immune from +public duties of that nature, for we knew the lady and her limitations, +and we knew she was safe--safe as a glass of milk at an old-fashioned +logging-bee; safe as a dish of cold bread pudding at a strawberry +festival. She would not have to leave home to serve her country at +"the earnest solicitation of friends" or otherwise. But he would not +sign. He saw his "Minnie" climbing the slippery ladder of political +fame. It would be his Minnie who would be chosen--he felt it coming, +the sacrifice would fall on his one little ewe-lamb. + +After one has listened to all these arguments and has contracted +clergyman's sore throat talking back, it is real relief to meet the +people who say flatly and without reason: "You can't have it--no--I +won't argue--but inasmuch as I can prevent it--you will never vote! So +there!" The men who meet the question like this are so easy to +classify. + +I remember when I was a little girl back on the farm in the Souris +Valley, I used to water the cattle on Saturday mornings, drawing the +water in an icy bucket with a windlass from a fairly deep well. We had +one old white ox, called Mike, a patriarchal-looking old sinner, who +never had enough, and who always had to be watered first. Usually I +gave him what I thought he should have and then took him back to the +stable and watered the others. But one day I was feeling real strong, +and I resolved to give Mike all he could drink, even if it took every +drop of water in the well. I must admit that I cherished a secret hope +that he would kill himself drinking. I will not set down here in cold +figures how many pails of water Mike drank--but I remember. At last he +could not drink another drop, and stood shivering beside the trough, +blowing the last mouthful out of his mouth like a bad child. I waited +to see if he would die, or at least turn away and give the others a +chance. The thirsty cattle came crowding around him, but old Mike, so +full I am sure he felt he would never drink another drop of water again +as long as he lived, deliberately and with difficulty put his two front +feet over the trough and kept all the other cattle away.... Years +afterwards I had the pleasure of being present when a delegation waited +upon the Government of one of the provinces of Canada, and presented +many reasons for extending the franchise to women. One member of the +Government arose and spoke for all his colleagues. He said in +substance: "You can't have it--so long as I have anything to do with +the affairs of this province--you shall not have it!"... + +Did your brain ever give a queer little twist, and suddenly you were +conscious that the present mental process had taken place before. If +you have ever had it, you will know what I mean, and if you haven't I +cannot make you understand. I had that feeling then.... I said to +myself: "Where have I seen that face before?" ... Then, suddenly, I +remembered, and in my heart I cried out: "Mike!--old friend, Mike! +Dead these many years! Your bones lie buried under the fertile soil of +the Souris Valley, but your soul goes marching on! Mike, old friend, I +see you again--both feet in the trough!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +GENTLE LADY + + The soul that idleth will surely die. + + +I am sorry to have to say so, but there are some women who love to be +miserable, who have a perfect genius for martyrdom, who take a delight +in seeing how badly they can be treated, who seek out hard ways for +their feet, who court tears rather than laughter. Such a one is hard +to live with, for they glory in their cross, and simply revel in their +burdens, and they so contrive that all who come in contact with them +become a party to their martyrdom, and thus even innocent people, who +never intended to oppress the weak or harass the innocent, are led into +these heinous sins. + +Mrs. M. was one of these. She prided herself on never telling anyone +to do what she could do herself. Her own poetic words were: "I'd crawl +on my hands and knees before I would ask anyone to do things for me. +If they can't see what's to be done, I'll not tell them." This was her +declaration of independence. Needless to say, Mrs. M. had a large +domestic help problem. Her domestic helpers were continually going and +coming. The inefficient ones she would not keep, and the efficient +ones would not stay with her. So the burden of the home fell heavily +on her, and, pulling her martyr's crown close down on her head, she +worked feverishly. When she was not working she was bemoaning her sad +lot, and indulging in large drafts of self-pity. The holidays she +spent were in sanatoriums and hospitals, but she gloried in her +illnesses. + +She would make the journey upstairs for the scissors rather than ask +anyone to bring them down for her, and then cherish a hurt feeling for +the next hour because nobody noticed that she was needing scissors. +She expected all her family, and the maids especially, to be mind +readers, and because they were not she was bitterly grieved. There is +not much hope for people when they make a virtue of their sins. + +She often told the story of what happened when her Tommy was two days +old. She told it to illustrate her independence of character, but most +people thought it showed something quite different. Mr. M. was +displeased with his dinner on this particular day, and, in his +blundering man's way, complained to his wife about the cooking and left +the house without finishing his meal. Mrs. M. forthwith decided that +she would wear the martyr's crown, again and some more! She got up and +cooked the next meal, in spite of the wild protests of the frightened +maid and nurse, who foresaw disaster. Mrs. M. took violently ill as a +result of her exertions just as she hoped she would, and now, after a +lapse of twenty years, proudly tells that her subsequent illness lasted +six weeks and cost six hundred dollars, and she is proud of it! + +A wiser woman would have handled the situation with tact. When Mr. M. +came storming upstairs, waving his table-napkin and feeling much +abused, she would have calmed him down by telling him not to wake the +baby, thereby directing his attention to the small pink traveler who +had so recently joined the company. She would have explained to him +that even if his dinner had not been quite satisfactory, he was lucky +to get anything in troublous times like these; she would have told him +that if, having to eat poor meals was all the discomfiture that came +his way, he was getting off light and easy. She might even go so far +as to remind him that the one who asks the guests must always pay the +piper. + +There need not have been any heartburnings or regrets or perturbation +of spirit. Mr. M. would have felt ashamed of his outbreak and +apologized to her and to the untroubled Tommy, and gone downstairs, and +eaten his stewed prunes with an humble and thankful heart. + +This love of martyrdom is deeply ingrained in the heart of womankind, +and comes from long bitter years of repression and tyranny. An old +handbook on etiquette earnestly enjoins all young ladies who desire to +be pleasing in the eyes of men to "avoid a light rollicking manner, and +to cultivate a sweet plaintiveness, as of hidden sorrow bravely borne." +It also declares that if any young lady has a robust frame, she must be +careful to dissemble it, for it is in her frailty that woman can make +her greatest appeal to man. No man wishes to marry an Amazon. It also +earnestly commends a piece of sewing to be ever in the hand of the +young lady who would attract the opposite sex! The use of large words +or any show of learning or of unseemly intelligence is to be carefully +avoided. + +People have all down the centuries blocked out for women a weeping +part. "Man must work and women must weep." So the habit of martyrdom +has sort of settled down on us. + +I will admit there has been some reason for it. Women do suffer more +than men. They are physically smaller and weaker, more highly +sensitive and therefore have a greater capacity for suffering. They +have all the ordinary ills of humanity, and then some! They have above +all been the victims of wrong thinking--they have been steeped in tears +and false sentiments. People still speak of womanhood as if it were a +disease. + +Society has had its lash raised for women everywhere, and some have +taken advantage of this to serve their own ends. An orphan girl, +ignorant of the world's ways and terribly frightened of them, was told +by her mistress that if she were to leave the roof which sheltered her +she would get "talked about," and lose her good name. So she was able +to keep the orphan working for five dollars a month. She used the lash +to her own advantage. + +Fear of "talk" has kept many a woman quiet. Woman's virtue has been +heavy responsibility not to be forgotten for an instant. + +"Remember, Judge," cried out a woman about to be sentenced for +stealing, "that I am an honest woman." + +"I believe you are," replied the judge, "and I will be lenient with +you." + +The word "honest" as applied to women means "virtuous." It has +overshadowed all other virtues, and in a way appeared to make them of +no account. + +The physical disabilities of women which have been augmented and +exaggerated by our insane way of dressing has had much to do with +shaping women's thought. The absurdly tight skirts which prevented the +wearer from walking like a human being, made a pitiful cry to the +world. They were no doubt worn as a protest against the new movement +among women, which has for its object the larger liberty, the larger +humanity of women. The hideous mincing gait of the tightly-skirted +women seems to speak. It said: "I am not a useful human being--see! I +cannot walk--I dare not run, but I am a woman--I still have my sex to +commend me. I am not of use, I am made to be supported. My sex is my +only appeal." + +Rather an indelicate and unpleasant thought, too, for an "honest" woman +to advertise so brazenly. The tight skirts and diaphanous garments +were plainly a return to "sex." The ultra feminine felt they were +going to lose something in this agitation for equality. They do not +want rights--they want privileges--like the servants who prefer tips to +wages. This is not surprising. Keepers of wild animals tell us that +when an animal has been a long time in captivity it prefers captivity +to freedom, and even when the door of the cage is opened it will not +come out--but that is no argument against freedom. + +The anti-suffrage attitude of mind is not so much a belief as a +disease. I read a series of anti-suffrage articles not long ago in the +_New York Times_. They all were written in the same strain: "We are +gentle ladies. Protect us. We are weak, very weak, but very loving." +There was not one strong nourishing sentence that would inspire anyone +to fight the good fight. It was all anemic and bloodless, and +beseeching, and had the indefinable sick-headache, kimona, +breakfast-in-bed quality in it, that repels the strong and healthy. +They talked a great deal of the care and burden of motherhood. They +had no gleam of humor--not one. The anti-suffragists dwell much on +what a care children are. Their picture of a mother is a tired, faded, +bedraggled woman, with a babe in her arms, two other small children +holding to her skirts, all crying. According to them, children never +grow up, and no person can ever attend to them but the mother. Of +course, the anti-suffragists are not this kind themselves. Not at all. +They talk of potential motherhood--but that is usually about as far as +they go. Potential motherhood sounds well and hurts nobody. + +The Gentle Lady still believes in the masculine terror of tears, and +the judicious use of fainting. The Jane Austin heroine always did it +and it worked well. She burst into tears on one page and fainted dead +away on the next. That just showed what a gentle lady she was, and +what a tender heart she had, and it usually did the trick. Lord +Algernon was there to catch her in his arms. She would not faint if he +wasn't. + +The Gentle Lady does not like to hear distressing things. Said a very +gentle lady not long ago: "Now, please do not tell me about how these +ready-to-wear garments are made, because I do not wish to know. The +last time I heard a woman talk about the temptation of factory girls, +my head ached all evening and I could not sleep." (When the Gentle +Lady has a headache it is no small affair--everyone knows it!) Then +the Gentle Lady will tell you how ungrateful her washwoman was when she +gave her a perfectly good, but, of course, a little bit soiled party +dress, or a pair of skates for her lame boy, or some such suitable gift +at Christmas. She did not act a bit nicely about it! + +The Gentle Lady has a very personal and local point of view. She +looks, at the whole world as related to herself--it all revolves around +her, and therefore what she says, or what "husband" says, is final. +She is particularly bitter against the militant suffragette, and +excitedly declares they should all be deported. + +"I cannot understand them!" she cries. + +Therein the Gentle Lady speaks truly. She cannot understand them, for +she has nothing to understand them with. It takes nobility of heart to +understand nobility of heart. It takes an unselfishness of purpose to +understand unselfishness of purpose. + +"What do they want?" cries the Gentle Lady. "Why some of them are rich +women--some of them are titled women. Why don't they mind their own +business and attend to their own children?" + +"But maybe they have no children, or maybe their children, like Mrs. +Pankhurst's, are grown up!" + +The Gentle Lady will not hear you--will not debate it--she turns to the +personal aspect again. + +"Well, I am sure _I_ have enough to do with my own affairs, and I +really have no patience with that sort of thing!" + +That settles it! + +She does not see, of course, that the new movement among women is a +spiritual movement--that women, whose work has been taken away from +them, are now beating at new doors, crying to be let in that they may +take part in new labors, and thus save womanhood from the enervation +which is threatening it. Women were intended to guide and sustain +life, to care for the race; not feed on it. + +Wherever women have become parasites on the race, it has heralded the +decay of that race. History has proven this over and over again. In +ancient Greece, in the days of its strength and glory, the women bore +their full share of the labor, both manual and mental; not only the +women of the poorer classes, but queens and princesses carried water +from the well; washed their linen in the stream; doctored and nursed +their households; manufactured the clothing for their families; and, in +addition to these labors, performed a share of the highest social +functions as priestesses and prophetesses. + +These were the women who became the mothers of the heroes, thinkers and +artists, who laid the foundation of the Greek nation. + +In the day of toil and struggle, the race prospered and grew, but when +the days of ease and idleness came upon Greece, when the accumulated +wealth of subjugated nations, the cheap service of slaves and subject +people, made physical labor no longer a necessity; the women grew fat, +lazy and unconcerned, and the whole race degenerated, for the race can +rise no higher than its women. For a while the men absorbed and +reflected the intellectual life, for there still ran in their veins the +good red blood of their sturdy grandmothers. But the race was doomed +by the indolent, self-indulgent and parasitic females. The women did +not all degenerate. Here and there were found women on whom wealth had +no power. There was a Sappho, and an Aspasia, who broke out into +activity and stood beside their men-folk in intellectual attainment, +but the other women did not follow; they were too comfortable, too well +fed, too well housed, to be bothered. They had everything--jewels, +dresses, slaves. Why worry? They went back to their cushions and rang +for tea--or the Grecian equivalent; and so it happened that in the +fourth century Greece fell like a rotten tree. Her conqueror was the +indomitable Alexander, son of the strong and virile Olympia. + +The mighty Roman nation followed in the same path. In the days of her +strength, and national health, the women took their full share of the +domestic burden, and as well fulfilled important social functions. +Then came slave labor, and the Roman woman no longer worked at +honorable employment. She did not have to. She painted her face, wore +patches on her cheeks, drove in her chariot, and adopted a mincing +foolish gait that has come down to us even in this day. Her children +were reared by someone else--the nursery governess idea began to take +hold. She took no interest in the government of the state, and soon +was not fit to take any. Even then, there were writers who saw the +danger, and cried out against it, and were not a bit more beloved than +the people who proclaim these things now. The writers who told of +these things and the dangers to which they were leading unfortunately +suggested no remedy. They thought they could drive women back to the +water pitcher and the loom, but that was impossible. The clock of time +will not turn back. Neither is it by a return to hand-sewing, or a +resurrection of quilt-patching that women of the present day will save +the race. The old avenues of labor are closed. It is no longer +necessary for women to spin and weave, cure meats, and make household +remedies, or even fashion the garments for their household. All these +things are done in factories. But there are new avenues for women's +activities, if we could only clear away the rubbish of prejudice which +blocks the entrance. Some women, indeed many women, are busy clearing +away the prejudice; many more are eagerly watching from their boudoir +windows; many, many more--the "gentle ladies," reclining on their +couches, fed, housed, clothed by other hands than their own--say: "What +fools these women be!" + +There are many women who are already bitten by the poisonous fly of +parasitism; there are many women in whose hearts all sense of duty to +the race has died, and these belong to many classes. A woman may +become a parasite on a very limited amount of money, for the corroding +and enervating effect of wealth and comfort sets in just as soon as the +individuality becomes clogged, and causes one to rest content from +further efforts, on the strength of the labor of someone else. Queen +Victoria, in her palace of marble and gold, was able to retain her +virility of thought and independence of action as clearly as any +pioneer woman who ever battled with conditions, while many a +tradesman's wife whose husband gets a raise sufficient for her to keep +one maid, immediately goes on the retired list, and lets her brain and +muscles atrophy. + +The woman movement, which has been scoffed and jeered at and +misunderstood most of all by the people whom it is destined to help, is +a spiritual revival of the best instincts of womanhood--the instinct to +serve and save the race. + +Too long have the gentle ladies sat in their boudoirs looking at life +in a mirror like the Lady of Shallot, while down below, in the street, +the fight rages, and other women, and defenseless children, are getting +the worst of it. But the cry is going up to the boudoir ladies to come +down and help us, for the battle goes sorely; and many there are who +are throwing aside the mirror and coming out where the real things are. +The world needs the work and help of the women, and the women must +work, if the race will survive. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +WOMEN AND THE CHURCH + + HEART TO HEART TALK WITH THE WOMEN OF THE + CHURCH BY THE GOVERNING BODIES + + Go, labor on, good sister Anne, + Abundant may thy labors be; + To magnify thy brother man + Is all the Lord requires of thee! + + Go, raise the mortgage, year by year, + And joyously thy way pursue, + And when you get the title clear, + We'll move a vote of thanks to you! + + Go, labor on, the night draws nigh; + Go, build us churches--as you can. + The times are hard, but chicken-pie + Will do the trick. Oh, rustle, Anne! + + Go, labor on, good sister Sue, + To home and church your life devote; + But never, never ask to vote, + Or we'll be very cross with you! + + May no rebellion cloud your mind, + But joyous let your race be run. + The conference is good and kind + And knows God's will for every one! + + +In dealing with the relation of women to the church, let me begin +properly with a text in Genesis which says: "God created man in his +_own _image ... male and female created he _them_." That is to say, He +created male man and female man. Further on in the story of the +creation it says: "He gave _them_ dominion, etc." + +It would seem from this, that men and women got away to a fair start. +There was no inequality to begin with. God gave _them_ dominion over +everything; there were no favors, no special privileges. Whatever +inequality has crept in since, has come without God's sanction. It is +well to exonerate God from all blame in the matter, for He has been +often accused of starting women off with a handicap. The inequality +has arisen from men's superior physical strength, which became more +pronounced as civilization advanced, and which is only noticeable in +the human family. Among all animals, with the possible exception of +cattle, the female is quite as large and as well endowed as the male. +It is easy for bigger and stronger people to arrogate to themselves a +general superiority. Christ came to rebuke the belief that brute +strength is the dominant force in life. + +It is no wonder that the teachings of Christ make a special appeal to +women, for Christ was a true democrat. He made no discrimination +between men and women. They were all human beings to Him, with souls +to save and lives to live, and He applied to men and women the same +rule of conduct. + +When the Pharisees brought the woman to Him, accused of a serious +crime, insistent that she be stoned at once, Christ turned his +attention to them. "Let him that is without sin among you throw the +first stone," he said. Up to this moment they had been feeling +deliciously good, and the contemplation of the woman's sinfulness had +given them positive thrills of virtue. But now suddenly each man felt +the spotlight on himself, and he winced painfully. Ordinarily they +would have bluffed it off, and laughingly declared they were no worse +than other men. But the eyes of the Master were on them--kind eyes, +patient always, but keen and sharp as a surgeon's knife; and measuring +themselves up with the sinless Son of God, their pitiful little pile of +respectability fell into irreparable ruin. They forgot all about the +woman and her sin as they saw their own miserable sin-eaten, souls, and +they slid out noiselessly. When they were gone Christ asked the woman +where were her accusers. + +"No man hath condemned me, Lord," she answered truthfully. + +"Neither do I condemn you," He said. "Go in peace--sin no more!" + +I believe that woman did go in peace, and I also believe that she +sinned no more, for she had a new vision of manhood, and purity, and +love. All at once, life had changed for her. + +The Christian Church has departed in some places from Christ's +teaching--noticeably in its treatment of women. Christ taught the +nobility of loving service freely given; but such a tame uninteresting +belief as that did not appeal to the military masculine mind. It +declared Christianity was fit only for women and slaves, whose duty and +privilege it was lovingly to serve men. The men of Christ's time held +His doctrines in contempt. They wanted gratification, praise, glory, +applause, action--red blood and raw meat, and this man, this carpenter, +nothing but a working man from an obscure village, dared to tell them +they should love their neighbor as themselves, that they should bless +and curse not. + +There was no fun in that! No wonder they began to seek how they could +destroy him! Such doctrine was fit for only women and slaves! + +It is sometimes stated as a reason for excluding women from the highest +courts of the church, that Christ chose men for all of his +disciples--that it was to men, and men only, that he gave the command: +"Go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creature," but +that is a very debatable matter. Christ's scribes were all men, and in +writing down the sacred story, they would naturally ignore the woman's +part of it. It is not more than twenty years ago that in a well-known +church paper appeared this sentence, speaking of a series of revival +meetings: "The converted numbered over a hundred souls, exclusive of +women and children." If after nineteen centuries of Christian +civilization the scribe ignores women, even in the matter of +conversion, we have every reason to believe that Matthew, Mark, Luke or +John might easily fail to give women a place "among those present" or +the "also rans." + +Superior physical force is an insidious thing, and has biased the +judgment of even good men. St. Augustine declared woman to be "a +household menace; a daily peril; a necessary evil." St. Paul, too, +added his contribution and advised all men who wished to serve God +faithfully to refrain from marriage "even as I." "However," he said, +"if you feel you must marry, go ahead--only don't say I did not warn +you!" Saint Paul is very careful to say that he is giving this advice +quite on his own authority, but that has in no way dimmed the faith of +those who have quoted it. + +Later writers like Sir Almoth Wright declare there are no good women, +though there are some who have come under the influence of good men. +Many men have felt perfectly qualified to sum up all women in a few +crisp sentences, and they do not shrink from declaring in their modest +way that they understand women far better than women understand +themselves. They love to talk of women in bulk, all women--and quite +cheerfully tell us women are illogical, frivolous, jealous, vindictive, +forgiving, affectionate, not any too honest, patient, frail, +delightful, inconstant, faithful. Let us all take heart of grace for +it seems we are the whole thing! + +Almost all the books written about women have been written by men. +Women have until the last fifty years been the inarticulate sex; but +although they have had little to say about themselves they have heard +much. It is a very poor preacher or lecturer who has not a lengthy +discourse on "Woman's True Place." It is a very poor platform +performer who cannot take the stand and show women exactly wherein they +err. "This way, ladies, for the straight and narrow path!" If women +have gone aside from the straight and narrow path it is not because +they have not been advised to pursue it. Man long ago decided that +woman's sphere was anything he did not wish to do himself, and as he +did not particularly care for the straight and narrow way, he felt free +to recommend it to women in general. He did not wish to tie himself +too closely to home either and still he knew somebody should stay on +the job, so he decided that home was woman's sphere. + +The church has been dominated by men and so religion has been given a +masculine interpretation, and I believe the Protestant religion has +lost much when it lost the idea of the motherhood of God. There come +times when human beings do not crave the calm, even-handed justice of a +father nearly so much as the soft-hearted, loving touch of a mother, +and to many a man or woman whose home life has not been happy, "like as +a father pitieth his children" sounds like a very cheap and cruel +sarcasm. + +It has been contended by those high in authority in church life, that +the admission of women into all the departments of the church will have +the tendency to drive men out. Indeed some declare that the small +attendance of men at church services is accounted for by the +"feminization of the church," which is, in other words, an admission of +a very ugly fact that even in the sacred precincts of the church, women +are held in mild contempt. Many men will resent this statement hotly, +but a brief glance at some of the conditions which prevail in our +social life will prove that there is a great amount of truth in it. +Look at the fine scorn with which small boys regard girls! You cannot +insult a boy more deeply than to tell him he looks like a girl--and the +bitterest insult one boy can hand out to another is to call him a +"sissy." This has been carefully taught to our small boys, for if they +were left to their own observations and deductions they would hold +girls in as high esteem as boys. I remember once seeing a fond mother +buying a coat for her only son, aged seven years. The salesman had put +on a pretty little blue reefer, and the mother was quite pleased with +it, and a sale was apparently in sight. Then the salesman was guilty +of a serious mistake, for as he pulled down the little coat and patted +the shoulders he said: "This is a standard cut, madam, which is always +popular, and we sell a great many of them for both boys and girls." + +Girls! + +Reggie's mother stiffened, and with withering scorn declared that she +did not wish Reggie to wear a girl's coat. She would look at something +else. Reggie pulled off the coat, as if it burned him, and felt he had +been perilously near to something very compromising and indelicate. +Thus did young Reggie receive a lesson in sex contempt at the hands of +his mother! + +Let us lay the blame where it belongs. If any man holds women in +contempt--and many do--their mothers are to blame for it in the first +place, it began in the nursery but was fostered on the street, and +nourished in the school where sitting with a girl has been handed out +as a punishment, containing the very dregs of humiliation; where boys +are encouraged to play games and have a good time, but where until a +few years ago girls were expected to "sit around and act ladylike" in +the playtime of the others. + +The church has contributed a share, too, in the subjection of women, in +spite of the plain teaching of our Lord, and many a sermon has been +based on the words of Saint Paul about women remaining silent in the +churches, and if any question arose to trouble her soul, she must ask +her husband quietly at home. + +But it is at the marriage altar, where women receive the crowning +insult. "Who gives this woman away?" asks the minister. "I do," says +her father or brother, or some male relative, without a blush. +Perfectly satisfactory. One man hands her over to another man, the +inference being that the woman has nothing to do with it. In this most +vital decision of her whole life, she has had to get a man to do the +thinking for her. It goes back to the old days, of course, when a +woman was a man's chattel, to do with as he saw fit. The word "obey" +has gone from some of the marriage ceremonies. Bishops even have seen +the absurdity of it and taken it out. + +Women have held a place all their own in the church. "I am willing +that the sisters should labor," cried an eminent doctor of the largest +Protestant church in Canada, when the question of allowing women to sit +in the highest courts of the church was discussed. "I am willing that +the sisters should labor," he said, "and that they should labor more +abundantly, but we cannot let them rule." And it was so decreed. + +Women have certainly been allowed to labor in the church. There is no +doubt of that. There are many things they may do with impunity, nay, +even hilarity. They may make strong and useful garments for the poor; +they may teach in Sunday-school and attend prayer-meeting; they may +finance the new parsonage, and augment the missionary funds by bazaars, +birthday socials, autograph quilts and fowl suppers--where the +masculine portion of the congregation are given a dollar meal for fifty +cents, which they take gladly and generously declare they do not mind +the expense for "it is all for a good cause." The women may lift +mortgages, or build churches, or any other light work, but the real +heavy work of the church, such as moving resolutions in the general +conference or assemblies, must be done by strong, hardy men! + +It is quite noticeable that each of the church dignitaries who have +opposed woman's entry into the church courts has prefaced his remarks +by elaborate apologies, and never failed to declare his great love for +womankind. Each one has bared his manly breast and called the world to +witness the fact that he loves his mother and is not ashamed to say +so--which declaration is all the more remarkable because no person was +asking, or particularly interested in his private affairs. (Query--Why +shouldn't he love his mother? Most people do.) After having delivered +his soul of these mighty, epoch-making declarations, he has proceeded +to explain that letting women into the church would be the thin edge of +the wedge, and he is afraid women will "lose their femininity." + +Women are not discouraged or cast down. Neither have they any +intention of going on strike, or withdrawing their support from the +church. They will still go on patiently, and earnestly and hopefully. +Sex prejudice is a hard thing to break down, and the smaller the man, +and the narrower his soul, the more tenaciously will he hold on to his +pitiful little belief in his own superiority. The best and ablest men +in all the churches are fighting the woman's battles now, and the +brotherly companionship, the real chivalry, and fairmindedness of these +men, are enough to keep the women's hearts cheered and encouraged. +Toward their opponents the women are very tolerant and hopeful. Many +of them have changed their beliefs in the last few years. They are +changing every day. Those who will not change will die! We always +have this assurance, and in this battle for independence, many a woman +has found comfort in poor Swinburne's pagan hymn of thanksgiving: + + From too much love of living, + From fear of death set free, + We thank thee with brief thanksgiving, + Whatever gods there be! + That no life lives forever, + That dead men rise up never, + That even the weariest river + Leads somehow safe to sea! + + +But when all is over, the battle fought and won, and women are regarded +everywhere as human beings and citizens, many women will remember with +bitterness that in the day of our struggle, the church stood off, aloof +and dignified, and let us fight alone. + +One of the arguments advanced by the men who oppose women's entry into +the full fellowship of the church is that women would ultimately seek +to preach, and the standard of preaching would be lowered. There is a +gentle compelling note of modesty about this that is not lost on +us--and we frankly admit that we would not like to see the standard of +preaching lowered; and we assure the timorous brethren that women are +not clamoring to preach; but if a woman should feel that she is +divinely called of God to deliver a message, I wonder how the church +can be so sure that she isn't. Wouldn't it be perfectly safe to let +her have her fling? There was a rule given long ago which might be +used yet to solve such a problem: + +"And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone, +for if this council, or this work, be of men, it will come to naught, +but if it be of God you cannot overthrow it, lest haply ye be found +even to fight against God." + +That seems to be a pretty fair way of looking at the matter of +preaching; but the churches have decreed otherwise, and in order to +save trouble they have decided themselves and not left it to God. It +must be great to feel that you are on the private wire from heaven and +qualified to settle a matter which concerns the spiritual destiny of +other people. + +Many theories have been propounded as to the decadence of the church, +which has become painfully apparent when great moral issues have been +at stake. That the church could stamp out the liquor traffic has often +been said, and yet although general conferences and assemblies have met +year after year, and passed resolutions declaring that "the sale of +liquor could not be licensed without sin," the liquor traffic goes +blithely on its way and gets itself licensed all right, "with sin," +perhaps, but licensed anyway. Where are all these stalwart sons of the +church who love their mothers so ostentatiously and reverence womanhood +so deeply? + +There is one of Aesop's fables which tells about a man who purchased +for himself a beautiful dog, but being a timid man, he was beset with +the fear that some day the dog might turn on him and bite him, and to +prevent this, he drew all the dog's teeth. One day a wolf attacked the +man. He called on his beautiful dog to protect him, but the poor dog +had no teeth, and so the wolf ate them both. The church fails to be +effective because it has not the use of one wing of its army, and it +has no one to blame but itself. The church has deliberately set its +face against the emancipation of women, and in that respect it has been +a perfect joy to the liquor traffic, who recognize their deadliest foe +to be the woman with a ballot in her hand. The liquor traffic rather +enjoys temperance sermons, and conventions and resolutions. They +furnish an outlet for a great deal of hot talk which hurts nobody. + +Of course, various religious bodies in convention assembled have from +time to time passed resolutions favoring woman suffrage, and +recommending it to the state, but the state has not been greatly +impressed. The state might well reply to the church by saying: "If it +is such a desirable thing why do you not try it yourself?" + +The antagonism of the church to receiving women preachers has its basis +in sex jealousy. I make this statement with deliberation. The smaller +the man, the more disposed he is to be jealous. A gentleman of the old +school, who believes women should all be housekeepers whether they want +to be or not, once went to hear a woman speak; and when asked how he +liked it he grudgingly admitted that it was clever enough. He said it +seemed to him like a pony walking on its hind legs--it was clever but +not natural. + +Woman has long been regarded by the churches as helpmate for man, with +no life of her own, but a very valuable assistant nevertheless to some +male relative. Woman's place they have long been told is to help some +man to achieve success and great reward may be hers. Some day when she +is faded and old and battered and bent, her son may be pleased to +recall her many sacrifices and declare when making his inaugural +address: "All that I am my mother made me!" There are one or two +things to be considered in this charming scene. Her son may never +arrive at this proud achievement, or even if he does, he may forget his +mother and her sacrifices, and again she may not have a son. But these +are minor matters. + +Children do not need their mother's care always, and the mother who has +given up every hope and ambition in the care of her children will find +herself left all alone, when her children no longer need her--a woman +without a job. But, dear me, how the church has exalted the +self-sacrificing mother, who never had a thought apart from her +children, and who became a willing slave to her family. Never a word +about the injury she is doing to her family in letting them be a +slave-owner, never a word of the injury she is doing to herself, never +a whisper of the time when the children may be ashamed of their +worked-out mother who did not keep up with the times. + +The preaching of the church, having been done by men, has given us the +strictly masculine viewpoint. The tragedy of the "willing slave, the +living sacrifice," naturally does not strike a man as it does a woman. +A man loves to come home and find his wife or his mother darning his +socks. He likes to believe that she does it joyously. It is +traditionally correct, and home would not be home without it. No man +wants to stay at home too long, but he likes to find his women folks +sitting around when he comes home. The stationary female and the +wide-ranging male is the world's accepted arrangement, but the belief +that a woman must cherish no hope or ambition of her own is both cruel +and unjust. + +Men have had the control of affairs for a long time, long enough +perhaps to test their ability as the arbiters of human destiny. The +world, as made by man, is cruelly unjust to women, and cruelly beset +with dangers for the innocent young girl. Praying and weeping have +been the only weapons that the church has sanctioned for women. The +weeping, of course, must be done quietly and in becoming manner. Loud +weeping becomes hysteria, and decidedly bad form. Women have prayed +and wept for a long time, and yet the liquor traffic and the white +slave traffic continue to make their inroads on the human family. The +liquor traffic and the white slave traffic are kept up by men for +man--women pay the price--the long price in suffering and shame. The +pleasure and profit--if there be any--belong to men. Women are the +sufferers--and yet the law decrees that women shall not have any voice +in regulating these matters. + +In California, where women have had the vote for three years, there has +been recently enacted a bill dealing with white slavery. It is called +the Quick Abatement Act, and provides for an immediate trial to be +given, when it is believed that prostitution is being carried on in any +house. Our system, under which the trial is set for a date several +weeks ahead, furnishes a splendid chance for the witnesses to +disappear, and the evidence quite often falls through. This bill also +provides a suitable punishment which falls not on the occupants of the +house but on the owner of the property, thereby striking at the profit. +If prostitution is proven against a house, that house is closed for one +year, the owner losing the rent for that time. This puts the +responsibility on property owners, and makes people careful as to their +tenants. Every owner forthwith becomes a morality officer. This is +the greatest and most effective blow ever struck at white slavery, for +it strikes directly at the money side of it. It is a fact worth +recalling that just before women were permitted to vote in California, +this bill was defeated overwhelmingly, but the first time it was +submitted after women were enfranchised it passed easily, although +there was not one woman in the house of representatives; the men +members had a different attitude toward moral matters when they +remembered that they had women constituents as well as men. + +When Christian women ask to vote, it is in the hope that they may be +able with their ballots to protect the weak and innocent, and make the +world a safer place for the young feet. As it is now, weakness and +innocence are punished more than wickedness. + +One of our social workers, going on her rounds, one day met a young +Scotch girl, aged nineteen, who belonged to that class of people whom +we in our superior way call "fallen women." She was a beautiful girl, +with curling auburn hair and deep violet eyes. The visitor asked her +about herself, but the girl was not disposed to talk. Finally the +visitor asked her if she might pray with her. The girl politely +refused. + +"Lady," she said wearily, "what is the use of praying--there is no God. +I know that you think there is a God, Lady," she went on, with a voice +of settled sadness. "I did, too--once--but I know now that there is no +God anywhere." + +Then she told her story. When her mother died in Scotland, she came +out to Canada to live with her brother who had a position in a bank. +She traveled in the care of a Scotch family to her destination. At the +station, an elderly gentlemen in a clerical coat met her and told her +that her brother was ill, but had sent him to meet her. She went with +him unsuspectingly. That was six years ago. She was then thirteen +years old. + +"So you see, Lady," she said, "I know there is no God, or He would +never have let them do to me what they did. Every night I had prayed +to God, and if there were a God anywhere, He would surely have heard my +mother's prayer--when she was dying--she asked God to protect her poor +little motherless girl. It is a sad world, Lady." The girl's eyes +were dry and her voice unbroken. There is a limit even to tears and +her eyes were cried dry. + +According to the laws of the Dominion of Canada, the man who stole this +sweet child from the railway station, would be liable to five years' +imprisonment, if the case could be proven against him, which is +doubtful, for he could surely get someone to prove that she was over +fourteen years of age, or not of previously chaste character, or that +he was somewhere else at the time, or that the girl's evidence was +contradictory; but if he had stolen any article from any building +belonging to or adjacent to a railway station, or any article belonging +to a railway company, he would have been liable to a term of fourteen +years. This is the law, and the church folds its plump hands over its +broadcloth waistcoat and makes no protest! The church has not yet even +touched the outer fringe of the white slave evil and yet those high in +authority dare to say that women must not be given the right to protect +themselves. The demand for votes is a spiritual movement and the +bitter cry of that little Scotch girl and of the many like her who have +no reason to believe in God, sounds a challenge to every woman who ever +names the name of God in prayer. We know there is a God of love and +justice, who hears the cry of the smallest child in agony, and will in +His own good time bind up every broken heart, and wipe away every tear. +But how can we demonstrate God to the world! + +Inasmuch as we have sat in our comfortable respectable pews enjoying +our own little narrow-gauge religion, unmoved by the call of the larger +citizenship, and making no effort to reach out and save those who are +in temptation, and making no effort to better the conditions under +which other women must live--inasmuch as we have left undone the things +we might have done--in God's sight--we are fallen women! And to the +church officials, ministers and laymen who have dared to deny to women +the means whereby they might have done better for the women of the +world, I would like to say that I wonder what they will say to that +Scotch mother, who lay down happily on her death-bed believing that God +would care for her motherless child left to battle with the world. I +wonder how they will explain it to her when they meet her up there! I +wonder will they be able to get away with that old fable about their +being afraid of women "losing their femininity." I wonder! + +There is a story recorded in that book, whose popularity never wanes, +about a certain poor man who took his journey down from Jerusalem to +Jericho, and who fell among thieves who robbed him and left him for +dead. A priest and a Levite came along and were full of sympathy, and +said: "Dear me! I wonder what this road is coming to!" But they had +meetings to attend and they passed on. A good Samaritan came along, +and he was a real good Samaritan, and when he saw the man lying by the +road he jumped down from his horse, and picking him up, took him to the +inn, and gave directions for his care and comfort, even paid out money +for the poor battered stranger. The next day, the Samaritan again +passed down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and about the same +place found another man, beaten and robbed, undoubtedly the work of the +same thieves. Again he played the part of the kind friend, but it set +him thinking, and when the next day he found two men robbed and beaten, +the good Samaritan was properly aroused. He took them to the inn, and +again he paid out his money, but that night he called a meeting of all +the other good Samaritans "out his way" and they hunted up their old +muskets and set out to clean up the road. + +The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is here, and now. Women have played +the good Samaritan for a long time, and they have found many a one +beaten and robbed on the road of life. They are still doing it, but +the conviction is growing on them that it would be much better to go +out and clean up the road! + +In a certain asylum, the management have a unique test for sanity. +When any of the inmates exhibit evidence of returning reason, they +submit them to the following tests. Out in the courtyard there are a +number of water taps for filling troughs, and to each of the candidates +for liberty a small pail is given, and they are told to drain out the +troughs, the taps running full force. Some of the poor fellows bail +away and bail away, but of course the trough remains full in spite of +them. The wise ones turn off the taps. + +The women of the churches and many other organizations for many long +weary years have been bailing out the troughs of human misery with +their little pails; their children's shelters, day nurseries, homes for +friendless girls, relief boards, and innumerable public and private +charities; but the big taps of intemperance and ignorance and greed are +running night and day. It is weary, discouraging, heart-breaking work. + +Let us have a chance at the taps! + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE SORE THOUGHT + + The toad beneath the harrow knows + Everywhere the tooth mark goes; + The butterfly upon the road + Preaches contentment to the toad. + + +Women have had to do a lot of waiting--long, weary waiting. The +well-brought-up young lady diligently prepares for marriage; makes +doilies, and hemstitches linen; gets her blue trunk ready and--waits. +She must not appear anxious or concerned--not at all; she must +just--wait. When a young man comes along and shows her any attention, +she may accept it, but if after two or three years of it he suddenly +leaves her, and devotes himself to some other girl, she must not feel +hurt or grieved but must go back and sit down beside the blue trunk +again and--wait! He has merely exercised the man's right of choosing, +and when he decides that he does not want her, she has no grounds for +complaint. She must consider herself declined, "not from any lack of +merit, but simply because she is unavailable." If her heart breaks, it +must break quietly, and in secret. + +She may see a young man to whom she feels attracted, but she must not +show it by even so much as the flicker of an eyelash. Hers is the +waiting part, and although marriage and homemaking are her highest +destiny, or at least so she has been told often enough--she must not +raise a hand to help the cause along. No more crushing criticism can +be made of a woman, than that she is anxious to get married. It is all +right for her to be passively willing, but she must not be anxious. + +At dances she must _wait_ until someone asks her to dance; _wait_ until +someone asks her to go to supper. She must not ever make the move--she +must not ever try to start something. Her place is to wait! + +At last her waiting is rewarded and a young man comes by who declares +he would like to marry her, but is not in a position to marry just yet. +Then begins another period of waiting. She must not hurry him--that is +very indelicate--she must wait. Sometimes, in this long period of +waiting, the young man changes his mind, but she must not complain. A +man cannot help it if he grows tired. It must have been her fault--she +did not make herself sufficiently attractive--that's all! She waits +again. + +At last perhaps she gets married. But her periods of waiting are not +over. Her husband wanders free while she stays at home. We know the +picture of the waiting wife listening for footsteps while the clock +ticks loudly in the silent house. The world has decreed that the woman +and home must stay together, while the man goes about his business or +his pleasures--the tied-up woman and the foot-loose man. + +Her boys grow up, and when war breaks out, they are called away from +her, and again the woman waits. Every telegraph boy who comes up the +street may bring the dreaded message; every time the door bell rings +her heart stops beating. But she cannot do anything but wait! wait! +wait! + +Did you ever visit an old folks' home and notice the different spirit +shown by the men and women there? The old men are restless and +irritable; impatient of their inaction; rebellious against fate. The +old women patiently wait, looking out with their dimmed eyes like +marooned sailors waiting for a breeze. Poor old patient waiters! you +learned the art of waiting in a long hard school, and now you have come +to the last lap of the journey. + +So they wait--and by and by their waiting will be over, for the kindly +tide will rise and bear them safely out on its strong bosom to some +place--where they will find not more rest but blessed activity! We +know there is another world, because we need it so badly to set this +one right! + +Women have not always been "waiters." There was a day long past, when +women chose their mates, when men fought for the hand of the woman they +loved, and the women chose. The female bird selects her mate today, +goes out and makes her choice, and, it is not considered unbirdly +either. + +Why should not women have the same privilege as men to choose their +mate? Marriage means more to a woman than to a man; she brings in a +larger contribution than he; often it happens that she gives all--he +gives nothing. The care and upbringing of the children depend upon her +faithfulness, not on his. Why should she not have the privilege of +choosing? + +Too long has the whole process of love-making and marriage been wrapped +in mystery. "Part of it has been considered too holy to be spoken of +and part of it too unholy," says Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Innocence +has been esteemed a young girl's greatest charm, but what good has her +innocence done her? No good at all! It is not calculated to do her +good--her good is not the prime consideration. It makes her more +charming in the eyes of men; but it may bring her great unhappiness. +Lady Evelyn's trusting heart has usually been broken. When the story +begins about the farmer's pretty daughter with limpid blue eyes, sweet +as bluebells washed in dew, all innocent of the world ways, the +experienced reader knows at once what is coming. Innocence is hard on +the woman, however charming it may be to men. The women who go a step +beyond innocence and are so trusting as to be described as +simple-minded, no matter how gentle, patient, and sweet they are, are +absolutely unsafe in this world of man's chivalry and protection. If +you want to know what fate overtakes them, ask the matron of the Refuge +for Unfortunate Women, ask any person who has worked among this class +of women, and they will tell you how much good innocence and the +trusting heart does any woman. This is a sore thought! + +It would be perfectly delightful if our daughters might remain +innocent. They should have that privilege. Innocence belongs to +childhood and girlhood, but under present conditions, it is as +dangerous and foolish as level and unguarded railway crossings, or open +and unguarded trap doors. It is no pleasant task to have to tell a +joyous, sunny-hearted girl of fourteen or fifteen about the evils that +are in the world, but if you love her, you will do it! I would like to +see this work done by trained motherly and tactful women, in the +department of social welfare, paid by the school board. I know the +mothers should do it, but many mothers are ignorant, foolish, lax, and +certainly untrained. The mother's kindly counsel is the best, I know, +but you cannot always rely upon its being there. This is coming, too, +for public sentiment is being awakened to the evils of innocence. + +I remember, twenty years ago, when Dr. Amelia Yeomans, of sainted +memory, published at her own expense, a little leaflet called "Warning +to Girls" and circulated it among girls who were working in public +places, what a storm of abuse arose. I have a copy of the little +tract, and it could be safely read in any mixed gathering today. +Ministers raged against it in the pulpit. I remember one brother who +was very emphatic in his denunciations who afterwards was put out of +the church for indecent conduct. Of course he wanted girls to remain +innocent--it suited his purpose. + +If any person doubts that the society of the present day has been made +by men, and for men's advantage, let them look for a minute at the laws +which govern society. Society allows a man all privilege, all license, +all liberty, where women are concerned. He may lie to women, deceive +them--"all's fair in love and war"--he may break many a heart, and +blast many a fair name; that merely throws a glamour around him. "He's +a devil with women," they say, and it is no disadvantage in the +business or political world--where man dominates. But if a man is +dishonest in business or neglects to pay his gambling bills, he is down +and out. These are crimes against men--and therefore serious. This is +also a sore thought! + +Then when men speak of these things, they throw the blame on women +themselves, showing thereby that the Garden of Eden story of Adam and +Eve and the apple, whether it be historically true or not, is true to +life. Quite Adam-like, they throw the blame on women, and say: "Women +like the man with a past. Women like to be lied to. Women do not +expect any man to be absolutely faithful to them, if he is pleasant. +The man who has the reputation of having been wild has a better chance +with women than the less attractive but absolutely moral man." What a +glorious thing it will be when men cease to speak for us, and cease to +tell us what we think, and let us speak for ourselves! + +Since women's sphere of manual labor has so narrowed by economic +conditions and has not widened correspondingly in other directions, +many women have become parasites on the earnings of their male +relatives. Marriage has become a straight "clothes and board" +proposition to the detriment of marriage and the race. Her economic +dependence has so influenced the attitude of some women toward men, +that it is the old man with the money who can support her in idleness +who appeals to her far more than the handsome, clean-limbed young man +who is poor, and with whom she would have to work. The softening, +paralyzing effects of ease and comfort are showing themselves on our +women. You cannot expect the woman who has had her meals always bought +for her, and her clothes always paid for by some man, to retain a sense +of independence. "What did I marry you for?" cried a woman +indignantly, when her husband grumbled about the size of her millinery +bill. No wonder men have come to regard marriage as an expensive +adventure. + +The time will come, we hope, when women will be economically free, and +mentally and spiritually independent enough to refuse to have their +food paid for by men; when women will receive equal pay for equal work, +and have all avenues of activity open to them; and will be free to +choose their own mates, without shame, or indelicacy; when men will not +be afraid of marriage because of the financial burden, but free men and +free women will marry for love, and together work for the sustenance of +their families. It is not too ideal a thought. It is coming, and the +new movement among women who are crying out for a larger humanity, is +going to bring it about. + +But there are many good men who view this with alarm. They are afraid +that if women were economically independent they would never marry. +But they would. Deeply rooted in almost every woman's heart is the +love of home and children; but independence is sweet and when marriage +means the loss of independence, there are women brave enough and strong +enough to turn away from it. "I will not marry for a living," many a +brave woman has said. + +The world has taunted women into marrying. So odious has the term "old +maid" been in the past that many a woman has married rather than have +to bear it. That the term "old maid" has lost its odium is due to the +fact that unmarried women have made a place for themselves in the world +of business. They have become real people apart from their sex. The +"old maid" of the past was a sad, anemic creature, without any means of +support except the bounty of some relative. She had not married, so +she had failed utterly, and the world did not fail to rub it in. The +unmarried woman of today is the head saleslady in some big house, +drawing as big a salary as most men, and the world kowtows to her. The +world is beginning to see that a woman may achieve success in other +departments of life as well as marriage. + +It speaks well for women that, even before this era, when "old maids" +were open to all kinds of insult, there were women brave enough to +refuse to barter their souls for the animal comforts of food and +shelter. Speaking about "old maids," by which term we mean now a prim, +fussy person, it is well to remember that there are male "old maids" as +well as female who remain so all through life; also that many "old +maids" marry, and are still old maids. + +When women are free to marry or not as they will, and the financial +burden of making a home is equally shared by husband and wife, the +world will enter upon an era of happiness undreamed of now. As it is +now, the whole matter of marrying and homemaking is left to chance. +Every department of life, every profession in which men and women +engage, has certain qualifications which must be complied with, except +the profession of homemaking. A young man and a young woman say: "I +believe we'll get married" and forthwith they do. The state sanctions +it, and the church blesses it. They may be consumptive, epileptic, +shiftless, immoral, or with a tendency to insanity. No matter. They +may go on and reproduce their kind. They are perfectly free to bring +children into the world, who are a burden and a menace to society. +Society has to bear it--that is all! "Be fruitful and multiply!" +declares the church, as it deplores the evils of race suicide. Many +male moralists have cried out for large families. "Let us have better +and healthier babies if we can," cried out one of England's bishops, +not long ago, "but let us have more babies!" + +Heroic and noble sentiment and so perfectly safe! It reminds one of +the dentist's advertisement: "Teeth extracted without pain"--and his +subsequent explanation: "It does not hurt me a bit!" + +Martin Luther is said to have stood by the death-bed of a woman, who +had given birth to sixteen children in seventeen years, and piously +exclaimed: "She could not have died better!" + +"By all means let us have more babies," says the Bishop. Even if they +are anemic and rickety, ill-nourished and deformed, and even if the +mothers, already overburdened and underfed, die in giving them birth? +To the average thinking woman, this wail for large families, coming as +it always does from men, is rather nauseating. + +When the cry has been so persistently raised for more children, the +women naturally wonder why more care is not exerted for the protection +of the children who are already here. The reason is often given for +not allowing women to have the free grants of land in Canada on the +same conditions as men, that it would make them too independent of +marriage, and, as one commissioner of emigration phrased it: "It is not +independent women we want; it is population." + +Granting that population is very desirable, would it not be well to +save what we have? Six or seven thousand of our population in Canada +drop out of the race every year as a direct result of the liquor +traffic, and a higher percentage than this perish from the same cause +in some other countries. Would it not be well to save them? Thousands +of babies die every year from preventable causes. Free milk +depositories and district nurses and free dispensaries would save many +of them. In the Far West, on the border of civilization, where women +are beyond the reach of nurses and doctors, many mothers and babies die +every year. How would it be to try to save them? Delegations of +public-spirited women have waited upon august bodies of men, and +pleaded the cause of these brave women who are paying the toll of +colonization, and have asked that Government nurses be sent to them in +their hour of need. But up to date not one dollar of Government money +has been spent on them notwithstanding the fact that when a duke or a +prince comes to visit our country, we can pour out money like water! + +It does not seem to the thoughtful observer that we need more children +nearly so much as we need better children, and a higher value set upon +all human life. In this day of war, when men are counted of less value +than cattle, it is a doubtful favor to the child to bring it into life +under any circumstances, but to bring children into the world, +suffering from the handicaps caused by the ignorance, poverty, or +criminality of the parents, is an appalling crime against the innocent +and helpless, and yet one about which practically nothing is said. +Marriage, homemaking, and the rearing of children are left entirely to +chance, and so it is no wonder that humanity produces so many specimens +who, if they were silk stockings or boots, would be marked "Seconds." +The Bishop's cry has found many an echo: "Let us have more." + +Women in several of the states have instituted campaigns for "Better +Babies," and by offering prizes and disseminating information, they +have given a better chance to many a little traveler on life's highway. +But all who have endeavored in any way to secure legislation or +government grants for the protection of children, have found that +legislators are more willing to pass laws for the protection of cattle +than for the protection of children, for cattle have a real value and +children have only a sentimental value. + +If children die--what of it? "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken +away." Let us have more. This is the sore thought with women. It is +not that the bringing of children into the world is attended with pain +and worry and weariness--it is not that: it is that they are held of +such small value in the eyes of this man-made world. This is the +sorest thought of all! + +Even as I write these words, I hear the bugle calling, and down the +street our brave boys in khaki are marching. Today I passed on the +street a mother and her only son, who is now a soldier and going away +with the next contingent. The lad was trying to cheer her as they +walked along. She held him by the hand:--he was just a little boy to +her. + +"It was not for this that I raised him," she said to me bitterly. "It +was not for this! The whole thing is wrong, and it is just as hard on +the German women as on us!" + +Even in her sorrow she had the universal outlook--the very thing that +so many philosophers declare that women have not got! + +I could not help but think that if there had been women in the German +Reichstag, women with authority behind them, when the Kaiser began to +lay his plans for the war, the results might have been very different. +I do not believe women with boys of their own would ever sit down and +wilfully plan slaughter, and if there had been women there when the +Kaiser and his brutal war-lords discussed the way in which they would +plunge all Europe into bloodshed, I believe one of those deep-bosomed, +motherly, blue-eyed German women would have stood upon her feet and +said: "William--forget it!" But the German women were not there--they +were at home, raising children! So the preparations for war went on +unchecked, and the resolutions passed without a dissenting voice. In +German rule, we have a glorious example of male statecraft, +uncontaminated by any feminine foolishness. + +No doubt, it is because all our statecraft has been one-sided, that we +find that human welfare has lagged far behind material welfare. We +have made wonderful strides in convenience and comfort, but have not +yet solved the problems of poverty, crime or insanity. Perhaps they, +too, will yield to treatment when they are better understood, and men +and women are both on the job. As it is now, criminals have only man's +treatment, which is the hurry-up method--"hang him, and be done with +him," or "chuck him into jail, and be quick about it, and let me forget +him." Mothers would have more patience, more understanding, for they +have been dealing with bad little boys all their lives. + +The little family jars which arise in every home, are settled nine out +of ten times by the mother, unless she is the sort of spineless, anemic +woman, who lies down on the job, and says, "I'll tell your father," +which acts as a threat, and sometimes is effective, though it solves no +difficulty. + +To hang the man who commits a crime is a cheap way to get out of a +difficulty; a real masculine way. It is so much quicker and easier +than trying to reform him, and what is one man less after all? Human +life is cheap--to men--and of course there is always the Bishop crying: +"Let us have more." + +The conditions which prevail at the present time are atrocious and help +to make criminals. The worst crimes have not even a name yet, much +less a punishment. What about the crime of working little children and +cheating them out of an education and a happy childhood? There is no +name for it! What about misrepresenting land values and selling lots +to people who have never seen them and who simply rely upon the owner's +word; taking the hard-earned money from guileless people and giving +them swamp land, miles out of the city limits, in return! They tell a +story about a real-estate man who sold Edmonton lots to some people in +the East, assuring them that the lots were "close in," but when the +owner of the lots went to register them, he found they could not be +registered in Alberta--they belonged in British Columbia, the next +province! + +This sort of thing is considered good business, if you can "get away +with it." According to our masculine code of morals--it's "rather +clever"--they say. "You cannot help but admire his nerve!" But not +long since a hungry man stole a banana from a fruit stand and was sent +to jail for it, for the dignity of the law has to be upheld, and the +small thief is the easiest one to deal with and make an example of. +Similarly Chinamen are always severely dealt with. Give it to him! He +has no friends! + +What about the crime of holding up the market, so that the price of +bread goes up, causing poor men's children to go hungry? There is no +name for it! + +What about allowing speculators to hold great tracts of land +uncultivated, waiting for higher prices, while unemployed men walk the +streets, hungry and discouraged, cursing the day they were born: big +strong fellows many of them, willing to work, craving work, but with +work denied them. Yesterday one of them jumped from the High Level +Bridge into the icy waters of the Saskatchewan, leaving a note behind +him saying simply he was tired of it all, and could stand no more--he +"would take a chance on another world." The idle land is calling to +the idle man, and the world is calling for food; and yet these great +tracts of wheat lands lie just outside our cities, untouched by plow or +harrow, and hungry men walk our streets. The crime which the state +commits in allowing such a condition to prevail is as yet unnamed. + +Women have carried many a sore thought in their hearts, feeling that +they have been harshly dealt with by their men folk, and have laid the +blame on the individual man, when in reality the individual has not +been to blame. The whole race is suffering from masculinity; and men +and women are alike to blame for tolerating it. + +The baby girl in her cradle gets the first cold blast of it. "A girl?" +says the kind neighbor, "Oh, too bad--I am sure it was quite a +disappointment!" + +Then there is the old-country reverence for men, of which many a mother +has been guilty, which exalts the boys of the family far above the +girls, and brings home to the latter, in many, many ways, the grave +mistake of having been born a woman. Many little girls have carried +the sore thought in their hearts from their earliest recollection. + +They find out, later, that women's work is taken for granted. A farmer +will allow his daughter to work many weary unpaid years, and when she +gets married he will give her "a feather bed and a cow," and feel that +her claim upon him has been handsomely met. The gift of a feather bed +is rather interesting, too, when you consider that it is the daughter +who has raised the geese, plucked them, and made the bed-tick. But +"father" gives it to her just the same. The son, for a corresponding +term of service, gets a farm. + +There was a rich farmer once, who died possessed of three very fine +farms of three hundred and twenty acres each. He left a farm to each +of his three sons. To his daughter Martha, a woman of forty years of +age, the eldest of the family, who had always stayed at home, and +worked for the whole family--he left a cow and one hundred dollars. +The wording of the will ran: "To my dear daughter, Martha, I leave the +sum of one hundred dollars, and one cow named 'Bella.'" + +How would you like to be left at forty years of age, with no training +and very little education, facing the world with one hundred dollars +and one cow, even if she were named "Bella"? + +To the poor old mother, sixty-five years of age, who had worked far +harder than her husband, who had made butter, and baked bread, and +sewed carpet rags, and was now bent and broken, and with impaired +sight, he left: "her keep" with one of the boys! + +How would you like to be left with "your keep" even with one of your +own children? Keep! It is exactly what the humane master leaves to an +old horse. When the old lady heard the will read which so generously +provided for her "keep," she slipped away without a word. People +thought it was her great grief at losing such a kind husband which made +her pine and droop. But it wasn't. It was the loss of her +independence. Her son and his family thought it strange that "Grandma" +did not care to go to church any more. Of course her son never thought +of giving her collection or money to give to the funds of the church, +and Grandma did not ask. She sat in her corner, and knit stockings for +her son's children; another pitiful little broken bit of human wreckage +cast up by the waves of the world. In two months Grandma had gone to +the house of many mansions, where she was no longer beholden to anyone +for "keep"--for God is more merciful than man! + +The man who made his will this way was not a bad man, but he was the +victim of wrong thinking; he did not realize that his wife had any +independence of soul; he thought that all "mother" cared about was a +chance to serve; she had been a quiet, unassertive woman, who worked +along patiently, and made no complaint. What could she need of money? +The "boys" would never see her want. + +A man who heard this story said in comment: "Well, I don't see what the +old lady felt so badly about, for what does a woman of sixty-five need +of money anyway?" + +He was not a cruel man, either, and so his remark is illuminative, for +it shows a certain attitude of mind, and it shows women where they have +made their mistake. They have been too patient and unassertive--they +have not set a high enough value on themselves, and it is pathetically +true that the world values you at the value you place on yourself. And +so the poor old lady, who worked all her life for her family, looking +for no recompense, nor recognition, was taken at the value she set upon +herself, which was nothing at all. + +That does not relieve the state of its responsibility in letting such a +thing happen. It is a hard matter, I know, to protect people from +themselves; and there can be no law made to prevent women from making +slaves of themselves to their husbands and families. That would be +interfering with the sanctity of the home! But the law can step in, as +it has in some provinces, and prevent a man from leaving his wife with +only "her keep." The law is a reflection of public sentiment, and when +people begin to realize that women are human and have human needs and +ambitions and desires, the law will protect a woman's interest. Too +long we have had this condition of affairs: "Ma" has been willing to +work without any recompense, and "Pa and the boys" have been willing to +let her. + +Of course, I know, sentimental people will cry out, that very few men +would leave their wives in poverty--I know that; men are infinitely +better than the law, but we must remember that laws are not made to +govern the conduct of good men. Good men will do what is right, if +there were never a law; but, unfortunately, there are some men who are +not good, and many more who are thoughtless and unintentionally cruel. +The law is a schoolmaster to such. + +There are some places, where a law can protect the weak, but there are +many situations which require more than a law. Take the case of a man +who habitually abuses and frightens his family, and makes their lives a +periodic hell of fear. The law cannot touch him unless he actually +kills some of them, and it seems a great pity that there cannot be some +corrective measure. In the states of Kansas and Washington (where +women vote) the people have enacted what is known as the "Lazy +Husband's Act," which provides for such cases as this. If a man is +abusive or disagreeable, or fails to provide for his family, he is +taken away for a time, and put to work in a state institution, and his +money is sent home to his family. He is treated kindly, and good +influences thrown around him. When he shows signs of repentance--he is +allowed to go home. Home, very often, looks better to him, and he +behaves himself quite decently. + +Women outlined this legislation and it is in the states where women +vote that it is in operation. There will be more such legislation, +too, when women are given a chance to speak out! + +A New Zealander once wrote home to a friend in England advising him to +fight hard against woman suffrage. "Don't ever let the wimmin vote, +Bill," he wrote. "They are good servants, but bad masters. Over there +you can knock your wife about for five shillings, but here we does jail +for it!" + +The man who "knocks his wife about" or feels that he might some day +want to knock her about, is opposed to further liberties for women, of +course. + +But that is the class of man from whom we never expected anything. He +has his prototype, too, in every walk of life. Don't make the mistake +of thinking that only ignorant members of the great unwashed masses +talk and feel this way. Silk-hatted "noblemen" have answered women's +appeals for common justice by hiring the Whitechapel toughs to "bash +their heads," and this is another sore thought that women will carry +with them for many a day after the suffrage has been granted. I wish +we could forget the way our English sisters have been treated in that +sweet land of liberty! + +The problems of discovery have been solved; the problems of +colonization are being solved, and when the war is over the problem of +world government will be solved; and then the problem will be just the +problem of living together. That problem cannot be solved without the +help of women. The world has suffered long from too much masculinity +and not enough humanity, but when the war is over, and the beautiful +things have been destroyed, and the lands laid desolate, and all the +blood has been shed, the poor old bruised and broken heart of the world +will cry out for its mother and nurse, who will dry her own eyes, and +bind up its wounds and nurse it back to life once more. Perhaps the +old earth will be a bit kinder than it has ever been to women, who +knows? Men have been known to grow very fond of their nurse, and +bleeding has been known to cure mental disorders! + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE LAND OF THE FAIR DEAL + + Lord, take us up to the heights, and show us the glory, + Show us a vision of Empire! Tell us its story! + Tell it out plain, for our eyes and our ears have grown holden; + We have forgotten that anything other than money is golden. + Grubbing away in the valley, somehow has darkened our eyes; + Watching the ground and the crops--we've forgotten the skies. + But Lord, if Thou wilt Thou canst take us today + To the Mount of Decision + And show us the land that we live in + With glorified Vision! + + +Every nation has its characteristic quality of mind; we recognize +Scotch thrift, English persistency and Irish quickwittedness wherever +we see it; we know something, too, of the emotional, vivacious nature +of the French, and the resourcefulness of the American; but what about +the Canadian--what will be our distinguishing feature in the years to +come? The cartoons are kind to us--thus far--and in representing +Canada, draw a sturdy young fellow, strong and well set, full of muscle +and vim, and we like to think that the representation is a good one, +for we are a young nation, coming into our vigor, and with our future +in our own hands. We have an area of one-third of the whole British +Empire, and one-fifth of that of Asia. Canada is as large as thirty +United Kingdoms and eighteen Germanys. Canada is almost as large as +Europe. It is bounded by three oceans and has thirteen thousand miles +of coast line, that is, half the circumference of the earth. + +Canada's land area, exclusive of forest and swamp lands, is +1,401,000,000 acres; 440,000,000 acres of this is fit for cultivation, +but only 36,000,000 acres, or 2.6 per cent of the whole, is cultivated, +so it would seem that there are still a few acres left for anyone who +may happen to want it. We need not be afraid of crowding. We have a +great big blank book here with leather binding and gold edges, and now +our care should be that we write in it worthily. We have no precedents +to guide us, and that is a glorious thing, for precedents, like other +guides, are disposed to grow tyrannical, and refuse to let us do +anything on our own initiative. Life grows wearisome in the countries +where precedents and conventionalities rule, and nothing can happen +unless it has happened before. Here we do not worry about +precedents--we make our own! + +Main Street, in Winnipeg, now one of the finest business streets in the +world, followed the trail made by the Red River carts, and, no doubt, +if the driver of the first cart knew that in his footsteps would follow +electric cars and asphalt paving, he would have driven straighter. But +he did not know, and we do not blame him for that. But we know, for in +our short day we have seen the prairies blossom into cities, and we +know that on the paths which we are marking out many feet will follow, +and the responsibility is laid on us to lay them broad and straight and +safe so that many feet may be saved from falling. + +We are too young a nation yet to have any distinguishing characteristic +and, of course, it would not be exactly modest for us to attribute +virtues to ourselves, but there can be harm in saying what we would +like our character to be. Among the people of the world in the years +to come, we will ask no greater heritage for our country than to be +known as the land of the Fair Deal, where every race, color and creed +will be given exactly the same chance; where no person can "exert +influence" to bring about his personal ends; where no man or woman's +past can ever rise up to defeat them; where no crime goes unpunished; +where every debt is paid; where no prejudice is allowed to masquerade +as a reason; where honest toil will insure an honest living; where the +man who works receives the reward of his labor. + +It would seem reasonable, too, that such a condition might be brought +about in a new country, and in a country as big as ours, where there is +room for everyone and to spare. Look out upon our rolling prairies, +carpeted with wild flowers, and clotted over with poplar groves, where +wild birds sing and chatter, and it does not seem too ideal or +visionary that these broad sunlit spaces may be the homes of countless +thousands of happy and contented people. The great wide uncultivated +prairie seems to open its welcoming arms to the land-hungry, homeless +dwellers of the cities, saying: "Come and try me. Forget the past, if +it makes you sad. Come to me, for I am the Land of the Second Chance. +I am the Land of Beginning Again. I will not ask who your ancestors +were. I want you--nothing matters now but just you and me, and we will +make good together." This is the invitation of the prairie to the +discouraged and weary ones of the older lands, whose dreams have +failed, whose plans have gone wrong, and who are ready to fall out of +the race. The blue skies and green slopes beckon to them to come out +and begin again. The prairie, with its peace and silence, calls to the +troubled nations of Middle Europe, whose people are caught in the cruel +tangle of war. When it is all over and the smoke has cleared away, and +they who are left look around at the blackened ruins and desolated +farms and the shallow graves of their beloved dead, they will come away +from the scenes of such bitter memories. Then it is that this far +country will make its appeal to them, and they will come to us in large +numbers, come with their sad hearts and their sad traditions. What +will we have for them? We have the fertility of soil; we have the +natural resources; we have coal; we have gas; we have wheat land and +pasture land and fruit land. Nature has done her share with a +prodigality that shames our little human narrowness. Now if we had men +to match our mountains, if we had men to match our plains, if our +thoughts were as clear as our sunlight, we would be able to stand up +high enough to see over the rim of things. In the light of what has +happened, our little grabbing ways, our insane desires to grow rich and +stop work, have some way lost their glamour. Belgium has set a pace +for us, has shown us a glimpse of heroic sacrifice which makes us feel +very humble and very small, and we have suddenly stumbled on the great +truth that it is not all of life to live, that is, draw your breath or +even draw your salary; that to get money and dress your family up like +Christmas trees, and own three cars, may not be adding a very heavy +contribution to human welfare; that houses and lands and stocks and +shares may be very poor things to tie up to after all. + +An Englishman who visited Western Canada a few years ago, when +everybody had money, wrote letters to one of the London papers about +us. Commenting on our worldliness, he said: "The people of Western +Canada have only one idea of hell, and that is buying the wrong lots!" + +But already there has come a change in the complexion of our mind. The +last eight months have taught us many things. We, too, have had our +share in the sacrifice, as the casualty lists in every paper show. We +have seen our brave lads go out from us in health and hope, amid music +and cheers, and already we know that some of them will not come back. +"Killed in action," "died of wounds," "missing," say the brief +despatches, which tell us that we have made our investment of blood. +The investment thus made has paid a dividend already, in an altered +thought, a chastened spirit, a recast of our table of values. "Without +the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin" always seemed a +harsh and terrible utterance, but we know now its truth; and already we +know the part of our sin of worldliness has been remitted, for we have +turned away from it. We acknowledge in sorrow that we have followed +strange gods, and worshiped at the worldly altar of wealth and +cleverness, and believed that these things were success in life. Now +we have had before our eyes the spectacle of clever men using their +cleverness to kill, maim and destroy innocent women and children; we +have seen the wealth of one nation poured out like water to bring +poverty and starvation to another nation, and so, through our tears, we +have learned the lesson that it is not wealth or cleverness or skill or +power which makes a nation or an individual great. It is goodness, +gentleness, kindliness, the sense of brotherhood, which alone maketh +rich and addeth no sorrow. When we are face to face with the elemental +things of life, death and sorrow and loss, the air grows very still and +clear, and we see things in bold outlines. + +The Kaiser has done a few things for us. He has made us hate all forms +of tyranny and oppression and autocracy; he has made us hate all forms +of hypocrisy and deceit. There have been some forms of kaiserism +dwelling among us for many years, so veneered with respectability and +custom that some were deceived by them; but the lid is off now--the +veneer has cracked--the veil is torn, and we see things as they are. + +When we find ourselves wondering at the German people for having +tolerated the military system for so long, paying taxes for its +maintenance and giving their sons to it, we suddenly remember that we +have paid taxes and given our children, too, to keep up the liquor +traffic, which has less reasons for its existence than the military +system of Germany. Any nation which sets out to give a fair deal to +everyone must divorce itself from the liquor traffic, which deals its +hardest blows on the non-combatants. Right here let us again thank the +Germans for bringing this so clearly to our notice. We despise the +army of the Kaiser for dropping bombs on defenseless people, and +shooting down women and children--we say it violates all laws of +civilized warfare. The liquor traffic has waged war on women and +children all down the centuries. Three thousand women were killed in +the United States in one year by their own husbands who were under the +influence of liquor. Non-combatants! Its attacks on the +non-combatants are not so spectacular in their methods as the tactics +pursued by the Kaiser's men, who line up the defenseless ones in the +public square and turn machine-guns on them. The methods of the liquor +traffic are not so direct or merciful. We shudder with horror as we +read of the terrible outrages committed by the brutal German soldiers. +We rage in our helpless fury that such things should be--and yet we +have known and read of just such happenings in our own country. The +newspapers, in telling of such happenings, usually have one short +illuminative sentence which explains all: "The man had been drinking." +The liquor traffic has outraged and insulted womanhood right here in +our own country in much the same manner as is alleged of the German +soldiers in France and Belgium! Another thing we have to thank the +Kaiser for is that we have something now whereby we can express what +women owe to the liquor traffic. We know now that women owe to the +liquor traffic the same sort of a debt that Belgium owes to Germany. +Women have never chosen the liquor business, have never been consulted +about it in any way, any more than Belgium was consulted. It has been +wished on them. They have had nothing to do with it, but to put up +with it, endure it, suffer its degradation, bear its losses, pay its +abominable price in tears and heartbreak. Apart from that they have +had nothing to do with it. If there is any pleasure in it--that has +belonged to men; if there has been any gain in it, men have had that, +too. + +And yet there are people who tell us women must not invade the realm of +politics, where matters relating to the liquor traffic are dealt with. +Women have not been the invaders. The liquor traffic has invaded +woman's place in life. The shells have been dropped on unfortified +homes. There is no fair dealing in that. + +A woman stooped over her stove in her own kitchen one winter evening, +making food for her eight-months-old baby, whom she held in her arms. +Her husband and her brother-in-law, with a bottle of whiskey, carried +on a lively dispute in another part of the kitchen. She did not enter +into the dispute, but went on with her work. Surely this woman was +protected; here was the sacred precincts of home, her husband, sworn to +protect her, her child in her arms--a beautiful domesticated Madonna +scene. But when the revolver was fired accidentally it blew off the +whole top of her protected head; and the mother and babe fell to the +floor! Who was the invader? and, tell me, would you call that a fair +deal? + +The people who oppose democratic principles tell us that there is no +such thing as equality--that, if you made every person exactly equal +today, there would be inequality tomorrow. We know there is no such +thing as equality of achievement, but what we plead for is equality of +chance, equality of opportunity. + +We know that absolute equality of opportunity is hardly possible, but +we can make it more nearly possible by the removal of all movable +handicaps from the human race. The liquor traffic, with its resultant +poverty, hits the child in the cradle, whose innocence and helplessness +makes its appeal all the stronger. The liquor traffic is a tangible, +definite thing that we can locate without difficulty. Many of the +causes of poverty and sin are illusive, indefinite qualities such as +bad management, carelessness, laziness, extravagance, ignorance and bad +judgment, which are exceedingly hard to remedy, but the liquor traffic +is one of the things we can speak of definitely, and in removing it we +are taking a step in the direction of giving everybody a fair start. + +When the Boer War was on, the British War Office had to lower the +standard for the army because not enough men could be found to measure +up to the previous standard, and an investigation was made into the +causes which had led to the physical deterioration of the race. Ten +families whose parents were both drinkers were compared with ten +families whose parents were both abstainers, and it was found that the +drinking parents had out of their fifty-seven children only ten that +were normal, while the non-drinking parents, out of their sixty-one +children, had fifty-four normal children and only seven that were +abnormal in any way. They chose families in as nearly as possible the +same condition of life and the same scale of intelligence. It would +seem from this that no country which legalizes the liquor traffic is +giving a fair deal to its children! + +Humanity is disposed to sit weakly down before anything that has been +with us for a long time, and say it is impossible to do away with it. +"We have always had liquor drinking," say some, "and we always will. +It is deeply rooted in our civilization and in our social customs, and +can never be outlawed entirely." Social customs may change. They have +changed. They will change when enough people want them to change. +There is nothing sacred about a social custom, anyway, that it should +be preserved when we have decided it is of no use to us. Social +customs make an interesting psychological study, even among the lower +animals, who show an almost human respect for the customs of their kind. + +Have you ever seen lizards walk into a campfire? Up from the lake they +will come, attracted by the gleam of the fire. It looks so warm and +inviting, and, of course, there is a social custom among lizards to +walk right in, and so they do. The first one goes boldly in, gives a +start of surprise, and then shrivels, but the next one is a real good +sport, and won't desert a friend, so he walks in and shrivels, and the +next one is no piker, so walks in, too. Who would be a stiff? They +stop coming when there are no more lizards in the lake or the fire is +full. There does not seem to be much reason for their action, but, of +course, it is a social custom. You may have been disposed to despise +the humble lizard with his open countenance and foolish smile, but you +see there is something quite human and heroic about him, too, in his +respect for a social custom. + +Moths have a social custom, too, which impels them to fly into the +flame of the candle, and bees will drown themselves in boiling syrup. +No matter how many of their friends and cousins they see lying dead in +the syrup, they will march boldly in, for they each feel that they are +strong enough to get out when they want to. Bees all believe that they +"can drink or leave it alone." + +But moralists tell us that prohibition of any evil is not the right +method to pursue; far better to leave the evil and train mankind to +shun it. If the evil be removed entirely mankind will be forced to +abstain and therefore will not grow in strength. In other words, the +life of virtue will be made too easy. We would gently remind the +moralists who reason in this way that there will still be a few hundred +ways left, whereby a man may make shipwreck of his life. They must not +worry about that--there will still be plenty of opportunities to go +wrong! + +The object of all laws should be to make the path of virtue as easy as +possible, to build fences in front of all precipices, to cover the +wells and put the poison out of reach. The theory of teaching children +to leave the poison alone sounds well, but most of us feel we haven't +any children to experiment on, and so we will lock the medicine-chest +and carry the key. + +A great deal is said about personal liberty in connection with this +matter of the prohibition of the liquor traffic, though the old cry +that every man has a perfect right to do as he likes is not so popular +as it once was, for we have before us a perfect example of a man who is +exercising personal liberty to the full; we have one man who is a +living exponent of the right to do exactly as he likes, no matter who +is hurt by it. The perfect example of a man who believes in personal +liberty for himself is a man by the name of William Hohenzollern. + +If there were only one man on the earth, he might have personal liberty +to do just as he liked, but the advent of the second man would end it. +Life is full of prohibitions to which we must submit for the good of +others. Our streets are full of prohibitory signs, every one of which +infringes on our so-called personal liberty: "Keep off the grass," "Go +slow," "No smoking," "Do not feed the animals," "Post no bills," +"Kindly refrain from conversation." + +Those who profess to understand the human heart in all its workings, +notably beer-drinking bishops and brewers, declare that a prohibitory +measure rouses opposition in mankind. When the law says, "Thou shalt +not," the individual replies, "I certainly shall!" This is rather an +unkind cut at the ten commandments, which were given by divine +authority, and which make a lavish use of "Thou shalt not!" These +brave souls, who feel such a desire to break every prohibition, must +have a hard time keeping out of jail. No doubt it is with difficulty +that they restrain themselves from climbing over the railway gates +which are closed when the train comes in and which block the street for +a few minutes several times a day. + +The Archbishop of York, speaking at the York Convention recently, +declared against prohibition on the ground that when the prohibition +was removed there might be "real and regrettable intemperance"--the +inference being that any little drinking that is going on now is of an +imaginary and trifling nature--and yet the Chancellor of the Exchequer +declares that the liquor traffic is a worse enemy than the Germans, and +Earl Kitchener has added his testimony to the same sentiment. + +The Dean of Canterbury declared that he did not believe in prohibition, +for he once tried total abstinence and he found it impaired his health. +Of course the Dean's health must be kept up whether the warships are +built or not. England may be suffering from loss of men, money and +efficiency, but why worry? The Dean's health is excellent! When we +pray for the erring, the careless and indifferent who never darken a +church door, let us not forget the selfish people who do darken the +church doors, and darken her altars as well! + +But prohibition will not prohibit, say some. For that matter, neither +does any prohibitory law; the laws against stealing do not entirely +prevent stealing; notwithstanding the laws prohibiting murder as set +down in the Decalogue, and also in the statute books of our country, +there are murders committed. Prohibition will make liquor less +accessible. Men may get it still, but it will give them some trouble. +In the year 1909 the saloons in the United States were closed at the +rate of forty-one a day, and $412,000,000 was the sum that the drink +bill decreased. It would seem that prohibition had taken some effect. +But, in spite of the mass of evidence, there is still the argument +that, under prohibition, there will be much illicit selling of liquor. +It will be sold in livery stables and up back lanes, and be carried in +coal-oil cans, and labeled "gopher-poison." Even so, that will not +make it any more deadly in its effects; the effect of liquor-drinking +is much the same whether it is drunk in "the gilded saloon," where +everything is exceedingly legal and regular, or up the back lane, +absolutely without authority. Both are bad! + +Under prohibition, a drunken man is a marked man--he is branded at once +as a law-breaker, and the attitude of the public is that of +indignation. Under license, a drunken man is part of the system--and +passes without comment. For this reason a small amount of drunkenness +in a prohibition territory is so noticeable that many people are +deceived into believing that there is more drunkenness under +prohibition than under license. Prohibition does not produce +drunkenness, but it reveals it, underlines it. Drunkenness in +prohibition territory is like a black mark on a white page, a dirty +spot on a clean dress; the same spot on a dirty dress would not be +noticed. + +There was a licensed house in one of the small prairie towns, which +complied with all the regulations; it had the required number of +bedrooms; its windows were unscreened; the license fee was paid; the +bartender was a total abstainer, and a member of the union; also said +to be a man of good moral character; the proprietor regularly gave +twenty-five dollars a year to the Children's Aid, and put up a cup to +be competed for by the district hockey clubs. Nothing could be more +regular or respectable, and yet, when men drank the liquor there it had +appalling results. There was one Irishman who came frequently to the +bar and drank like a gentleman, treating every person and never looking +for change from his dollar bill. One Christmas Eve, the drinking went +on all night and well into Christmas Day. Then the Irishman, who was +the life of the party, went home, remembering what day it was. It all +came out in the evidence that he had taken home with him presents for +his wife and children, so that his intention toward them was the +kindest. His wife's intention was kind, too. She waited dinner for +him, and the parcels she had prepared for Christmas presents were +beside the plates on the table. For him she had knitted a pair of gray +stockings with green rings around them. They were also shown as +evidence at the inquest! + +It is often claimed that prohibition will produce a lot of sneaking +drunkards, but, of course, this man had done his drinking under +license, and was of the open and above-board type of drinker. There +was nothing underhand or sneaking about him. He drank openly, and when +he went home, and his wife asked him why he had stayed away so long, he +killed her--not in any underhand or sneaking way. Not at all. Right +in the presence of the four little children who had been watching for +him all morning at the window, he killed her. When he came to himself, +he remembered nothing about it, he said, and those who knew him +believed him. A blind pig could not have done much worse for that +family! Now, could it? + +Years after, when the eldest girl had grown to be a woman, she took +sick with typhoid fever and the doctor told her she would die, and she +turned her face to the wall and said: "I am glad." A friend who stood +beside her bed spoke of heaven and the blessed rest that there remains, +and the joy of the life everlasting. The girl roused herself and said, +bitterly: "I ask only one thing of heaven and that is, that I may +forget the look in my mother's face when she saw he intended to kill +her. I do not want to live again. I only want to forget!" The +respectability of the house and the legality of the sale did not seem +to be any help to her. + +But there are people who cry out against prohibition that you cannot +make men moral, or sober, by law. But that is exactly what you can do. +The greatest value a law has is its moral value. It is the silent +pressure of the law on public opinion which gives it its greatest +value. The punishment for the infringement of the law is not its only +way of impressing itself on the people. It is the moral impact of a +law that changes public sentiment, and to say that you cannot make men +sober by law is as foolish as to say you cannot keep cattle from +destroying the wheat by building a fence between them and it, or to +claim you cannot make a crooked twig grow straight by tying it +straight. Humanity can do anything it wants to do. There is no limit +to human achievement. Whoever declares that things cannot be done +which are for the betterment of the race, insults the Creator of us +all, who is not willing that any should perish, but that all should +live and live abundantly. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AS A MAN THINKETH + + When the valley is brimming with sunshine, + And the Souris, limpid and clear, + Slips over its shining pebbles + And the harvest time draws near, + The heart of the honest plowman + Is filled with content and cheer! + + It is only the poor, rich farmer + Whose heart is heavy with dread, + When over the smiling valley + The mantle of harvest is spread; + "For the season," he says, "is backward + And the grain is only in head!" + + The hired man loves the twilight + When the purple hills grow dim, + And he smiles at the glittering blackbirds + Which round him circle and skim; + His road is embroidered with sunflowers + That lazily nod at him! + + But the rich man's heart is heavy, + With gloom and fear opprest; + For he knows the red-winged blackbird + As an evil-minded pest, + And the golden brown-eyed sunflower + Is only a weed, at best! + + When the purple rain-clouds gather + And a mist comes over the hills, + A peace beyond all telling + The hired man's bosom fills, + And the long, long sleep in the morning + His heart with rapture fills. + + But the rich man's heart is heavy + With gloom and fear of loss, + When the purple clouds drop moisture + On field and flower and moss; + It's all very well for the plowman, + But it's not well at all for the "Boss." + + When the moonlight lies on the valley + And into the hayloft streams, + Where the humble laborer snoreth + And dreameth his peaceful dreams; + It silvers his slumbering fancies + With the witchery of its beams. + + But the poor rich man is restless, + For his heart is on his sheaves; + And the moonlight, cold and cloudless, + For him no fancy weaves, + For the glass is falling, falling, + And the grain will surely freeze! + + So the poor rich farmer misses + What makes this old world sweet; + And the weather grieves the heart of him + With too much rain or heat; + For there's nothing gold that can't be sold, + And there's nothing good but wheat! + + +There is no class of people who have suffered so much from wrong +thinking as the farmer; vicarious wrong thinking, I mean; other people +have done the wrong thinking, and the farmer has suffered. Like many +another bromide, the thought has grown on people that farmers are slow, +uncouth, guileless, easily imposed on, ready to sign a promissory note +for any smooth-tongued stranger who comes in for dinner. The stage and +the colored supplements have spread this impression of the farmer, and +the farmer has not cared. He felt he could stand it! Perhaps the +women on the farm feel it more than the men, for women are more +sensitive about such things. "Poor girl!" say the kind friends. "She +went West and married a farmer"--and forthwith a picture of the +farmer's wife rises up before their eyes; the poor, faded woman, in a +rusty black luster skirt sagging in the back and puckering in the +seams; coat that belonged to a suit in other days; a black sailor hat, +gray with years and dust, with a sad cluster of faded violets, and torn +tulle trimming, sitting crooked on her head; hair the color of last +year's grass, and teeth gone in front. + +There is no reason for the belief that farmers' wives as a class look +and dress like this, only that people love to generalize; to fit cases +to their theory, they love to find ministers' sons wild; mothers-in-law +disagreeable; women who believe in suffrage neglecting their children, +and farmers' wives shabby, discouraged and sad. + +I do not believe that farmers' wives are a down-trodden class of women. +They have their troubles like other people. It rains in threshing +time, and the threshers' visit is prolonged until long after their +welcome has been worn to a frazzle! Father won't dress up even when +company is coming. Father also has a mania for buying land instead of +building a new house; and sometimes works the driving horse. Cows +break out of pastures; hawks get the chickens; hens lay away; +clothes-lines break. + +They have their troubles, but there are compensations. Their houses +may be small, but there is plenty of room outside; they may not have +much spending money, but the rent is always paid; they are saved from +the many disagreeable things that are incident to city life, and they +have great opportunity for developing their resources. + +When the city woman wants a shelf put up she 'phones to the City +Relief, and gets a man to do it for her; the farmer's wife hunts up the +hammer and a soap box and puts up her own shelf, and gains the +independence of character which only come from achievement. Similarly +the children of the country neighborhoods have had to make their own +fun, which they do with great enthusiasm, for, under any circumstances, +children will play. The city children pay for their amusement. They +pay their nickel, and sit back, apparently saying: "Now, amuse me if +you can! What are you paid for?" The blasé city child who comes +sighing out of picture shows is a sad sight. They know everything, and +their little souls are a-weary of this world. It is a cold day for any +child who has nothing left to wonder at. + +The desire to play is surely a great stroke of Providence, and one of +which the world has only recently begun to learn. Take the matter of +picnics. I have seen people hold a picnic on the bare prairie, where +the nearest tree was miles away, and the only shade was that of a +barbed-wire fence, but everybody was happy. The success of a picnic +depends upon the mental attitude, not on cool shade or purling streams. + +I remember seeing from the train window a party of young people +carrying a boat and picnic baskets, one hot day in July. A little +farther on we passed a tiny lake set in a thick growth of tall grass. +It was a very small lake, indeed. I ran to the rear platform of the +train and watched it as long as I could; I was so afraid some cow would +come along and drink it dry before they got there. + +Not long ago I made some investigations as to why boys and girls leave +the farm, and I found in over half the cases the reason given was that +life on the farm was "too slow, too lonely, and no fun." In country +neighborhoods family life means more than it does in the city. The +members of a family are at each other's mercy; and so, if the "father" +always has a grouch, and the "mother" is worried, and tired, and cross, +small wonder that the children try to get away. In the city there is +always the "movie" to go to, and congenial companionship down the +street, and so we mourn the depopulation of our rural neighborhoods. + +We all know that the country is the best place in which to bring up +children; that the freckle-faced boy, with bare feet, who hunts up the +cows after school, and has to keep the woodbox full, and has to +remember to shut the henhouse door, is getting a far better education +than the carefree city boy who has everything done for him. + +It is a good thing that boys leave the farm and go to the city--I mean +it is a good thing for the city--but it is hard on the farm. Of late +years this question has become very serious and has caused alarm. +Settlements which, ten or fifteen years ago, had many young people and +a well-filled school and well-attended church, with the real owners +living on the farms, have now become depopulated by farmers retiring to +a nearby town and "renters" taking the place. "Renters" are very often +very poor, and sometimes shiftless--no money to spend on anything but +the real necessities; sometimes even too poor to send their children to +school. + +One cause for this is that our whole attitude toward labor is wrong. +We look upon labor as an uncomfortable experience, which, if we endure +with patience, we may hope to outgrow and be able to get away from. We +practically say: "Let us work now, so that by and by we may be able to +live without working!" Many a farmer and his wife have denied +themselves everything for years, comforting themselves with the thought +that when they have enough money they will "retire." They will not +take the time or the money to go to a concert, or a lecture, or a +picnic, but tell themselves that when they retire they will just go to +everything. So just when they have everything in fine shape on the +farm, when the lilacs are beginning to bloom and the raspberry bushes +are bearing, they "retire." Father's rheumatism is bad, and mother +can't get help, so they rent the farm and retire. + +The people to whom the farm is rented do not care anything about the +lilac or raspberry bushes--there is no money in them. All they care +about is wheat--they have to pay the rent and they want to make money. +They have the wheat lust, so the lilacs bloom or not as they feel +disposed, and the cattle trample down the raspberry bushes and the gate +falls off the top hinge. Meanwhile the farmer and his wife move into +town and buy a house. They get just a small house, for the wife says +she's tired of working. Every morning at 4.30 o'clock they waken. +They often thought about how nice it would be not to have to get up; +but now, someway it isn't nice. They can't sleep, everything is so +quiet. Not a rooster crowing. Nor a hen cackling! They get up and +look out. All down the street the blinds are drawn. Everybody is +asleep--and it all looks so blamed lazy. + +They get up. But there is nothing to do. The woman is not so badly +off--a woman can always tease out linen and sew it up again, and she +can always crochet. Give her a crochet needle, and a spool of +"sil-cotton," and she will keep out of mischief. But the man is not so +easy to account for. He tries hard to get busy. He spades the garden +as if he were looking for diamonds. He cleans the horse until the poor +brute hates the sight of him. He piles his wood so carefully that the +neighbors passing call out and ask him if he "intends to varnish it." +He mends everything that needs it, and is glad when he finds a picket +off the fence. He tries to read the _Farmers' Advocate_. They brought +in a year's number of them that they had never got time to read on the +farm. Someway, they have lost their charm. It seems so lazy in broad +daylight for a grown man to sit down and read. He takes a walk +downtown, and meets up with some idle men like himself. They sit on +the sidewalk and settle the government and the church and various +things. + +"Well, I must be gittin'!" at last he declares; then suddenly he +remembers that he has nothing to do at home--everything is done to a +finish--and a queer, detached feeling comes over him. He is no longer +needed anywhere. + +Somebody is asking him to come in for a drink, and he goes! Why +shouldn't he have a drink or anything else that he wants, he asks +himself. He has worked hard. He'll take two. He'll go even further, +he'll treat the crowd. When he finally goes home and sleeps it off, he +finds he has spent $1.05, and he is repentant. + +That night a young lady calls, selling tickets for a concert, and his +wife would have bought them, but he says: "Go slow, Minnie, you can't +buy everything. It's awful the way money goes in town. We'll see +about this concert--maybe we'll go, but we won't buy tickets--it might +rain!" + +They do not buy the tickets--neither do they go. Minnie does not care +much about going out. She has stayed in too long. But he continues to +sit on the sidewalk, and he hears many things. + +Sometimes people have attributed to women the habit of gossiping, but +the idle men, who sit on the sidewalks of the small towns or tilt back +in the yellow round-back chairs on the hotel verandas, can blacken more +characters to the hour than any other class of human beings. He hears +all the putrid stories of the little town; they are turned over and +discussed in all their obnoxious details. At first, he is repelled by +them, for he is a decent fellow, this man who put in the lilacs and the +raspberry bushes back there on the farm. He objects to the remarks +that are passed about the women who go by, and he says so, and he and +one of the other men have "words." + +The bartender hears it and comes out and settles it by inviting +everyone in to have "one on the house." + +That brings back good-fellowship, and everyone treats. He sees then +that nobody meant any harm--it was all just in fun. A few glasses of +"White Horse" will keep a man from being too sensitive about things. +So he laughs with the others at the indecent joke. This is life--town +life. Now he is out in the world! + +So begins the degeneration of a man, and it is all based on the false +attitude we have toward labor. His idea of labor was wrong while he +was on the farm. He worked and did nothing else, until he forgot how +to do everything else. Then he stopped working, and he was lost. + +Why any rational human being wants to "retire" to the city, goes beyond +me! I can understand the city man, worn with the noise, choked by the +dust, frazzled with cares, retiring to the country, where he can heal +his tired soul, pottering around his own garden, and watching green +things grow. That seems reasonable and logical! But for a man who has +known the delight of planting and reaping to retire to a city or a +small town, and "hang around," doing nothing, is surely a retrograde +step. + +The retired farmer is seldom interested in community matters--they +usually vote against any by-law for improvement. Coal-oil lamps were +good enough on the farm--why should a town have electric light? Why +should a town spend money on cement sidewalks when they already have +good dirt roads? He will not subscribe funds for the support of a +gymnasium, hockey club or public baths. He does not understand about +the need of exercise, he always got too much; and he doesn't see any +reason why the boys should not go to the river and swim. + +It is not that the farmer is selfish or mean above or below other men. +It is because he has not learned team play or the community spirit. +But it is coming. The farmer has been an independent fellow, able to +get along without much help from anyone. He could always hire plenty +of men, and there are machines for every need. So far as the farmer +has been concerned, he could get along very well. + +It has not been so with the farmer's wife. More than any other woman +she has needed help, and less than any other woman has she got it. She +has been left alone, to live or die, sink or swim. + +Machines for helping the man on the farm are on the market in great +numbers, and are bought eagerly, for the farmer reasons out the matter +quite logically, and arrives at the conclusion that anything which will +add to the productiveness of his farm is good buying. He can see the +financial value of a seeder, or a roller, or a feed chopper. Now, with +a washing-machine it is different. A washing-machine can only wash +clothes, and his wife has always been able to get the clothes washed +some way. The farmer does not see any return for his ten dollars and a +half, and so he passes up the machine. Besides this, his mother never +used one, and always managed to keep the clothes clean, too, and that +settles it! + +The outside farm work has progressed wonderfully, but the indoor farm +work is done in exactly the same way as it was twenty-five years ago, +with the possible exception of the cream-separator. + +Many a farmyard, with its binders, rakes, drills, rollers, gasoline +engine, fanning-mill, and steam-plow looks as if someone had been +giving a machinery shower; but in the kitchen you will find the old +washboard and dasher churn, which belonged to the same era as the +reaping hook and tallow candle. The women still carry the water in a +pail from a pump outside, wash the dishes on the kitchen table, and +carry the water out again in a pail; although out in the barn the water +is pumped by a windmill, or a gasoline engine. The outside work on the +farm is done by horse, steam, or gasoline, but the indoor work is all +done by woman-power. + +And then, when the woman-power gives out, as it does many times, under +the strain of hard work and childbearing, the whole neighborhood mourns +and says: "God's ways are past finding out." + +I remember once attending the funeral of a woman who had been doing the +work for a family of six children and three hired men, and she had not +even a baby carriage to make her work lighter. When the last baby was +three days old, just in threshing time, she died. Suddenly, and +without warning, the power went off, and she quit without notice. The +bereaved husband was the most astonished man in the world. He had +never known Jane to do a thing like that before, and he could not get +over it. In threshing time, too! + +"I don't know what could have happened to Jane--a strong young woman +like her," he said over and over again. + +We all gathered at the house that afternoon and paid our respects to +the deceased sister, and we were all very sorry for poor Ed. We said +it was a terrible way for a poor man to be left. + +The chickens came close to the dining-room door, and looked in, +inquisitively. They could not understand why she did not come out and +feed them, and when they were driven away they retreated in evident bad +humor, gossiping openly of the shiftless, lazy ways of folks they could +mention, if they wished to name names. + +The six little children, whom the neighbor women had dressed in their +best clothes, sat dazed and silent, fascinated by the draped black +coffin; but the baby, the tiny one who had just entered the race, +gathered up the feeling of the meeting, and cried incessantly in a room +upstairs. It was a hard rebellious cry, too, as if the little one +realized that an injustice had been done. + +Just above the coffin hung an enlarged picture of "Jane" in her wedding +dress, and it was a bright face that looked out at the world from the +heavy gold frame, a sweet girlish face, which seemed to ask a question +with its eager eyes. And there below, in the black draped coffin, was +the answer--the same face, only a few years older, but tired, so +inexpressibly tired, cold and silent; its light gone out--the power +gone off. Jane had been given her answer. And upstairs Jane's baby +cried its bitter, insistent cry. + +Just then the minister began to read the words of the funeral service: + +"Inasmuch as it hath _pleased_ the Lord...." + +This happened in the fall of the year, and the next spring, just before +the busy time came on, the bereaved husband dried his eyes, painted his +buggy, and went out and married one of the neighbor's daughters, a good +strong one--and so his house is still running on woman-power. + +If men had to bear the pain and weariness of child-bearing, in addition +to the unending labors of housework and caring for children, for one +year, at the end of that time there would be a perfect system of +coöperation and labor-saving devices in operation, for men have not the +genius for martyrdom that women have; and they know the value of +coöperative labor. No man tries to do everything the way women do. No +man aspires to making his own clothes, cleaning his own office, +pressing his own suits, or even cleaning his own shoes. All these +things he is quite willing to let people do for him, while he goes +ahead and does his own work. Man's work is systematized well and +leaves a man free to work in his own way. His days are not broken up +by details. + +On the other hand the home is the most haphazard institution we have. +Everything is done there. (I am speaking now of the homes in the +country.) In each of the homes there is a little bit of washing done, +a little dressmaking, a little butter-making, a little baking, a little +ironing going on, and it is all by hand-power, which is the most +expensive power known. It is also being done largely by amateurs, and +that adds to the amount of labor expended. Women have worked away at +these endless tasks for generations, lovingly, unselfishly, doing their +level best to do everything, with no thought of themselves at all. +When things get too many for them, and the burdens overpower them, they +die quietly, and some other woman, young, strong and fresh, takes their +place, and the modest white slab in the graveyard says, "Thy will be +done," and everybody is apparently satisfied. The Lord is blamed for +the whole thing. + +Now, if men, with their good organizing ability and their love of +comfort and their sense of their own importance, were set down to do +the work that women have done all down the centuries, they would evolve +a scheme something like this in each of the country neighborhoods. +There would be a central station, municipally owned and operated, one +large building fitted out with machinery that would be run by gasoline, +electricity, or natural gas. This building would contain in addition +to the school-rooms, a laundry room, a bake-shop, a creamery, a +dressmaking establishment, and perhaps a butcher shop. + +The consolidated school and the "Beef-rings" in the country district +are already established facts, and have opened the way for this larger +scheme of coöperation. In this manner the work would be done by +experts, and in the cheapest way, leaving the women in the farm homes +with time and strength to raise their children. + +This plan would solve the problem, too, of young people leaving the +farm. Many of the young people would find occupation in the central +station and become proficient in some branch of the work carried on +there. They would find not only employment, but the companionship of +people of their own age. The central station would become a social +gathering place in the evenings for all the people of the district, and +it is not too visionary to see in it a lecture hall, a moving-picture +machine, and a music room. Then the young people would be kept on the +farms because their homes would be pleasanter places. No woman can +bake, wash, scrub, cook meals and raise children and still be happy. +To do all these things would make an archangel irritable, and no home +can be happy when the poor mother is too tired to smile! The children +feel an atmosphere of gloom, and naturally get away from it as soon as +they can. The overworked mother cannot make the home attractive; the +things that can be left undone are left undone, and so the cushions on +the lounge are dirty and torn, the pictures hang crooked on the walls, +and the hall lamp has had no oil in it for months. That does not +matter, though, for the family live in the kitchen, and, during the +winter, the other part of the house is of the same temperature as a +well. Knowing that she is not keeping her house as it should be kept +has taken the heart out of many a woman on the farm. But what can she +do? The meals have to be cooked; the butter must be made! + +There are certain burdens which could be removed from the women on the +farm; there is part of their work that could be done cheaper and better +elsewhere, and the whole farm and all its people would reap the benefit. + +But right about here I think I hear from Brother Bones of Bonesville: + +"Do you mean to say that we should pay for the washing, ironing, +bread-making, sewing?" he cries out. "We never could afford it, and, +besides, what would the women put in their time at if all that work was +done for them?" + +Brother Bones, we can always afford to pay for things in money rather +than in human flesh and blood. That is the most exorbitant price the +race can pay for anything, and we have been paying for farm work that +way for a long time. If you doubt this statement, I can show you the +receipts which have been chiseled in stone and marble in every +graveyard. + + SACRED TO THE MEMORY + OF + JANE + + BELOVED WIFE OF EDWARD JAMES. + AGED 32 YEARS AND 6 MONTHS. + + +Who can estimate the worth of a mother to her family and the community? + +An old widower, who was reproved for marrying a very young girl for his +third wife, exonerated himself from blame by saying: "It would ruin any +man to be always buryin', and buryin'." + +But Brother Bones is not yet satisfied, and he is sure the women will +have nothing to do if such a scheme would be followed out, and he tells +us that his mother always did these things herself and raised her +family, too. + +"I can tell you," says Brother Bones, "my mother knew something about +rearing children; she raised seven and buried seven, and she never lay +in bed for more than three days with any of them. Poor mother, she was +a very smart woman--at least so I have been told--I don't remember her." + +That's just the point, Brother Bones. It is a great thing to have the +memory of such a self-sacrificing mother, but it would be a greater +thing to have your mother live out her days; and then, too, we are +thinking of the "seven" she buried. That seems like a wicked and +unnecessary waste of young life, of which we should feel profoundly +ashamed. Poor little people, who came into life, tired and weak, +fretfully complaining, burdened already with the cares of the world and +its unending labor-- + + Your old earth, they say, is very weary; + Our young feet, they say, are very weak, + +and when the measles or whooping-cough assails them they have no +strength to battle with it, and so they pass out, and again the Lord is +blamed! + +It is very desirable for the world that people should be born and +brought up in the country with its honest, wholesome ways learned in +the open; its habits of meditation, which have grown on the people as +they have gone about their work in the quiet places. Thought currents +in the country are strong and virile, and flow freely. There is an +honesty of purpose in the man who strikes out the long furrow, and +turns over every inch of the sod, painstakingly and without pretense; +for he knows that he cannot cheat nature; he will get back what he puts +in; he will reap what he sows--for Nature has no favorites, and no +short-cuts, nor can she be deceived, fooled, cajoled or flattered. + +We need the unaffected honesty and sterling qualities which the country +teaches her children in the hard, but successful, school of experience, +to offset the flashy supercilious lessons which the city teaches hers; +for the city is a careless nurse and teacher, who thinks more of the +cut of a coat than of the habit of mind; who feeds her children on +colored candy and popcorn, despising the more wholesome porridge and +milk; a slatternly nurse, who would rather buy perfume than soap; who +allows her children to powder their necks instead of washing them; who +decks them out in imitation lace collars, and cheap jewelry, with bows +on their hair, but holes in their stockings; who dazzles their eyes +with bright lights and commercial signs, and fills their ears with +blatant music, until their eyes are too dull to see the pastel beauty +of common things, and their ears are holden to the still small voices +of God; who lures her children on with many glittering promises of ease +and wealth, which she never intends to keep, and all the time whispers +to them that this is life. + +The good old country nurse is stern but kind, and gives her children +hard lessons, which tax body and brain, but never fail to bring a great +reward. She sends them on long journeys, facing the piercing winter +winds, but rewards them when the journey is over with rosy cheeks and +contented mind, and an appetite that is worth going miles to see; and +although she makes her children work long hours, until their muscles +ache, she gives them, for reward, sweet sleep and pleasant dreams; and +sometimes there are the sweet surprises along life's highway; the +sudden song of birds or burst of sunshine; the glory of the sunrise, +and sunset, and the flash of bluebirds' wings across the road, and the +smell of the good green earth. + +Happy is the child who learns earth's wisdom from the good old country +nurse, who does better than she promises, and always "makes her +children mind"! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WAR AGAINST GLOOM + + Not for all sunshine, dear Lord, do we pray-- + We know such a prayer would be vain; + But that strength may be ours to keep right on our way, + Never minding the rain! + + +It is a great thing to be young, when every vein throbs with energy and +life, when the rhythm of life beats its measures into our hearts and +calls upon us to keep step with Joy and Gladness, as we march +confidently down the white road which leads to the Land of our Desire. +God made every young thing to be happy. He put joy and harmony into +every little creature's heart. Who ever saw a kitten with a grouch? +Or a little puppy who was a pessimist? But you have seen sad children +a-plenty, and we are not blaming the Almighty for that either. God's +plans have been all right, but they have been badly interfered with by +human beings. + +When a young colt gallops around the corral, kicking and capering and +making a good bit of a nuisance of himself, the old horses watch him +sympathetically, and very tolerantly. They never say; "It is well for +you that you can be so happy--you'll have your troubles soon enough. +Childhood is your happiest time--you do well to enjoy it, for there's +plenty of trouble ahead of you!" + +Horses never talk this way. This is a distinctively human way of +depressing the young. People do it from a morbid sense of duty. They +feel that mirth and laughter are foreign to our nature, and should be +curbed as something almost wicked. + +"It's a fine day, today!" we admit grudgingly, "but, look out! We'll +pay up for it!" + +"I have been very well all winter, but I must not boast. Touch wood!" + +The inference here is that when we are healthy or happy or enjoying a +fine day, we are in an abnormal condition. We are getting away with a +bit of happiness that is not intended for us. God is not noticing, and +we had better go slow and keep dark about it, or He will waken up with +a start, and send us back to our aches and pains and our dull leaden +skies! Thus have we sought to sow the seeds of despondency and +unbelief in the world around us. + +In the South African War, there was a man who sowed the seeds of +despondency among the British soldiers; he simply talked defeat and +disaster, and so greatly did he damage the morale of the troops that an +investigation had to be made, and as a result the man was sent to jail +for a year. People have been a long time learning that thoughts are +things to heal, upbuild, strengthen; or to wound, impair, or blight. +After all we cannot do very much for many people, no matter how hard we +try, but we can contribute to their usefulness and happiness by holding +for them a kind thought if we will. + +There are people who depress you so utterly that if you had to remain +under their influence they would rob you of all your ambition and +initiative, while others inspire you to do better, to achieve, to +launch out. Life is made up of currents of thought as real as are the +currents of air, and if we could but see them, there are currents of +thought we would avoid as we would smallpox germs. + +Sadness is not our normal mental condition, nor is weakness our normal +physical condition. God intended us to laugh and play and work, come +to our beds at night weary and ready to sleep--and wake refreshed. + +"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he!" No truer words were ever +spoken, and yet men try to define themselves by houses and lands and +manners and social position, but all to no avail. The old rule holds. +It is your thought which determines what manner of man you are. The +respectable man who keeps within the law and does no outward harm, but +who thinks sordidly, meanly, or impurely, is the man of all others who +is farthest from the kingdom of God, because he does not feel his need, +nor can anyone help him. Thoughts are harder to change than ways. + +"Let the wicked man forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his +thoughts," declared Isaiah long ago, and there is no doubt the +unrighteous man has the hardest and biggest proposition put up to him. + +When the power of thought is understood, there will be a change in our +newspapers. Now the tendency is to ignore the good in life and +underline the evil in red ink. If a man commits a theft, it will make +a newspaper story, bought and paid for at regular rates. If it is a +very big steal, you may wire it in and get telegraphic rates. If the +thief shoots a man, too, send along his picture and you may make the +story two columns. If he shoots two or three people, you may give him +the whole front page, and somebody will write a book about him. It +will sell, too. How much more wholesome would our newspapers be, if +they published the good deeds of men and women rather than their +misdoings. Why should not as much space be given to the man who saves +a life, as is given to the man who takes a life? Why not let us hear +more of the boy who went right, rather than of the one who went wrong? +I remember once reading an obscure little paragraph about a man who +every year a few days before Christmas sent twenty-five dollars to the +Postal Department at Ottawa, to pay the deficit on Christmas parcels +which were held up for insufficient postage. Such a thoughtful act of +Christian charity should have been given a place on the front page, for +in the words of Jennie Allen: "Life ain't any too full of nice little +surprises like that." Why should people enjoy the contemplation of +evil rather than good? Is it because it makes their own little +contribution of respectability seem larger by comparison? + +We have missed a great deal of the joy of life by taking ourselves too +seriously. We exaggerate our own importance, and so if the honor or +distinction or the vote of thanks does not come our way, we are hurt! +Then, too, we live in an atmosphere of dread and fear--we fear poverty +and hard work--we fear the newspapers and the neighbors, and fear is +hell! + +When you begin to feel all fussed up, worried, and cross, frayed at the +edges, and down at the heel--go out and look up at the stars. They are +so serene, detached, and uncaring! Calmly shining down upon us they +rebuke the fussiness of our little souls, and tell us to cheer up, for +our little affairs do not much matter anyway. + + The earthly hope men set their hearts upon + Turns ashes, or it prospers--and anon + Like snow upon the desert's arid face, + Cooling a little hour or two--is gone! + + +It is a great mistake for us to mistake ourselves for the President of +the company. Let us do our little bit with cheerfulness and not take +the responsibility that belongs to God. None of us can turn the earth +around; all we can ever hope to do is to hit it a few whacks on the +right side. We belong to a great system; a system which can convince +even the dullest of us of its greatness. Think of the miracle of night +and day enacted before our eyes every twenty-four hours. Right on the +dot comes the sun up over the saucer-like rim of the earth, never a +minute late. Think of the journey the earth makes around the sun every +year--a matter of 360,000,000 miles more or less--and it makes the +journey in an exact time and arrives on the stroke of the clock, no +washout on the line; no hot box; no spread rail; no taking on of coal +or water; no employees' strike. It never drops a stick; it never slips +a cog; and whirls in through space always on the minute. And that +without any help from either you or me! Some system, isn't it? + +I believe we may safely trust God even with our affairs. When the war +broke out we all experienced a bad attack of gloom. We were afraid God +had forgotten us and gone off the job. And yet, even now, we begin to +see light through the dark clouds of sorrow and confusion. If the war +brings about the abolition of the liquor traffic, it will be justified. +Incidentally the war has already brought many by-products which are +wholly good, and it would almost seem as if there is a plan in it after +all. + +Life is a great struggle against gloom, and we could fight it better if +we always remembered that happiness is a condition of heart and is not +dependent on outward conditions. The kingdom of heaven is within you. +Everything depends on the point of view. + + Two prisoners looked out once through the bars, + One saw the mud, the other saw the stars. + + +Looking into the sky one sees the dark clouds and foretells rain, and +the picnic spoiled; another sees the rift of blue and foretells fine +weather. Looking out on life, one sees only its sad grayness; another +sees the thread of gold, "which sometimes in the patterns shows most +sweet where there are somber colors"! Happiness is a condition, and if +you are not happy now, you had better be alarmed about yourself, for +you may never be. + +There was a woman who came with her family to the prairie country +thirty-five years ago. They built a house, which in those days of sod +roofs and Red-River frames seemed quite palatial, for had it not a +"parlor" and a pantry and three bedrooms? The lady grieved and mourned +incessantly because it had no back-stairs. In ten years they built +another house, and it had everything, back-stairs, dumb-waiter, and +laundry shoot, and all the neighbors wondered if the lady would be +happy then. She wasn't. She wanted to live in the city. She had the +good house now and that part of her discontent was closed down, so it +broke out in another place. She hated the country. By diligently +keeping at it, she induced her husband to go to the city where the poor +man was about as much at home as a sailor at a dry-farming congress. +He made no complaint, however. The complaint department was always +busy! She suddenly discovered that a Western city was not what she +wanted. It was "down East." So they went. They bought a beautiful +home in the orchard country in Ontario, and her old neighbors watched +development. Surely she had found peace at last--but she hadn't. She +did not like the people--she missed the friendliness of the new +country; also she objected to the winters, and her dining-room was +dark, and the linen closet was small. Soon after moving to Ontario she +died, and we presume went to heaven. It does not matter where she +went--she won't like it, anyway. She had the habit of discontent. + +There's no use looking ahead for happiness--look around! If it is +anywhere, it is here. + +"I am going out to bring in some apples to eat," said a farmer to his +wife. + +"Mind you bring in the spotted ones," said she who had a frugal mind. + +"What'll I do if there are no spotted ones?" he asked. + +"Don't bring any--just wait until they do spot!" + +Too many people do not eat their apples until they are spotted. + +But we know that life has its tragedies, its heartaches, its gloom, in +spite of all our philosophy. We may as well admit it. We have no +reason to believe that we shall escape, but we have reason to hope that +when these things come to us we will be able to bear them. + +"Thou shalt not be _afraid_ of the terror by day, nor of the arrow that +flieth by night, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor +for the destruction that wasteth at noonday." + +You will notice here that the promise is that you will not be afraid of +these things. They may come to you, but they will not overpower you, +or destroy you utterly, for you will not be afraid of them. It is fear +that kills. It is better to have misfortunes come, and be brave to +meet them, than to be afraid of them all your life, even if they never +come. + +Gloom and doubt and fear paralyze the soul and sow it thick with the +seeds of defeat. No man is a failure until he admits it himself. + +Tramps have a way of marking gateposts so that their companions who may +come along afterwards may know exactly what sort of people live inside, +and whether it is worth while to ask them for a meal. A certain sign +means "Easy people--no questions"; another sign means "Nothing +stirring--don't go in"; another means "Beat it or they'll give you a +job with lots of advice!" and still another means "Dog." Every doubt +and fear that enters your heart, or tries to enter, leaves its mark +upon the gatepost of your soul, and it serves as a guide for every +other doubt and fear which may come along, and if they once mark you +"Easy," that signal will act as an invitation for their twin brother +"Defeat," who will, without warning, slip into your heart and make +himself at home. + +Doubts and fears are disloyalty to God--they are expressions of a want +of confidence in Him, but, of course, that's what is wrong with our +religion. We have not got enough of it. Too many of us have just +enough religion to make ourselves miserable--just enough to spoil our +taste for worldly pleasures and not enough to give us a taste for the +real things of life. There are many good qualities which are only an +aggravation if we have not enough of them. "Every good and perfect +gift cometh from above." You see it is not enough for the gift to be +"good"--it must be "perfect," and that means abundant. Too long we +have thought of religion as something in the nature of straight life +insurance--we would have to die to get the good of it. But it isn't. +The good of it is here, and now we can "lift" it every day if we will. +No person can claim wages for half time; that's where so much +dissatisfaction has come in, and people have found fault with the +company. People have taken up the service of God as a polite little +side-line and worked at it when they felt like it--Sunday afternoons +perhaps or rainy days, when there was nothing else going on; and then +when no reward came--no peace of soul--they were disposed to grumble. +They were like plenty of policy-holders and did not read the contract, +or perhaps some agent had in the excess of his zeal made it too easy +for them. The reward comes only when you put your whole strength on +all the time. Out in the Middle West they have a way of making the +cattle pump their own water by a sort of platform, which the weight of +an animal will press down, and the water is forced up into a trough. +Sometimes a blasé old ox who sees the younger and lighter steers doing +this, feels that he with his superior experience and weight will only +have to put one foot on to bring up the water, but he finds that one +foot won't do, or even two. He has to get right on, and give to it his +full weight. It takes the whole ox, horns, hoofs and tail. That's the +way it is in religion--by which we mean the service of God and man. It +takes you--all the time; and the reward is work, and peace, and a +satisfaction in your work that passeth all understanding. No more +grinding fear, no more "bad days," no more wishing to die, no more +nervous prostration. Just work and peace! + +Did you ever have to keep house when your mother went away, when you +did not know very well how to do things, and every meal sat like a +weight on your young heart, and the fear was ever present with you that +the bread would go sour or the house burn down, or burglars would come, +or someone would take sick? The days were like years as they slowly +crawled around the face of the old clock on the kitchen shelf, and even +at night you could not forget the awful burden of responsibility. + +But one day, one glorious day she came home, and the very minute you +heard her step on the floor, the burden was lifted. Your work was very +much the same, but the responsibility was gone, and cheerfulness came +back to your eyes, and smiles to your face. + +That is what it feels like when you "get religion." The worry and +burden of life is gone. Somebody else has the responsibility and you +work with a light heart. It is the responsibility of life that kills +us, the worry, fear, uncertainty, and anxiety. How we envy the man who +works by the day, just does his little bit, and has no care! This +immunity from care may be ours if we link ourselves with God. + +Think of Moses' mother! There she was hired to take care of her own +son. Doing the very thing she loved to do all week and getting her pay +envelope every Saturday night. So may we. God hires us to do our work +for Him, and pays us as we go along--the only stipulation being that we +do our best. + +"I have shown thee, O man, what is good!" declared Micah long ago. +"What doth now the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love +mercy and walk humbly with thy God!" In "walking humbly, doing justly, +and loving mercy," there is no place for worry and gloom; there is +great possibility of love and much serving, and God in His goodness +breaks up our reward into a thousand little things which attend us +every step of the way, just as the white ray of light by the drop of +water is broken into the dazzling beauty of the rainbow. The burning +bush which Moses saw is not the only bush which flames with God, and +seeks to show to us a sign. Nature spares no pains to make things +beautiful; trees have serrated leaves; birds and flowers have color; +the butterflies' wings are splashed with gold; moss grows over the +fallen tree, and grass covers the scar on the landscape. Nature hides +her wounds in beauty. Nature spares no pains to make things beautiful, +for beauty is nourishing. Beauty is thrift, ugliness is waste, +ugliness is sin which scatters, destroys, integrates. But beauty +heals, nourishes, sustains. There is a reason for sending flowers to +the sick. + +Nature has no place for sadness and repining. The last leaf on the +tree dances in the breezes as merrily as when it had all its lovely +companions by its side, and when its hold is loosened on the branch +which bares it, it joins its brothers on the ground without regret. +When the seed falls into the ground and dies, it does it without a +murmur, for it knows that it will rise again in new beauty. Happy +indeed is the traveler on life's highway, who will read the messages +God sends us every day, for they are many and their meaning is clear: +the sudden flood of warm sunshine in your room on a dark and dreary +afternoon; the billowy softness of the smoke plume which rises into the +frosty air, and is touched into exquisite rose and gold by the morning +sun; the frosted leaves which turn to crimson and gold--God's silent +witnesses that sorrow, disappointment and loss may bring out the deeper +beauties of the soul; the flash of a bluebird's wing as he rides gaily +down the wind into the sunlit valley. All these are messages to you +and me that all is well--letters from home, good comrade, letters from +home! + + God knew that some would never look + Inside a book + To know His will, + And so He threw a varied hue + On dale and hill. + He knew that some would read words wrong, + And so He gave the birds their song. + He put the gold in the sunset sky + To show us that a day may die + With greater glory than it's born, + And so may we + Move calmly forward to our West, + Serene and blest! + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's In Times Like These, by Nellie L. 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McClung +</TITLE> + +<STYLE TYPE="text/css"> +BODY { color: Black; + background: White; + margin-right: 10%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; + text-align: justify } + +P {text-indent: 4% } + +P.noindent {text-indent: 0% } + +P.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: small } + +P.letter {text-indent: 0%; + font-size: small ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.transnote {font-size: small ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +P.intro {font-size: small; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 10% ; + margin-right: 10% } + +P.finis { font-size: larger ; + text-align: center ; + text-indent: 0% ; + margin-left: 0% ; + margin-right: 0% } + +</STYLE> + +</HEAD> + +<BODY> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of In Times Like These, by Nellie L. McClung + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: In Times Like These + +Author: Nellie L. McClung + +Release Date: November 24, 2009 [EBook #29861] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN TIMES LIKE THESE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +IN TIMES +<BR> +LIKE THESE +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +NELLIE L. McCLUNG +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Author of "Sowing Seeds In Danny," "The Second Chance,"<BR> +and "The Black Creek Stopping-house."<BR> +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +TORONTO +<BR> +McLEOD & ALLEN +<BR> +1915 +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +COPYRIGHT, 1915, +<BR> +BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY +<BR><BR> +Printed in the United States of America +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +<I>DEDICATION</I> +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +I +</H4> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +TO THE SUPERIOR PERSONS +</P> + +<P> +Who would not come to hear a woman speak being firmly convinced that it +is not "natural." +</P> + +<P> +Who takes the rather unassailable ground that "men are men and women +are women." +</P> + +<P> +Who answers all arguments by saying, "Woman's place is the home" and, +"The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world," and even sometimes +flashes out with the brilliant retort, "It would suit those women +better to stay at home and darn their children's stockings." +</P> + +<P> +To all these Superior Persons, men and women, who are inhospitable to +new ideas, and even suspicious of them, this book is respectfully +dedicated by +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +THE AUTHOR. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Upon further deliberation I am beset with the fear that the above +dedication may not "take." The Superior Person may not appreciate the +kind and neighborly spirit I have tried to show. So I will dedicate +this book again. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +<I>DEDICATION</I> +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +II +</H4> + +<P> +Believing that the woman's claim to a common humanity is not an +unreasonable one, and that the successful issue of such claim rests +primarily upon the sense of fair play which people have or have not +according to how they were born, and +</P> + +<P> +Believing that the man or woman born with a sense of fair play, no +matter how obscured it has become by training, prejudice, or unhappy +experience, will ultimately see the light and do the square thing and— +</P> + +<P> +Believing that the man or woman who has not been so endowed by nature, +no matter what advantages of education or association, will always +suffer from the affliction known as mental strabismus, over which no +feeble human ward has any power, and which can only be cast out by the +transforming power of God's grace. +</P> + +<P> +Therefore to men and women everywhere who love a fair deal, and are +willing to give it to everyone, even women, this book is respectfully +dedicated by the author. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +NELLIE L. McCLUNG. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE WAR THAT NEVER ENDS</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">THE WAR THAT ENDS IN EXHAUSTION SOMETIMES MISTAKEN FOR PEACE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">WHAT DO WOMEN THINK OF WAR? (NOT THAT IT MATTERS)</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">SHOULD WOMEN THINK?</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">THE NEW CHIVALRY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">HARDY PERENNIALS!</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">GENTLE LADY</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">WOMEN AND THE CHURCH</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">THE SORE THOUGHT</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">THE LAND OF THE FAIR DEAL</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">AS A MAN THINKETH</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">THE WAR AGAINST GLOOM</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +IN TIMES LIKE THESE +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE WAR THAT NEVER ENDS +</H4> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +If, at last the sword is sheathed,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And men, exhausted, call it peace,</SPAN><BR> +Old Nature wears no olive wreath,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">The weapons change—war does not cease.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +The little struggling blades of grass<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">That lift their heads and will not die,</SPAN><BR> +The vines that climb where sunbeams pass,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And fight their way toward the sky!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +And every soul that God has made,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Who from despair their lives defend</SPAN><BR> +And struggling upward through the shade,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Break every bond that will not bend,</SPAN><BR> +These are the soldiers, unafraid<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">In the great war that has no end.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +We will begin peaceably by contemplating the world of nature, trees and +plants and flowers, common green things against which there is no +law—for surely there is no corruption in carrots, no tricks in +turnips, no mixed motive in marigolds. +</P> + +<P> +To look abroad upon a peaceful field drowsing in the sunshine, lazily +touched by a wandering breeze, no one would suspect that any struggle +was going on in the tiny hearts of the flowers and grasses. The lilies +of the field have long ago been said to toil not, neither spin, and the +inference has been that they in common with all other flowers and +plants lead a "lady's life," untroubled by any thought of ambition or +activity. The whole world of nature seems to present a perfect picture +of obedience and peaceful meditation. +</P> + +<P> +But for all their quiet innocent ways, every plant has one ambition and +will attain it by any means. Plants have one ambition, and therein +they have the advantage of us, who sometimes have too many, and +sometimes none at all! Their ambition is to grow—to spread—to +travel—to get away from home. Home is their enemy, for if a plant +falls at its mother's knee it is doomed to death, or a miserable +stunted life. +</P> + +<P> +Every seed has its own little plan of escape. Some of them are pitiful +enough and stamped with failure, like the tiny screw of the Lucerne, +which might be of some use if the seed were started on its flight from +a considerable elevation, but as it is, it has hardly turned over +before it hits the ground. But the next seed tries the same +plan—always hoping for a happier result. With better success, the +maple seed uses its little spreading wings to conquer space, and if the +wind does its part the plan succeeds, and that the wind generally can +be depended upon to blow is shown by the wide dissemination of maple +trees. +</P> + +<P> +More subtle still are the little tricks that seeds have of getting +animals and people to give them a lift on their way. Many a bird has +picked a bright red berry from a bush, with a feeling of gratitude, no +doubt, that his temporal needs are thus graciously supplied. He +swallows the sweet husk, and incidentally the seed, paying no attention +to the latter, and flies on his way. The seed remains unchanged and +undigested, and is thus carried far from home, and gets its chance. +So, too, many seeds are provided with burrs and spikes, which stick in +sheep's wool, dog's hair, or the clothing of people, and so travel +abroad, to the far country—the land of growth, the land of promise. +</P> + +<P> +There is something pathetically human in the struggle plants make to +reach the light; tiny rootlets have been known to pierce rocks in their +stern determination to reach the light that their soul craves. They +refuse to be resigned to darkness and despair! Who has not marveled at +the intelligence shown by the canary vine, the wild cucumber plant, or +the morning glory, in the way their tendrils reach out and find the +rusty nail or sliver on the fence—anything on which they can rise into +the higher air; even as you and I reach out the trembling tendrils of +our souls for something solid to rest upon? +</P> + +<P> +There is no resignation in Nature, no quiet folding of the hands, no +hypocritical saying, "Thy will be done!" and giving in without a +struggle. Countless millions of seeds and plants are doomed each year +to death and failure, but all honor to them—they put up a fight to the +very end! Resignation is a cheap and indolent human virtue, which has +served as an excuse for much spiritual slothfulness. It is still +highly revered and commended. It is so much easier sometimes to sit +down and be resigned than to rise up and be indignant. +</P> + +<P> +Years ago people broke every law of sanitation and when plagues came +they were resigned and piously looked heavenward, and blamed God for +the whole thing. "Thy will be done," they said, and now we know it was +not God's will at all. It is never God's will that any should perish! +People were resigned when they should have been cleaning up! "Thy will +be done!" should ever be the prayer of our hearts, but it does not let +us out of any responsibility. It is not a weak acceptance of +misfortune, or sickness, or injustice or wrong, for these things are +not God's will. +</P> + +<P> +"Thy will be done" is a call to fight—to fight for better conditions, +for moral and physical health, for sweeter manners, cleaner laws, for a +fair chance for everyone, even women! +</P> + +<P> +The man or woman who tries to serve their generation need not cry out +as did the hymn writer of the last century against the danger of being +carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, for we know that flowery +beds of ease have never been a mode of locomotion to the skies. +Flowery beds of ease lead in an entirely opposite direction, which has +had the effect of discouraging celestial emigration, for humanity is +very partial to the easy way of traveling. People like not only to +travel the easy way, but to think along the beaten path, which is so +safe and comfortable, where the thoughts have been worked over so often +that the very words are ready made, and come easily. There is a good +deal of the cat in the human family. We like comfort and ease—a warm +cushion by a cosy fire, and then sweet sleep—and don't disturb me! +Disturbers are never popular—nobody ever really loved an alarm clock +in action—no matter how grateful they may have been afterwards for its +kind services! +</P> + +<P> +It was the people who did not like to be disturbed who crucified +Christ—the worst fault they had to find with Him was that He annoyed +them—He rebuked the carnal mind—He aroused the cat-spirit, and so +they crucified Him—and went back to sleep. Even yet new ideas blow +across some souls like a cold draught, and they naturally get up and +shut the door! They have even been known to slam it! +</P> + +<P> +The sin of the world has ever been indifference and slothfulness, more +than real active wickedness. Life, the real abundant life of one who +has a vision of what a human soul may aspire to be, becomes a great +struggle against conditions. Life is warfare—not one set of human +beings warring upon other human beings—that is murder, no matter by +what euphonious name it may be called; but war waged against ignorance, +selfishness, darkness, prejudice and cruelty, beginning always with the +roots of evil which we find in our own hearts. What a glorious thing +it would be if nations would organize and train for this warfare, whose +end is life, and peace, and joy everlasting, as they now train and +organize for the wholesale murder and burning and pillaging whose mark +of victory is the blackened trail of smoking piles of ruins, dead and +maimed human beings, interrupted trade and paralyzed industries! +</P> + +<P> +Once a man paid for his passage across the ocean in one of the great +Atlantic liners. He brought his provisions with him to save expenses, +but as the days went on he grew tired of cheese, and his biscuits began +to taste mousy, and the savory odors of the kitchen and dining-room +were more than he could resist. There was only one day more, but he +grew so ravenously hungry, he felt he must have one good meal, if it +took his last cent. He made his way to the dining-room, and asked the +man at the desk the price of a meal. In answer to his inquiry the man +asked to see his ticket. "It will not cost you anything," he said. +"Your ticket includes meals." +</P> + +<P> +That's the way it is in life—we have been traveling below our +privileges. There is enough for everyone, if we could get at it. +There is food and raiment, a chance to live, and love and labor—for +everyone; these things are included in our ticket, only some of us have +not known it, and some others have reached out and taken more than +their share, and try to excuse their "hoggishness" by declaring that +God did not intend all to travel on the same terms, but you and I know +God better than that. +</P> + +<P> +To bring this about—the even chance for everyone—is the plain and +simple meaning of life. This is the War that never ends. It has been +waged all down the centuries by brave men and women whose hearts God +has touched. It is a quiet war with no blare of trumpets to keep the +soldiers on the job, no flourish of flags or clinking of swords to +stimulate flagging courage. It may not be as romantic a warfare, from +the standpoint of our medieval ideas of romance, as the old way of +sharpening up a battle axe, and spreading our enemy to the evening +breeze, but the reward of victory is not seeing our brother man dead at +our feet; but rather seeing him alive and well, working by our side. +</P> + +<P> +To this end let us declare war on all meanness, snobbishness, petty or +great jealousies, all forms of injustice, all forms of special +privilege, all selfishness and all greed. Let us drop bombs on our +prejudices! Let us send submarines to blow up all our poor little +petty vanities, subterfuges and conceits, with which we have endeavored +to veil the face of Truth. Let us make a frontal attack on ignorance, +laziness, doubt, despondence, despair, and unbelief! +</P> + +<P> +The banner over us is "Love," and our watchword "A Fair Deal." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE WAR THAT ENDS IN EXHAUSTION SOMETIMES MISTAKEN FOR PEACE +</H4> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +When a skirl of pipes came down the street,<BR> +And the blare of bands, and the march of feet,<BR> +I could not keep from marching, too;<BR> +For the pipes cried "Come!" and the bands said "Do,"<BR> +And when I heard the pealing fife,<BR> +I cared no more for human life!<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Away back in the cave-dwelling days, there was a simple and definite +distribution of labor. Men fought and women worked. Men fought +because they liked it; and women worked because it had to be done. Of +course the fighting had to be done too, there was always a warring +tribe out looking for trouble, while their womenfolk stayed at home and +worked. They were never threatened with a long peace. Somebody was +always willing to go "It." The young bloods could always be sure of +good fighting somewhere, and no questions asked. The masculine +attitude toward life was: "I feel good today; I'll go out and kill +something." Tribes fought for their existence, and so the work of the +warrior was held to be the most glorious of all; indeed, it was the +only work that counted. The woman's part consisted of tilling the +soil, gathering the food, tanning the skins and fashioning garments, +brewing the herbs, raising the children, dressing the warrior's wounds, +looking after the herds, and any other light and airy trifle which +might come to her notice. But all this was in the background. Plain +useful work has always been considered dull and drab. +</P> + +<P> +Everything depended on the warrior. When "the boys" came home there +was much festivity, music, and feasting, and tales of the chase and +fight. The women provided the feast and washed the dishes. The +soldier has always been the hero of our civilization, and yet almost +any man makes a good soldier. Nearly every man makes a good soldier, +but not every man, or nearly every man makes a good citizen: the tests +of war are not so searching as the tests of peace, but still the +soldier is the hero. +</P> + +<P> +Very early in the lives of our children we begin to inculcate the love +of battle and sieges and invasions, for we put the miniature weapons of +warfare into their little hands. We buy them boxes of tin soldiers at +Christmas, and help them to build forts and blow them up. We have +military training in our schools; and little fellows are taught to +shoot at targets, seeing in each an imaginary foe, who must be +destroyed because he is "not on our side." There is a song which runs +like this: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +If a lad a maid would marry<BR> +He must learn a gun to carry.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +thereby putting love and love-making on a military basis—but it goes! +Military music is in our ears, and even in our churches. "Onward +Christian soldiers, marching as to war" is a Sunday-school favorite. +We pray to the God of Battles, never by any chance to the God of +Workshops! +</P> + +<P> +Once a year, of course, we hold a Peace Sunday and on that day we pray +mightily that God will give us peace in our time and that war shall be +no more, and the spear shall be beaten into the pruning hook. But the +next day we show God that he need not take us too literally, for we go +on with the military training, and the building of the battleships, and +our orators say that in time of peace we must prepare for war. +</P> + +<P> +War is the antithesis of all our teaching. It breaks all the +commandments; it makes rich men poor, and strong men weak. It makes +well men sick, and by it living men are changed to dead men. Why, +then, does war continue? Why do men go so easily to war—for we may as +well admit that they do go easily? There is one explanation. They +like it! +</P> + +<P> +When the first contingent of soldiers went to the war from Manitoba, +there stood on the station platform a woman crying bitterly. (She was +not the only one.) She had in her arms an infant, and three small +children stood beside her wondering. +</P> + +<P> +"'E would go!" she sobbed in reply to the sympathy expressed by the +people who stood near her, "'E loves a fight—'e went through the South +African War, and 'e's never been 'appy since—when 'e 'ears war is on +he says I'll go—'e loves it—'e does!" +</P> + +<P> +'"E loves it!" +</P> + +<P> +That explains many things. +</P> + +<P> +"Father sent me out," said a little Irish girl, "to see if there's a +fight going on any place, because if there is, please, father would +like to be in it!" Unfortunately "father's" predilection to fight is +not wholly confined to the Irish! +</P> + +<P> +But although men like to fight, war is not inevitable. War is not of +God's making. War is a crime committed by men and, therefore, when +enough people say it shall not be, it cannot be. This will not happen +until women are allowed to say what they think of war. Up to the +present time women have had nothing to say about war, except pay the +price of war—this privilege has been theirs always. +</P> + +<P> +History, romance, legend and tradition having been written by men, have +shown the masculine aspect of war and have surrounded it with a false +glory and have sought to throw the veil of glamour over its hideous +face. Our histories have followed the wars. Invasions, conquests, +battles, sieges make up the subject-matter of our histories. +</P> + +<P> +Some glorious soul, looking out upon his neighbors, saw some country +that he thought he could use and so he levied a heavy tax on the +people, and with the money fitted out a splendid army. Men were called +from their honest work to go out and fight other honest men who had +never done them any harm; harvest fields were trampled by their horses' +feet, villages burned, women and children fled in terror, and perished +of starvation, streets ran blood and the Glorious Soul came home +victorious with captives chained to his chariot wheel. When he drove +through the streets of his own home town, all the people cheered, that +is, all who had not been killed, of course. +</P> + +<P> +What the people thought of all this, the historians do not say. The +people were not asked or expected to think. Thinking was the most +unpopular thing they could do. There were dark damp dungeons where +hungry rats prowled ceaselessly; there were headsmen's axes and other +things prepared for people who were disposed to think and specially +designed to allay restlessness among the people. +</P> + +<P> +The "people" were dealt with in one short paragraph at the end of the +chapter: "The People were very poor" (you wouldn't think they would +need to say that, and certainly there was no need to rub it in), and +they "ate black bread," and they were "very ignorant and +superstitious." Superstitious? Well, I should say they would +be—small wonder if they did see black cats and have rabbits cross +their paths, and hear death warnings, for there was always going to be +a death in the family, and they were always about to lose money! The +People were a great abstraction, infinite in number, inarticulate in +suffering—the people who fought and paid for their own killing. The +man who could get the people to do this on the largest scale was the +greatest hero of all and the historian told us much about him, his +dogs, his horses, the magnificence of his attire. +</P> + +<P> +Some day, please God, there will be new histories written, and they +will tell the story of the years from the standpoint of the people, and +the hero will not be any red-handed assassin who goes through peaceful +country places leaving behind him dead men looking sightlessly up to +the sky. The hero will be the man or woman who knows and loves and +serves. In the new histories we will be shown the tragedy, the +heartbreaking tragedy of war, which like some dreadful curse has +followed the human family, beaten down their plans, their hopes, wasted +their savings, destroyed their homes, and in every way turned back the +clock of progress. +</P> + +<P> +We have all wondered what would happen if the people some day decided +that they would no longer be the tools of the man higher up, what would +happen if the men who make the quarrel had to fight it out. How +glorious it would have been if this war could have been settled by +somebody taking the Kaiser out behind the barn! There would seem to be +some show of justice in a hand-to-hand encounter, where the best man +wins, but modern warfare has not even the faintest glimmering of fair +play. The exploding shell blows to pieces the strong, the brave, the +daring, just as readily as it does the cowardly, weak, or base. +</P> + +<P> +War proves nothing. To kill a man does not prove that he was in the +wrong. Bloodletting cannot change men's spirits, neither can the evil +of men's thoughts be driven out by blows. If I go to my neighbor's +house, and break her furniture, and smash her pictures, and bind her +children captive, it does not prove that I am fitter to live than +she—yet according to the ethics of nations it does. I have conquered +her and she must pay me for my trouble; and her house and all that is +left in it belongs to my heirs and successors forever. That is war! +</P> + +<P> +War twists our whole moral fabric. The object of all our teaching has +been to inculcate respect for the individual, respect for human life, +honor and purity. War sweeps that all aside. The human conscience in +these long years of peace, and its resultant opportunities for +education, has grown tender to the cry of agony—the pallid face of a +hungry child finds a quick response to its mute appeal; but when we +know that hundreds are rendered homeless every day, and countless +thousands are killed and wounded, men and boys mowed down like a field +of grain, and with as little compunction, we grow a little bit numb to +human misery. What does it matter if there is a family north of the +track living on soda biscuits and turnips? War hardens us to human +grief and misery. +</P> + +<P> +War takes the fit and leaves the unfit. The epileptic, the +consumptive, the inebriate, are left behind. They are not good enough +to go out to fight. So they stay at home, and perpetuate the race! +Statistics prove that the war is costing fifty millions a day, which is +a prodigious sum, but we would be getting off easy if that were all it +costs. The bitterest cost of war is not paid by us at all. It will be +paid by the unborn generations, in a lowered vitality, the loss of a +strong fatherhood, which they have never known. Napoleon lowered the +stature of the French by two inches, it is said. That is one way to +set your mark on your generation. +</P> + +<P> +But the greatest evil wrought by war is not the wanton destruction of +life and property, sinful though it is; it is not even the lowered +vitality of succeeding generations, though that is attended by +appalling injury to the moral nature—the real iniquity of war is that +it sets aside the arbitrament of right and justice, and looks to brute +force for its verdict! +</P> + +<P> +In the first days of panic, pessimism broke out among us, and we cried +in our despair that our civilization had failed, that Christianity had +broken down, and that God had forgotten the world. It seemed like it +at first. But now a wiser and better vision has come to us, and we +know that Christianity has not failed, for it is not fair to impute +failure to something which has never been tried. Civilization has +failed. Art, music, and culture have failed, and we know now that +underneath the thin veneer of civilization, unregenerate man is still a +savage; and we see now, what some have never seen before, that unless a +civilization is built upon love, and mutual trust, it must always end +in disaster, such as this. Up to August fourth, we often said that war +was impossible between Christian nations. We still say so, but we know +more now than we did then. We know now that there are no Christian +nations. +</P> + +<P> +Oh, yes. I know the story. It was a beautiful story and a beautiful +picture. The black prince of Abyssinia asked the young Queen of +England what was the secret of England's glory and she pointed to the +"open Bible." +</P> + +<P> +The dear Queen of sainted memory was wrong. She judged her nation by +the standard of her own pure heart. England did not draw her policy +from the open Bible when in 1840 she forced the opium traffic on the +Chinese. England does not draw her policy from the open Bible when she +takes revenues from the liquor traffic, which works such irreparable +ruin to countless thousands of her people. England does not draw her +policy from the open Bible when she denies her women the rights of +citizens, when women are refused degrees after passing examinations, +when lower pay is given women for the same work than if it were done by +men. Would this be tolerated if it were really so that we were a +Christian nation? God abominates a false balance, and delights in a +just weight. +</P> + +<P> +No, the principles of Christ have not yet been applied to nations. We +have only Christian people. You will see that in a second, if you look +at the disparity that there is between our conceptions of individual +duty and national duty. Take the case of the heathen—the people whom +we in our large-handed, superior way call the heathen. Individually we +believe it is our duty to send missionaries to them to convert them +into Christians. Nationally we send armies upon them (if necessary) +and convert them into customers! Individually we say: "We will send +you our religion." Nationally: "We will send you goods, and we'll make +you take them—we need the money!" Think of the bitter irony of a boat +leaving a Christian port loaded with missionaries upstairs and rum +below, both bound for the same place and for the same people—both for +the heathen "with our comp'ts." +</P> + +<P> +Individually we know it is wrong to rob anyone. Yet the state robs +freely, openly, and unashamed, by unjust taxation, by the legalized +liquor traffic, by imposing unjust laws upon at least one half of the +people. We wonder at the disparity between our individual ideals and +the national ideal, but when you remember that the national ideals have +been formed by one half of the world—and not the more spiritual +half—it is not so surprising. Our national policy is the result of +male statecraft. +</P> + +<P> +There is a curative power in human life just as there is in nature. +When the pot boils—it boils over. Evils cure themselves eventually. +But it is a long hard way. Yet it is the way humanity has always had +to learn. Christ realized that when he looked down at Jerusalem, and +wept over it: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered +you, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but you would +not." That was the trouble then, and it has been the trouble ever +since. Humanity has to travel a hard road to wisdom, and it has to +travel it with bleeding feet. +</P> + +<P> +But it is getting its lessons now—and paying double first-class rates +for its tuition! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +WHAT DO WOMEN THINK OF WAR? (NOT THAT IT MATTERS) +</H4> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Bands in the street, and resounding cheers,<BR> +And honor to him whom the army led!<BR> +But his mother moans thro' her blinding tears—<BR> +"My boy is dead—is dead!"<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +"Madam," said Charles XI of Sweden to his wife when she appealed to him +for mercy to some prisoner, "I married you to give me children, not to +give me advice." That was said a long time ago, and the haughty old +Emperor put it rather crudely, but he put it straight. This is still +the attitude of the world towards women. That men are human beings, +but women are women, with one reason for their existence, has long been +the dictum of the world. +</P> + +<P> +More recent philosophers have been more adroit—they have sought to +soften the blow, and so they palaver the women by telling them what a +tremendous power they are for good. They quote the men who have said: +"All that I am my mother made me." They also quote that old iniquitous +lie, about the hand that rocks the cradle ruling the world. +</P> + +<P> +For a long time men have been able to hush women up by these means; and +many women have gladly allowed themselves to be deceived. Sometimes +when a little child goes driving with his father he is allowed to hold +the ends of the reins, and encouraged to believe that he is driving, +and it works quite well with a very small child. Women have been +deceived in the same way into believing that they are the controlling +factor in the world. Here and there, there have been doubters among +women who have said: "If it be true that the hand that rocks the cradle +rules the world, how comes the liquor traffic and the white slave +traffic to prevail among us unchecked? Do women wish for these things? +Do the gentle mothers whose hands rule the world declare in favor of +these things?" Every day the number of doubters has increased, and now +women everywhere realize that a bad old lie has been put over on them +for years. The hand that rocks the cradle does not rule the world. If +it did, human life would be held dearer and the world would be a +sweeter, cleaner, safer place than it is now! +</P> + +<P> +Women are naturally the guardians of the race, and every normal woman +desires children. Children are not a handicap in the race of life +either, they are an inspiration. We hear too much about the burden of +motherhood and too little of its benefits. The average child does well +for his parents, and teaches them many things. Bless his little soft +hands—he broadens our outlook, quickens our sympathies, and leads us, +if we will but let him, into all truth. A child pays well for his +board and keep. +</P> + +<P> +Deeply rooted in every woman's heart is the love and care of children. +A little girl's first toy is a doll, and so, too, her first great +sorrow is when her doll has its eyes poked out by her little brother. +Dolls have suffered many things at the hands of their maternal uncles. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +There, little girl, don't cry,<BR> +They have broken your doll, I know,<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +contains in it the universal note of woman's woe! +</P> + +<P> +But just as the woman's greatest sorrow has come through her children, +so has her greatest development. Women learned to cook, so that their +children might be fed; they learned to sew that their children might be +clothed, and women are learning to think so that their children may be +guided. +</P> + +<P> +Since the war broke out women have done a great deal of knitting. +Looking at this great army of women struggling with rib and back seam, +some have seen nothing in it but a "fad" which has supplanted for the +time tatting and bridge. But it is more than that. It is the desire +to help, to care for, to minister; it is the same spirit which inspires +our nurses to go out and bind up the wounded and care for the dying. +The woman's outlook on life is to save, to care for, to help. Men make +wounds and women bind them up, and so the women, with their hearts +filled with love and sorrow, sit in their quiet homes and knit. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Comforter—they call it—yes—<BR> +So it is for my distress,<BR> +For it gives my restless hands<BR> +Blessed work. God understands<BR> +How we women yearn to be<BR> +Doing something ceaselessly.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Women have not only been knitting—they have been thinking. Among +other things they have thought about the German women, those faithful, +patient, home-loving, obedient women, who never interfere in public +affairs, nor question man's ruling. The Kaiser says women have only +two concerns in life, cooking and children, and the German women have +accepted his dictum. They are good cooks and faithful nurses to their +children. +</P> + +<P> +According to the theories of the world, the sons of such women should +be the gentlest men on earth. Their home has been so sacred, and +well-kept; their mother has been so gentle, patient and unworldly—she +has never lowered the standard of her womanhood by asking to vote, or +to mingle in the "hurly burly" of politics. She has been humble, and +loving, and always hoped for the best. +</P> + +<P> +According to the theories of the world, the gentle sons of gentle +mothers will respect and reverence all womankind everywhere. Yet, we +know that in the invasion of Belgium, the German soldiers made a shield +of Belgian women and children in front of their army; no child was too +young, no woman too old, to escape their cruelty; no mother's prayers, +no child's appeal could stay their fury! These chivalrous sons of +gentle, loving mothers marched through the land of Belgium, their +nearest neighbor, leaving behind them smoking trails of ruin, black as +their own hard hearts! +</P> + +<P> +What, then, is the matter with the theory? Nothing, except that there +is nothing in it—it will not work. Women who set a low value on +themselves make life hard for all women. The German woman's ways have +been ways of pleasantness, but her paths have not been paths of peace; +and now, women everywhere are thinking of her, rather bitterly. Her +peaceful, humble, patient ways have suddenly ceased to appear virtuous +in our eyes and we see now, it is not so much a woman's duty to bring +children into the world, as to see what sort of a world she is bringing +them into, and what their contribution will be to it. Bertha Krupp has +made good guns and the German women have raised good soldiers—if guns +and soldiers can be called "good"—and between them they have manned +the most terrible and destructive war machine that the world has ever +known. We are not grateful to either of them. +</P> + +<P> +The nimble fingers of the knitting women are transforming balls of wool +into socks and comforters, but even a greater change is being wrought +in their own hearts. Into their gentle souls have come bitter thoughts +of rebellion. They realize now how little human life is valued, as +opposed to the greed and ambition of nations. They think bitterly of +Napoleon's utterance on the subject of women—that the greatest woman +in the world is the one who brings into the world the greatest number +of sons; they also remember that he said that a boy could stop a bullet +as well as a man, and that God is on the side of the heaviest +artillery. From these three statements they get the military idea of +women, children, and God, and the heart of the knitting woman recoils +in horror from the cold brutality of it all. They realize now +something of what is back of all the opposition to the woman's +advancement into all lines of activity and a share in government. +</P> + +<P> +Women are intended for two things, to bring children into the world and +to make men comfortable, and then they must keep quiet and if their +hearts break with grief, let them break quietly—that's all. No woman +is so unpopular as the noisy woman who protests against these things. +</P> + +<P> +The knitting women know now why the militant suffragettes broke windows +and destroyed property, and went to jail for it joyously, and without a +murmur—it was the protest of brave women against the world's estimate +of woman's position. It was the world-old struggle for liberty. The +knitting women remember now with shame and sorrow that they have said +hard things about the suffragettes, and thought they were unwomanly and +hysterical. Now they know that womanliness, and peaceful gentle ways, +prayers, petitions and tears have long been tried but are found +wanting; and now they know that these brave women in England, maligned, +ridiculed, persecuted, as they were, have been fighting every woman's +battle, fighting for the recognition of human life, and the mother's +point of view. Many of the knitting women have seen a light shine +around their pathway, as they have passed down the road from the heel +to the toe, and they know now that the explanation cannot be accepted +any longer that the English women are "crazy." That has been offered +so often and been accepted. +</P> + +<P> +Crazy! That's such an easy way to explain actions which we do not +understand. Crazy! and it gives such a delightful thrill of sanity to +the one who says it—such a pleasurable flash of superiority! +</P> + +<P> +Oh, no, they have not been crazy, unless acts of heroism and suffering +for the sake of others can be described as crazy! The knitting women +wish now that there had been "crazy" women in Germany to direct the +thought of the nation to the brutality of the military system, to have +aroused the women to struggle for a human civilization, instead of a +masculine civilization such as they have now. They would have fared +badly of course, even worse than the women in England, but they are +faring badly now, and to what purpose? The women of Belgium have fared +badly. After all, the greatest thing in life is not to live +comfortably—it is to live honorably, and when that becomes impossible, +to die honorably! +</P> + +<P> +The woman who knits is thinking sadly of the glad days of peace, now +unhappily gone by, when she was so sure it was her duty to bring +children into the world. She thinks of the glad rapture with which she +looked into the sweet face of her first-born twenty years ago—the +brave lad who went with the first contingent, and is now at the front. +She was so sure then that she had done a noble thing in giving this +young life to the world. He was to have been a great doctor, a great +healer, one who bound up wounds, and make weak men strong—and now—in +the trenches, he stands, this lad of hers, with the weapons of death in +his hands, with bitter hatred in his heart, not binding wounds, but +making them, sending poor human beings out in the dark to meet their +Maker, unprepared, surrounded by sights and sounds that must harden his +heart or break it. Oh! her sunny-hearted lad! So full of love and +tenderness and pity, so full of ambition and high resolves and noble +impulses, he is dead—dead already—and in his place there stands +"private 355" a man of hate, a man of blood! Many a time the knitting +has to be laid aside, for the bitter tears blur the stitches. +</P> + +<P> +The woman who knits thinks of all this and now she feels that she who +brought this boy into the world, who is responsible for his existence, +has some way been to blame. Is life really such a boon that any should +crave it? Do we really confer a favor on the innocent little souls we +bring into the world, or do we owe them an apology? +</P> + +<P> +She thinks now of Abraham's sacrifice, when he was willing at God's +command to offer his dearly beloved son on the altar; and now she knows +it was not so hard for Abraham, for he knew it was God who asked it, +and he had God's voice to guide him! Abraham was sure, but about +this—who knows? +</P> + +<P> +Then she thinks of the little one who dropped out of the race before it +was well begun, and of the inexplicable smile of peace which lay on his +small white face, that day, so many years ago now, when they laid him +away with such sorrow, and such agony of loss. She understands now why +the little one smiled, while all around him wept. +</P> + +<P> +And she thinks enviously of her neighbor across the way, who had no son +to give, the childless woman for whom in the old days she felt so +sorry, but whom now she envies. She is the happiest woman of all—so +thinks the knitting woman, as she sits alone in her quiet house; for +thoughts can grow very bitter when the house is still and the boyish +voice is heard no more shouting, "Mother" in the hall. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +There, little girl, don't cry!<BR> +They have broken your heart, I know.<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +SHOULD WOMEN THINK? +</H4> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +A woman, a spaniel, a walnut tree,<BR> +The more you beat 'em, the better they be.<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 3em">—<I>From "Proverbs of All Nations.</I>"</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +A woman is not a person in matters of rights and privileges, but she is +a person in matters of pains and penalties.—<I>From the Common Law of +England</I>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +No woman, idiot, lunatic, or criminal shall vote.—<I>From the Election +Act of the Dominion of Canada</I>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Mary and Martha were sisters, and one day they had a quarrel, which +goes to show that sisters in Bible times were much the same as now. +Mary and Martha had a different attitude toward life. Martha was a +housekeeper—she reveled in housecleaning—she had a perfect mania for +sweeping and dusting. Mary was a thinker. She looked beyond the work, +and saw something better and more important, something more abiding and +satisfying. +</P> + +<P> +When Jesus came to their home to visit, Mary sat at his feet and +listened. She fed her soul, and in her sheer joy she forgot that there +were dirty dishes in all the world; she forgot that ever people grew +hungry, or floors became dusty; she forgot everything only the joy of +his presence. Martha never forgot. All days were alike to Martha, +only of course Monday was washday. The visit of the Master to Martha +meant another place at the table, and another plate to be washed. +Truly feminine was Martha, much commended in certain circles today. +She looked well to the needs of her family, physical needs, that is, +for she recognized no other. Martha not only liked to work herself, +but she liked to see other people work; so when Mary went and sat at +the Master's feet, while the dishes were yet unwashed, Martha +complained about it. +</P> + +<P> +"Lord, make Mary come and help me!" she said. The story says Martha +was wearied with much serving. Martha had cooked and served an +elaborate meal, and elaborate meals usually do make people cross either +before or after. Christ gently reproved her. "Mary hath chosen the +better part." +</P> + +<P> +Just here let us say something in Mary's favor. Martha by her protest +against Mary's behavior on this particular occasion, exonerates Mary +from the general charge of laziness which is often made against her. +If Mary had been habitually lazy, Martha would have long since ceased +to expect any help from her, but it seems pretty certain that Mary was +generally on the job. Trivial little incident, is it not? Strange +that it should find a place in the sacred record. But if Christ's +mission on earth had any meaning at all, it was to teach this very +lesson that the things which are not seen are greater than the things +which are seen—that the spiritual is greater than the temporal. The +life is more than meat and the body is more than raiment. +</P> + +<P> +Martha has a long line of weary, backaching, footsore successors. +Indeed there is a strain of Martha in all of us; we worry more over a +stain in the carpet than a stain on the soul; we bestow more thought on +the choice of hats than on the choice of friends; we tidy up bureau +drawers, sometimes, when we should be tidying up the inner recesses of +our mind and soul; we clean up the attic and burn up the rubbish which +has accumulated there, every spring, whether it needs it or not. But +when do we appoint a housecleaning day for the soul, when do we destroy +all the worn-out prejudices and beliefs which belong to a day gone by? +</P> + +<P> +Mary did take the better part, for she laid hold on the things which +are spiritual. Mary had learned the great truth that it is not the +house you live in or the food you eat, or the clothes you wear that +make you rich, but it is the thoughts you think. Christ put it well +when he said, "Mary hath chosen the better part." Life is a choice +every day. Every day we choose between the best and the second best, +if we are choosing wisely. It is not generally a choice between good +and bad—that is too easy. The choice in life is more subtle than +that, and not so easily decided. The good is the greatest rival of the +best. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes we would like to take both the best and the second best, but +that is not according to the rules of the game. You take your choice +and leave the rest. Every gain in life means a corresponding loss; +development in one part means a shrinkage in some other. Wild wheat is +small and hard, quite capable of looking after itself, but its heads +contain only a few small kernels. Cultivated wheat has lost its +hardiness and its self-reliance, but its heads are filled with large +kernels which feed the nation. There has been a great gain in +usefulness, by cultivation, with a corresponding loss in hardiness. +When riches are increased, so also are anxieties and cares. Life is +full of compensation. +</P> + +<P> +So we ask, in all seriousness, and in no spirit of flippancy: "Should +women think?" They gain in power perhaps, but do they not lose in +happiness by thinking? If women must always labor under unjust +economic conditions, receiving less pay for the same work than men, if +women must always submit to the unjust social laws, based on the +barbaric mosaic decree that the woman is to be stoned, and the man +allowed to go free; if women must always see the children they have +brought into the world with infinite pain and weariness, taken away +from them to fight man-made battles over which no woman has any power; +if women must always see their sons degraded by man-made legislation +and man-protected evils—then I ask, Is it not a great mistake for +women to think? +</P> + +<P> +The Martha women, who fill their hands with labor and find their +highest delights in the day's work, are the happiest. That is, if +these things must always be, if we must always beat upon the bars of +the cage—we are foolish to beat; it is hard on the hands! Far better +for us to stop looking out and sit down and say: "Good old cage—I +always did like a cage, anyway!" +</P> + +<P> +But the question of whether or not women should think was settled long +ago. We must think because we were given something to think with, ages +ago, at the time of our creation. If God had not intended us to think, +he would not have given us our intelligence. It would be a shabby +trick, too, to give women brains to think, with no hope of results, for +thinking is just an aggravation if nothing comes of it. It is a law of +life that people will use what they have. That is one theory of what +caused the war. The nations were "so good and ready," they just +naturally fought. Mental activity is just as natural for the woman +peeling potatoes as it is for the man behind the plow, and a little +thinking will not hurt the quality of the work in either case. There +is in western Canada, one woman at least, who combines thinking and +working to great advantage. Her kitchen walls are hung with mottoes +and poems, which she commits to memory as she works, and so while her +hands are busy, she feeds her soul with the bread of life. +</P> + +<P> +The world has never been partial to the thinking woman—the wise ones +have always foreseen danger. Long years ago, when women asked for an +education, the world cried out that it would never do. If women +learned to read it would distract them from the real business of life +which was to make home happy for some good man. If women learned to +read there seemed to be a possibility that some day some good man might +come home and find his wife reading, and the dinner not ready—and +nothing could be imagined more horrible than that! That seems to be +the haunting fear of mankind—that the advancement of women will +sometime, someway, someplace, interfere with some man's comfort. There +are many people who believe that the physical needs of her family are a +woman's only care; and that strict attention to her husband's wardrobe +and meals will insure a happy marriage. Hand-embroidered slippers +warmed and carefully set out have ever been highly recommended as a +potent charm to hold masculine affection. They forget that men and +children are not only food-eating and clothes-wearing animals—they are +human beings with other and even greater needs than food and raiment. +</P> + +<P> +Any person who believes that the average man marries the woman of his +choice just because he wants a housekeeper and a cook, appraises +mankind lower than I do. Intelligence on the wife's part does not +destroy connubial bliss, neither does ignorance nor apathy ever make +for it. Ideas do not break up homes, but lack of ideas. The light and +airy silly fairy may get along beautifully in the days of courtship, +but she palls a bit in the steady wear and tear of married life. +</P> + +<P> +There was a picture in one of the popular woman's papers sometime ago, +which taught a significant lesson. It was a breakfast scene. The +young wife, daintily frilled in pink, sat at her end of the table in +very apparent ill-humor—the young husband, quite unconscious of her, +read the morning paper with evident interest. Below the picture there +was a sharp criticism of the young man's neglect of his pretty wife and +her dainty gown. Personally I sympathize with the young man and +believe it would be a happier home if she were as interested in the +paper as he and were reading the other half of it instead of sitting +around feeling hurt. +</P> + +<P> +But you see it is hard on the woman, just the same. All our +civilization has taught her that pink frills were the thing. When they +fail—she feels the bottom has dropped out of the world—he does not +love her any more and she will go back to mother! You see the woman +suffers every time. +</P> + +<P> +Sometime we will teach our daughters that marriage is a divine +partnership based on mutual love and community of interest, that sex +attraction augmented by pink frills is only one part of it and not the +most important; that the pleasant glowing embers of comradeship and +loving friendship give out a warmer, more lasting, and more comfortable +heat than the leaping flames of passion, and the happiest marriage is +the one where the husband and wife come to regard each other as the +dearest friend, the most congenial companion. +</P> + +<P> +Women must think if they are going to make good in life; and success in +marriage depends not alone on being good, but on making good! Men by +their occupation are brought in contact with the world of ideas and +affairs. They have been encouraged to be intelligent. Women have been +encouraged to be foolish, and later on punished for the same +foolishness, which is hardly fair. +</P> + +<P> +But women are beginning to learn. Women are helping each other to see. +They are coming together in clubs and societies and by this intercourse +they are gaining a philosophy of life, which is helping them over the +rough places of life. Most of us can get along very well on bright +days, and when the going is easy, but we need something to keep us +steady when the pathway is rough, and our wandering feet are in danger +of losing their way. The most deadly uninteresting person, and the one +who has the greatest temptation not to think at all, is the comfortable +and happily married woman—the woman who has a good man between her and +the world, who has not the saving privilege of having to work. A sort +of fatty degeneration of the conscience sets in that is disastrous to +the development of thought. +</P> + +<P> +If women could be made to think, they would not wear immodest clothes, +which suggest evil thoughts and awaken unlawful desires. If women +could be made to think, they would see that it is woman's place to lift +high the standard of morality. If women would only think, they would +not wear aigrets and bird plumage which has caused the death of God's +innocent and beautiful creatures. If women could be made to think, +they would be merciful. If women would only think, they would not +serve liquor to their guests, in the name of hospitality, and thus +contribute to the degradation of mankind, and perhaps start some young +man on the slippery way to ruin. If women would think about it, they +would see that some mother, old and heartbroken, sitting up waiting for +the staggering footsteps of her boy, might in her loneliness and grief +and trouble curse the white hands that gave her lad his first drink. +Women make life hard for other women because they do not think. And +thinking seems to come hardest to the comfortable woman. A woman told +me candidly and honestly not long ago that she was too comfortable to +be interested in other people, and I have admired her for her +truthfulness; she had diagnosed her own case accurately, and she did +not babble of woman's sphere being her own home—she frankly admitted +that she was selfish, and her comfort had caused it. I believe God +intended us all to be happy and comfortable, clothed, fed, and housed, +and there is no sin in comfort, unless we let it atrophy our souls, and +settle down upon us like a stupor. Then it becomes a sin which +destroys us. Let us pray! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +From plague, pestilence and famine,<BR> +from battle, murder, sudden death,<BR> +and all forms of cowlike contentment,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">Good Lord, deliver us!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE NEW CHIVALRY +</H4> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +Brave women and fair men! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +This seems to be a good time for us to jar ourselves loose from some of +the prejudices and beliefs which we have outgrown. It is time for +readjustment surely, a time for spiritual and mental house-cleaning, +when we are justified in looking things over very carefully and +deciding whether or not we shall ever need them again. +</P> + +<P> +Some of us have suspected for a long time that a good deal of the +teaching of the world regarding women has come under the general +heading of "dope." Now "dope" is not a slang word, as you may be +thinking, gentle reader. It is a good Anglo-Saxon word (or will be), +for it fills a real need, and there is none other to take its place. +"Dope" means anything that is calculated to soothe, or hush, or put to +sleep. "Sedative" is a synonym, but it lacks the oily softness of +"dope." +</P> + +<P> +One of the commonest forms of dope given to women to keep them quiet is +the one referred to in a previous chapter: "The hand that rocks the +cradle rules the World." It is a great favorite with politicians and +not being original with them it does contain a small element of truth. +They use it in their pre-election speeches, which they begin with the +honeyed words: "We are glad to see we have with us this evening so many +members of the fair sex; we are delighted to see that so many have come +to grace our gathering on this occasion; we realize that a woman's +intuition is ofttimes truer than a man's reasoning, and although women +have no actual voice in politics, they have something far more strong +and potent—they have the wonder power of indirect influence." Just +about here comes in "the hand that rocks!" +</P> + +<P> +Having thus administered the dope, in this pleasing mixture of molasses +and soft soap, which is supposed to keep the "fair sex" quiet and happy +for the balance of the evening, the aspirant for public honors passes +on to the serious business of the hour, and discusses the affairs of +state with the electorate. Right here, let us sound a small note of +warning. Keep your eye on the man who refers to women as the "fair +sex"—he is a dealer in dope! +</P> + +<P> +One of the oldest and falsest of our beliefs regarding women is that +they are protected—that some way in the battle of life they get the +best of it. People talk of men's chivalry, that vague, indefinite +quality which is supposed to transmute the common clay of life into +gold. +</P> + +<P> +Chivalry is a magic word. It seems to breathe of foreign strands and +moonlight groves and silver sands and knights and earls and kings; it +seems to tell of glorious deeds and waving plumes and prancing steeds +and belted earls—and things! +</P> + +<P> +People tell us of the good old days of chivalry when womanhood was +really respected and reverenced—when brave knight rode gaily forth to +die for his lady love. But in order to be really loved and respected +there was one hard and fast condition laid down, to which all women +must conform—they must be beautiful, no getting out of that. They +simply had to have starry eyes and golden hair, or else black as a +raven's wing; they had to have pale, white, and haughty brow, and a +laugh like a ripple of magic. Then they were all right and armored +knights would die for them quick as wink! +</P> + +<P> +The homely women were all witches, dreadful witches, and they drowned +them, on public holidays, in the mill pond! +</P> + +<P> +People tell us now that chivalry is dead, and women have killed it, +bold women who instead of staying at home, broidering pearls on a red +velvet sleeve, have gone out to work—have gone to college side by side +with men and have been so unwomanly sometimes as to take the prizes +away from men. Chivalry cannot live in such an atmosphere. Certainly +not! +</P> + +<P> +Of course women can hardly be blamed for going out and working when one +remembers that they must either work or starve. Broidering pearls will +not boil the kettle worth a cent! There are now thirty per cent of the +women of the U. S. A. and Canada, who are wage-earners, and we will +readily grant that necessity has driven most of them out of their +homes. Similarly, in England alone, there are a million and a half +more women than men. It would seem that all women cannot have homes of +their own—there does not seem to be enough men to go around. But +still there are people who tell us these women should all have homes of +their own—it is their own fault if they haven't; and once I heard of a +woman saying the hardest thing about men I ever heard—and she was an +ardent anti-suffragist too. She said that what was wrong with the +women in England was that they were too particular—that's why they +were not married, "and," she went on, "any person can tell, when they +look around at men in general, that God never intended women to be very +particular." I am glad I never said anything as hard as that about men. +</P> + +<P> +There are still with us some of the conventions of the old days of +chivalry. The pretty woman still has the advantage over her plainer +sister—and the opinion of the world is that women must be beautiful at +all costs. When a newspaper wishes to disprove a woman's contention, +or demolish her theories, it draws ugly pictures of her. If it can +show that she has big feet or red hands, or wears unbecoming clothes, +that certainly settles the case—and puts her where she belongs. +</P> + +<P> +This cruel convention that women must be beautiful accounts for the +popularity of face-washes, and beauty parlors, and the languor of +university extension lectures. Women cannot be blamed for this. All +our civilization has been to the end that women make themselves +attractive to men. The attractive woman has hitherto been the +successful woman. The pretty girl marries a millionaire, travels in +Europe, and is presented at court; her plainer sister, equally +intelligent, marries a boy from home, and does her own washing. I am +not comparing the two destinies as to which offers the greater +opportunities for happiness or usefulness, but rather to show how +widely divergent two lives may be. What caused the difference was a +wavy strand of hair, a rounder curve on a cheek. Is it any wonder that +women capitalize their good looks, even at the expense of their +intelligence? The economic dependence of women is perhaps the greatest +injustice that has been done to us, and has worked the greatest injury +to the race. +</P> + +<P> +Men are not entirely blameless in respect to the frivolity of women. +It is easy to blame women for dressing foolishly, extravagantly, but to +what end do they do it? To be attractive to men; and the reason they +continue to do it is that it is successful. Many a woman has found +that it pays to be foolish. Men like frivolity—before marriage; but +they demand all the sterner virtues afterwards. The little dainty, +fuzzy-haired, simpering dolly who chatters and wears toe-slippers has a +better chance in the matrimonial market than the clear-headed, plainer +girl, who dresses sensibly. A little boy once gave his mother +directions as to his birthday present—he said he wanted "something +foolish" and therein he expressed a purely masculine wish. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +A man's ideal at seventeen<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Must be a sprite—</SPAN><BR> +A dainty, fairy, elfish queen<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Of pure delight;</SPAN><BR> +But later on he sort of feels<BR> +He'd like a girl who could cook meals.<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Life is full of anomalies, and in the mating and pairing of men and +women there are many. +</P> + +<P> +Why is the careless, easy-going, irresponsible way of the young girl so +attractive to men? It does not make for domestic happiness; and why, +Oh why, do some of our best men marry such odd little sticks of +pin-head women, with a brain similar in caliber to a second-rate +butterfly, while the most intelligent, unselfish, and womanly women are +left unmated? I am going to ask about this the first morning I am in +heaven, if so be we are allowed to ask about the things which troubled +us while on our mortal journey. I have never been able to find out +about it here. +</P> + +<P> +Now this old belief that women are protected is of sturdy growth and +returns to life with great persistence. Theoretically women are +protected—on paper—traditionally—just like Belgium was, and with +just as disastrous results. +</P> + +<P> +A member of the English Parliament declared with great emphasis that +the women now have everything the heart could desire—they reign like +queens and can have their smallest wish gratified. ("Smallest" is +right.) And we very readily grant that there are many women living in +idleness and luxury on the bounty of their male relatives, and we say +it with sorrow and shame that these are estimated the successful women +in the opinion of the world. But while some feast in idleness, many +others slave in poverty. The great army of women workers are ill-paid, +badly housed, and their work is not honored or respected or paid for. +What share have they in man's chivalry? Chivalry is like a line of +credit. You can get plenty of it when you do not need it. When you +are prospering financially and your bank account is growing and you are +rated A1, you can get plenty of credit—it is offered to you; but when +the dark days of financial depression overtake you, and the people you +are depending upon do not "come through," and you must have +credit—must have it!—the very people who once urged it upon you will +now tell you that "money is tight!" +</P> + +<P> +The young and pretty woman, well dressed and attractive, can get all +the chivalry she wants. She will have seats offered her on street +cars, men will hasten to carry her parcels, or open doors for her; but +the poor old woman, beaten in the battle of life, sick of life's +struggles, and grown gray and weather-beaten facing life's storms—what +chivalry is shown her? She can go her weary way uncomforted and +unattended. People who need it do not get it. +</P> + +<P> +Anyway, chivalry is a poor substitute for justice, if one cannot have +both. Chivalry is something like the icing on the cake, sweet but not +nourishing. It is like the paper lace around the bonbon box—we could +get along without it. +</P> + +<P> +There are countless thousands of truly chivalrous men, who have the +true chivalry whose foundation is justice—who would protect all women +from injury or insult or injustice, but who know that they cannot do +it—who know that in spite of all they can do, women are often +outraged, insulted, ill-treated. The truly chivalrous man, who does +reverence all womankind, realizing this, says: "Let us give women every +weapon whereby they can defend themselves; let us remove the stigma of +political nonentity under which women have been placed. Let us give +women a fair deal!" +</P> + +<P> +This is the new chivalry—and on it we build our hope. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HARDY PERENNIALS! +</H4> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +I hold it true—I will not change,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">For changes are a dreadful bore—</SPAN><BR> +That nothing must be done on earth<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Unless it has been done before.</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">—<I>Anti-Suffrage Creed</I>.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +If prejudices belonged to the vegetable world they would be described +under the general heading of: "Hardy Perennials; will grow in any soil, +and bloom without ceasing; requiring no cultivation; will do better +when left alone." +</P> + +<P> +In regard to tenacity of life, no old yellow cat has anything on a +prejudice. You may kill it with your own hands, bury it deep, and sit +on the grave, and behold! the next day, it will walk in at the back +door, purring. +</P> + +<P> +Take some of the prejudices regarding women that have been exploded and +blown to pieces many, many times and yet walk among us today in the +fulness of life and vigor. There is a belief that housekeeping is the +only occupation for women; that all women must be housekeepers, whether +they like it or not. Men may do as they like, and indulge their +individuality, but every true and womanly woman must take to the nutmeg +grater and the O-Cedar Mop. It is also believed that in the good old +days before woman suffrage was discussed, and when woman's clubs were +unheard of, that all women adored housework, and simply pined for +Monday morning to come to get at the weekly wash; that women cleaned +house with rapture and cooked joyously. Yet there is a story told of +one of the women of the old days, who arose at four o'clock in the +morning, and aroused all her family at an indecently early hour for +breakfast, her reason being that she wanted to get "one of these horrid +old meals over." This woman had never been at a suffrage meeting—so +where did she get the germ of discontent? +</P> + +<P> +At the present time there is much discontent among women, and many +people are seriously alarmed about it. They say women are no longer +contented with woman's sphere and woman's work—that the washboard has +lost its charm, and the days of the hair-wreath are ended. We may as +well admit that there is discontent among women. We cannot drive them +back to the spinning wheel and the mathook, for they will not go. But +there is really no cause for alarm, for discontent is not necessarily +wicked. There is such a thing as divine discontent just as there is +criminal contentment. Discontent may mean the stirring of ambition, +the desire to spread out, to improve and grow. Discontent is a sign of +life, corresponding to growing pains in a healthy child. The poor +woman who is making a brave struggle for existence is not saying much, +though she is thinking all the time. In the old days when a woman's +hours were from 5 A.M. to 5 A.M., we did not hear much of discontent +among women, because they had not time to even talk, and certainly +could not get together. The horse on the treadmill may be very +discontented, but he is not disposed to tell his troubles, for he +cannot stop to talk. +</P> + +<P> +It is the women, who now have leisure, who are doing the talking. For +generations women have been thinking and thought without expression is +dynamic, and gathers volume by repression. Evolution when blocked and +suppressed becomes revolution. The introduction of machinery and the +factory-made articles has given women more leisure than they had +formerly, and now the question arises, what are they going to do with +it? +</P> + +<P> +Custom and conventionality recommend many and varied occupations for +women, social functions intermixed with kindly deeds of charity, +embroidering altar cloths, making strong and durable garments for the +poor, visiting the sick, comforting the sad, all of which women have +faithfully done, but while they have been doing these things, they have +been wondering about the underlying causes of poverty, sadness and sin. +They notice that when the unemployed are fed on Christmas day, they are +just as hungry as ever on December the twenty-sixth, or at least on +December the twenty-seventh; they have been led to inquire into the +causes for little children being left in the care of the state, and +they find that in over half of the cases, the liquor traffic has +contributed to the poverty and unworthiness of the parents. The state +which licenses the traffic steps in and takes care, or tries to, of the +victims; the rich brewer whose business it is to encourage drinking, is +usually the largest giver to the work of the Children's Aid Society, +and is often extolled for his lavish generosity: and sometimes when +women think about these things they are struck by the absurdity of a +system which allows one man or a body of men to rob a child of his +father's love and care all year, and then gives him a stuffed dog and a +little red sleigh at Christmas and calls it charity! +</P> + +<P> +Women have always done their share of the charity work of the world. +The lady of the manor, in the old feudal days, made warm mittens and +woolen mufflers with her own white hands and carried them to the +cottages at Christmas, along with blankets and coals. And it was a +splendid arrangement all through, for it furnished the lady with mild +and pleasant occupation, and it helped to soothe the conscience of the +lord, and if the cottagers (who were often "low worthless fellows, much +given up to riotous thinking and disputing") were disposed to wonder +why they had to work all year and get nothing, while the lord of the +manor did nothing all year and got everything, the gift of blanket and +coals, the warm mufflers, and "a shawl for granny" showed them what +ungrateful souls they were. +</P> + +<P> +Women have dispensed charity for many, many years, but gradually it has +dawned upon them that the most of our charity is very ineffectual, and +merely smoothes things over, without ever reaching the root. A great +deal of our charity is like the kindly deed of the benevolent old +gentleman, who found a sick dog by the wayside, lying in the full glare +of a scorching sun. The tender-hearted old man climbed down from his +carriage, and, lifting the dog tenderly in his arms, carried him around +into the small patch of shade cast by his carriage. +</P> + +<P> +"Lie there, my poor fellow!" he said. "Lie there, in the cool shade, +where the sun's rays may not smite you!" +</P> + +<P> +Then he got into his carriage and drove away. +</P> + +<P> +Women have been led, through their charitable institutions and +philanthropic endeavors, to do some thinking about causes. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. B. set out to be a "family friend" to the family of her washwoman. +Mrs. B. was a thoroughly charitable, kindly disposed woman, who had +never favored woman's suffrage and regarded the new movement among +women with suspicion. Her washwoman's family consisted of four +children, and a husband who blew in gaily once in a while when in need +of funds, or when recovering from a protracted spree, which made a few +days' nursing very welcome. His wife, a Polish woman, had the +old-world reverence for men, and obeyed him implicitly; she still felt +it was very sweet of him to come home at all. Mrs. B. had often +declared that Polly's devotion to her husband was a beautiful thing to +see. The two eldest boys had newspaper routes and turned in their +earnings regularly, and, although the husband did not contribute +anything but his occasional company, Polly was able to make the +payments on their little four-roomed cottage. In another year, it +would be all paid for. +</P> + +<P> +But one day Polly's husband began to look into the law—as all men +should—and he saw that he had been living far below his privileges. +The cottage was his—not that he had ever paid a cent on it, of course, +but his wife had, and she was his; and the cottage was in his name. +</P> + +<P> +So he sold it; naturally he did not consult Polly, for he was a quiet, +peaceful man, and not fond of scenes. So he sold it quietly, and with +equal quietness he withdrew from the Province, and took the money with +him. He did not even say good-by to Polly or the children, which was +rather ungrateful, for they had given him many a meal and night's +lodging. When Polly came crying one Monday morning and told her story, +Mrs. B. could not believe it, and assured Polly she must be mistaken, +but Polly declared that a man had come and asked her did she wish to +rent the house for he had bought it. Mrs. B. went at once to the +lawyers who had completed the deal. They were a reputable firm and +Mrs. B. knew one of the partners quite well. She was sure Polly's +husband could not sell the cottage. But the lawyers assured her it was +quite true. They were very gentle and patient with Mrs. B. and +listened courteously to her explanation, and did not dispute her word +at all when she explained that Polly and her two boys had paid every +cent on the house. It seemed that a trifling little thing like that +did not matter. It did not really matter who paid for the house; the +husband was the owner, for was he not the head of the house? and the +property was in his name. +</P> + +<P> +Polly was graciously allowed to rent her own cottage for $12.50 a +month, with an option of buying, and the two little boys are still on a +morning route delivering one of the city dailies. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. B. has joined a suffrage society and makes speeches on the +injustice of the laws; and yet she began innocently enough, by making +strong and durable garments for her washwoman's children—and see what +has come of it! If women would only be content to snip away at the +symptoms of poverty and distress, feeding the hungry and clothing the +naked, all would be well and they would be much commended for their +kindness of heart; but when they begin to inquire into causes, they +find themselves in the sacred realm of politics where prejudice says no +women must enter. +</P> + +<P> +A woman may take an interest in factory girls, and hold meetings for +them, and encourage them to walk in virtue's ways all she likes, but if +she begins to advocate more sanitary surroundings for them, with some +respect for the common decencies of life, she will find herself again +in that sacred realm of politics—-confronted by a factory act, on +which no profane female hand must be laid. +</P> + +<P> +Now politics simply means public affairs—yours and mine, +everybody's—and to say that politics are too corrupt for women is a +weak and foolish statement for any man to make. Any man who is +actively engaged in politics, and declares that politics are too +corrupt for women, admits one of two things, either that he is a party +to this corruption, or that he is unable to prevent it—and in either +case something should be done. Politics are not inherently vicious. +The office of lawmaker should be the highest in the land, equaled in +honor only by that of the minister of the gospel. In the old days, the +two were combined with very good effect; but they seem to have drifted +apart in more recent years. +</P> + +<P> +If politics are too corrupt for women, they are too corrupt for men; +for men and women are one—indissolubly joined together for good or +ill. Many men have tried to put all their religion and virtue in their +wife's name, but it does not work very well. When social conditions +are corrupt women cannot escape by shutting their eyes, and taking no +interest. It would be far better to give them a chance to clean them +up. +</P> + +<P> +What would you think of a man who would say to his wife: "This house to +which I am bringing you to live is very dirty and unsanitary, but I +will not allow you—the dear wife whom I have sworn to protect—to +touch it. It is too dirty for your precious little white hands! You +must stay upstairs, dear. Of course the odor from below may come up to +you, but use your smelling salts and think no evil. I do not hope to +ever be able to clean it up, but certainly you must never think of +trying." +</P> + +<P> +Do you think any woman would stand for that? She would say: "John, you +are all right in your way, but there are some places where your brain +skids. Perhaps you had better stay downtown today for lunch. But on +your way down please call at the grocer's, and send me a scrubbing +brush and a package of Dutch Cleanser, and some chloride of lime, and +now hurry." Women have cleaned up things since time began; and if +women ever get into politics there will be a cleaning-out of +pigeon-holes and forgotten corners, on which the dust of years has +fallen, and the sound of the political carpet-beater will be heard in +the land. +</P> + +<P> +There is another hardy perennial that constantly lifts its head above +the earth, persistently refusing to be ploughed under, and that is that +if women were ever given a chance to participate in outside affairs, +that family quarrels would result; that men and their wives who have +traveled the way of life together, side by side, for years, and come +safely through religious discussions, and discussions relating to "his" +people and "her" people, would angrily rend each other over politics, +and great damage to the furniture would be the result. Father and son +have been known to live under the same roof and vote differently, and +yet live! Not only live, but live peaceably! If a husband and wife +are going to quarrel they will find a cause for dispute easily enough, +and will not be compelled to wait for election day. And supposing that +they have never, never had a single dispute, and not a ripple has ever +marred the placid surface of their matrimonial sea, I believe that a +small family jar—or at least a real lively argument—will do them +good. It is in order to keep the white-winged angel of peace hovering +over the home that married women are not allowed to vote in many +places. Spinsters and widows are counted worthy of voice in the +selection of school trustee, and alderman, and mayor, but not the woman +who has taken to herself a husband and still has him. +</P> + +<P> +What a strange commentary on marriage that it should disqualify a woman +from voting. Why should marriage disqualify a woman? Men have been +known to vote for years after they were dead! +</P> + +<P> +Quite different from the "family jar" theory, another reason is +advanced against married women voting—it is said that they would all +vote with their husbands, and that the married man's vote would thereby +be doubled. We believe it is eminently right and proper that husband +and wife should vote the same way, and in that case no one would be +able to tell whether the wife was voting with the husband or the +husband voting with the wife. Neither would it matter. If giving the +franchise to women did nothing more than double the married man's vote +it would do a splendid thing for the country, for the married man is +the best voter we have; generally speaking, he is a man of family and +property—surely if we can depend on anyone we can depend upon him, and +if by giving his wife a vote we can double his—we have done something +to offset the irresponsible transient vote of the man who has no +interest in the community. +</P> + +<P> +There is another sturdy prejudice that blooms everywhere in all +climates, and that is that women would not vote if they had the +privilege; and this is many times used as a crushing argument against +woman suffrage. But why worry? If women do not use it, then surely +there is no harm done; but those who use the argument seem to imply +that a vote unused is a very dangerous thing to leave lying around, and +will probably spoil and blow up. In support of this statement +instances are cited of women letting their vote lie idle and unimproved +in elections for school trustee and alderman. Of course, the +percentage of men voting in these contests was quite small, too, but no +person finds fault with that. +</P> + +<P> +Women may have been careless about their franchise in elections where +no great issue is at stake, but when moral matters are being decided +women have not shown any lack of interest. As a result of the first +vote cast by the women of Illinois over one thousand saloons went out +of business. Ask the liquor dealers if they think women will use the +ballot. They do not object to woman suffrage on the ground that women +will not vote, but because they will. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, Uncle Henry!" exclaimed one man to another on election day. "I +never saw you out to vote before. What struck you?" +</P> + +<P> +"Hadn't voted for fifteen years," declared Uncle Henry, "but you bet I +came out today to vote against givin' these fool women a vote; what's +the good of givin' them a vote? they wouldn't use it!" +</P> + +<P> +Then, of course, on the other hand there are those who claim that women +would vote too much—that they would vote not wisely but too well; that +they would take up voting as a life work to the exclusion of husband, +home and children. There seems to be considerable misapprehension on +the subject of voting. It is really a simple and perfectly innocent +performance, quickly over, and with no bad after-effects. +</P> + +<P> +It is usually done in a vacant room in a school or the vestry of a +church, or a town hall. No drunken men stare at you. You are not +jostled or pushed—you wait your turn in an orderly line, much as you +have waited to buy a ticket at a railway station. Two tame and +quiet-looking men sit at a table, and when your turn comes, they ask +you your name, which is perhaps slightly embarrassing, but it is not as +bad as it might be, for they do not ask your age, or of what disease +did your grandmother die. You go behind the screen with your ballot +paper in your hand, and there you find a seal-brown pencil tied with a +chaste white string. Even the temptation of annexing the pencil is +removed from your frail humanity. You mark your ballot, and drop it in +the box, and come out into the sunlight again. If you had never heard +that you had done an unladylike thing you would not know it. It all +felt solemn, and serious, and very respectable to you, something like a +Sunday-school convention. Then, too, you are surprised at what a short +time you have been away from home. You put the potatoes on when you +left home, and now you are back in time to strain them. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of the testimony of many reputable women that they have been +able to vote and get the dinner on one and the same day, there still +exists a strong belief that the whole household machinery goes out of +order when a woman goes to vote. No person denies a woman the right to +go to church, and yet the church service takes a great deal more time +than voting. People even concede to women the right to go shopping, or +visiting a friend, or an occasional concert. But the wife and mother, +with her God-given, sacred trust of molding the young life of our land, +must never dream of going round the corner to vote. "Who will mind the +baby?" cried one of our public men, in great agony of spirit, "when the +mother goes to vote?" +</P> + +<P> +One woman replied that she thought she could get the person that minded +it when she went to pay her taxes—which seemed to be a fairly +reasonable proposition. Yet the hardy plant of prejudice flourishes, +and the funny pictures still bring a laugh. +</P> + +<P> +Father comes home, tired, weary, footsore, toe-nails ingrowing, caused +by undarned stockings, and finds the fire out, house cold and empty, +save for his half-dozen children, all crying. +</P> + +<P> +"Where is your mother?" the poor man asks in broken tones. For a +moment the sobs are hushed while little Ellie replies: "Out voting!" +</P> + +<P> +Father bursts into tears. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, people tell us, it is not the mere act of voting which +demoralizes women—if they would only vote and be done with it; but +women are creatures of habit, and habits once formed are hard to break; +and although the polls are only open every three or four years, if +women once get into the way of going to them, they will hang around +there all the rest of the time. It is in woman's impressionable nature +that the real danger lies. +</P> + +<P> +Another shoot of this hardy shrub of prejudice is that women are too +good to mingle in everyday life—they are too sweet and too frail—that +women are angels. If women are angels we should try to get them into +public life as soon as possible, for there is a great shortage of +angels there just at present, if all we hear is true. +</P> + +<P> +Then there is the pedestal theory—that women are away up on a +pedestal, and down below, looking up at them with deep adoration, are +men, their willing slaves. Sitting up on a pedestal does not appeal +very strongly to a healthy woman—and, besides, if a woman has been on +a pedestal for any length of time, it must be very hard to have to come +down and cut the wood. +</P> + +<P> +These tender-hearted and chivalrous gentlemen who tell you of their +adoration for women, cannot bear to think of women occupying public +positions. Their tender hearts shrink from the idea of women lawyers +or women policemen, or even women preachers; these positions would "rub +the bloom off the peach," to use their own eloquent words. They cannot +bear, they say, to see women leaving the sacred precincts of home—and +yet their offices are scrubbed by women who do their work while other +people sleep—poor women who leave the sacred precincts of home to earn +enough to keep the breath of life in them, who carry their scrub-pails +home, through the deserted streets, long after the cars have stopped +running. They are exposed to cold, to hunger, to insult—poor +souls—is there any pity felt for them? Not that we have heard of. +The tender-hearted ones can bear this with equanimity. It is the +thought of women getting into comfortable and well-paid positions which +wrings their manly hearts. +</P> + +<P> +Another aspect of the case is that women can do more with their +indirect influence than by the ballot; though just why they cannot do +better still with both does not appear to be very plain. The ballot is +a straight-forward dignified way of making your desire or choice felt. +There are some things which are not pleasant to talk about, but would +be delightful to vote against. Instead of having to beg, and coax, and +entreat, and beseech, and denounce as women have had to do all down the +centuries, in regard to the evil things which threaten to destroy their +homes and those whom they love, what a glorious thing it would be if +women could go out and vote against these things. It seems like a +straightforward and easy way of expressing one's opinion. +</P> + +<P> +But, of course, popular opinion says it is not "womanly." The "womanly +way" is to nag and tease. Women have often been told that if they go +about it right they can get anything. They are encouraged to plot and +scheme, and deceive, and wheedle, and coax for things. This is womanly +and sweet. Of course, if this fails, they still have tears—they can +always cry and have hysterics, and raise hob generally, but they must +do it in a womanly way. Will the time ever come when the word +"feminine" will have in it no trace of trickery? +</P> + +<P> +Women are too sentimental to vote, say the politicians sometimes. +Sentiment is nothing to be ashamed of, and perhaps an infusion of +sentiment in politics is what we need. Honor and honesty, love and +loyalty, are only sentiments, and yet they make the fabric out of which +our finest traditions are woven. The United States has sent carloads +of flour to starving Belgium because of a sentiment. Belgium refused +to let Germany march over her land because of a sentiment, and Canada +has responded to the SOS call of the Empire because of a sentiment. It +seems that it is sentiment which redeems our lives from sordidness and +selfishness, and occasionally gives us a glimpse of the upper country. +</P> + +<P> +For too long people have regarded politics as a scheme whereby easy +money might be obtained. Politics has meant favors, pulls, easy jobs +for friends, new telephone lines, ditches. The question has not been: +"What can I do for my country?" but: "What can I get? What is there in +this for me?" The test of a member of Parliament as voiced by his +constituents has been: "What has he got for us?" The good member who +will be elected the next time is the one who did not forget his +friends, who got us a Normal School, or a Court House, or an +Institution for the Blind, something that we could see or touch, eat or +drink. Surely a touch of sentiment in politics would do no harm. +</P> + +<P> +Then there is the problem of the foreign woman's vote. Many people +fear that the granting of woman suffrage would greatly increase the +unintelligent vote, because the foreign women would then have the +franchise, and in our blind egotism we class our foreign people as +ignorant people, if they do not know our ways and our language. They +may know many other languages, but if they have not yet mastered ours +they are poor, ignorant foreigners. We Anglo-Saxon people have a +decided sense of our own superiority, and we feel sure that our skin is +exactly the right color, and we people from Huron and Bruce feel sure +that we were born in the right place, too. So we naturally look down +upon those who happen to be of a different race and tongue than our own. +</P> + +<P> +It is a sad feature of humanity that we are disposed to hate what we do +not understand; we naturally suspect and distrust where we do not know. +Hens are like that, too! When a strange fowl comes into a farmyard all +the hens take a pick at it—not that it has done anything wrong, but +they just naturally do not like the look of its face because it is +strange. Now that may be very good ethics for hens, but it is hardly +good enough for human beings. Our attitude toward the foreign people +was well exemplified in one of the missions, where a little Italian +boy, who had been out two years, refused to sit beside a newly arrived +Italian boy, who, of course, could not speak a word of English. The +teacher asked him to sit with his lately arrived compatriot, so that he +might interpret for him. The older boy flatly refused, and told the +teacher he "had no use for them young dagos." +</P> + +<P> +"You see," said the teacher sadly, when telling the story, "he had +caught the Canadian spirit." +</P> + +<P> +People say hard things about the corruptible foreign vote, but they +place the emphasis in the wrong place. Instead of using our harsh +adjectives for the poor fellow who sells his vote, let us save them all +for the corrupt politician who buys it, for he cannot plead +ignorance—he knows what he is doing. The foreign people who come to +Canada, come with burning enthusiasm for the new land, this land of +liberty—land of freedom. Some have been seen kissing the ground in an +ecstacy of gladness when they arrive. It is the land of their dreams, +where they hope to find home and happiness. They come to us with +ideals of citizenship that shame our narrow, mercenary standards. +These men are of a race which has gladly shed its blood for freedom and +is doing it today. But what happens? They go out to work on +construction gangs for the summer, they earn money for several months, +and when the work closes down they drift back into the cities. They +have done the work we wanted them to do, and no further thought is +given to them. They may get off the earth so far as we are concerned. +One door stands invitingly open to them. There is one place they are +welcome—so long as their money lasts—and around the bar they get +their ideals of citizenship. +</P> + +<P> +When an election is held, all at once this new land of their adoption +begins to take an interest in them, and political heelers, well paid +for the job, well armed with whiskey, cigars and money, go among them, +and, in their own language, tell them which way they must vote—and +they do. Many an election, has been swung by this means. One new +arrival, just learning our language, expressed his contempt for us by +exclaiming: "Bah! Canada is not a country—it's just a place to make +money." That was all he had seen. He spoke correctly from his point +of view. +</P> + +<P> +Then when the elections are over, and the Government is sustained, the +men who have climbed back to power by these means speak eloquently of +our "foreign people who have come to our shores to find freedom under +the sheltering folds of our grand old flag (cheers), on which the sun +never sets, and under whose protection all men are free and equal—with +an equal chance of molding the destiny of the great Empire of which we +make a part." (Cheers and prolonged applause.) +</P> + +<P> +If we really understood how, with our low political ideals and +iniquitous election methods, we have corrupted the souls of these men +who have come to live among us, we would no longer cheer, when we hear +this old drivel of the "folds of the flag." We would think with shame +of how we have driven the patriotism out of these men and replaced it +by the greed of gain, and instead of cheers and applause we would cry: +"Lord, have mercy upon us!" +</P> + +<P> +The foreign women, whom politicians and others look upon as such a +menace, are differently dealt with than the men. They do not go out to +work, en masse, as the men do. They work one by one, and are brought +in close contact with their employers. The women who go out washing +and cleaning spend probably five days a week in the homes of other +women. Surely one of her five employers will take an interest in her, +and endeavor to instruct her in the duties of citizenship. Then, too, +the mission work is nearly all done for women and girls. The foreign +women generally speak English before the men, for the reason that they +are brought in closer contact with English-speaking people. When I +hear people speaking of the ignorant foreign women I think of "Mary," +and "Annie," and others I have known. I see their broad foreheads and +intelligent kindly faces, and think of the heroic struggle they are +making to bring their families up in thrift and decency. Would Mary +vote against liquor if she had the chance? She would. So would you if +your eyes had been blackened as often by a drunken husband. There is +no need to instruct these women on the evils of liquor drinking—they +are able to give you a few aspects of the case which perhaps you had +not thought of. We have no reason to be afraid of the foreign woman's +vote. I wish we were as sure of the ladies who live on the Avenue. +</P> + +<P> +There are people who tell us that the reason women must never be +allowed to vote is because they do not want to vote, the inference +being that women are never given anything that they do not want. It +sounds so chivalrous and protective and high-minded. But women have +always got things that they did not want. Women do not want the liquor +business, but they have it; women do not want less pay for the same +work as men, but they get it. Women did not want the present war, but +they have it. The fact of women's preference has never been taken very +seriously, but it serves here just as well as anything else. Even the +opponents of woman suffrage will admit that some women want to vote, +but they say they are a very small minority, and "not our best women." +That is a classification which is rather difficult of proof and of no +importance anyway. It does not matter whether it is the best, or +second best, or the worst who are asking for a share in citizenship; +voting is not based on morality, but on humanity. No man votes because +he is one of our best men. He votes because he is of the male sex, and +over twenty-one years of age. The fact that many women are indifferent +on the subject does not alter the situation. People are indifferent +about many things that they should be interested in. The indifference +of people on the subject of ventilation and hygiene does not change the +laws of health. The indifference of many parents on the subject of an +education for their children does not alter the value of education. If +one woman wants to vote, she should have that opportunity just as if +one woman desires a college education, she should not be held back +because of the indifferent careless ones who do not desire it. Why +should the mentally inert, careless, uninterested woman, who cares +nothing for humanity but is contented to patter along her own little +narrow way, set the pace for the others of us? Voting will not be +compulsory; the shrinking violets will not be torn from their shady +fence-corner; the "home bodies" will be able to still sit in rapt +contemplation of their own fireside. We will not force the vote upon +them, but why should they force their votelessness upon us? +</P> + +<P> +"My wife does not want to vote," declared one of our Canadian premiers +in reply to a delegation of women who asked for the vote. "My wife +would not vote if she had the chance," he further stated. No person +had asked about his wife, either. +</P> + +<P> +"I will not have my wife sit in Parliament," another man cried in +alarm, when he was asked to sign a petition giving women full right of +franchise. We tried to soothe his fears. We delicately and tactfully +declared that his wife was safe. She would not be asked to go to +Parliament by any of us—we gave him our word that she was immune from +public duties of that nature, for we knew the lady and her limitations, +and we knew she was safe—safe as a glass of milk at an old-fashioned +logging-bee; safe as a dish of cold bread pudding at a strawberry +festival. She would not have to leave home to serve her country at +"the earnest solicitation of friends" or otherwise. But he would not +sign. He saw his "Minnie" climbing the slippery ladder of political +fame. It would be his Minnie who would be chosen—he felt it coming, +the sacrifice would fall on his one little ewe-lamb. +</P> + +<P> +After one has listened to all these arguments and has contracted +clergyman's sore throat talking back, it is real relief to meet the +people who say flatly and without reason: "You can't have it—no—I +won't argue—but inasmuch as I can prevent it—you will never vote! So +there!" The men who meet the question like this are so easy to +classify. +</P> + +<P> +I remember when I was a little girl back on the farm in the Souris +Valley, I used to water the cattle on Saturday mornings, drawing the +water in an icy bucket with a windlass from a fairly deep well. We had +one old white ox, called Mike, a patriarchal-looking old sinner, who +never had enough, and who always had to be watered first. Usually I +gave him what I thought he should have and then took him back to the +stable and watered the others. But one day I was feeling real strong, +and I resolved to give Mike all he could drink, even if it took every +drop of water in the well. I must admit that I cherished a secret hope +that he would kill himself drinking. I will not set down here in cold +figures how many pails of water Mike drank—but I remember. At last he +could not drink another drop, and stood shivering beside the trough, +blowing the last mouthful out of his mouth like a bad child. I waited +to see if he would die, or at least turn away and give the others a +chance. The thirsty cattle came crowding around him, but old Mike, so +full I am sure he felt he would never drink another drop of water again +as long as he lived, deliberately and with difficulty put his two front +feet over the trough and kept all the other cattle away.... Years +afterwards I had the pleasure of being present when a delegation waited +upon the Government of one of the provinces of Canada, and presented +many reasons for extending the franchise to women. One member of the +Government arose and spoke for all his colleagues. He said in +substance: "You can't have it—so long as I have anything to do with +the affairs of this province—you shall not have it!"... +</P> + +<P> +Did your brain ever give a queer little twist, and suddenly you were +conscious that the present mental process had taken place before. If +you have ever had it, you will know what I mean, and if you haven't I +cannot make you understand. I had that feeling then.... I said to +myself: "Where have I seen that face before?" ... Then, suddenly, I +remembered, and in my heart I cried out: "Mike!—old friend, Mike! +Dead these many years! Your bones lie buried under the fertile soil of +the Souris Valley, but your soul goes marching on! Mike, old friend, I +see you again—both feet in the trough!" +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +GENTLE LADY +</H4> + +<P CLASS="intro"> +The soul that idleth will surely die.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +I am sorry to have to say so, but there are some women who love to be +miserable, who have a perfect genius for martyrdom, who take a delight +in seeing how badly they can be treated, who seek out hard ways for +their feet, who court tears rather than laughter. Such a one is hard +to live with, for they glory in their cross, and simply revel in their +burdens, and they so contrive that all who come in contact with them +become a party to their martyrdom, and thus even innocent people, who +never intended to oppress the weak or harass the innocent, are led into +these heinous sins. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. M. was one of these. She prided herself on never telling anyone +to do what she could do herself. Her own poetic words were: "I'd crawl +on my hands and knees before I would ask anyone to do things for me. +If they can't see what's to be done, I'll not tell them." This was her +declaration of independence. Needless to say, Mrs. M. had a large +domestic help problem. Her domestic helpers were continually going and +coming. The inefficient ones she would not keep, and the efficient +ones would not stay with her. So the burden of the home fell heavily +on her, and, pulling her martyr's crown close down on her head, she +worked feverishly. When she was not working she was bemoaning her sad +lot, and indulging in large drafts of self-pity. The holidays she +spent were in sanatoriums and hospitals, but she gloried in her +illnesses. +</P> + +<P> +She would make the journey upstairs for the scissors rather than ask +anyone to bring them down for her, and then cherish a hurt feeling for +the next hour because nobody noticed that she was needing scissors. +She expected all her family, and the maids especially, to be mind +readers, and because they were not she was bitterly grieved. There is +not much hope for people when they make a virtue of their sins. +</P> + +<P> +She often told the story of what happened when her Tommy was two days +old. She told it to illustrate her independence of character, but most +people thought it showed something quite different. Mr. M. was +displeased with his dinner on this particular day, and, in his +blundering man's way, complained to his wife about the cooking and left +the house without finishing his meal. Mrs. M. forthwith decided that +she would wear the martyr's crown, again and some more! She got up and +cooked the next meal, in spite of the wild protests of the frightened +maid and nurse, who foresaw disaster. Mrs. M. took violently ill as a +result of her exertions just as she hoped she would, and now, after a +lapse of twenty years, proudly tells that her subsequent illness lasted +six weeks and cost six hundred dollars, and she is proud of it! +</P> + +<P> +A wiser woman would have handled the situation with tact. When Mr. M. +came storming upstairs, waving his table-napkin and feeling much +abused, she would have calmed him down by telling him not to wake the +baby, thereby directing his attention to the small pink traveler who +had so recently joined the company. She would have explained to him +that even if his dinner had not been quite satisfactory, he was lucky +to get anything in troublous times like these; she would have told him +that if, having to eat poor meals was all the discomfiture that came +his way, he was getting off light and easy. She might even go so far +as to remind him that the one who asks the guests must always pay the +piper. +</P> + +<P> +There need not have been any heartburnings or regrets or perturbation +of spirit. Mr. M. would have felt ashamed of his outbreak and +apologized to her and to the untroubled Tommy, and gone downstairs, and +eaten his stewed prunes with an humble and thankful heart. +</P> + +<P> +This love of martyrdom is deeply ingrained in the heart of womankind, +and comes from long bitter years of repression and tyranny. An old +handbook on etiquette earnestly enjoins all young ladies who desire to +be pleasing in the eyes of men to "avoid a light rollicking manner, and +to cultivate a sweet plaintiveness, as of hidden sorrow bravely borne." +It also declares that if any young lady has a robust frame, she must be +careful to dissemble it, for it is in her frailty that woman can make +her greatest appeal to man. No man wishes to marry an Amazon. It also +earnestly commends a piece of sewing to be ever in the hand of the +young lady who would attract the opposite sex! The use of large words +or any show of learning or of unseemly intelligence is to be carefully +avoided. +</P> + +<P> +People have all down the centuries blocked out for women a weeping +part. "Man must work and women must weep." So the habit of martyrdom +has sort of settled down on us. +</P> + +<P> +I will admit there has been some reason for it. Women do suffer more +than men. They are physically smaller and weaker, more highly +sensitive and therefore have a greater capacity for suffering. They +have all the ordinary ills of humanity, and then some! They have above +all been the victims of wrong thinking—they have been steeped in tears +and false sentiments. People still speak of womanhood as if it were a +disease. +</P> + +<P> +Society has had its lash raised for women everywhere, and some have +taken advantage of this to serve their own ends. An orphan girl, +ignorant of the world's ways and terribly frightened of them, was told +by her mistress that if she were to leave the roof which sheltered her +she would get "talked about," and lose her good name. So she was able +to keep the orphan working for five dollars a month. She used the lash +to her own advantage. +</P> + +<P> +Fear of "talk" has kept many a woman quiet. Woman's virtue has been +heavy responsibility not to be forgotten for an instant. +</P> + +<P> +"Remember, Judge," cried out a woman about to be sentenced for +stealing, "that I am an honest woman." +</P> + +<P> +"I believe you are," replied the judge, "and I will be lenient with +you." +</P> + +<P> +The word "honest" as applied to women means "virtuous." It has +overshadowed all other virtues, and in a way appeared to make them of +no account. +</P> + +<P> +The physical disabilities of women which have been augmented and +exaggerated by our insane way of dressing has had much to do with +shaping women's thought. The absurdly tight skirts which prevented the +wearer from walking like a human being, made a pitiful cry to the +world. They were no doubt worn as a protest against the new movement +among women, which has for its object the larger liberty, the larger +humanity of women. The hideous mincing gait of the tightly-skirted +women seems to speak. It said: "I am not a useful human being—see! I +cannot walk—I dare not run, but I am a woman—I still have my sex to +commend me. I am not of use, I am made to be supported. My sex is my +only appeal." +</P> + +<P> +Rather an indelicate and unpleasant thought, too, for an "honest" woman +to advertise so brazenly. The tight skirts and diaphanous garments +were plainly a return to "sex." The ultra feminine felt they were +going to lose something in this agitation for equality. They do not +want rights—they want privileges—like the servants who prefer tips to +wages. This is not surprising. Keepers of wild animals tell us that +when an animal has been a long time in captivity it prefers captivity +to freedom, and even when the door of the cage is opened it will not +come out—but that is no argument against freedom. +</P> + +<P> +The anti-suffrage attitude of mind is not so much a belief as a +disease. I read a series of anti-suffrage articles not long ago in the +<I>New York Times</I>. They all were written in the same strain: "We are +gentle ladies. Protect us. We are weak, very weak, but very loving." +There was not one strong nourishing sentence that would inspire anyone +to fight the good fight. It was all anemic and bloodless, and +beseeching, and had the indefinable sick-headache, kimona, +breakfast-in-bed quality in it, that repels the strong and healthy. +They talked a great deal of the care and burden of motherhood. They +had no gleam of humor—not one. The anti-suffragists dwell much on +what a care children are. Their picture of a mother is a tired, faded, +bedraggled woman, with a babe in her arms, two other small children +holding to her skirts, all crying. According to them, children never +grow up, and no person can ever attend to them but the mother. Of +course, the anti-suffragists are not this kind themselves. Not at all. +They talk of potential motherhood—but that is usually about as far as +they go. Potential motherhood sounds well and hurts nobody. +</P> + +<P> +The Gentle Lady still believes in the masculine terror of tears, and +the judicious use of fainting. The Jane Austin heroine always did it +and it worked well. She burst into tears on one page and fainted dead +away on the next. That just showed what a gentle lady she was, and +what a tender heart she had, and it usually did the trick. Lord +Algernon was there to catch her in his arms. She would not faint if he +wasn't. +</P> + +<P> +The Gentle Lady does not like to hear distressing things. Said a very +gentle lady not long ago: "Now, please do not tell me about how these +ready-to-wear garments are made, because I do not wish to know. The +last time I heard a woman talk about the temptation of factory girls, +my head ached all evening and I could not sleep." (When the Gentle +Lady has a headache it is no small affair—everyone knows it!) Then +the Gentle Lady will tell you how ungrateful her washwoman was when she +gave her a perfectly good, but, of course, a little bit soiled party +dress, or a pair of skates for her lame boy, or some such suitable gift +at Christmas. She did not act a bit nicely about it! +</P> + +<P> +The Gentle Lady has a very personal and local point of view. She +looks, at the whole world as related to herself—it all revolves around +her, and therefore what she says, or what "husband" says, is final. +She is particularly bitter against the militant suffragette, and +excitedly declares they should all be deported. +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot understand them!" she cries. +</P> + +<P> +Therein the Gentle Lady speaks truly. She cannot understand them, for +she has nothing to understand them with. It takes nobility of heart to +understand nobility of heart. It takes an unselfishness of purpose to +understand unselfishness of purpose. +</P> + +<P> +"What do they want?" cries the Gentle Lady. "Why some of them are rich +women—some of them are titled women. Why don't they mind their own +business and attend to their own children?" +</P> + +<P> +"But maybe they have no children, or maybe their children, like Mrs. +Pankhurst's, are grown up!" +</P> + +<P> +The Gentle Lady will not hear you—will not debate it—she turns to the +personal aspect again. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I am sure <I>I</I> have enough to do with my own affairs, and I +really have no patience with that sort of thing!" +</P> + +<P> +That settles it! +</P> + +<P> +She does not see, of course, that the new movement among women is a +spiritual movement—that women, whose work has been taken away from +them, are now beating at new doors, crying to be let in that they may +take part in new labors, and thus save womanhood from the enervation +which is threatening it. Women were intended to guide and sustain +life, to care for the race; not feed on it. +</P> + +<P> +Wherever women have become parasites on the race, it has heralded the +decay of that race. History has proven this over and over again. In +ancient Greece, in the days of its strength and glory, the women bore +their full share of the labor, both manual and mental; not only the +women of the poorer classes, but queens and princesses carried water +from the well; washed their linen in the stream; doctored and nursed +their households; manufactured the clothing for their families; and, in +addition to these labors, performed a share of the highest social +functions as priestesses and prophetesses. +</P> + +<P> +These were the women who became the mothers of the heroes, thinkers and +artists, who laid the foundation of the Greek nation. +</P> + +<P> +In the day of toil and struggle, the race prospered and grew, but when +the days of ease and idleness came upon Greece, when the accumulated +wealth of subjugated nations, the cheap service of slaves and subject +people, made physical labor no longer a necessity; the women grew fat, +lazy and unconcerned, and the whole race degenerated, for the race can +rise no higher than its women. For a while the men absorbed and +reflected the intellectual life, for there still ran in their veins the +good red blood of their sturdy grandmothers. But the race was doomed +by the indolent, self-indulgent and parasitic females. The women did +not all degenerate. Here and there were found women on whom wealth had +no power. There was a Sappho, and an Aspasia, who broke out into +activity and stood beside their men-folk in intellectual attainment, +but the other women did not follow; they were too comfortable, too well +fed, too well housed, to be bothered. They had everything—jewels, +dresses, slaves. Why worry? They went back to their cushions and rang +for tea—or the Grecian equivalent; and so it happened that in the +fourth century Greece fell like a rotten tree. Her conqueror was the +indomitable Alexander, son of the strong and virile Olympia. +</P> + +<P> +The mighty Roman nation followed in the same path. In the days of her +strength, and national health, the women took their full share of the +domestic burden, and as well fulfilled important social functions. +Then came slave labor, and the Roman woman no longer worked at +honorable employment. She did not have to. She painted her face, wore +patches on her cheeks, drove in her chariot, and adopted a mincing +foolish gait that has come down to us even in this day. Her children +were reared by someone else—the nursery governess idea began to take +hold. She took no interest in the government of the state, and soon +was not fit to take any. Even then, there were writers who saw the +danger, and cried out against it, and were not a bit more beloved than +the people who proclaim these things now. The writers who told of +these things and the dangers to which they were leading unfortunately +suggested no remedy. They thought they could drive women back to the +water pitcher and the loom, but that was impossible. The clock of time +will not turn back. Neither is it by a return to hand-sewing, or a +resurrection of quilt-patching that women of the present day will save +the race. The old avenues of labor are closed. It is no longer +necessary for women to spin and weave, cure meats, and make household +remedies, or even fashion the garments for their household. All these +things are done in factories. But there are new avenues for women's +activities, if we could only clear away the rubbish of prejudice which +blocks the entrance. Some women, indeed many women, are busy clearing +away the prejudice; many more are eagerly watching from their boudoir +windows; many, many more—the "gentle ladies," reclining on their +couches, fed, housed, clothed by other hands than their own—say: "What +fools these women be!" +</P> + +<P> +There are many women who are already bitten by the poisonous fly of +parasitism; there are many women in whose hearts all sense of duty to +the race has died, and these belong to many classes. A woman may +become a parasite on a very limited amount of money, for the corroding +and enervating effect of wealth and comfort sets in just as soon as the +individuality becomes clogged, and causes one to rest content from +further efforts, on the strength of the labor of someone else. Queen +Victoria, in her palace of marble and gold, was able to retain her +virility of thought and independence of action as clearly as any +pioneer woman who ever battled with conditions, while many a +tradesman's wife whose husband gets a raise sufficient for her to keep +one maid, immediately goes on the retired list, and lets her brain and +muscles atrophy. +</P> + +<P> +The woman movement, which has been scoffed and jeered at and +misunderstood most of all by the people whom it is destined to help, is +a spiritual revival of the best instincts of womanhood—the instinct to +serve and save the race. +</P> + +<P> +Too long have the gentle ladies sat in their boudoirs looking at life +in a mirror like the Lady of Shallot, while down below, in the street, +the fight rages, and other women, and defenseless children, are getting +the worst of it. But the cry is going up to the boudoir ladies to come +down and help us, for the battle goes sorely; and many there are who +are throwing aside the mirror and coming out where the real things are. +The world needs the work and help of the women, and the women must +work, if the race will survive. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +WOMEN AND THE CHURCH +</H4> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HEART TO HEART TALK WITH THE WOMEN OF THE<BR> +CHURCH BY THE GOVERNING BODIES<BR> +</H4> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Go, labor on, good sister Anne,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Abundant may thy labors be;</SPAN><BR> +To magnify thy brother man<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Is all the Lord requires of thee!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Go, raise the mortgage, year by year,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And joyously thy way pursue,</SPAN><BR> +And when you get the title clear,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">We'll move a vote of thanks to you!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Go, labor on, the night draws nigh;<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Go, build us churches—as you can.</SPAN><BR> +The times are hard, but chicken-pie<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Will do the trick. Oh, rustle, Anne!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Go, labor on, good sister Sue,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">To home and church your life devote;</SPAN><BR> +But never, never ask to vote,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Or we'll be very cross with you!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +May no rebellion cloud your mind,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">But joyous let your race be run.</SPAN><BR> +The conference is good and kind<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And knows God's will for every one!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +In dealing with the relation of women to the church, let me begin +properly with a text in Genesis which says: "God created man in his +<I>own </I>image ... male and female created he <I>them</I>." That is to say, He +created male man and female man. Further on in the story of the +creation it says: "He gave <I>them</I> dominion, etc." +</P> + +<P> +It would seem from this, that men and women got away to a fair start. +There was no inequality to begin with. God gave <I>them</I> dominion over +everything; there were no favors, no special privileges. Whatever +inequality has crept in since, has come without God's sanction. It is +well to exonerate God from all blame in the matter, for He has been +often accused of starting women off with a handicap. The inequality +has arisen from men's superior physical strength, which became more +pronounced as civilization advanced, and which is only noticeable in +the human family. Among all animals, with the possible exception of +cattle, the female is quite as large and as well endowed as the male. +It is easy for bigger and stronger people to arrogate to themselves a +general superiority. Christ came to rebuke the belief that brute +strength is the dominant force in life. +</P> + +<P> +It is no wonder that the teachings of Christ make a special appeal to +women, for Christ was a true democrat. He made no discrimination +between men and women. They were all human beings to Him, with souls +to save and lives to live, and He applied to men and women the same +rule of conduct. +</P> + +<P> +When the Pharisees brought the woman to Him, accused of a serious +crime, insistent that she be stoned at once, Christ turned his +attention to them. "Let him that is without sin among you throw the +first stone," he said. Up to this moment they had been feeling +deliciously good, and the contemplation of the woman's sinfulness had +given them positive thrills of virtue. But now suddenly each man felt +the spotlight on himself, and he winced painfully. Ordinarily they +would have bluffed it off, and laughingly declared they were no worse +than other men. But the eyes of the Master were on them—kind eyes, +patient always, but keen and sharp as a surgeon's knife; and measuring +themselves up with the sinless Son of God, their pitiful little pile of +respectability fell into irreparable ruin. They forgot all about the +woman and her sin as they saw their own miserable sin-eaten, souls, and +they slid out noiselessly. When they were gone Christ asked the woman +where were her accusers. +</P> + +<P> +"No man hath condemned me, Lord," she answered truthfully. +</P> + +<P> +"Neither do I condemn you," He said. "Go in peace—sin no more!" +</P> + +<P> +I believe that woman did go in peace, and I also believe that she +sinned no more, for she had a new vision of manhood, and purity, and +love. All at once, life had changed for her. +</P> + +<P> +The Christian Church has departed in some places from Christ's +teaching—noticeably in its treatment of women. Christ taught the +nobility of loving service freely given; but such a tame uninteresting +belief as that did not appeal to the military masculine mind. It +declared Christianity was fit only for women and slaves, whose duty and +privilege it was lovingly to serve men. The men of Christ's time held +His doctrines in contempt. They wanted gratification, praise, glory, +applause, action—red blood and raw meat, and this man, this carpenter, +nothing but a working man from an obscure village, dared to tell them +they should love their neighbor as themselves, that they should bless +and curse not. +</P> + +<P> +There was no fun in that! No wonder they began to seek how they could +destroy him! Such doctrine was fit for only women and slaves! +</P> + +<P> +It is sometimes stated as a reason for excluding women from the highest +courts of the church, that Christ chose men for all of his +disciples—that it was to men, and men only, that he gave the command: +"Go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creature," but +that is a very debatable matter. Christ's scribes were all men, and in +writing down the sacred story, they would naturally ignore the woman's +part of it. It is not more than twenty years ago that in a well-known +church paper appeared this sentence, speaking of a series of revival +meetings: "The converted numbered over a hundred souls, exclusive of +women and children." If after nineteen centuries of Christian +civilization the scribe ignores women, even in the matter of +conversion, we have every reason to believe that Matthew, Mark, Luke or +John might easily fail to give women a place "among those present" or +the "also rans." +</P> + +<P> +Superior physical force is an insidious thing, and has biased the +judgment of even good men. St. Augustine declared woman to be "a +household menace; a daily peril; a necessary evil." St. Paul, too, +added his contribution and advised all men who wished to serve God +faithfully to refrain from marriage "even as I." "However," he said, +"if you feel you must marry, go ahead—only don't say I did not warn +you!" Saint Paul is very careful to say that he is giving this advice +quite on his own authority, but that has in no way dimmed the faith of +those who have quoted it. +</P> + +<P> +Later writers like Sir Almoth Wright declare there are no good women, +though there are some who have come under the influence of good men. +Many men have felt perfectly qualified to sum up all women in a few +crisp sentences, and they do not shrink from declaring in their modest +way that they understand women far better than women understand +themselves. They love to talk of women in bulk, all women—and quite +cheerfully tell us women are illogical, frivolous, jealous, vindictive, +forgiving, affectionate, not any too honest, patient, frail, +delightful, inconstant, faithful. Let us all take heart of grace for +it seems we are the whole thing! +</P> + +<P> +Almost all the books written about women have been written by men. +Women have until the last fifty years been the inarticulate sex; but +although they have had little to say about themselves they have heard +much. It is a very poor preacher or lecturer who has not a lengthy +discourse on "Woman's True Place." It is a very poor platform +performer who cannot take the stand and show women exactly wherein they +err. "This way, ladies, for the straight and narrow path!" If women +have gone aside from the straight and narrow path it is not because +they have not been advised to pursue it. Man long ago decided that +woman's sphere was anything he did not wish to do himself, and as he +did not particularly care for the straight and narrow way, he felt free +to recommend it to women in general. He did not wish to tie himself +too closely to home either and still he knew somebody should stay on +the job, so he decided that home was woman's sphere. +</P> + +<P> +The church has been dominated by men and so religion has been given a +masculine interpretation, and I believe the Protestant religion has +lost much when it lost the idea of the motherhood of God. There come +times when human beings do not crave the calm, even-handed justice of a +father nearly so much as the soft-hearted, loving touch of a mother, +and to many a man or woman whose home life has not been happy, "like as +a father pitieth his children" sounds like a very cheap and cruel +sarcasm. +</P> + +<P> +It has been contended by those high in authority in church life, that +the admission of women into all the departments of the church will have +the tendency to drive men out. Indeed some declare that the small +attendance of men at church services is accounted for by the +"feminization of the church," which is, in other words, an admission of +a very ugly fact that even in the sacred precincts of the church, women +are held in mild contempt. Many men will resent this statement hotly, +but a brief glance at some of the conditions which prevail in our +social life will prove that there is a great amount of truth in it. +Look at the fine scorn with which small boys regard girls! You cannot +insult a boy more deeply than to tell him he looks like a girl—and the +bitterest insult one boy can hand out to another is to call him a +"sissy." This has been carefully taught to our small boys, for if they +were left to their own observations and deductions they would hold +girls in as high esteem as boys. I remember once seeing a fond mother +buying a coat for her only son, aged seven years. The salesman had put +on a pretty little blue reefer, and the mother was quite pleased with +it, and a sale was apparently in sight. Then the salesman was guilty +of a serious mistake, for as he pulled down the little coat and patted +the shoulders he said: "This is a standard cut, madam, which is always +popular, and we sell a great many of them for both boys and girls." +</P> + +<P> +Girls! +</P> + +<P> +Reggie's mother stiffened, and with withering scorn declared that she +did not wish Reggie to wear a girl's coat. She would look at something +else. Reggie pulled off the coat, as if it burned him, and felt he had +been perilously near to something very compromising and indelicate. +Thus did young Reggie receive a lesson in sex contempt at the hands of +his mother! +</P> + +<P> +Let us lay the blame where it belongs. If any man holds women in +contempt—and many do—their mothers are to blame for it in the first +place, it began in the nursery but was fostered on the street, and +nourished in the school where sitting with a girl has been handed out +as a punishment, containing the very dregs of humiliation; where boys +are encouraged to play games and have a good time, but where until a +few years ago girls were expected to "sit around and act ladylike" in +the playtime of the others. +</P> + +<P> +The church has contributed a share, too, in the subjection of women, in +spite of the plain teaching of our Lord, and many a sermon has been +based on the words of Saint Paul about women remaining silent in the +churches, and if any question arose to trouble her soul, she must ask +her husband quietly at home. +</P> + +<P> +But it is at the marriage altar, where women receive the crowning +insult. "Who gives this woman away?" asks the minister. "I do," says +her father or brother, or some male relative, without a blush. +Perfectly satisfactory. One man hands her over to another man, the +inference being that the woman has nothing to do with it. In this most +vital decision of her whole life, she has had to get a man to do the +thinking for her. It goes back to the old days, of course, when a +woman was a man's chattel, to do with as he saw fit. The word "obey" +has gone from some of the marriage ceremonies. Bishops even have seen +the absurdity of it and taken it out. +</P> + +<P> +Women have held a place all their own in the church. "I am willing +that the sisters should labor," cried an eminent doctor of the largest +Protestant church in Canada, when the question of allowing women to sit +in the highest courts of the church was discussed. "I am willing that +the sisters should labor," he said, "and that they should labor more +abundantly, but we cannot let them rule." And it was so decreed. +</P> + +<P> +Women have certainly been allowed to labor in the church. There is no +doubt of that. There are many things they may do with impunity, nay, +even hilarity. They may make strong and useful garments for the poor; +they may teach in Sunday-school and attend prayer-meeting; they may +finance the new parsonage, and augment the missionary funds by bazaars, +birthday socials, autograph quilts and fowl suppers—where the +masculine portion of the congregation are given a dollar meal for fifty +cents, which they take gladly and generously declare they do not mind +the expense for "it is all for a good cause." The women may lift +mortgages, or build churches, or any other light work, but the real +heavy work of the church, such as moving resolutions in the general +conference or assemblies, must be done by strong, hardy men! +</P> + +<P> +It is quite noticeable that each of the church dignitaries who have +opposed woman's entry into the church courts has prefaced his remarks +by elaborate apologies, and never failed to declare his great love for +womankind. Each one has bared his manly breast and called the world to +witness the fact that he loves his mother and is not ashamed to say +so—which declaration is all the more remarkable because no person was +asking, or particularly interested in his private affairs. (Query—Why +shouldn't he love his mother? Most people do.) After having delivered +his soul of these mighty, epoch-making declarations, he has proceeded +to explain that letting women into the church would be the thin edge of +the wedge, and he is afraid women will "lose their femininity." +</P> + +<P> +Women are not discouraged or cast down. Neither have they any +intention of going on strike, or withdrawing their support from the +church. They will still go on patiently, and earnestly and hopefully. +Sex prejudice is a hard thing to break down, and the smaller the man, +and the narrower his soul, the more tenaciously will he hold on to his +pitiful little belief in his own superiority. The best and ablest men +in all the churches are fighting the woman's battles now, and the +brotherly companionship, the real chivalry, and fairmindedness of these +men, are enough to keep the women's hearts cheered and encouraged. +Toward their opponents the women are very tolerant and hopeful. Many +of them have changed their beliefs in the last few years. They are +changing every day. Those who will not change will die! We always +have this assurance, and in this battle for independence, many a woman +has found comfort in poor Swinburne's pagan hymn of thanksgiving: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +From too much love of living,<BR> +From fear of death set free,<BR> +We thank thee with brief thanksgiving,<BR> +Whatever gods there be!<BR> +That no life lives forever,<BR> +That dead men rise up never,<BR> +That even the weariest river<BR> +Leads somehow safe to sea!<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +But when all is over, the battle fought and won, and women are regarded +everywhere as human beings and citizens, many women will remember with +bitterness that in the day of our struggle, the church stood off, aloof +and dignified, and let us fight alone. +</P> + +<P> +One of the arguments advanced by the men who oppose women's entry into +the full fellowship of the church is that women would ultimately seek +to preach, and the standard of preaching would be lowered. There is a +gentle compelling note of modesty about this that is not lost on +us—and we frankly admit that we would not like to see the standard of +preaching lowered; and we assure the timorous brethren that women are +not clamoring to preach; but if a woman should feel that she is +divinely called of God to deliver a message, I wonder how the church +can be so sure that she isn't. Wouldn't it be perfectly safe to let +her have her fling? There was a rule given long ago which might be +used yet to solve such a problem: +</P> + +<P> +"And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone, +for if this council, or this work, be of men, it will come to naught, +but if it be of God you cannot overthrow it, lest haply ye be found +even to fight against God." +</P> + +<P> +That seems to be a pretty fair way of looking at the matter of +preaching; but the churches have decreed otherwise, and in order to +save trouble they have decided themselves and not left it to God. It +must be great to feel that you are on the private wire from heaven and +qualified to settle a matter which concerns the spiritual destiny of +other people. +</P> + +<P> +Many theories have been propounded as to the decadence of the church, +which has become painfully apparent when great moral issues have been +at stake. That the church could stamp out the liquor traffic has often +been said, and yet although general conferences and assemblies have met +year after year, and passed resolutions declaring that "the sale of +liquor could not be licensed without sin," the liquor traffic goes +blithely on its way and gets itself licensed all right, "with sin," +perhaps, but licensed anyway. Where are all these stalwart sons of the +church who love their mothers so ostentatiously and reverence womanhood +so deeply? +</P> + +<P> +There is one of Aesop's fables which tells about a man who purchased +for himself a beautiful dog, but being a timid man, he was beset with +the fear that some day the dog might turn on him and bite him, and to +prevent this, he drew all the dog's teeth. One day a wolf attacked the +man. He called on his beautiful dog to protect him, but the poor dog +had no teeth, and so the wolf ate them both. The church fails to be +effective because it has not the use of one wing of its army, and it +has no one to blame but itself. The church has deliberately set its +face against the emancipation of women, and in that respect it has been +a perfect joy to the liquor traffic, who recognize their deadliest foe +to be the woman with a ballot in her hand. The liquor traffic rather +enjoys temperance sermons, and conventions and resolutions. They +furnish an outlet for a great deal of hot talk which hurts nobody. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, various religious bodies in convention assembled have from +time to time passed resolutions favoring woman suffrage, and +recommending it to the state, but the state has not been greatly +impressed. The state might well reply to the church by saying: "If it +is such a desirable thing why do you not try it yourself?" +</P> + +<P> +The antagonism of the church to receiving women preachers has its basis +in sex jealousy. I make this statement with deliberation. The smaller +the man, the more disposed he is to be jealous. A gentleman of the old +school, who believes women should all be housekeepers whether they want +to be or not, once went to hear a woman speak; and when asked how he +liked it he grudgingly admitted that it was clever enough. He said it +seemed to him like a pony walking on its hind legs—it was clever but +not natural. +</P> + +<P> +Woman has long been regarded by the churches as helpmate for man, with +no life of her own, but a very valuable assistant nevertheless to some +male relative. Woman's place they have long been told is to help some +man to achieve success and great reward may be hers. Some day when she +is faded and old and battered and bent, her son may be pleased to +recall her many sacrifices and declare when making his inaugural +address: "All that I am my mother made me!" There are one or two +things to be considered in this charming scene. Her son may never +arrive at this proud achievement, or even if he does, he may forget his +mother and her sacrifices, and again she may not have a son. But these +are minor matters. +</P> + +<P> +Children do not need their mother's care always, and the mother who has +given up every hope and ambition in the care of her children will find +herself left all alone, when her children no longer need her—a woman +without a job. But, dear me, how the church has exalted the +self-sacrificing mother, who never had a thought apart from her +children, and who became a willing slave to her family. Never a word +about the injury she is doing to her family in letting them be a +slave-owner, never a word of the injury she is doing to herself, never +a whisper of the time when the children may be ashamed of their +worked-out mother who did not keep up with the times. +</P> + +<P> +The preaching of the church, having been done by men, has given us the +strictly masculine viewpoint. The tragedy of the "willing slave, the +living sacrifice," naturally does not strike a man as it does a woman. +A man loves to come home and find his wife or his mother darning his +socks. He likes to believe that she does it joyously. It is +traditionally correct, and home would not be home without it. No man +wants to stay at home too long, but he likes to find his women folks +sitting around when he comes home. The stationary female and the +wide-ranging male is the world's accepted arrangement, but the belief +that a woman must cherish no hope or ambition of her own is both cruel +and unjust. +</P> + +<P> +Men have had the control of affairs for a long time, long enough +perhaps to test their ability as the arbiters of human destiny. The +world, as made by man, is cruelly unjust to women, and cruelly beset +with dangers for the innocent young girl. Praying and weeping have +been the only weapons that the church has sanctioned for women. The +weeping, of course, must be done quietly and in becoming manner. Loud +weeping becomes hysteria, and decidedly bad form. Women have prayed +and wept for a long time, and yet the liquor traffic and the white +slave traffic continue to make their inroads on the human family. The +liquor traffic and the white slave traffic are kept up by men for +man—women pay the price—the long price in suffering and shame. The +pleasure and profit—if there be any—belong to men. Women are the +sufferers—and yet the law decrees that women shall not have any voice +in regulating these matters. +</P> + +<P> +In California, where women have had the vote for three years, there has +been recently enacted a bill dealing with white slavery. It is called +the Quick Abatement Act, and provides for an immediate trial to be +given, when it is believed that prostitution is being carried on in any +house. Our system, under which the trial is set for a date several +weeks ahead, furnishes a splendid chance for the witnesses to +disappear, and the evidence quite often falls through. This bill also +provides a suitable punishment which falls not on the occupants of the +house but on the owner of the property, thereby striking at the profit. +If prostitution is proven against a house, that house is closed for one +year, the owner losing the rent for that time. This puts the +responsibility on property owners, and makes people careful as to their +tenants. Every owner forthwith becomes a morality officer. This is +the greatest and most effective blow ever struck at white slavery, for +it strikes directly at the money side of it. It is a fact worth +recalling that just before women were permitted to vote in California, +this bill was defeated overwhelmingly, but the first time it was +submitted after women were enfranchised it passed easily, although +there was not one woman in the house of representatives; the men +members had a different attitude toward moral matters when they +remembered that they had women constituents as well as men. +</P> + +<P> +When Christian women ask to vote, it is in the hope that they may be +able with their ballots to protect the weak and innocent, and make the +world a safer place for the young feet. As it is now, weakness and +innocence are punished more than wickedness. +</P> + +<P> +One of our social workers, going on her rounds, one day met a young +Scotch girl, aged nineteen, who belonged to that class of people whom +we in our superior way call "fallen women." She was a beautiful girl, +with curling auburn hair and deep violet eyes. The visitor asked her +about herself, but the girl was not disposed to talk. Finally the +visitor asked her if she might pray with her. The girl politely +refused. +</P> + +<P> +"Lady," she said wearily, "what is the use of praying—there is no God. +I know that you think there is a God, Lady," she went on, with a voice +of settled sadness. "I did, too—once—but I know now that there is no +God anywhere." +</P> + +<P> +Then she told her story. When her mother died in Scotland, she came +out to Canada to live with her brother who had a position in a bank. +She traveled in the care of a Scotch family to her destination. At the +station, an elderly gentlemen in a clerical coat met her and told her +that her brother was ill, but had sent him to meet her. She went with +him unsuspectingly. That was six years ago. She was then thirteen +years old. +</P> + +<P> +"So you see, Lady," she said, "I know there is no God, or He would +never have let them do to me what they did. Every night I had prayed +to God, and if there were a God anywhere, He would surely have heard my +mother's prayer—when she was dying—she asked God to protect her poor +little motherless girl. It is a sad world, Lady." The girl's eyes +were dry and her voice unbroken. There is a limit even to tears and +her eyes were cried dry. +</P> + +<P> +According to the laws of the Dominion of Canada, the man who stole this +sweet child from the railway station, would be liable to five years' +imprisonment, if the case could be proven against him, which is +doubtful, for he could surely get someone to prove that she was over +fourteen years of age, or not of previously chaste character, or that +he was somewhere else at the time, or that the girl's evidence was +contradictory; but if he had stolen any article from any building +belonging to or adjacent to a railway station, or any article belonging +to a railway company, he would have been liable to a term of fourteen +years. This is the law, and the church folds its plump hands over its +broadcloth waistcoat and makes no protest! The church has not yet even +touched the outer fringe of the white slave evil and yet those high in +authority dare to say that women must not be given the right to protect +themselves. The demand for votes is a spiritual movement and the +bitter cry of that little Scotch girl and of the many like her who have +no reason to believe in God, sounds a challenge to every woman who ever +names the name of God in prayer. We know there is a God of love and +justice, who hears the cry of the smallest child in agony, and will in +His own good time bind up every broken heart, and wipe away every tear. +But how can we demonstrate God to the world! +</P> + +<P> +Inasmuch as we have sat in our comfortable respectable pews enjoying +our own little narrow-gauge religion, unmoved by the call of the larger +citizenship, and making no effort to reach out and save those who are +in temptation, and making no effort to better the conditions under +which other women must live—inasmuch as we have left undone the things +we might have done—in God's sight—we are fallen women! And to the +church officials, ministers and laymen who have dared to deny to women +the means whereby they might have done better for the women of the +world, I would like to say that I wonder what they will say to that +Scotch mother, who lay down happily on her death-bed believing that God +would care for her motherless child left to battle with the world. I +wonder how they will explain it to her when they meet her up there! I +wonder will they be able to get away with that old fable about their +being afraid of women "losing their femininity." I wonder! +</P> + +<P> +There is a story recorded in that book, whose popularity never wanes, +about a certain poor man who took his journey down from Jerusalem to +Jericho, and who fell among thieves who robbed him and left him for +dead. A priest and a Levite came along and were full of sympathy, and +said: "Dear me! I wonder what this road is coming to!" But they had +meetings to attend and they passed on. A good Samaritan came along, +and he was a real good Samaritan, and when he saw the man lying by the +road he jumped down from his horse, and picking him up, took him to the +inn, and gave directions for his care and comfort, even paid out money +for the poor battered stranger. The next day, the Samaritan again +passed down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and about the same +place found another man, beaten and robbed, undoubtedly the work of the +same thieves. Again he played the part of the kind friend, but it set +him thinking, and when the next day he found two men robbed and beaten, +the good Samaritan was properly aroused. He took them to the inn, and +again he paid out his money, but that night he called a meeting of all +the other good Samaritans "out his way" and they hunted up their old +muskets and set out to clean up the road. +</P> + +<P> +The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is here, and now. Women have played +the good Samaritan for a long time, and they have found many a one +beaten and robbed on the road of life. They are still doing it, but +the conviction is growing on them that it would be much better to go +out and clean up the road! +</P> + +<P> +In a certain asylum, the management have a unique test for sanity. +When any of the inmates exhibit evidence of returning reason, they +submit them to the following tests. Out in the courtyard there are a +number of water taps for filling troughs, and to each of the candidates +for liberty a small pail is given, and they are told to drain out the +troughs, the taps running full force. Some of the poor fellows bail +away and bail away, but of course the trough remains full in spite of +them. The wise ones turn off the taps. +</P> + +<P> +The women of the churches and many other organizations for many long +weary years have been bailing out the troughs of human misery with +their little pails; their children's shelters, day nurseries, homes for +friendless girls, relief boards, and innumerable public and private +charities; but the big taps of intemperance and ignorance and greed are +running night and day. It is weary, discouraging, heart-breaking work. +</P> + +<P> +Let us have a chance at the taps! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE SORE THOUGHT +</H4> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +The toad beneath the harrow knows<BR> +Everywhere the tooth mark goes;<BR> +The butterfly upon the road<BR> +Preaches contentment to the toad.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Women have had to do a lot of waiting—long, weary waiting. The +well-brought-up young lady diligently prepares for marriage; makes +doilies, and hemstitches linen; gets her blue trunk ready and—waits. +She must not appear anxious or concerned—not at all; she must +just—wait. When a young man comes along and shows her any attention, +she may accept it, but if after two or three years of it he suddenly +leaves her, and devotes himself to some other girl, she must not feel +hurt or grieved but must go back and sit down beside the blue trunk +again and—wait! He has merely exercised the man's right of choosing, +and when he decides that he does not want her, she has no grounds for +complaint. She must consider herself declined, "not from any lack of +merit, but simply because she is unavailable." If her heart breaks, it +must break quietly, and in secret. +</P> + +<P> +She may see a young man to whom she feels attracted, but she must not +show it by even so much as the flicker of an eyelash. Hers is the +waiting part, and although marriage and homemaking are her highest +destiny, or at least so she has been told often enough—she must not +raise a hand to help the cause along. No more crushing criticism can +be made of a woman, than that she is anxious to get married. It is all +right for her to be passively willing, but she must not be anxious. +</P> + +<P> +At dances she must <I>wait</I> until someone asks her to dance; <I>wait</I> until +someone asks her to go to supper. She must not ever make the move—she +must not ever try to start something. Her place is to wait! +</P> + +<P> +At last her waiting is rewarded and a young man comes by who declares +he would like to marry her, but is not in a position to marry just yet. +Then begins another period of waiting. She must not hurry him—that is +very indelicate—she must wait. Sometimes, in this long period of +waiting, the young man changes his mind, but she must not complain. A +man cannot help it if he grows tired. It must have been her fault—she +did not make herself sufficiently attractive—that's all! She waits +again. +</P> + +<P> +At last perhaps she gets married. But her periods of waiting are not +over. Her husband wanders free while she stays at home. We know the +picture of the waiting wife listening for footsteps while the clock +ticks loudly in the silent house. The world has decreed that the woman +and home must stay together, while the man goes about his business or +his pleasures—the tied-up woman and the foot-loose man. +</P> + +<P> +Her boys grow up, and when war breaks out, they are called away from +her, and again the woman waits. Every telegraph boy who comes up the +street may bring the dreaded message; every time the door bell rings +her heart stops beating. But she cannot do anything but wait! wait! +wait! +</P> + +<P> +Did you ever visit an old folks' home and notice the different spirit +shown by the men and women there? The old men are restless and +irritable; impatient of their inaction; rebellious against fate. The +old women patiently wait, looking out with their dimmed eyes like +marooned sailors waiting for a breeze. Poor old patient waiters! you +learned the art of waiting in a long hard school, and now you have come +to the last lap of the journey. +</P> + +<P> +So they wait—and by and by their waiting will be over, for the kindly +tide will rise and bear them safely out on its strong bosom to some +place—where they will find not more rest but blessed activity! We +know there is another world, because we need it so badly to set this +one right! +</P> + +<P> +Women have not always been "waiters." There was a day long past, when +women chose their mates, when men fought for the hand of the woman they +loved, and the women chose. The female bird selects her mate today, +goes out and makes her choice, and, it is not considered unbirdly +either. +</P> + +<P> +Why should not women have the same privilege as men to choose their +mate? Marriage means more to a woman than to a man; she brings in a +larger contribution than he; often it happens that she gives all—he +gives nothing. The care and upbringing of the children depend upon her +faithfulness, not on his. Why should she not have the privilege of +choosing? +</P> + +<P> +Too long has the whole process of love-making and marriage been wrapped +in mystery. "Part of it has been considered too holy to be spoken of +and part of it too unholy," says Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Innocence +has been esteemed a young girl's greatest charm, but what good has her +innocence done her? No good at all! It is not calculated to do her +good—her good is not the prime consideration. It makes her more +charming in the eyes of men; but it may bring her great unhappiness. +Lady Evelyn's trusting heart has usually been broken. When the story +begins about the farmer's pretty daughter with limpid blue eyes, sweet +as bluebells washed in dew, all innocent of the world ways, the +experienced reader knows at once what is coming. Innocence is hard on +the woman, however charming it may be to men. The women who go a step +beyond innocence and are so trusting as to be described as +simple-minded, no matter how gentle, patient, and sweet they are, are +absolutely unsafe in this world of man's chivalry and protection. If +you want to know what fate overtakes them, ask the matron of the Refuge +for Unfortunate Women, ask any person who has worked among this class +of women, and they will tell you how much good innocence and the +trusting heart does any woman. This is a sore thought! +</P> + +<P> +It would be perfectly delightful if our daughters might remain +innocent. They should have that privilege. Innocence belongs to +childhood and girlhood, but under present conditions, it is as +dangerous and foolish as level and unguarded railway crossings, or open +and unguarded trap doors. It is no pleasant task to have to tell a +joyous, sunny-hearted girl of fourteen or fifteen about the evils that +are in the world, but if you love her, you will do it! I would like to +see this work done by trained motherly and tactful women, in the +department of social welfare, paid by the school board. I know the +mothers should do it, but many mothers are ignorant, foolish, lax, and +certainly untrained. The mother's kindly counsel is the best, I know, +but you cannot always rely upon its being there. This is coming, too, +for public sentiment is being awakened to the evils of innocence. +</P> + +<P> +I remember, twenty years ago, when Dr. Amelia Yeomans, of sainted +memory, published at her own expense, a little leaflet called "Warning +to Girls" and circulated it among girls who were working in public +places, what a storm of abuse arose. I have a copy of the little +tract, and it could be safely read in any mixed gathering today. +Ministers raged against it in the pulpit. I remember one brother who +was very emphatic in his denunciations who afterwards was put out of +the church for indecent conduct. Of course he wanted girls to remain +innocent—it suited his purpose. +</P> + +<P> +If any person doubts that the society of the present day has been made +by men, and for men's advantage, let them look for a minute at the laws +which govern society. Society allows a man all privilege, all license, +all liberty, where women are concerned. He may lie to women, deceive +them—"all's fair in love and war"—he may break many a heart, and +blast many a fair name; that merely throws a glamour around him. "He's +a devil with women," they say, and it is no disadvantage in the +business or political world—where man dominates. But if a man is +dishonest in business or neglects to pay his gambling bills, he is down +and out. These are crimes against men—and therefore serious. This is +also a sore thought! +</P> + +<P> +Then when men speak of these things, they throw the blame on women +themselves, showing thereby that the Garden of Eden story of Adam and +Eve and the apple, whether it be historically true or not, is true to +life. Quite Adam-like, they throw the blame on women, and say: "Women +like the man with a past. Women like to be lied to. Women do not +expect any man to be absolutely faithful to them, if he is pleasant. +The man who has the reputation of having been wild has a better chance +with women than the less attractive but absolutely moral man." What a +glorious thing it will be when men cease to speak for us, and cease to +tell us what we think, and let us speak for ourselves! +</P> + +<P> +Since women's sphere of manual labor has so narrowed by economic +conditions and has not widened correspondingly in other directions, +many women have become parasites on the earnings of their male +relatives. Marriage has become a straight "clothes and board" +proposition to the detriment of marriage and the race. Her economic +dependence has so influenced the attitude of some women toward men, +that it is the old man with the money who can support her in idleness +who appeals to her far more than the handsome, clean-limbed young man +who is poor, and with whom she would have to work. The softening, +paralyzing effects of ease and comfort are showing themselves on our +women. You cannot expect the woman who has had her meals always bought +for her, and her clothes always paid for by some man, to retain a sense +of independence. "What did I marry you for?" cried a woman +indignantly, when her husband grumbled about the size of her millinery +bill. No wonder men have come to regard marriage as an expensive +adventure. +</P> + +<P> +The time will come, we hope, when women will be economically free, and +mentally and spiritually independent enough to refuse to have their +food paid for by men; when women will receive equal pay for equal work, +and have all avenues of activity open to them; and will be free to +choose their own mates, without shame, or indelicacy; when men will not +be afraid of marriage because of the financial burden, but free men and +free women will marry for love, and together work for the sustenance of +their families. It is not too ideal a thought. It is coming, and the +new movement among women who are crying out for a larger humanity, is +going to bring it about. +</P> + +<P> +But there are many good men who view this with alarm. They are afraid +that if women were economically independent they would never marry. +But they would. Deeply rooted in almost every woman's heart is the +love of home and children; but independence is sweet and when marriage +means the loss of independence, there are women brave enough and strong +enough to turn away from it. "I will not marry for a living," many a +brave woman has said. +</P> + +<P> +The world has taunted women into marrying. So odious has the term "old +maid" been in the past that many a woman has married rather than have +to bear it. That the term "old maid" has lost its odium is due to the +fact that unmarried women have made a place for themselves in the world +of business. They have become real people apart from their sex. The +"old maid" of the past was a sad, anemic creature, without any means of +support except the bounty of some relative. She had not married, so +she had failed utterly, and the world did not fail to rub it in. The +unmarried woman of today is the head saleslady in some big house, +drawing as big a salary as most men, and the world kowtows to her. The +world is beginning to see that a woman may achieve success in other +departments of life as well as marriage. +</P> + +<P> +It speaks well for women that, even before this era, when "old maids" +were open to all kinds of insult, there were women brave enough to +refuse to barter their souls for the animal comforts of food and +shelter. Speaking about "old maids," by which term we mean now a prim, +fussy person, it is well to remember that there are male "old maids" as +well as female who remain so all through life; also that many "old +maids" marry, and are still old maids. +</P> + +<P> +When women are free to marry or not as they will, and the financial +burden of making a home is equally shared by husband and wife, the +world will enter upon an era of happiness undreamed of now. As it is +now, the whole matter of marrying and homemaking is left to chance. +Every department of life, every profession in which men and women +engage, has certain qualifications which must be complied with, except +the profession of homemaking. A young man and a young woman say: "I +believe we'll get married" and forthwith they do. The state sanctions +it, and the church blesses it. They may be consumptive, epileptic, +shiftless, immoral, or with a tendency to insanity. No matter. They +may go on and reproduce their kind. They are perfectly free to bring +children into the world, who are a burden and a menace to society. +Society has to bear it—that is all! "Be fruitful and multiply!" +declares the church, as it deplores the evils of race suicide. Many +male moralists have cried out for large families. "Let us have better +and healthier babies if we can," cried out one of England's bishops, +not long ago, "but let us have more babies!" +</P> + +<P> +Heroic and noble sentiment and so perfectly safe! It reminds one of +the dentist's advertisement: "Teeth extracted without pain"—and his +subsequent explanation: "It does not hurt me a bit!" +</P> + +<P> +Martin Luther is said to have stood by the death-bed of a woman, who +had given birth to sixteen children in seventeen years, and piously +exclaimed: "She could not have died better!" +</P> + +<P> +"By all means let us have more babies," says the Bishop. Even if they +are anemic and rickety, ill-nourished and deformed, and even if the +mothers, already overburdened and underfed, die in giving them birth? +To the average thinking woman, this wail for large families, coming as +it always does from men, is rather nauseating. +</P> + +<P> +When the cry has been so persistently raised for more children, the +women naturally wonder why more care is not exerted for the protection +of the children who are already here. The reason is often given for +not allowing women to have the free grants of land in Canada on the +same conditions as men, that it would make them too independent of +marriage, and, as one commissioner of emigration phrased it: "It is not +independent women we want; it is population." +</P> + +<P> +Granting that population is very desirable, would it not be well to +save what we have? Six or seven thousand of our population in Canada +drop out of the race every year as a direct result of the liquor +traffic, and a higher percentage than this perish from the same cause +in some other countries. Would it not be well to save them? Thousands +of babies die every year from preventable causes. Free milk +depositories and district nurses and free dispensaries would save many +of them. In the Far West, on the border of civilization, where women +are beyond the reach of nurses and doctors, many mothers and babies die +every year. How would it be to try to save them? Delegations of +public-spirited women have waited upon august bodies of men, and +pleaded the cause of these brave women who are paying the toll of +colonization, and have asked that Government nurses be sent to them in +their hour of need. But up to date not one dollar of Government money +has been spent on them notwithstanding the fact that when a duke or a +prince comes to visit our country, we can pour out money like water! +</P> + +<P> +It does not seem to the thoughtful observer that we need more children +nearly so much as we need better children, and a higher value set upon +all human life. In this day of war, when men are counted of less value +than cattle, it is a doubtful favor to the child to bring it into life +under any circumstances, but to bring children into the world, +suffering from the handicaps caused by the ignorance, poverty, or +criminality of the parents, is an appalling crime against the innocent +and helpless, and yet one about which practically nothing is said. +Marriage, homemaking, and the rearing of children are left entirely to +chance, and so it is no wonder that humanity produces so many specimens +who, if they were silk stockings or boots, would be marked "Seconds." +The Bishop's cry has found many an echo: "Let us have more." +</P> + +<P> +Women in several of the states have instituted campaigns for "Better +Babies," and by offering prizes and disseminating information, they +have given a better chance to many a little traveler on life's highway. +But all who have endeavored in any way to secure legislation or +government grants for the protection of children, have found that +legislators are more willing to pass laws for the protection of cattle +than for the protection of children, for cattle have a real value and +children have only a sentimental value. +</P> + +<P> +If children die—what of it? "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken +away." Let us have more. This is the sore thought with women. It is +not that the bringing of children into the world is attended with pain +and worry and weariness—it is not that: it is that they are held of +such small value in the eyes of this man-made world. This is the +sorest thought of all! +</P> + +<P> +Even as I write these words, I hear the bugle calling, and down the +street our brave boys in khaki are marching. Today I passed on the +street a mother and her only son, who is now a soldier and going away +with the next contingent. The lad was trying to cheer her as they +walked along. She held him by the hand:—he was just a little boy to +her. +</P> + +<P> +"It was not for this that I raised him," she said to me bitterly. "It +was not for this! The whole thing is wrong, and it is just as hard on +the German women as on us!" +</P> + +<P> +Even in her sorrow she had the universal outlook—the very thing that +so many philosophers declare that women have not got! +</P> + +<P> +I could not help but think that if there had been women in the German +Reichstag, women with authority behind them, when the Kaiser began to +lay his plans for the war, the results might have been very different. +I do not believe women with boys of their own would ever sit down and +wilfully plan slaughter, and if there had been women there when the +Kaiser and his brutal war-lords discussed the way in which they would +plunge all Europe into bloodshed, I believe one of those deep-bosomed, +motherly, blue-eyed German women would have stood upon her feet and +said: "William—forget it!" But the German women were not there—they +were at home, raising children! So the preparations for war went on +unchecked, and the resolutions passed without a dissenting voice. In +German rule, we have a glorious example of male statecraft, +uncontaminated by any feminine foolishness. +</P> + +<P> +No doubt, it is because all our statecraft has been one-sided, that we +find that human welfare has lagged far behind material welfare. We +have made wonderful strides in convenience and comfort, but have not +yet solved the problems of poverty, crime or insanity. Perhaps they, +too, will yield to treatment when they are better understood, and men +and women are both on the job. As it is now, criminals have only man's +treatment, which is the hurry-up method—"hang him, and be done with +him," or "chuck him into jail, and be quick about it, and let me forget +him." Mothers would have more patience, more understanding, for they +have been dealing with bad little boys all their lives. +</P> + +<P> +The little family jars which arise in every home, are settled nine out +of ten times by the mother, unless she is the sort of spineless, anemic +woman, who lies down on the job, and says, "I'll tell your father," +which acts as a threat, and sometimes is effective, though it solves no +difficulty. +</P> + +<P> +To hang the man who commits a crime is a cheap way to get out of a +difficulty; a real masculine way. It is so much quicker and easier +than trying to reform him, and what is one man less after all? Human +life is cheap—to men—and of course there is always the Bishop crying: +"Let us have more." +</P> + +<P> +The conditions which prevail at the present time are atrocious and help +to make criminals. The worst crimes have not even a name yet, much +less a punishment. What about the crime of working little children and +cheating them out of an education and a happy childhood? There is no +name for it! What about misrepresenting land values and selling lots +to people who have never seen them and who simply rely upon the owner's +word; taking the hard-earned money from guileless people and giving +them swamp land, miles out of the city limits, in return! They tell a +story about a real-estate man who sold Edmonton lots to some people in +the East, assuring them that the lots were "close in," but when the +owner of the lots went to register them, he found they could not be +registered in Alberta—they belonged in British Columbia, the next +province! +</P> + +<P> +This sort of thing is considered good business, if you can "get away +with it." According to our masculine code of morals—it's "rather +clever"—they say. "You cannot help but admire his nerve!" But not +long since a hungry man stole a banana from a fruit stand and was sent +to jail for it, for the dignity of the law has to be upheld, and the +small thief is the easiest one to deal with and make an example of. +Similarly Chinamen are always severely dealt with. Give it to him! He +has no friends! +</P> + +<P> +What about the crime of holding up the market, so that the price of +bread goes up, causing poor men's children to go hungry? There is no +name for it! +</P> + +<P> +What about allowing speculators to hold great tracts of land +uncultivated, waiting for higher prices, while unemployed men walk the +streets, hungry and discouraged, cursing the day they were born: big +strong fellows many of them, willing to work, craving work, but with +work denied them. Yesterday one of them jumped from the High Level +Bridge into the icy waters of the Saskatchewan, leaving a note behind +him saying simply he was tired of it all, and could stand no more—he +"would take a chance on another world." The idle land is calling to +the idle man, and the world is calling for food; and yet these great +tracts of wheat lands lie just outside our cities, untouched by plow or +harrow, and hungry men walk our streets. The crime which the state +commits in allowing such a condition to prevail is as yet unnamed. +</P> + +<P> +Women have carried many a sore thought in their hearts, feeling that +they have been harshly dealt with by their men folk, and have laid the +blame on the individual man, when in reality the individual has not +been to blame. The whole race is suffering from masculinity; and men +and women are alike to blame for tolerating it. +</P> + +<P> +The baby girl in her cradle gets the first cold blast of it. "A girl?" +says the kind neighbor, "Oh, too bad—I am sure it was quite a +disappointment!" +</P> + +<P> +Then there is the old-country reverence for men, of which many a mother +has been guilty, which exalts the boys of the family far above the +girls, and brings home to the latter, in many, many ways, the grave +mistake of having been born a woman. Many little girls have carried +the sore thought in their hearts from their earliest recollection. +</P> + +<P> +They find out, later, that women's work is taken for granted. A farmer +will allow his daughter to work many weary unpaid years, and when she +gets married he will give her "a feather bed and a cow," and feel that +her claim upon him has been handsomely met. The gift of a feather bed +is rather interesting, too, when you consider that it is the daughter +who has raised the geese, plucked them, and made the bed-tick. But +"father" gives it to her just the same. The son, for a corresponding +term of service, gets a farm. +</P> + +<P> +There was a rich farmer once, who died possessed of three very fine +farms of three hundred and twenty acres each. He left a farm to each +of his three sons. To his daughter Martha, a woman of forty years of +age, the eldest of the family, who had always stayed at home, and +worked for the whole family—he left a cow and one hundred dollars. +The wording of the will ran: "To my dear daughter, Martha, I leave the +sum of one hundred dollars, and one cow named 'Bella.'" +</P> + +<P> +How would you like to be left at forty years of age, with no training +and very little education, facing the world with one hundred dollars +and one cow, even if she were named "Bella"? +</P> + +<P> +To the poor old mother, sixty-five years of age, who had worked far +harder than her husband, who had made butter, and baked bread, and +sewed carpet rags, and was now bent and broken, and with impaired +sight, he left: "her keep" with one of the boys! +</P> + +<P> +How would you like to be left with "your keep" even with one of your +own children? Keep! It is exactly what the humane master leaves to an +old horse. When the old lady heard the will read which so generously +provided for her "keep," she slipped away without a word. People +thought it was her great grief at losing such a kind husband which made +her pine and droop. But it wasn't. It was the loss of her +independence. Her son and his family thought it strange that "Grandma" +did not care to go to church any more. Of course her son never thought +of giving her collection or money to give to the funds of the church, +and Grandma did not ask. She sat in her corner, and knit stockings for +her son's children; another pitiful little broken bit of human wreckage +cast up by the waves of the world. In two months Grandma had gone to +the house of many mansions, where she was no longer beholden to anyone +for "keep"—for God is more merciful than man! +</P> + +<P> +The man who made his will this way was not a bad man, but he was the +victim of wrong thinking; he did not realize that his wife had any +independence of soul; he thought that all "mother" cared about was a +chance to serve; she had been a quiet, unassertive woman, who worked +along patiently, and made no complaint. What could she need of money? +The "boys" would never see her want. +</P> + +<P> +A man who heard this story said in comment: "Well, I don't see what the +old lady felt so badly about, for what does a woman of sixty-five need +of money anyway?" +</P> + +<P> +He was not a cruel man, either, and so his remark is illuminative, for +it shows a certain attitude of mind, and it shows women where they have +made their mistake. They have been too patient and unassertive—they +have not set a high enough value on themselves, and it is pathetically +true that the world values you at the value you place on yourself. And +so the poor old lady, who worked all her life for her family, looking +for no recompense, nor recognition, was taken at the value she set upon +herself, which was nothing at all. +</P> + +<P> +That does not relieve the state of its responsibility in letting such a +thing happen. It is a hard matter, I know, to protect people from +themselves; and there can be no law made to prevent women from making +slaves of themselves to their husbands and families. That would be +interfering with the sanctity of the home! But the law can step in, as +it has in some provinces, and prevent a man from leaving his wife with +only "her keep." The law is a reflection of public sentiment, and when +people begin to realize that women are human and have human needs and +ambitions and desires, the law will protect a woman's interest. Too +long we have had this condition of affairs: "Ma" has been willing to +work without any recompense, and "Pa and the boys" have been willing to +let her. +</P> + +<P> +Of course, I know, sentimental people will cry out, that very few men +would leave their wives in poverty—I know that; men are infinitely +better than the law, but we must remember that laws are not made to +govern the conduct of good men. Good men will do what is right, if +there were never a law; but, unfortunately, there are some men who are +not good, and many more who are thoughtless and unintentionally cruel. +The law is a schoolmaster to such. +</P> + +<P> +There are some places, where a law can protect the weak, but there are +many situations which require more than a law. Take the case of a man +who habitually abuses and frightens his family, and makes their lives a +periodic hell of fear. The law cannot touch him unless he actually +kills some of them, and it seems a great pity that there cannot be some +corrective measure. In the states of Kansas and Washington (where +women vote) the people have enacted what is known as the "Lazy +Husband's Act," which provides for such cases as this. If a man is +abusive or disagreeable, or fails to provide for his family, he is +taken away for a time, and put to work in a state institution, and his +money is sent home to his family. He is treated kindly, and good +influences thrown around him. When he shows signs of repentance—he is +allowed to go home. Home, very often, looks better to him, and he +behaves himself quite decently. +</P> + +<P> +Women outlined this legislation and it is in the states where women +vote that it is in operation. There will be more such legislation, +too, when women are given a chance to speak out! +</P> + +<P> +A New Zealander once wrote home to a friend in England advising him to +fight hard against woman suffrage. "Don't ever let the wimmin vote, +Bill," he wrote. "They are good servants, but bad masters. Over there +you can knock your wife about for five shillings, but here we does jail +for it!" +</P> + +<P> +The man who "knocks his wife about" or feels that he might some day +want to knock her about, is opposed to further liberties for women, of +course. +</P> + +<P> +But that is the class of man from whom we never expected anything. He +has his prototype, too, in every walk of life. Don't make the mistake +of thinking that only ignorant members of the great unwashed masses +talk and feel this way. Silk-hatted "noblemen" have answered women's +appeals for common justice by hiring the Whitechapel toughs to "bash +their heads," and this is another sore thought that women will carry +with them for many a day after the suffrage has been granted. I wish +we could forget the way our English sisters have been treated in that +sweet land of liberty! +</P> + +<P> +The problems of discovery have been solved; the problems of +colonization are being solved, and when the war is over the problem of +world government will be solved; and then the problem will be just the +problem of living together. That problem cannot be solved without the +help of women. The world has suffered long from too much masculinity +and not enough humanity, but when the war is over, and the beautiful +things have been destroyed, and the lands laid desolate, and all the +blood has been shed, the poor old bruised and broken heart of the world +will cry out for its mother and nurse, who will dry her own eyes, and +bind up its wounds and nurse it back to life once more. Perhaps the +old earth will be a bit kinder than it has ever been to women, who +knows? Men have been known to grow very fond of their nurse, and +bleeding has been known to cure mental disorders! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE LAND OF THE FAIR DEAL +</H4> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Lord, take us up to the heights, and show us the glory,<BR> +Show us a vision of Empire! Tell us its story!<BR> +Tell it out plain, for our eyes and our ears have grown holden;<BR> +We have forgotten that anything other than money is golden.<BR> +Grubbing away in the valley, somehow has darkened our eyes;<BR> +Watching the ground and the crops—we've forgotten the skies.<BR> +But Lord, if Thou wilt Thou canst take us today<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 3em">To the Mount of Decision</SPAN><BR> +And show us the land that we live in<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 3em">With glorified Vision!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Every nation has its characteristic quality of mind; we recognize +Scotch thrift, English persistency and Irish quickwittedness wherever +we see it; we know something, too, of the emotional, vivacious nature +of the French, and the resourcefulness of the American; but what about +the Canadian—what will be our distinguishing feature in the years to +come? The cartoons are kind to us—thus far—and in representing +Canada, draw a sturdy young fellow, strong and well set, full of muscle +and vim, and we like to think that the representation is a good one, +for we are a young nation, coming into our vigor, and with our future +in our own hands. We have an area of one-third of the whole British +Empire, and one-fifth of that of Asia. Canada is as large as thirty +United Kingdoms and eighteen Germanys. Canada is almost as large as +Europe. It is bounded by three oceans and has thirteen thousand miles +of coast line, that is, half the circumference of the earth. +</P> + +<P> +Canada's land area, exclusive of forest and swamp lands, is +1,401,000,000 acres; 440,000,000 acres of this is fit for cultivation, +but only 36,000,000 acres, or 2.6 per cent of the whole, is cultivated, +so it would seem that there are still a few acres left for anyone who +may happen to want it. We need not be afraid of crowding. We have a +great big blank book here with leather binding and gold edges, and now +our care should be that we write in it worthily. We have no precedents +to guide us, and that is a glorious thing, for precedents, like other +guides, are disposed to grow tyrannical, and refuse to let us do +anything on our own initiative. Life grows wearisome in the countries +where precedents and conventionalities rule, and nothing can happen +unless it has happened before. Here we do not worry about +precedents—we make our own! +</P> + +<P> +Main Street, in Winnipeg, now one of the finest business streets in the +world, followed the trail made by the Red River carts, and, no doubt, +if the driver of the first cart knew that in his footsteps would follow +electric cars and asphalt paving, he would have driven straighter. But +he did not know, and we do not blame him for that. But we know, for in +our short day we have seen the prairies blossom into cities, and we +know that on the paths which we are marking out many feet will follow, +and the responsibility is laid on us to lay them broad and straight and +safe so that many feet may be saved from falling. +</P> + +<P> +We are too young a nation yet to have any distinguishing characteristic +and, of course, it would not be exactly modest for us to attribute +virtues to ourselves, but there can be harm in saying what we would +like our character to be. Among the people of the world in the years +to come, we will ask no greater heritage for our country than to be +known as the land of the Fair Deal, where every race, color and creed +will be given exactly the same chance; where no person can "exert +influence" to bring about his personal ends; where no man or woman's +past can ever rise up to defeat them; where no crime goes unpunished; +where every debt is paid; where no prejudice is allowed to masquerade +as a reason; where honest toil will insure an honest living; where the +man who works receives the reward of his labor. +</P> + +<P> +It would seem reasonable, too, that such a condition might be brought +about in a new country, and in a country as big as ours, where there is +room for everyone and to spare. Look out upon our rolling prairies, +carpeted with wild flowers, and clotted over with poplar groves, where +wild birds sing and chatter, and it does not seem too ideal or +visionary that these broad sunlit spaces may be the homes of countless +thousands of happy and contented people. The great wide uncultivated +prairie seems to open its welcoming arms to the land-hungry, homeless +dwellers of the cities, saying: "Come and try me. Forget the past, if +it makes you sad. Come to me, for I am the Land of the Second Chance. +I am the Land of Beginning Again. I will not ask who your ancestors +were. I want you—nothing matters now but just you and me, and we will +make good together." This is the invitation of the prairie to the +discouraged and weary ones of the older lands, whose dreams have +failed, whose plans have gone wrong, and who are ready to fall out of +the race. The blue skies and green slopes beckon to them to come out +and begin again. The prairie, with its peace and silence, calls to the +troubled nations of Middle Europe, whose people are caught in the cruel +tangle of war. When it is all over and the smoke has cleared away, and +they who are left look around at the blackened ruins and desolated +farms and the shallow graves of their beloved dead, they will come away +from the scenes of such bitter memories. Then it is that this far +country will make its appeal to them, and they will come to us in large +numbers, come with their sad hearts and their sad traditions. What +will we have for them? We have the fertility of soil; we have the +natural resources; we have coal; we have gas; we have wheat land and +pasture land and fruit land. Nature has done her share with a +prodigality that shames our little human narrowness. Now if we had men +to match our mountains, if we had men to match our plains, if our +thoughts were as clear as our sunlight, we would be able to stand up +high enough to see over the rim of things. In the light of what has +happened, our little grabbing ways, our insane desires to grow rich and +stop work, have some way lost their glamour. Belgium has set a pace +for us, has shown us a glimpse of heroic sacrifice which makes us feel +very humble and very small, and we have suddenly stumbled on the great +truth that it is not all of life to live, that is, draw your breath or +even draw your salary; that to get money and dress your family up like +Christmas trees, and own three cars, may not be adding a very heavy +contribution to human welfare; that houses and lands and stocks and +shares may be very poor things to tie up to after all. +</P> + +<P> +An Englishman who visited Western Canada a few years ago, when +everybody had money, wrote letters to one of the London papers about +us. Commenting on our worldliness, he said: "The people of Western +Canada have only one idea of hell, and that is buying the wrong lots!" +</P> + +<P> +But already there has come a change in the complexion of our mind. The +last eight months have taught us many things. We, too, have had our +share in the sacrifice, as the casualty lists in every paper show. We +have seen our brave lads go out from us in health and hope, amid music +and cheers, and already we know that some of them will not come back. +"Killed in action," "died of wounds," "missing," say the brief +despatches, which tell us that we have made our investment of blood. +The investment thus made has paid a dividend already, in an altered +thought, a chastened spirit, a recast of our table of values. "Without +the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin" always seemed a +harsh and terrible utterance, but we know now its truth; and already we +know the part of our sin of worldliness has been remitted, for we have +turned away from it. We acknowledge in sorrow that we have followed +strange gods, and worshiped at the worldly altar of wealth and +cleverness, and believed that these things were success in life. Now +we have had before our eyes the spectacle of clever men using their +cleverness to kill, maim and destroy innocent women and children; we +have seen the wealth of one nation poured out like water to bring +poverty and starvation to another nation, and so, through our tears, we +have learned the lesson that it is not wealth or cleverness or skill or +power which makes a nation or an individual great. It is goodness, +gentleness, kindliness, the sense of brotherhood, which alone maketh +rich and addeth no sorrow. When we are face to face with the elemental +things of life, death and sorrow and loss, the air grows very still and +clear, and we see things in bold outlines. +</P> + +<P> +The Kaiser has done a few things for us. He has made us hate all forms +of tyranny and oppression and autocracy; he has made us hate all forms +of hypocrisy and deceit. There have been some forms of kaiserism +dwelling among us for many years, so veneered with respectability and +custom that some were deceived by them; but the lid is off now—the +veneer has cracked—the veil is torn, and we see things as they are. +</P> + +<P> +When we find ourselves wondering at the German people for having +tolerated the military system for so long, paying taxes for its +maintenance and giving their sons to it, we suddenly remember that we +have paid taxes and given our children, too, to keep up the liquor +traffic, which has less reasons for its existence than the military +system of Germany. Any nation which sets out to give a fair deal to +everyone must divorce itself from the liquor traffic, which deals its +hardest blows on the non-combatants. Right here let us again thank the +Germans for bringing this so clearly to our notice. We despise the +army of the Kaiser for dropping bombs on defenseless people, and +shooting down women and children—we say it violates all laws of +civilized warfare. The liquor traffic has waged war on women and +children all down the centuries. Three thousand women were killed in +the United States in one year by their own husbands who were under the +influence of liquor. Non-combatants! Its attacks on the +non-combatants are not so spectacular in their methods as the tactics +pursued by the Kaiser's men, who line up the defenseless ones in the +public square and turn machine-guns on them. The methods of the liquor +traffic are not so direct or merciful. We shudder with horror as we +read of the terrible outrages committed by the brutal German soldiers. +We rage in our helpless fury that such things should be—and yet we +have known and read of just such happenings in our own country. The +newspapers, in telling of such happenings, usually have one short +illuminative sentence which explains all: "The man had been drinking." +The liquor traffic has outraged and insulted womanhood right here in +our own country in much the same manner as is alleged of the German +soldiers in France and Belgium! Another thing we have to thank the +Kaiser for is that we have something now whereby we can express what +women owe to the liquor traffic. We know now that women owe to the +liquor traffic the same sort of a debt that Belgium owes to Germany. +Women have never chosen the liquor business, have never been consulted +about it in any way, any more than Belgium was consulted. It has been +wished on them. They have had nothing to do with it, but to put up +with it, endure it, suffer its degradation, bear its losses, pay its +abominable price in tears and heartbreak. Apart from that they have +had nothing to do with it. If there is any pleasure in it—that has +belonged to men; if there has been any gain in it, men have had that, +too. +</P> + +<P> +And yet there are people who tell us women must not invade the realm of +politics, where matters relating to the liquor traffic are dealt with. +Women have not been the invaders. The liquor traffic has invaded +woman's place in life. The shells have been dropped on unfortified +homes. There is no fair dealing in that. +</P> + +<P> +A woman stooped over her stove in her own kitchen one winter evening, +making food for her eight-months-old baby, whom she held in her arms. +Her husband and her brother-in-law, with a bottle of whiskey, carried +on a lively dispute in another part of the kitchen. She did not enter +into the dispute, but went on with her work. Surely this woman was +protected; here was the sacred precincts of home, her husband, sworn to +protect her, her child in her arms—a beautiful domesticated Madonna +scene. But when the revolver was fired accidentally it blew off the +whole top of her protected head; and the mother and babe fell to the +floor! Who was the invader? and, tell me, would you call that a fair +deal? +</P> + +<P> +The people who oppose democratic principles tell us that there is no +such thing as equality—that, if you made every person exactly equal +today, there would be inequality tomorrow. We know there is no such +thing as equality of achievement, but what we plead for is equality of +chance, equality of opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +We know that absolute equality of opportunity is hardly possible, but +we can make it more nearly possible by the removal of all movable +handicaps from the human race. The liquor traffic, with its resultant +poverty, hits the child in the cradle, whose innocence and helplessness +makes its appeal all the stronger. The liquor traffic is a tangible, +definite thing that we can locate without difficulty. Many of the +causes of poverty and sin are illusive, indefinite qualities such as +bad management, carelessness, laziness, extravagance, ignorance and bad +judgment, which are exceedingly hard to remedy, but the liquor traffic +is one of the things we can speak of definitely, and in removing it we +are taking a step in the direction of giving everybody a fair start. +</P> + +<P> +When the Boer War was on, the British War Office had to lower the +standard for the army because not enough men could be found to measure +up to the previous standard, and an investigation was made into the +causes which had led to the physical deterioration of the race. Ten +families whose parents were both drinkers were compared with ten +families whose parents were both abstainers, and it was found that the +drinking parents had out of their fifty-seven children only ten that +were normal, while the non-drinking parents, out of their sixty-one +children, had fifty-four normal children and only seven that were +abnormal in any way. They chose families in as nearly as possible the +same condition of life and the same scale of intelligence. It would +seem from this that no country which legalizes the liquor traffic is +giving a fair deal to its children! +</P> + +<P> +Humanity is disposed to sit weakly down before anything that has been +with us for a long time, and say it is impossible to do away with it. +"We have always had liquor drinking," say some, "and we always will. +It is deeply rooted in our civilization and in our social customs, and +can never be outlawed entirely." Social customs may change. They have +changed. They will change when enough people want them to change. +There is nothing sacred about a social custom, anyway, that it should +be preserved when we have decided it is of no use to us. Social +customs make an interesting psychological study, even among the lower +animals, who show an almost human respect for the customs of their kind. +</P> + +<P> +Have you ever seen lizards walk into a campfire? Up from the lake they +will come, attracted by the gleam of the fire. It looks so warm and +inviting, and, of course, there is a social custom among lizards to +walk right in, and so they do. The first one goes boldly in, gives a +start of surprise, and then shrivels, but the next one is a real good +sport, and won't desert a friend, so he walks in and shrivels, and the +next one is no piker, so walks in, too. Who would be a stiff? They +stop coming when there are no more lizards in the lake or the fire is +full. There does not seem to be much reason for their action, but, of +course, it is a social custom. You may have been disposed to despise +the humble lizard with his open countenance and foolish smile, but you +see there is something quite human and heroic about him, too, in his +respect for a social custom. +</P> + +<P> +Moths have a social custom, too, which impels them to fly into the +flame of the candle, and bees will drown themselves in boiling syrup. +No matter how many of their friends and cousins they see lying dead in +the syrup, they will march boldly in, for they each feel that they are +strong enough to get out when they want to. Bees all believe that they +"can drink or leave it alone." +</P> + +<P> +But moralists tell us that prohibition of any evil is not the right +method to pursue; far better to leave the evil and train mankind to +shun it. If the evil be removed entirely mankind will be forced to +abstain and therefore will not grow in strength. In other words, the +life of virtue will be made too easy. We would gently remind the +moralists who reason in this way that there will still be a few hundred +ways left, whereby a man may make shipwreck of his life. They must not +worry about that—there will still be plenty of opportunities to go +wrong! +</P> + +<P> +The object of all laws should be to make the path of virtue as easy as +possible, to build fences in front of all precipices, to cover the +wells and put the poison out of reach. The theory of teaching children +to leave the poison alone sounds well, but most of us feel we haven't +any children to experiment on, and so we will lock the medicine-chest +and carry the key. +</P> + +<P> +A great deal is said about personal liberty in connection with this +matter of the prohibition of the liquor traffic, though the old cry +that every man has a perfect right to do as he likes is not so popular +as it once was, for we have before us a perfect example of a man who is +exercising personal liberty to the full; we have one man who is a +living exponent of the right to do exactly as he likes, no matter who +is hurt by it. The perfect example of a man who believes in personal +liberty for himself is a man by the name of William Hohenzollern. +</P> + +<P> +If there were only one man on the earth, he might have personal liberty +to do just as he liked, but the advent of the second man would end it. +Life is full of prohibitions to which we must submit for the good of +others. Our streets are full of prohibitory signs, every one of which +infringes on our so-called personal liberty: "Keep off the grass," "Go +slow," "No smoking," "Do not feed the animals," "Post no bills," +"Kindly refrain from conversation." +</P> + +<P> +Those who profess to understand the human heart in all its workings, +notably beer-drinking bishops and brewers, declare that a prohibitory +measure rouses opposition in mankind. When the law says, "Thou shalt +not," the individual replies, "I certainly shall!" This is rather an +unkind cut at the ten commandments, which were given by divine +authority, and which make a lavish use of "Thou shalt not!" These +brave souls, who feel such a desire to break every prohibition, must +have a hard time keeping out of jail. No doubt it is with difficulty +that they restrain themselves from climbing over the railway gates +which are closed when the train comes in and which block the street for +a few minutes several times a day. +</P> + +<P> +The Archbishop of York, speaking at the York Convention recently, +declared against prohibition on the ground that when the prohibition +was removed there might be "real and regrettable intemperance"—the +inference being that any little drinking that is going on now is of an +imaginary and trifling nature—and yet the Chancellor of the Exchequer +declares that the liquor traffic is a worse enemy than the Germans, and +Earl Kitchener has added his testimony to the same sentiment. +</P> + +<P> +The Dean of Canterbury declared that he did not believe in prohibition, +for he once tried total abstinence and he found it impaired his health. +Of course the Dean's health must be kept up whether the warships are +built or not. England may be suffering from loss of men, money and +efficiency, but why worry? The Dean's health is excellent! When we +pray for the erring, the careless and indifferent who never darken a +church door, let us not forget the selfish people who do darken the +church doors, and darken her altars as well! +</P> + +<P> +But prohibition will not prohibit, say some. For that matter, neither +does any prohibitory law; the laws against stealing do not entirely +prevent stealing; notwithstanding the laws prohibiting murder as set +down in the Decalogue, and also in the statute books of our country, +there are murders committed. Prohibition will make liquor less +accessible. Men may get it still, but it will give them some trouble. +In the year 1909 the saloons in the United States were closed at the +rate of forty-one a day, and $412,000,000 was the sum that the drink +bill decreased. It would seem that prohibition had taken some effect. +But, in spite of the mass of evidence, there is still the argument +that, under prohibition, there will be much illicit selling of liquor. +It will be sold in livery stables and up back lanes, and be carried in +coal-oil cans, and labeled "gopher-poison." Even so, that will not +make it any more deadly in its effects; the effect of liquor-drinking +is much the same whether it is drunk in "the gilded saloon," where +everything is exceedingly legal and regular, or up the back lane, +absolutely without authority. Both are bad! +</P> + +<P> +Under prohibition, a drunken man is a marked man—he is branded at once +as a law-breaker, and the attitude of the public is that of +indignation. Under license, a drunken man is part of the system—and +passes without comment. For this reason a small amount of drunkenness +in a prohibition territory is so noticeable that many people are +deceived into believing that there is more drunkenness under +prohibition than under license. Prohibition does not produce +drunkenness, but it reveals it, underlines it. Drunkenness in +prohibition territory is like a black mark on a white page, a dirty +spot on a clean dress; the same spot on a dirty dress would not be +noticed. +</P> + +<P> +There was a licensed house in one of the small prairie towns, which +complied with all the regulations; it had the required number of +bedrooms; its windows were unscreened; the license fee was paid; the +bartender was a total abstainer, and a member of the union; also said +to be a man of good moral character; the proprietor regularly gave +twenty-five dollars a year to the Children's Aid, and put up a cup to +be competed for by the district hockey clubs. Nothing could be more +regular or respectable, and yet, when men drank the liquor there it had +appalling results. There was one Irishman who came frequently to the +bar and drank like a gentleman, treating every person and never looking +for change from his dollar bill. One Christmas Eve, the drinking went +on all night and well into Christmas Day. Then the Irishman, who was +the life of the party, went home, remembering what day it was. It all +came out in the evidence that he had taken home with him presents for +his wife and children, so that his intention toward them was the +kindest. His wife's intention was kind, too. She waited dinner for +him, and the parcels she had prepared for Christmas presents were +beside the plates on the table. For him she had knitted a pair of gray +stockings with green rings around them. They were also shown as +evidence at the inquest! +</P> + +<P> +It is often claimed that prohibition will produce a lot of sneaking +drunkards, but, of course, this man had done his drinking under +license, and was of the open and above-board type of drinker. There +was nothing underhand or sneaking about him. He drank openly, and when +he went home, and his wife asked him why he had stayed away so long, he +killed her—not in any underhand or sneaking way. Not at all. Right +in the presence of the four little children who had been watching for +him all morning at the window, he killed her. When he came to himself, +he remembered nothing about it, he said, and those who knew him +believed him. A blind pig could not have done much worse for that +family! Now, could it? +</P> + +<P> +Years after, when the eldest girl had grown to be a woman, she took +sick with typhoid fever and the doctor told her she would die, and she +turned her face to the wall and said: "I am glad." A friend who stood +beside her bed spoke of heaven and the blessed rest that there remains, +and the joy of the life everlasting. The girl roused herself and said, +bitterly: "I ask only one thing of heaven and that is, that I may +forget the look in my mother's face when she saw he intended to kill +her. I do not want to live again. I only want to forget!" The +respectability of the house and the legality of the sale did not seem +to be any help to her. +</P> + +<P> +But there are people who cry out against prohibition that you cannot +make men moral, or sober, by law. But that is exactly what you can do. +The greatest value a law has is its moral value. It is the silent +pressure of the law on public opinion which gives it its greatest +value. The punishment for the infringement of the law is not its only +way of impressing itself on the people. It is the moral impact of a +law that changes public sentiment, and to say that you cannot make men +sober by law is as foolish as to say you cannot keep cattle from +destroying the wheat by building a fence between them and it, or to +claim you cannot make a crooked twig grow straight by tying it +straight. Humanity can do anything it wants to do. There is no limit +to human achievement. Whoever declares that things cannot be done +which are for the betterment of the race, insults the Creator of us +all, who is not willing that any should perish, but that all should +live and live abundantly. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +AS A MAN THINKETH +</H4> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +When the valley is brimming with sunshine,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And the Souris, limpid and clear,</SPAN><BR> +Slips over its shining pebbles<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And the harvest time draws near,</SPAN><BR> +The heart of the honest plowman<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Is filled with content and cheer!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +It is only the poor, rich farmer<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Whose heart is heavy with dread,</SPAN><BR> +When over the smiling valley<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">The mantle of harvest is spread;</SPAN><BR> +"For the season," he says, "is backward<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And the grain is only in head!"</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +The hired man loves the twilight<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">When the purple hills grow dim,</SPAN><BR> +And he smiles at the glittering blackbirds<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Which round him circle and skim;</SPAN><BR> +His road is embroidered with sunflowers<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">That lazily nod at him!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +But the rich man's heart is heavy,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">With gloom and fear opprest;</SPAN><BR> +For he knows the red-winged blackbird<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">As an evil-minded pest,</SPAN><BR> +And the golden brown-eyed sunflower<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Is only a weed, at best!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +When the purple rain-clouds gather<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And a mist comes over the hills,</SPAN><BR> +A peace beyond all telling<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">The hired man's bosom fills,</SPAN><BR> +And the long, long sleep in the morning<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">His heart with rapture fills.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +But the rich man's heart is heavy<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">With gloom and fear of loss,</SPAN><BR> +When the purple clouds drop moisture<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">On field and flower and moss;</SPAN><BR> +It's all very well for the plowman,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">But it's not well at all for the "Boss."</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +When the moonlight lies on the valley<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And into the hayloft streams,</SPAN><BR> +Where the humble laborer snoreth<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And dreameth his peaceful dreams;</SPAN><BR> +It silvers his slumbering fancies<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">With the witchery of its beams.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +But the poor rich man is restless,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">For his heart is on his sheaves;</SPAN><BR> +And the moonlight, cold and cloudless,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">For him no fancy weaves,</SPAN><BR> +For the glass is falling, falling,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And the grain will surely freeze!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +So the poor rich farmer misses<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">What makes this old world sweet;</SPAN><BR> +And the weather grieves the heart of him<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">With too much rain or heat;</SPAN><BR> +For there's nothing gold that can't be sold,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">And there's nothing good but wheat!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +There is no class of people who have suffered so much from wrong +thinking as the farmer; vicarious wrong thinking, I mean; other people +have done the wrong thinking, and the farmer has suffered. Like many +another bromide, the thought has grown on people that farmers are slow, +uncouth, guileless, easily imposed on, ready to sign a promissory note +for any smooth-tongued stranger who comes in for dinner. The stage and +the colored supplements have spread this impression of the farmer, and +the farmer has not cared. He felt he could stand it! Perhaps the +women on the farm feel it more than the men, for women are more +sensitive about such things. "Poor girl!" say the kind friends. "She +went West and married a farmer"—and forthwith a picture of the +farmer's wife rises up before their eyes; the poor, faded woman, in a +rusty black luster skirt sagging in the back and puckering in the +seams; coat that belonged to a suit in other days; a black sailor hat, +gray with years and dust, with a sad cluster of faded violets, and torn +tulle trimming, sitting crooked on her head; hair the color of last +year's grass, and teeth gone in front. +</P> + +<P> +There is no reason for the belief that farmers' wives as a class look +and dress like this, only that people love to generalize; to fit cases +to their theory, they love to find ministers' sons wild; mothers-in-law +disagreeable; women who believe in suffrage neglecting their children, +and farmers' wives shabby, discouraged and sad. +</P> + +<P> +I do not believe that farmers' wives are a down-trodden class of women. +They have their troubles like other people. It rains in threshing +time, and the threshers' visit is prolonged until long after their +welcome has been worn to a frazzle! Father won't dress up even when +company is coming. Father also has a mania for buying land instead of +building a new house; and sometimes works the driving horse. Cows +break out of pastures; hawks get the chickens; hens lay away; +clothes-lines break. +</P> + +<P> +They have their troubles, but there are compensations. Their houses +may be small, but there is plenty of room outside; they may not have +much spending money, but the rent is always paid; they are saved from +the many disagreeable things that are incident to city life, and they +have great opportunity for developing their resources. +</P> + +<P> +When the city woman wants a shelf put up she 'phones to the City +Relief, and gets a man to do it for her; the farmer's wife hunts up the +hammer and a soap box and puts up her own shelf, and gains the +independence of character which only come from achievement. Similarly +the children of the country neighborhoods have had to make their own +fun, which they do with great enthusiasm, for, under any circumstances, +children will play. The city children pay for their amusement. They +pay their nickel, and sit back, apparently saying: "Now, amuse me if +you can! What are you paid for?" The blasé city child who comes +sighing out of picture shows is a sad sight. They know everything, and +their little souls are a-weary of this world. It is a cold day for any +child who has nothing left to wonder at. +</P> + +<P> +The desire to play is surely a great stroke of Providence, and one of +which the world has only recently begun to learn. Take the matter of +picnics. I have seen people hold a picnic on the bare prairie, where +the nearest tree was miles away, and the only shade was that of a +barbed-wire fence, but everybody was happy. The success of a picnic +depends upon the mental attitude, not on cool shade or purling streams. +</P> + +<P> +I remember seeing from the train window a party of young people +carrying a boat and picnic baskets, one hot day in July. A little +farther on we passed a tiny lake set in a thick growth of tall grass. +It was a very small lake, indeed. I ran to the rear platform of the +train and watched it as long as I could; I was so afraid some cow would +come along and drink it dry before they got there. +</P> + +<P> +Not long ago I made some investigations as to why boys and girls leave +the farm, and I found in over half the cases the reason given was that +life on the farm was "too slow, too lonely, and no fun." In country +neighborhoods family life means more than it does in the city. The +members of a family are at each other's mercy; and so, if the "father" +always has a grouch, and the "mother" is worried, and tired, and cross, +small wonder that the children try to get away. In the city there is +always the "movie" to go to, and congenial companionship down the +street, and so we mourn the depopulation of our rural neighborhoods. +</P> + +<P> +We all know that the country is the best place in which to bring up +children; that the freckle-faced boy, with bare feet, who hunts up the +cows after school, and has to keep the woodbox full, and has to +remember to shut the henhouse door, is getting a far better education +than the carefree city boy who has everything done for him. +</P> + +<P> +It is a good thing that boys leave the farm and go to the city—I mean +it is a good thing for the city—but it is hard on the farm. Of late +years this question has become very serious and has caused alarm. +Settlements which, ten or fifteen years ago, had many young people and +a well-filled school and well-attended church, with the real owners +living on the farms, have now become depopulated by farmers retiring to +a nearby town and "renters" taking the place. "Renters" are very often +very poor, and sometimes shiftless—no money to spend on anything but +the real necessities; sometimes even too poor to send their children to +school. +</P> + +<P> +One cause for this is that our whole attitude toward labor is wrong. +We look upon labor as an uncomfortable experience, which, if we endure +with patience, we may hope to outgrow and be able to get away from. We +practically say: "Let us work now, so that by and by we may be able to +live without working!" Many a farmer and his wife have denied +themselves everything for years, comforting themselves with the thought +that when they have enough money they will "retire." They will not +take the time or the money to go to a concert, or a lecture, or a +picnic, but tell themselves that when they retire they will just go to +everything. So just when they have everything in fine shape on the +farm, when the lilacs are beginning to bloom and the raspberry bushes +are bearing, they "retire." Father's rheumatism is bad, and mother +can't get help, so they rent the farm and retire. +</P> + +<P> +The people to whom the farm is rented do not care anything about the +lilac or raspberry bushes—there is no money in them. All they care +about is wheat—they have to pay the rent and they want to make money. +They have the wheat lust, so the lilacs bloom or not as they feel +disposed, and the cattle trample down the raspberry bushes and the gate +falls off the top hinge. Meanwhile the farmer and his wife move into +town and buy a house. They get just a small house, for the wife says +she's tired of working. Every morning at 4.30 o'clock they waken. +They often thought about how nice it would be not to have to get up; +but now, someway it isn't nice. They can't sleep, everything is so +quiet. Not a rooster crowing. Nor a hen cackling! They get up and +look out. All down the street the blinds are drawn. Everybody is +asleep—and it all looks so blamed lazy. +</P> + +<P> +They get up. But there is nothing to do. The woman is not so badly +off—a woman can always tease out linen and sew it up again, and she +can always crochet. Give her a crochet needle, and a spool of +"sil-cotton," and she will keep out of mischief. But the man is not so +easy to account for. He tries hard to get busy. He spades the garden +as if he were looking for diamonds. He cleans the horse until the poor +brute hates the sight of him. He piles his wood so carefully that the +neighbors passing call out and ask him if he "intends to varnish it." +He mends everything that needs it, and is glad when he finds a picket +off the fence. He tries to read the <I>Farmers' Advocate</I>. They brought +in a year's number of them that they had never got time to read on the +farm. Someway, they have lost their charm. It seems so lazy in broad +daylight for a grown man to sit down and read. He takes a walk +downtown, and meets up with some idle men like himself. They sit on +the sidewalk and settle the government and the church and various +things. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, I must be gittin'!" at last he declares; then suddenly he +remembers that he has nothing to do at home—everything is done to a +finish—and a queer, detached feeling comes over him. He is no longer +needed anywhere. +</P> + +<P> +Somebody is asking him to come in for a drink, and he goes! Why +shouldn't he have a drink or anything else that he wants, he asks +himself. He has worked hard. He'll take two. He'll go even further, +he'll treat the crowd. When he finally goes home and sleeps it off, he +finds he has spent $1.05, and he is repentant. +</P> + +<P> +That night a young lady calls, selling tickets for a concert, and his +wife would have bought them, but he says: "Go slow, Minnie, you can't +buy everything. It's awful the way money goes in town. We'll see +about this concert—maybe we'll go, but we won't buy tickets—it might +rain!" +</P> + +<P> +They do not buy the tickets—neither do they go. Minnie does not care +much about going out. She has stayed in too long. But he continues to +sit on the sidewalk, and he hears many things. +</P> + +<P> +Sometimes people have attributed to women the habit of gossiping, but +the idle men, who sit on the sidewalks of the small towns or tilt back +in the yellow round-back chairs on the hotel verandas, can blacken more +characters to the hour than any other class of human beings. He hears +all the putrid stories of the little town; they are turned over and +discussed in all their obnoxious details. At first, he is repelled by +them, for he is a decent fellow, this man who put in the lilacs and the +raspberry bushes back there on the farm. He objects to the remarks +that are passed about the women who go by, and he says so, and he and +one of the other men have "words." +</P> + +<P> +The bartender hears it and comes out and settles it by inviting +everyone in to have "one on the house." +</P> + +<P> +That brings back good-fellowship, and everyone treats. He sees then +that nobody meant any harm—it was all just in fun. A few glasses of +"White Horse" will keep a man from being too sensitive about things. +So he laughs with the others at the indecent joke. This is life—town +life. Now he is out in the world! +</P> + +<P> +So begins the degeneration of a man, and it is all based on the false +attitude we have toward labor. His idea of labor was wrong while he +was on the farm. He worked and did nothing else, until he forgot how +to do everything else. Then he stopped working, and he was lost. +</P> + +<P> +Why any rational human being wants to "retire" to the city, goes beyond +me! I can understand the city man, worn with the noise, choked by the +dust, frazzled with cares, retiring to the country, where he can heal +his tired soul, pottering around his own garden, and watching green +things grow. That seems reasonable and logical! But for a man who has +known the delight of planting and reaping to retire to a city or a +small town, and "hang around," doing nothing, is surely a retrograde +step. +</P> + +<P> +The retired farmer is seldom interested in community matters—they +usually vote against any by-law for improvement. Coal-oil lamps were +good enough on the farm—why should a town have electric light? Why +should a town spend money on cement sidewalks when they already have +good dirt roads? He will not subscribe funds for the support of a +gymnasium, hockey club or public baths. He does not understand about +the need of exercise, he always got too much; and he doesn't see any +reason why the boys should not go to the river and swim. +</P> + +<P> +It is not that the farmer is selfish or mean above or below other men. +It is because he has not learned team play or the community spirit. +But it is coming. The farmer has been an independent fellow, able to +get along without much help from anyone. He could always hire plenty +of men, and there are machines for every need. So far as the farmer +has been concerned, he could get along very well. +</P> + +<P> +It has not been so with the farmer's wife. More than any other woman +she has needed help, and less than any other woman has she got it. She +has been left alone, to live or die, sink or swim. +</P> + +<P> +Machines for helping the man on the farm are on the market in great +numbers, and are bought eagerly, for the farmer reasons out the matter +quite logically, and arrives at the conclusion that anything which will +add to the productiveness of his farm is good buying. He can see the +financial value of a seeder, or a roller, or a feed chopper. Now, with +a washing-machine it is different. A washing-machine can only wash +clothes, and his wife has always been able to get the clothes washed +some way. The farmer does not see any return for his ten dollars and a +half, and so he passes up the machine. Besides this, his mother never +used one, and always managed to keep the clothes clean, too, and that +settles it! +</P> + +<P> +The outside farm work has progressed wonderfully, but the indoor farm +work is done in exactly the same way as it was twenty-five years ago, +with the possible exception of the cream-separator. +</P> + +<P> +Many a farmyard, with its binders, rakes, drills, rollers, gasoline +engine, fanning-mill, and steam-plow looks as if someone had been +giving a machinery shower; but in the kitchen you will find the old +washboard and dasher churn, which belonged to the same era as the +reaping hook and tallow candle. The women still carry the water in a +pail from a pump outside, wash the dishes on the kitchen table, and +carry the water out again in a pail; although out in the barn the water +is pumped by a windmill, or a gasoline engine. The outside work on the +farm is done by horse, steam, or gasoline, but the indoor work is all +done by woman-power. +</P> + +<P> +And then, when the woman-power gives out, as it does many times, under +the strain of hard work and childbearing, the whole neighborhood mourns +and says: "God's ways are past finding out." +</P> + +<P> +I remember once attending the funeral of a woman who had been doing the +work for a family of six children and three hired men, and she had not +even a baby carriage to make her work lighter. When the last baby was +three days old, just in threshing time, she died. Suddenly, and +without warning, the power went off, and she quit without notice. The +bereaved husband was the most astonished man in the world. He had +never known Jane to do a thing like that before, and he could not get +over it. In threshing time, too! +</P> + +<P> +"I don't know what could have happened to Jane—a strong young woman +like her," he said over and over again. +</P> + +<P> +We all gathered at the house that afternoon and paid our respects to +the deceased sister, and we were all very sorry for poor Ed. We said +it was a terrible way for a poor man to be left. +</P> + +<P> +The chickens came close to the dining-room door, and looked in, +inquisitively. They could not understand why she did not come out and +feed them, and when they were driven away they retreated in evident bad +humor, gossiping openly of the shiftless, lazy ways of folks they could +mention, if they wished to name names. +</P> + +<P> +The six little children, whom the neighbor women had dressed in their +best clothes, sat dazed and silent, fascinated by the draped black +coffin; but the baby, the tiny one who had just entered the race, +gathered up the feeling of the meeting, and cried incessantly in a room +upstairs. It was a hard rebellious cry, too, as if the little one +realized that an injustice had been done. +</P> + +<P> +Just above the coffin hung an enlarged picture of "Jane" in her wedding +dress, and it was a bright face that looked out at the world from the +heavy gold frame, a sweet girlish face, which seemed to ask a question +with its eager eyes. And there below, in the black draped coffin, was +the answer—the same face, only a few years older, but tired, so +inexpressibly tired, cold and silent; its light gone out—the power +gone off. Jane had been given her answer. And upstairs Jane's baby +cried its bitter, insistent cry. +</P> + +<P> +Just then the minister began to read the words of the funeral service: +</P> + +<P> +"Inasmuch as it hath <I>pleased</I> the Lord...." +</P> + +<P> +This happened in the fall of the year, and the next spring, just before +the busy time came on, the bereaved husband dried his eyes, painted his +buggy, and went out and married one of the neighbor's daughters, a good +strong one—and so his house is still running on woman-power. +</P> + +<P> +If men had to bear the pain and weariness of child-bearing, in addition +to the unending labors of housework and caring for children, for one +year, at the end of that time there would be a perfect system of +coöperation and labor-saving devices in operation, for men have not the +genius for martyrdom that women have; and they know the value of +coöperative labor. No man tries to do everything the way women do. No +man aspires to making his own clothes, cleaning his own office, +pressing his own suits, or even cleaning his own shoes. All these +things he is quite willing to let people do for him, while he goes +ahead and does his own work. Man's work is systematized well and +leaves a man free to work in his own way. His days are not broken up +by details. +</P> + +<P> +On the other hand the home is the most haphazard institution we have. +Everything is done there. (I am speaking now of the homes in the +country.) In each of the homes there is a little bit of washing done, +a little dressmaking, a little butter-making, a little baking, a little +ironing going on, and it is all by hand-power, which is the most +expensive power known. It is also being done largely by amateurs, and +that adds to the amount of labor expended. Women have worked away at +these endless tasks for generations, lovingly, unselfishly, doing their +level best to do everything, with no thought of themselves at all. +When things get too many for them, and the burdens overpower them, they +die quietly, and some other woman, young, strong and fresh, takes their +place, and the modest white slab in the graveyard says, "Thy will be +done," and everybody is apparently satisfied. The Lord is blamed for +the whole thing. +</P> + +<P> +Now, if men, with their good organizing ability and their love of +comfort and their sense of their own importance, were set down to do +the work that women have done all down the centuries, they would evolve +a scheme something like this in each of the country neighborhoods. +There would be a central station, municipally owned and operated, one +large building fitted out with machinery that would be run by gasoline, +electricity, or natural gas. This building would contain in addition +to the school-rooms, a laundry room, a bake-shop, a creamery, a +dressmaking establishment, and perhaps a butcher shop. +</P> + +<P> +The consolidated school and the "Beef-rings" in the country district +are already established facts, and have opened the way for this larger +scheme of coöperation. In this manner the work would be done by +experts, and in the cheapest way, leaving the women in the farm homes +with time and strength to raise their children. +</P> + +<P> +This plan would solve the problem, too, of young people leaving the +farm. Many of the young people would find occupation in the central +station and become proficient in some branch of the work carried on +there. They would find not only employment, but the companionship of +people of their own age. The central station would become a social +gathering place in the evenings for all the people of the district, and +it is not too visionary to see in it a lecture hall, a moving-picture +machine, and a music room. Then the young people would be kept on the +farms because their homes would be pleasanter places. No woman can +bake, wash, scrub, cook meals and raise children and still be happy. +To do all these things would make an archangel irritable, and no home +can be happy when the poor mother is too tired to smile! The children +feel an atmosphere of gloom, and naturally get away from it as soon as +they can. The overworked mother cannot make the home attractive; the +things that can be left undone are left undone, and so the cushions on +the lounge are dirty and torn, the pictures hang crooked on the walls, +and the hall lamp has had no oil in it for months. That does not +matter, though, for the family live in the kitchen, and, during the +winter, the other part of the house is of the same temperature as a +well. Knowing that she is not keeping her house as it should be kept +has taken the heart out of many a woman on the farm. But what can she +do? The meals have to be cooked; the butter must be made! +</P> + +<P> +There are certain burdens which could be removed from the women on the +farm; there is part of their work that could be done cheaper and better +elsewhere, and the whole farm and all its people would reap the benefit. +</P> + +<P> +But right about here I think I hear from Brother Bones of Bonesville: +</P> + +<P> +"Do you mean to say that we should pay for the washing, ironing, +bread-making, sewing?" he cries out. "We never could afford it, and, +besides, what would the women put in their time at if all that work was +done for them?" +</P> + +<P> +Brother Bones, we can always afford to pay for things in money rather +than in human flesh and blood. That is the most exorbitant price the +race can pay for anything, and we have been paying for farm work that +way for a long time. If you doubt this statement, I can show you the +receipts which have been chiseled in stone and marble in every +graveyard. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent" STYLE="text-align: center"> +SACRED TO THE MEMORY<BR> +OF<BR> +JANE<BR> +<BR> +BELOVED WIFE OF EDWARD JAMES.<BR> +AGED 32 YEARS AND 6 MONTHS.<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Who can estimate the worth of a mother to her family and the community? +</P> + +<P> +An old widower, who was reproved for marrying a very young girl for his +third wife, exonerated himself from blame by saying: "It would ruin any +man to be always buryin', and buryin'." +</P> + +<P> +But Brother Bones is not yet satisfied, and he is sure the women will +have nothing to do if such a scheme would be followed out, and he tells +us that his mother always did these things herself and raised her +family, too. +</P> + +<P> +"I can tell you," says Brother Bones, "my mother knew something about +rearing children; she raised seven and buried seven, and she never lay +in bed for more than three days with any of them. Poor mother, she was +a very smart woman—at least so I have been told—I don't remember her." +</P> + +<P> +That's just the point, Brother Bones. It is a great thing to have the +memory of such a self-sacrificing mother, but it would be a greater +thing to have your mother live out her days; and then, too, we are +thinking of the "seven" she buried. That seems like a wicked and +unnecessary waste of young life, of which we should feel profoundly +ashamed. Poor little people, who came into life, tired and weak, +fretfully complaining, burdened already with the cares of the world and +its unending labor— +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Your old earth, they say, is very weary;<BR> +Our young feet, they say, are very weak,<BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +and when the measles or whooping-cough assails them they have no +strength to battle with it, and so they pass out, and again the Lord is +blamed! +</P> + +<P> +It is very desirable for the world that people should be born and +brought up in the country with its honest, wholesome ways learned in +the open; its habits of meditation, which have grown on the people as +they have gone about their work in the quiet places. Thought currents +in the country are strong and virile, and flow freely. There is an +honesty of purpose in the man who strikes out the long furrow, and +turns over every inch of the sod, painstakingly and without pretense; +for he knows that he cannot cheat nature; he will get back what he puts +in; he will reap what he sows—for Nature has no favorites, and no +short-cuts, nor can she be deceived, fooled, cajoled or flattered. +</P> + +<P> +We need the unaffected honesty and sterling qualities which the country +teaches her children in the hard, but successful, school of experience, +to offset the flashy supercilious lessons which the city teaches hers; +for the city is a careless nurse and teacher, who thinks more of the +cut of a coat than of the habit of mind; who feeds her children on +colored candy and popcorn, despising the more wholesome porridge and +milk; a slatternly nurse, who would rather buy perfume than soap; who +allows her children to powder their necks instead of washing them; who +decks them out in imitation lace collars, and cheap jewelry, with bows +on their hair, but holes in their stockings; who dazzles their eyes +with bright lights and commercial signs, and fills their ears with +blatant music, until their eyes are too dull to see the pastel beauty +of common things, and their ears are holden to the still small voices +of God; who lures her children on with many glittering promises of ease +and wealth, which she never intends to keep, and all the time whispers +to them that this is life. +</P> + +<P> +The good old country nurse is stern but kind, and gives her children +hard lessons, which tax body and brain, but never fail to bring a great +reward. She sends them on long journeys, facing the piercing winter +winds, but rewards them when the journey is over with rosy cheeks and +contented mind, and an appetite that is worth going miles to see; and +although she makes her children work long hours, until their muscles +ache, she gives them, for reward, sweet sleep and pleasant dreams; and +sometimes there are the sweet surprises along life's highway; the +sudden song of birds or burst of sunshine; the glory of the sunrise, +and sunset, and the flash of bluebirds' wings across the road, and the +smell of the good green earth. +</P> + +<P> +Happy is the child who learns earth's wisdom from the good old country +nurse, who does better than she promises, and always "makes her +children mind"! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE WAR AGAINST GLOOM +</H4> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Not for all sunshine, dear Lord, do we pray—<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">We know such a prayer would be vain;</SPAN><BR> +But that strength may be ours to keep right on our way,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Never minding the rain!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It is a great thing to be young, when every vein throbs with energy and +life, when the rhythm of life beats its measures into our hearts and +calls upon us to keep step with Joy and Gladness, as we march +confidently down the white road which leads to the Land of our Desire. +God made every young thing to be happy. He put joy and harmony into +every little creature's heart. Who ever saw a kitten with a grouch? +Or a little puppy who was a pessimist? But you have seen sad children +a-plenty, and we are not blaming the Almighty for that either. God's +plans have been all right, but they have been badly interfered with by +human beings. +</P> + +<P> +When a young colt gallops around the corral, kicking and capering and +making a good bit of a nuisance of himself, the old horses watch him +sympathetically, and very tolerantly. They never say; "It is well for +you that you can be so happy—you'll have your troubles soon enough. +Childhood is your happiest time—you do well to enjoy it, for there's +plenty of trouble ahead of you!" +</P> + +<P> +Horses never talk this way. This is a distinctively human way of +depressing the young. People do it from a morbid sense of duty. They +feel that mirth and laughter are foreign to our nature, and should be +curbed as something almost wicked. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a fine day, today!" we admit grudgingly, "but, look out! We'll +pay up for it!" +</P> + +<P> +"I have been very well all winter, but I must not boast. Touch wood!" +</P> + +<P> +The inference here is that when we are healthy or happy or enjoying a +fine day, we are in an abnormal condition. We are getting away with a +bit of happiness that is not intended for us. God is not noticing, and +we had better go slow and keep dark about it, or He will waken up with +a start, and send us back to our aches and pains and our dull leaden +skies! Thus have we sought to sow the seeds of despondency and +unbelief in the world around us. +</P> + +<P> +In the South African War, there was a man who sowed the seeds of +despondency among the British soldiers; he simply talked defeat and +disaster, and so greatly did he damage the morale of the troops that an +investigation had to be made, and as a result the man was sent to jail +for a year. People have been a long time learning that thoughts are +things to heal, upbuild, strengthen; or to wound, impair, or blight. +After all we cannot do very much for many people, no matter how hard we +try, but we can contribute to their usefulness and happiness by holding +for them a kind thought if we will. +</P> + +<P> +There are people who depress you so utterly that if you had to remain +under their influence they would rob you of all your ambition and +initiative, while others inspire you to do better, to achieve, to +launch out. Life is made up of currents of thought as real as are the +currents of air, and if we could but see them, there are currents of +thought we would avoid as we would smallpox germs. +</P> + +<P> +Sadness is not our normal mental condition, nor is weakness our normal +physical condition. God intended us to laugh and play and work, come +to our beds at night weary and ready to sleep—and wake refreshed. +</P> + +<P> +"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he!" No truer words were ever +spoken, and yet men try to define themselves by houses and lands and +manners and social position, but all to no avail. The old rule holds. +It is your thought which determines what manner of man you are. The +respectable man who keeps within the law and does no outward harm, but +who thinks sordidly, meanly, or impurely, is the man of all others who +is farthest from the kingdom of God, because he does not feel his need, +nor can anyone help him. Thoughts are harder to change than ways. +</P> + +<P> +"Let the wicked man forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his +thoughts," declared Isaiah long ago, and there is no doubt the +unrighteous man has the hardest and biggest proposition put up to him. +</P> + +<P> +When the power of thought is understood, there will be a change in our +newspapers. Now the tendency is to ignore the good in life and +underline the evil in red ink. If a man commits a theft, it will make +a newspaper story, bought and paid for at regular rates. If it is a +very big steal, you may wire it in and get telegraphic rates. If the +thief shoots a man, too, send along his picture and you may make the +story two columns. If he shoots two or three people, you may give him +the whole front page, and somebody will write a book about him. It +will sell, too. How much more wholesome would our newspapers be, if +they published the good deeds of men and women rather than their +misdoings. Why should not as much space be given to the man who saves +a life, as is given to the man who takes a life? Why not let us hear +more of the boy who went right, rather than of the one who went wrong? +I remember once reading an obscure little paragraph about a man who +every year a few days before Christmas sent twenty-five dollars to the +Postal Department at Ottawa, to pay the deficit on Christmas parcels +which were held up for insufficient postage. Such a thoughtful act of +Christian charity should have been given a place on the front page, for +in the words of Jennie Allen: "Life ain't any too full of nice little +surprises like that." Why should people enjoy the contemplation of +evil rather than good? Is it because it makes their own little +contribution of respectability seem larger by comparison? +</P> + +<P> +We have missed a great deal of the joy of life by taking ourselves too +seriously. We exaggerate our own importance, and so if the honor or +distinction or the vote of thanks does not come our way, we are hurt! +Then, too, we live in an atmosphere of dread and fear—we fear poverty +and hard work—we fear the newspapers and the neighbors, and fear is +hell! +</P> + +<P> +When you begin to feel all fussed up, worried, and cross, frayed at the +edges, and down at the heel—go out and look up at the stars. They are +so serene, detached, and uncaring! Calmly shining down upon us they +rebuke the fussiness of our little souls, and tell us to cheer up, for +our little affairs do not much matter anyway. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +The earthly hope men set their hearts upon<BR> +Turns ashes, or it prospers—and anon<BR> +Like snow upon the desert's arid face,<BR> +Cooling a little hour or two—is gone!<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It is a great mistake for us to mistake ourselves for the President of +the company. Let us do our little bit with cheerfulness and not take +the responsibility that belongs to God. None of us can turn the earth +around; all we can ever hope to do is to hit it a few whacks on the +right side. We belong to a great system; a system which can convince +even the dullest of us of its greatness. Think of the miracle of night +and day enacted before our eyes every twenty-four hours. Right on the +dot comes the sun up over the saucer-like rim of the earth, never a +minute late. Think of the journey the earth makes around the sun every +year—a matter of 360,000,000 miles more or less—and it makes the +journey in an exact time and arrives on the stroke of the clock, no +washout on the line; no hot box; no spread rail; no taking on of coal +or water; no employees' strike. It never drops a stick; it never slips +a cog; and whirls in through space always on the minute. And that +without any help from either you or me! Some system, isn't it? +</P> + +<P> +I believe we may safely trust God even with our affairs. When the war +broke out we all experienced a bad attack of gloom. We were afraid God +had forgotten us and gone off the job. And yet, even now, we begin to +see light through the dark clouds of sorrow and confusion. If the war +brings about the abolition of the liquor traffic, it will be justified. +Incidentally the war has already brought many by-products which are +wholly good, and it would almost seem as if there is a plan in it after +all. +</P> + +<P> +Life is a great struggle against gloom, and we could fight it better if +we always remembered that happiness is a condition of heart and is not +dependent on outward conditions. The kingdom of heaven is within you. +Everything depends on the point of view. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Two prisoners looked out once through the bars,<BR> +One saw the mud, the other saw the stars.<BR> +</P> +<BR> + +<P> +Looking into the sky one sees the dark clouds and foretells rain, and +the picnic spoiled; another sees the rift of blue and foretells fine +weather. Looking out on life, one sees only its sad grayness; another +sees the thread of gold, "which sometimes in the patterns shows most +sweet where there are somber colors"! Happiness is a condition, and if +you are not happy now, you had better be alarmed about yourself, for +you may never be. +</P> + +<P> +There was a woman who came with her family to the prairie country +thirty-five years ago. They built a house, which in those days of sod +roofs and Red-River frames seemed quite palatial, for had it not a +"parlor" and a pantry and three bedrooms? The lady grieved and mourned +incessantly because it had no back-stairs. In ten years they built +another house, and it had everything, back-stairs, dumb-waiter, and +laundry shoot, and all the neighbors wondered if the lady would be +happy then. She wasn't. She wanted to live in the city. She had the +good house now and that part of her discontent was closed down, so it +broke out in another place. She hated the country. By diligently +keeping at it, she induced her husband to go to the city where the poor +man was about as much at home as a sailor at a dry-farming congress. +He made no complaint, however. The complaint department was always +busy! She suddenly discovered that a Western city was not what she +wanted. It was "down East." So they went. They bought a beautiful +home in the orchard country in Ontario, and her old neighbors watched +development. Surely she had found peace at last—but she hadn't. She +did not like the people—she missed the friendliness of the new +country; also she objected to the winters, and her dining-room was +dark, and the linen closet was small. Soon after moving to Ontario she +died, and we presume went to heaven. It does not matter where she +went—she won't like it, anyway. She had the habit of discontent. +</P> + +<P> +There's no use looking ahead for happiness—look around! If it is +anywhere, it is here. +</P> + +<P> +"I am going out to bring in some apples to eat," said a farmer to his +wife. +</P> + +<P> +"Mind you bring in the spotted ones," said she who had a frugal mind. +</P> + +<P> +"What'll I do if there are no spotted ones?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't bring any—just wait until they do spot!" +</P> + +<P> +Too many people do not eat their apples until they are spotted. +</P> + +<P> +But we know that life has its tragedies, its heartaches, its gloom, in +spite of all our philosophy. We may as well admit it. We have no +reason to believe that we shall escape, but we have reason to hope that +when these things come to us we will be able to bear them. +</P> + +<P> +"Thou shalt not be <I>afraid</I> of the terror by day, nor of the arrow that +flieth by night, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor +for the destruction that wasteth at noonday." +</P> + +<P> +You will notice here that the promise is that you will not be afraid of +these things. They may come to you, but they will not overpower you, +or destroy you utterly, for you will not be afraid of them. It is fear +that kills. It is better to have misfortunes come, and be brave to +meet them, than to be afraid of them all your life, even if they never +come. +</P> + +<P> +Gloom and doubt and fear paralyze the soul and sow it thick with the +seeds of defeat. No man is a failure until he admits it himself. +</P> + +<P> +Tramps have a way of marking gateposts so that their companions who may +come along afterwards may know exactly what sort of people live inside, +and whether it is worth while to ask them for a meal. A certain sign +means "Easy people—no questions"; another sign means "Nothing +stirring—don't go in"; another means "Beat it or they'll give you a +job with lots of advice!" and still another means "Dog." Every doubt +and fear that enters your heart, or tries to enter, leaves its mark +upon the gatepost of your soul, and it serves as a guide for every +other doubt and fear which may come along, and if they once mark you +"Easy," that signal will act as an invitation for their twin brother +"Defeat," who will, without warning, slip into your heart and make +himself at home. +</P> + +<P> +Doubts and fears are disloyalty to God—they are expressions of a want +of confidence in Him, but, of course, that's what is wrong with our +religion. We have not got enough of it. Too many of us have just +enough religion to make ourselves miserable—just enough to spoil our +taste for worldly pleasures and not enough to give us a taste for the +real things of life. There are many good qualities which are only an +aggravation if we have not enough of them. "Every good and perfect +gift cometh from above." You see it is not enough for the gift to be +"good"—it must be "perfect," and that means abundant. Too long we +have thought of religion as something in the nature of straight life +insurance—we would have to die to get the good of it. But it isn't. +The good of it is here, and now we can "lift" it every day if we will. +No person can claim wages for half time; that's where so much +dissatisfaction has come in, and people have found fault with the +company. People have taken up the service of God as a polite little +side-line and worked at it when they felt like it—Sunday afternoons +perhaps or rainy days, when there was nothing else going on; and then +when no reward came—no peace of soul—they were disposed to grumble. +They were like plenty of policy-holders and did not read the contract, +or perhaps some agent had in the excess of his zeal made it too easy +for them. The reward comes only when you put your whole strength on +all the time. Out in the Middle West they have a way of making the +cattle pump their own water by a sort of platform, which the weight of +an animal will press down, and the water is forced up into a trough. +Sometimes a blasé old ox who sees the younger and lighter steers doing +this, feels that he with his superior experience and weight will only +have to put one foot on to bring up the water, but he finds that one +foot won't do, or even two. He has to get right on, and give to it his +full weight. It takes the whole ox, horns, hoofs and tail. That's the +way it is in religion—by which we mean the service of God and man. It +takes you—all the time; and the reward is work, and peace, and a +satisfaction in your work that passeth all understanding. No more +grinding fear, no more "bad days," no more wishing to die, no more +nervous prostration. Just work and peace! +</P> + +<P> +Did you ever have to keep house when your mother went away, when you +did not know very well how to do things, and every meal sat like a +weight on your young heart, and the fear was ever present with you that +the bread would go sour or the house burn down, or burglars would come, +or someone would take sick? The days were like years as they slowly +crawled around the face of the old clock on the kitchen shelf, and even +at night you could not forget the awful burden of responsibility. +</P> + +<P> +But one day, one glorious day she came home, and the very minute you +heard her step on the floor, the burden was lifted. Your work was very +much the same, but the responsibility was gone, and cheerfulness came +back to your eyes, and smiles to your face. +</P> + +<P> +That is what it feels like when you "get religion." The worry and +burden of life is gone. Somebody else has the responsibility and you +work with a light heart. It is the responsibility of life that kills +us, the worry, fear, uncertainty, and anxiety. How we envy the man who +works by the day, just does his little bit, and has no care! This +immunity from care may be ours if we link ourselves with God. +</P> + +<P> +Think of Moses' mother! There she was hired to take care of her own +son. Doing the very thing she loved to do all week and getting her pay +envelope every Saturday night. So may we. God hires us to do our work +for Him, and pays us as we go along—the only stipulation being that we +do our best. +</P> + +<P> +"I have shown thee, O man, what is good!" declared Micah long ago. +"What doth now the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love +mercy and walk humbly with thy God!" In "walking humbly, doing justly, +and loving mercy," there is no place for worry and gloom; there is +great possibility of love and much serving, and God in His goodness +breaks up our reward into a thousand little things which attend us +every step of the way, just as the white ray of light by the drop of +water is broken into the dazzling beauty of the rainbow. The burning +bush which Moses saw is not the only bush which flames with God, and +seeks to show to us a sign. Nature spares no pains to make things +beautiful; trees have serrated leaves; birds and flowers have color; +the butterflies' wings are splashed with gold; moss grows over the +fallen tree, and grass covers the scar on the landscape. Nature hides +her wounds in beauty. Nature spares no pains to make things beautiful, +for beauty is nourishing. Beauty is thrift, ugliness is waste, +ugliness is sin which scatters, destroys, integrates. But beauty +heals, nourishes, sustains. There is a reason for sending flowers to +the sick. +</P> + +<P> +Nature has no place for sadness and repining. The last leaf on the +tree dances in the breezes as merrily as when it had all its lovely +companions by its side, and when its hold is loosened on the branch +which bares it, it joins its brothers on the ground without regret. +When the seed falls into the ground and dies, it does it without a +murmur, for it knows that it will rise again in new beauty. Happy +indeed is the traveler on life's highway, who will read the messages +God sends us every day, for they are many and their meaning is clear: +the sudden flood of warm sunshine in your room on a dark and dreary +afternoon; the billowy softness of the smoke plume which rises into the +frosty air, and is touched into exquisite rose and gold by the morning +sun; the frosted leaves which turn to crimson and gold—God's silent +witnesses that sorrow, disappointment and loss may bring out the deeper +beauties of the soul; the flash of a bluebird's wing as he rides gaily +down the wind into the sunlit valley. All these are messages to you +and me that all is well—letters from home, good comrade, letters from +home! +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +God knew that some would never look<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">Inside a book</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">To know His will,</SPAN><BR> +And so He threw a varied hue<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">On dale and hill.</SPAN><BR> +He knew that some would read words wrong,<BR> +And so He gave the birds their song.<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">He put the gold in the sunset sky</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">To show us that a day may die</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">With greater glory than it's born,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">And so may we</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">Move calmly forward to our West,</SPAN><BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 4em">Serene and blest!</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's In Times Like These, by Nellie L. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: In Times Like These + +Author: Nellie L. McClung + +Release Date: November 24, 2009 [EBook #29861] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN TIMES LIKE THESE *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + +IN TIMES + +LIKE THESE + + +BY + +NELLIE L. McCLUNG + + + Author of "Sowing Seeds In Danny," "The Second Chance," + and "The Black Creek Stopping-house." + + + + + +TORONTO + +McLEOD & ALLEN + +1915 + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1915, + +BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + + +Printed in the United States of America + + + + +_DEDICATION_ + +I + +TO THE SUPERIOR PERSONS + +Who would not come to hear a woman speak being firmly convinced that it +is not "natural." + +Who takes the rather unassailable ground that "men are men and women +are women." + +Who answers all arguments by saying, "Woman's place is the home" and, +"The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world," and even sometimes +flashes out with the brilliant retort, "It would suit those women +better to stay at home and darn their children's stockings." + +To all these Superior Persons, men and women, who are inhospitable to +new ideas, and even suspicious of them, this book is respectfully +dedicated by + +THE AUTHOR. + + +Upon further deliberation I am beset with the fear that the above +dedication may not "take." The Superior Person may not appreciate the +kind and neighborly spirit I have tried to show. So I will dedicate +this book again. + + + + +_DEDICATION_ + +II + +Believing that the woman's claim to a common humanity is not an +unreasonable one, and that the successful issue of such claim rests +primarily upon the sense of fair play which people have or have not +according to how they were born, and + +Believing that the man or woman born with a sense of fair play, no +matter how obscured it has become by training, prejudice, or unhappy +experience, will ultimately see the light and do the square thing and-- + +Believing that the man or woman who has not been so endowed by nature, +no matter what advantages of education or association, will always +suffer from the affliction known as mental strabismus, over which no +feeble human ward has any power, and which can only be cast out by the +transforming power of God's grace. + +Therefore to men and women everywhere who love a fair deal, and are +willing to give it to everyone, even women, this book is respectfully +dedicated by the author. + +NELLIE L. McCLUNG. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + + I. THE WAR THAT NEVER ENDS + II. THE WAR THAT ENDS IN EXHAUSTION SOMETIMES MISTAKEN FOR PEACE + III. WHAT DO WOMEN THINK OF WAR? (NOT THAT IT MATTERS) + IV. SHOULD WOMEN THINK? + V. THE NEW CHIVALRY + VI. HARDY PERENNIALS! + VII. GENTLE LADY + VIII. WOMEN AND THE CHURCH + IX. THE SORE THOUGHT + X. THE LAND OF THE FAIR DEAL + XI. AS A MAN THINKETH + XII. THE WAR AGAINST GLOOM + + + + +IN TIMES LIKE THESE + + +CHAPTER I + +THE WAR THAT NEVER ENDS + + If, at last the sword is sheathed, + And men, exhausted, call it peace, + Old Nature wears no olive wreath, + The weapons change--war does not cease. + + The little struggling blades of grass + That lift their heads and will not die, + The vines that climb where sunbeams pass, + And fight their way toward the sky! + + And every soul that God has made, + Who from despair their lives defend + And struggling upward through the shade, + Break every bond that will not bend, + These are the soldiers, unafraid + In the great war that has no end. + + +We will begin peaceably by contemplating the world of nature, trees and +plants and flowers, common green things against which there is no +law--for surely there is no corruption in carrots, no tricks in +turnips, no mixed motive in marigolds. + +To look abroad upon a peaceful field drowsing in the sunshine, lazily +touched by a wandering breeze, no one would suspect that any struggle +was going on in the tiny hearts of the flowers and grasses. The lilies +of the field have long ago been said to toil not, neither spin, and the +inference has been that they in common with all other flowers and +plants lead a "lady's life," untroubled by any thought of ambition or +activity. The whole world of nature seems to present a perfect picture +of obedience and peaceful meditation. + +But for all their quiet innocent ways, every plant has one ambition and +will attain it by any means. Plants have one ambition, and therein +they have the advantage of us, who sometimes have too many, and +sometimes none at all! Their ambition is to grow--to spread--to +travel--to get away from home. Home is their enemy, for if a plant +falls at its mother's knee it is doomed to death, or a miserable +stunted life. + +Every seed has its own little plan of escape. Some of them are pitiful +enough and stamped with failure, like the tiny screw of the Lucerne, +which might be of some use if the seed were started on its flight from +a considerable elevation, but as it is, it has hardly turned over +before it hits the ground. But the next seed tries the same +plan--always hoping for a happier result. With better success, the +maple seed uses its little spreading wings to conquer space, and if the +wind does its part the plan succeeds, and that the wind generally can +be depended upon to blow is shown by the wide dissemination of maple +trees. + +More subtle still are the little tricks that seeds have of getting +animals and people to give them a lift on their way. Many a bird has +picked a bright red berry from a bush, with a feeling of gratitude, no +doubt, that his temporal needs are thus graciously supplied. He +swallows the sweet husk, and incidentally the seed, paying no attention +to the latter, and flies on his way. The seed remains unchanged and +undigested, and is thus carried far from home, and gets its chance. +So, too, many seeds are provided with burrs and spikes, which stick in +sheep's wool, dog's hair, or the clothing of people, and so travel +abroad, to the far country--the land of growth, the land of promise. + +There is something pathetically human in the struggle plants make to +reach the light; tiny rootlets have been known to pierce rocks in their +stern determination to reach the light that their soul craves. They +refuse to be resigned to darkness and despair! Who has not marveled at +the intelligence shown by the canary vine, the wild cucumber plant, or +the morning glory, in the way their tendrils reach out and find the +rusty nail or sliver on the fence--anything on which they can rise into +the higher air; even as you and I reach out the trembling tendrils of +our souls for something solid to rest upon? + +There is no resignation in Nature, no quiet folding of the hands, no +hypocritical saying, "Thy will be done!" and giving in without a +struggle. Countless millions of seeds and plants are doomed each year +to death and failure, but all honor to them--they put up a fight to the +very end! Resignation is a cheap and indolent human virtue, which has +served as an excuse for much spiritual slothfulness. It is still +highly revered and commended. It is so much easier sometimes to sit +down and be resigned than to rise up and be indignant. + +Years ago people broke every law of sanitation and when plagues came +they were resigned and piously looked heavenward, and blamed God for +the whole thing. "Thy will be done," they said, and now we know it was +not God's will at all. It is never God's will that any should perish! +People were resigned when they should have been cleaning up! "Thy will +be done!" should ever be the prayer of our hearts, but it does not let +us out of any responsibility. It is not a weak acceptance of +misfortune, or sickness, or injustice or wrong, for these things are +not God's will. + +"Thy will be done" is a call to fight--to fight for better conditions, +for moral and physical health, for sweeter manners, cleaner laws, for a +fair chance for everyone, even women! + +The man or woman who tries to serve their generation need not cry out +as did the hymn writer of the last century against the danger of being +carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, for we know that flowery +beds of ease have never been a mode of locomotion to the skies. +Flowery beds of ease lead in an entirely opposite direction, which has +had the effect of discouraging celestial emigration, for humanity is +very partial to the easy way of traveling. People like not only to +travel the easy way, but to think along the beaten path, which is so +safe and comfortable, where the thoughts have been worked over so often +that the very words are ready made, and come easily. There is a good +deal of the cat in the human family. We like comfort and ease--a warm +cushion by a cosy fire, and then sweet sleep--and don't disturb me! +Disturbers are never popular--nobody ever really loved an alarm clock +in action--no matter how grateful they may have been afterwards for its +kind services! + +It was the people who did not like to be disturbed who crucified +Christ--the worst fault they had to find with Him was that He annoyed +them--He rebuked the carnal mind--He aroused the cat-spirit, and so +they crucified Him--and went back to sleep. Even yet new ideas blow +across some souls like a cold draught, and they naturally get up and +shut the door! They have even been known to slam it! + +The sin of the world has ever been indifference and slothfulness, more +than real active wickedness. Life, the real abundant life of one who +has a vision of what a human soul may aspire to be, becomes a great +struggle against conditions. Life is warfare--not one set of human +beings warring upon other human beings--that is murder, no matter by +what euphonious name it may be called; but war waged against ignorance, +selfishness, darkness, prejudice and cruelty, beginning always with the +roots of evil which we find in our own hearts. What a glorious thing +it would be if nations would organize and train for this warfare, whose +end is life, and peace, and joy everlasting, as they now train and +organize for the wholesale murder and burning and pillaging whose mark +of victory is the blackened trail of smoking piles of ruins, dead and +maimed human beings, interrupted trade and paralyzed industries! + +Once a man paid for his passage across the ocean in one of the great +Atlantic liners. He brought his provisions with him to save expenses, +but as the days went on he grew tired of cheese, and his biscuits began +to taste mousy, and the savory odors of the kitchen and dining-room +were more than he could resist. There was only one day more, but he +grew so ravenously hungry, he felt he must have one good meal, if it +took his last cent. He made his way to the dining-room, and asked the +man at the desk the price of a meal. In answer to his inquiry the man +asked to see his ticket. "It will not cost you anything," he said. +"Your ticket includes meals." + +That's the way it is in life--we have been traveling below our +privileges. There is enough for everyone, if we could get at it. +There is food and raiment, a chance to live, and love and labor--for +everyone; these things are included in our ticket, only some of us have +not known it, and some others have reached out and taken more than +their share, and try to excuse their "hoggishness" by declaring that +God did not intend all to travel on the same terms, but you and I know +God better than that. + +To bring this about--the even chance for everyone--is the plain and +simple meaning of life. This is the War that never ends. It has been +waged all down the centuries by brave men and women whose hearts God +has touched. It is a quiet war with no blare of trumpets to keep the +soldiers on the job, no flourish of flags or clinking of swords to +stimulate flagging courage. It may not be as romantic a warfare, from +the standpoint of our medieval ideas of romance, as the old way of +sharpening up a battle axe, and spreading our enemy to the evening +breeze, but the reward of victory is not seeing our brother man dead at +our feet; but rather seeing him alive and well, working by our side. + +To this end let us declare war on all meanness, snobbishness, petty or +great jealousies, all forms of injustice, all forms of special +privilege, all selfishness and all greed. Let us drop bombs on our +prejudices! Let us send submarines to blow up all our poor little +petty vanities, subterfuges and conceits, with which we have endeavored +to veil the face of Truth. Let us make a frontal attack on ignorance, +laziness, doubt, despondence, despair, and unbelief! + +The banner over us is "Love," and our watchword "A Fair Deal." + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE WAR THAT ENDS IN EXHAUSTION SOMETIMES MISTAKEN FOR PEACE + + When a skirl of pipes came down the street, + And the blare of bands, and the march of feet, + I could not keep from marching, too; + For the pipes cried "Come!" and the bands said "Do," + And when I heard the pealing fife, + I cared no more for human life! + + +Away back in the cave-dwelling days, there was a simple and definite +distribution of labor. Men fought and women worked. Men fought +because they liked it; and women worked because it had to be done. Of +course the fighting had to be done too, there was always a warring +tribe out looking for trouble, while their womenfolk stayed at home and +worked. They were never threatened with a long peace. Somebody was +always willing to go "It." The young bloods could always be sure of +good fighting somewhere, and no questions asked. The masculine +attitude toward life was: "I feel good today; I'll go out and kill +something." Tribes fought for their existence, and so the work of the +warrior was held to be the most glorious of all; indeed, it was the +only work that counted. The woman's part consisted of tilling the +soil, gathering the food, tanning the skins and fashioning garments, +brewing the herbs, raising the children, dressing the warrior's wounds, +looking after the herds, and any other light and airy trifle which +might come to her notice. But all this was in the background. Plain +useful work has always been considered dull and drab. + +Everything depended on the warrior. When "the boys" came home there +was much festivity, music, and feasting, and tales of the chase and +fight. The women provided the feast and washed the dishes. The +soldier has always been the hero of our civilization, and yet almost +any man makes a good soldier. Nearly every man makes a good soldier, +but not every man, or nearly every man makes a good citizen: the tests +of war are not so searching as the tests of peace, but still the +soldier is the hero. + +Very early in the lives of our children we begin to inculcate the love +of battle and sieges and invasions, for we put the miniature weapons of +warfare into their little hands. We buy them boxes of tin soldiers at +Christmas, and help them to build forts and blow them up. We have +military training in our schools; and little fellows are taught to +shoot at targets, seeing in each an imaginary foe, who must be +destroyed because he is "not on our side." There is a song which runs +like this: + + If a lad a maid would marry + He must learn a gun to carry. + +thereby putting love and love-making on a military basis--but it goes! +Military music is in our ears, and even in our churches. "Onward +Christian soldiers, marching as to war" is a Sunday-school favorite. +We pray to the God of Battles, never by any chance to the God of +Workshops! + +Once a year, of course, we hold a Peace Sunday and on that day we pray +mightily that God will give us peace in our time and that war shall be +no more, and the spear shall be beaten into the pruning hook. But the +next day we show God that he need not take us too literally, for we go +on with the military training, and the building of the battleships, and +our orators say that in time of peace we must prepare for war. + +War is the antithesis of all our teaching. It breaks all the +commandments; it makes rich men poor, and strong men weak. It makes +well men sick, and by it living men are changed to dead men. Why, +then, does war continue? Why do men go so easily to war--for we may as +well admit that they do go easily? There is one explanation. They +like it! + +When the first contingent of soldiers went to the war from Manitoba, +there stood on the station platform a woman crying bitterly. (She was +not the only one.) She had in her arms an infant, and three small +children stood beside her wondering. + +"'E would go!" she sobbed in reply to the sympathy expressed by the +people who stood near her, "'E loves a fight--'e went through the South +African War, and 'e's never been 'appy since--when 'e 'ears war is on +he says I'll go--'e loves it--'e does!" + +'"E loves it!" + +That explains many things. + +"Father sent me out," said a little Irish girl, "to see if there's a +fight going on any place, because if there is, please, father would +like to be in it!" Unfortunately "father's" predilection to fight is +not wholly confined to the Irish! + +But although men like to fight, war is not inevitable. War is not of +God's making. War is a crime committed by men and, therefore, when +enough people say it shall not be, it cannot be. This will not happen +until women are allowed to say what they think of war. Up to the +present time women have had nothing to say about war, except pay the +price of war--this privilege has been theirs always. + +History, romance, legend and tradition having been written by men, have +shown the masculine aspect of war and have surrounded it with a false +glory and have sought to throw the veil of glamour over its hideous +face. Our histories have followed the wars. Invasions, conquests, +battles, sieges make up the subject-matter of our histories. + +Some glorious soul, looking out upon his neighbors, saw some country +that he thought he could use and so he levied a heavy tax on the +people, and with the money fitted out a splendid army. Men were called +from their honest work to go out and fight other honest men who had +never done them any harm; harvest fields were trampled by their horses' +feet, villages burned, women and children fled in terror, and perished +of starvation, streets ran blood and the Glorious Soul came home +victorious with captives chained to his chariot wheel. When he drove +through the streets of his own home town, all the people cheered, that +is, all who had not been killed, of course. + +What the people thought of all this, the historians do not say. The +people were not asked or expected to think. Thinking was the most +unpopular thing they could do. There were dark damp dungeons where +hungry rats prowled ceaselessly; there were headsmen's axes and other +things prepared for people who were disposed to think and specially +designed to allay restlessness among the people. + +The "people" were dealt with in one short paragraph at the end of the +chapter: "The People were very poor" (you wouldn't think they would +need to say that, and certainly there was no need to rub it in), and +they "ate black bread," and they were "very ignorant and +superstitious." Superstitious? Well, I should say they would +be--small wonder if they did see black cats and have rabbits cross +their paths, and hear death warnings, for there was always going to be +a death in the family, and they were always about to lose money! The +People were a great abstraction, infinite in number, inarticulate in +suffering--the people who fought and paid for their own killing. The +man who could get the people to do this on the largest scale was the +greatest hero of all and the historian told us much about him, his +dogs, his horses, the magnificence of his attire. + +Some day, please God, there will be new histories written, and they +will tell the story of the years from the standpoint of the people, and +the hero will not be any red-handed assassin who goes through peaceful +country places leaving behind him dead men looking sightlessly up to +the sky. The hero will be the man or woman who knows and loves and +serves. In the new histories we will be shown the tragedy, the +heartbreaking tragedy of war, which like some dreadful curse has +followed the human family, beaten down their plans, their hopes, wasted +their savings, destroyed their homes, and in every way turned back the +clock of progress. + +We have all wondered what would happen if the people some day decided +that they would no longer be the tools of the man higher up, what would +happen if the men who make the quarrel had to fight it out. How +glorious it would have been if this war could have been settled by +somebody taking the Kaiser out behind the barn! There would seem to be +some show of justice in a hand-to-hand encounter, where the best man +wins, but modern warfare has not even the faintest glimmering of fair +play. The exploding shell blows to pieces the strong, the brave, the +daring, just as readily as it does the cowardly, weak, or base. + +War proves nothing. To kill a man does not prove that he was in the +wrong. Bloodletting cannot change men's spirits, neither can the evil +of men's thoughts be driven out by blows. If I go to my neighbor's +house, and break her furniture, and smash her pictures, and bind her +children captive, it does not prove that I am fitter to live than +she--yet according to the ethics of nations it does. I have conquered +her and she must pay me for my trouble; and her house and all that is +left in it belongs to my heirs and successors forever. That is war! + +War twists our whole moral fabric. The object of all our teaching has +been to inculcate respect for the individual, respect for human life, +honor and purity. War sweeps that all aside. The human conscience in +these long years of peace, and its resultant opportunities for +education, has grown tender to the cry of agony--the pallid face of a +hungry child finds a quick response to its mute appeal; but when we +know that hundreds are rendered homeless every day, and countless +thousands are killed and wounded, men and boys mowed down like a field +of grain, and with as little compunction, we grow a little bit numb to +human misery. What does it matter if there is a family north of the +track living on soda biscuits and turnips? War hardens us to human +grief and misery. + +War takes the fit and leaves the unfit. The epileptic, the +consumptive, the inebriate, are left behind. They are not good enough +to go out to fight. So they stay at home, and perpetuate the race! +Statistics prove that the war is costing fifty millions a day, which is +a prodigious sum, but we would be getting off easy if that were all it +costs. The bitterest cost of war is not paid by us at all. It will be +paid by the unborn generations, in a lowered vitality, the loss of a +strong fatherhood, which they have never known. Napoleon lowered the +stature of the French by two inches, it is said. That is one way to +set your mark on your generation. + +But the greatest evil wrought by war is not the wanton destruction of +life and property, sinful though it is; it is not even the lowered +vitality of succeeding generations, though that is attended by +appalling injury to the moral nature--the real iniquity of war is that +it sets aside the arbitrament of right and justice, and looks to brute +force for its verdict! + +In the first days of panic, pessimism broke out among us, and we cried +in our despair that our civilization had failed, that Christianity had +broken down, and that God had forgotten the world. It seemed like it +at first. But now a wiser and better vision has come to us, and we +know that Christianity has not failed, for it is not fair to impute +failure to something which has never been tried. Civilization has +failed. Art, music, and culture have failed, and we know now that +underneath the thin veneer of civilization, unregenerate man is still a +savage; and we see now, what some have never seen before, that unless a +civilization is built upon love, and mutual trust, it must always end +in disaster, such as this. Up to August fourth, we often said that war +was impossible between Christian nations. We still say so, but we know +more now than we did then. We know now that there are no Christian +nations. + +Oh, yes. I know the story. It was a beautiful story and a beautiful +picture. The black prince of Abyssinia asked the young Queen of +England what was the secret of England's glory and she pointed to the +"open Bible." + +The dear Queen of sainted memory was wrong. She judged her nation by +the standard of her own pure heart. England did not draw her policy +from the open Bible when in 1840 she forced the opium traffic on the +Chinese. England does not draw her policy from the open Bible when she +takes revenues from the liquor traffic, which works such irreparable +ruin to countless thousands of her people. England does not draw her +policy from the open Bible when she denies her women the rights of +citizens, when women are refused degrees after passing examinations, +when lower pay is given women for the same work than if it were done by +men. Would this be tolerated if it were really so that we were a +Christian nation? God abominates a false balance, and delights in a +just weight. + +No, the principles of Christ have not yet been applied to nations. We +have only Christian people. You will see that in a second, if you look +at the disparity that there is between our conceptions of individual +duty and national duty. Take the case of the heathen--the people whom +we in our large-handed, superior way call the heathen. Individually we +believe it is our duty to send missionaries to them to convert them +into Christians. Nationally we send armies upon them (if necessary) +and convert them into customers! Individually we say: "We will send +you our religion." Nationally: "We will send you goods, and we'll make +you take them--we need the money!" Think of the bitter irony of a boat +leaving a Christian port loaded with missionaries upstairs and rum +below, both bound for the same place and for the same people--both for +the heathen "with our comp'ts." + +Individually we know it is wrong to rob anyone. Yet the state robs +freely, openly, and unashamed, by unjust taxation, by the legalized +liquor traffic, by imposing unjust laws upon at least one half of the +people. We wonder at the disparity between our individual ideals and +the national ideal, but when you remember that the national ideals have +been formed by one half of the world--and not the more spiritual +half--it is not so surprising. Our national policy is the result of +male statecraft. + +There is a curative power in human life just as there is in nature. +When the pot boils--it boils over. Evils cure themselves eventually. +But it is a long hard way. Yet it is the way humanity has always had +to learn. Christ realized that when he looked down at Jerusalem, and +wept over it: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered +you, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but you would +not." That was the trouble then, and it has been the trouble ever +since. Humanity has to travel a hard road to wisdom, and it has to +travel it with bleeding feet. + +But it is getting its lessons now--and paying double first-class rates +for its tuition! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +WHAT DO WOMEN THINK OF WAR? (NOT THAT IT MATTERS) + + Bands in the street, and resounding cheers, + And honor to him whom the army led! + But his mother moans thro' her blinding tears-- + "My boy is dead--is dead!" + + +"Madam," said Charles XI of Sweden to his wife when she appealed to him +for mercy to some prisoner, "I married you to give me children, not to +give me advice." That was said a long time ago, and the haughty old +Emperor put it rather crudely, but he put it straight. This is still +the attitude of the world towards women. That men are human beings, +but women are women, with one reason for their existence, has long been +the dictum of the world. + +More recent philosophers have been more adroit--they have sought to +soften the blow, and so they palaver the women by telling them what a +tremendous power they are for good. They quote the men who have said: +"All that I am my mother made me." They also quote that old iniquitous +lie, about the hand that rocks the cradle ruling the world. + +For a long time men have been able to hush women up by these means; and +many women have gladly allowed themselves to be deceived. Sometimes +when a little child goes driving with his father he is allowed to hold +the ends of the reins, and encouraged to believe that he is driving, +and it works quite well with a very small child. Women have been +deceived in the same way into believing that they are the controlling +factor in the world. Here and there, there have been doubters among +women who have said: "If it be true that the hand that rocks the cradle +rules the world, how comes the liquor traffic and the white slave +traffic to prevail among us unchecked? Do women wish for these things? +Do the gentle mothers whose hands rule the world declare in favor of +these things?" Every day the number of doubters has increased, and now +women everywhere realize that a bad old lie has been put over on them +for years. The hand that rocks the cradle does not rule the world. If +it did, human life would be held dearer and the world would be a +sweeter, cleaner, safer place than it is now! + +Women are naturally the guardians of the race, and every normal woman +desires children. Children are not a handicap in the race of life +either, they are an inspiration. We hear too much about the burden of +motherhood and too little of its benefits. The average child does well +for his parents, and teaches them many things. Bless his little soft +hands--he broadens our outlook, quickens our sympathies, and leads us, +if we will but let him, into all truth. A child pays well for his +board and keep. + +Deeply rooted in every woman's heart is the love and care of children. +A little girl's first toy is a doll, and so, too, her first great +sorrow is when her doll has its eyes poked out by her little brother. +Dolls have suffered many things at the hands of their maternal uncles. + + There, little girl, don't cry, + They have broken your doll, I know, + +contains in it the universal note of woman's woe! + +But just as the woman's greatest sorrow has come through her children, +so has her greatest development. Women learned to cook, so that their +children might be fed; they learned to sew that their children might be +clothed, and women are learning to think so that their children may be +guided. + +Since the war broke out women have done a great deal of knitting. +Looking at this great army of women struggling with rib and back seam, +some have seen nothing in it but a "fad" which has supplanted for the +time tatting and bridge. But it is more than that. It is the desire +to help, to care for, to minister; it is the same spirit which inspires +our nurses to go out and bind up the wounded and care for the dying. +The woman's outlook on life is to save, to care for, to help. Men make +wounds and women bind them up, and so the women, with their hearts +filled with love and sorrow, sit in their quiet homes and knit. + + + Comforter--they call it--yes-- + So it is for my distress, + For it gives my restless hands + Blessed work. God understands + How we women yearn to be + Doing something ceaselessly. + + +Women have not only been knitting--they have been thinking. Among +other things they have thought about the German women, those faithful, +patient, home-loving, obedient women, who never interfere in public +affairs, nor question man's ruling. The Kaiser says women have only +two concerns in life, cooking and children, and the German women have +accepted his dictum. They are good cooks and faithful nurses to their +children. + +According to the theories of the world, the sons of such women should +be the gentlest men on earth. Their home has been so sacred, and +well-kept; their mother has been so gentle, patient and unworldly--she +has never lowered the standard of her womanhood by asking to vote, or +to mingle in the "hurly burly" of politics. She has been humble, and +loving, and always hoped for the best. + +According to the theories of the world, the gentle sons of gentle +mothers will respect and reverence all womankind everywhere. Yet, we +know that in the invasion of Belgium, the German soldiers made a shield +of Belgian women and children in front of their army; no child was too +young, no woman too old, to escape their cruelty; no mother's prayers, +no child's appeal could stay their fury! These chivalrous sons of +gentle, loving mothers marched through the land of Belgium, their +nearest neighbor, leaving behind them smoking trails of ruin, black as +their own hard hearts! + +What, then, is the matter with the theory? Nothing, except that there +is nothing in it--it will not work. Women who set a low value on +themselves make life hard for all women. The German woman's ways have +been ways of pleasantness, but her paths have not been paths of peace; +and now, women everywhere are thinking of her, rather bitterly. Her +peaceful, humble, patient ways have suddenly ceased to appear virtuous +in our eyes and we see now, it is not so much a woman's duty to bring +children into the world, as to see what sort of a world she is bringing +them into, and what their contribution will be to it. Bertha Krupp has +made good guns and the German women have raised good soldiers--if guns +and soldiers can be called "good"--and between them they have manned +the most terrible and destructive war machine that the world has ever +known. We are not grateful to either of them. + +The nimble fingers of the knitting women are transforming balls of wool +into socks and comforters, but even a greater change is being wrought +in their own hearts. Into their gentle souls have come bitter thoughts +of rebellion. They realize now how little human life is valued, as +opposed to the greed and ambition of nations. They think bitterly of +Napoleon's utterance on the subject of women--that the greatest woman +in the world is the one who brings into the world the greatest number +of sons; they also remember that he said that a boy could stop a bullet +as well as a man, and that God is on the side of the heaviest +artillery. From these three statements they get the military idea of +women, children, and God, and the heart of the knitting woman recoils +in horror from the cold brutality of it all. They realize now +something of what is back of all the opposition to the woman's +advancement into all lines of activity and a share in government. + +Women are intended for two things, to bring children into the world and +to make men comfortable, and then they must keep quiet and if their +hearts break with grief, let them break quietly--that's all. No woman +is so unpopular as the noisy woman who protests against these things. + +The knitting women know now why the militant suffragettes broke windows +and destroyed property, and went to jail for it joyously, and without a +murmur--it was the protest of brave women against the world's estimate +of woman's position. It was the world-old struggle for liberty. The +knitting women remember now with shame and sorrow that they have said +hard things about the suffragettes, and thought they were unwomanly and +hysterical. Now they know that womanliness, and peaceful gentle ways, +prayers, petitions and tears have long been tried but are found +wanting; and now they know that these brave women in England, maligned, +ridiculed, persecuted, as they were, have been fighting every woman's +battle, fighting for the recognition of human life, and the mother's +point of view. Many of the knitting women have seen a light shine +around their pathway, as they have passed down the road from the heel +to the toe, and they know now that the explanation cannot be accepted +any longer that the English women are "crazy." That has been offered +so often and been accepted. + +Crazy! That's such an easy way to explain actions which we do not +understand. Crazy! and it gives such a delightful thrill of sanity to +the one who says it--such a pleasurable flash of superiority! + +Oh, no, they have not been crazy, unless acts of heroism and suffering +for the sake of others can be described as crazy! The knitting women +wish now that there had been "crazy" women in Germany to direct the +thought of the nation to the brutality of the military system, to have +aroused the women to struggle for a human civilization, instead of a +masculine civilization such as they have now. They would have fared +badly of course, even worse than the women in England, but they are +faring badly now, and to what purpose? The women of Belgium have fared +badly. After all, the greatest thing in life is not to live +comfortably--it is to live honorably, and when that becomes impossible, +to die honorably! + +The woman who knits is thinking sadly of the glad days of peace, now +unhappily gone by, when she was so sure it was her duty to bring +children into the world. She thinks of the glad rapture with which she +looked into the sweet face of her first-born twenty years ago--the +brave lad who went with the first contingent, and is now at the front. +She was so sure then that she had done a noble thing in giving this +young life to the world. He was to have been a great doctor, a great +healer, one who bound up wounds, and make weak men strong--and now--in +the trenches, he stands, this lad of hers, with the weapons of death in +his hands, with bitter hatred in his heart, not binding wounds, but +making them, sending poor human beings out in the dark to meet their +Maker, unprepared, surrounded by sights and sounds that must harden his +heart or break it. Oh! her sunny-hearted lad! So full of love and +tenderness and pity, so full of ambition and high resolves and noble +impulses, he is dead--dead already--and in his place there stands +"private 355" a man of hate, a man of blood! Many a time the knitting +has to be laid aside, for the bitter tears blur the stitches. + +The woman who knits thinks of all this and now she feels that she who +brought this boy into the world, who is responsible for his existence, +has some way been to blame. Is life really such a boon that any should +crave it? Do we really confer a favor on the innocent little souls we +bring into the world, or do we owe them an apology? + +She thinks now of Abraham's sacrifice, when he was willing at God's +command to offer his dearly beloved son on the altar; and now she knows +it was not so hard for Abraham, for he knew it was God who asked it, +and he had God's voice to guide him! Abraham was sure, but about +this--who knows? + +Then she thinks of the little one who dropped out of the race before it +was well begun, and of the inexplicable smile of peace which lay on his +small white face, that day, so many years ago now, when they laid him +away with such sorrow, and such agony of loss. She understands now why +the little one smiled, while all around him wept. + +And she thinks enviously of her neighbor across the way, who had no son +to give, the childless woman for whom in the old days she felt so +sorry, but whom now she envies. She is the happiest woman of all--so +thinks the knitting woman, as she sits alone in her quiet house; for +thoughts can grow very bitter when the house is still and the boyish +voice is heard no more shouting, "Mother" in the hall. + + + There, little girl, don't cry! + They have broken your heart, I know. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SHOULD WOMEN THINK? + + A woman, a spaniel, a walnut tree, + The more you beat 'em, the better they be. + --_From "Proverbs of All Nations._" + +A woman is not a person in matters of rights and privileges, but she is +a person in matters of pains and penalties.--_From the Common Law of +England_. + +No woman, idiot, lunatic, or criminal shall vote.--_From the Election +Act of the Dominion of Canada_. + + +Mary and Martha were sisters, and one day they had a quarrel, which +goes to show that sisters in Bible times were much the same as now. +Mary and Martha had a different attitude toward life. Martha was a +housekeeper--she reveled in housecleaning--she had a perfect mania for +sweeping and dusting. Mary was a thinker. She looked beyond the work, +and saw something better and more important, something more abiding and +satisfying. + +When Jesus came to their home to visit, Mary sat at his feet and +listened. She fed her soul, and in her sheer joy she forgot that there +were dirty dishes in all the world; she forgot that ever people grew +hungry, or floors became dusty; she forgot everything only the joy of +his presence. Martha never forgot. All days were alike to Martha, +only of course Monday was washday. The visit of the Master to Martha +meant another place at the table, and another plate to be washed. +Truly feminine was Martha, much commended in certain circles today. +She looked well to the needs of her family, physical needs, that is, +for she recognized no other. Martha not only liked to work herself, +but she liked to see other people work; so when Mary went and sat at +the Master's feet, while the dishes were yet unwashed, Martha +complained about it. + +"Lord, make Mary come and help me!" she said. The story says Martha +was wearied with much serving. Martha had cooked and served an +elaborate meal, and elaborate meals usually do make people cross either +before or after. Christ gently reproved her. "Mary hath chosen the +better part." + +Just here let us say something in Mary's favor. Martha by her protest +against Mary's behavior on this particular occasion, exonerates Mary +from the general charge of laziness which is often made against her. +If Mary had been habitually lazy, Martha would have long since ceased +to expect any help from her, but it seems pretty certain that Mary was +generally on the job. Trivial little incident, is it not? Strange +that it should find a place in the sacred record. But if Christ's +mission on earth had any meaning at all, it was to teach this very +lesson that the things which are not seen are greater than the things +which are seen--that the spiritual is greater than the temporal. The +life is more than meat and the body is more than raiment. + +Martha has a long line of weary, backaching, footsore successors. +Indeed there is a strain of Martha in all of us; we worry more over a +stain in the carpet than a stain on the soul; we bestow more thought on +the choice of hats than on the choice of friends; we tidy up bureau +drawers, sometimes, when we should be tidying up the inner recesses of +our mind and soul; we clean up the attic and burn up the rubbish which +has accumulated there, every spring, whether it needs it or not. But +when do we appoint a housecleaning day for the soul, when do we destroy +all the worn-out prejudices and beliefs which belong to a day gone by? + +Mary did take the better part, for she laid hold on the things which +are spiritual. Mary had learned the great truth that it is not the +house you live in or the food you eat, or the clothes you wear that +make you rich, but it is the thoughts you think. Christ put it well +when he said, "Mary hath chosen the better part." Life is a choice +every day. Every day we choose between the best and the second best, +if we are choosing wisely. It is not generally a choice between good +and bad--that is too easy. The choice in life is more subtle than +that, and not so easily decided. The good is the greatest rival of the +best. + +Sometimes we would like to take both the best and the second best, but +that is not according to the rules of the game. You take your choice +and leave the rest. Every gain in life means a corresponding loss; +development in one part means a shrinkage in some other. Wild wheat is +small and hard, quite capable of looking after itself, but its heads +contain only a few small kernels. Cultivated wheat has lost its +hardiness and its self-reliance, but its heads are filled with large +kernels which feed the nation. There has been a great gain in +usefulness, by cultivation, with a corresponding loss in hardiness. +When riches are increased, so also are anxieties and cares. Life is +full of compensation. + +So we ask, in all seriousness, and in no spirit of flippancy: "Should +women think?" They gain in power perhaps, but do they not lose in +happiness by thinking? If women must always labor under unjust +economic conditions, receiving less pay for the same work than men, if +women must always submit to the unjust social laws, based on the +barbaric mosaic decree that the woman is to be stoned, and the man +allowed to go free; if women must always see the children they have +brought into the world with infinite pain and weariness, taken away +from them to fight man-made battles over which no woman has any power; +if women must always see their sons degraded by man-made legislation +and man-protected evils--then I ask, Is it not a great mistake for +women to think? + +The Martha women, who fill their hands with labor and find their +highest delights in the day's work, are the happiest. That is, if +these things must always be, if we must always beat upon the bars of +the cage--we are foolish to beat; it is hard on the hands! Far better +for us to stop looking out and sit down and say: "Good old cage--I +always did like a cage, anyway!" + +But the question of whether or not women should think was settled long +ago. We must think because we were given something to think with, ages +ago, at the time of our creation. If God had not intended us to think, +he would not have given us our intelligence. It would be a shabby +trick, too, to give women brains to think, with no hope of results, for +thinking is just an aggravation if nothing comes of it. It is a law of +life that people will use what they have. That is one theory of what +caused the war. The nations were "so good and ready," they just +naturally fought. Mental activity is just as natural for the woman +peeling potatoes as it is for the man behind the plow, and a little +thinking will not hurt the quality of the work in either case. There +is in western Canada, one woman at least, who combines thinking and +working to great advantage. Her kitchen walls are hung with mottoes +and poems, which she commits to memory as she works, and so while her +hands are busy, she feeds her soul with the bread of life. + +The world has never been partial to the thinking woman--the wise ones +have always foreseen danger. Long years ago, when women asked for an +education, the world cried out that it would never do. If women +learned to read it would distract them from the real business of life +which was to make home happy for some good man. If women learned to +read there seemed to be a possibility that some day some good man might +come home and find his wife reading, and the dinner not ready--and +nothing could be imagined more horrible than that! That seems to be +the haunting fear of mankind--that the advancement of women will +sometime, someway, someplace, interfere with some man's comfort. There +are many people who believe that the physical needs of her family are a +woman's only care; and that strict attention to her husband's wardrobe +and meals will insure a happy marriage. Hand-embroidered slippers +warmed and carefully set out have ever been highly recommended as a +potent charm to hold masculine affection. They forget that men and +children are not only food-eating and clothes-wearing animals--they are +human beings with other and even greater needs than food and raiment. + +Any person who believes that the average man marries the woman of his +choice just because he wants a housekeeper and a cook, appraises +mankind lower than I do. Intelligence on the wife's part does not +destroy connubial bliss, neither does ignorance nor apathy ever make +for it. Ideas do not break up homes, but lack of ideas. The light and +airy silly fairy may get along beautifully in the days of courtship, +but she palls a bit in the steady wear and tear of married life. + +There was a picture in one of the popular woman's papers sometime ago, +which taught a significant lesson. It was a breakfast scene. The +young wife, daintily frilled in pink, sat at her end of the table in +very apparent ill-humor--the young husband, quite unconscious of her, +read the morning paper with evident interest. Below the picture there +was a sharp criticism of the young man's neglect of his pretty wife and +her dainty gown. Personally I sympathize with the young man and +believe it would be a happier home if she were as interested in the +paper as he and were reading the other half of it instead of sitting +around feeling hurt. + +But you see it is hard on the woman, just the same. All our +civilization has taught her that pink frills were the thing. When they +fail--she feels the bottom has dropped out of the world--he does not +love her any more and she will go back to mother! You see the woman +suffers every time. + +Sometime we will teach our daughters that marriage is a divine +partnership based on mutual love and community of interest, that sex +attraction augmented by pink frills is only one part of it and not the +most important; that the pleasant glowing embers of comradeship and +loving friendship give out a warmer, more lasting, and more comfortable +heat than the leaping flames of passion, and the happiest marriage is +the one where the husband and wife come to regard each other as the +dearest friend, the most congenial companion. + +Women must think if they are going to make good in life; and success in +marriage depends not alone on being good, but on making good! Men by +their occupation are brought in contact with the world of ideas and +affairs. They have been encouraged to be intelligent. Women have been +encouraged to be foolish, and later on punished for the same +foolishness, which is hardly fair. + +But women are beginning to learn. Women are helping each other to see. +They are coming together in clubs and societies and by this intercourse +they are gaining a philosophy of life, which is helping them over the +rough places of life. Most of us can get along very well on bright +days, and when the going is easy, but we need something to keep us +steady when the pathway is rough, and our wandering feet are in danger +of losing their way. The most deadly uninteresting person, and the one +who has the greatest temptation not to think at all, is the comfortable +and happily married woman--the woman who has a good man between her and +the world, who has not the saving privilege of having to work. A sort +of fatty degeneration of the conscience sets in that is disastrous to +the development of thought. + +If women could be made to think, they would not wear immodest clothes, +which suggest evil thoughts and awaken unlawful desires. If women +could be made to think, they would see that it is woman's place to lift +high the standard of morality. If women would only think, they would +not wear aigrets and bird plumage which has caused the death of God's +innocent and beautiful creatures. If women could be made to think, +they would be merciful. If women would only think, they would not +serve liquor to their guests, in the name of hospitality, and thus +contribute to the degradation of mankind, and perhaps start some young +man on the slippery way to ruin. If women would think about it, they +would see that some mother, old and heartbroken, sitting up waiting for +the staggering footsteps of her boy, might in her loneliness and grief +and trouble curse the white hands that gave her lad his first drink. +Women make life hard for other women because they do not think. And +thinking seems to come hardest to the comfortable woman. A woman told +me candidly and honestly not long ago that she was too comfortable to +be interested in other people, and I have admired her for her +truthfulness; she had diagnosed her own case accurately, and she did +not babble of woman's sphere being her own home--she frankly admitted +that she was selfish, and her comfort had caused it. I believe God +intended us all to be happy and comfortable, clothed, fed, and housed, +and there is no sin in comfort, unless we let it atrophy our souls, and +settle down upon us like a stupor. Then it becomes a sin which +destroys us. Let us pray! + + + From plague, pestilence and famine, + from battle, murder, sudden death, + and all forms of cowlike contentment, + Good Lord, deliver us! + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE NEW CHIVALRY + +Brave women and fair men! + + +This seems to be a good time for us to jar ourselves loose from some of +the prejudices and beliefs which we have outgrown. It is time for +readjustment surely, a time for spiritual and mental house-cleaning, +when we are justified in looking things over very carefully and +deciding whether or not we shall ever need them again. + +Some of us have suspected for a long time that a good deal of the +teaching of the world regarding women has come under the general +heading of "dope." Now "dope" is not a slang word, as you may be +thinking, gentle reader. It is a good Anglo-Saxon word (or will be), +for it fills a real need, and there is none other to take its place. +"Dope" means anything that is calculated to soothe, or hush, or put to +sleep. "Sedative" is a synonym, but it lacks the oily softness of +"dope." + +One of the commonest forms of dope given to women to keep them quiet is +the one referred to in a previous chapter: "The hand that rocks the +cradle rules the World." It is a great favorite with politicians and +not being original with them it does contain a small element of truth. +They use it in their pre-election speeches, which they begin with the +honeyed words: "We are glad to see we have with us this evening so many +members of the fair sex; we are delighted to see that so many have come +to grace our gathering on this occasion; we realize that a woman's +intuition is ofttimes truer than a man's reasoning, and although women +have no actual voice in politics, they have something far more strong +and potent--they have the wonder power of indirect influence." Just +about here comes in "the hand that rocks!" + +Having thus administered the dope, in this pleasing mixture of molasses +and soft soap, which is supposed to keep the "fair sex" quiet and happy +for the balance of the evening, the aspirant for public honors passes +on to the serious business of the hour, and discusses the affairs of +state with the electorate. Right here, let us sound a small note of +warning. Keep your eye on the man who refers to women as the "fair +sex"--he is a dealer in dope! + +One of the oldest and falsest of our beliefs regarding women is that +they are protected--that some way in the battle of life they get the +best of it. People talk of men's chivalry, that vague, indefinite +quality which is supposed to transmute the common clay of life into +gold. + +Chivalry is a magic word. It seems to breathe of foreign strands and +moonlight groves and silver sands and knights and earls and kings; it +seems to tell of glorious deeds and waving plumes and prancing steeds +and belted earls--and things! + +People tell us of the good old days of chivalry when womanhood was +really respected and reverenced--when brave knight rode gaily forth to +die for his lady love. But in order to be really loved and respected +there was one hard and fast condition laid down, to which all women +must conform--they must be beautiful, no getting out of that. They +simply had to have starry eyes and golden hair, or else black as a +raven's wing; they had to have pale, white, and haughty brow, and a +laugh like a ripple of magic. Then they were all right and armored +knights would die for them quick as wink! + +The homely women were all witches, dreadful witches, and they drowned +them, on public holidays, in the mill pond! + +People tell us now that chivalry is dead, and women have killed it, +bold women who instead of staying at home, broidering pearls on a red +velvet sleeve, have gone out to work--have gone to college side by side +with men and have been so unwomanly sometimes as to take the prizes +away from men. Chivalry cannot live in such an atmosphere. Certainly +not! + +Of course women can hardly be blamed for going out and working when one +remembers that they must either work or starve. Broidering pearls will +not boil the kettle worth a cent! There are now thirty per cent of the +women of the U. S. A. and Canada, who are wage-earners, and we will +readily grant that necessity has driven most of them out of their +homes. Similarly, in England alone, there are a million and a half +more women than men. It would seem that all women cannot have homes of +their own--there does not seem to be enough men to go around. But +still there are people who tell us these women should all have homes of +their own--it is their own fault if they haven't; and once I heard of a +woman saying the hardest thing about men I ever heard--and she was an +ardent anti-suffragist too. She said that what was wrong with the +women in England was that they were too particular--that's why they +were not married, "and," she went on, "any person can tell, when they +look around at men in general, that God never intended women to be very +particular." I am glad I never said anything as hard as that about men. + +There are still with us some of the conventions of the old days of +chivalry. The pretty woman still has the advantage over her plainer +sister--and the opinion of the world is that women must be beautiful at +all costs. When a newspaper wishes to disprove a woman's contention, +or demolish her theories, it draws ugly pictures of her. If it can +show that she has big feet or red hands, or wears unbecoming clothes, +that certainly settles the case--and puts her where she belongs. + +This cruel convention that women must be beautiful accounts for the +popularity of face-washes, and beauty parlors, and the languor of +university extension lectures. Women cannot be blamed for this. All +our civilization has been to the end that women make themselves +attractive to men. The attractive woman has hitherto been the +successful woman. The pretty girl marries a millionaire, travels in +Europe, and is presented at court; her plainer sister, equally +intelligent, marries a boy from home, and does her own washing. I am +not comparing the two destinies as to which offers the greater +opportunities for happiness or usefulness, but rather to show how +widely divergent two lives may be. What caused the difference was a +wavy strand of hair, a rounder curve on a cheek. Is it any wonder that +women capitalize their good looks, even at the expense of their +intelligence? The economic dependence of women is perhaps the greatest +injustice that has been done to us, and has worked the greatest injury +to the race. + +Men are not entirely blameless in respect to the frivolity of women. +It is easy to blame women for dressing foolishly, extravagantly, but to +what end do they do it? To be attractive to men; and the reason they +continue to do it is that it is successful. Many a woman has found +that it pays to be foolish. Men like frivolity--before marriage; but +they demand all the sterner virtues afterwards. The little dainty, +fuzzy-haired, simpering dolly who chatters and wears toe-slippers has a +better chance in the matrimonial market than the clear-headed, plainer +girl, who dresses sensibly. A little boy once gave his mother +directions as to his birthday present--he said he wanted "something +foolish" and therein he expressed a purely masculine wish. + + + A man's ideal at seventeen + Must be a sprite-- + A dainty, fairy, elfish queen + Of pure delight; + But later on he sort of feels + He'd like a girl who could cook meals. + +Life is full of anomalies, and in the mating and pairing of men and +women there are many. + +Why is the careless, easy-going, irresponsible way of the young girl so +attractive to men? It does not make for domestic happiness; and why, +Oh why, do some of our best men marry such odd little sticks of +pin-head women, with a brain similar in caliber to a second-rate +butterfly, while the most intelligent, unselfish, and womanly women are +left unmated? I am going to ask about this the first morning I am in +heaven, if so be we are allowed to ask about the things which troubled +us while on our mortal journey. I have never been able to find out +about it here. + +Now this old belief that women are protected is of sturdy growth and +returns to life with great persistence. Theoretically women are +protected--on paper--traditionally--just like Belgium was, and with +just as disastrous results. + +A member of the English Parliament declared with great emphasis that +the women now have everything the heart could desire--they reign like +queens and can have their smallest wish gratified. ("Smallest" is +right.) And we very readily grant that there are many women living in +idleness and luxury on the bounty of their male relatives, and we say +it with sorrow and shame that these are estimated the successful women +in the opinion of the world. But while some feast in idleness, many +others slave in poverty. The great army of women workers are ill-paid, +badly housed, and their work is not honored or respected or paid for. +What share have they in man's chivalry? Chivalry is like a line of +credit. You can get plenty of it when you do not need it. When you +are prospering financially and your bank account is growing and you are +rated A1, you can get plenty of credit--it is offered to you; but when +the dark days of financial depression overtake you, and the people you +are depending upon do not "come through," and you must have +credit--must have it!--the very people who once urged it upon you will +now tell you that "money is tight!" + +The young and pretty woman, well dressed and attractive, can get all +the chivalry she wants. She will have seats offered her on street +cars, men will hasten to carry her parcels, or open doors for her; but +the poor old woman, beaten in the battle of life, sick of life's +struggles, and grown gray and weather-beaten facing life's storms--what +chivalry is shown her? She can go her weary way uncomforted and +unattended. People who need it do not get it. + +Anyway, chivalry is a poor substitute for justice, if one cannot have +both. Chivalry is something like the icing on the cake, sweet but not +nourishing. It is like the paper lace around the bonbon box--we could +get along without it. + +There are countless thousands of truly chivalrous men, who have the +true chivalry whose foundation is justice--who would protect all women +from injury or insult or injustice, but who know that they cannot do +it--who know that in spite of all they can do, women are often +outraged, insulted, ill-treated. The truly chivalrous man, who does +reverence all womankind, realizing this, says: "Let us give women every +weapon whereby they can defend themselves; let us remove the stigma of +political nonentity under which women have been placed. Let us give +women a fair deal!" + +This is the new chivalry--and on it we build our hope. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +HARDY PERENNIALS! + + I hold it true--I will not change, + For changes are a dreadful bore-- + That nothing must be done on earth + Unless it has been done before. + --_Anti-Suffrage Creed_. + + +If prejudices belonged to the vegetable world they would be described +under the general heading of: "Hardy Perennials; will grow in any soil, +and bloom without ceasing; requiring no cultivation; will do better +when left alone." + +In regard to tenacity of life, no old yellow cat has anything on a +prejudice. You may kill it with your own hands, bury it deep, and sit +on the grave, and behold! the next day, it will walk in at the back +door, purring. + +Take some of the prejudices regarding women that have been exploded and +blown to pieces many, many times and yet walk among us today in the +fulness of life and vigor. There is a belief that housekeeping is the +only occupation for women; that all women must be housekeepers, whether +they like it or not. Men may do as they like, and indulge their +individuality, but every true and womanly woman must take to the nutmeg +grater and the O-Cedar Mop. It is also believed that in the good old +days before woman suffrage was discussed, and when woman's clubs were +unheard of, that all women adored housework, and simply pined for +Monday morning to come to get at the weekly wash; that women cleaned +house with rapture and cooked joyously. Yet there is a story told of +one of the women of the old days, who arose at four o'clock in the +morning, and aroused all her family at an indecently early hour for +breakfast, her reason being that she wanted to get "one of these horrid +old meals over." This woman had never been at a suffrage meeting--so +where did she get the germ of discontent? + +At the present time there is much discontent among women, and many +people are seriously alarmed about it. They say women are no longer +contented with woman's sphere and woman's work--that the washboard has +lost its charm, and the days of the hair-wreath are ended. We may as +well admit that there is discontent among women. We cannot drive them +back to the spinning wheel and the mathook, for they will not go. But +there is really no cause for alarm, for discontent is not necessarily +wicked. There is such a thing as divine discontent just as there is +criminal contentment. Discontent may mean the stirring of ambition, +the desire to spread out, to improve and grow. Discontent is a sign of +life, corresponding to growing pains in a healthy child. The poor +woman who is making a brave struggle for existence is not saying much, +though she is thinking all the time. In the old days when a woman's +hours were from 5 A.M. to 5 A.M., we did not hear much of discontent +among women, because they had not time to even talk, and certainly +could not get together. The horse on the treadmill may be very +discontented, but he is not disposed to tell his troubles, for he +cannot stop to talk. + +It is the women, who now have leisure, who are doing the talking. For +generations women have been thinking and thought without expression is +dynamic, and gathers volume by repression. Evolution when blocked and +suppressed becomes revolution. The introduction of machinery and the +factory-made articles has given women more leisure than they had +formerly, and now the question arises, what are they going to do with +it? + +Custom and conventionality recommend many and varied occupations for +women, social functions intermixed with kindly deeds of charity, +embroidering altar cloths, making strong and durable garments for the +poor, visiting the sick, comforting the sad, all of which women have +faithfully done, but while they have been doing these things, they have +been wondering about the underlying causes of poverty, sadness and sin. +They notice that when the unemployed are fed on Christmas day, they are +just as hungry as ever on December the twenty-sixth, or at least on +December the twenty-seventh; they have been led to inquire into the +causes for little children being left in the care of the state, and +they find that in over half of the cases, the liquor traffic has +contributed to the poverty and unworthiness of the parents. The state +which licenses the traffic steps in and takes care, or tries to, of the +victims; the rich brewer whose business it is to encourage drinking, is +usually the largest giver to the work of the Children's Aid Society, +and is often extolled for his lavish generosity: and sometimes when +women think about these things they are struck by the absurdity of a +system which allows one man or a body of men to rob a child of his +father's love and care all year, and then gives him a stuffed dog and a +little red sleigh at Christmas and calls it charity! + +Women have always done their share of the charity work of the world. +The lady of the manor, in the old feudal days, made warm mittens and +woolen mufflers with her own white hands and carried them to the +cottages at Christmas, along with blankets and coals. And it was a +splendid arrangement all through, for it furnished the lady with mild +and pleasant occupation, and it helped to soothe the conscience of the +lord, and if the cottagers (who were often "low worthless fellows, much +given up to riotous thinking and disputing") were disposed to wonder +why they had to work all year and get nothing, while the lord of the +manor did nothing all year and got everything, the gift of blanket and +coals, the warm mufflers, and "a shawl for granny" showed them what +ungrateful souls they were. + +Women have dispensed charity for many, many years, but gradually it has +dawned upon them that the most of our charity is very ineffectual, and +merely smoothes things over, without ever reaching the root. A great +deal of our charity is like the kindly deed of the benevolent old +gentleman, who found a sick dog by the wayside, lying in the full glare +of a scorching sun. The tender-hearted old man climbed down from his +carriage, and, lifting the dog tenderly in his arms, carried him around +into the small patch of shade cast by his carriage. + +"Lie there, my poor fellow!" he said. "Lie there, in the cool shade, +where the sun's rays may not smite you!" + +Then he got into his carriage and drove away. + +Women have been led, through their charitable institutions and +philanthropic endeavors, to do some thinking about causes. + +Mrs. B. set out to be a "family friend" to the family of her washwoman. +Mrs. B. was a thoroughly charitable, kindly disposed woman, who had +never favored woman's suffrage and regarded the new movement among +women with suspicion. Her washwoman's family consisted of four +children, and a husband who blew in gaily once in a while when in need +of funds, or when recovering from a protracted spree, which made a few +days' nursing very welcome. His wife, a Polish woman, had the +old-world reverence for men, and obeyed him implicitly; she still felt +it was very sweet of him to come home at all. Mrs. B. had often +declared that Polly's devotion to her husband was a beautiful thing to +see. The two eldest boys had newspaper routes and turned in their +earnings regularly, and, although the husband did not contribute +anything but his occasional company, Polly was able to make the +payments on their little four-roomed cottage. In another year, it +would be all paid for. + +But one day Polly's husband began to look into the law--as all men +should--and he saw that he had been living far below his privileges. +The cottage was his--not that he had ever paid a cent on it, of course, +but his wife had, and she was his; and the cottage was in his name. + +So he sold it; naturally he did not consult Polly, for he was a quiet, +peaceful man, and not fond of scenes. So he sold it quietly, and with +equal quietness he withdrew from the Province, and took the money with +him. He did not even say good-by to Polly or the children, which was +rather ungrateful, for they had given him many a meal and night's +lodging. When Polly came crying one Monday morning and told her story, +Mrs. B. could not believe it, and assured Polly she must be mistaken, +but Polly declared that a man had come and asked her did she wish to +rent the house for he had bought it. Mrs. B. went at once to the +lawyers who had completed the deal. They were a reputable firm and +Mrs. B. knew one of the partners quite well. She was sure Polly's +husband could not sell the cottage. But the lawyers assured her it was +quite true. They were very gentle and patient with Mrs. B. and +listened courteously to her explanation, and did not dispute her word +at all when she explained that Polly and her two boys had paid every +cent on the house. It seemed that a trifling little thing like that +did not matter. It did not really matter who paid for the house; the +husband was the owner, for was he not the head of the house? and the +property was in his name. + +Polly was graciously allowed to rent her own cottage for $12.50 a +month, with an option of buying, and the two little boys are still on a +morning route delivering one of the city dailies. + +Mrs. B. has joined a suffrage society and makes speeches on the +injustice of the laws; and yet she began innocently enough, by making +strong and durable garments for her washwoman's children--and see what +has come of it! If women would only be content to snip away at the +symptoms of poverty and distress, feeding the hungry and clothing the +naked, all would be well and they would be much commended for their +kindness of heart; but when they begin to inquire into causes, they +find themselves in the sacred realm of politics where prejudice says no +women must enter. + +A woman may take an interest in factory girls, and hold meetings for +them, and encourage them to walk in virtue's ways all she likes, but if +she begins to advocate more sanitary surroundings for them, with some +respect for the common decencies of life, she will find herself again +in that sacred realm of politics---confronted by a factory act, on +which no profane female hand must be laid. + +Now politics simply means public affairs--yours and mine, +everybody's--and to say that politics are too corrupt for women is a +weak and foolish statement for any man to make. Any man who is +actively engaged in politics, and declares that politics are too +corrupt for women, admits one of two things, either that he is a party +to this corruption, or that he is unable to prevent it--and in either +case something should be done. Politics are not inherently vicious. +The office of lawmaker should be the highest in the land, equaled in +honor only by that of the minister of the gospel. In the old days, the +two were combined with very good effect; but they seem to have drifted +apart in more recent years. + +If politics are too corrupt for women, they are too corrupt for men; +for men and women are one--indissolubly joined together for good or +ill. Many men have tried to put all their religion and virtue in their +wife's name, but it does not work very well. When social conditions +are corrupt women cannot escape by shutting their eyes, and taking no +interest. It would be far better to give them a chance to clean them +up. + +What would you think of a man who would say to his wife: "This house to +which I am bringing you to live is very dirty and unsanitary, but I +will not allow you--the dear wife whom I have sworn to protect--to +touch it. It is too dirty for your precious little white hands! You +must stay upstairs, dear. Of course the odor from below may come up to +you, but use your smelling salts and think no evil. I do not hope to +ever be able to clean it up, but certainly you must never think of +trying." + +Do you think any woman would stand for that? She would say: "John, you +are all right in your way, but there are some places where your brain +skids. Perhaps you had better stay downtown today for lunch. But on +your way down please call at the grocer's, and send me a scrubbing +brush and a package of Dutch Cleanser, and some chloride of lime, and +now hurry." Women have cleaned up things since time began; and if +women ever get into politics there will be a cleaning-out of +pigeon-holes and forgotten corners, on which the dust of years has +fallen, and the sound of the political carpet-beater will be heard in +the land. + +There is another hardy perennial that constantly lifts its head above +the earth, persistently refusing to be ploughed under, and that is that +if women were ever given a chance to participate in outside affairs, +that family quarrels would result; that men and their wives who have +traveled the way of life together, side by side, for years, and come +safely through religious discussions, and discussions relating to "his" +people and "her" people, would angrily rend each other over politics, +and great damage to the furniture would be the result. Father and son +have been known to live under the same roof and vote differently, and +yet live! Not only live, but live peaceably! If a husband and wife +are going to quarrel they will find a cause for dispute easily enough, +and will not be compelled to wait for election day. And supposing that +they have never, never had a single dispute, and not a ripple has ever +marred the placid surface of their matrimonial sea, I believe that a +small family jar--or at least a real lively argument--will do them +good. It is in order to keep the white-winged angel of peace hovering +over the home that married women are not allowed to vote in many +places. Spinsters and widows are counted worthy of voice in the +selection of school trustee, and alderman, and mayor, but not the woman +who has taken to herself a husband and still has him. + +What a strange commentary on marriage that it should disqualify a woman +from voting. Why should marriage disqualify a woman? Men have been +known to vote for years after they were dead! + +Quite different from the "family jar" theory, another reason is +advanced against married women voting--it is said that they would all +vote with their husbands, and that the married man's vote would thereby +be doubled. We believe it is eminently right and proper that husband +and wife should vote the same way, and in that case no one would be +able to tell whether the wife was voting with the husband or the +husband voting with the wife. Neither would it matter. If giving the +franchise to women did nothing more than double the married man's vote +it would do a splendid thing for the country, for the married man is +the best voter we have; generally speaking, he is a man of family and +property--surely if we can depend on anyone we can depend upon him, and +if by giving his wife a vote we can double his--we have done something +to offset the irresponsible transient vote of the man who has no +interest in the community. + +There is another sturdy prejudice that blooms everywhere in all +climates, and that is that women would not vote if they had the +privilege; and this is many times used as a crushing argument against +woman suffrage. But why worry? If women do not use it, then surely +there is no harm done; but those who use the argument seem to imply +that a vote unused is a very dangerous thing to leave lying around, and +will probably spoil and blow up. In support of this statement +instances are cited of women letting their vote lie idle and unimproved +in elections for school trustee and alderman. Of course, the +percentage of men voting in these contests was quite small, too, but no +person finds fault with that. + +Women may have been careless about their franchise in elections where +no great issue is at stake, but when moral matters are being decided +women have not shown any lack of interest. As a result of the first +vote cast by the women of Illinois over one thousand saloons went out +of business. Ask the liquor dealers if they think women will use the +ballot. They do not object to woman suffrage on the ground that women +will not vote, but because they will. + +"Why, Uncle Henry!" exclaimed one man to another on election day. "I +never saw you out to vote before. What struck you?" + +"Hadn't voted for fifteen years," declared Uncle Henry, "but you bet I +came out today to vote against givin' these fool women a vote; what's +the good of givin' them a vote? they wouldn't use it!" + +Then, of course, on the other hand there are those who claim that women +would vote too much--that they would vote not wisely but too well; that +they would take up voting as a life work to the exclusion of husband, +home and children. There seems to be considerable misapprehension on +the subject of voting. It is really a simple and perfectly innocent +performance, quickly over, and with no bad after-effects. + +It is usually done in a vacant room in a school or the vestry of a +church, or a town hall. No drunken men stare at you. You are not +jostled or pushed--you wait your turn in an orderly line, much as you +have waited to buy a ticket at a railway station. Two tame and +quiet-looking men sit at a table, and when your turn comes, they ask +you your name, which is perhaps slightly embarrassing, but it is not as +bad as it might be, for they do not ask your age, or of what disease +did your grandmother die. You go behind the screen with your ballot +paper in your hand, and there you find a seal-brown pencil tied with a +chaste white string. Even the temptation of annexing the pencil is +removed from your frail humanity. You mark your ballot, and drop it in +the box, and come out into the sunlight again. If you had never heard +that you had done an unladylike thing you would not know it. It all +felt solemn, and serious, and very respectable to you, something like a +Sunday-school convention. Then, too, you are surprised at what a short +time you have been away from home. You put the potatoes on when you +left home, and now you are back in time to strain them. + +In spite of the testimony of many reputable women that they have been +able to vote and get the dinner on one and the same day, there still +exists a strong belief that the whole household machinery goes out of +order when a woman goes to vote. No person denies a woman the right to +go to church, and yet the church service takes a great deal more time +than voting. People even concede to women the right to go shopping, or +visiting a friend, or an occasional concert. But the wife and mother, +with her God-given, sacred trust of molding the young life of our land, +must never dream of going round the corner to vote. "Who will mind the +baby?" cried one of our public men, in great agony of spirit, "when the +mother goes to vote?" + +One woman replied that she thought she could get the person that minded +it when she went to pay her taxes--which seemed to be a fairly +reasonable proposition. Yet the hardy plant of prejudice flourishes, +and the funny pictures still bring a laugh. + +Father comes home, tired, weary, footsore, toe-nails ingrowing, caused +by undarned stockings, and finds the fire out, house cold and empty, +save for his half-dozen children, all crying. + +"Where is your mother?" the poor man asks in broken tones. For a +moment the sobs are hushed while little Ellie replies: "Out voting!" + +Father bursts into tears. + +Of course, people tell us, it is not the mere act of voting which +demoralizes women--if they would only vote and be done with it; but +women are creatures of habit, and habits once formed are hard to break; +and although the polls are only open every three or four years, if +women once get into the way of going to them, they will hang around +there all the rest of the time. It is in woman's impressionable nature +that the real danger lies. + +Another shoot of this hardy shrub of prejudice is that women are too +good to mingle in everyday life--they are too sweet and too frail--that +women are angels. If women are angels we should try to get them into +public life as soon as possible, for there is a great shortage of +angels there just at present, if all we hear is true. + +Then there is the pedestal theory--that women are away up on a +pedestal, and down below, looking up at them with deep adoration, are +men, their willing slaves. Sitting up on a pedestal does not appeal +very strongly to a healthy woman--and, besides, if a woman has been on +a pedestal for any length of time, it must be very hard to have to come +down and cut the wood. + +These tender-hearted and chivalrous gentlemen who tell you of their +adoration for women, cannot bear to think of women occupying public +positions. Their tender hearts shrink from the idea of women lawyers +or women policemen, or even women preachers; these positions would "rub +the bloom off the peach," to use their own eloquent words. They cannot +bear, they say, to see women leaving the sacred precincts of home--and +yet their offices are scrubbed by women who do their work while other +people sleep--poor women who leave the sacred precincts of home to earn +enough to keep the breath of life in them, who carry their scrub-pails +home, through the deserted streets, long after the cars have stopped +running. They are exposed to cold, to hunger, to insult--poor +souls--is there any pity felt for them? Not that we have heard of. +The tender-hearted ones can bear this with equanimity. It is the +thought of women getting into comfortable and well-paid positions which +wrings their manly hearts. + +Another aspect of the case is that women can do more with their +indirect influence than by the ballot; though just why they cannot do +better still with both does not appear to be very plain. The ballot is +a straight-forward dignified way of making your desire or choice felt. +There are some things which are not pleasant to talk about, but would +be delightful to vote against. Instead of having to beg, and coax, and +entreat, and beseech, and denounce as women have had to do all down the +centuries, in regard to the evil things which threaten to destroy their +homes and those whom they love, what a glorious thing it would be if +women could go out and vote against these things. It seems like a +straightforward and easy way of expressing one's opinion. + +But, of course, popular opinion says it is not "womanly." The "womanly +way" is to nag and tease. Women have often been told that if they go +about it right they can get anything. They are encouraged to plot and +scheme, and deceive, and wheedle, and coax for things. This is womanly +and sweet. Of course, if this fails, they still have tears--they can +always cry and have hysterics, and raise hob generally, but they must +do it in a womanly way. Will the time ever come when the word +"feminine" will have in it no trace of trickery? + +Women are too sentimental to vote, say the politicians sometimes. +Sentiment is nothing to be ashamed of, and perhaps an infusion of +sentiment in politics is what we need. Honor and honesty, love and +loyalty, are only sentiments, and yet they make the fabric out of which +our finest traditions are woven. The United States has sent carloads +of flour to starving Belgium because of a sentiment. Belgium refused +to let Germany march over her land because of a sentiment, and Canada +has responded to the SOS call of the Empire because of a sentiment. It +seems that it is sentiment which redeems our lives from sordidness and +selfishness, and occasionally gives us a glimpse of the upper country. + +For too long people have regarded politics as a scheme whereby easy +money might be obtained. Politics has meant favors, pulls, easy jobs +for friends, new telephone lines, ditches. The question has not been: +"What can I do for my country?" but: "What can I get? What is there in +this for me?" The test of a member of Parliament as voiced by his +constituents has been: "What has he got for us?" The good member who +will be elected the next time is the one who did not forget his +friends, who got us a Normal School, or a Court House, or an +Institution for the Blind, something that we could see or touch, eat or +drink. Surely a touch of sentiment in politics would do no harm. + +Then there is the problem of the foreign woman's vote. Many people +fear that the granting of woman suffrage would greatly increase the +unintelligent vote, because the foreign women would then have the +franchise, and in our blind egotism we class our foreign people as +ignorant people, if they do not know our ways and our language. They +may know many other languages, but if they have not yet mastered ours +they are poor, ignorant foreigners. We Anglo-Saxon people have a +decided sense of our own superiority, and we feel sure that our skin is +exactly the right color, and we people from Huron and Bruce feel sure +that we were born in the right place, too. So we naturally look down +upon those who happen to be of a different race and tongue than our own. + +It is a sad feature of humanity that we are disposed to hate what we do +not understand; we naturally suspect and distrust where we do not know. +Hens are like that, too! When a strange fowl comes into a farmyard all +the hens take a pick at it--not that it has done anything wrong, but +they just naturally do not like the look of its face because it is +strange. Now that may be very good ethics for hens, but it is hardly +good enough for human beings. Our attitude toward the foreign people +was well exemplified in one of the missions, where a little Italian +boy, who had been out two years, refused to sit beside a newly arrived +Italian boy, who, of course, could not speak a word of English. The +teacher asked him to sit with his lately arrived compatriot, so that he +might interpret for him. The older boy flatly refused, and told the +teacher he "had no use for them young dagos." + +"You see," said the teacher sadly, when telling the story, "he had +caught the Canadian spirit." + +People say hard things about the corruptible foreign vote, but they +place the emphasis in the wrong place. Instead of using our harsh +adjectives for the poor fellow who sells his vote, let us save them all +for the corrupt politician who buys it, for he cannot plead +ignorance--he knows what he is doing. The foreign people who come to +Canada, come with burning enthusiasm for the new land, this land of +liberty--land of freedom. Some have been seen kissing the ground in an +ecstacy of gladness when they arrive. It is the land of their dreams, +where they hope to find home and happiness. They come to us with +ideals of citizenship that shame our narrow, mercenary standards. +These men are of a race which has gladly shed its blood for freedom and +is doing it today. But what happens? They go out to work on +construction gangs for the summer, they earn money for several months, +and when the work closes down they drift back into the cities. They +have done the work we wanted them to do, and no further thought is +given to them. They may get off the earth so far as we are concerned. +One door stands invitingly open to them. There is one place they are +welcome--so long as their money lasts--and around the bar they get +their ideals of citizenship. + +When an election is held, all at once this new land of their adoption +begins to take an interest in them, and political heelers, well paid +for the job, well armed with whiskey, cigars and money, go among them, +and, in their own language, tell them which way they must vote--and +they do. Many an election, has been swung by this means. One new +arrival, just learning our language, expressed his contempt for us by +exclaiming: "Bah! Canada is not a country--it's just a place to make +money." That was all he had seen. He spoke correctly from his point +of view. + +Then when the elections are over, and the Government is sustained, the +men who have climbed back to power by these means speak eloquently of +our "foreign people who have come to our shores to find freedom under +the sheltering folds of our grand old flag (cheers), on which the sun +never sets, and under whose protection all men are free and equal--with +an equal chance of molding the destiny of the great Empire of which we +make a part." (Cheers and prolonged applause.) + +If we really understood how, with our low political ideals and +iniquitous election methods, we have corrupted the souls of these men +who have come to live among us, we would no longer cheer, when we hear +this old drivel of the "folds of the flag." We would think with shame +of how we have driven the patriotism out of these men and replaced it +by the greed of gain, and instead of cheers and applause we would cry: +"Lord, have mercy upon us!" + +The foreign women, whom politicians and others look upon as such a +menace, are differently dealt with than the men. They do not go out to +work, en masse, as the men do. They work one by one, and are brought +in close contact with their employers. The women who go out washing +and cleaning spend probably five days a week in the homes of other +women. Surely one of her five employers will take an interest in her, +and endeavor to instruct her in the duties of citizenship. Then, too, +the mission work is nearly all done for women and girls. The foreign +women generally speak English before the men, for the reason that they +are brought in closer contact with English-speaking people. When I +hear people speaking of the ignorant foreign women I think of "Mary," +and "Annie," and others I have known. I see their broad foreheads and +intelligent kindly faces, and think of the heroic struggle they are +making to bring their families up in thrift and decency. Would Mary +vote against liquor if she had the chance? She would. So would you if +your eyes had been blackened as often by a drunken husband. There is +no need to instruct these women on the evils of liquor drinking--they +are able to give you a few aspects of the case which perhaps you had +not thought of. We have no reason to be afraid of the foreign woman's +vote. I wish we were as sure of the ladies who live on the Avenue. + +There are people who tell us that the reason women must never be +allowed to vote is because they do not want to vote, the inference +being that women are never given anything that they do not want. It +sounds so chivalrous and protective and high-minded. But women have +always got things that they did not want. Women do not want the liquor +business, but they have it; women do not want less pay for the same +work as men, but they get it. Women did not want the present war, but +they have it. The fact of women's preference has never been taken very +seriously, but it serves here just as well as anything else. Even the +opponents of woman suffrage will admit that some women want to vote, +but they say they are a very small minority, and "not our best women." +That is a classification which is rather difficult of proof and of no +importance anyway. It does not matter whether it is the best, or +second best, or the worst who are asking for a share in citizenship; +voting is not based on morality, but on humanity. No man votes because +he is one of our best men. He votes because he is of the male sex, and +over twenty-one years of age. The fact that many women are indifferent +on the subject does not alter the situation. People are indifferent +about many things that they should be interested in. The indifference +of people on the subject of ventilation and hygiene does not change the +laws of health. The indifference of many parents on the subject of an +education for their children does not alter the value of education. If +one woman wants to vote, she should have that opportunity just as if +one woman desires a college education, she should not be held back +because of the indifferent careless ones who do not desire it. Why +should the mentally inert, careless, uninterested woman, who cares +nothing for humanity but is contented to patter along her own little +narrow way, set the pace for the others of us? Voting will not be +compulsory; the shrinking violets will not be torn from their shady +fence-corner; the "home bodies" will be able to still sit in rapt +contemplation of their own fireside. We will not force the vote upon +them, but why should they force their votelessness upon us? + +"My wife does not want to vote," declared one of our Canadian premiers +in reply to a delegation of women who asked for the vote. "My wife +would not vote if she had the chance," he further stated. No person +had asked about his wife, either. + +"I will not have my wife sit in Parliament," another man cried in +alarm, when he was asked to sign a petition giving women full right of +franchise. We tried to soothe his fears. We delicately and tactfully +declared that his wife was safe. She would not be asked to go to +Parliament by any of us--we gave him our word that she was immune from +public duties of that nature, for we knew the lady and her limitations, +and we knew she was safe--safe as a glass of milk at an old-fashioned +logging-bee; safe as a dish of cold bread pudding at a strawberry +festival. She would not have to leave home to serve her country at +"the earnest solicitation of friends" or otherwise. But he would not +sign. He saw his "Minnie" climbing the slippery ladder of political +fame. It would be his Minnie who would be chosen--he felt it coming, +the sacrifice would fall on his one little ewe-lamb. + +After one has listened to all these arguments and has contracted +clergyman's sore throat talking back, it is real relief to meet the +people who say flatly and without reason: "You can't have it--no--I +won't argue--but inasmuch as I can prevent it--you will never vote! So +there!" The men who meet the question like this are so easy to +classify. + +I remember when I was a little girl back on the farm in the Souris +Valley, I used to water the cattle on Saturday mornings, drawing the +water in an icy bucket with a windlass from a fairly deep well. We had +one old white ox, called Mike, a patriarchal-looking old sinner, who +never had enough, and who always had to be watered first. Usually I +gave him what I thought he should have and then took him back to the +stable and watered the others. But one day I was feeling real strong, +and I resolved to give Mike all he could drink, even if it took every +drop of water in the well. I must admit that I cherished a secret hope +that he would kill himself drinking. I will not set down here in cold +figures how many pails of water Mike drank--but I remember. At last he +could not drink another drop, and stood shivering beside the trough, +blowing the last mouthful out of his mouth like a bad child. I waited +to see if he would die, or at least turn away and give the others a +chance. The thirsty cattle came crowding around him, but old Mike, so +full I am sure he felt he would never drink another drop of water again +as long as he lived, deliberately and with difficulty put his two front +feet over the trough and kept all the other cattle away.... Years +afterwards I had the pleasure of being present when a delegation waited +upon the Government of one of the provinces of Canada, and presented +many reasons for extending the franchise to women. One member of the +Government arose and spoke for all his colleagues. He said in +substance: "You can't have it--so long as I have anything to do with +the affairs of this province--you shall not have it!"... + +Did your brain ever give a queer little twist, and suddenly you were +conscious that the present mental process had taken place before. If +you have ever had it, you will know what I mean, and if you haven't I +cannot make you understand. I had that feeling then.... I said to +myself: "Where have I seen that face before?" ... Then, suddenly, I +remembered, and in my heart I cried out: "Mike!--old friend, Mike! +Dead these many years! Your bones lie buried under the fertile soil of +the Souris Valley, but your soul goes marching on! Mike, old friend, I +see you again--both feet in the trough!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +GENTLE LADY + + The soul that idleth will surely die. + + +I am sorry to have to say so, but there are some women who love to be +miserable, who have a perfect genius for martyrdom, who take a delight +in seeing how badly they can be treated, who seek out hard ways for +their feet, who court tears rather than laughter. Such a one is hard +to live with, for they glory in their cross, and simply revel in their +burdens, and they so contrive that all who come in contact with them +become a party to their martyrdom, and thus even innocent people, who +never intended to oppress the weak or harass the innocent, are led into +these heinous sins. + +Mrs. M. was one of these. She prided herself on never telling anyone +to do what she could do herself. Her own poetic words were: "I'd crawl +on my hands and knees before I would ask anyone to do things for me. +If they can't see what's to be done, I'll not tell them." This was her +declaration of independence. Needless to say, Mrs. M. had a large +domestic help problem. Her domestic helpers were continually going and +coming. The inefficient ones she would not keep, and the efficient +ones would not stay with her. So the burden of the home fell heavily +on her, and, pulling her martyr's crown close down on her head, she +worked feverishly. When she was not working she was bemoaning her sad +lot, and indulging in large drafts of self-pity. The holidays she +spent were in sanatoriums and hospitals, but she gloried in her +illnesses. + +She would make the journey upstairs for the scissors rather than ask +anyone to bring them down for her, and then cherish a hurt feeling for +the next hour because nobody noticed that she was needing scissors. +She expected all her family, and the maids especially, to be mind +readers, and because they were not she was bitterly grieved. There is +not much hope for people when they make a virtue of their sins. + +She often told the story of what happened when her Tommy was two days +old. She told it to illustrate her independence of character, but most +people thought it showed something quite different. Mr. M. was +displeased with his dinner on this particular day, and, in his +blundering man's way, complained to his wife about the cooking and left +the house without finishing his meal. Mrs. M. forthwith decided that +she would wear the martyr's crown, again and some more! She got up and +cooked the next meal, in spite of the wild protests of the frightened +maid and nurse, who foresaw disaster. Mrs. M. took violently ill as a +result of her exertions just as she hoped she would, and now, after a +lapse of twenty years, proudly tells that her subsequent illness lasted +six weeks and cost six hundred dollars, and she is proud of it! + +A wiser woman would have handled the situation with tact. When Mr. M. +came storming upstairs, waving his table-napkin and feeling much +abused, she would have calmed him down by telling him not to wake the +baby, thereby directing his attention to the small pink traveler who +had so recently joined the company. She would have explained to him +that even if his dinner had not been quite satisfactory, he was lucky +to get anything in troublous times like these; she would have told him +that if, having to eat poor meals was all the discomfiture that came +his way, he was getting off light and easy. She might even go so far +as to remind him that the one who asks the guests must always pay the +piper. + +There need not have been any heartburnings or regrets or perturbation +of spirit. Mr. M. would have felt ashamed of his outbreak and +apologized to her and to the untroubled Tommy, and gone downstairs, and +eaten his stewed prunes with an humble and thankful heart. + +This love of martyrdom is deeply ingrained in the heart of womankind, +and comes from long bitter years of repression and tyranny. An old +handbook on etiquette earnestly enjoins all young ladies who desire to +be pleasing in the eyes of men to "avoid a light rollicking manner, and +to cultivate a sweet plaintiveness, as of hidden sorrow bravely borne." +It also declares that if any young lady has a robust frame, she must be +careful to dissemble it, for it is in her frailty that woman can make +her greatest appeal to man. No man wishes to marry an Amazon. It also +earnestly commends a piece of sewing to be ever in the hand of the +young lady who would attract the opposite sex! The use of large words +or any show of learning or of unseemly intelligence is to be carefully +avoided. + +People have all down the centuries blocked out for women a weeping +part. "Man must work and women must weep." So the habit of martyrdom +has sort of settled down on us. + +I will admit there has been some reason for it. Women do suffer more +than men. They are physically smaller and weaker, more highly +sensitive and therefore have a greater capacity for suffering. They +have all the ordinary ills of humanity, and then some! They have above +all been the victims of wrong thinking--they have been steeped in tears +and false sentiments. People still speak of womanhood as if it were a +disease. + +Society has had its lash raised for women everywhere, and some have +taken advantage of this to serve their own ends. An orphan girl, +ignorant of the world's ways and terribly frightened of them, was told +by her mistress that if she were to leave the roof which sheltered her +she would get "talked about," and lose her good name. So she was able +to keep the orphan working for five dollars a month. She used the lash +to her own advantage. + +Fear of "talk" has kept many a woman quiet. Woman's virtue has been +heavy responsibility not to be forgotten for an instant. + +"Remember, Judge," cried out a woman about to be sentenced for +stealing, "that I am an honest woman." + +"I believe you are," replied the judge, "and I will be lenient with +you." + +The word "honest" as applied to women means "virtuous." It has +overshadowed all other virtues, and in a way appeared to make them of +no account. + +The physical disabilities of women which have been augmented and +exaggerated by our insane way of dressing has had much to do with +shaping women's thought. The absurdly tight skirts which prevented the +wearer from walking like a human being, made a pitiful cry to the +world. They were no doubt worn as a protest against the new movement +among women, which has for its object the larger liberty, the larger +humanity of women. The hideous mincing gait of the tightly-skirted +women seems to speak. It said: "I am not a useful human being--see! I +cannot walk--I dare not run, but I am a woman--I still have my sex to +commend me. I am not of use, I am made to be supported. My sex is my +only appeal." + +Rather an indelicate and unpleasant thought, too, for an "honest" woman +to advertise so brazenly. The tight skirts and diaphanous garments +were plainly a return to "sex." The ultra feminine felt they were +going to lose something in this agitation for equality. They do not +want rights--they want privileges--like the servants who prefer tips to +wages. This is not surprising. Keepers of wild animals tell us that +when an animal has been a long time in captivity it prefers captivity +to freedom, and even when the door of the cage is opened it will not +come out--but that is no argument against freedom. + +The anti-suffrage attitude of mind is not so much a belief as a +disease. I read a series of anti-suffrage articles not long ago in the +_New York Times_. They all were written in the same strain: "We are +gentle ladies. Protect us. We are weak, very weak, but very loving." +There was not one strong nourishing sentence that would inspire anyone +to fight the good fight. It was all anemic and bloodless, and +beseeching, and had the indefinable sick-headache, kimona, +breakfast-in-bed quality in it, that repels the strong and healthy. +They talked a great deal of the care and burden of motherhood. They +had no gleam of humor--not one. The anti-suffragists dwell much on +what a care children are. Their picture of a mother is a tired, faded, +bedraggled woman, with a babe in her arms, two other small children +holding to her skirts, all crying. According to them, children never +grow up, and no person can ever attend to them but the mother. Of +course, the anti-suffragists are not this kind themselves. Not at all. +They talk of potential motherhood--but that is usually about as far as +they go. Potential motherhood sounds well and hurts nobody. + +The Gentle Lady still believes in the masculine terror of tears, and +the judicious use of fainting. The Jane Austin heroine always did it +and it worked well. She burst into tears on one page and fainted dead +away on the next. That just showed what a gentle lady she was, and +what a tender heart she had, and it usually did the trick. Lord +Algernon was there to catch her in his arms. She would not faint if he +wasn't. + +The Gentle Lady does not like to hear distressing things. Said a very +gentle lady not long ago: "Now, please do not tell me about how these +ready-to-wear garments are made, because I do not wish to know. The +last time I heard a woman talk about the temptation of factory girls, +my head ached all evening and I could not sleep." (When the Gentle +Lady has a headache it is no small affair--everyone knows it!) Then +the Gentle Lady will tell you how ungrateful her washwoman was when she +gave her a perfectly good, but, of course, a little bit soiled party +dress, or a pair of skates for her lame boy, or some such suitable gift +at Christmas. She did not act a bit nicely about it! + +The Gentle Lady has a very personal and local point of view. She +looks, at the whole world as related to herself--it all revolves around +her, and therefore what she says, or what "husband" says, is final. +She is particularly bitter against the militant suffragette, and +excitedly declares they should all be deported. + +"I cannot understand them!" she cries. + +Therein the Gentle Lady speaks truly. She cannot understand them, for +she has nothing to understand them with. It takes nobility of heart to +understand nobility of heart. It takes an unselfishness of purpose to +understand unselfishness of purpose. + +"What do they want?" cries the Gentle Lady. "Why some of them are rich +women--some of them are titled women. Why don't they mind their own +business and attend to their own children?" + +"But maybe they have no children, or maybe their children, like Mrs. +Pankhurst's, are grown up!" + +The Gentle Lady will not hear you--will not debate it--she turns to the +personal aspect again. + +"Well, I am sure _I_ have enough to do with my own affairs, and I +really have no patience with that sort of thing!" + +That settles it! + +She does not see, of course, that the new movement among women is a +spiritual movement--that women, whose work has been taken away from +them, are now beating at new doors, crying to be let in that they may +take part in new labors, and thus save womanhood from the enervation +which is threatening it. Women were intended to guide and sustain +life, to care for the race; not feed on it. + +Wherever women have become parasites on the race, it has heralded the +decay of that race. History has proven this over and over again. In +ancient Greece, in the days of its strength and glory, the women bore +their full share of the labor, both manual and mental; not only the +women of the poorer classes, but queens and princesses carried water +from the well; washed their linen in the stream; doctored and nursed +their households; manufactured the clothing for their families; and, in +addition to these labors, performed a share of the highest social +functions as priestesses and prophetesses. + +These were the women who became the mothers of the heroes, thinkers and +artists, who laid the foundation of the Greek nation. + +In the day of toil and struggle, the race prospered and grew, but when +the days of ease and idleness came upon Greece, when the accumulated +wealth of subjugated nations, the cheap service of slaves and subject +people, made physical labor no longer a necessity; the women grew fat, +lazy and unconcerned, and the whole race degenerated, for the race can +rise no higher than its women. For a while the men absorbed and +reflected the intellectual life, for there still ran in their veins the +good red blood of their sturdy grandmothers. But the race was doomed +by the indolent, self-indulgent and parasitic females. The women did +not all degenerate. Here and there were found women on whom wealth had +no power. There was a Sappho, and an Aspasia, who broke out into +activity and stood beside their men-folk in intellectual attainment, +but the other women did not follow; they were too comfortable, too well +fed, too well housed, to be bothered. They had everything--jewels, +dresses, slaves. Why worry? They went back to their cushions and rang +for tea--or the Grecian equivalent; and so it happened that in the +fourth century Greece fell like a rotten tree. Her conqueror was the +indomitable Alexander, son of the strong and virile Olympia. + +The mighty Roman nation followed in the same path. In the days of her +strength, and national health, the women took their full share of the +domestic burden, and as well fulfilled important social functions. +Then came slave labor, and the Roman woman no longer worked at +honorable employment. She did not have to. She painted her face, wore +patches on her cheeks, drove in her chariot, and adopted a mincing +foolish gait that has come down to us even in this day. Her children +were reared by someone else--the nursery governess idea began to take +hold. She took no interest in the government of the state, and soon +was not fit to take any. Even then, there were writers who saw the +danger, and cried out against it, and were not a bit more beloved than +the people who proclaim these things now. The writers who told of +these things and the dangers to which they were leading unfortunately +suggested no remedy. They thought they could drive women back to the +water pitcher and the loom, but that was impossible. The clock of time +will not turn back. Neither is it by a return to hand-sewing, or a +resurrection of quilt-patching that women of the present day will save +the race. The old avenues of labor are closed. It is no longer +necessary for women to spin and weave, cure meats, and make household +remedies, or even fashion the garments for their household. All these +things are done in factories. But there are new avenues for women's +activities, if we could only clear away the rubbish of prejudice which +blocks the entrance. Some women, indeed many women, are busy clearing +away the prejudice; many more are eagerly watching from their boudoir +windows; many, many more--the "gentle ladies," reclining on their +couches, fed, housed, clothed by other hands than their own--say: "What +fools these women be!" + +There are many women who are already bitten by the poisonous fly of +parasitism; there are many women in whose hearts all sense of duty to +the race has died, and these belong to many classes. A woman may +become a parasite on a very limited amount of money, for the corroding +and enervating effect of wealth and comfort sets in just as soon as the +individuality becomes clogged, and causes one to rest content from +further efforts, on the strength of the labor of someone else. Queen +Victoria, in her palace of marble and gold, was able to retain her +virility of thought and independence of action as clearly as any +pioneer woman who ever battled with conditions, while many a +tradesman's wife whose husband gets a raise sufficient for her to keep +one maid, immediately goes on the retired list, and lets her brain and +muscles atrophy. + +The woman movement, which has been scoffed and jeered at and +misunderstood most of all by the people whom it is destined to help, is +a spiritual revival of the best instincts of womanhood--the instinct to +serve and save the race. + +Too long have the gentle ladies sat in their boudoirs looking at life +in a mirror like the Lady of Shallot, while down below, in the street, +the fight rages, and other women, and defenseless children, are getting +the worst of it. But the cry is going up to the boudoir ladies to come +down and help us, for the battle goes sorely; and many there are who +are throwing aside the mirror and coming out where the real things are. +The world needs the work and help of the women, and the women must +work, if the race will survive. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +WOMEN AND THE CHURCH + + HEART TO HEART TALK WITH THE WOMEN OF THE + CHURCH BY THE GOVERNING BODIES + + Go, labor on, good sister Anne, + Abundant may thy labors be; + To magnify thy brother man + Is all the Lord requires of thee! + + Go, raise the mortgage, year by year, + And joyously thy way pursue, + And when you get the title clear, + We'll move a vote of thanks to you! + + Go, labor on, the night draws nigh; + Go, build us churches--as you can. + The times are hard, but chicken-pie + Will do the trick. Oh, rustle, Anne! + + Go, labor on, good sister Sue, + To home and church your life devote; + But never, never ask to vote, + Or we'll be very cross with you! + + May no rebellion cloud your mind, + But joyous let your race be run. + The conference is good and kind + And knows God's will for every one! + + +In dealing with the relation of women to the church, let me begin +properly with a text in Genesis which says: "God created man in his +_own _image ... male and female created he _them_." That is to say, He +created male man and female man. Further on in the story of the +creation it says: "He gave _them_ dominion, etc." + +It would seem from this, that men and women got away to a fair start. +There was no inequality to begin with. God gave _them_ dominion over +everything; there were no favors, no special privileges. Whatever +inequality has crept in since, has come without God's sanction. It is +well to exonerate God from all blame in the matter, for He has been +often accused of starting women off with a handicap. The inequality +has arisen from men's superior physical strength, which became more +pronounced as civilization advanced, and which is only noticeable in +the human family. Among all animals, with the possible exception of +cattle, the female is quite as large and as well endowed as the male. +It is easy for bigger and stronger people to arrogate to themselves a +general superiority. Christ came to rebuke the belief that brute +strength is the dominant force in life. + +It is no wonder that the teachings of Christ make a special appeal to +women, for Christ was a true democrat. He made no discrimination +between men and women. They were all human beings to Him, with souls +to save and lives to live, and He applied to men and women the same +rule of conduct. + +When the Pharisees brought the woman to Him, accused of a serious +crime, insistent that she be stoned at once, Christ turned his +attention to them. "Let him that is without sin among you throw the +first stone," he said. Up to this moment they had been feeling +deliciously good, and the contemplation of the woman's sinfulness had +given them positive thrills of virtue. But now suddenly each man felt +the spotlight on himself, and he winced painfully. Ordinarily they +would have bluffed it off, and laughingly declared they were no worse +than other men. But the eyes of the Master were on them--kind eyes, +patient always, but keen and sharp as a surgeon's knife; and measuring +themselves up with the sinless Son of God, their pitiful little pile of +respectability fell into irreparable ruin. They forgot all about the +woman and her sin as they saw their own miserable sin-eaten, souls, and +they slid out noiselessly. When they were gone Christ asked the woman +where were her accusers. + +"No man hath condemned me, Lord," she answered truthfully. + +"Neither do I condemn you," He said. "Go in peace--sin no more!" + +I believe that woman did go in peace, and I also believe that she +sinned no more, for she had a new vision of manhood, and purity, and +love. All at once, life had changed for her. + +The Christian Church has departed in some places from Christ's +teaching--noticeably in its treatment of women. Christ taught the +nobility of loving service freely given; but such a tame uninteresting +belief as that did not appeal to the military masculine mind. It +declared Christianity was fit only for women and slaves, whose duty and +privilege it was lovingly to serve men. The men of Christ's time held +His doctrines in contempt. They wanted gratification, praise, glory, +applause, action--red blood and raw meat, and this man, this carpenter, +nothing but a working man from an obscure village, dared to tell them +they should love their neighbor as themselves, that they should bless +and curse not. + +There was no fun in that! No wonder they began to seek how they could +destroy him! Such doctrine was fit for only women and slaves! + +It is sometimes stated as a reason for excluding women from the highest +courts of the church, that Christ chose men for all of his +disciples--that it was to men, and men only, that he gave the command: +"Go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creature," but +that is a very debatable matter. Christ's scribes were all men, and in +writing down the sacred story, they would naturally ignore the woman's +part of it. It is not more than twenty years ago that in a well-known +church paper appeared this sentence, speaking of a series of revival +meetings: "The converted numbered over a hundred souls, exclusive of +women and children." If after nineteen centuries of Christian +civilization the scribe ignores women, even in the matter of +conversion, we have every reason to believe that Matthew, Mark, Luke or +John might easily fail to give women a place "among those present" or +the "also rans." + +Superior physical force is an insidious thing, and has biased the +judgment of even good men. St. Augustine declared woman to be "a +household menace; a daily peril; a necessary evil." St. Paul, too, +added his contribution and advised all men who wished to serve God +faithfully to refrain from marriage "even as I." "However," he said, +"if you feel you must marry, go ahead--only don't say I did not warn +you!" Saint Paul is very careful to say that he is giving this advice +quite on his own authority, but that has in no way dimmed the faith of +those who have quoted it. + +Later writers like Sir Almoth Wright declare there are no good women, +though there are some who have come under the influence of good men. +Many men have felt perfectly qualified to sum up all women in a few +crisp sentences, and they do not shrink from declaring in their modest +way that they understand women far better than women understand +themselves. They love to talk of women in bulk, all women--and quite +cheerfully tell us women are illogical, frivolous, jealous, vindictive, +forgiving, affectionate, not any too honest, patient, frail, +delightful, inconstant, faithful. Let us all take heart of grace for +it seems we are the whole thing! + +Almost all the books written about women have been written by men. +Women have until the last fifty years been the inarticulate sex; but +although they have had little to say about themselves they have heard +much. It is a very poor preacher or lecturer who has not a lengthy +discourse on "Woman's True Place." It is a very poor platform +performer who cannot take the stand and show women exactly wherein they +err. "This way, ladies, for the straight and narrow path!" If women +have gone aside from the straight and narrow path it is not because +they have not been advised to pursue it. Man long ago decided that +woman's sphere was anything he did not wish to do himself, and as he +did not particularly care for the straight and narrow way, he felt free +to recommend it to women in general. He did not wish to tie himself +too closely to home either and still he knew somebody should stay on +the job, so he decided that home was woman's sphere. + +The church has been dominated by men and so religion has been given a +masculine interpretation, and I believe the Protestant religion has +lost much when it lost the idea of the motherhood of God. There come +times when human beings do not crave the calm, even-handed justice of a +father nearly so much as the soft-hearted, loving touch of a mother, +and to many a man or woman whose home life has not been happy, "like as +a father pitieth his children" sounds like a very cheap and cruel +sarcasm. + +It has been contended by those high in authority in church life, that +the admission of women into all the departments of the church will have +the tendency to drive men out. Indeed some declare that the small +attendance of men at church services is accounted for by the +"feminization of the church," which is, in other words, an admission of +a very ugly fact that even in the sacred precincts of the church, women +are held in mild contempt. Many men will resent this statement hotly, +but a brief glance at some of the conditions which prevail in our +social life will prove that there is a great amount of truth in it. +Look at the fine scorn with which small boys regard girls! You cannot +insult a boy more deeply than to tell him he looks like a girl--and the +bitterest insult one boy can hand out to another is to call him a +"sissy." This has been carefully taught to our small boys, for if they +were left to their own observations and deductions they would hold +girls in as high esteem as boys. I remember once seeing a fond mother +buying a coat for her only son, aged seven years. The salesman had put +on a pretty little blue reefer, and the mother was quite pleased with +it, and a sale was apparently in sight. Then the salesman was guilty +of a serious mistake, for as he pulled down the little coat and patted +the shoulders he said: "This is a standard cut, madam, which is always +popular, and we sell a great many of them for both boys and girls." + +Girls! + +Reggie's mother stiffened, and with withering scorn declared that she +did not wish Reggie to wear a girl's coat. She would look at something +else. Reggie pulled off the coat, as if it burned him, and felt he had +been perilously near to something very compromising and indelicate. +Thus did young Reggie receive a lesson in sex contempt at the hands of +his mother! + +Let us lay the blame where it belongs. If any man holds women in +contempt--and many do--their mothers are to blame for it in the first +place, it began in the nursery but was fostered on the street, and +nourished in the school where sitting with a girl has been handed out +as a punishment, containing the very dregs of humiliation; where boys +are encouraged to play games and have a good time, but where until a +few years ago girls were expected to "sit around and act ladylike" in +the playtime of the others. + +The church has contributed a share, too, in the subjection of women, in +spite of the plain teaching of our Lord, and many a sermon has been +based on the words of Saint Paul about women remaining silent in the +churches, and if any question arose to trouble her soul, she must ask +her husband quietly at home. + +But it is at the marriage altar, where women receive the crowning +insult. "Who gives this woman away?" asks the minister. "I do," says +her father or brother, or some male relative, without a blush. +Perfectly satisfactory. One man hands her over to another man, the +inference being that the woman has nothing to do with it. In this most +vital decision of her whole life, she has had to get a man to do the +thinking for her. It goes back to the old days, of course, when a +woman was a man's chattel, to do with as he saw fit. The word "obey" +has gone from some of the marriage ceremonies. Bishops even have seen +the absurdity of it and taken it out. + +Women have held a place all their own in the church. "I am willing +that the sisters should labor," cried an eminent doctor of the largest +Protestant church in Canada, when the question of allowing women to sit +in the highest courts of the church was discussed. "I am willing that +the sisters should labor," he said, "and that they should labor more +abundantly, but we cannot let them rule." And it was so decreed. + +Women have certainly been allowed to labor in the church. There is no +doubt of that. There are many things they may do with impunity, nay, +even hilarity. They may make strong and useful garments for the poor; +they may teach in Sunday-school and attend prayer-meeting; they may +finance the new parsonage, and augment the missionary funds by bazaars, +birthday socials, autograph quilts and fowl suppers--where the +masculine portion of the congregation are given a dollar meal for fifty +cents, which they take gladly and generously declare they do not mind +the expense for "it is all for a good cause." The women may lift +mortgages, or build churches, or any other light work, but the real +heavy work of the church, such as moving resolutions in the general +conference or assemblies, must be done by strong, hardy men! + +It is quite noticeable that each of the church dignitaries who have +opposed woman's entry into the church courts has prefaced his remarks +by elaborate apologies, and never failed to declare his great love for +womankind. Each one has bared his manly breast and called the world to +witness the fact that he loves his mother and is not ashamed to say +so--which declaration is all the more remarkable because no person was +asking, or particularly interested in his private affairs. (Query--Why +shouldn't he love his mother? Most people do.) After having delivered +his soul of these mighty, epoch-making declarations, he has proceeded +to explain that letting women into the church would be the thin edge of +the wedge, and he is afraid women will "lose their femininity." + +Women are not discouraged or cast down. Neither have they any +intention of going on strike, or withdrawing their support from the +church. They will still go on patiently, and earnestly and hopefully. +Sex prejudice is a hard thing to break down, and the smaller the man, +and the narrower his soul, the more tenaciously will he hold on to his +pitiful little belief in his own superiority. The best and ablest men +in all the churches are fighting the woman's battles now, and the +brotherly companionship, the real chivalry, and fairmindedness of these +men, are enough to keep the women's hearts cheered and encouraged. +Toward their opponents the women are very tolerant and hopeful. Many +of them have changed their beliefs in the last few years. They are +changing every day. Those who will not change will die! We always +have this assurance, and in this battle for independence, many a woman +has found comfort in poor Swinburne's pagan hymn of thanksgiving: + + From too much love of living, + From fear of death set free, + We thank thee with brief thanksgiving, + Whatever gods there be! + That no life lives forever, + That dead men rise up never, + That even the weariest river + Leads somehow safe to sea! + + +But when all is over, the battle fought and won, and women are regarded +everywhere as human beings and citizens, many women will remember with +bitterness that in the day of our struggle, the church stood off, aloof +and dignified, and let us fight alone. + +One of the arguments advanced by the men who oppose women's entry into +the full fellowship of the church is that women would ultimately seek +to preach, and the standard of preaching would be lowered. There is a +gentle compelling note of modesty about this that is not lost on +us--and we frankly admit that we would not like to see the standard of +preaching lowered; and we assure the timorous brethren that women are +not clamoring to preach; but if a woman should feel that she is +divinely called of God to deliver a message, I wonder how the church +can be so sure that she isn't. Wouldn't it be perfectly safe to let +her have her fling? There was a rule given long ago which might be +used yet to solve such a problem: + +"And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone, +for if this council, or this work, be of men, it will come to naught, +but if it be of God you cannot overthrow it, lest haply ye be found +even to fight against God." + +That seems to be a pretty fair way of looking at the matter of +preaching; but the churches have decreed otherwise, and in order to +save trouble they have decided themselves and not left it to God. It +must be great to feel that you are on the private wire from heaven and +qualified to settle a matter which concerns the spiritual destiny of +other people. + +Many theories have been propounded as to the decadence of the church, +which has become painfully apparent when great moral issues have been +at stake. That the church could stamp out the liquor traffic has often +been said, and yet although general conferences and assemblies have met +year after year, and passed resolutions declaring that "the sale of +liquor could not be licensed without sin," the liquor traffic goes +blithely on its way and gets itself licensed all right, "with sin," +perhaps, but licensed anyway. Where are all these stalwart sons of the +church who love their mothers so ostentatiously and reverence womanhood +so deeply? + +There is one of Aesop's fables which tells about a man who purchased +for himself a beautiful dog, but being a timid man, he was beset with +the fear that some day the dog might turn on him and bite him, and to +prevent this, he drew all the dog's teeth. One day a wolf attacked the +man. He called on his beautiful dog to protect him, but the poor dog +had no teeth, and so the wolf ate them both. The church fails to be +effective because it has not the use of one wing of its army, and it +has no one to blame but itself. The church has deliberately set its +face against the emancipation of women, and in that respect it has been +a perfect joy to the liquor traffic, who recognize their deadliest foe +to be the woman with a ballot in her hand. The liquor traffic rather +enjoys temperance sermons, and conventions and resolutions. They +furnish an outlet for a great deal of hot talk which hurts nobody. + +Of course, various religious bodies in convention assembled have from +time to time passed resolutions favoring woman suffrage, and +recommending it to the state, but the state has not been greatly +impressed. The state might well reply to the church by saying: "If it +is such a desirable thing why do you not try it yourself?" + +The antagonism of the church to receiving women preachers has its basis +in sex jealousy. I make this statement with deliberation. The smaller +the man, the more disposed he is to be jealous. A gentleman of the old +school, who believes women should all be housekeepers whether they want +to be or not, once went to hear a woman speak; and when asked how he +liked it he grudgingly admitted that it was clever enough. He said it +seemed to him like a pony walking on its hind legs--it was clever but +not natural. + +Woman has long been regarded by the churches as helpmate for man, with +no life of her own, but a very valuable assistant nevertheless to some +male relative. Woman's place they have long been told is to help some +man to achieve success and great reward may be hers. Some day when she +is faded and old and battered and bent, her son may be pleased to +recall her many sacrifices and declare when making his inaugural +address: "All that I am my mother made me!" There are one or two +things to be considered in this charming scene. Her son may never +arrive at this proud achievement, or even if he does, he may forget his +mother and her sacrifices, and again she may not have a son. But these +are minor matters. + +Children do not need their mother's care always, and the mother who has +given up every hope and ambition in the care of her children will find +herself left all alone, when her children no longer need her--a woman +without a job. But, dear me, how the church has exalted the +self-sacrificing mother, who never had a thought apart from her +children, and who became a willing slave to her family. Never a word +about the injury she is doing to her family in letting them be a +slave-owner, never a word of the injury she is doing to herself, never +a whisper of the time when the children may be ashamed of their +worked-out mother who did not keep up with the times. + +The preaching of the church, having been done by men, has given us the +strictly masculine viewpoint. The tragedy of the "willing slave, the +living sacrifice," naturally does not strike a man as it does a woman. +A man loves to come home and find his wife or his mother darning his +socks. He likes to believe that she does it joyously. It is +traditionally correct, and home would not be home without it. No man +wants to stay at home too long, but he likes to find his women folks +sitting around when he comes home. The stationary female and the +wide-ranging male is the world's accepted arrangement, but the belief +that a woman must cherish no hope or ambition of her own is both cruel +and unjust. + +Men have had the control of affairs for a long time, long enough +perhaps to test their ability as the arbiters of human destiny. The +world, as made by man, is cruelly unjust to women, and cruelly beset +with dangers for the innocent young girl. Praying and weeping have +been the only weapons that the church has sanctioned for women. The +weeping, of course, must be done quietly and in becoming manner. Loud +weeping becomes hysteria, and decidedly bad form. Women have prayed +and wept for a long time, and yet the liquor traffic and the white +slave traffic continue to make their inroads on the human family. The +liquor traffic and the white slave traffic are kept up by men for +man--women pay the price--the long price in suffering and shame. The +pleasure and profit--if there be any--belong to men. Women are the +sufferers--and yet the law decrees that women shall not have any voice +in regulating these matters. + +In California, where women have had the vote for three years, there has +been recently enacted a bill dealing with white slavery. It is called +the Quick Abatement Act, and provides for an immediate trial to be +given, when it is believed that prostitution is being carried on in any +house. Our system, under which the trial is set for a date several +weeks ahead, furnishes a splendid chance for the witnesses to +disappear, and the evidence quite often falls through. This bill also +provides a suitable punishment which falls not on the occupants of the +house but on the owner of the property, thereby striking at the profit. +If prostitution is proven against a house, that house is closed for one +year, the owner losing the rent for that time. This puts the +responsibility on property owners, and makes people careful as to their +tenants. Every owner forthwith becomes a morality officer. This is +the greatest and most effective blow ever struck at white slavery, for +it strikes directly at the money side of it. It is a fact worth +recalling that just before women were permitted to vote in California, +this bill was defeated overwhelmingly, but the first time it was +submitted after women were enfranchised it passed easily, although +there was not one woman in the house of representatives; the men +members had a different attitude toward moral matters when they +remembered that they had women constituents as well as men. + +When Christian women ask to vote, it is in the hope that they may be +able with their ballots to protect the weak and innocent, and make the +world a safer place for the young feet. As it is now, weakness and +innocence are punished more than wickedness. + +One of our social workers, going on her rounds, one day met a young +Scotch girl, aged nineteen, who belonged to that class of people whom +we in our superior way call "fallen women." She was a beautiful girl, +with curling auburn hair and deep violet eyes. The visitor asked her +about herself, but the girl was not disposed to talk. Finally the +visitor asked her if she might pray with her. The girl politely +refused. + +"Lady," she said wearily, "what is the use of praying--there is no God. +I know that you think there is a God, Lady," she went on, with a voice +of settled sadness. "I did, too--once--but I know now that there is no +God anywhere." + +Then she told her story. When her mother died in Scotland, she came +out to Canada to live with her brother who had a position in a bank. +She traveled in the care of a Scotch family to her destination. At the +station, an elderly gentlemen in a clerical coat met her and told her +that her brother was ill, but had sent him to meet her. She went with +him unsuspectingly. That was six years ago. She was then thirteen +years old. + +"So you see, Lady," she said, "I know there is no God, or He would +never have let them do to me what they did. Every night I had prayed +to God, and if there were a God anywhere, He would surely have heard my +mother's prayer--when she was dying--she asked God to protect her poor +little motherless girl. It is a sad world, Lady." The girl's eyes +were dry and her voice unbroken. There is a limit even to tears and +her eyes were cried dry. + +According to the laws of the Dominion of Canada, the man who stole this +sweet child from the railway station, would be liable to five years' +imprisonment, if the case could be proven against him, which is +doubtful, for he could surely get someone to prove that she was over +fourteen years of age, or not of previously chaste character, or that +he was somewhere else at the time, or that the girl's evidence was +contradictory; but if he had stolen any article from any building +belonging to or adjacent to a railway station, or any article belonging +to a railway company, he would have been liable to a term of fourteen +years. This is the law, and the church folds its plump hands over its +broadcloth waistcoat and makes no protest! The church has not yet even +touched the outer fringe of the white slave evil and yet those high in +authority dare to say that women must not be given the right to protect +themselves. The demand for votes is a spiritual movement and the +bitter cry of that little Scotch girl and of the many like her who have +no reason to believe in God, sounds a challenge to every woman who ever +names the name of God in prayer. We know there is a God of love and +justice, who hears the cry of the smallest child in agony, and will in +His own good time bind up every broken heart, and wipe away every tear. +But how can we demonstrate God to the world! + +Inasmuch as we have sat in our comfortable respectable pews enjoying +our own little narrow-gauge religion, unmoved by the call of the larger +citizenship, and making no effort to reach out and save those who are +in temptation, and making no effort to better the conditions under +which other women must live--inasmuch as we have left undone the things +we might have done--in God's sight--we are fallen women! And to the +church officials, ministers and laymen who have dared to deny to women +the means whereby they might have done better for the women of the +world, I would like to say that I wonder what they will say to that +Scotch mother, who lay down happily on her death-bed believing that God +would care for her motherless child left to battle with the world. I +wonder how they will explain it to her when they meet her up there! I +wonder will they be able to get away with that old fable about their +being afraid of women "losing their femininity." I wonder! + +There is a story recorded in that book, whose popularity never wanes, +about a certain poor man who took his journey down from Jerusalem to +Jericho, and who fell among thieves who robbed him and left him for +dead. A priest and a Levite came along and were full of sympathy, and +said: "Dear me! I wonder what this road is coming to!" But they had +meetings to attend and they passed on. A good Samaritan came along, +and he was a real good Samaritan, and when he saw the man lying by the +road he jumped down from his horse, and picking him up, took him to the +inn, and gave directions for his care and comfort, even paid out money +for the poor battered stranger. The next day, the Samaritan again +passed down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, and about the same +place found another man, beaten and robbed, undoubtedly the work of the +same thieves. Again he played the part of the kind friend, but it set +him thinking, and when the next day he found two men robbed and beaten, +the good Samaritan was properly aroused. He took them to the inn, and +again he paid out his money, but that night he called a meeting of all +the other good Samaritans "out his way" and they hunted up their old +muskets and set out to clean up the road. + +The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is here, and now. Women have played +the good Samaritan for a long time, and they have found many a one +beaten and robbed on the road of life. They are still doing it, but +the conviction is growing on them that it would be much better to go +out and clean up the road! + +In a certain asylum, the management have a unique test for sanity. +When any of the inmates exhibit evidence of returning reason, they +submit them to the following tests. Out in the courtyard there are a +number of water taps for filling troughs, and to each of the candidates +for liberty a small pail is given, and they are told to drain out the +troughs, the taps running full force. Some of the poor fellows bail +away and bail away, but of course the trough remains full in spite of +them. The wise ones turn off the taps. + +The women of the churches and many other organizations for many long +weary years have been bailing out the troughs of human misery with +their little pails; their children's shelters, day nurseries, homes for +friendless girls, relief boards, and innumerable public and private +charities; but the big taps of intemperance and ignorance and greed are +running night and day. It is weary, discouraging, heart-breaking work. + +Let us have a chance at the taps! + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE SORE THOUGHT + + The toad beneath the harrow knows + Everywhere the tooth mark goes; + The butterfly upon the road + Preaches contentment to the toad. + + +Women have had to do a lot of waiting--long, weary waiting. The +well-brought-up young lady diligently prepares for marriage; makes +doilies, and hemstitches linen; gets her blue trunk ready and--waits. +She must not appear anxious or concerned--not at all; she must +just--wait. When a young man comes along and shows her any attention, +she may accept it, but if after two or three years of it he suddenly +leaves her, and devotes himself to some other girl, she must not feel +hurt or grieved but must go back and sit down beside the blue trunk +again and--wait! He has merely exercised the man's right of choosing, +and when he decides that he does not want her, she has no grounds for +complaint. She must consider herself declined, "not from any lack of +merit, but simply because she is unavailable." If her heart breaks, it +must break quietly, and in secret. + +She may see a young man to whom she feels attracted, but she must not +show it by even so much as the flicker of an eyelash. Hers is the +waiting part, and although marriage and homemaking are her highest +destiny, or at least so she has been told often enough--she must not +raise a hand to help the cause along. No more crushing criticism can +be made of a woman, than that she is anxious to get married. It is all +right for her to be passively willing, but she must not be anxious. + +At dances she must _wait_ until someone asks her to dance; _wait_ until +someone asks her to go to supper. She must not ever make the move--she +must not ever try to start something. Her place is to wait! + +At last her waiting is rewarded and a young man comes by who declares +he would like to marry her, but is not in a position to marry just yet. +Then begins another period of waiting. She must not hurry him--that is +very indelicate--she must wait. Sometimes, in this long period of +waiting, the young man changes his mind, but she must not complain. A +man cannot help it if he grows tired. It must have been her fault--she +did not make herself sufficiently attractive--that's all! She waits +again. + +At last perhaps she gets married. But her periods of waiting are not +over. Her husband wanders free while she stays at home. We know the +picture of the waiting wife listening for footsteps while the clock +ticks loudly in the silent house. The world has decreed that the woman +and home must stay together, while the man goes about his business or +his pleasures--the tied-up woman and the foot-loose man. + +Her boys grow up, and when war breaks out, they are called away from +her, and again the woman waits. Every telegraph boy who comes up the +street may bring the dreaded message; every time the door bell rings +her heart stops beating. But she cannot do anything but wait! wait! +wait! + +Did you ever visit an old folks' home and notice the different spirit +shown by the men and women there? The old men are restless and +irritable; impatient of their inaction; rebellious against fate. The +old women patiently wait, looking out with their dimmed eyes like +marooned sailors waiting for a breeze. Poor old patient waiters! you +learned the art of waiting in a long hard school, and now you have come +to the last lap of the journey. + +So they wait--and by and by their waiting will be over, for the kindly +tide will rise and bear them safely out on its strong bosom to some +place--where they will find not more rest but blessed activity! We +know there is another world, because we need it so badly to set this +one right! + +Women have not always been "waiters." There was a day long past, when +women chose their mates, when men fought for the hand of the woman they +loved, and the women chose. The female bird selects her mate today, +goes out and makes her choice, and, it is not considered unbirdly +either. + +Why should not women have the same privilege as men to choose their +mate? Marriage means more to a woman than to a man; she brings in a +larger contribution than he; often it happens that she gives all--he +gives nothing. The care and upbringing of the children depend upon her +faithfulness, not on his. Why should she not have the privilege of +choosing? + +Too long has the whole process of love-making and marriage been wrapped +in mystery. "Part of it has been considered too holy to be spoken of +and part of it too unholy," says Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Innocence +has been esteemed a young girl's greatest charm, but what good has her +innocence done her? No good at all! It is not calculated to do her +good--her good is not the prime consideration. It makes her more +charming in the eyes of men; but it may bring her great unhappiness. +Lady Evelyn's trusting heart has usually been broken. When the story +begins about the farmer's pretty daughter with limpid blue eyes, sweet +as bluebells washed in dew, all innocent of the world ways, the +experienced reader knows at once what is coming. Innocence is hard on +the woman, however charming it may be to men. The women who go a step +beyond innocence and are so trusting as to be described as +simple-minded, no matter how gentle, patient, and sweet they are, are +absolutely unsafe in this world of man's chivalry and protection. If +you want to know what fate overtakes them, ask the matron of the Refuge +for Unfortunate Women, ask any person who has worked among this class +of women, and they will tell you how much good innocence and the +trusting heart does any woman. This is a sore thought! + +It would be perfectly delightful if our daughters might remain +innocent. They should have that privilege. Innocence belongs to +childhood and girlhood, but under present conditions, it is as +dangerous and foolish as level and unguarded railway crossings, or open +and unguarded trap doors. It is no pleasant task to have to tell a +joyous, sunny-hearted girl of fourteen or fifteen about the evils that +are in the world, but if you love her, you will do it! I would like to +see this work done by trained motherly and tactful women, in the +department of social welfare, paid by the school board. I know the +mothers should do it, but many mothers are ignorant, foolish, lax, and +certainly untrained. The mother's kindly counsel is the best, I know, +but you cannot always rely upon its being there. This is coming, too, +for public sentiment is being awakened to the evils of innocence. + +I remember, twenty years ago, when Dr. Amelia Yeomans, of sainted +memory, published at her own expense, a little leaflet called "Warning +to Girls" and circulated it among girls who were working in public +places, what a storm of abuse arose. I have a copy of the little +tract, and it could be safely read in any mixed gathering today. +Ministers raged against it in the pulpit. I remember one brother who +was very emphatic in his denunciations who afterwards was put out of +the church for indecent conduct. Of course he wanted girls to remain +innocent--it suited his purpose. + +If any person doubts that the society of the present day has been made +by men, and for men's advantage, let them look for a minute at the laws +which govern society. Society allows a man all privilege, all license, +all liberty, where women are concerned. He may lie to women, deceive +them--"all's fair in love and war"--he may break many a heart, and +blast many a fair name; that merely throws a glamour around him. "He's +a devil with women," they say, and it is no disadvantage in the +business or political world--where man dominates. But if a man is +dishonest in business or neglects to pay his gambling bills, he is down +and out. These are crimes against men--and therefore serious. This is +also a sore thought! + +Then when men speak of these things, they throw the blame on women +themselves, showing thereby that the Garden of Eden story of Adam and +Eve and the apple, whether it be historically true or not, is true to +life. Quite Adam-like, they throw the blame on women, and say: "Women +like the man with a past. Women like to be lied to. Women do not +expect any man to be absolutely faithful to them, if he is pleasant. +The man who has the reputation of having been wild has a better chance +with women than the less attractive but absolutely moral man." What a +glorious thing it will be when men cease to speak for us, and cease to +tell us what we think, and let us speak for ourselves! + +Since women's sphere of manual labor has so narrowed by economic +conditions and has not widened correspondingly in other directions, +many women have become parasites on the earnings of their male +relatives. Marriage has become a straight "clothes and board" +proposition to the detriment of marriage and the race. Her economic +dependence has so influenced the attitude of some women toward men, +that it is the old man with the money who can support her in idleness +who appeals to her far more than the handsome, clean-limbed young man +who is poor, and with whom she would have to work. The softening, +paralyzing effects of ease and comfort are showing themselves on our +women. You cannot expect the woman who has had her meals always bought +for her, and her clothes always paid for by some man, to retain a sense +of independence. "What did I marry you for?" cried a woman +indignantly, when her husband grumbled about the size of her millinery +bill. No wonder men have come to regard marriage as an expensive +adventure. + +The time will come, we hope, when women will be economically free, and +mentally and spiritually independent enough to refuse to have their +food paid for by men; when women will receive equal pay for equal work, +and have all avenues of activity open to them; and will be free to +choose their own mates, without shame, or indelicacy; when men will not +be afraid of marriage because of the financial burden, but free men and +free women will marry for love, and together work for the sustenance of +their families. It is not too ideal a thought. It is coming, and the +new movement among women who are crying out for a larger humanity, is +going to bring it about. + +But there are many good men who view this with alarm. They are afraid +that if women were economically independent they would never marry. +But they would. Deeply rooted in almost every woman's heart is the +love of home and children; but independence is sweet and when marriage +means the loss of independence, there are women brave enough and strong +enough to turn away from it. "I will not marry for a living," many a +brave woman has said. + +The world has taunted women into marrying. So odious has the term "old +maid" been in the past that many a woman has married rather than have +to bear it. That the term "old maid" has lost its odium is due to the +fact that unmarried women have made a place for themselves in the world +of business. They have become real people apart from their sex. The +"old maid" of the past was a sad, anemic creature, without any means of +support except the bounty of some relative. She had not married, so +she had failed utterly, and the world did not fail to rub it in. The +unmarried woman of today is the head saleslady in some big house, +drawing as big a salary as most men, and the world kowtows to her. The +world is beginning to see that a woman may achieve success in other +departments of life as well as marriage. + +It speaks well for women that, even before this era, when "old maids" +were open to all kinds of insult, there were women brave enough to +refuse to barter their souls for the animal comforts of food and +shelter. Speaking about "old maids," by which term we mean now a prim, +fussy person, it is well to remember that there are male "old maids" as +well as female who remain so all through life; also that many "old +maids" marry, and are still old maids. + +When women are free to marry or not as they will, and the financial +burden of making a home is equally shared by husband and wife, the +world will enter upon an era of happiness undreamed of now. As it is +now, the whole matter of marrying and homemaking is left to chance. +Every department of life, every profession in which men and women +engage, has certain qualifications which must be complied with, except +the profession of homemaking. A young man and a young woman say: "I +believe we'll get married" and forthwith they do. The state sanctions +it, and the church blesses it. They may be consumptive, epileptic, +shiftless, immoral, or with a tendency to insanity. No matter. They +may go on and reproduce their kind. They are perfectly free to bring +children into the world, who are a burden and a menace to society. +Society has to bear it--that is all! "Be fruitful and multiply!" +declares the church, as it deplores the evils of race suicide. Many +male moralists have cried out for large families. "Let us have better +and healthier babies if we can," cried out one of England's bishops, +not long ago, "but let us have more babies!" + +Heroic and noble sentiment and so perfectly safe! It reminds one of +the dentist's advertisement: "Teeth extracted without pain"--and his +subsequent explanation: "It does not hurt me a bit!" + +Martin Luther is said to have stood by the death-bed of a woman, who +had given birth to sixteen children in seventeen years, and piously +exclaimed: "She could not have died better!" + +"By all means let us have more babies," says the Bishop. Even if they +are anemic and rickety, ill-nourished and deformed, and even if the +mothers, already overburdened and underfed, die in giving them birth? +To the average thinking woman, this wail for large families, coming as +it always does from men, is rather nauseating. + +When the cry has been so persistently raised for more children, the +women naturally wonder why more care is not exerted for the protection +of the children who are already here. The reason is often given for +not allowing women to have the free grants of land in Canada on the +same conditions as men, that it would make them too independent of +marriage, and, as one commissioner of emigration phrased it: "It is not +independent women we want; it is population." + +Granting that population is very desirable, would it not be well to +save what we have? Six or seven thousand of our population in Canada +drop out of the race every year as a direct result of the liquor +traffic, and a higher percentage than this perish from the same cause +in some other countries. Would it not be well to save them? Thousands +of babies die every year from preventable causes. Free milk +depositories and district nurses and free dispensaries would save many +of them. In the Far West, on the border of civilization, where women +are beyond the reach of nurses and doctors, many mothers and babies die +every year. How would it be to try to save them? Delegations of +public-spirited women have waited upon august bodies of men, and +pleaded the cause of these brave women who are paying the toll of +colonization, and have asked that Government nurses be sent to them in +their hour of need. But up to date not one dollar of Government money +has been spent on them notwithstanding the fact that when a duke or a +prince comes to visit our country, we can pour out money like water! + +It does not seem to the thoughtful observer that we need more children +nearly so much as we need better children, and a higher value set upon +all human life. In this day of war, when men are counted of less value +than cattle, it is a doubtful favor to the child to bring it into life +under any circumstances, but to bring children into the world, +suffering from the handicaps caused by the ignorance, poverty, or +criminality of the parents, is an appalling crime against the innocent +and helpless, and yet one about which practically nothing is said. +Marriage, homemaking, and the rearing of children are left entirely to +chance, and so it is no wonder that humanity produces so many specimens +who, if they were silk stockings or boots, would be marked "Seconds." +The Bishop's cry has found many an echo: "Let us have more." + +Women in several of the states have instituted campaigns for "Better +Babies," and by offering prizes and disseminating information, they +have given a better chance to many a little traveler on life's highway. +But all who have endeavored in any way to secure legislation or +government grants for the protection of children, have found that +legislators are more willing to pass laws for the protection of cattle +than for the protection of children, for cattle have a real value and +children have only a sentimental value. + +If children die--what of it? "The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken +away." Let us have more. This is the sore thought with women. It is +not that the bringing of children into the world is attended with pain +and worry and weariness--it is not that: it is that they are held of +such small value in the eyes of this man-made world. This is the +sorest thought of all! + +Even as I write these words, I hear the bugle calling, and down the +street our brave boys in khaki are marching. Today I passed on the +street a mother and her only son, who is now a soldier and going away +with the next contingent. The lad was trying to cheer her as they +walked along. She held him by the hand:--he was just a little boy to +her. + +"It was not for this that I raised him," she said to me bitterly. "It +was not for this! The whole thing is wrong, and it is just as hard on +the German women as on us!" + +Even in her sorrow she had the universal outlook--the very thing that +so many philosophers declare that women have not got! + +I could not help but think that if there had been women in the German +Reichstag, women with authority behind them, when the Kaiser began to +lay his plans for the war, the results might have been very different. +I do not believe women with boys of their own would ever sit down and +wilfully plan slaughter, and if there had been women there when the +Kaiser and his brutal war-lords discussed the way in which they would +plunge all Europe into bloodshed, I believe one of those deep-bosomed, +motherly, blue-eyed German women would have stood upon her feet and +said: "William--forget it!" But the German women were not there--they +were at home, raising children! So the preparations for war went on +unchecked, and the resolutions passed without a dissenting voice. In +German rule, we have a glorious example of male statecraft, +uncontaminated by any feminine foolishness. + +No doubt, it is because all our statecraft has been one-sided, that we +find that human welfare has lagged far behind material welfare. We +have made wonderful strides in convenience and comfort, but have not +yet solved the problems of poverty, crime or insanity. Perhaps they, +too, will yield to treatment when they are better understood, and men +and women are both on the job. As it is now, criminals have only man's +treatment, which is the hurry-up method--"hang him, and be done with +him," or "chuck him into jail, and be quick about it, and let me forget +him." Mothers would have more patience, more understanding, for they +have been dealing with bad little boys all their lives. + +The little family jars which arise in every home, are settled nine out +of ten times by the mother, unless she is the sort of spineless, anemic +woman, who lies down on the job, and says, "I'll tell your father," +which acts as a threat, and sometimes is effective, though it solves no +difficulty. + +To hang the man who commits a crime is a cheap way to get out of a +difficulty; a real masculine way. It is so much quicker and easier +than trying to reform him, and what is one man less after all? Human +life is cheap--to men--and of course there is always the Bishop crying: +"Let us have more." + +The conditions which prevail at the present time are atrocious and help +to make criminals. The worst crimes have not even a name yet, much +less a punishment. What about the crime of working little children and +cheating them out of an education and a happy childhood? There is no +name for it! What about misrepresenting land values and selling lots +to people who have never seen them and who simply rely upon the owner's +word; taking the hard-earned money from guileless people and giving +them swamp land, miles out of the city limits, in return! They tell a +story about a real-estate man who sold Edmonton lots to some people in +the East, assuring them that the lots were "close in," but when the +owner of the lots went to register them, he found they could not be +registered in Alberta--they belonged in British Columbia, the next +province! + +This sort of thing is considered good business, if you can "get away +with it." According to our masculine code of morals--it's "rather +clever"--they say. "You cannot help but admire his nerve!" But not +long since a hungry man stole a banana from a fruit stand and was sent +to jail for it, for the dignity of the law has to be upheld, and the +small thief is the easiest one to deal with and make an example of. +Similarly Chinamen are always severely dealt with. Give it to him! He +has no friends! + +What about the crime of holding up the market, so that the price of +bread goes up, causing poor men's children to go hungry? There is no +name for it! + +What about allowing speculators to hold great tracts of land +uncultivated, waiting for higher prices, while unemployed men walk the +streets, hungry and discouraged, cursing the day they were born: big +strong fellows many of them, willing to work, craving work, but with +work denied them. Yesterday one of them jumped from the High Level +Bridge into the icy waters of the Saskatchewan, leaving a note behind +him saying simply he was tired of it all, and could stand no more--he +"would take a chance on another world." The idle land is calling to +the idle man, and the world is calling for food; and yet these great +tracts of wheat lands lie just outside our cities, untouched by plow or +harrow, and hungry men walk our streets. The crime which the state +commits in allowing such a condition to prevail is as yet unnamed. + +Women have carried many a sore thought in their hearts, feeling that +they have been harshly dealt with by their men folk, and have laid the +blame on the individual man, when in reality the individual has not +been to blame. The whole race is suffering from masculinity; and men +and women are alike to blame for tolerating it. + +The baby girl in her cradle gets the first cold blast of it. "A girl?" +says the kind neighbor, "Oh, too bad--I am sure it was quite a +disappointment!" + +Then there is the old-country reverence for men, of which many a mother +has been guilty, which exalts the boys of the family far above the +girls, and brings home to the latter, in many, many ways, the grave +mistake of having been born a woman. Many little girls have carried +the sore thought in their hearts from their earliest recollection. + +They find out, later, that women's work is taken for granted. A farmer +will allow his daughter to work many weary unpaid years, and when she +gets married he will give her "a feather bed and a cow," and feel that +her claim upon him has been handsomely met. The gift of a feather bed +is rather interesting, too, when you consider that it is the daughter +who has raised the geese, plucked them, and made the bed-tick. But +"father" gives it to her just the same. The son, for a corresponding +term of service, gets a farm. + +There was a rich farmer once, who died possessed of three very fine +farms of three hundred and twenty acres each. He left a farm to each +of his three sons. To his daughter Martha, a woman of forty years of +age, the eldest of the family, who had always stayed at home, and +worked for the whole family--he left a cow and one hundred dollars. +The wording of the will ran: "To my dear daughter, Martha, I leave the +sum of one hundred dollars, and one cow named 'Bella.'" + +How would you like to be left at forty years of age, with no training +and very little education, facing the world with one hundred dollars +and one cow, even if she were named "Bella"? + +To the poor old mother, sixty-five years of age, who had worked far +harder than her husband, who had made butter, and baked bread, and +sewed carpet rags, and was now bent and broken, and with impaired +sight, he left: "her keep" with one of the boys! + +How would you like to be left with "your keep" even with one of your +own children? Keep! It is exactly what the humane master leaves to an +old horse. When the old lady heard the will read which so generously +provided for her "keep," she slipped away without a word. People +thought it was her great grief at losing such a kind husband which made +her pine and droop. But it wasn't. It was the loss of her +independence. Her son and his family thought it strange that "Grandma" +did not care to go to church any more. Of course her son never thought +of giving her collection or money to give to the funds of the church, +and Grandma did not ask. She sat in her corner, and knit stockings for +her son's children; another pitiful little broken bit of human wreckage +cast up by the waves of the world. In two months Grandma had gone to +the house of many mansions, where she was no longer beholden to anyone +for "keep"--for God is more merciful than man! + +The man who made his will this way was not a bad man, but he was the +victim of wrong thinking; he did not realize that his wife had any +independence of soul; he thought that all "mother" cared about was a +chance to serve; she had been a quiet, unassertive woman, who worked +along patiently, and made no complaint. What could she need of money? +The "boys" would never see her want. + +A man who heard this story said in comment: "Well, I don't see what the +old lady felt so badly about, for what does a woman of sixty-five need +of money anyway?" + +He was not a cruel man, either, and so his remark is illuminative, for +it shows a certain attitude of mind, and it shows women where they have +made their mistake. They have been too patient and unassertive--they +have not set a high enough value on themselves, and it is pathetically +true that the world values you at the value you place on yourself. And +so the poor old lady, who worked all her life for her family, looking +for no recompense, nor recognition, was taken at the value she set upon +herself, which was nothing at all. + +That does not relieve the state of its responsibility in letting such a +thing happen. It is a hard matter, I know, to protect people from +themselves; and there can be no law made to prevent women from making +slaves of themselves to their husbands and families. That would be +interfering with the sanctity of the home! But the law can step in, as +it has in some provinces, and prevent a man from leaving his wife with +only "her keep." The law is a reflection of public sentiment, and when +people begin to realize that women are human and have human needs and +ambitions and desires, the law will protect a woman's interest. Too +long we have had this condition of affairs: "Ma" has been willing to +work without any recompense, and "Pa and the boys" have been willing to +let her. + +Of course, I know, sentimental people will cry out, that very few men +would leave their wives in poverty--I know that; men are infinitely +better than the law, but we must remember that laws are not made to +govern the conduct of good men. Good men will do what is right, if +there were never a law; but, unfortunately, there are some men who are +not good, and many more who are thoughtless and unintentionally cruel. +The law is a schoolmaster to such. + +There are some places, where a law can protect the weak, but there are +many situations which require more than a law. Take the case of a man +who habitually abuses and frightens his family, and makes their lives a +periodic hell of fear. The law cannot touch him unless he actually +kills some of them, and it seems a great pity that there cannot be some +corrective measure. In the states of Kansas and Washington (where +women vote) the people have enacted what is known as the "Lazy +Husband's Act," which provides for such cases as this. If a man is +abusive or disagreeable, or fails to provide for his family, he is +taken away for a time, and put to work in a state institution, and his +money is sent home to his family. He is treated kindly, and good +influences thrown around him. When he shows signs of repentance--he is +allowed to go home. Home, very often, looks better to him, and he +behaves himself quite decently. + +Women outlined this legislation and it is in the states where women +vote that it is in operation. There will be more such legislation, +too, when women are given a chance to speak out! + +A New Zealander once wrote home to a friend in England advising him to +fight hard against woman suffrage. "Don't ever let the wimmin vote, +Bill," he wrote. "They are good servants, but bad masters. Over there +you can knock your wife about for five shillings, but here we does jail +for it!" + +The man who "knocks his wife about" or feels that he might some day +want to knock her about, is opposed to further liberties for women, of +course. + +But that is the class of man from whom we never expected anything. He +has his prototype, too, in every walk of life. Don't make the mistake +of thinking that only ignorant members of the great unwashed masses +talk and feel this way. Silk-hatted "noblemen" have answered women's +appeals for common justice by hiring the Whitechapel toughs to "bash +their heads," and this is another sore thought that women will carry +with them for many a day after the suffrage has been granted. I wish +we could forget the way our English sisters have been treated in that +sweet land of liberty! + +The problems of discovery have been solved; the problems of +colonization are being solved, and when the war is over the problem of +world government will be solved; and then the problem will be just the +problem of living together. That problem cannot be solved without the +help of women. The world has suffered long from too much masculinity +and not enough humanity, but when the war is over, and the beautiful +things have been destroyed, and the lands laid desolate, and all the +blood has been shed, the poor old bruised and broken heart of the world +will cry out for its mother and nurse, who will dry her own eyes, and +bind up its wounds and nurse it back to life once more. Perhaps the +old earth will be a bit kinder than it has ever been to women, who +knows? Men have been known to grow very fond of their nurse, and +bleeding has been known to cure mental disorders! + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE LAND OF THE FAIR DEAL + + Lord, take us up to the heights, and show us the glory, + Show us a vision of Empire! Tell us its story! + Tell it out plain, for our eyes and our ears have grown holden; + We have forgotten that anything other than money is golden. + Grubbing away in the valley, somehow has darkened our eyes; + Watching the ground and the crops--we've forgotten the skies. + But Lord, if Thou wilt Thou canst take us today + To the Mount of Decision + And show us the land that we live in + With glorified Vision! + + +Every nation has its characteristic quality of mind; we recognize +Scotch thrift, English persistency and Irish quickwittedness wherever +we see it; we know something, too, of the emotional, vivacious nature +of the French, and the resourcefulness of the American; but what about +the Canadian--what will be our distinguishing feature in the years to +come? The cartoons are kind to us--thus far--and in representing +Canada, draw a sturdy young fellow, strong and well set, full of muscle +and vim, and we like to think that the representation is a good one, +for we are a young nation, coming into our vigor, and with our future +in our own hands. We have an area of one-third of the whole British +Empire, and one-fifth of that of Asia. Canada is as large as thirty +United Kingdoms and eighteen Germanys. Canada is almost as large as +Europe. It is bounded by three oceans and has thirteen thousand miles +of coast line, that is, half the circumference of the earth. + +Canada's land area, exclusive of forest and swamp lands, is +1,401,000,000 acres; 440,000,000 acres of this is fit for cultivation, +but only 36,000,000 acres, or 2.6 per cent of the whole, is cultivated, +so it would seem that there are still a few acres left for anyone who +may happen to want it. We need not be afraid of crowding. We have a +great big blank book here with leather binding and gold edges, and now +our care should be that we write in it worthily. We have no precedents +to guide us, and that is a glorious thing, for precedents, like other +guides, are disposed to grow tyrannical, and refuse to let us do +anything on our own initiative. Life grows wearisome in the countries +where precedents and conventionalities rule, and nothing can happen +unless it has happened before. Here we do not worry about +precedents--we make our own! + +Main Street, in Winnipeg, now one of the finest business streets in the +world, followed the trail made by the Red River carts, and, no doubt, +if the driver of the first cart knew that in his footsteps would follow +electric cars and asphalt paving, he would have driven straighter. But +he did not know, and we do not blame him for that. But we know, for in +our short day we have seen the prairies blossom into cities, and we +know that on the paths which we are marking out many feet will follow, +and the responsibility is laid on us to lay them broad and straight and +safe so that many feet may be saved from falling. + +We are too young a nation yet to have any distinguishing characteristic +and, of course, it would not be exactly modest for us to attribute +virtues to ourselves, but there can be harm in saying what we would +like our character to be. Among the people of the world in the years +to come, we will ask no greater heritage for our country than to be +known as the land of the Fair Deal, where every race, color and creed +will be given exactly the same chance; where no person can "exert +influence" to bring about his personal ends; where no man or woman's +past can ever rise up to defeat them; where no crime goes unpunished; +where every debt is paid; where no prejudice is allowed to masquerade +as a reason; where honest toil will insure an honest living; where the +man who works receives the reward of his labor. + +It would seem reasonable, too, that such a condition might be brought +about in a new country, and in a country as big as ours, where there is +room for everyone and to spare. Look out upon our rolling prairies, +carpeted with wild flowers, and clotted over with poplar groves, where +wild birds sing and chatter, and it does not seem too ideal or +visionary that these broad sunlit spaces may be the homes of countless +thousands of happy and contented people. The great wide uncultivated +prairie seems to open its welcoming arms to the land-hungry, homeless +dwellers of the cities, saying: "Come and try me. Forget the past, if +it makes you sad. Come to me, for I am the Land of the Second Chance. +I am the Land of Beginning Again. I will not ask who your ancestors +were. I want you--nothing matters now but just you and me, and we will +make good together." This is the invitation of the prairie to the +discouraged and weary ones of the older lands, whose dreams have +failed, whose plans have gone wrong, and who are ready to fall out of +the race. The blue skies and green slopes beckon to them to come out +and begin again. The prairie, with its peace and silence, calls to the +troubled nations of Middle Europe, whose people are caught in the cruel +tangle of war. When it is all over and the smoke has cleared away, and +they who are left look around at the blackened ruins and desolated +farms and the shallow graves of their beloved dead, they will come away +from the scenes of such bitter memories. Then it is that this far +country will make its appeal to them, and they will come to us in large +numbers, come with their sad hearts and their sad traditions. What +will we have for them? We have the fertility of soil; we have the +natural resources; we have coal; we have gas; we have wheat land and +pasture land and fruit land. Nature has done her share with a +prodigality that shames our little human narrowness. Now if we had men +to match our mountains, if we had men to match our plains, if our +thoughts were as clear as our sunlight, we would be able to stand up +high enough to see over the rim of things. In the light of what has +happened, our little grabbing ways, our insane desires to grow rich and +stop work, have some way lost their glamour. Belgium has set a pace +for us, has shown us a glimpse of heroic sacrifice which makes us feel +very humble and very small, and we have suddenly stumbled on the great +truth that it is not all of life to live, that is, draw your breath or +even draw your salary; that to get money and dress your family up like +Christmas trees, and own three cars, may not be adding a very heavy +contribution to human welfare; that houses and lands and stocks and +shares may be very poor things to tie up to after all. + +An Englishman who visited Western Canada a few years ago, when +everybody had money, wrote letters to one of the London papers about +us. Commenting on our worldliness, he said: "The people of Western +Canada have only one idea of hell, and that is buying the wrong lots!" + +But already there has come a change in the complexion of our mind. The +last eight months have taught us many things. We, too, have had our +share in the sacrifice, as the casualty lists in every paper show. We +have seen our brave lads go out from us in health and hope, amid music +and cheers, and already we know that some of them will not come back. +"Killed in action," "died of wounds," "missing," say the brief +despatches, which tell us that we have made our investment of blood. +The investment thus made has paid a dividend already, in an altered +thought, a chastened spirit, a recast of our table of values. "Without +the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin" always seemed a +harsh and terrible utterance, but we know now its truth; and already we +know the part of our sin of worldliness has been remitted, for we have +turned away from it. We acknowledge in sorrow that we have followed +strange gods, and worshiped at the worldly altar of wealth and +cleverness, and believed that these things were success in life. Now +we have had before our eyes the spectacle of clever men using their +cleverness to kill, maim and destroy innocent women and children; we +have seen the wealth of one nation poured out like water to bring +poverty and starvation to another nation, and so, through our tears, we +have learned the lesson that it is not wealth or cleverness or skill or +power which makes a nation or an individual great. It is goodness, +gentleness, kindliness, the sense of brotherhood, which alone maketh +rich and addeth no sorrow. When we are face to face with the elemental +things of life, death and sorrow and loss, the air grows very still and +clear, and we see things in bold outlines. + +The Kaiser has done a few things for us. He has made us hate all forms +of tyranny and oppression and autocracy; he has made us hate all forms +of hypocrisy and deceit. There have been some forms of kaiserism +dwelling among us for many years, so veneered with respectability and +custom that some were deceived by them; but the lid is off now--the +veneer has cracked--the veil is torn, and we see things as they are. + +When we find ourselves wondering at the German people for having +tolerated the military system for so long, paying taxes for its +maintenance and giving their sons to it, we suddenly remember that we +have paid taxes and given our children, too, to keep up the liquor +traffic, which has less reasons for its existence than the military +system of Germany. Any nation which sets out to give a fair deal to +everyone must divorce itself from the liquor traffic, which deals its +hardest blows on the non-combatants. Right here let us again thank the +Germans for bringing this so clearly to our notice. We despise the +army of the Kaiser for dropping bombs on defenseless people, and +shooting down women and children--we say it violates all laws of +civilized warfare. The liquor traffic has waged war on women and +children all down the centuries. Three thousand women were killed in +the United States in one year by their own husbands who were under the +influence of liquor. Non-combatants! Its attacks on the +non-combatants are not so spectacular in their methods as the tactics +pursued by the Kaiser's men, who line up the defenseless ones in the +public square and turn machine-guns on them. The methods of the liquor +traffic are not so direct or merciful. We shudder with horror as we +read of the terrible outrages committed by the brutal German soldiers. +We rage in our helpless fury that such things should be--and yet we +have known and read of just such happenings in our own country. The +newspapers, in telling of such happenings, usually have one short +illuminative sentence which explains all: "The man had been drinking." +The liquor traffic has outraged and insulted womanhood right here in +our own country in much the same manner as is alleged of the German +soldiers in France and Belgium! Another thing we have to thank the +Kaiser for is that we have something now whereby we can express what +women owe to the liquor traffic. We know now that women owe to the +liquor traffic the same sort of a debt that Belgium owes to Germany. +Women have never chosen the liquor business, have never been consulted +about it in any way, any more than Belgium was consulted. It has been +wished on them. They have had nothing to do with it, but to put up +with it, endure it, suffer its degradation, bear its losses, pay its +abominable price in tears and heartbreak. Apart from that they have +had nothing to do with it. If there is any pleasure in it--that has +belonged to men; if there has been any gain in it, men have had that, +too. + +And yet there are people who tell us women must not invade the realm of +politics, where matters relating to the liquor traffic are dealt with. +Women have not been the invaders. The liquor traffic has invaded +woman's place in life. The shells have been dropped on unfortified +homes. There is no fair dealing in that. + +A woman stooped over her stove in her own kitchen one winter evening, +making food for her eight-months-old baby, whom she held in her arms. +Her husband and her brother-in-law, with a bottle of whiskey, carried +on a lively dispute in another part of the kitchen. She did not enter +into the dispute, but went on with her work. Surely this woman was +protected; here was the sacred precincts of home, her husband, sworn to +protect her, her child in her arms--a beautiful domesticated Madonna +scene. But when the revolver was fired accidentally it blew off the +whole top of her protected head; and the mother and babe fell to the +floor! Who was the invader? and, tell me, would you call that a fair +deal? + +The people who oppose democratic principles tell us that there is no +such thing as equality--that, if you made every person exactly equal +today, there would be inequality tomorrow. We know there is no such +thing as equality of achievement, but what we plead for is equality of +chance, equality of opportunity. + +We know that absolute equality of opportunity is hardly possible, but +we can make it more nearly possible by the removal of all movable +handicaps from the human race. The liquor traffic, with its resultant +poverty, hits the child in the cradle, whose innocence and helplessness +makes its appeal all the stronger. The liquor traffic is a tangible, +definite thing that we can locate without difficulty. Many of the +causes of poverty and sin are illusive, indefinite qualities such as +bad management, carelessness, laziness, extravagance, ignorance and bad +judgment, which are exceedingly hard to remedy, but the liquor traffic +is one of the things we can speak of definitely, and in removing it we +are taking a step in the direction of giving everybody a fair start. + +When the Boer War was on, the British War Office had to lower the +standard for the army because not enough men could be found to measure +up to the previous standard, and an investigation was made into the +causes which had led to the physical deterioration of the race. Ten +families whose parents were both drinkers were compared with ten +families whose parents were both abstainers, and it was found that the +drinking parents had out of their fifty-seven children only ten that +were normal, while the non-drinking parents, out of their sixty-one +children, had fifty-four normal children and only seven that were +abnormal in any way. They chose families in as nearly as possible the +same condition of life and the same scale of intelligence. It would +seem from this that no country which legalizes the liquor traffic is +giving a fair deal to its children! + +Humanity is disposed to sit weakly down before anything that has been +with us for a long time, and say it is impossible to do away with it. +"We have always had liquor drinking," say some, "and we always will. +It is deeply rooted in our civilization and in our social customs, and +can never be outlawed entirely." Social customs may change. They have +changed. They will change when enough people want them to change. +There is nothing sacred about a social custom, anyway, that it should +be preserved when we have decided it is of no use to us. Social +customs make an interesting psychological study, even among the lower +animals, who show an almost human respect for the customs of their kind. + +Have you ever seen lizards walk into a campfire? Up from the lake they +will come, attracted by the gleam of the fire. It looks so warm and +inviting, and, of course, there is a social custom among lizards to +walk right in, and so they do. The first one goes boldly in, gives a +start of surprise, and then shrivels, but the next one is a real good +sport, and won't desert a friend, so he walks in and shrivels, and the +next one is no piker, so walks in, too. Who would be a stiff? They +stop coming when there are no more lizards in the lake or the fire is +full. There does not seem to be much reason for their action, but, of +course, it is a social custom. You may have been disposed to despise +the humble lizard with his open countenance and foolish smile, but you +see there is something quite human and heroic about him, too, in his +respect for a social custom. + +Moths have a social custom, too, which impels them to fly into the +flame of the candle, and bees will drown themselves in boiling syrup. +No matter how many of their friends and cousins they see lying dead in +the syrup, they will march boldly in, for they each feel that they are +strong enough to get out when they want to. Bees all believe that they +"can drink or leave it alone." + +But moralists tell us that prohibition of any evil is not the right +method to pursue; far better to leave the evil and train mankind to +shun it. If the evil be removed entirely mankind will be forced to +abstain and therefore will not grow in strength. In other words, the +life of virtue will be made too easy. We would gently remind the +moralists who reason in this way that there will still be a few hundred +ways left, whereby a man may make shipwreck of his life. They must not +worry about that--there will still be plenty of opportunities to go +wrong! + +The object of all laws should be to make the path of virtue as easy as +possible, to build fences in front of all precipices, to cover the +wells and put the poison out of reach. The theory of teaching children +to leave the poison alone sounds well, but most of us feel we haven't +any children to experiment on, and so we will lock the medicine-chest +and carry the key. + +A great deal is said about personal liberty in connection with this +matter of the prohibition of the liquor traffic, though the old cry +that every man has a perfect right to do as he likes is not so popular +as it once was, for we have before us a perfect example of a man who is +exercising personal liberty to the full; we have one man who is a +living exponent of the right to do exactly as he likes, no matter who +is hurt by it. The perfect example of a man who believes in personal +liberty for himself is a man by the name of William Hohenzollern. + +If there were only one man on the earth, he might have personal liberty +to do just as he liked, but the advent of the second man would end it. +Life is full of prohibitions to which we must submit for the good of +others. Our streets are full of prohibitory signs, every one of which +infringes on our so-called personal liberty: "Keep off the grass," "Go +slow," "No smoking," "Do not feed the animals," "Post no bills," +"Kindly refrain from conversation." + +Those who profess to understand the human heart in all its workings, +notably beer-drinking bishops and brewers, declare that a prohibitory +measure rouses opposition in mankind. When the law says, "Thou shalt +not," the individual replies, "I certainly shall!" This is rather an +unkind cut at the ten commandments, which were given by divine +authority, and which make a lavish use of "Thou shalt not!" These +brave souls, who feel such a desire to break every prohibition, must +have a hard time keeping out of jail. No doubt it is with difficulty +that they restrain themselves from climbing over the railway gates +which are closed when the train comes in and which block the street for +a few minutes several times a day. + +The Archbishop of York, speaking at the York Convention recently, +declared against prohibition on the ground that when the prohibition +was removed there might be "real and regrettable intemperance"--the +inference being that any little drinking that is going on now is of an +imaginary and trifling nature--and yet the Chancellor of the Exchequer +declares that the liquor traffic is a worse enemy than the Germans, and +Earl Kitchener has added his testimony to the same sentiment. + +The Dean of Canterbury declared that he did not believe in prohibition, +for he once tried total abstinence and he found it impaired his health. +Of course the Dean's health must be kept up whether the warships are +built or not. England may be suffering from loss of men, money and +efficiency, but why worry? The Dean's health is excellent! When we +pray for the erring, the careless and indifferent who never darken a +church door, let us not forget the selfish people who do darken the +church doors, and darken her altars as well! + +But prohibition will not prohibit, say some. For that matter, neither +does any prohibitory law; the laws against stealing do not entirely +prevent stealing; notwithstanding the laws prohibiting murder as set +down in the Decalogue, and also in the statute books of our country, +there are murders committed. Prohibition will make liquor less +accessible. Men may get it still, but it will give them some trouble. +In the year 1909 the saloons in the United States were closed at the +rate of forty-one a day, and $412,000,000 was the sum that the drink +bill decreased. It would seem that prohibition had taken some effect. +But, in spite of the mass of evidence, there is still the argument +that, under prohibition, there will be much illicit selling of liquor. +It will be sold in livery stables and up back lanes, and be carried in +coal-oil cans, and labeled "gopher-poison." Even so, that will not +make it any more deadly in its effects; the effect of liquor-drinking +is much the same whether it is drunk in "the gilded saloon," where +everything is exceedingly legal and regular, or up the back lane, +absolutely without authority. Both are bad! + +Under prohibition, a drunken man is a marked man--he is branded at once +as a law-breaker, and the attitude of the public is that of +indignation. Under license, a drunken man is part of the system--and +passes without comment. For this reason a small amount of drunkenness +in a prohibition territory is so noticeable that many people are +deceived into believing that there is more drunkenness under +prohibition than under license. Prohibition does not produce +drunkenness, but it reveals it, underlines it. Drunkenness in +prohibition territory is like a black mark on a white page, a dirty +spot on a clean dress; the same spot on a dirty dress would not be +noticed. + +There was a licensed house in one of the small prairie towns, which +complied with all the regulations; it had the required number of +bedrooms; its windows were unscreened; the license fee was paid; the +bartender was a total abstainer, and a member of the union; also said +to be a man of good moral character; the proprietor regularly gave +twenty-five dollars a year to the Children's Aid, and put up a cup to +be competed for by the district hockey clubs. Nothing could be more +regular or respectable, and yet, when men drank the liquor there it had +appalling results. There was one Irishman who came frequently to the +bar and drank like a gentleman, treating every person and never looking +for change from his dollar bill. One Christmas Eve, the drinking went +on all night and well into Christmas Day. Then the Irishman, who was +the life of the party, went home, remembering what day it was. It all +came out in the evidence that he had taken home with him presents for +his wife and children, so that his intention toward them was the +kindest. His wife's intention was kind, too. She waited dinner for +him, and the parcels she had prepared for Christmas presents were +beside the plates on the table. For him she had knitted a pair of gray +stockings with green rings around them. They were also shown as +evidence at the inquest! + +It is often claimed that prohibition will produce a lot of sneaking +drunkards, but, of course, this man had done his drinking under +license, and was of the open and above-board type of drinker. There +was nothing underhand or sneaking about him. He drank openly, and when +he went home, and his wife asked him why he had stayed away so long, he +killed her--not in any underhand or sneaking way. Not at all. Right +in the presence of the four little children who had been watching for +him all morning at the window, he killed her. When he came to himself, +he remembered nothing about it, he said, and those who knew him +believed him. A blind pig could not have done much worse for that +family! Now, could it? + +Years after, when the eldest girl had grown to be a woman, she took +sick with typhoid fever and the doctor told her she would die, and she +turned her face to the wall and said: "I am glad." A friend who stood +beside her bed spoke of heaven and the blessed rest that there remains, +and the joy of the life everlasting. The girl roused herself and said, +bitterly: "I ask only one thing of heaven and that is, that I may +forget the look in my mother's face when she saw he intended to kill +her. I do not want to live again. I only want to forget!" The +respectability of the house and the legality of the sale did not seem +to be any help to her. + +But there are people who cry out against prohibition that you cannot +make men moral, or sober, by law. But that is exactly what you can do. +The greatest value a law has is its moral value. It is the silent +pressure of the law on public opinion which gives it its greatest +value. The punishment for the infringement of the law is not its only +way of impressing itself on the people. It is the moral impact of a +law that changes public sentiment, and to say that you cannot make men +sober by law is as foolish as to say you cannot keep cattle from +destroying the wheat by building a fence between them and it, or to +claim you cannot make a crooked twig grow straight by tying it +straight. Humanity can do anything it wants to do. There is no limit +to human achievement. Whoever declares that things cannot be done +which are for the betterment of the race, insults the Creator of us +all, who is not willing that any should perish, but that all should +live and live abundantly. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +AS A MAN THINKETH + + When the valley is brimming with sunshine, + And the Souris, limpid and clear, + Slips over its shining pebbles + And the harvest time draws near, + The heart of the honest plowman + Is filled with content and cheer! + + It is only the poor, rich farmer + Whose heart is heavy with dread, + When over the smiling valley + The mantle of harvest is spread; + "For the season," he says, "is backward + And the grain is only in head!" + + The hired man loves the twilight + When the purple hills grow dim, + And he smiles at the glittering blackbirds + Which round him circle and skim; + His road is embroidered with sunflowers + That lazily nod at him! + + But the rich man's heart is heavy, + With gloom and fear opprest; + For he knows the red-winged blackbird + As an evil-minded pest, + And the golden brown-eyed sunflower + Is only a weed, at best! + + When the purple rain-clouds gather + And a mist comes over the hills, + A peace beyond all telling + The hired man's bosom fills, + And the long, long sleep in the morning + His heart with rapture fills. + + But the rich man's heart is heavy + With gloom and fear of loss, + When the purple clouds drop moisture + On field and flower and moss; + It's all very well for the plowman, + But it's not well at all for the "Boss." + + When the moonlight lies on the valley + And into the hayloft streams, + Where the humble laborer snoreth + And dreameth his peaceful dreams; + It silvers his slumbering fancies + With the witchery of its beams. + + But the poor rich man is restless, + For his heart is on his sheaves; + And the moonlight, cold and cloudless, + For him no fancy weaves, + For the glass is falling, falling, + And the grain will surely freeze! + + So the poor rich farmer misses + What makes this old world sweet; + And the weather grieves the heart of him + With too much rain or heat; + For there's nothing gold that can't be sold, + And there's nothing good but wheat! + + +There is no class of people who have suffered so much from wrong +thinking as the farmer; vicarious wrong thinking, I mean; other people +have done the wrong thinking, and the farmer has suffered. Like many +another bromide, the thought has grown on people that farmers are slow, +uncouth, guileless, easily imposed on, ready to sign a promissory note +for any smooth-tongued stranger who comes in for dinner. The stage and +the colored supplements have spread this impression of the farmer, and +the farmer has not cared. He felt he could stand it! Perhaps the +women on the farm feel it more than the men, for women are more +sensitive about such things. "Poor girl!" say the kind friends. "She +went West and married a farmer"--and forthwith a picture of the +farmer's wife rises up before their eyes; the poor, faded woman, in a +rusty black luster skirt sagging in the back and puckering in the +seams; coat that belonged to a suit in other days; a black sailor hat, +gray with years and dust, with a sad cluster of faded violets, and torn +tulle trimming, sitting crooked on her head; hair the color of last +year's grass, and teeth gone in front. + +There is no reason for the belief that farmers' wives as a class look +and dress like this, only that people love to generalize; to fit cases +to their theory, they love to find ministers' sons wild; mothers-in-law +disagreeable; women who believe in suffrage neglecting their children, +and farmers' wives shabby, discouraged and sad. + +I do not believe that farmers' wives are a down-trodden class of women. +They have their troubles like other people. It rains in threshing +time, and the threshers' visit is prolonged until long after their +welcome has been worn to a frazzle! Father won't dress up even when +company is coming. Father also has a mania for buying land instead of +building a new house; and sometimes works the driving horse. Cows +break out of pastures; hawks get the chickens; hens lay away; +clothes-lines break. + +They have their troubles, but there are compensations. Their houses +may be small, but there is plenty of room outside; they may not have +much spending money, but the rent is always paid; they are saved from +the many disagreeable things that are incident to city life, and they +have great opportunity for developing their resources. + +When the city woman wants a shelf put up she 'phones to the City +Relief, and gets a man to do it for her; the farmer's wife hunts up the +hammer and a soap box and puts up her own shelf, and gains the +independence of character which only come from achievement. Similarly +the children of the country neighborhoods have had to make their own +fun, which they do with great enthusiasm, for, under any circumstances, +children will play. The city children pay for their amusement. They +pay their nickel, and sit back, apparently saying: "Now, amuse me if +you can! What are you paid for?" The blase city child who comes +sighing out of picture shows is a sad sight. They know everything, and +their little souls are a-weary of this world. It is a cold day for any +child who has nothing left to wonder at. + +The desire to play is surely a great stroke of Providence, and one of +which the world has only recently begun to learn. Take the matter of +picnics. I have seen people hold a picnic on the bare prairie, where +the nearest tree was miles away, and the only shade was that of a +barbed-wire fence, but everybody was happy. The success of a picnic +depends upon the mental attitude, not on cool shade or purling streams. + +I remember seeing from the train window a party of young people +carrying a boat and picnic baskets, one hot day in July. A little +farther on we passed a tiny lake set in a thick growth of tall grass. +It was a very small lake, indeed. I ran to the rear platform of the +train and watched it as long as I could; I was so afraid some cow would +come along and drink it dry before they got there. + +Not long ago I made some investigations as to why boys and girls leave +the farm, and I found in over half the cases the reason given was that +life on the farm was "too slow, too lonely, and no fun." In country +neighborhoods family life means more than it does in the city. The +members of a family are at each other's mercy; and so, if the "father" +always has a grouch, and the "mother" is worried, and tired, and cross, +small wonder that the children try to get away. In the city there is +always the "movie" to go to, and congenial companionship down the +street, and so we mourn the depopulation of our rural neighborhoods. + +We all know that the country is the best place in which to bring up +children; that the freckle-faced boy, with bare feet, who hunts up the +cows after school, and has to keep the woodbox full, and has to +remember to shut the henhouse door, is getting a far better education +than the carefree city boy who has everything done for him. + +It is a good thing that boys leave the farm and go to the city--I mean +it is a good thing for the city--but it is hard on the farm. Of late +years this question has become very serious and has caused alarm. +Settlements which, ten or fifteen years ago, had many young people and +a well-filled school and well-attended church, with the real owners +living on the farms, have now become depopulated by farmers retiring to +a nearby town and "renters" taking the place. "Renters" are very often +very poor, and sometimes shiftless--no money to spend on anything but +the real necessities; sometimes even too poor to send their children to +school. + +One cause for this is that our whole attitude toward labor is wrong. +We look upon labor as an uncomfortable experience, which, if we endure +with patience, we may hope to outgrow and be able to get away from. We +practically say: "Let us work now, so that by and by we may be able to +live without working!" Many a farmer and his wife have denied +themselves everything for years, comforting themselves with the thought +that when they have enough money they will "retire." They will not +take the time or the money to go to a concert, or a lecture, or a +picnic, but tell themselves that when they retire they will just go to +everything. So just when they have everything in fine shape on the +farm, when the lilacs are beginning to bloom and the raspberry bushes +are bearing, they "retire." Father's rheumatism is bad, and mother +can't get help, so they rent the farm and retire. + +The people to whom the farm is rented do not care anything about the +lilac or raspberry bushes--there is no money in them. All they care +about is wheat--they have to pay the rent and they want to make money. +They have the wheat lust, so the lilacs bloom or not as they feel +disposed, and the cattle trample down the raspberry bushes and the gate +falls off the top hinge. Meanwhile the farmer and his wife move into +town and buy a house. They get just a small house, for the wife says +she's tired of working. Every morning at 4.30 o'clock they waken. +They often thought about how nice it would be not to have to get up; +but now, someway it isn't nice. They can't sleep, everything is so +quiet. Not a rooster crowing. Nor a hen cackling! They get up and +look out. All down the street the blinds are drawn. Everybody is +asleep--and it all looks so blamed lazy. + +They get up. But there is nothing to do. The woman is not so badly +off--a woman can always tease out linen and sew it up again, and she +can always crochet. Give her a crochet needle, and a spool of +"sil-cotton," and she will keep out of mischief. But the man is not so +easy to account for. He tries hard to get busy. He spades the garden +as if he were looking for diamonds. He cleans the horse until the poor +brute hates the sight of him. He piles his wood so carefully that the +neighbors passing call out and ask him if he "intends to varnish it." +He mends everything that needs it, and is glad when he finds a picket +off the fence. He tries to read the _Farmers' Advocate_. They brought +in a year's number of them that they had never got time to read on the +farm. Someway, they have lost their charm. It seems so lazy in broad +daylight for a grown man to sit down and read. He takes a walk +downtown, and meets up with some idle men like himself. They sit on +the sidewalk and settle the government and the church and various +things. + +"Well, I must be gittin'!" at last he declares; then suddenly he +remembers that he has nothing to do at home--everything is done to a +finish--and a queer, detached feeling comes over him. He is no longer +needed anywhere. + +Somebody is asking him to come in for a drink, and he goes! Why +shouldn't he have a drink or anything else that he wants, he asks +himself. He has worked hard. He'll take two. He'll go even further, +he'll treat the crowd. When he finally goes home and sleeps it off, he +finds he has spent $1.05, and he is repentant. + +That night a young lady calls, selling tickets for a concert, and his +wife would have bought them, but he says: "Go slow, Minnie, you can't +buy everything. It's awful the way money goes in town. We'll see +about this concert--maybe we'll go, but we won't buy tickets--it might +rain!" + +They do not buy the tickets--neither do they go. Minnie does not care +much about going out. She has stayed in too long. But he continues to +sit on the sidewalk, and he hears many things. + +Sometimes people have attributed to women the habit of gossiping, but +the idle men, who sit on the sidewalks of the small towns or tilt back +in the yellow round-back chairs on the hotel verandas, can blacken more +characters to the hour than any other class of human beings. He hears +all the putrid stories of the little town; they are turned over and +discussed in all their obnoxious details. At first, he is repelled by +them, for he is a decent fellow, this man who put in the lilacs and the +raspberry bushes back there on the farm. He objects to the remarks +that are passed about the women who go by, and he says so, and he and +one of the other men have "words." + +The bartender hears it and comes out and settles it by inviting +everyone in to have "one on the house." + +That brings back good-fellowship, and everyone treats. He sees then +that nobody meant any harm--it was all just in fun. A few glasses of +"White Horse" will keep a man from being too sensitive about things. +So he laughs with the others at the indecent joke. This is life--town +life. Now he is out in the world! + +So begins the degeneration of a man, and it is all based on the false +attitude we have toward labor. His idea of labor was wrong while he +was on the farm. He worked and did nothing else, until he forgot how +to do everything else. Then he stopped working, and he was lost. + +Why any rational human being wants to "retire" to the city, goes beyond +me! I can understand the city man, worn with the noise, choked by the +dust, frazzled with cares, retiring to the country, where he can heal +his tired soul, pottering around his own garden, and watching green +things grow. That seems reasonable and logical! But for a man who has +known the delight of planting and reaping to retire to a city or a +small town, and "hang around," doing nothing, is surely a retrograde +step. + +The retired farmer is seldom interested in community matters--they +usually vote against any by-law for improvement. Coal-oil lamps were +good enough on the farm--why should a town have electric light? Why +should a town spend money on cement sidewalks when they already have +good dirt roads? He will not subscribe funds for the support of a +gymnasium, hockey club or public baths. He does not understand about +the need of exercise, he always got too much; and he doesn't see any +reason why the boys should not go to the river and swim. + +It is not that the farmer is selfish or mean above or below other men. +It is because he has not learned team play or the community spirit. +But it is coming. The farmer has been an independent fellow, able to +get along without much help from anyone. He could always hire plenty +of men, and there are machines for every need. So far as the farmer +has been concerned, he could get along very well. + +It has not been so with the farmer's wife. More than any other woman +she has needed help, and less than any other woman has she got it. She +has been left alone, to live or die, sink or swim. + +Machines for helping the man on the farm are on the market in great +numbers, and are bought eagerly, for the farmer reasons out the matter +quite logically, and arrives at the conclusion that anything which will +add to the productiveness of his farm is good buying. He can see the +financial value of a seeder, or a roller, or a feed chopper. Now, with +a washing-machine it is different. A washing-machine can only wash +clothes, and his wife has always been able to get the clothes washed +some way. The farmer does not see any return for his ten dollars and a +half, and so he passes up the machine. Besides this, his mother never +used one, and always managed to keep the clothes clean, too, and that +settles it! + +The outside farm work has progressed wonderfully, but the indoor farm +work is done in exactly the same way as it was twenty-five years ago, +with the possible exception of the cream-separator. + +Many a farmyard, with its binders, rakes, drills, rollers, gasoline +engine, fanning-mill, and steam-plow looks as if someone had been +giving a machinery shower; but in the kitchen you will find the old +washboard and dasher churn, which belonged to the same era as the +reaping hook and tallow candle. The women still carry the water in a +pail from a pump outside, wash the dishes on the kitchen table, and +carry the water out again in a pail; although out in the barn the water +is pumped by a windmill, or a gasoline engine. The outside work on the +farm is done by horse, steam, or gasoline, but the indoor work is all +done by woman-power. + +And then, when the woman-power gives out, as it does many times, under +the strain of hard work and childbearing, the whole neighborhood mourns +and says: "God's ways are past finding out." + +I remember once attending the funeral of a woman who had been doing the +work for a family of six children and three hired men, and she had not +even a baby carriage to make her work lighter. When the last baby was +three days old, just in threshing time, she died. Suddenly, and +without warning, the power went off, and she quit without notice. The +bereaved husband was the most astonished man in the world. He had +never known Jane to do a thing like that before, and he could not get +over it. In threshing time, too! + +"I don't know what could have happened to Jane--a strong young woman +like her," he said over and over again. + +We all gathered at the house that afternoon and paid our respects to +the deceased sister, and we were all very sorry for poor Ed. We said +it was a terrible way for a poor man to be left. + +The chickens came close to the dining-room door, and looked in, +inquisitively. They could not understand why she did not come out and +feed them, and when they were driven away they retreated in evident bad +humor, gossiping openly of the shiftless, lazy ways of folks they could +mention, if they wished to name names. + +The six little children, whom the neighbor women had dressed in their +best clothes, sat dazed and silent, fascinated by the draped black +coffin; but the baby, the tiny one who had just entered the race, +gathered up the feeling of the meeting, and cried incessantly in a room +upstairs. It was a hard rebellious cry, too, as if the little one +realized that an injustice had been done. + +Just above the coffin hung an enlarged picture of "Jane" in her wedding +dress, and it was a bright face that looked out at the world from the +heavy gold frame, a sweet girlish face, which seemed to ask a question +with its eager eyes. And there below, in the black draped coffin, was +the answer--the same face, only a few years older, but tired, so +inexpressibly tired, cold and silent; its light gone out--the power +gone off. Jane had been given her answer. And upstairs Jane's baby +cried its bitter, insistent cry. + +Just then the minister began to read the words of the funeral service: + +"Inasmuch as it hath _pleased_ the Lord...." + +This happened in the fall of the year, and the next spring, just before +the busy time came on, the bereaved husband dried his eyes, painted his +buggy, and went out and married one of the neighbor's daughters, a good +strong one--and so his house is still running on woman-power. + +If men had to bear the pain and weariness of child-bearing, in addition +to the unending labors of housework and caring for children, for one +year, at the end of that time there would be a perfect system of +cooperation and labor-saving devices in operation, for men have not the +genius for martyrdom that women have; and they know the value of +cooperative labor. No man tries to do everything the way women do. No +man aspires to making his own clothes, cleaning his own office, +pressing his own suits, or even cleaning his own shoes. All these +things he is quite willing to let people do for him, while he goes +ahead and does his own work. Man's work is systematized well and +leaves a man free to work in his own way. His days are not broken up +by details. + +On the other hand the home is the most haphazard institution we have. +Everything is done there. (I am speaking now of the homes in the +country.) In each of the homes there is a little bit of washing done, +a little dressmaking, a little butter-making, a little baking, a little +ironing going on, and it is all by hand-power, which is the most +expensive power known. It is also being done largely by amateurs, and +that adds to the amount of labor expended. Women have worked away at +these endless tasks for generations, lovingly, unselfishly, doing their +level best to do everything, with no thought of themselves at all. +When things get too many for them, and the burdens overpower them, they +die quietly, and some other woman, young, strong and fresh, takes their +place, and the modest white slab in the graveyard says, "Thy will be +done," and everybody is apparently satisfied. The Lord is blamed for +the whole thing. + +Now, if men, with their good organizing ability and their love of +comfort and their sense of their own importance, were set down to do +the work that women have done all down the centuries, they would evolve +a scheme something like this in each of the country neighborhoods. +There would be a central station, municipally owned and operated, one +large building fitted out with machinery that would be run by gasoline, +electricity, or natural gas. This building would contain in addition +to the school-rooms, a laundry room, a bake-shop, a creamery, a +dressmaking establishment, and perhaps a butcher shop. + +The consolidated school and the "Beef-rings" in the country district +are already established facts, and have opened the way for this larger +scheme of cooperation. In this manner the work would be done by +experts, and in the cheapest way, leaving the women in the farm homes +with time and strength to raise their children. + +This plan would solve the problem, too, of young people leaving the +farm. Many of the young people would find occupation in the central +station and become proficient in some branch of the work carried on +there. They would find not only employment, but the companionship of +people of their own age. The central station would become a social +gathering place in the evenings for all the people of the district, and +it is not too visionary to see in it a lecture hall, a moving-picture +machine, and a music room. Then the young people would be kept on the +farms because their homes would be pleasanter places. No woman can +bake, wash, scrub, cook meals and raise children and still be happy. +To do all these things would make an archangel irritable, and no home +can be happy when the poor mother is too tired to smile! The children +feel an atmosphere of gloom, and naturally get away from it as soon as +they can. The overworked mother cannot make the home attractive; the +things that can be left undone are left undone, and so the cushions on +the lounge are dirty and torn, the pictures hang crooked on the walls, +and the hall lamp has had no oil in it for months. That does not +matter, though, for the family live in the kitchen, and, during the +winter, the other part of the house is of the same temperature as a +well. Knowing that she is not keeping her house as it should be kept +has taken the heart out of many a woman on the farm. But what can she +do? The meals have to be cooked; the butter must be made! + +There are certain burdens which could be removed from the women on the +farm; there is part of their work that could be done cheaper and better +elsewhere, and the whole farm and all its people would reap the benefit. + +But right about here I think I hear from Brother Bones of Bonesville: + +"Do you mean to say that we should pay for the washing, ironing, +bread-making, sewing?" he cries out. "We never could afford it, and, +besides, what would the women put in their time at if all that work was +done for them?" + +Brother Bones, we can always afford to pay for things in money rather +than in human flesh and blood. That is the most exorbitant price the +race can pay for anything, and we have been paying for farm work that +way for a long time. If you doubt this statement, I can show you the +receipts which have been chiseled in stone and marble in every +graveyard. + + SACRED TO THE MEMORY + OF + JANE + + BELOVED WIFE OF EDWARD JAMES. + AGED 32 YEARS AND 6 MONTHS. + + +Who can estimate the worth of a mother to her family and the community? + +An old widower, who was reproved for marrying a very young girl for his +third wife, exonerated himself from blame by saying: "It would ruin any +man to be always buryin', and buryin'." + +But Brother Bones is not yet satisfied, and he is sure the women will +have nothing to do if such a scheme would be followed out, and he tells +us that his mother always did these things herself and raised her +family, too. + +"I can tell you," says Brother Bones, "my mother knew something about +rearing children; she raised seven and buried seven, and she never lay +in bed for more than three days with any of them. Poor mother, she was +a very smart woman--at least so I have been told--I don't remember her." + +That's just the point, Brother Bones. It is a great thing to have the +memory of such a self-sacrificing mother, but it would be a greater +thing to have your mother live out her days; and then, too, we are +thinking of the "seven" she buried. That seems like a wicked and +unnecessary waste of young life, of which we should feel profoundly +ashamed. Poor little people, who came into life, tired and weak, +fretfully complaining, burdened already with the cares of the world and +its unending labor-- + + Your old earth, they say, is very weary; + Our young feet, they say, are very weak, + +and when the measles or whooping-cough assails them they have no +strength to battle with it, and so they pass out, and again the Lord is +blamed! + +It is very desirable for the world that people should be born and +brought up in the country with its honest, wholesome ways learned in +the open; its habits of meditation, which have grown on the people as +they have gone about their work in the quiet places. Thought currents +in the country are strong and virile, and flow freely. There is an +honesty of purpose in the man who strikes out the long furrow, and +turns over every inch of the sod, painstakingly and without pretense; +for he knows that he cannot cheat nature; he will get back what he puts +in; he will reap what he sows--for Nature has no favorites, and no +short-cuts, nor can she be deceived, fooled, cajoled or flattered. + +We need the unaffected honesty and sterling qualities which the country +teaches her children in the hard, but successful, school of experience, +to offset the flashy supercilious lessons which the city teaches hers; +for the city is a careless nurse and teacher, who thinks more of the +cut of a coat than of the habit of mind; who feeds her children on +colored candy and popcorn, despising the more wholesome porridge and +milk; a slatternly nurse, who would rather buy perfume than soap; who +allows her children to powder their necks instead of washing them; who +decks them out in imitation lace collars, and cheap jewelry, with bows +on their hair, but holes in their stockings; who dazzles their eyes +with bright lights and commercial signs, and fills their ears with +blatant music, until their eyes are too dull to see the pastel beauty +of common things, and their ears are holden to the still small voices +of God; who lures her children on with many glittering promises of ease +and wealth, which she never intends to keep, and all the time whispers +to them that this is life. + +The good old country nurse is stern but kind, and gives her children +hard lessons, which tax body and brain, but never fail to bring a great +reward. She sends them on long journeys, facing the piercing winter +winds, but rewards them when the journey is over with rosy cheeks and +contented mind, and an appetite that is worth going miles to see; and +although she makes her children work long hours, until their muscles +ache, she gives them, for reward, sweet sleep and pleasant dreams; and +sometimes there are the sweet surprises along life's highway; the +sudden song of birds or burst of sunshine; the glory of the sunrise, +and sunset, and the flash of bluebirds' wings across the road, and the +smell of the good green earth. + +Happy is the child who learns earth's wisdom from the good old country +nurse, who does better than she promises, and always "makes her +children mind"! + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE WAR AGAINST GLOOM + + Not for all sunshine, dear Lord, do we pray-- + We know such a prayer would be vain; + But that strength may be ours to keep right on our way, + Never minding the rain! + + +It is a great thing to be young, when every vein throbs with energy and +life, when the rhythm of life beats its measures into our hearts and +calls upon us to keep step with Joy and Gladness, as we march +confidently down the white road which leads to the Land of our Desire. +God made every young thing to be happy. He put joy and harmony into +every little creature's heart. Who ever saw a kitten with a grouch? +Or a little puppy who was a pessimist? But you have seen sad children +a-plenty, and we are not blaming the Almighty for that either. God's +plans have been all right, but they have been badly interfered with by +human beings. + +When a young colt gallops around the corral, kicking and capering and +making a good bit of a nuisance of himself, the old horses watch him +sympathetically, and very tolerantly. They never say; "It is well for +you that you can be so happy--you'll have your troubles soon enough. +Childhood is your happiest time--you do well to enjoy it, for there's +plenty of trouble ahead of you!" + +Horses never talk this way. This is a distinctively human way of +depressing the young. People do it from a morbid sense of duty. They +feel that mirth and laughter are foreign to our nature, and should be +curbed as something almost wicked. + +"It's a fine day, today!" we admit grudgingly, "but, look out! We'll +pay up for it!" + +"I have been very well all winter, but I must not boast. Touch wood!" + +The inference here is that when we are healthy or happy or enjoying a +fine day, we are in an abnormal condition. We are getting away with a +bit of happiness that is not intended for us. God is not noticing, and +we had better go slow and keep dark about it, or He will waken up with +a start, and send us back to our aches and pains and our dull leaden +skies! Thus have we sought to sow the seeds of despondency and +unbelief in the world around us. + +In the South African War, there was a man who sowed the seeds of +despondency among the British soldiers; he simply talked defeat and +disaster, and so greatly did he damage the morale of the troops that an +investigation had to be made, and as a result the man was sent to jail +for a year. People have been a long time learning that thoughts are +things to heal, upbuild, strengthen; or to wound, impair, or blight. +After all we cannot do very much for many people, no matter how hard we +try, but we can contribute to their usefulness and happiness by holding +for them a kind thought if we will. + +There are people who depress you so utterly that if you had to remain +under their influence they would rob you of all your ambition and +initiative, while others inspire you to do better, to achieve, to +launch out. Life is made up of currents of thought as real as are the +currents of air, and if we could but see them, there are currents of +thought we would avoid as we would smallpox germs. + +Sadness is not our normal mental condition, nor is weakness our normal +physical condition. God intended us to laugh and play and work, come +to our beds at night weary and ready to sleep--and wake refreshed. + +"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he!" No truer words were ever +spoken, and yet men try to define themselves by houses and lands and +manners and social position, but all to no avail. The old rule holds. +It is your thought which determines what manner of man you are. The +respectable man who keeps within the law and does no outward harm, but +who thinks sordidly, meanly, or impurely, is the man of all others who +is farthest from the kingdom of God, because he does not feel his need, +nor can anyone help him. Thoughts are harder to change than ways. + +"Let the wicked man forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his +thoughts," declared Isaiah long ago, and there is no doubt the +unrighteous man has the hardest and biggest proposition put up to him. + +When the power of thought is understood, there will be a change in our +newspapers. Now the tendency is to ignore the good in life and +underline the evil in red ink. If a man commits a theft, it will make +a newspaper story, bought and paid for at regular rates. If it is a +very big steal, you may wire it in and get telegraphic rates. If the +thief shoots a man, too, send along his picture and you may make the +story two columns. If he shoots two or three people, you may give him +the whole front page, and somebody will write a book about him. It +will sell, too. How much more wholesome would our newspapers be, if +they published the good deeds of men and women rather than their +misdoings. Why should not as much space be given to the man who saves +a life, as is given to the man who takes a life? Why not let us hear +more of the boy who went right, rather than of the one who went wrong? +I remember once reading an obscure little paragraph about a man who +every year a few days before Christmas sent twenty-five dollars to the +Postal Department at Ottawa, to pay the deficit on Christmas parcels +which were held up for insufficient postage. Such a thoughtful act of +Christian charity should have been given a place on the front page, for +in the words of Jennie Allen: "Life ain't any too full of nice little +surprises like that." Why should people enjoy the contemplation of +evil rather than good? Is it because it makes their own little +contribution of respectability seem larger by comparison? + +We have missed a great deal of the joy of life by taking ourselves too +seriously. We exaggerate our own importance, and so if the honor or +distinction or the vote of thanks does not come our way, we are hurt! +Then, too, we live in an atmosphere of dread and fear--we fear poverty +and hard work--we fear the newspapers and the neighbors, and fear is +hell! + +When you begin to feel all fussed up, worried, and cross, frayed at the +edges, and down at the heel--go out and look up at the stars. They are +so serene, detached, and uncaring! Calmly shining down upon us they +rebuke the fussiness of our little souls, and tell us to cheer up, for +our little affairs do not much matter anyway. + + The earthly hope men set their hearts upon + Turns ashes, or it prospers--and anon + Like snow upon the desert's arid face, + Cooling a little hour or two--is gone! + + +It is a great mistake for us to mistake ourselves for the President of +the company. Let us do our little bit with cheerfulness and not take +the responsibility that belongs to God. None of us can turn the earth +around; all we can ever hope to do is to hit it a few whacks on the +right side. We belong to a great system; a system which can convince +even the dullest of us of its greatness. Think of the miracle of night +and day enacted before our eyes every twenty-four hours. Right on the +dot comes the sun up over the saucer-like rim of the earth, never a +minute late. Think of the journey the earth makes around the sun every +year--a matter of 360,000,000 miles more or less--and it makes the +journey in an exact time and arrives on the stroke of the clock, no +washout on the line; no hot box; no spread rail; no taking on of coal +or water; no employees' strike. It never drops a stick; it never slips +a cog; and whirls in through space always on the minute. And that +without any help from either you or me! Some system, isn't it? + +I believe we may safely trust God even with our affairs. When the war +broke out we all experienced a bad attack of gloom. We were afraid God +had forgotten us and gone off the job. And yet, even now, we begin to +see light through the dark clouds of sorrow and confusion. If the war +brings about the abolition of the liquor traffic, it will be justified. +Incidentally the war has already brought many by-products which are +wholly good, and it would almost seem as if there is a plan in it after +all. + +Life is a great struggle against gloom, and we could fight it better if +we always remembered that happiness is a condition of heart and is not +dependent on outward conditions. The kingdom of heaven is within you. +Everything depends on the point of view. + + Two prisoners looked out once through the bars, + One saw the mud, the other saw the stars. + + +Looking into the sky one sees the dark clouds and foretells rain, and +the picnic spoiled; another sees the rift of blue and foretells fine +weather. Looking out on life, one sees only its sad grayness; another +sees the thread of gold, "which sometimes in the patterns shows most +sweet where there are somber colors"! Happiness is a condition, and if +you are not happy now, you had better be alarmed about yourself, for +you may never be. + +There was a woman who came with her family to the prairie country +thirty-five years ago. They built a house, which in those days of sod +roofs and Red-River frames seemed quite palatial, for had it not a +"parlor" and a pantry and three bedrooms? The lady grieved and mourned +incessantly because it had no back-stairs. In ten years they built +another house, and it had everything, back-stairs, dumb-waiter, and +laundry shoot, and all the neighbors wondered if the lady would be +happy then. She wasn't. She wanted to live in the city. She had the +good house now and that part of her discontent was closed down, so it +broke out in another place. She hated the country. By diligently +keeping at it, she induced her husband to go to the city where the poor +man was about as much at home as a sailor at a dry-farming congress. +He made no complaint, however. The complaint department was always +busy! She suddenly discovered that a Western city was not what she +wanted. It was "down East." So they went. They bought a beautiful +home in the orchard country in Ontario, and her old neighbors watched +development. Surely she had found peace at last--but she hadn't. She +did not like the people--she missed the friendliness of the new +country; also she objected to the winters, and her dining-room was +dark, and the linen closet was small. Soon after moving to Ontario she +died, and we presume went to heaven. It does not matter where she +went--she won't like it, anyway. She had the habit of discontent. + +There's no use looking ahead for happiness--look around! If it is +anywhere, it is here. + +"I am going out to bring in some apples to eat," said a farmer to his +wife. + +"Mind you bring in the spotted ones," said she who had a frugal mind. + +"What'll I do if there are no spotted ones?" he asked. + +"Don't bring any--just wait until they do spot!" + +Too many people do not eat their apples until they are spotted. + +But we know that life has its tragedies, its heartaches, its gloom, in +spite of all our philosophy. We may as well admit it. We have no +reason to believe that we shall escape, but we have reason to hope that +when these things come to us we will be able to bear them. + +"Thou shalt not be _afraid_ of the terror by day, nor of the arrow that +flieth by night, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor +for the destruction that wasteth at noonday." + +You will notice here that the promise is that you will not be afraid of +these things. They may come to you, but they will not overpower you, +or destroy you utterly, for you will not be afraid of them. It is fear +that kills. It is better to have misfortunes come, and be brave to +meet them, than to be afraid of them all your life, even if they never +come. + +Gloom and doubt and fear paralyze the soul and sow it thick with the +seeds of defeat. No man is a failure until he admits it himself. + +Tramps have a way of marking gateposts so that their companions who may +come along afterwards may know exactly what sort of people live inside, +and whether it is worth while to ask them for a meal. A certain sign +means "Easy people--no questions"; another sign means "Nothing +stirring--don't go in"; another means "Beat it or they'll give you a +job with lots of advice!" and still another means "Dog." Every doubt +and fear that enters your heart, or tries to enter, leaves its mark +upon the gatepost of your soul, and it serves as a guide for every +other doubt and fear which may come along, and if they once mark you +"Easy," that signal will act as an invitation for their twin brother +"Defeat," who will, without warning, slip into your heart and make +himself at home. + +Doubts and fears are disloyalty to God--they are expressions of a want +of confidence in Him, but, of course, that's what is wrong with our +religion. We have not got enough of it. Too many of us have just +enough religion to make ourselves miserable--just enough to spoil our +taste for worldly pleasures and not enough to give us a taste for the +real things of life. There are many good qualities which are only an +aggravation if we have not enough of them. "Every good and perfect +gift cometh from above." You see it is not enough for the gift to be +"good"--it must be "perfect," and that means abundant. Too long we +have thought of religion as something in the nature of straight life +insurance--we would have to die to get the good of it. But it isn't. +The good of it is here, and now we can "lift" it every day if we will. +No person can claim wages for half time; that's where so much +dissatisfaction has come in, and people have found fault with the +company. People have taken up the service of God as a polite little +side-line and worked at it when they felt like it--Sunday afternoons +perhaps or rainy days, when there was nothing else going on; and then +when no reward came--no peace of soul--they were disposed to grumble. +They were like plenty of policy-holders and did not read the contract, +or perhaps some agent had in the excess of his zeal made it too easy +for them. The reward comes only when you put your whole strength on +all the time. Out in the Middle West they have a way of making the +cattle pump their own water by a sort of platform, which the weight of +an animal will press down, and the water is forced up into a trough. +Sometimes a blase old ox who sees the younger and lighter steers doing +this, feels that he with his superior experience and weight will only +have to put one foot on to bring up the water, but he finds that one +foot won't do, or even two. He has to get right on, and give to it his +full weight. It takes the whole ox, horns, hoofs and tail. That's the +way it is in religion--by which we mean the service of God and man. It +takes you--all the time; and the reward is work, and peace, and a +satisfaction in your work that passeth all understanding. No more +grinding fear, no more "bad days," no more wishing to die, no more +nervous prostration. Just work and peace! + +Did you ever have to keep house when your mother went away, when you +did not know very well how to do things, and every meal sat like a +weight on your young heart, and the fear was ever present with you that +the bread would go sour or the house burn down, or burglars would come, +or someone would take sick? The days were like years as they slowly +crawled around the face of the old clock on the kitchen shelf, and even +at night you could not forget the awful burden of responsibility. + +But one day, one glorious day she came home, and the very minute you +heard her step on the floor, the burden was lifted. Your work was very +much the same, but the responsibility was gone, and cheerfulness came +back to your eyes, and smiles to your face. + +That is what it feels like when you "get religion." The worry and +burden of life is gone. Somebody else has the responsibility and you +work with a light heart. It is the responsibility of life that kills +us, the worry, fear, uncertainty, and anxiety. How we envy the man who +works by the day, just does his little bit, and has no care! This +immunity from care may be ours if we link ourselves with God. + +Think of Moses' mother! There she was hired to take care of her own +son. Doing the very thing she loved to do all week and getting her pay +envelope every Saturday night. So may we. God hires us to do our work +for Him, and pays us as we go along--the only stipulation being that we +do our best. + +"I have shown thee, O man, what is good!" declared Micah long ago. +"What doth now the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love +mercy and walk humbly with thy God!" In "walking humbly, doing justly, +and loving mercy," there is no place for worry and gloom; there is +great possibility of love and much serving, and God in His goodness +breaks up our reward into a thousand little things which attend us +every step of the way, just as the white ray of light by the drop of +water is broken into the dazzling beauty of the rainbow. The burning +bush which Moses saw is not the only bush which flames with God, and +seeks to show to us a sign. Nature spares no pains to make things +beautiful; trees have serrated leaves; birds and flowers have color; +the butterflies' wings are splashed with gold; moss grows over the +fallen tree, and grass covers the scar on the landscape. Nature hides +her wounds in beauty. Nature spares no pains to make things beautiful, +for beauty is nourishing. Beauty is thrift, ugliness is waste, +ugliness is sin which scatters, destroys, integrates. But beauty +heals, nourishes, sustains. There is a reason for sending flowers to +the sick. + +Nature has no place for sadness and repining. The last leaf on the +tree dances in the breezes as merrily as when it had all its lovely +companions by its side, and when its hold is loosened on the branch +which bares it, it joins its brothers on the ground without regret. +When the seed falls into the ground and dies, it does it without a +murmur, for it knows that it will rise again in new beauty. Happy +indeed is the traveler on life's highway, who will read the messages +God sends us every day, for they are many and their meaning is clear: +the sudden flood of warm sunshine in your room on a dark and dreary +afternoon; the billowy softness of the smoke plume which rises into the +frosty air, and is touched into exquisite rose and gold by the morning +sun; the frosted leaves which turn to crimson and gold--God's silent +witnesses that sorrow, disappointment and loss may bring out the deeper +beauties of the soul; the flash of a bluebird's wing as he rides gaily +down the wind into the sunlit valley. All these are messages to you +and me that all is well--letters from home, good comrade, letters from +home! + + God knew that some would never look + Inside a book + To know His will, + And so He threw a varied hue + On dale and hill. + He knew that some would read words wrong, + And so He gave the birds their song. + He put the gold in the sunset sky + To show us that a day may die + With greater glory than it's born, + And so may we + Move calmly forward to our West, + Serene and blest! + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's In Times Like These, by Nellie L. 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