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Suffrage Songs and Verses

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h1 class="faux">Suffrage Songs and Verses</h1> <div class="transnote"> <h2 class="nopagebreak" title="">Transcriber’s Note</h2> <p>This transcription has retained variant spelling, and inconsistent hyphenation. A few tangible printing errors have been corrected.</p> </div> <div class="cover"> <ANTIMG src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover" title="Cover" height-obs="800" width-obs="451" /></div> <hr class="chap" /> <p class="title1"><span class="undertitle">Suffrage Songs and Verses</span></p> <p class="title2">By</p> <p class="title3">CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN</p> <div class="figcenter torch"> <ANTIMG src="images/torch.png" alt="Winged Torch" width-obs="201" height-obs="210" title="Winged Torch" /></div> <p class="title2">10 Cents</p> <div class="figcenter logo"> <ANTIMG src="images/logo.jpg" alt="International Allied Printing Trades Council label" width-obs="67" height-obs="26" title="International Allied Printing Trades Council label 11 New York 1911" /></div> <p class="title2">THE CHARLTON COMPANY</p> <p class="title4">67 Wall Street, New York</p> <p class="title2">1911</p> </div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="Table of Contents">TABLE OF CONTENTS</h2> <table summary="Contents"> <tr> <th colspan="2" class="tdr">PAGE</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Another Star</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#another_star" title="Page 23">23</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Anti-Suffragists. The</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#anti" title="Page 17">17</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Anti and the Fly. The</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#anti_and" title="Page 19">19</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Boys Will Be Boys</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#boys" title="Page 5">5</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Coming</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#coming" title="Page 3">3</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>For Fear</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#for_fear" title="Page 5">5</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Females</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#females" title="Page 10">10</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Girls of To-day</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#girls" title="Page 12">12</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Housewife. The</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#housewife" title="Page 8">8</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Locked Inside</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#locked" title="Page 3">3</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Mother to Child</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#mother" title="Page 6">6</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Malingerer. The</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#malingerer" title="Page 17">17</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Now</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#now" title="Page 4">4</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Question. A</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#question" title="Page 8">8</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Reassurance</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#reassurance" title="Page 15">15</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>She Walketh Veiled and Sleeping</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#she_walketh" title="Page 1">1</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>She Who Is To Come</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#she_who" title="Page 24">24</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Socialist and the Suffragist. The</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#socialist" title="Page 16">16</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Song for Equal Suffrage</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#song" title="Page 22">22</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>To the Indifferent Women</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#to_the" title="Page 19">19</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Women of To-day</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#women_of" title="Page 4">4</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Women to Men</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#women_to" title="Page 13">13</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Women Do Not Want It</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#women_do" title="Page 21">21</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>Wedded Bliss</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#wedded" title="Page 9">9</SPAN></td> </tr> <tr> <td>We As Women</td> <td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#we_as" title="Page 11">11</SPAN></td> </tr> </table> <hr class="chap" /></div> <p class="note">NOTE—The poems marked <SPAN name="asterisk" id="asterisk" class="plain">*</SPAN> are from <i>In This Our World</i> by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Copyright, 1898, by Small, Maynard and Co., and are reprinted by the kind permission of the publishers. Those marked <SPAN name="dagger" id="dagger" class="plain">†</SPAN> are from the <i>Woman’s Journal</i>, and those marked <SPAN name="ef" id="ef" class="plain"><i>f</i></SPAN> are from THE FORERUNNER.</p> <hr class="chap" /></div> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</SPAN></span></p> <h2 title="She Walketh Veiled and Sleeping">SHE WALKETH VEILED AND SLEEPING <SPAN href="#asterisk" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="she_walketh" name="she_walketh">*</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0"><span class="uppercase">She walketh</span> veiled and sleeping,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">For she knoweth not her power;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">She obeyeth but the pleading</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Of her heart, and the high leading</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Of her soul, unto this hour.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Slow advancing, halting, creeping,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Comes the Woman to the hour!—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">She walketh veiled and sleeping,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">For she knoweth not her power.</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="Coming">COMING <SPAN href="#ef" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="coming" name="coming">f</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Because the time is ripe, the age is ready,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Because the world her woman’s help demands,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Out of the long subjection and seclusion</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Come to our field of warfare and confusion</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The mother’s heart and hands.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Long has she stood aside, endured and waited,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">While man swung forward, toiling on alone;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Now, for the weary man, so long ill-mated,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Now, for the world for which she was created,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Comes woman to her own.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Not for herself! though sweet the air of freedom;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Not for herself, though dear the new-born power;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">But for the child, who needs a nobler mother,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">For the whole people, needing one another,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Comes woman to her hour.</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="Locked Inside">LOCKED INSIDE <SPAN href="#ef" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="locked" name="locked">f</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">She beats upon her bolted door,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">With faint weak hands;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Drearily walks the narrow floor;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Sullenly sits, blank walls before;</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Despairing stands.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Life calls her, Duty, Pleasure, Gain—</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Her dreams respond;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">But the blank daylights wax and wane,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Dull peace, sharp agony, slow pain—</div> <div class="p_line_i2">No hope beyond.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</SPAN></span> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Till she comes a thought! She lifts her head,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">The world grows wide!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">A voice—as if clear words were said—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">“Your door, O long imprisonéd,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Is locked inside!”</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="Now">NOW <SPAN href="#ef" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="now" name="now">f</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">With God Above—Beneath—Beside—</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Without—Within—and Everywhere;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Rising with the resistless tide</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Of life, and Sure of Getting There.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Patient with Nature’s long delay,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Proud of our conscious upward swing;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Not sorry for a single day,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">And Not Afraid of Anything!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">With Motherhood at last awake—</div> <div class="p_line_i2">With Power to Do and Light to See—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Women may now begin to Make</div> <div class="p_line_i2">The People we are Meant to Be!</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="Women of To-day">WOMEN OF TO-DAY <SPAN href="#asterisk" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="women_of" name="women_of">*</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">You women of today who fear so much</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The women of the future, showing how</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The dangers of her course are such and such—</div> <div class="p_line_i12">What are you now?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Mothers and Wives and Housekeepers, forsooth!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Great names, you cry, full scope to rule and please,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Room for wise age and energetic youth!—</div> <div class="p_line_i12">But are you these?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Housekeepers? Do you then, like those of yore,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Keep house with power and pride, with grace and ease?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">No, you keep servants only! What is more—</div> <div class="p_line_i12">You don’t keep these!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Wives, say you? Wives! Blessed indeed are they</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Who hold of love the everlasting keys,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Keeping their husbands’ hearts! Alas the day!</div> <div class="p_line_i12">You don’t keep these!</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</SPAN></span> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">And mothers? Pitying Heaven! Mark the cry</div> <div class="p_line_i0">From cradle death-beds! Mothers on their knees!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Why, half the children born, as children, die!</div> <div class="p_line_i12">You don’t keep these!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">And still the wailing babies come and go,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And homes are waste, and husbands’ hearts fly far;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">There is no hope until you dare to know</div> <div class="p_line_i12">The thing you are!</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="Boys Will Be Boys">BOYS WILL BE BOYS <SPAN href="#ef" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="boys" name="boys">f</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">“Boys will be boys,” and boys have had their day;</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Boy-mischief and boy-carelessness and noise</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Extenuated all, allowed, excused and smoothed away,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Each duty missed, each damaging wild act,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">By this meek statement of unquestioned fact—</div> <div class="p_line_i16">Boys will be boys!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Now, “women will be women.” Mark the change;</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Calm motherhood in place of boisterous youth;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">No warfare now; to manage and arrange,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">To nurture with wise care, is woman’s way,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">In peace and fruitful industry her sway,</div> <div class="p_line_i16">In love and truth.</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="For Fear">FOR FEAR <SPAN href="#ef" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="for_fear" name="for_fear">f</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">For fear of prowling beasts at night</div> <div class="p_line_i2">They blocked the cave;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Women and children hid from sight,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Men scarce more brave.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">For fear of warrior’s sword and spear</div> <div class="p_line_i2">They barred the gate;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Women and children lived in fear,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Men lived in hate.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">For fear of criminals today</div> <div class="p_line_i2">We lock the door;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Women and children still to stay</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Hid evermore.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Come out! Ye need no longer hide!</div> <div class="p_line_i2">What fear you now?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">No wolf nor lion waits outside—</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Only a cow.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Come out! The world approaches peace,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">War nears its end;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">No warrior watches your release—</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Only a friend.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Come out! The night of crime has fled—</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Day is begun;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Here is no criminal to dread—</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Only your son.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">The world, half yours, demands your care,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Waken and come!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Make it a woman’s world; safe, fair,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Garden and home.</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="Mother to Child">MOTHER TO CHILD <SPAN href="#asterisk" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="mother" name="mother">*</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">How best can I serve thee, my child! My child!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Flesh of my flesh and dear heart of my heart!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Once thou wast within me—I held thee—I fed thee—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">By the force of my loving and longing I led thee—</div> <div class="p_line_i10">Now we are apart!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">I may blind thee with kisses and crush with embracing,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Thy warm mouth in my neck and our arms interlacing;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">But here in my body my soul lives alone,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And thou answerest me from a house of thine own—</div> <div class="p_line_i10">That house which I builded!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Which we builded together, thy father and I;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">In which thou must live, O my darling, and die!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Not one stone can I alter, one atom relay—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Not to save or defend thee or help thee to stay—</div> <div class="p_line_i10">That gift is completed!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">How best can I serve thee? O child, if they knew</div> <div class="p_line_i0">How my heart aches with loving! How deep and how true,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">How brave and enduring, how patient, how strong,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">How longing for good and how fearful of wrong,</div> <div class="p_line_i10">Is the love of thy mother!</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Could I crown thee with riches! Surround, overflow thee</div> <div class="p_line_i0">With fame and with power till the whole world should know thee;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">With wisdom and genius to hold the world still,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">To bring laughter and tears, joy and pain, at thy will,</div> <div class="p_line_i10">Still—<em>thou</em> mightst not be happy!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Such have lived—and in sorrow. The greater the mind</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The wider and deeper the grief it can find.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The richer, the gladder, the more thou canst feel</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The keen stings that a lifetime is sure to reveal.</div> <div class="p_line_i10">O my child! Must thou suffer?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Is there no way my life can save thine from a pain?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Is the love of a mother no possible gain?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">No labor of Hercules—search for the Grail—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">No way for this wonderful love to avail?</div> <div class="p_line_i10">God in Heaven—O teach me!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">My prayer has been answered. The pain thou must bear</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Is the pain of the world’s life which thy life must share.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Thou art one with the world—though I love thee the best;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And to save thee from pain I must save all the rest—</div> <div class="p_line_i10">Well—with God’s help I’ll do it.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Thou art one with the rest. I must love thee in them.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Thou wilt sin with the rest; and thy mother must stem</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The world’s sin. Thou wilt weep, and thy mother must dry</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The tears of the world lest her darling should cry.</div> <div class="p_line_i10">I will do it—God helping!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">And I stand not alone. I will gather a band</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Of all loving mothers from land unto land.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Our children are part of the world! Do ye hear?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">They are one with the world—we must hold them all dear!</div> <div class="p_line_i10">Love all for the child’s sake!</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</SPAN></span> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">For the sake of my child I must hasten to save</div> <div class="p_line_i0">All the children on earth from the jail and the grave.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">For so, and so only, I lighten the share</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Of the pain of the world that my darling must bear—</div> <div class="p_line_i10">Even so, and so only!</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="A Question">A QUESTION <SPAN href="#ef" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="question" name="question">f</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Why is it, God, that mother’s hearts are made</div> <div class="p_line_i2">So very deep and wide?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">How does it help the world that we should hold</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Such welling floods of pain till we are old,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Because when we were young one grave was laid—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">One baby died?</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="The Housewife">THE HOUSEWIFE <SPAN href="#ef" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="housewife" name="housewife">f</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Here is the House to hold me—cradle of all the race;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Here is my lord and my love, here are my children dear—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Here is the House enclosing, the dear-loved dwelling place;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Why should I ever weary for aught that I find not here?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Here for the hours of the day and the hours of the night;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Bound with the bands of Duty, rivetted tight;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Duty older than Adam—Duty that saw</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Acceptance utter and hopeless in the eyes of the serving squaw.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Food and the serving of food—that is my daylong care;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">What and when we shall eat, what and how we shall wear;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Soiling and cleaning of things—that is my task in the main—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Soil them and clean them and soil them—soil them and clean them again.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">To work at my trade by the dozen and never a trade to know;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">To plan like a Chinese puzzle—fitting and changing so;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">To think of a thousand details, each in a thousand ways;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">For my own immediate people and a possible love and praise.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">My mind is trodden in circles, tiresome, narrow and hard,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Useful, commonplace, private—simply a small backyard;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And I the Mother of Nations!—Blind their struggle and vain!—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">I cover the earth with my children—each with a housewife’s brain.</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="Wedded Bliss">WEDDED BLISS <SPAN href="#asterisk" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="wedded" name="wedded">*</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0 apart">“O come and be my mate!” said the Eagle to the Hen;</div> <div class="p_line_i11">“I love to soar, but then</div> <div class="p_line_i11">I want my mate to rest</div> <div class="p_line_i11">Forever in the nest!”</div> <div class="p_line_i11">Said the Hen, “I cannot fly,</div> <div class="p_line_i11 apart">I have no wish to try,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">But I joy to see my mate careening through the sky!”</div> <div class="p_line_i0">They wed, and cried, “Ah, this is Love, my own!”</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And the Hen sat, the Eagle soared, alone.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0 apart">“O come and be my mate!” said the Lion to the Sheep;</div> <div class="p_line_i11">“My love for you is deep!</div> <div class="p_line_i11">I slay, a Lion should,</div> <div class="p_line_i11">But you are mild and good!”</div> <div class="p_line_i11 apart">Said the sheep, “I do no ill—</div> <div class="p_line_i11 apart">Could not, had I the will—.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">But I joy to see my mate pursue, devour and kill.”</div> <div class="p_line_i0">They wed, and cried, “Ah, this is Love, my own!”</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And the Sheep browsed, the Lion prowled, alone.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0 apart">“O come and be my mate!” said the Salmon to the Clam;</div> <div class="p_line_i11">“You are not wise, but I am.</div> <div class="p_line_i11">I know sea and stream as well,</div> <div class="p_line_i11">You know nothing but your shell.”</div> <div class="p_line_i11">Said the Clam, “I’m slow of motion,</div> <div class="p_line_i11 apart">But my love is all devotion,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And I joy to have my mate traverse lake and stream and ocean!”</div> <div class="p_line_i0">They wed, and cried, “Ah, this is Love, my own!”</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And the Clam sucked, the Salmon swam, alone.</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="Females">FEMALES <SPAN href="#asterisk" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="females" name="females">*</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">The female fox she is a fox;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The female whale a whale;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The female eagle holds her place</div> <div class="p_line_i0">As representative of race</div> <div class="p_line_i0">As truly as the male.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">The mother hen doth scratch for her chicks,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And scratch for herself beside;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The mother cow doth nurse her calf,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Yet fares as well as her other half</div> <div class="p_line_i0">In the pasture free and wide.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">The female bird doth soar in air;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The female fish doth swim;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The fleet-foot mare upon the course</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Doth hold her own with the flying horse—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Yea and she beateth him!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">One female in the world we find</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Telling a different tale.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">It is the female of our race,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Who holds a parasitic place</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Dependent on the male.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Not so, saith she, ye slander me!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">No parasite am I.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">I earn my living as a wife;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">My children take my very life;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Why should I share in human strife,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">To plant and build and buy?</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">The human race holds highest place</div> <div class="p_line_i0">In all the world so wide,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Yet these inferior females wive,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And raise their little ones alive,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And feed themselves beside.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">The race is higher than the sex,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Though sex be fair and good;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">A Human Creature is your state,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And to be human is more great</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Than even womanhood!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">The female fox she is a fox;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The female whale a whale;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The female eagle holds her place</div> <div class="p_line_i0">As representative of race</div> <div class="p_line_i0">As truly as the male.</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="We As Women">“WE AS WOMEN” <SPAN href="#asterisk" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="we_as" name="we_as">*</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">There’s a cry in the air about us—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">We hear it before, behind—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Of the way in which “We, as women,”</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Are going to lift mankind!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">With our white frocks starched and ruffled,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And our soft hair brushed and curled—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Hats off! for “We, as women,”</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Are coming to save the world.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Fair sisters, listen one moment—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And perhaps you’ll pause for ten:</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The business of women as women</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Is only with men as men!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">What we do, “We, as women,”</div> <div class="p_line_i0">We have done all through our life;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The work that is ours as women</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Is the work of mother and wife.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">But to elevate public opinion,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And to lift up erring man,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Is the work of the Human Being;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Let us do it—if we can.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">But wait, warm-hearted sisters—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Not quite so fast, so far.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Tell me how we are going to lift a thing</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Any higher than we are!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">We are going to “purify politics,”</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And to “elevate the press.”</div> <div class="p_line_i0">We enter the foul paths of the world</div> <div class="p_line_i0">To sweeten and cleanse and bless.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">To hear the high things we are going to do,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And the horrors of man we tell,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">One would think, “We, as women,” were angels,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And our brothers were fiends of hell.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">We, that were born of one mother,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And reared in the self-same place,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">In the school and the church together,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">We of one blood, one race!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Now then, all forward together!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">But remember, every one,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">That ’tis not by feminine innocence</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The work of the world is done.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">The world needs strength and courage,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And wisdom to help and feed—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">When, “We, as women” bring these to man,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">We shall lift the world indeed.</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="Girls of To-day">GIRLS OF TO-DAY <SPAN href="#asterisk" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="girls" name="girls">*</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Girls of today! Give ear!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Never since time began</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Has come to the race of man</div> <div class="p_line_i0">A year, a day, an hour,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">So full of promise and power</div> <div class="p_line_i0">As the time that now is here!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Never in all the lands</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Was there a power so great,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">To move the wheels of state,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">To lift up body and mind,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">To waken the deaf and blind,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">As the power that is in your hands!</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Here at the gates of gold</div> <div class="p_line_i0">You stand in the pride of youth,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Strong in courage and truth,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Stirred by a force kept back</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Through centuries long and black,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Armed with a power threefold!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">First: You are makers of men!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Then Be the things you preach!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Let your own greatness teach!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">When Mothers like this you see</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Men will be strong and free—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Then, and not till then!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Second: Since Adam fell,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Have you not heard it said</div> <div class="p_line_i0">That men by women are led?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">True is the saying—true!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">See to it what you do!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">See that you lead them well.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Third: You have work of your own!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Maid and mother and wife,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Look in the face of life!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">There are duties you owe the race!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Outside your dwelling-place</div> <div class="p_line_i0">There is work for you alone!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Maid and mother and wife,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">See your own work be done!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Be worthy a noble son!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Help man in the upward way!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Truly, a girl today</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Is the strongest thing in life!</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="Women to Men">WOMEN TO MEN <SPAN href="#dagger" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="women_to" name="women_to">†</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Dear father, from my cradle I acknowledge</div> <div class="p_line_i0">All your wise kindness, tender care, and love,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Through days of kindergarten, school and college.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Now there is one gift lacking—one above</div> <div class="p_line_i0">All other gifts of God, this highest trust is,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The one great gift, beyond all power and pelf—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Give me my freedom, father; give me justice,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">That I may guard my children and myself.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">My brother, you and I were reared together;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">We played together, even-handed quite;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">We went to school in every kind of weather,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Studied and ranked together as was right.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">We work together now and earn our living,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">You know how equal is the work we do;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Come, brother, with the love you’re always giving,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Give justice! It’s for me as well as you.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">And you, my lover, kneeling here before me</div> <div class="p_line_i0">With tender eyes that burn, warm lips that plead,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Protesting that you worship, aye, adore me;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Begging my love as life’s supremest meed,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Vowing to make me happy. Ah, how dare you!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Freedom and happiness have both one key!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Lover and husband, by the love I bear you,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Give justice! I can love you better, free!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Son my own son! Man-child that once was lying</div> <div class="p_line_i0">All rosy, tender, helpless on my breast,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Your strength all dimples, your stern voice but crying,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Looking to me for comfort, food and rest,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Asking your life of me, and not another—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And asking not in vain till life be done—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Oh, my boy-baby! Is it I, your mother,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Who comes to ask of justice from her son?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Now to the voter—tax-payer (or shirker),</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Please lay your private feelings on the shelf;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">O Man-at-large! Friend! Comrade! Fellow-worker;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">I am a human being like yourself.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">I’m not your wife and mother. Can’t be, whether</div> <div class="p_line_i0">I would or not: each to his own apart;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">But in the world we’re people altogether—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Suffrage is not a question of the heart.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Son—Father—Brother—Lover unsupplanted—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">We’ll talk at home. This thing concerns the nation;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">A point of justice which is to be granted</div> <div class="p_line_i0">By men to women who are no relation.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Perceive this fact, as salient as a steeple,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Please try to argue from it if you can;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Women have standing-room on earth as people</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Outside of their relation to some man.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">As wife and sweetheart, daughter, sister, mother,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Each woman privately her views explains;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">As people of America—no other—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">We claim the right our government maintains.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">You who deny it stand in history’s pages</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Withholding justice! Pitiless and plain</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Your record stands down all the brightening ages—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">You fought with progress, but you fought in vain.</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="Reassurance">REASSURANCE <SPAN href="#asterisk" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="reassurance" name="reassurance">*</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Can you imagine nothing better, brother,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Than that which you have always had before?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Have you been so content with “wife and mother,”</div> <div class="p_line_i10">You dare hope nothing more?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Have you forever prized her, praised her, sung her,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The happy queen of a most happy reign?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Never dishonored her, despised her, flung her</div> <div class="p_line_i10">Derision and disdain?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Go ask the literature of all the ages!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Books that were written before women read!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Pagan and Christian, satirists and sages—</div> <div class="p_line_i10">Read what the world has said.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">There was no power on earth to bid you slacken</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The generous hand that painted her disgrace!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">There was no shame on earth too black to blacken</div> <div class="p_line_i10">That much-praised woman-face.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Eve and Pandora!—always you begin it—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The ancients called her Sin and Shame and Death.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">“There is no evil without woman in it,”</div> <div class="p_line_i10">The modern proverb saith.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">She has been yours in uttermost possession—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Your slave, your mother, your well-chosen bride—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And you have owned in million-fold confession,</div> <div class="p_line_i10">You were not satisfied.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Peace then! Fear not the coming woman, brother.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Owning herself, she giveth all the more.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">She shall be better woman, wife and mother</div> <div class="p_line_i10">Than man hath known before.</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</SPAN></span></p> <h2 title="The Socialist and the Suffragist">THE SOCIALIST AND THE SUFFRAGIST <SPAN href="#ef" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="socialist" name="socialist">f</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Said the Socialist to the Suffragist:</div> <div class="p_line_i2">“My cause is greater than yours!</div> <div class="p_line_i4">You only work for a Special Class,</div> <div class="p_line_i4">We for the gain of the General Mass,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Which every good ensures!”</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Said the Suffragist to the Socialist:</div> <div class="p_line_i2">“You underrate my Cause!</div> <div class="p_line_i2">While women remain a Subject Class,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">You never can move the General Mass,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">With your Economic Laws!”</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Said the Socialist to the Suffragist:</div> <div class="p_line_i2">“You misinterpret facts!</div> <div class="p_line_i4">There is no room for doubt or schism</div> <div class="p_line_i4">In Economic Determinism—</div> <div class="p_line_i2">It governs all our acts!”</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Said the Suffragist to the Socialist:</div> <div class="p_line_i2">“You men will always find</div> <div class="p_line_i4">That this old world will never move</div> <div class="p_line_i4">More swiftly in its ancient groove</div> <div class="p_line_i2">While women stay behind!”</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">“A lifted world lifts women up,”</div> <div class="p_line_i2">The Socialist explained.</div> <div class="p_line_i4">“You cannot lift the world at all</div> <div class="p_line_i4">While half of it is kept so small,”</div> <div class="p_line_i2">The Suffragist maintained.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">The world awoke, and tartly spoke:</div> <div class="p_line_i2">“Your work is all the same:</div> <div class="p_line_i4">Work together or work apart,</div> <div class="p_line_i4">Work, each of you, with all your heart—</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Just get into the game!”</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</SPAN></span></p> <h2 title="The Malingerer">THE MALINGERER <SPAN href="#ef" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="malingerer" name="malingerer">f</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Exempt! She “does not have to work!”</div> <div class="p_line_i9">So might one talk</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Defending long, bedridden ease,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Weak yielding ankles, flaccid knees,</div> <div class="p_line_i9">With, “I don’t have to walk!”</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Not have to work. Why not? Who gave</div> <div class="p_line_i9">Free pass to you?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">You’re housed and fed and taught and dressed</div> <div class="p_line_i0">By age-long labor of the rest—</div> <div class="p_line_i9">Work other people do!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">What do you give in honest pay</div> <div class="p_line_i9">For clothes and food?—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Then as a shield, defence, excuse,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">She offers her exclusive use—</div> <div class="p_line_i9">Her function—Motherhood!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Is motherhood a trade you make</div> <div class="p_line_i9">A living by?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And does the wealth you so may use,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Squander, accumulate, abuse,</div> <div class="p_line_i9">Show motherhood as high?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Or does the motherhood of those</div> <div class="p_line_i9">Whose toil endures,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The farmers’ and mechanics’ wives,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Hard working servants all their lives—</div> <div class="p_line_i4">Deserve less price than yours?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">We’re not exempt! Man’s world runs on,</div> <div class="p_line_i9">Motherless, wild;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Our servitude and long duress,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Our shameless, harem idleness,</div> <div class="p_line_i9">Both fail to serve the child.</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="The Anti-Suffragists">THE ANTI-SUFFRAGISTS <SPAN href="#asterisk" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="anti" name="anti">*</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Fashionable women in luxurious homes,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">With men to feed them, clothe them, pay their bills,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Bow, doff the hat, and fetch the handkerchief;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Hostess or guest; and always so supplied</div> <div class="p_line_i0">With graceful deference and courtesy;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Surrounded by their horses, servants, dogs—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">These tell us they have all the rights they want.</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Successful women who have won their way</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Alone, with strength of their unaided arm,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Or helped by friends, or softly climbing up</div> <div class="p_line_i0">By the sweet aid of “woman’s influence”;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Successful any way, and caring naught</div> <div class="p_line_i0">For any other woman’s unsuccess—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">These tell us they have all the rights they want.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Religious women of the feebler sort—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Not the religion of a righteous world,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">A free, enlightened, upward-reaching world,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">But the religion that considers life</div> <div class="p_line_i0">As something to back out of!—whose ideal</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Is to renounce, submit, and sacrifice,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Counting on being patted on the head</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And given a high chair when they get to heaven—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">These tell us they have all the rights they want.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Ignorant women—college bred sometimes,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">But ignorant of life’s realities</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And principles of righteous government,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And how the privileges they enjoy</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Were won with blood and tears by those before—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Those they condemn, whose ways they now oppose;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Saying, “Why not let well enough alone?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Our world is very pleasant as it is”—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">These tell us they have all the rights they want.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">And selfish women—pigs in petticoats—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Rich, poor, wise, unwise, top or bottom round,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">But all sublimely innocent of thought,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And guiltless of ambition, save the one</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Deep, voiceless aspiration—to be fed!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">These have no use for rights or duties more.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Duties today are more than they can meet,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And law insures their right to clothes and food—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">These tell us they have all the rights they want.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">And, more’s the pity, some good women, too;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Good, conscientious women with ideas;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Who think—or think they think—that woman’s cause</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Is best advanced by letting it alone;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">That she somehow is not a human thing,</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</SPAN></span> <div class="p_line_i0">And not to be helped on by human means,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Just added to humanity—an “L”—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">A wing, a branch, an extra, not mankind—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">These tell us they have all the rights they want.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">And out of these has come a monstrous thing,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">A strange, down-sucking whirlpool of disgrace,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Women uniting against womanhood,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And using that great name to hide their sin!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Vain are their words as that old king’s command</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Who set his will against the rising tide.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">But who shall measure the historic shame</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Of these poor traitors—traitors are they all—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">To great Democracy and Womanhood!</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="The Anti and the Fly">THE “ANTI” AND THE FLY <SPAN href="#ef" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="anti_and" name="anti_and">f</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">The fly upon the Cartwheel</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Thought he made all the Sound;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">He thought he made the Cart go on—</div> <div class="p_line_i2">And made the wheels go round.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">The Fly upon the Cartwheel</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Has won undying fame</div> <div class="p_line_i0">For Conceit that was colossal,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">And Ignorance the same.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">But today he has a Rival</div> <div class="p_line_i2">As we roll down History’s Track—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">For the “Anti” on the Cartwheel</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Thinks she makes the Wheels go back!</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="To the Indifferent Women">TO THE INDIFFERENT WOMEN <SPAN href="#asterisk" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="to_the" name="to_the">*</SPAN></h2> <p class="center noindent">A SESTINA</p> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">You who are happy in a thousand homes,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Or overworked therein, to a dumb peace;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Whose souls are wholly centered in the life</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Of that small group you personally love—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Who told you that you need not know or care</div> <div class="p_line_i0">About the sin and sorrow of the world?</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</SPAN></span> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Do you believe the sorrow of the world</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Does not concern you in your little homes?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">That you are licensed to avoid the care</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And toil for human progress, human peace,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And the enlargement of our power of love</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Until it covers every field of life?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">The one first duty of all human life</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Is to promote the progress of the world</div> <div class="p_line_i0">In righteousness, in wisdom, truth and love;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And you ignore it, hidden in your homes,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Content to keep them in uncertain peace,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Content to leave all else without your care.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Yet you are mothers! And a mother’s care</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Is the first step towards friendly human life,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Life where all nations in untroubled peace</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Unite to raise the standard of the world</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And make the happiness we seek in homes</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Spread everywhere in strong and fruitful love.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">You are content to keep that mighty love</div> <div class="p_line_i0">In its first steps forever; the crude care</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Of animals for mate and young and homes,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Instead of pouring it abroad in life,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Its mighty current feeding all the world</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Till every human child shall grow in peace.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">You cannot keep your small domestic peace,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Your little pool of undeveloped love,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">While the neglected, starved, unmothered world</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Struggles and fights for lack of mother’s care,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And its tempestuous, bitter, broken life</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Beats in upon you in your selfish homes.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">We all may have our homes in joy and peace</div> <div class="p_line_i0">When woman’s life, in its rich power of love</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Is joined with man’s to care for all the world.</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</SPAN></span></p> <h2 title="Women Do Not Want It">WOMEN DO NOT WANT IT <SPAN href="#asterisk" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="women_do" name="women_do">*</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">When the woman suffrage argument first stood upon its legs,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">They answered it with cabbages, they answered it with eggs,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">They answered it with ridicule, they answered it with scorn,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">They thought it a monstrosity that should not have been born.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">When the woman suffrage argument grew vigorous and wise,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And was not to be answered by these opposite replies,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">They turned their opposition into reasoning severe</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Upon the limitations of our God-appointed sphere.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">We were told of disabilities—a long array of these,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Till one could think that womanhood was merely a disease;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And “the maternal sacrifice” was added to the plan</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Of the various sacrifices we have always made—to man.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Religionists and scientists, in amity and bliss,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">However else they disagreed, could all agree on this,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And the gist of all their discourse, when you got down in it,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Was—we could not have the ballot because we were not fit!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">They would not hear the reason, they would not fairly yield,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">They would not own their arguments were beaten in the field;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">But time passed on, and someway, we need not ask them how,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Whatever ails those arguments—we do not hear them now!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">You may talk of suffrage now with an educated man,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And he agrees with all you say, as sweetly as he can:</div> <div class="p_line_i0">’T would be better for us all, of course, if womanhood was free;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">But “the women do not want it”—and so it must not be!</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">’T is such a tender thoughtfulness! So exquisite a care!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Not to pile on our frail shoulders what we do not wish to bear!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">But, oh, most generous brother! Let us look a little more—</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Have we women always wanted what you gave to us before?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Did we ask for veils and harems in the Oriental races?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Did we beseech to be “unclean,” shut out of sacred places?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Did we beg for scolding bridles and ducking stools to come?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And clamor for the beating stick no thicker than your thumb?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Did we ask to be forbidden from all the trades that pay?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Did we claim the lower wages for a man’s full work today?</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Have we petitioned for the laws wherein our shame is shown:</div> <div class="p_line_i0">That not a woman’s child—nor her own body—is her own?</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">What women want has never been a strongly acting cause,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">When woman has been wronged by man in churches, customs, laws;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Why should he find this preference so largely in his way,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">When he himself admits the right of what we ask today?</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="Song for Equal Suffrage">SONG FOR EQUAL SUFFRAGE <SPAN href="#dagger" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="song" name="song">†</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Day of hope and day of glory! After slavery and woe,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Comes the dawn of woman’s freedom, and the light shall grow and grow</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Until every man and woman equal liberty shall know,</div> <div class="p_line_i11">In Freedom marching on!</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Woman’s right is woman’s duty! For our share in life we call!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Our will it is not weakened and our power it is not small.</div> <div class="p_line_i0">We are half of every nation! We are mothers of them all!</div> <div class="p_line_i10">In Wisdom marching on!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Not for self but larger service has our cry for freedom grown,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">There is crime, disease and warfare in a world of men alone,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">In the name of love we’re rising now to serve and save our own,</div> <div class="p_line_i10">As Peace comes marching on!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">By every sweet and tender tie around our heartstrings curled,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">In the cause of nobler motherhood is woman’s flag unfurled,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Till every child shall know the joy and peace of mother’s world—</div> <div class="p_line_i10">As Love comes marching on!</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">We will help to make a pruning hook of every outgrown sword,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">We will help to knit the nations in continuing accord,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">In humanity made perfect is the glory of the Lord,</div> <div class="p_line_i10">As His world goes marching on!</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="Another Star">ANOTHER STAR <SPAN href="#ef" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="another_star" name="another_star">f</SPAN></h2> <p class="center noindent">(Suffrage Campaign Song for California)</p> <p class="center noindent"><span class="smcap">Tune</span>: “Buy a Broom.”</p> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">There are five a-light before us,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">In the flag flying o’er us,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">There’ll be six on next election—</div> <div class="p_line_i6">We bring a new star!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">We are coming like the others,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Free Sisters, Free Brothers,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">In the pride of our affection</div> <div class="p_line_i6">For California.</div> <div class="p_line_i0"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>: A ballot for the Lady!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">For the Home and for the Baby!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Come, vote ye for the Lady,</div> <div class="p_line_i6">The Baby, the Home!</div> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">Star of Hope and Star of Beauty!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Of Freedom! Of Duty!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Star of childhood’s new protection,</div> <div class="p_line_i6">That rises so high!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">We will work for it together</div> <div class="p_line_i0">In the golden, gay weather,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">And we’ll have it next election,</div> <div class="p_line_i6">Or we will know why.</div> <div class="p_line_i0"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>: A ballot for the Lady!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">For the Home and for the Baby!</div> <div class="p_line_i0">Come, vote ye for the Lady,</div> <div class="p_line_i0">The Baby, the Home!</div> </div></div> </div></div> <hr class="chap" /> <h2 title="She Who Is To Come">SHE WHO IS TO COME <SPAN href="#asterisk" title="Go to Note" class="origin plain" id="she_who" name="she_who">*</SPAN></h2> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="p_line_i0">A woman—in so far as she beholdeth</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Her one Beloved’s face;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">A mother—with a great heart that enfoldeth</div> <div class="p_line_i2">The children of the Race;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">A body, free and strong, with that high beauty</div> <div class="p_line_i2">That comes of perfect use, is built thereof;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">A mind where Reason ruleth over Duty,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">And Justice reigns with Love;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">A self-poised, royal soul, brave, wise and tender,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">No longer blind and dumb;</div> <div class="p_line_i0">A Human Being, of an unknown splendor,</div> <div class="p_line_i2">Is she who is to come!</div> </div></div> </div> <hr class="chap" /></div> <div class="chapter full-page-box"> <h2 title="">BOOKS<br/> <span class="h2small">BY</span><br/> CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN</h2> <table summary="Books by Charlotte Perkins Gillman"> <tr> <td>In This Our World (verse)</td><td class="tdr">$1.25</td><td>net</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Women and Economics</td><td class="tdr">1.50</td><td>”</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Concerning Children</td><td class="tdr">1.25</td><td>”</td> </tr> <tr> <td>The Yellow Wall Paper</td><td class="tdr">.50</td><td>”</td> </tr> <tr> <td>The Home</td><td class="tdr">1.00</td><td>”</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Human Work</td><td class="tdr">1.00</td><td>”</td> </tr> <tr> <td>What Diantha Did</td><td class="tdr">1.00</td><td>”</td> </tr> <tr> <td>The Man-made World</td><td class="tdr">1.00</td><td>”</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Bound Volume I, THE FORERUNNER</td><td class="tdr">1.25</td><td>”</td> </tr> </table> <h3 title="">READY, FALL OF 1911</h3> <table summary="Books by Charlotte Perkins Gillman"> <tr> <td>Moving the Mountain</td><td class="tdr">$1.00</td><td>net</td> </tr> <tr> <td>The Crux</td><td class="tdr">1.00</td><td>”</td> </tr> </table> <p class="athird box center"> Order of your dealer<br/> or from us direct</p> <p class="title3">THE CHARLTON COMPANY</p> <p class="noindent center">67 Wall Street, New York</p> </div> <div class="chapter full-page-box"> <h2 class="wide" title="">THE FORERUNNER</h2> <p class="noindent center"> A monthly magazine, written<br/> edited, owned and published by<br/></p> <p class="title3 spaced">CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN</p> <p class="noindent center">REGULAR SUBSCRIPTION RATES:</p> <table summary="Subscription Rates" class="regular"> <tr> <td> </td> <td class="long" rowspan="3">{</td> <td>Domestic</td> <td class="tdr">$1.00</td> <td> </td> </tr> <tr> <td>Per Year</td> <td>Canadian</td> <td class="tdr">1.12</td> <td>Per Copy, 10c.</td> </tr> <tr> <td> </td> <td>Foreign</td> <td class="tdr">1.25</td> <td> </td> </tr> </table> <p class="noindent center">SPECIAL OFFERS:</p> <table summary="special offers"> <tr> <td>Trial subscription of three months</td> <td class="tdr">$ .25</td> </tr> <tr> <td>One annual subscription and Bound Volume I</td> <td class="tdr">2.00</td> </tr> <tr> <td>One annual subscription and one of Mrs. Gilman’s $1.00 books</td> <td class="tdr">1.75</td> </tr> </table> <p class="noindent center">For Club Rates See THE FORERUNNER</p> <div class="box forerunner"> <p>“The Forerunner,” it is really good. This new magazine is by—not “edited by”—Charlotte Perkins Gilman. For its thirty-two pages she writes the stories, short and serial, the articles, the verse, the book reviews, and the editorials.... The miracle demands chronicling: it is all interesting. The views presented have as their raison d’être not that they are her own but that they are true. And with so much of “advanced” writing impossibly nebulous and sentimental, it is a pleasure to read matter that is clear and sane and entertaining withal. All of which sounds very improbable, but, fortunately, may be proved by any reader for himself.</p> <p class="right">—<i>Evening Post, Chicago.</i></p> </div> <p class="noindent center">$1.00 A YEAR<span class="gap"> </span>.10 A COPY</p> </div> <SPAN name="endofbook"></SPAN> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />

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