Margaret Sanger: an autobiography.Sanger, Margaret
History
Margaret Sanger: an autobiography.
Sanger, Margaret
Birth control -- United States -- Biography; Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966
No one can underestimate the work Marie Stopes has done. Though her
other books, _Radiant Motherhood_ and _Wise Parenthood_, were limited in
value because they were based on limited personal experience, she has
handled sex knowledge with delicacy and wisdom, placing it in a modern,
practical category. She started the first birth control clinic in
England, but she was not a pioneer in the movement. Annie Besant, Dr.
Vickery, the Drysdales, and many others had plowed the ground and sown
the seed. It needed only a new voice, articulate and clear as hers, to
push her into the front ranks of the movement, where she must have been
much surprised to find herself.
Many people went out of their way to be kind to me in those days. I was
often asked to the home of E. P. C. Haynes, solicitor, writer on freedom
of the press, and a fine adviser. Around his table, one of the grandest
set anywhere in England, could usually be found a large group of
distinguished people. Among them was the American Civil War veteran,
Major G. P. Putnam, a dapper, lively, alert little publisher with a
white mustache and cold blue eyes. He was conservative and formal, but
at the same time a firebrand in his fashion and an enthusiast for
certain issues. Haynes had invited him to hear my views, and himself
introduced the subject of birth control. Thus I was enabled to pave the
way for having G. P. Putnam’s Sons eventually take over the publication
of _Married Love_ in this country, although not until 1931, through the
Major’s efforts, was the ban lifted which prohibited the importation of
the complete edition into the United States.
Harold Cox, brilliant Member of Parliament and editor of the _Edinburgh
Review_, was another delightful host at Old Kennards in Buckinghamshire.
In the _Review_ he was constantly helping to form an enlightened public
opinion on birth control, having every argument at his finger tips and
never missing a chance to answer questions in the London _Times_.
Hugh and Janet de Selincourt’s place at Torrington, Sussex, where
Shelley was born, always was a haven of refuge. After five days’ work in
town I could come, tired and pent-up, for a week-end. I loved the joy
and simplicity of the music there, the lighthearted conversation, and
tea on the lawn. From there you saw English ivy climbing up to the
thatched roof, and a pond, a small one, which had been converted into a
swimming pool. The general impression was of shrubbery and old walls
with fruit trees trellised against them. Beyond the velvet green grass
were red tree roses, beautiful borders of pink lupins, and delphiniums,
the tallest and bluest I have ever seep, From the dining-room window the
effect was that of a tapestry. I wanted some day to embody the rambling
spirit of this home in one of my own.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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