Margaret Sanger: an autobiography.Sanger, Margaret
History
Margaret Sanger: an autobiography.
Sanger, Margaret
Birth control -- United States -- Biography; Sanger, Margaret, 1879-1966
One of the hardest things for a judge in a lower court to combat is the
prejudice of the police against those who already have records. Judge
Lindsey, when a case came up before him, never took the word of the ward
heelers, but had his own secretary, employed and paid by him, go to the
home and investigate, and he held the case until this had been done. But
I thought then that either Judge Lindsey was heading straight for
trouble, or Denver had a kingdom of its own where freedom reigned.
A similar attitude of liberality prevailed on the far side of the
Rockies. In many places where I had previously spoken, policemen had
been stationed at the doors. Occasionally they had even come to the
hotel to read my speech, as at St. Louis and Indianapolis. But in Los
Angeles officials of all the city, even the representatives of the
women’s police division, met me at the station or called on me in a
friendly way.
I was still as terrified of speaking as in the beginning; I used to wake
up early in the morning, sometimes before it was light, and feel a
ghastly depression coming over me. I realized it was the impending
lecture which was so affecting me, and I waited in trepidation for the
hour. My physical illness did not grow better until I was on my feet and
well into my subject.
Though this was my first visit to the West, I had no time for scenery.
Whenever possible I traveled by night and arrived during the day, and by
this stage of my trip I was seemingly always tired. The dead grind went
on and on, an endless succession of getting off trains, introductions,
talking to committees, pouring yourself out—and nothing happening.
Physically and psychically it was one of the lowest periods of my life.
Someone in San Francisco did a lovely thing for me. I never knew who she
was, but at the end of one meeting she picked me up in her car and swept
me away into a forest of huge, tall trees where the sun broke through.
There she left me for fifteen minutes in the midst of a cathedral of
great evergreens with the sky overhead and myself alone. I have never
forgotten the peace and quiet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account