The Glebe 1914/04 (Vol. 2, No. 1): CollectsTraubel, Horace
General
The Glebe 1914/04 (Vol. 2, No. 1): Collects
Traubel, Horace
American essays -- 20th century; Literature, Modern -- 20th century -- Periodicals
Woman. Haven't we given woman the choicest tidbits of life?
And yet she says no. She says that would be all right if something else
was first all right. That something else is her freedom. Is her claim to
herself. She says that comes first. Why: that's just what labor is
saying. We've got to fight labor. We've got to fight her. It's in fact
one quarrel with two wings. And we'll crush them with one answer. We've
got to or this world'll go to pot straightaway. If it's got so that a
man's got a right to be a man through a woman's right to be a woman. If
it's got so that a woman's got a right to be a woman through a man's
right to be a man. If that's so then I want to know the reason why. This
whole liberty stuff is nonsense. Don't you see how it is? My God! If
this keeps up the first thing you know this'll be a liberty world. Look
at it honest. Dont you see it yourself? Reason it out in your own mind.
Every other consideration will be set aside. Democracy will run homes,
business, states, everything. Horrible. This will be a liberty world.
And I dont want to live in a liberty world. Pankhurst.
Pankhurst. When I hear you say that word I can tell what you think of
yourself. I dont have to ask you for other evidences. Whether you lift
your voice or drop it. That tells the whole story. Whether there is any
mother in your voice. Whether there is any love in it. You're not
dealing here with a person. You're dealing with a race. The person comes
and goes. But the new day; it comes and never goes. Now and then the
world names a new star. All the glasses are lifted towards the revealed
luminary. There's the clamor of those who see it and those who half see
it and those who dont see it at all. You cant know Pankhurst by reading
the personals in the newspapers. You cant get acquainted with her by
taking the stories of her life for what they literally say. She brings
all that woman can bring. Then she brings what was before and what is
after. If you have the great person theory you'll not understand why she
is here and what she has accomplished. But if you have the great race
theory the clouds'll wash out of the skies and you'll see the sun. We
have long said: Man shall hold no property in man. The women come along
now and say: Man shall hold no property in woman. Then I go farther. I
go to the end. I say: Man shall hold no property in property. What are
you listening for? It's a great voice. Women are not primarily voters.
They are women. They are sex. They are mothers. The maternal is speaking
up for itself. Votes for women. That's the mere surface of the stream.
Souls for women. Bodies for women. That's the far cry. Every woman has a
father in her. Every man has a mother in him. That which has been
confined. That shall be released. That which has been refused woman.
That she demands. That which woman has refused herself. That she will
resume. A great flame lit in a vast shadow. That's what it all is. This
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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