The Glebe 1914/04 (Vol. 2, No. 1): Collects — John Shaqi
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
little woman overflowing with calm vehemence: what is she? Just the
mother of two daughters? Just the wife of a dead husband? Just a
prisoner in British jails? That's the average of her. But that's not the
most of her. She reaches out over the earth. She ceases to be a person.
She becomes a presence. She who can be measured becomes the
immeasurable. My eyes sweep her inspiring horizons. I follow her lead.
Let her go where her feet and her wings take her. Down anywhere, up
anywhere. Resisted no matter how, welcomed no matter where. Every mile
she travels is sacred to a common trust. Dedicated to a universal
purpose. Are you skulking? Do you worry the years away with quibbles?
Rather that every atom of property should go up in smoke if the people
are left. Rather anything than that the soul should pay the bills of
property. When men are victims you say: We are saved. When dollars are
victims you say: We are ruined. You can brush aside a man or a woman.
But you cant alter the will of the fates. You can turn your back to the
sunshine. But you cant stand in the way of the sun. You can take the
splash of the sea. But you cant stop it from rolling up the shore. You
can lock yourself in your house. But you close the rest of us out. When
the man comes what has the woman got to say? When the woman comes what
has the man got to say? The answer of the man is found in the woman. The
answer of the woman is found in the man. The woman has the floor. She
asks her pertinent impertinent questions. She asks whys and wherefores.
You exhibit your tax receipts in reply. She asks you what you are. You
answer by showing her what you have. You think you shine through what
you own. Far from that. You can only shine through what you dont own.
This little woman has made all your big fortunes look mean. This little
idea has made all your big theories look cheap. Everything else always
does look insignificant when a real man or woman comes round. When you
shook hands with this woman you more than touched the palms of life and
death. When you looked into her eyes you read more than the tablets of
Sinai. When you heard her speak words you listened to more than the
music of waters and winds. When you measured her and weighed her you
tested more than the sizes and shapes of starry universes. The woman
comes. Oh man: what has the woman in you got to say of it? The man
comes. Oh woman: what has the man in you got to say of it? Pankhurst.
I have met men and women and men and women: they are all sizes:
yet they are all one size:
I have never so far met a man or a woman little enough for me to
be arrogant with:
I have never so far met a man or a woman big enough for me to
humble myself to:
Men and women dont seem to me made to be figured upon: they are
made to be immeasurable:
They dont seem to me made to be accepted or rejected: they are
made to be my comrades:
We are all so much alike I dont see how we could be different:
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