Constance Smedley

“ The mother will not be biassed in favour of laws that press unduly on the male; for the welfare of her sons is as important to her as the welfare of her daughters; she is naturally in favour of all conditions that help to their moral strengthening and wholesome living, and because of the gift of motherhood she will feel most poignantly on all laws that touch upon the health and happiness of the children. Men know this; even those who jeer at women keep the saving grace of reverence for the mother who bore and nurtured them. ”

“ She lived in a castle high up on the hill, and looked down on everybody. She knew that no one could possibly come up to her, because across the road that led to her front door was a tremendously deep stream, so deep that it was quite unfordable; and in front of the stream was an enormous tree, so big that no one could get round it, and only exceptionally clever people could climb over it. And so the Princess was able to sit on the terrace with her nose in the air and look over the stream and tree down the steep white road which led to the town where the suitors lived. ”

“ Marmy seems to recollect serried rows of equerries and footmen standing about the hall, and a stern old gentleman in black, who approached effusively, and whom Marmy took for the young woman's uncle.
“This gentleman has saved my life,” said the young woman quickly, as the old gentleman drew back, rather stiffly; “I have brought him home to luncheon.” And I have no doubt she knew by that time she had done a foolish thing.
“Yes, miss,” said the butler. You can imagine Marmy's feelings when the person to whom he had offered his hand so affably turned out to be a servant. ”

“ Her pride had vanished, swept away in the desolation that consumed her. The pasty-faced man who sat and stared at her was only a puppet, something that belonged to the mise en scène around her. Tears were streaming down her cheeks; she wept with utter abandon, oblivious of everything but her grief.
She had to renounce all she loved; to immolate herself; to step from paradise into ugliness and horror; to give herself to Joshua Chubb.
Pasty-faced nonentities have feelings, too, however; feelings that ravage their dull bodies fiercely. ”

“ No matter though social ambition often destroys the peace of the household, and leads women into extravagance which is an unwarrantable burden to lay upon the breadwinner! No man's voice is heard raised against the round of afternoon tea-parties, dinners, lunches, each more vapid than the other, as being an occupation unworthy of womanhood. ”

“ The memory of that awful luncheon, and the uncertainty as to how many of the landlady's friends would turn up that evening, had caused his spirits to ebb to zero. I do not think all actors would have had the pluck to deliberately face a guying, but Marmy was an honest, conscientious person, and it would never have entered his head to leave the manager in a hole; besides which he sent half his money home to his people every week, and a night's stoppage was a serious affair. Yet it needs pluck to face an unfriendly audience, and I am not sure but that Marmy was something of a hero, after all. ”

“ Nature, however, is sparing with her cataclysms. Nothing happened. The answer for which she waited came.
If it were slow in coming, it must be remembered that great joy is as paralyzing as great horror. Now that Miss Chisholm was within his reach she seemed more unattainable than even on that first night when she had sat a thousand miles away from him—though only a few yards separated his seat in the balcony from her box. ”

“ I hate proud women. Besides, your pride is public property. I want a private princess.”
The Princess gave a little gasp as if she had been struck: every one of her Maids had heard.
The stranger heard the gasp and raised his eyes for the first time to the Princess's face: his gaze stayed on her. ”

“ If such a woman trusts her husband too completely to ask for a settlement from him upon her marriage, and consequently freely gives the myriad services of a wife and mother, nurse and housekeeper, in exchange for a home alone, I do not see that it follows that she should be disqualified from having a voice in her own and her children's destinies, or from being directly represented in the Government which she must obey. ”

“ He had been sitting at the desk for some time, occupied and heavy. In spite of his achievements, Joshua Chubb was not an imposing person. His indeterminate mustache and scanty hair gave him a mild, inoffensive look that was completed by his washed-out coloring and the bowed shoulders, evidence of a sedentary life. The casual observer might miss the dogged force that showed in brow and jaw. One does not rise from retailing hardware goods to the proud position of a merchant prince, commanding factories, without that quality. ”

“ The Princess had to encourage the suitors like this, because she had nothing in the world to do but sit and watch them come up the steep white road. This wasn't such a very lively occupation, even when suitors were plenteous; and the Princess grew more disdainful every day—disdainful of the suitors, and disdainful of her Maids—until at last the only person she wasn't disdainful of was her beautiful self. She thought herself extremely superior. ”

“ The baggageman went off to seek a lodging, and Marmy hung about the High street till the landlady's little boy returned from school, and, unfortunately, recognized him. It is never easy to discourage children, especially when clad in garments which are, to say the least, theatrical in cut; and when the child became emboldened by the advent of sundry little friends, Marmy soon found himself making for the quiet of the country lanes surrounding Hayfields, and it was only by dint of walking very fast and continually doubling, that he managed at last to shake off his pursuers. ”

“ There are many men who support the plea of the working woman for her civic rights on the basis that she is a ratepayer, who yet absolutely dispute the justice of the clause which admits the married woman to a share of her husband's political responsibilities. They argue that the man pays the rent and taxes, and that to give his wife a vote would amount to giving him a double privilege for the sum he pays towards the nation's maintenance. This argument may be easily dismissed by the fact that representation is not granted according to the sum of money paid by the citizen. ”

“ As a citizen all men would place her value higher than the unmarried woman who exists to support herself, however cultured and useful to the community the latter's intelligence may be. They know that her experience of life is necessarily deeper, and her judgment sounder; they know also the services which a good wife and mother renders to her nation are of the most supreme importance. ”

“ Men must admit they are almost bafflingly inconsistent. They have a habit nowadays of decrying education and the consequently intellectual woman as the cause of racial suicide. Can men not see that irresponsibility in all the nation's affairs must have a bad effect; and that now woman's gain of freedom gives her a wider scope for amusement and a consequent greater love of change and excitement, her moral development must be encouraged by a fair share of moral and social responsibilities. ”

“ He says it felt for all the world as if the orchestra were playing and the whole house hanging on his accents, and the only touch of reality about the situation was a distinct feeling of annoyance that there were no people in sight to witness his heroic deed! ”

“ Joshua Chubb stood against the door.
"Steady on!"
His voice was husky still, but he was not ridiculous. Thank God, there are moments when humanity breaks forth alive and palpitating, and man-made conventions shrivel up and show themselves for the poor ashes that they are. In those moments, God gives all men dignity. ”

“ This was cruel, but then she had so little excitement; for, though the suitors who failed were well whipped as they ran down the road, all men look much the same under the lash. In fact, the only suitor who did not skip and howl was the fat old mayor. He came every Tuesday, he was so very ambitious; and he was too fat to do anything but waddle along like a tired frog.
But at last even the sight of the mayor palled on her, and she shut her eyes tight every Tuesday afternoon, and kept them shut until her Maids told her he had come and gone. ”

“ When her children grow up, go to school, marry, a woman's life is apt to become empty. Better surely that she seeks to help in the bettering of the conditions of society, than to waste her days in party-giving and frittering of her time in vapid "calls” or purposeless shopping. ”

“ Romances aren't as simple in real life as they are upon the stage; and so Marmy's romance was hardly a romance at all. What little there was took place at Hayfields.
“The Whirlwind of Sin” had had the good luck to get a three nights' bill at the theatre there, because “The Sorrows of Satan” had proved a disappointment, and it was a choice of “The Whirlwind” or closing the house.
How a theatre had ever come to be at Hayfields no one knew, for it was the sleepiest little town imaginable ”

“ And yet Joshua Chubb was not deterred one iota from his purpose. Miss Chisholm was poor, as society counts "poor"; she was as yet the property of no other man. Wherefore Joshua Chubb sat before his desk, and spun vain imaginings. ”

“ If she is one of the most valuable of the nation's citizens she should have a voice in its affairs. The argument that a woman has quite sufficient to do in looking after her house and children without worrying her head about politics strikes at the mainspring of a nation's development. The mothers of the nation are, to some extent, responsible for the world into which they bring the children ”

“ Phyllis Chisholm's father had died in action. She looked oddly like him as she fumbled rather falteringly for her parasol. The childish eyes were wide with a sick fear, and yet unalterable resignation lit them. She must face the fire.
"Wait. Wait. Your cousin will know!" ”

“ The audience was not content with hooting back everyone who came in front, and calling vociferously for Marmy, but when at last Marmy did appear—and the delay was through no fault of his own but entirely that of the hero-manager—the mayor stood up and made a speech on Marmy's daring, and handed him a purse containing eight pounds ten, as a token of the townspeople's gratitude. ”

“ I admit the frivolity of her present interests; but I would ask men to remember that it is they who push woman into the social whirlpool, by the mere fact of their eliminating all serious interests from her life as "unwomanly."
Husbands dislike their wives to meddle with politics or any other pursuit or profession which man has decided is his own peculiar affair: they prefer her to concentrate her thoughts on themselves, their home and children ”

“ No other man should give as he would give.
Never in his life had Joshua Chubb felt such pride in his millions. They could purchase him his heart's desire. Spent recklessly, extravagantly, goldenly, they should in time win her gratitude and her absolute dependence on him.... ”

“ Of course she had heaps and heaps of suitors, For one thing, the Princess had caused a proclamation to be fairly widely circulated to the effect that her hand should be given in marriage to the man who could gain entrance to the castle; moreover, to keep herself before the public, the Princess would sometimes slip out by the back door of the castle and drive down into the town, and parade the streets in her golden carriage. Then she would look out of her eyes in a way that made every man feel anxious for nothing so much as to make the Princess loving and obedient ”

“ No man bestows the epithet "unsexed" upon the butterfly of fashion, who spends her days climbing up the social ladder, injuring other women ruthlessly, wasting her husband's money in the satisfaction of vulgar vanity and uncloaked greed! ”

“ You aren't a thief. You're only a child who was driven into a corner and stretched a hand out blindly in self-defense—as you said—not realizing. When you realized, you acted straight enough. You came to buy the money with yourself. ”

“ The young woman and her aunt sat looking at their plates, for which Marmy was thankful, as it gave him more time for mastering the awkward joints the footman put before him. They dropped the topic of his relations at a very early stage; though whether this was due to suspicion or natural dullness, Marmy could not say. Beautiful and highborn as the ladies undoubtedly were, Marmy was forced to own he had never met worse conversationalists. After luncheon they gave Marmy an excellent cigar, and asked him if he'd like a stroll around the grounds, but he said he must get off home, he was afraid ”

“ He alone, therefore, has the right to an opinion on all questions of national importance, even though many of those questions peculiarly and personally affect women and children, and are therefore questions in the solving of which a woman's instinct and experience would be invaluable. When it is pointed out that the man of the household is not always the superior member of that household, morally or mentally, we are confronted with the argument that by giving the woman a vote we should give cause for terrible matrimonial dissension. ”

“ Marmy says he drew his first natural breath when he had ascended to the front seat of the dog-cart, and was driving off beside the groom who had been thrown out in the morning. Marmy asked after his injuries and that gave a good opening for conversation, which then flowed on unbrokenly until they reached the town. The groom proved a most intelligent young man, and said the whole town should have been there to witness Marmy's heroism. To which Marmy answered, as was proper, that he had only done his duty as an English gentleman. ”

“ Given two beings of equal intelligence, the plea of withholding the right to vote from one on the ground that she lacks an economic stake in the country, is rather a feeble one when applied to the woman who has often given up lucrative employment to look after a man's house, bear his children, and make a home for him and them. ”

“ The more he looked upon her loveliness, the more bitterly he realized that there must be a hundred men of her own class—her friends and intimates—who would have been only too glad to lend her the paltry sum required. ”

“ It almost drives one to the conclusion that men not only do not expect women to be worth much, morally or intellectually, but they do not want them to be worth much. Only then one remembers man's reverence for womanhood and his ideal of a noble, altruistic, ministering angel! ”

“ Still, any theatre gives distinction to a fit-up tour which roams from hall to hall, and the company saved up their correspondence carefully, till they could use the theatre address, as a heading, carelessly. ”