Ethel Watts Mumford

“ ONCE the curtain goes up and the lights are turned low in the house, the kept woman and the street walker come slinking in—alone always, never in groups—pitiful, fearful, frightened at coming, yet impelled to hear what may be a death warrant. ”

“ A WOMAN, bent and gray, dressed in faded and antiquated block, creeps into the theater, and stands behind a pillar, watching with hunted eyes. The money wherewith to pay for her entrance ticket must have been hoarded with bitter self-denial. ”

“ Yet they leave with courage in their eyes, these women; fight and determination may be seen ten times where is seen one crushed and aimless spirit.
What had been a mysterious Thing, has become suddenly a link in a chain of avoidable disaster. ”

“ Watching her, the conviction comes that, from this play of human folly, she has slaved to witness, she seeks to learn the truth to some hideous puzzle in her own environment, a puzzle to which her ignorance could give no answer, and concerning which custom has tied her questioning tongue. ”

“ They feel too deeply the human import. They follow too closely the painful story. They do not applaud a good piece of acting, nor nod intelligent approval of a well-built scene. When the curtain fulls on the first act, they have applauded but once—the doctor's speech calling for publicity. After the second act, which really closes the example-story, there is but a slight outburst. The burst is all inwards—whole areas of prejudices have been dynamited.
A WORD for the submerged tenth—the masculine element in these extraordinary audiences. ”

“ CHEEK by jowl with these outcast sisters sit groups,—gregarious these,—of mouse-like women, one pigeon-holes as the wives and sisters of suburban clergymen. They gaze with question in their eyes, huddled together, as if for warmth—why have they come?—such daring would seem beyond their drub will powers. ”

“ They sit, waxen pale under the rouge, their poor painted lips twisted in agony. Slow tears have furrowed the powder on their cheeks. They do not even glance about to ascertain if some one has a newer coiffure than theirs, or is wearing a more daring gown. ”

“ She hears the marks of service and the livery of the tenements. It seems strange that one in her walk of life should not have found foul facts a matter of everyday—then why is she here at all? She is a type, and her like is always present at these performances. ”

“ It refers to the conspiracy of silence with which custom has surrounded the facts of sex life, and invariably this line is followed by applause—the applause of women, for of the crowd that fills the theater 90 per cent. are women. They do not care if the first two acts of the drama are masterpieces of construction. They are even less concerned that critics have pronounced the third act a medical treatise, and no act at all. They are there to learn, they are there to assert their right to knowledge their right to protect themselves and to protect their children. ”

“ An appalling confession made to his physician in a spirit of self-laudation and exculpation appears to create not so much as a ripple among the men present. To the women this incident is very different. A wave of horror seems to pass over them. There is denunciation, protest, in the feminine movement that undulates every head from white-haired to henna-dyed. ”

“ THERE are many, very many, gray-haired matrons in the throng; women who, a few years ago, would have been the first to criticize a frank word or discussion of the great Taboo. Now, they are facing serious facts. ”

“ He wears glasses and stubby moustache, and smokes large cigars between the acts with an effort to appear indifferent and patronizing. His profession, whatever it is, cannot be savory—the sight of him, collectively, is revolting. ”

“ The one fat, pursy, middle-aged. gross in person and manner, with a roll of fat at the bock of the collar, punctuated by stubby hairs, looking for all the world like the cylinder of an old-fashioned music box. ”

“ The other predominant type is lean, blond, nervous and small, perhaps a professor or a school teacher. He is very intent, but seems self-conscious and annoyed when he finds himself emotionally affected. ”