The Freedom of the WomenBy Louise Collier Wilcox(In “The Woman’s Journal.”)
By Louise Collier Wilcox
(In “The Woman’s Journal.”)
When woman knew that on her strength devolved the care of race,She crept into her cave to sleep and told her man to faceThe prowling outer dangers, and the dark and fearful odds,The thunder, beasts, and lightning, and the wrath of all the gods;For at her heart she carried the future and its cares,And the freedom that she needed was more precious far then theirs.So she watched her babe’s eyes open, and the little limbs grow straight,And she taught him all the lore she’d learned, and what to love and hate;And she trained the little body, and she led the little soul,Till another woman took him to lead further toward the goal;Then the mother smiled in anguish, though she laughed at age and cares,For the freedom that she wanted was a longer one than theirs.When the work of life grew harder and men bowed beneath the yoke,Of needs too great to master, and lusts too deep to choke,She worked and slaved and tended, she wrestled with the dearth;She harnessed up herself to beasts, to till the barren earth;And she planted in her garden and she weeded out the tares,For the freedom that she wanted was more beautiful than theirs.But when she saw man bestial and content with earthly things,She scourged herself in cloisters, and she wept and prayed for wings.Then she nurtured heavenly visions and she held aloft the cross,To show eternal values amid life’s gain and loss.And she pointed to the radiance round the crown the god-man wears,For the freedom that she wanted was a holier one than theirs.Then she smiled from out her shelter while her men coped with the world;Her strength she made of weakness, and about her heart she curledThe tendrils of dependence and his little children’s love;And she showed him what a home was in her gathered treasure trove.All the time her eyes were smiling with the smile the seer wears,For the freedom that she wanted was the freedom of his heirs.Still her heart grew great and greater, and her eyes she would not blindTo the suffering of the victims, to the needs of all mankind.And she knew her safety futile and her children’s stronghold weak,Till the least, last one is sheltered, and there’s none astray to seek.So she looked far down the ages to the good that all man shares,For the freedom that she wanted was a broader one than theirs.And she knew her man short-sighted, since he had not borne the pain,The slavery, drudgery, darkness, the glory and the stainOf womanhood and motherhood. How could he love the race?As she who bore and nurtured, God’s instrument of grace?So she ceased to coax and wheedle, and commanded as one daresWhose only love of freedom is a higher one than theirs....She stands, now, hand upon the helm, to help him govern life,And she steers her world, his equal, in love, in peace, in strife;She owns her strength and wisdom; and he may read who runs,That she must demand her freedom from his daughters and his sons.Neither beneath nor over, but equal in her place,The freedom that she’ll die for, is the freedom of the race.
When woman knew that on her strength devolved the care of race,She crept into her cave to sleep and told her man to faceThe prowling outer dangers, and the dark and fearful odds,The thunder, beasts, and lightning, and the wrath of all the gods;For at her heart she carried the future and its cares,And the freedom that she needed was more precious far then theirs.So she watched her babe’s eyes open, and the little limbs grow straight,And she taught him all the lore she’d learned, and what to love and hate;And she trained the little body, and she led the little soul,Till another woman took him to lead further toward the goal;Then the mother smiled in anguish, though she laughed at age and cares,For the freedom that she wanted was a longer one than theirs.When the work of life grew harder and men bowed beneath the yoke,Of needs too great to master, and lusts too deep to choke,She worked and slaved and tended, she wrestled with the dearth;She harnessed up herself to beasts, to till the barren earth;And she planted in her garden and she weeded out the tares,For the freedom that she wanted was more beautiful than theirs.But when she saw man bestial and content with earthly things,She scourged herself in cloisters, and she wept and prayed for wings.Then she nurtured heavenly visions and she held aloft the cross,To show eternal values amid life’s gain and loss.And she pointed to the radiance round the crown the god-man wears,For the freedom that she wanted was a holier one than theirs.Then she smiled from out her shelter while her men coped with the world;Her strength she made of weakness, and about her heart she curledThe tendrils of dependence and his little children’s love;And she showed him what a home was in her gathered treasure trove.All the time her eyes were smiling with the smile the seer wears,For the freedom that she wanted was the freedom of his heirs.Still her heart grew great and greater, and her eyes she would not blindTo the suffering of the victims, to the needs of all mankind.And she knew her safety futile and her children’s stronghold weak,Till the least, last one is sheltered, and there’s none astray to seek.So she looked far down the ages to the good that all man shares,For the freedom that she wanted was a broader one than theirs.And she knew her man short-sighted, since he had not borne the pain,The slavery, drudgery, darkness, the glory and the stainOf womanhood and motherhood. How could he love the race?As she who bore and nurtured, God’s instrument of grace?So she ceased to coax and wheedle, and commanded as one daresWhose only love of freedom is a higher one than theirs....She stands, now, hand upon the helm, to help him govern life,And she steers her world, his equal, in love, in peace, in strife;She owns her strength and wisdom; and he may read who runs,That she must demand her freedom from his daughters and his sons.Neither beneath nor over, but equal in her place,The freedom that she’ll die for, is the freedom of the race.
When woman knew that on her strength devolved the care of race,She crept into her cave to sleep and told her man to faceThe prowling outer dangers, and the dark and fearful odds,The thunder, beasts, and lightning, and the wrath of all the gods;For at her heart she carried the future and its cares,And the freedom that she needed was more precious far then theirs.
When woman knew that on her strength devolved the care of race,
She crept into her cave to sleep and told her man to face
The prowling outer dangers, and the dark and fearful odds,
The thunder, beasts, and lightning, and the wrath of all the gods;
For at her heart she carried the future and its cares,
And the freedom that she needed was more precious far then theirs.
So she watched her babe’s eyes open, and the little limbs grow straight,And she taught him all the lore she’d learned, and what to love and hate;And she trained the little body, and she led the little soul,Till another woman took him to lead further toward the goal;Then the mother smiled in anguish, though she laughed at age and cares,For the freedom that she wanted was a longer one than theirs.
So she watched her babe’s eyes open, and the little limbs grow straight,
And she taught him all the lore she’d learned, and what to love and hate;
And she trained the little body, and she led the little soul,
Till another woman took him to lead further toward the goal;
Then the mother smiled in anguish, though she laughed at age and cares,
For the freedom that she wanted was a longer one than theirs.
When the work of life grew harder and men bowed beneath the yoke,Of needs too great to master, and lusts too deep to choke,She worked and slaved and tended, she wrestled with the dearth;She harnessed up herself to beasts, to till the barren earth;And she planted in her garden and she weeded out the tares,For the freedom that she wanted was more beautiful than theirs.
When the work of life grew harder and men bowed beneath the yoke,
Of needs too great to master, and lusts too deep to choke,
She worked and slaved and tended, she wrestled with the dearth;
She harnessed up herself to beasts, to till the barren earth;
And she planted in her garden and she weeded out the tares,
For the freedom that she wanted was more beautiful than theirs.
But when she saw man bestial and content with earthly things,She scourged herself in cloisters, and she wept and prayed for wings.Then she nurtured heavenly visions and she held aloft the cross,To show eternal values amid life’s gain and loss.And she pointed to the radiance round the crown the god-man wears,For the freedom that she wanted was a holier one than theirs.
But when she saw man bestial and content with earthly things,
She scourged herself in cloisters, and she wept and prayed for wings.
Then she nurtured heavenly visions and she held aloft the cross,
To show eternal values amid life’s gain and loss.
And she pointed to the radiance round the crown the god-man wears,
For the freedom that she wanted was a holier one than theirs.
Then she smiled from out her shelter while her men coped with the world;Her strength she made of weakness, and about her heart she curledThe tendrils of dependence and his little children’s love;And she showed him what a home was in her gathered treasure trove.All the time her eyes were smiling with the smile the seer wears,For the freedom that she wanted was the freedom of his heirs.
Then she smiled from out her shelter while her men coped with the world;
Her strength she made of weakness, and about her heart she curled
The tendrils of dependence and his little children’s love;
And she showed him what a home was in her gathered treasure trove.
All the time her eyes were smiling with the smile the seer wears,
For the freedom that she wanted was the freedom of his heirs.
Still her heart grew great and greater, and her eyes she would not blindTo the suffering of the victims, to the needs of all mankind.And she knew her safety futile and her children’s stronghold weak,Till the least, last one is sheltered, and there’s none astray to seek.So she looked far down the ages to the good that all man shares,For the freedom that she wanted was a broader one than theirs.
Still her heart grew great and greater, and her eyes she would not blind
To the suffering of the victims, to the needs of all mankind.
And she knew her safety futile and her children’s stronghold weak,
Till the least, last one is sheltered, and there’s none astray to seek.
So she looked far down the ages to the good that all man shares,
For the freedom that she wanted was a broader one than theirs.
And she knew her man short-sighted, since he had not borne the pain,The slavery, drudgery, darkness, the glory and the stainOf womanhood and motherhood. How could he love the race?As she who bore and nurtured, God’s instrument of grace?So she ceased to coax and wheedle, and commanded as one daresWhose only love of freedom is a higher one than theirs.
And she knew her man short-sighted, since he had not borne the pain,
The slavery, drudgery, darkness, the glory and the stain
Of womanhood and motherhood. How could he love the race?
As she who bore and nurtured, God’s instrument of grace?
So she ceased to coax and wheedle, and commanded as one dares
Whose only love of freedom is a higher one than theirs.
...
...
She stands, now, hand upon the helm, to help him govern life,And she steers her world, his equal, in love, in peace, in strife;She owns her strength and wisdom; and he may read who runs,That she must demand her freedom from his daughters and his sons.Neither beneath nor over, but equal in her place,The freedom that she’ll die for, is the freedom of the race.
She stands, now, hand upon the helm, to help him govern life,
And she steers her world, his equal, in love, in peace, in strife;
She owns her strength and wisdom; and he may read who runs,
That she must demand her freedom from his daughters and his sons.
Neither beneath nor over, but equal in her place,
The freedom that she’ll die for, is the freedom of the race.