The advocate. [volume], March 14, 1894, Page 2, Image 2

About The advocate. [volume] (Topeka, Kan.) 1894-1897

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'Tims A.D'VOOjTHS.
COPYRIGHT.!
This Slory was commenced la No. 3,Yol.VI. Back Kumlers can be bad from this Office
CHAPTER XVII.
ARE THE HICII ALL WICKED?
"EntbueiaHn for humanity also bridges the
social chasm for all who feel its thrill.
Caste can do more survive the awakening of
the sp);it of universal brotherhood than
night can outlive sunrise." Rev. Josiah
Stkono.D. D.
"Let us next turn our attention to a very
different class of society the rich and great.
And here In the first place It may be remarked,
that it is a very false calculation that leads us
universally to deepair of having these for the
Advocates of equality." Godwin.
"When we recall Emerson, Wendell
Phillipps, Stephen I'earl Andrews,
Carlyle, Kuskin, William Morris and
Michel Elise, Keclus, Prince Krapot
kine, Count Tolstoi, and the host of
men and women who have abandoned
wealth and ease and rejected ambition's
proffered rewards to become despised
apostles of a new world for the poor,
we cannot agree with reformers who
turn to the hovel alone and deem it
hopeless to preach to the palace.
Whence came the movement which,
on two continents to-day, stirs man
kind with a new-born hope of better
things for the world ? Let the truth
be told it did not originate with the
common people nor with their "lead
ers." We cannot, if we would, avert
our eyes from humanity's heroes en
shrined in the history of the struggle
of the centuries to awaken a sleeping
world. Jesus of Nazareth, the first
great social reformer devoted to the
cause of the poor, was, it is said, of
royal lineage. WyclilTe, the fourteenth
century socialist who gave the English
people in their ov tongue that most
socialistic of books the New Testa
ment, was among the greatest men of
his time and the cherished friend of
members of the royal household itself.
Victor Hugo, a peer of France, dared
death and sufl'ered long years of exile
as the champion of the miserable. The
great social revolution which now nears
its consummation has not been fed by
politicians. These have divided the
spoils of victories achieved by the
martyrdom of nobler men and women
who have become odious in their day
that such victories might be. Constan
tino wielded the sceptre made possible
by the anguish of quite another on the
cross. Cromwell thrived on the ashes
of WyclilTe and of John Ball. Wash
ington first and Napoieon afterward
wore the laurels of Bosseau, Voltaire,
Diderot and Thomas Paine. Lincoln
issued the emancipation proclamation
which the devotion of Garrison, Phillips
and Sumner and Harriet Needier Stowe
had written. Benjamin Harrison and
John Sherman would be in merited ob
livion to-day but that a foolish people
have suffered politicians to make mer
chandise of the scaffold agonies of
John Brown. Genius has furnished
the world with reformers whom the
common people have helped slay, and
have erected upon the graves of their
crucified friends thrones upon which
selfish, ambitious stupidity sits and is
adored. The farmers are awaking,
but through no efforts of their own.
.The trades unions are awake at last,
but they did not themselves sound the
resurrection horn. Men and women
who could have enjoyed all this world
affords of luxury ana of power, have
aroused the drowsy masses at last,
while the "leaders" of the people have
been busy hurling persecution's stones
in frantic efforts to stop the noise. I
must aflirm that the farmers and the
workingmen, with noble but rare ex
ceptions, have rejected their prophets
until approved of by the"upper classes,"
and socialism grows popular on the
farm and in the factory to-day largely
because good words have been spoken
for it of late by "the respectable' The
despised bringers of glad tidings to the
poor have been first heard by quite
other ears.
No, the new gospel is not to the poor
alone, although it is for them it is
preached. We should despair of no
one, but preach it in love to rich and
poor alike. Let what follows show the
reader that the rising sun of righteous
ness is seen by eager eyes from the
windows of some mansions too.
After supper John went to a barber
shop and was shaved; and even in
dulged in the unusual luxury of a pro
fessional "shine" put on his boots by
the barber-shop artist in black. .The
greatest men are sometimes guilty of
folly to please women. Tradition says
that even Aristotle let a pretty young
woman make a ridiculous fool of him
by getting him to walk on all fours and
pretend he was a donkey while she sat
on his back. So let us pardon John
his disposition to "fix up' for this odd
visit of his. He wished to go; in fact
he felt that common good manners
made it his duty to go; yet he dreaded
it almost as much as if he were going
to be hanged. What should he do and
say when he got there? Suppose Maj.
Delorme should be there? Was he
not making arrangements to get into a
lot of trouble? These thoughts and
many others like these passed through
his mind as he wended his anxious
way to the fine residence of Maj. De
lorme. He rang the bell at last about 8
o'clock and the door was almost im
mediately opened by Mrs. Delorme
herself. She greeted him cordially,
Eerhaps eagerly, and led the way to a
ack parlor which, in John's opinion
at least, was magnificently fitted and
furnished; and in the noonday ef
fulgence of the electric lights he for
the first time had a good look at his
hostess. Mrs. Delorme was tall and
heavy, with the form and easy look of
a Jewess, but her hair was light and
her eyes blue, and her complexion sug
gested a delicate, perennial blush. She
had seen nearly fifty summers; but,
save for a certain fullness of figure,
she might easily have passed for thirty.
Her pleasant cordiality put John at his
ease, and in a few minutes he was as
little self-conscious as if such visits to
handsome women had been every-day
affairs with him.
"I wished particularly to see you
this evening, Mr. Cotterell," said she,
"and so took the liberty of asking you
to call. It is kind of you to heed the
request of so total a stranger."
"I'll be glad if there's anything I can
do to oblige you," answered John.
"You said you were interested in so
cialism." "Indeed I am deeply interested in it;
but, as I have no doubt your penetra
tion has already apprised you, my en
vironment is not highly favorable to
the cultivation of the philosophy. My
husband is a business man, with the
ideas, views and feelings of his class;
and, of course, he thinks socialism not
only moon-shine but an abominable
doctrine. Of course, he knows noth
ing whatever about it, and he would
be'highly displeased if he knew I have
been studying it. He is a good hus
band, but ne has the old time notion
that a wife should subject her thoughts,
as well a3 her will, to her husband's
conception of propriety. I cannot do
that, nor do I think I should. A hus
band is not a husband merely; he is a
man. Why should not a wife be a
woman as well as a wife? I rebel
against the Byronic idea that
Love is of man's nature a thing apart
'tis woman's whole existence."
It is not her whole existence and can
not be. Has she not reason and as
pirations as well as affections? I have,
at least, and I do not believe 1 am
bound to extinguish them out of re
spect for foolish and harmful social
conventions. If the Major wished to
take up socialism would he ask my
permission? And why may not I use
my mind as seems best to me?"
"You are right, Mrs, Delorme.
Y'ou'd be a slave to do otherwise."
"Now that we understand each
other in this respect, allow me to ex
plain that I am not the only married
woman to feel thus. About twenty of
us scattered about the city are simi
larly situated, and we are all eager to
study socialism. Don't think, Mr.
Cotterell, that we are of that foolish
class of wolnen who take up some such
thing as a mere fad. We are in
earnest. We belie ce in socialism with
our whole hearts; and we feel for the
working people just as you feel for
them. We are weary of the empty fol
lies of the fashionable life we are
doomed to undergo, and feel criminal
every time we are forced to waste in the
foolish ostentation of some reception or
so-called social entertainment money
so sorely needed by people in actual
want. What is worse lor us, we keenly
feel that every dollar thus wasted has
been extorted by our husbands from
working people who have to live hard
in consequence of this robbery. When
I heard you last night, I felt indignant
as I saw all about me weak, unmanly
men who live easy lives and on whom
education is simply wasted and thought
what good you might do were you not
by a wicked social system obliged to re
press your bright mind and stille your
noble aspirations for good, in order to
give your life to monotonous drudgery
that such beings as these may waste
whit you earn while they vaunt them
selves your social superiors."
Her eyes Hashed with honest indig
nation as she said all this, and John
was astounded at the revelation that
such thoughts and feelings were possi
ble to a society woman a capitalist's
wife. She noted his look of astonish
ment, and smilingly said:
"You are surprised, Mr. Cotterell, to
hear such sentiments from a woman of
my utterly worthless class? Let me
assure you there are others who feel
thus, as when you meet our club you
will discover. We are idle, Mr. Cot
terell. Our husbands are immersed in
business that is, they are busy op
pressing industrious people and in
scheming to destroy each other. They
have no time for elevated thought nor
lofty sentiment. They are like Bun
yan s man with the muck-rake. It
seems utterly hopeless to seek to win
them to new and inspiring conceptions
of life. But you must not despair of
the mom tn of our class Mr. Cotterell.
How I detest that word 'class.' Yet
it expresses a very tangible fact, never
theless. We, as 1 said, are forced to
do nothing in the way of work; and so
some women take to the church or to
charity as some men take to drink,
simply to get rid of themselves. But
we have time and opportunity to read
and think and feel, as our husbands
have not, and a number of us are using
our opportunities and becoming edu
cated in the stirring ideas of our time.
Don't let your workingmen misjudge
fashionable women, Mr. Cotterell, nor
despair of us. We are slaves of an en
vironment as inflexible and almost as
cruel as yours. Were we to act as some
of us wish to act, and become on all
occasions the public allies of the work
ing people's champions, we sh'ould
simply ostracize ourselves; and without
doing any good now, would deprive
ourselves ot the power to do substan
tial good bye and bye."
John was not getting much opportu
nity to say anything, if, indeed, there
had been anvthing for him to say. But
this was a new, undreamed-of phase of
life to him, and he was content to lis
ten and wonder.
"1 know this to be true, Mr. Cotter
ell," she continued; "that the palace is
as ripe as the hovel for revolt against
what last night you so aptly called our
infernal' social system. But I must
come to the point, and explain what I
wished to see you about. I spoke of
our club a moment ago. We meet
Tuesday afternoons at our respective
homes in succession, and next Tuesday
we meet here. We have been reading
books and discussing them. Last meet
ing we had up Mill on Socialism, and
we have read Tolstoi's 'What to Do,'
and 'My Religion.' Sometimes we
have, some of us, prepared papers and
read them. But there is so much we
cannot learn from books. What I
heard from you and from that strange
gentleman last night taught me more
than we have got in six months from
our books. Have you any idea who
that gentleman was?"
"I was so certain I knew him that I
went to the depot to hunt for him, but
the train pulled out before I got there,
and I saw him just going in the door of
the last Pullman. When I was a boy
he taught our district school one win
ter and boarded at our house. He was
going to be a preacher. He taught me
my socialism that winter. That was
the first I ever knew there was such a
thing."
"What is his name, and where does
he preach?"
"I don't know where he hangs out
now. Last night was the first time I'd
seen him or heard of him since that
winter. I guess his first name's Mar
shallwe used to call him Marsh Ma
son." "Marshall Mason f How old is he? "
asked Mrs. Delorme with great excite
ment. "I judge he must be about 30 now."
"Can it be possible?" said she as if
talking to herself. Then turning to
John:
"Do you know whether his father is
living?1'
"Why, when he lived at our house he
told me he had a widowed mother to
support. That's all I know."
She seemed much agitated, but
quickly recovering her composure, said:
"Well, Mr. Cotterell, our club has
been wishing to have someone who
understands and feels the subject, lec
ture to us on socialism. All the pro
fessional lecturers talk of it as if they
considered it a mere fad as if it were
something we must never expect to see
realized; not, at least, for some cen
turies yet. Now, I wished to see you
this evening and secure your services
as lecturer at our next meeting."
"It would be a great pleasure as well
as an honor, but I'm afraid I can't get
away in day time."
"True, I should have thought of that.
What a detestable state of things! Well
then, we shall have our meeting in the
evening. The Major never gets home
before eleven, anyhow."
"I'll come. I'll be here at 8 o'clock
next Tuesday evening."
"Thank you, Mr. Cotterell. We
shall be under the greatest obligation.
I have already informed some of the
ladies of my project and they are sleep
less till they learn I have persuaded
you to come. We shall expect you, and
anticipate a delightful evening. If you
should disappoint us I cannot answer
for the consequences."
"I'll be on hand sure," said John,
and he rose to go. Mrs. Delorme de
tained him a moment to say
"Suppose, Mr. Cotterell, you explain
to us Tuesday evening the relation of
the doctrines of the new party -rthe
People's party, I believe it is called
to socialism We are so anxious to
learn just what the new political move- -ment
really means, and all we can hear
about it is mere vulgar ridicule which
has not the merit of being either ra
tional or witty. Will you do us the
favor of explaining the whole matter
to us?"
"To tell you the truth, I've not had
much use lor the new party, myself,
because it don't go far enough. It's
too much of a farmer's party and don't
have enough to say for wage workers.
But It's bound to grow. Nobody can
ever get interested, away down in his
boots, in the People's party program
without pulling up at out and out social
ism before he gets through, and I
havn't the slightest doubt but that be
fore three years by 1894 the People's
party, here in Kansas anyhow, will be
talking straight socialism right out in
meeting, with no ifs or ans about it.
That's the only reason a good many
working men go with the party at all
right now. My father is an enthusi
astic People's party man. He's a
farmer, but he's in it because he wants
to help others. I don't believe he ever
thinks of himself at all, although he
has a hard time and his own place is
mortgaged, too. He is a born socialist,
but he don't know it yet, and there are
plenty other farmers just the same
way.
"Well, you will be with us Tuesday
evening?"
John assented. Mrs. Delorme ac
companied him to the door and offered
her hand at parting. Before he reached
the last step the door was re-opened
and she recalled him with "0, Mr.
Cotterelll" He returned to the door.
"Pardon me, but will you endeavor
to learn the whereabouts of that strange
gentleman your preacher friend? I
am greatly interested in him. We might
have him lecture for us, also, sometime."