Upton Sinclair, ed. (18781968). The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915.
Bringing the Light (From A Bed of Roses)
By W. L. George
(Contemporary English novelist. The life-story of a woman wage-earner who is driven by the pressure of want to a career of shame. In the following scene she argues with a suffrage-worker, who has called upon her, in ignorance of her true character)
THE WOMANS eyes were rapt, her hands tightly clenched, her lips parted, her cheeks a little flushed. But Victorias face had hardened suddenly.
Oh, it isnt that, Mrs. Ferris, burst out the suffragist, Im not thinking of myself. Our cause is not the cause of rich women or poor women, of good women or bad; its the cause of woman. Thus, it doesnt matter who she is, so long as there is a woman who stands aloof from us there is still work to do. I know that yours is not a happy life; and we are bringing the light.
The light! echoed Victoria bitterly. You have no idea, I see, of how many people there are who are bringing the light to women like me. There are various religious organizations who wish to rescue us and house us comfortably under the patronage of the police, to keep us nicely and feed us on what is suitable for the fallen; they expect us to sew ten hours a day for these privileges, but that is by the way. There are also many kindly souls who offer little jobs as charwomen to those of us who are too worn out to pursue our calling; we are offered emigration as servants in exchange for the power of commanding a household; we are offered poverty for luxury, service for domination, slavery to women instead of slavery to men. How tempting it is!
The suffragist said nothing for a second. She felt shaken by Victorias bitterness. The vote does not mean everything, she said reluctantly. It will merely ensure that we rise like the men when we are fit.
No, no, we cant wait to be raised. Weve got to live, and if you raise us we lose our means of livelihood. How are you going to get to the root cause and lift us, not the next generation, at once out of the lower depths?
Everything takes time, she faltered. Just as I couldnt promise a charwoman that her hours would go down and her wages go up the next day, I cant say that of course your case is more difficult than any other, because because.
Because, said Victoria coldly, I represent a social necessity. So long as your economic system is such that there is not work for the asking for every human beingwork, mark you, fitted to strength and abilityso long on the other hand as there is such uncertainty as prevents men from marrying, so long as there is a leisure class who draw luxury from the labor of other men; so long will my class endure as it endured in Athens, in Rome, in Alexandria, as it does now from St. Johns Wood to Pekin.