San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-12-28
MRS. BEsANr TALKS.
The Missionary of Theosophy is In
clined to be Caustic.

Mrs. Annie Besant, who spent the
past spring and summer in America
as missionary of theosophy, is home
again in England. She saw and heard
a great deal in this country to inter
est her, concerning which William II.
Stead has interviewed her. Below will
be found the substance of her talk
with this well-known journalist:
Tell me where you have been and
what you have been doing" said, to
open the conversation. Certainly"
said Mrs. Besant. Il left England in
March. landed in New York on st.
Patrick's day, March II, 1897. / came
back the end of September. in the
steamer st. Louis. which sailed ON the
22d. | win remain here in the autu-
mn and winter. but in the next spring
expect 10 go TO India"
WAS your visit confined to the
United States?"
Yes, with the exception of trip
from Buffalo to Toronto and Hamil-
ton. We started from New York and
worked Westward We did not go
further south than Philadelphia and
Washington, but worked right across
the continent to the Pacific coast. 1t
was a very interesting trip and
brought us into contact with all sorts
and conditions of men.
"One observation which continually
forced itself upon our minds was that
in the Western states il is only the
women who reads books; the men read
nothing. You will find that the wife
preserves some leisure for culture,
while the husband tends more and
more to become an unlettered, money
making machine. 1t is an unlOvely
evolution. and one which plays havoc
with the unity of a home"
Il have heard the same phase COM
mented on by other observers" l re-
Piled. Let us hope that the Ameri-
can woman will be able to resist the
downward drag of her unlettered hus-
band"
Il do not like the outlook" said Mrs.
Besant. AT present, in the Eastern
states, there is great deal of surface
politness, in which respect the Amer
leans are much in advance of other
English speaking nations, but instead
the men look with tolerable contempt
on the tacit claim of the women to uni
versal knowledge, and take good hui
moredly their airs of superiority. In
the West, the whole burden of main
tanning the culture of the household is
thrown upon single member-the
wife. Mentality alone will not suffice
to sustain so great a responsibility,
and of spirituality there is no excess
on either side. In fact, this is de-
creasing in the new woman"
But is not motherhood, Itself a
great spiritualizing experience, the
continual channel through which the
divine enters into the hearth"
YES" said Mrs. Beasant, ''but the
new woman does not want to be a
mother; the passion for motherhood
seems to have become extinct in many
households"
And what do you think of the Am
erican newspapers"
Il saw plenty of them, as you can
imagine, for / was the constant prey
of the interviewer, but of that / have
nothing to complain. When you are
on mission for spreading the light.
the interviewer is very valuable
auxiliary. At the same time, it would
be better if he restrained a little of
the eXuberance of his Imagination.
One question they often asked me
was: If | remembered any of my
previous incarnations' When | said
'Ye,' they all clamored to know some
thing about them. l naturally re.
fused, saying that as it was matter
upon which / could produce no evil
dence it was idle to make statements
that cOul1 nnt no nroyaJ
notwithstanding this invariable
reply, one reporter did not hesitate to
make the assertion that claimed that
| was the reincarnation of Lord By
ron, and that it was on this account
that l was so enthusiastically devoted
to the cause of the Greeks. AS a mat
ter of fact, my enthusiasm about the
Greeks has never been conspicuous
for it's fervOr, and / need not tell you
that | never claimed in any way to be
the reincarnatiOn of Lord Byron. New
ertheless, the interviewer's bold false
hood made the tour of the continent,
and l dare say it is running yet
"Then you are not much impressed
by the spirituality of the modern jour
nalistic apparatus"
The American newspaper" she re-
piled, lis vibrating with intense vi
tally. Its staff live in the vortex of
whirling Kamic activities, which are
utterly fatal TO any of the respose or
reflection Indispensable for spiritual
leadership. They seem to me to be
dancing Il mad carmagnole, in which
the pace goes ever faster and faster,
and which sweeps every one into its
maddening whirl. They live for the
day, in the things of the day, and no.
body ever fOrgets so completely the
things of yesterday as your American
newspapers. Spirituality implies
calm, balance and dignity, and these
are only conspicuous by their alb
sence."
How was your mission treated by
the press?
''At first with but scant courtesy.
but gradually, as week after week
went by, the newspapers began to
treat us more and more seriously, I'M
til ut last there was nothing in the
world to complain of as to the tone
which they adopted in dealing with
the Philosophical Society.
How does the Philosophical Socie-
cts Il