The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1911-12-29
POETS IN A DUEL or VERSES
Hall Game Answers kipIing's Attack
on Woman Suffrage

poem entitled, Inc MOJnef OF the
Man." which answers Rudyard Kip
ling's recent poem, THE Female of
the Species" The Kipling poem was
rhymed attack on woman suffrage,
the refrain of which ran, For the fe-
male of the species is more deadly
than the male" The Hall Game an
swer follows:
When the Lord of Creation gave the
woman to the man,
In that blest but brief existence ere
the rule of i'll began,
Then he knew that of her conduct,
whether innocent or frail,
That the female of the species would
be scapegoat to the male.
When he banished them from Eden
for the sin that each had wrought,
And the flaming sword of vengeance
sealed the fate that both had
sought,
Then he knew throughout the ages,
long as man should tell the tale,
That the female of the species would
be temptress to the male.
When he cast his children from him,
and by primal earthly VOW,
Doomed their seed to eat their life
bread in the sweat of blood and
brow,
Then he knew where paths were red
dest down the line of labor's trail,
There the female of the species would
be slavemate to the male.
When he lowered the man with pas
sions, when he formed him from
the dust,
With it's wilderness of instincts, with
its lava stream of lust,
Then he knew that in the whirlwind
of his manhood's wasteful gale,
Still the female of the species would
be subject to the male.
When he ordered that the woman,
both as mother and as wife,
Should obey the law of being as the
vehicle of life,
Then he suffered it to happen. lest
the generation fail,
That the female of the species might
be "deadlier" than the male.
But when the Lord of Creation gave
the woman to the man,
In that blest but brief existence ere
the root of ill began,
Then he ruled it that if sharing in
mans fault and in his fate,
She should therefore be his equal and
the partner in his state.
Not to govern or cajole him, not to |
court or speak him smooth,
Not to spare or to enslave him, but
to cheer, inspire and soothe;
Not his temptress, not his slavemate,
not his subject, not his squaw,
But his helpmeet and his angel by
the right of Gods own law.
If he cursed the man with labor, as
the human lots alloy,
He provided that for woman his work
should be his joy.
If he lowered man with passions,
Which the grosser instincts move
He reserved it to the woman to uplift |
his lust to love.
If he ordered that the mother of the
children of her womb
Should dare her death by travail, and
fight till crack of doom,
He ordained that by impulse, still
the purest and the best,
She should gather all that suffer in
her pity to her breast.
Nurturing, nursing, guarding, guiding,
giving strength with heart and
hand;
Paying toll in pangs to Nature, which
no man may understand;
Dauntless from the God who made her
without fear to draw her breath, |
Savior of the weak and helpless, first
at birth and last at death.
Since the Lord created woman-she |
became a living soul
Hers has been the old earth's burden,
age on age, from pole to pole.
Hers the conflict, hers the conquest,
hers the flag of life unfurled;
Hers the sorrow, hers the suffering,
hers the love that moves the
world,
Therefore, why should man, the in
CRATE, when he chooses to confer,
Welcome every fool and coward, only
close the door on her?
Room, sires, room within your coun-
ellis, bare your foreheads If you
Cdu,
For behold without your portal stands
the mother of the man.
$50
Kipling's poem, "The Female of the
Species. Study of Natural History,
printed in the Ladies Home Journal
points out that among beasts, reptiles
and savage races it is the female that
is most to be feared. The male bear
may sometimes be turned aside by a /
shout, but the female never fees. The
male cobra wriggles away, but the
female remains and strikes. The male
savage is susceptible to reason, but
the female is unforgiving. Which
leads Kipling to the conclusion:
So it comes that man, the coward, |
when he gathers TO confer
With his fellow braves in council, |
does not leave a place for her.