Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1922-12-29
A Thought for
the New Year
By Charlotte Perkins Gilman
in the New York Sun
WO storks were nesting.

He was young stork-and
= narrow-minded. Before he mar
ried he had consorted mainly with
striplings of his own kind and had
given no thought to the ladies, either
maid or matron.
After he married his attention was
concentrated upon his All-Sat1sfying
Wife; upon that Triumph of Art, La
Dor and Love-their Nest, and upon
tlbge Special Creations-their Chill
dnen neepaysass~s ne moved by the
~ e3ous instincts and processes Of
motherhood. Love, reverence, intense
admiration, rose in his heart for Her Of
the Well-Built Nest; Her of the Clean
ing Treasure Of Smooth Eggs; Her of
Warming Wings, the downy wide
mouth Group of Little Ones.
Assiduously he labored to help her
build the nest, to help her feed the
young Proud Of his impassioned &C
tivity in her and their behalf, devoutly
he performed his share of the brooding
While she hunted in her turn. When
he was awning he thought continually
Of Her as one with the Brood-His
Brood When he was on the nest he
thought all the more of Her, who sat
there so long, SO lovingly, to such noble
ends
The happy days flew by, fair Spring
sweet Summer-gentle Autumn The
young ones grew larger and larger; it
was more and more work to keep their
lengthening, widening beaks shut In
contentment. Both parents flew far
afield to feed them.
Then the days grew shorter, the sky
grayer, the wind colder; there was
large hunting and small success. In
his dreams he began to see sunshine,
broad burning sunshine day after day
skies Of limitless blue; dark, deep yet
full of fire; and stretches Of bright
water, shallow, warm, f1nged with tall
reeds and rushes, teeming with fat
frogs.
They were In her dreams, too, but he
did not know that.
He stretched his wings and few
farther every day; but his wings were
not satisfied. In his dreams came a
sense of vast heights and boundleSs
spaces of the earrh streaming away
beneath him; black water and white
land. gray water and brown land, blue
water and green land, all flowing back
ward from day TO day, while the cold
lesSened and the warmth grew.
He felt the empty sparkling nights.
stars far above, quiyering, burning;
stars far below, quivering more In the
dark water and felt his great wings,
wide. strong, all sufficient, carrying him
on and on.
This was In her dreams, too. but he
did not know that.
1T is time TO CO." he cried one day.
They are coming, 1t Is upon us,
Yes-I must go, Good-hy, my wife
Good-hy. my children :" For the Pas
sion Of Wings was upon him.
She was stirred to the heart YES
1t Is time TO GO" she cried. u am
ready, Come"
+ He was shocked, greved astonIshed,
Why, my dear" he said. How pre-
posterous You cannot go on the
Great Flight, Your wings are for
brooding tender little ones. Your body
Is for the Wonder of the Cleaning
Treasure not for days and nights Of
ceaseless soaring You cannot co.
She did not heed him. She spread
her wide wings and swept and circled
far and high above-as, in truth. she
had been doing for many days though
he had not noticed It.
She dropped to the ridge-poe beside
him where he was still muttering oh
iections. us it not glorious :" she cried
Gone They are nearly ready"
you Unnatural Mother.' he burst
forth You have forgotten the Order
of Nature, You have forgotten your
children Your loving. precious ten
der, helpless Little Ones" And he
wept-for his highest ideals were shat
tered
But the Precious Little Ones stood
in row on the ridgepole and tapped
their strong young wings in high de-
riSion. They were as big as he was,
nearly: for as matter Of fact he was
but a Young Stork himself
Then the air was beaten white with
l thousand wings; 1t was like snow
md silver and sea-foam; there was
hashing, whirlwind, a hurricane of
Wild Joy. and then the Army of the Sky
spread wide In due array, and streamed
Southwark.
Full Of remembered Joy and more
Joyous hope, finding the high sunlight
better than her dreams, she swept
away to the far summer-land; and her
hildren, mad with the happiness of
the First Flight, swept beside her
But you are Mother!" he painted
as he caught up with them.
Yes" she cried joyously, "but
was Stork before was Mother
and Afterward-and All the T1me"
And the Storfs we're Flying.