TABLE OF CONTENTS

<table><thead><tr><th></th><th>PAGE</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Another Star</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>Anti-Suffragists. The</td><td>17</td></tr><tr><td>Anti and the Fly. The</td><td>19</td></tr><tr><td>Boys Will Be Boys</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>Coming</td><td>5</td></tr><tr><td>For Fear</td><td>10</td></tr><tr><td>Females</td><td>12</td></tr><tr><td>Girls of To-day</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td>Housewife. The</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>Locked Inside</td><td>6</td></tr><tr><td>Mother to Child</td><td>17</td></tr><tr><td>Malingerer. The</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>Now</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td>Question. A</td><td>15</td></tr><tr><td>Reassurance</td><td>3</td></tr><tr><td>She Walketh Veiled and Sleeping</td><td>24</td></tr><tr><td>She Who Is To Come</td><td>16</td></tr><tr><td>Socialist and the Suffragist. The</td><td>22</td></tr><tr><td>Song for Equal Suffrage</td><td>19</td></tr><tr><td>To the Indifferent Women</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>Women of To-day</td><td>13</td></tr><tr><td>Women to Men</td><td>21</td></tr><tr><td>Women Do Not Want It</td><td>9</td></tr><tr><td>Wedded Bliss</td><td>11</td></tr><tr><td>We As Women</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

NOTE—The poems marked * are from *In This Our World* by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Copyright, 1898, by Small, Maynard and Co., and are reprinted by the kind permission of the publishers. Those marked † are from the *Woman's Journal*, and those marked f are from THE FORERUNNER.

SHE WALKETH VEILED AND
SLEEPING *

SHE WALKETH veiled and sleeping,
For she knoweth not her power;
She obeyeth but the pleading
Of her heart, and the high leading
Of her soul, unto this hour.
Slow advancing, halting, creeping,
Comes the Woman to the hour!—
She walketh veiled and sleeping,
For she knoweth not her power.

COMING f

Because the time is ripe, the age is ready,
Because the world her woman's help demands,
Out of the long subjection and seclusion
Come to our field of warfare and confusion
The mother's heart and hands.

Long has she stood aside, endured and waited,
While man swung forward, toiling on alone;
Now, for the weary man, so long ill-mated,
Now, for the world for which she was created,
Comes woman to her own.

Not for herself! though sweet the air of freedom;
Not for herself, though dear the new-born power;
But for the child, who needs a nobler mother,
For the whole people, needing one another,
Comes woman to her hour.

LOCKED INSIDE f

She beats upon her bolted door,
With faint weak hands;
Drearily walks the narrow floor;
Sullenly sits, blank walls before;
Despairing stands.

Life calls her, Duty, Pleasure, Gain—
Her dreams respond;
But the blank daylights wax and wane,
Dull peace, sharp agony, slow pain—
No hope beyond.

3

Till she comes a thought! She lifts her head,
The world grows wide!

A voice—as if clear words were said—
“Your door, O long imprisoned,
Is locked inside!”

## NOW f

With God Above—Beneath—Beside—
Without—Within—and Everywhere;
Rising with the resistless tide
Of life, and Sure of Getting There.

Patient with Nature's long delay,
Proud of our conscious upward swing;
Not sorry for a single day,
And Not Afraid of Anything!

With Motherhood at last awake—
With Power to Do and Light to See—
Women may now begin to Make
The People we are Meant to Be!

## WOMEN OF TO-DAY *

You women of today who fear so much
The women of the future, showing how
The dangers of her course are such and such—
What are you now?

Mothers and Wives and Housekeepers, forsooth!
Great names, you cry, full scope to rule and please,
Room for wise age and energetic youth!—
But are you these?

Housekeepers? Do you then, like those of yore,
Keep house with power and pride, with grace and
ease?

No, you keep servants only! What is more—
You don't keep these!

Wives, say you? Wives! Blessed indeed are they
Who hold of love the everlasting keys,
Keeping their husbands' hearts! Alas the day!
You don't keep these!

4

And mothers? Pitying Heaven! Mark the cry
From cradle death-beds! Mothers on their knees!
Why, half the children born, as children, die!
You don't keep these!

And still the wailing babies come and go,
And homes are waste, and husband's hearts fly far;
There is no hope until you dare to know
The thing you are!

## BOYS WILL BE BOYS f

“Boys will be boys,” and boys have had their day;
Boy-mischief and boy-carelessness and noise
Extenuated all, allowed, excused and smoothed away,
Each duty missed, each damaging wild act,
By this meek statement of unquestioned fact—
Boys will be boys!

Now, “women will be women.” Mark the change;
Calm motherhood in place of boisterous youth;
No warfare now; to manage and arrange,
To nurture with wise care, is woman's way,
In peace and fruitful industry her sway,
In love and truth.

## FOR FEAR f

For fear of prowling beasts at night
They blocked the cave;
Women and children hid from sight,
Men scarce more brave.

For fear of warrior's sword and spear
They barred the gate;
Women and children lived in fear,
Men lived in hate.

For fear of criminals today
We lock the door;
Women and children still to stay
Hid evermore.

Come out! Ye need no longer hide!
What fear you now?
No wolf nor lion waits outside—
Only a cow.

5

Come out! The world approaches peace,
War nears its end;

No warrior watches your release—
Only a friend.

Come out! The night of crime has fled—
Day is begun;

Here is no criminal to dread—
Only your son.

The world, half yours, demands your care,
Waken and come!

Make it a woman's world; safe, fair,
Garden and home.

## MOTHER TO CHILD *

How best can I serve thee, my child! My child!

Flesh of my flesh and dear heart of my heart!

Once thou wast within me—I held thee—I fed thee—

By the force of my loving and longing I led thee—

Now we are apart!

I may blind thee with kisses and crush with embracing,

Thy warm mouth in my neck and our arms interlacing;

But here in my body my soul lives alone,

And thou answerest me from a house of thine own—

That house which I builded!

Which we builded together, thy father and I;

In which thou must live, O my darling, and die!

Not one stone can I alter, one atom relay—

Not to save or defend thee or help thee to stay—

That gift is completed!

How best can I serve thee? O child, if they knew
How my heart aches with loving! How deep and
how true,

How brave and enduring, how patient, how strong,

How longing for good and how fearful of wrong,

Is the love of thy mother!

6

Could I crown thee with riches! Surround, overflow thee

With fame and with power till the whole world
should know thee;

With wisdom and genius to hold the world still,
To bring laughter and tears, joy and pain, at thy will,
Still—thou mightst not be happy!

Such have lived—and in sorrow. The greater the mind

The wider and deeper the grief it can find.

The richer, the gladder, the more thou canst feel

The keen stings that a lifetime is sure to reveal.

O my child! Must thou suffer?

Is there no way my life can save thine from a pain?

Is the love of a mother no possible gain?

No labor of Hercules—search for the Grail—

No way for this wonderful love to avail?

God in Heaven—O teach me!

My prayer has been answered. The pain thou must bear

Is the pain of the world's life which thy life must share.

Thou art one with the world—though I love thee the best;

And to save thee from pain I must save all the rest—
Well—with God's help I'll do it.

Thou art one with the rest. I must love thee in them.

Thou wilt sin with the rest; and thy mother must stem

The world's sin. Thou wilt weep, and thy mother must dry

The tears of the world lest her darling should cry.

I will do it—God helping!

And I stand not alone. I will gather a band
Of all loving mothers from land unto land.

Our children are part of the world! Do ye hear?

They are one with the world—we must hold them all dear!

Love all for the child's sake!

7