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Beginning Spring Data: Data Access and Persistence for Spring Framework 6 and Boot 3 1st Edition Andres Sacco pdf download

The document is a promotional listing for various eBooks related to Spring Data, Spring Boot, and other topics, including persistence best practices and Chinese medicine. It includes links to download the books and provides information about the authors and editions. Additionally, it highlights the importance of learning and offers a variety of resources for readers interested in these subjects.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
7 views

Beginning Spring Data: Data Access and Persistence for Spring Framework 6 and Boot 3 1st Edition Andres Sacco pdf download

The document is a promotional listing for various eBooks related to Spring Data, Spring Boot, and other topics, including persistence best practices and Chinese medicine. It includes links to download the books and provides information about the authors and editions. Additionally, it highlights the importance of learning and offers a variety of resources for readers interested in these subjects.

Uploaded by

ungoalbiss
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Beginning Spring Data
Data Access and Persistence
for Spring Framework 6 and Boot 3

Andres Sacco
Beginning Spring Data: Data Access and Persistence for Spring Framework 6
and Boot 3
Andres Sacco
Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4842-8763-7 ISBN-13 (electronic): 978-1-4842-8764-4


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-8764-4

Copyright © 2023 by Andres Sacco


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To my grandparents, who taught me the importance
of always learning new things
To my wife and children for supporting me
while writing this book
Table of Contents
About the Author����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xi

About the Technical Reviewer������������������������������������������������������������������������������� xiii


Acknowledgments���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xv

Introduction�����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������xvii

Part I: Introduction����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 1
Chapter 1: Application Architecture������������������������������������������������������������������������� 3
Why Persistence Is So Important�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 3
The History of Persistence������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 4
JDBC���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 5
EJB���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 12
JPA���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 16
Spring Data���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 19
Object Mapping��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 20
Repository Support��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 22
Architectures Types��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 24
Layers������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 24
Hexagonal������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 26
Persistence Design Patterns������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 29
Data Access Object (DAO)������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 29
Repository Pattern����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 32
Data Transfer Object (DTO)���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 34
Specification Pattern������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 35
Other Patterns����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 36
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 36

v
Table of Contents

Chapter 2: Spring Basics and Beyond�������������������������������������������������������������������� 37


Spring Basics������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 37
Spring Boot��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 39
Basic Application Setup�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 40
Creating an API Using Spring Initialzr������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 41
Creating an API in the IDE������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 45
How to Run the Application��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 47
Best Practices����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 57
Preventing Conflicts with the Dependencies������������������������������������������������������������������������� 57
Documenting the Endpoints�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 59
Logging All the Details����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 59
Maintaining and Updating the Dependencies������������������������������������������������������������������������ 60
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 60

Chapter 3: Spring Data and Different Types of Persistence������������������������������������ 61


What Is Spring Data?������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 61
How Does Spring Data Work?����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 64
Spring Data Code Example���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 64
Core Concepts����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 70
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 84

Part II: SQL Persistence�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 85


Chapter 4: Persistence and Domain Model������������������������������������������������������������� 87
JPA Configuration Using Annotations������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 87
Entity������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 91
Types of Relationships��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 107
Types of Inherence�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 120
Listening and Auditing Events��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 132
Validating the Schema�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 135
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 141

vi
Table of Contents

Chapter 5: Transaction Management�������������������������������������������������������������������� 143


What Is a Transaction?�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 145
What Is ACID?���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 146
Isolation Problems��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 147
Isolation Levels�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 150
Locking Types���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 152
How Do These Concepts Work in Spring Data?������������������������������������������������������������������������� 152
Transactional Properties������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 155
Transaction Template����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 158
Optimistic Locking��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 159
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 162

Chapter 6: Versioning or Migrating Changes�������������������������������������������������������� 163


Versioning Changes in a Database�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 163
Libraries That Implement Versioning����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 166
Which Library Does the Versioning?������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 170
Integrating Libraries in Spring Boot������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 170
Best Practices���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 178
Feature Flags���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 179
Implementing Feature Flags������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 181
Best Practices���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 185
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 185

Part III: NoSQL Persistence������������������������������������������������������������������������� 187


Chapter 7: Redis: Key/Value Database����������������������������������������������������������������� 189
What Is Redis?�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 189
Spring Data Structures�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 193
Database and Connection Settings������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 195
Connecting with Primary/Secondary Nodes������������������������������������������������������������������������ 200
Object Mapping and Conversion����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 203

vii
Table of Contents

Defining Custom Repositories��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 206


Queries by Example������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 209
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 212

Chapter 8: MongoDB: Document Database����������������������������������������������������������� 213


What Is a Document Store?������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 213
Possible Uses Cases������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 214
Implementations������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 215
What Is MongoDB?�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 216
Introduction Spring Data Mongo����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 219
Database and Connection Settings������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 219
Access Using Repositories�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 224
Defining Queries������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 226
Using MongoTemplate with Custom Repositories��������������������������������������������������������������� 227
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 230

Chapter 9: Neo4j: Graph Database������������������������������������������������������������������������ 231


What Is a Graph Database?������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 231
Possible Uses Cases������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 232
Implementations������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 233
What Is Neo4j?�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 234
Introduction Spring Data Neo4j������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 236
Database and Connection Settings������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 236
Access Using Repositories�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 241
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 247

Chapter 10: Cassandra: Wide-Column Database�������������������������������������������������� 249


What Is Cassandra?������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 249
Structure������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 252
Configuration���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 253
Database and Connection Settings������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 253

viii
Table of Contents

Defining Custom Repositories��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 260


Defining a TTL���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 263
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 264

Part IV: Advanced testing and best practices��������������������������������������������� 265


Chapter 11: Reactive Access�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 267
What Is Reactive Access?��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 268
Modifying Queries to Be Reactive��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 269
Non-Relational Databases��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 270
Relational Databases����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 272
Considerations�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 275
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 275

Chapter 12: Unit and Integration Testing�������������������������������������������������������������� 277


Unit Testing with Mocks������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 278
Integration Testing with a Database������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 281
Testcontainers��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 281
Testcontainers vs. Embedded���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 283
Using Testcontainers����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 284
Multiple Integration Tests���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 293
Initialization Strategies�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 294
Potential Problems�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 295
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 298

Chapter 13: Detecting Performance Issues���������������������������������������������������������� 299


Low-Performance Problems����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 300
Detecting Problems������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 301
Analyzing Query Performance��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 301
Analyzing Query Complexity������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 305
Checking the Performance of an Endpoint�������������������������������������������������������������������������� 310
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 323

ix
Table of Contents

Chapter 14: Best Practices����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 325


Compressing Information���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 325
Reducing Transferred Information�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 332
Using Optional in Custom Queries��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 332
Using Lazy in Relationships������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 332
Persisting Multiples Elements��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 333
Using Master/Slave or Replicas������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 333
Using Cache to Reduce Access������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 334
Summary���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 340

Appendix A: Setting up Environment Tools����������������������������������������������������������� 341

Appendix B: Recommended and Alternative Tools����������������������������������������������� 349

Appendix C: Opening a Project����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 363

Appendix D: Install and Configure a Relational Database������������������������������������ 367

Appendix E: Installing and Configuring Non-Relational Databases���������������������� 383

Appendix F: Further Reading�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 407

Index��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 411

x
About the Author
Andres Sacco has been a professional developer since 2007,
working with a variety of languages, including Java, Scala,
PHP, Node.js, and Kotlin. His background is mostly in Java
and its libraries or frameworks, like Spring, JSF, iBATIS,
Hibernate, and Spring Data. He is focused on researching
new technologies to improve the performance, stability, and
quality of the applications he develops.
In 2017 he started finding new ways to optimize data
transference between applications to reduce infrastructure
costs. He suggested actions applicable to microservices. As a result of these actions, the
cost was reduced by 55%. Some of these actions are connected directly with the harmful
use of databases.

xi
About the Technical Reviewer
Manuel Jordan Elera is an autodidactic developer and
researcher who enjoys learning new technologies for his
experiments and creating new integrations. Manuel won
the Springy Award 2013 Community Champion and Spring
Champion. In his little free time, he reads the Bible and
composes music on his guitar.
Manuel is known as dr_pompeii. He has tech-reviewed
numerous books, including Pro Spring MVC with WebFlux
(Apress, 2020), Pro Spring Boot 2 (Apress, 2019), Rapid Java
Persistence and Microservices (Apress, 2019), Java Language
Features (Apress, 2018), Spring Boot 2 Recipes (Apress, 2018), and Java APIs, Extensions
and Libraries (Apress, 2018).
You can read his detailed tutorials on Spring technologies and contact him through
his blog at www.manueljordanelera.blogspot.com. You can follow Manuel on his
Twitter account, @dr_pompeii.

xiii
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my family members and friends for their encouragement and
support during the process of writing this book.
• My wife, Gisela, was always patient when I spent long hours at my
computer desk working on this book

• My little daughter, Francesca, who helped me to relax when I was


writing each chapter

• My baby, Allegra, who is the new family member and my inspiration


to write this book

• My friends, German Canale and Julian Delley, who always


encouraged me to write a book and supported me when I
doubted myself

• A special mention to Manuel Jordan for guiding me in improving the


quality of my book

I sincerely thank the team at Apress for their support during the publication of this
book. Thanks to Mark Powers for providing excellent support. Finally, thanks to Steve
Anglin for suggesting and giving me the possibility to write a book about Spring Data.

xv
Introduction
In the past, developers saved information in a relational database using conventional
methods like JDBC. It worked for a time—when systems were small or not overly
complex to maintain. Gradually, new technologies like Ibatis and Hibernate emerged to
reduce the complexity of queries and facilitated access to different relational databases,
allowing developers to focus on creating great applications instead of spending a lot of
time figuring out how to connect to a database or reduce the number of connections.
Soon after, many non-relational databases appeared, solving certain problems even
while others persisted. As a developer, one still needed to use a database client and
struggle with myriad performance issues and/or bad practices.
Spring1 proved to be the solution to multiple problems, be it related to dependency
injection or how to intercept a method or class before/after another method calls it. It’s
no wonder the framework’s developers created something to reduce the complexity
involved in using multiple databases (relational and non-relational). Spring Data solves
most of these issues, increasing developers’ performance and ability to create new
applications.
This book will cover the basics of creating an application that can access multiple
databases and demonstrate how you can do things in different databases. Also, you will
learn best practices to help reduce inefficiencies in your applications.

Why This Book


So, why write a book about Spring Data and how to persist information in different
databases? Most developers use different databases to persist different types of
information; for example, some use Redis (a possible mechanism of cache) or MongoDB
(to save documents whose structure could change in the future). My purpose in writing
this book was to explain Spring Data’s power and its best practices.

1
https://spring.io/

xvii
Introduction

The following are some common questions associated with the use of databases.

• How can you optimize queries or the number of operations in a


database?

• How do you create unit tests to validate that queries or changes work
properly?

• How can you maintain a registry of all changes made to the database?

• How can you evaluate if there is a problem related to the


performance of your query?

• Which database is the best option for the project you’re working on?

These are just some of the questions I’ve tried to address throughout the book.

Who This Book Is For


This book is for developers with a programming background in Java who want to know
how to persist information in different databases and how to create tests to validate
whether their application performs as intended.

Note It is beyond the scope of this book to explain in-depth all concepts related
to the creation of queries.

You are not required to have previous experience using Spring or Spring Data
because I will show you how to create a project from scratch with different layers, each
with a specific purpose.

xviii
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
The Project Gutenberg eBook of My Two
Countries
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: My Two Countries

Author: Viscountess Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor Astor

Release date: March 13, 2019 [eBook #59054]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Tim Lindell, David E. Brown, and the Online


Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
(This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY TWO


COUNTRIES ***
MY TWO COUNTRIES
MY TWO
COUNTRIES
By

LADY ASTOR

GARDEN CITY NEW YORK


DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1923
COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION


INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES


AT
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y.

First Edition
AMERICA

I[A]
“I can conceive of nothing worse than a man-governed world—
except a woman-governed world.”

I KNOW that this welcome has nothing to do with me. Ever since I
first entered the Mother of Parliaments I realised that I had
ceased to be a person and had become a symbol. The safe thing
about being a symbol is this—you realise that you of yourself can do
nothing, but what you symbolise gives you courage and strength,
and should give you wisdom. I certainly have been given courage
and strength. I won’t say too much about wisdom.
My entrance into the House of Commons was not, as some thought,
in the nature of a revolution. It was simply evolution. It is interesting
how it came about. My husband was the one who started me off on
this downward career—from home to the House. If I have helped
the cause of women, he is the one to thank—not me. He is a strange
and remarkable man. First, it was strange to urge his wife to take up
public life, especially as he is a most domesticated creature; but the
truth is, he is a born social reformer. He has avoided the pitfalls
which so many well-to-do men fall into. He doesn’t think that you
can right wrongs with philanthropy. He realises that you must go to
the bottom of the causes of wrongs and not simply gild over the top.
For eleven years I had helped him with his work at Plymouth. Mine
was the personal side. I found out the wrongs and he tried to right
them. It was a wonderful and happy combination, and I often wish
that it was still going on. However, I am not here to tell you of his
work, but it is interesting in so far as it shows you how it came
about that I stood for Parliament at all. Unless he had been the kind
of man that he was, I don’t believe that the first woman Member of
the oldest Parliament in the world would have come from Plymouth
—and that would have been a pity.
Plymouth is an ideal port to sail from or to. It has bidden “God
Speed” to so many voyagers. I felt that I was embarking on a
voyage of faith, but when I arrived at my destination some of the
Honourable Members looked upon me more as a pirate than a
Pilgrim! A woman in the House of Commons! It was almost enough
to have broken up the House. I don’t blame them, but it was as hard
on the woman as it was on them. Pioneers may be picturesque
figures, but they are often rather lonely ones. I must say though, for
the House of Commons, they bore their shock with dauntless
decency. No body of men could have been kinder and fairer than
they were. When you hear people over here trying to run down
England, please remember that England first gave the vote to
women, and that the men of England welcomed an American-born
woman in the House with a fairness and justice which this woman,
at least, will never forget.
Different Members received me in different ways. I shall never forget
a Scottish Labour man coming up to me, after I had been in the
House a little time, and telling me that I wasn’t a bit the sort of
woman he thought I was going to be; and on being pressed as to
what kind of woman he thought I would be, said, “I’ll not tell you
that, but I know now that you are an ordinary, homely kind of
woman”; and he has proved it since by often asking my advice on
domestic questions. Then the Irishman—an Irish Member once said
to me, “I don’t know what you are going to speak about, but I am
here to back you.” The last was a regular old Noah’s Ark man, a
typical English Squire type. After two years and a half of never
agreeing on any point with me, he remarked to someone that I “was
a very stupid woman, but he must add, a very attractive one,” and
he feared I was a thoroughly honest social reformer. I might add
that, being the first woman, I had to take up many causes which no
one would call exactly popular. I also had to go against the prejudice
of generations, but I must say their courtesy has never failed,
though my Parliamentary manners must have been somewhat of a
trial.
Now I must leave the more personal side and get to what it is all
about, and why we are here.
Some women have always been in politics, and not done badly
either. It was when we had the Lancastrian kings that it was said
that kings were made by Act of Parliament—they ruled by means of
Parliament. Then Henry VIII accepted the principle of the
Lancastrians to rule by Parliament, but he used that principle in an
entirely different way. He made Parliament the engine of his will, he
pressed or frightened it into doing anything he wished. Under his
guidance Parliament defied and crushed all other powers spiritual
and temporal, and he did things which no king or Parliament had
ever attempted to do, things unheard of and terrible. Then Elizabeth
came along. It is true she scolded her Parliaments for meddling with
matters with which, in her opinion, they had no concern, and more
than once soundly rated the Speaker of the Commons, but she never
carried her quarrels too far, and was able to end her disputes by
clever compromise; in other words, she never let Parliament down,
and that is what I don’t believe any wise woman will do, in spite of
the fears of some of the men.
Now why are we in politics? What is it all about? Something much
bigger than ourselves. Schopenhauer was wrong in nearly everything
he wrote about women—and he wrote a lot—but he was right in one
thing. He said, in speaking of women, “The race is to her more than
the individual,” and I believe that it is true. I feel somehow we do
care about the race as a whole; our very natures makes us take a
forward vision. There is no reason why women should look back.
Mercifully, we have no political past; we have all the mistakes of
one-sex legislation, with its appalling failures, to guide us. We should
know what to avoid. It is no use blaming the men—we made them
what they are—and now it is up to us to try and make ourselves—
the makers of men—a little more responsible. We realise that no one
sex can govern alone. I believe that one of the reasons why
civilisation has failed so lamentably is that it has had one-sided
government. Don’t let us make the mistake of ever allowing that to
happen again. I can conceive of nothing worse than a man-governed
world—except a woman-governed world—but I can see the
combination of the two going forward, and making civilisation, more
worthy of the name of civilisation based on Christianity, not on force
—a civilisation based on justice and mercy. I feel men have a greater
sense of justice, and we of mercy. They must borrow our mercy and
we must use their justice.
We are new brooms. Let us see that we sweep the right rooms.
Personally, I feel that every woman should take an active part in
local government. I don’t mean by that, that every woman should go
in for a political career—that, of course, would be absurd; but you
can take an active part in local government without going in for a
political career. You can be certain when casting your vote that you
are casting it for what seems nearest right—for what seems more
likely to help the majority and not to bolster up an organised
minority. There is a lot to be done in local politics, and it is a fine
apprenticeship for central government; it is very practical, but I think
that, although practical, it is too near to be attractive. The things
that are far away are more apt to catch our imagination than the
ones which are just under our noses, and then, they are often less
disagreeable.
Political development is like all other development. We must begin
with ourselves, our own consciousness, and clean out our own
hearts before we take on the job of putting others straight. So with
politics. If we women put our hands to local politics, we must begin
with the foundations. After all, central governments only echo local
ones; the politician in Washington, if he is a wise man, will always
have one eye on his constituency. Let us make that constituency so
clean, so straight, so high in its purpose, that the man from home
will not dare to take a small, limited view about any question, be it a
national or an international one. You must remember that what
women are up against is not what they see, but the unseen forces.
We are up against generations and generations of prejudice. Ever
since Eve ate the apple—but I would like to remind you, and all
men, why she ate the apple. It was not simply because it was good
for food or pleasant to the eyes: it was from a tree whose fruit
would make one wise—“She took of the fruit thereof and did eat,
and gave unto her husband with her and he did eat.” We have no
record of Adam murmuring against the fruit—of his doing anything
but eat it with docility. In passing, also, I would like to say that the
first time Adam had a chance he laid the blame on woman—
however, we will leave Adam.
Ever since woman’s consciousness has looked beyond the material,
man’s consciousness has feared her vaguely; he has gone to her for
inspiration, he has relied on her for all that is best and most ideal in
his life, yet by sheer material force he has limited her. The Western
man has, without knowing it, Westernised the harem mind of the
East. I don’t believe he knows it yet, so we must break it to him
gently. We must go on being his guide, his mother, and his better
half. But we must prove to him that we are a necessary half, not
only in private, but in political life. The best way that we can do that
is to show him that our ambitions are not personal. Let men see that
we desire a better, safer, and cleaner world for our children and their
children, and that we believe that it is only by doing our bit, by
facing unclean things with cleanliness, by facing wrongs with right,
by going fearlessly into all things that may be disagreeable, that we
will, somehow, make this a little better world. I don’t know that we
are going to do this—I don’t say that women will change the world,
but I do say that they can if they want to. Coming, as I do, from the
Old World which has seen a devastating war, I cannot face the future
without this hope—that the women of all countries will do their duty
and raise a generation of men and women who will look upon war
and all that leads to it with as much horror as we now look upon a
cold-blooded murder. If we want this new world, we can get it only
by striving for it; and the real struggle will be within ourselves, to
put out of our hearts and of our thoughts, all that makes for war,
hate, envy, greed, pride, force, and material ambition.
II[B]
“I seem a symbol—a sort of connecting link between the English-
speaking people!”

I AM not really afraid to speak here to-night. I was a little afraid last
night—I didn’t know quite whether New York audiences would be
as kind as Plymouth audiences. I see that they are much the same.
They forgive any shortcomings in the way of scholarly attainments or
oratorical orations when they see that you are speaking from your
heart. I usually do speak from my heart. It has been a safer guide to
me than my head, and here to-night it’s easy; for surely no people
on earth have understood a woman’s heart better than the English-
speaking nations.
Last night I told the Women Voters that I was not a person, but a
symbol; to-night I still seem a symbol—a sort of connecting link
between the English-speaking people, a frail link, perhaps, but a link
that is stronger than it looks. It is a strange thing that England’s first
woman Member of Parliament should have come from England’s first
colony. I doubt if the first English woman to land in Virginia was less
expected on these shores, than the first Virginian woman to land in
the House of Commons was expected on that floor. However, in spite
of having neither beads nor fire-water, the natives were amazingly
kind to that Virginian settler. It is all very picturesque when one
thinks of it historically, but it seems very ordinary when it is done.
History, I think, is more romantic to read than to make, and I
apologise now to future little schoolgirls for having added another
question to the endless ones which still haunt me when my mind
turns back to the long list of historical personages, varying from
Lucretia Borgia down to Susan B. Anthony.
I have been asked what my visit here was for. Cannot a person come
home without being suspected of deep and ulterior motives? I may
tell you at once, I am not on a mission to promote a better
understanding between England and America. No person, however
keen about it, can do much in that line. Things which are worth
while are made by something better than missions or treaties. They
are made only by great ideals in the hearts of the common people.
I don’t believe that trade agreements will succeed in promoting a
better understanding. But I do say that if the greatest
commonwealth of nations the world has ever seen and the greatest
federation of states the world has ever known cannot be brought
together by some common cause, some human hope and purpose,
then I, personally, should feel like the Queen of Sheba—the spirit
would go out of me. I do believe that these two nations are bound
together by a common cause; and that cause, one of human hope
and purpose, is peace on earth and good-will toward all men.
The Washington Conference was not a surprise to me. I knew that
England was not a militarist nation any more than America was, and
I knew, too, that once they talked things over they would see the
utter futility of building battleships against one another. America and
England should have the largest fleets because they will certainly
use them more as policemen than as fighting forces. After all, when
England had the greatest navy in the world she never used it except
to keep the freedom of the seas. I often wonder whether Imperialist
Germany might not have treated the Monroe Doctrine like a scrap of
paper had her fleet been the strongest in the world. However, I don’t
want to go back to an ancient grudge. It’s hopeless trying to go
forward when you are looking backward. It is a great mistake to
keep such things alive; it only means trouble, and surely there is
enough trouble in the world now without looking backward.
America, I am told, draws back with horror when she looks at
Europe. I don’t blame her. Certainly, it is a sad enough sight to make
one draw back. I cannot believe, though, that standing back is the
right way to help, and I don’t believe that any part of the world can
go forward in the truest sense while another part is suffering
desperately. The war has shown us that the world is really round and
is part interdependent. I am struck more and more by the way in
which our stock of moral good-will on both sides is still thwarted by
the extent of our misunderstanding.
This not only hinders the recovery of hundreds of millions of people
from all the mischiefs of war, but works new mischief of its own. I
am thinking now, not so much of America and Britain, who have had
their heart-to-heart explanations at the Washington Conference, with
an effect which ought to make their relations foolproof, in spite of
the small people who are so blinded by their fear or envy and hate,
that they would do all in their power to pull them apart. But I am
not afraid of them. I am only sorry for them. There is nothing more
pitiful than people who are moved by envy or hate, and there is
nothing weaker than people who fear. Envy and hate are the most
blinding things on earth; it is only people with vision who never
perish. When I talk of misunderstanding I am thinking of Europe.
I know that both America and England feel that Europe is not
getting on with the peace, that she still has large armies, still fights,
and at the same time cries out for help. Russia and France still have
great armies, and this naturally makes smaller states arm too. Of
course it is all desperately disappointing to some of us. We had
hoped that this was a war to end wars—I think it has ended the
biggest wars, yet there seem to be a few small private wars going
on, and still a great deal of fear and hatred left. I am sure that you
will never end war with wars.
I believe that the safest and surest way to get out of war is to join
some sort of league of nations. That misrepresented and much
despised League has already prevented three small wars, it has
registered over one hundred treaties, has repatriated nearly four
hundred thousand prisoners—not a bad record for only half a
league. I think it is enough to make every woman in America want
to join it in some form or other, certainly any of those who have had
sons in the war. It is the memory of the anguish of the mothers and
fathers who watched for four years which gives me the courage to
speak plainly here to-night. You see, the anguish in a mother’s heart
is felt in all other mothers’ hearts over the world, even though they
be enemy mothers. If this is true, mothers in any country can be
members. I was told to be careful. Why careful? Of what? I have not
anything to say that could hurt any one in America, and I only want
to try and help the thousands of people in less fortunate countries
than America. Anyhow, I do believe that America likes people to say
what they mean and care about.
No one could say that America does not care about Europe. Look at
the way the American Relief Committee is helping Russia. It is the
admiration of the whole of England; often I have heard it referred to
in the House of Commons. Yet I don’t believe that the greatest
philanthropy in the world can add much to the permanent
reconstruction of the world, and that is what the world needs more
now than anything—reconstruction. It is all very well to hear people
talk of European entanglements, but the world is already tangled,
and we have to think of a plan to disentangle ourselves. No one
could think that English fathers and mothers—with nearly eight
hundred thousand sons who will never return—would want to join in
a League which would entangle them or any one else in war. The
English know enough about wars never to want to fight or to see
any one else have to fight. These mothers and fathers think, as I
feel sure the fathers and mothers of America do, that the safest and
sanest way to get out of wars is to join some sort of association of
nations for peace. The Washington Conference shows us what can
happen when great countries with great ideals get together. The
difference between people with ideals and people without is simply
the difference between Pagans and Christians—a Pagan is a man
whose standard of right does not extend beyond his own interest.
Now we Anglo-Saxons rather pride ourselves that our civilisation was
built on Christianity. If that is the case, there is no doubt that a lot of
Pagans have slipped in among us—perhaps they have also been
proselytising. Don’t let us proselytise too far, don’t let us forget the
faith of our forefathers. It must have taken a tremendous faith
mixed with a double dose of courage to have crossed the Atlantic in
a shell of a boat—yet they did. They were not Pagans. Civilisation
has been nearly destroyed by Pagans. We cannot give them a
second chance. It is wonderfully helpful to look back and see the
kind of men in all countries who have made civilisation. They were
not men who carried a grudge, they were not men who hated, but
men with an inner consciousness of what man really is capable of,
men who realised that life is redeemed only by a purpose bigger
than themselves, and a love which passes all understanding.

III[C]
“We must put into public life those qualities which women have had
to put into their home life.”

I T seems a strange thing to be here—but my life is a little like that


of Alice in Wonderland. It gets curiouser and curiouser. When I
sailed from Plymouth to the House of Commons, I may tell you
frankly I didn’t half realise what the voyage would be like. I soon
discovered that it was the kind of voyage which would take the
spiritual faith of the Pilgrim Fathers and the courage of Sir Francis
Drake. They both sailed from my port, and I have had to use both
their courage and their faith.
However, I think women possess both courage and faith. When I
speak of women I don’t mean every woman, I mean real women,
women who care about real things—the sort of women who have
not only borne men, but have given them such unselfish love that
the world has seen, through them, a bit of what the love of God is
like.
Now, if we possess courage and faith, it will be no use to us unless
we use it. Faith is like a belief—it is only helpful if it leads us to
knowledge. Belief in God will only help us if it leads us to knowledge
of God.
So we women must turn to account some of this courage and faith.
We must put into public life these qualities which women have had
to and which they have rejoiced to put in their home life—
unselfishness, cleanliness, and kindness. The world needs it. I don’t
suppose the world as a whole was ever more in need of kindness
than it is now.
We need not ask ourselves why the world needs help. You have got
to cast your mind over the world and you will get the answer. Europe
partly devastated and still hating. Russia starving; Capital and
Labour, like nations, almost as far apart as ever before. I suppose
this must be the aftermath of war. You can’t let Hell loose on earth
for four years, and expect to find Paradise at the end.
Yet when I speak of war, I don’t mean that it was all hell. There was
one aspect of war which was better than anything I have found in
the aftermath of war. There was a sort of kindliness and pulling
together among all classes of the population, and one felt that at
last a Brotherhood of Men was coming about. At least, that is how it
was in England, and I feel certain that it must have been the same
over here.
A common purpose shared by a whole nation, if that purpose is one
of sacrifice, idealism, and helpfulness, is a wonderful thing. Think
what a common purpose shared by many nations—a purpose with
an ideal and helpfulness and a sacrifice of self—would be. This is
what the war should have left—and even though, I admit, it is not
obvious, I cannot help believing that that common purpose remains
—remains anyhow in the hearts of those who suffered and in the
hearts of those who care.
I cannot speak for the women of Europe, but I think I can speak for
the women of England, and I say that they, through suffering, have
determined that so far as within them lies, there is no sacrifice too
great to make for the cause of peace. I have seen the women of
England when they were determined. I have seen them tried and
not found wanting. I can tell you it was a glorious sight. You may
read diaries of the war which tell of dinner parties and plenty in
London; but that no more represents the women of England than a
night dancing-club in New York or a red-light district in some city
here represents the women of America.
I will tell you what the spirit of English women was and is: The
Bishop of Exeter, Lord Robert Cecil’s brother, had two splendid boys
killed in the first three years of the war. The last year of the war
2,000 American Submarine Chaser sailors were stationed in
Plymouth, which is in the Bishop’s diocese. His wife, Lady Florence,
did everything she could to make these American boys less lonely.
She had as many as she could for Christmas, and hardly ever was
her house without some of them. About January, 1918, just before
one of the fiercest battles, she said to her sister: “I don’t believe I
could go on if Jack (her last son) was taken.” The next morning a
wire came saying Jack was killed. This was on a Monday. On
Thursday, Lady Florence had planned an afternoon party for your
sons—those gallant submarine chasers. When she arrived at
Plymouth, and I saw her white, stricken face, I begged her not to
have the boys—they would just remind her of Jack as he had been.
She looked at me with eyes I can never forget and said: “But, Nancy,
they too are far away from home, and we must do all we can.” The
party went off and the boys, never guessing her sorrow, were
charmed as usual with the Bishop and his wife’s cheerful kindness.
That night I walked around to the American Y. M. C. A., and in
talking to some of the boys told them of Lady Florence’s sorrow. One
boy, with tears in his eyes, broke out: “Oh, why did you let her do
it?” Then he said: “If ever any one speaks ill to me of England, I
don’t feel that I could keep from killing them.” That, friends, was the
spirit of the women of England. Suffering only made them kinder
and braver, and that’s why I love and admire England.
Now, what can we do—the English-speaking women of the world?
And I cannot help feeling that we have got most all of the women
with us—but what can we do to help the whole world on? We cannot
live for ourselves alone and get peace. We cannot even get
happiness, and I doubt whether we can get plenty. We must
somehow rectify the mistakes of the stronger sex when left alone,
and we must do it soon.
When America came into the war, Europe saw the dawn of a new
hope—America in the war to end wars. When America went out of
the peace Europe was dumbfounded. Idealism took America into the
war; idealism did not take her out of the peace, no matter what
politicians say.
The League of Nations was started by America, and by an American.
Some seem to think only of the starter, and forget it was the high
purpose of his people who gave the impetus which brought the
League from America to Europe. When we go for a great ideal we go
for the ideal and not for the idealist. It’s a principle we should follow
and not be side-tracked by a personality. Let us see what the
League, even without America, Germany, and Russia, has done
already. If we realise some of its achievements we may be inspired
to give it greater trust, and add to its number of associated nations.
The League of Nations, quite apart from its political work, has active
humanitarian sections dealing with health, labour conditions, traffic
in opium and drugs, and the White Slave Traffic. Each one of these
must surely find hundreds of thousands of women backers in the
United States. We want your help inside the League to bring on
backward countries, whether it be to protect the world from war or
from plagues, or to protect young girls from what is worse than
plagues.
But I have not come here as a foreigner to tell any one—be it man,
senator, or woman voter—what to do. You have invited me to an
American Convention. You have not asked me because I am an
English legislator. But you have invited me back to the land of my
birth—to the Home of my father, from the Home of my forefathers,
and, like the returned prodigal, you overwhelm me with love. Yes, it
is true I have been in a far country. I believe I have been fighting
there for the same ideals that Mrs. Catt has worked so successfully
for here. I am deeply grateful that you should have asked me to
come and discuss with you questions which interest all women.
As I understand it, you, in the League of Women Voters, are not
creating a new party—a woman’s party—to run sex candidates in
opposition to the Democratic and Republican party candidates. Some
people fear you want to do this. I am sure you are right not to do
so. I did not stand for Parliament as a sex candidate. I represent a
Division of Plymouth—one of the most important naval ports of
England. Thousands of my supporters are English sailors. But this
does not prevent me fighting, and fighting hard, for questions where
there is a woman’s point of view—questions of morality, the
protection of young girls.
Some men don’t like it. But the best men—a growing number of
men, I find—are supporting me.
You are right not to make a new political party. You are equally right
to try to lift and raise and improve the platforms of both the big
political parties by joining them. See that you send neither windbags
nor carpetbaggers to represent you.
The big contribution you can make to politics and national life is to
face and tackle the moral standard. Insist upon a single standard of
morality—not by lowering our standard; but by raising the men’s
standard to that of women. Do that in America. We are working for
it in England. If America and England do it, then all countries must
follow. In some countries women are still looked upon too much as
mere physical instead of mental companions. It is partly the fault of
the women. They will always be that until they get a higher sense of
companionship. The right-minded women want to be companions in
the truest sense of the word, and the right-minded men want to
have them so. It is easy enough to attract men; it is harder to help
them. The single moral standard not only helps women, it helps
men; it helps nations.
You cannot be material in your domestic life and be spiritual in your
national life. You cannot be material in your national life and be
idealistic in your international relations. Lust creates the spirit of
War; it is incompatible with the spirit of Peace. The material man
lives and dies. It is the spiritual man who never dies. So with
nations. No material nations, however powerful, have ever survived.
The peace which the world wants is not the peace which comes
from a smashing conquest—that sort of peace is apt to sow the
seeds of vengeance. I believe the women can help to bring to the
world the real peace—the spiritual peace—the Peace which passeth
all understanding.
Always remember St. Paul’s words; they apply particularly to
women: “God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and
of love and of a sound mind.” We can only bring this spirit into world
politics if we have got it in our hearts. Let us prove to all nations
that we are not only talkers, but doers.

IV[D]
“The most practical thing in the world is common sense and
common humanity.”

I DO not know who has been kinder to me since I got home, the
public or the Press. I do know that if the Press had not been so
kind the public would never have been. I knew that when I came
home there would be some personal friends and relations who would
be glad to see me, and then I knew there would be some people
who, because of my political views, would be glad to see me. But I
did not expect what I got. I did not expect this tidal wave of
welcome. You have swept me off my feet.
When a person leaves his or her own country and goes to another,
naturally there’s apt to be a prejudice against them in both
countries. I felt it myself. Then when that person—I can’t say
unfortunate person—happens to care deeply about both countries,
and even more deeply about things concerning all countries, her
task is not made easier. It’s easy enough to take the easy way in any
country. It’s not always so easy to take what you feel is the right
way in any country, but here I am—a proof to all countries that
England and America will give you a chance if you can prove to
either of them that what you are striving for is something which will
hurt no man, woman, or child of any country, but which you
earnestly feel is going to help all countries.
Now you will ask—What is this pearl of great price? What does this
woman think will help all countries? I’ll tell you what is the pearl of
great price that I am striving for. I am striving to take into public life
what any man gets from his mother and most men get from their
wives if they chose wisely. The kind of thing you have had in your
home life, the kind of thing that has made it possible for you to be
here to-day is the unselfishness, the courage, and the vision and the
clean love of your mother. That quality has done more than anything
in the world to make up civilisation. Men know that and we women
know it, too; and we feel that if we can get a little of that into public
life, that is our only contribution. That is the only thing we have got.
We are not coming just as women. Women are of no more use than
men. It is what we bring that is going to be useful, and a great
many of us think that we have more moral courage sometimes than
men. Women know that physical courage is easy enough but moral
courage takes a bit of doing. We feel that we have got moral
courage, and we know that we have got a clean love, and we know
that we have got to be unselfish. If we were not unselfish you would
not be here. That is the mothers’ contribution to life. We are bound
to be unselfish, and we think we have got a great vision. It is that
which we ask you to accept. That is all we want to do. We don’t
want to go into politics because of ourselves.
We realize, as we realized when we raised you, that to make you
perfect we have to do a great many disagreeable things; but we
never flinched, and your mothers never flinched. They spanked you
when you needed it, and they loved you when you needed it, and
they sympathised with you when you needed it, but a really good
mother never flinches from what is disagreeable, and we are not
going to flinch now. We are ready to go into the political arena, and
“arena” well describes it. There are many stout old Pagans prancing
around in it still. However, we are willing to go in. We are willing to
do our bit if you will let us help. Don’t be frightened at us and don’t
discourage us too much. We know that your public life, just as much
as your private life, needs this mothering thought. When you are
blundering around, sometimes a woman sees as quick on public
things as she does on private. You men think we women talk so
much. It is true, we do; but even then we don’t tell you half we
know.
You’ll be saying this sounds nice and uplifting, but we must get
down to practical politics. What are practical politics? The politics
that lead to war are not practical, and the same things that lead to
bad politics lead to war. The most practical thing in the world is
common sense and common humanity. It is the world’s great need
to-day. Leaving aside the vision of what a world needs, what we
need is confidence, coöperation—and I would like to add another—
conferences. I know it is not a popular word in America, but you
need conferences. We have tried others and they have failed. Also,
we have got to get to work. The world wants work. What’s the most
practical way to start work? Trade. Establish confidence—first,
confidence between Capital and Labour, then confidence in your
government, then confidence in other nations. The Washington
Conference showed that coöperation and confidence were the
watchwords of progress. The employer must realise that he’s dealing
with a human being, and the worker must realise that the employer
has got some quality which he needs and lacks, otherwise the scales
might be weighted the other way. These seem to be the essential
facts which Capital and Labour should not forget. They were
forgotten in Russia with dire results. The fault, though, began with
the employer class in Russia. Don’t let us forget that. Then after
getting Capital and Labour together, we must get trade. The only
solution for unemployment is employment—for the workless, is
work. In the modern world no big nation can get work for all unless
it trades with all. The best way to trade with all countries is to know
all countries, and that’s where the Press—you, gentlemen—come in.
Bring out the best in all countries, get understanding, confidence,
good-will. You cannot have international trade without international
confidence. Russia proves this. Good-will is good business. It is for
the Press to unite countries for trade and prosperity and peace.
Governments depend for their views of foreign countries, upon their
ambassadors. Ambassadors get to know foreign governments.
Foreign correspondents are unofficial ambassadors for the people.
The Press can supplement official channels of communication by
telling the people of each country not only about the governments
but about the peoples. They can get the news and spread it quickly.
They can get it to the man in the street. I know many of the
American foreign correspondents. And I have heard frequently about
the others. They are most able men, a credit to the American Press.
They are trustworthy. That is the opinion formed by the people who
know in England. I am glad to be able to repeat this opinion here to-
day. If the Press wants to unite countries it can. If it wants to
disunite them, it can. But the Press is just like a person in this. If
someone tells you constantly of another’s shortcomings and faults
and extols his own virtues, you begin sooner or later to avoid that
person. You feel, “Well, hang it all, he’s not quite so bad as that
anyhow. I don’t like always hearing of people’s failings. I like to hear
what’s nearest the truth about them and then I can judge whether I
like them or not.” So it is with the Press; if it gives us accurate, fair
news, we can judge for ourselves whether it’s white Press or yellow.
We even see that people aren’t so stupid as they look. Thinking
people find out that facts based on prejudice cease to be facts. Mr.
Davis told you all of this in a far better style and manner last year.
The world has progressed a little since he spoke to you. We must be
grateful even for this little. We must be deeply grateful for the
Washington Conference.
I believe the whole world longs for peace. But we never get anything
in this world and we certainly never get to heaven without striving
for it.
America wants peace. America started the League of Nations. All
Europe looks to America, not for large armies, not even for food, but
for a great moral lead.
Lead us toward peace. Help us! Help us! Don’t just look on our faults
—help us to be better! Gentlemen, if we know the better way—let us
see to it that we take it.
Once more I beg of you to remember your power. If only your motto
could be to unite the world, send no thought which would not bless
or cheer, purify or heal—then we should, as the soldiers say, “get on
with the peace.”

V[E]
“I fear bombs in politics far less than I do apathy.”

I AM here as a sort of dual personality. When I speak to the League


of Women Voters, I am speaking as a woman interested in women
the whole world over. When I am asked to speak as a Member of
Parliament to men and women, then I must speak with the full
responsibility of a Member of Parliament, from the most up-to-date
and glorious constituency in England, namely, Plymouth.
It takes a good deal of prayer to keep me humble. To be born in
Virginia and to represent Plymouth, is enough to turn a stronger
head than mine. The Good Book tells us to love all men, also the
greater the loving the greater the life. I am fortunate in loving two
great countries, but their greatness will be tested by their attitude to
lesser countries. To-day I am speaking as a woman and not as a
Member of Parliament. The League of Women Voters, I realise, is
not the only political league of women in America, but it has the
merit of being non-party. I, as an outsider, could not come over and
speak here as a party politician, but I come as a woman, speaking to
non-party women, interested in something bigger than any party.
When entering Parliament nearly two years ago, I went as a party
candidate, a Coalition Unionist. The Coalition was a combination of
Unionists and Liberals and Labour, who wanted to coöperate and felt
that Lloyd George was the best man to win the Peace, as he had
done more than any single statesman to win the war. When I got
into the House of Commons I realised that as for certain problems,
such as moral questions which are of vital interest to women, no
political party cared sufficiently or realised how much women cared.
As a result, Liberal and Unionist and Labour men often put such
questions in their programme, but more often they sat down when
the time came to stand up and fight for them.
It is my honest and convinced belief that there are some questions
vital and international, which women see with a more unclouded
vision than men, questions which only women will fight for. That is
why I am so keen about helping women voters, not only in England
and America, but in all countries. There are things bigger than
parties, even bigger than countries, though neither party nor country
likes to think that anything is bigger than itself.
If only we, the new-comers of political life, can keep that greater
vision of bigger things before us, then the world will become more
the sort of place one dreams of and less the kind of nightmare one
dreams in.
Can we change it? Are we really different from men? I hope so. If
we were like men, then there would be no use giving us the vote. It
is because we are different that we hope to help, and yet women
are like men in this. They vary! The women who attend prize-fights,
the woman who keeps her husband’s nose to the grindstone
because of her personal demands and vulgar ambition to outshine
and out-do her next-door neighbour, are just as hampering to real
civilisation as the old-fashioned bar-room loafer, and more so. That
old-fashioned bar-room bum was so obviously a warning to all—the
ambitious, selfish wife or daughter is not so obvious; often she’s for
a time most attractive, yet the man whose soul is striving and who
finds himself tied down to one of these women will tell one that their
charm soon turns to dust and ashes. So when I speak of women I
only mean real women, and real women are the women who care
for real things. After all, it’s only people who care about real things
that have got us on as far as we are—not very far I’ll admit—yet we
are advancing. Crass materialism is going. The war of 1914 was just
a war of ideals. Germany said might was right—we are mighty—we
must expand—we must govern the world. The Kaiser with his God’s
help led a misguided and misdirected people up against the
Democracies of the World, who, though they don’t live up to their
ideals, have at least got beyond believing in the Divine Right of
Kings. King John of England found that out in 1214, and the
Constitution of America was based on laws which men fought and
died for in England long before they set sail for other lands. I am
told that I have forgotten that Columbus discovered America. He
discovered it, but some have forgotten that he didn’t settle it. It’s
well to remember those first settlers. It’s always well to remember
unselfishness, courage, and determination, and people who gave up
all for a high ideal. Now I don’t come from Puritan stock; we in
Virginia were almost comfortably settled before the Puritan Fathers
set sail—and they meant to land in Virginia! Yet no one can look
back on that gallant band of men and women without admiring and
almost reverencing them. Those are the kind of people who make
Civilisation, people who subordinate the material to the spiritual.
They may be rare, but they are the light which shines in darkness.
Throughout history Materialism has wrecked Civilisation. Now I
maintain that women, just from their very natures, must have more
vision than men. Why is it that you have just had a Mother’s Day,
not a Father’s Day? Isn’t it because of the subtle unnamable
something about a mother which men and women feel? It’s well for
a nation to have a Mother’s Day; it’s well for those who celebrate
this day to stop and think what kind of man or woman their mothers
would like them to be. As a mother, I know that above all things,
what we desire for our children is clean-mindedness and honesty.
We know that if all our children had that, much of the old world’s
misery would dissolve and disappear.
Just take one thing which may seem small, but it’s of vast
importance. Do you believe that if women had been voting as long
as men that we should have allowed almost the most important

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