Joan was unaccountably reluctant. She clung to her mother, who said, ‘There! There!’ and kissed her with much emotion. ‘It’s only a visit, dearie — you’ll be back to mother bye and bye!’
She kissed her father, who told her to be a good girl and mind her uncle and aunt. She would have kissed Gerald, but he said: ‘Oh shucks!’ and drew away from her.
It was a silently snivelling little girl who sat by the window, with Uncle Arthur reading the paper beside her, a little girl who felt as if nobody loved her in the whole wide world. He put a big arm around her and drew her to him. She snuggled up with a long sigh of relief. He took her in his lap, held her close, and told her interesting things about the flying landscape. She nestled close to him, and then, starting up suddenly to look at something, her hair caught on his buttons and pulled sharply.
She cried, as was her habit, while he disentangled it.
‘How’d you like to have it cut off?’ he asked.
‘I’d like it — but mother won’t let me. She says it’s my only beauty. And father won’t let me either — says I want to be a tom-boy.’
‘Well, I’m in loco parentis now,’ said Uncle Arthur, ‘and I’ll let you. Furthermore, I’ll do it forthwith, before it gets tangled up to-night.’
He produced a pair of sharp little scissors, and a pocket-comb, and in a few minutes the small head looked like one of Sir Joshua Reynold’s cherubs.
‘You see I know how,’ he explained, as he snipped cautiously, ‘because I cut my own youngsters’ on the ranch. I think you look prettier short than long,’ he told her, and she found the little mirror between the windows quite a comfort.
Before the end of that long journey the child was more quietly happy with her uncle than she had ever been with either father or mother, and as for Gerald — the doctor’s wise smile deepened.
‘Irritated him, did she?’ he murmured to himself. ‘The little skate! Why, I can just see her heal now she’s escaped.’
A big, high-lying California ranch, broad, restful sweeps of mesa and plain, purple hills rising behind. Flowers beyond dreams of heaven, fruit of every kind in gorgeous abundance. A cheerful Chinese cook and houseboy, who did their work well and seemed to enjoy it. The uncle she already loved, and an aunt who took her to her motherly heart at once.
Then the cousins — here was terror. And four of them boys — four! But which four? There they all were in a row, giggling happily, standing up to be counted, and to be introduced to their new cousin. All had short hair. All had bare feet. All had denim knicker-bockers. And all had been racing and tumbling and turning somersaults on the cushiony Bermuda grass as Joan and her uncle drove up.
The biggest one was a girl, tall Hilda, and the baby was a girl, a darling dimpled thing, and two of the middle ones. But the four boys were quite as friendly as Hilda, and seeing that their visitor was strangely shy, Jack promptly proposed to show her his Belgian hares, and Harvey to exhibit his Angora goats, and the whole of them trooped off hilariously.
‘What a forlorn child!’ said Aunt Belle. ‘I’m glad you brought her, dear. Ours will do her good.’
‘I knew you’d mother her, Blessing,’ he said with a grateful kiss. ‘And if ever a poor kid needed mothering, it’s that one. You see, my sister has married a noisy pig of a man — and doesn’t seem to mind it much. But she’s become an invalid — one of these sofa women; I don’t know as she’ll ever get over it. And the other child’s rather a mean cuss, I’m afraid. They love him the best. So I thought we’d educate Joan a bit.’
Joan’s education was largely physical. A few weeks of free play, and then a few moments every day of the well-planned exercises Dr Warren had invented for his children. There were two ponies to ride; there were hills to climb; there was work to do in the well-irrigated garden. There were games, and I am obliged to confess, fights. Every one of those children was taught what we used to grandiloquently call ‘the noble art of self-defense’; not only the skilled management of their hands, with swift ‘footwork,’ but the subtler methods of jiu-jitsu.
‘I took the course on purpose,’ the father explained to his friends, ‘and the kids take to it like ducks to water.’
To her own great surprise, and her uncle’s delight, Joan showed marked aptitude in her new studies. In the hours of definite instruction, from books or in nature study and laboratory work, she was happy and successful, but the rapture with which she learned to use her body was fine to see.
The lower reservoir made a good-sized swimming pool, and there she learned to float and dive. The big bam had a little simple apparatus for gymnastics in the rainy season, and the jolly companionship of all those bouncing cousins was an education in itself.
Dr Warren gave her special care, watched her food, saw to it that she was early put to bed on the wide sleeping porch, and trained her as carefully as if she had some tremendous contest before her. He trained her mind as well as her body. Those children were taught to reason, as well as to remember; taught to think for themselves, and to see through fallacious arguments. In body and mind she grew strong.
At first she whimpered a good deal when things hurt her, but finding that the other children did not, and that, though patient with her, they evidently disliked her doing it, she learned to take her share of the casualties of vigorous childhood without complaint.
At the end of the year Dr Warren wrote to his brother-in-law that it was not convenient for him to furnish the return ticket, or to take the trip himself, but if they could spare the child a while longer he would bring her back as agreed — that she was doing finely in all ways.
It was nearly two years when Joan Marsden, aged eleven, returned to her own home, a very different looking child from the one who left it so mournfully. She was much taller, larger, with a clear color, a light, firm step, a ready smile.
She greeted her father with no shadow of timidity, and rushed to her mother so eagerly as well-nigh to upset her.
‘Why, child!’ said the mother. ‘Where’s your beautiful hair? Arthur — how could you?’
‘It is much better for her health,’ he solemnly assured her. ‘You see how much stronger she looks. Better keep it short till she’s fourteen or fifteen.’
Gerald looked at his sister with mixed emotions. He had not grown as much. She was certainly as big as he was now. With her curls gone she was not so easy to hurt. However, there were other places. As an only child his disposition had not improved, and it was not long before that disposition led him to derisive remarks and then to personal annoyance, which increased as days passed.
She met him cheerfully. She met him patiently. She gave him fair warning. She sought to avoid his attacks, and withdrew herself to the far side of the garage, but he followed her.
‘It’s not fair, Gerald, and you know it,’ said Joan. ‘If you hurt me again I shall have to do something to you.’
‘Oh you will, will you?’ he jeered, much encouraged by her withdrawal, much amused by her threat. ‘Let’s see you do it — smarty!’Fraid cat!’ and he struck her again, a blow neatly planted, where the deltoid meets the biceps and the bone is near the surface.
Joan did not say, ‘Now stop!’ She did not whine, ‘‘Please don’t!’ She did not cry. She simply knocked him down.
And when he got up and rushed at her, furious, meaning to reduce this rebellious sister to her proper place, Joan set her teeth and gave him a clean thrashing.
‘Will you give up?’
He did. He was glad to.
‘Will you promise to behave? To let me alone?’
He promised.
She let him up, and even brushed off his dusty clothes.
‘If you’re mean to me any more, I’ll do it again,’ she said calmly. ‘And if you want to tell mother — or father — or anybody — that I licked you, you may.’
But Gerald did not want to.
LIST OF SHORT STORIES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
A COUNCIL OF WAR
A DAY’S BERYYIN’
<
br /> A PARTNERSHIP
A SURPLUS WOMAN
ACCORDING TO SOLOMON
AN ELOPEMENT
AN EXTINCT ANGEL
AN UNNATURAL MOTHER
AN UNPATENTED PROCESS
BEE WISE
CICUMSTANCES ALTER CASES
DESERTED
DR CLAIR’S PLACE
FIVE GIRLS
FULFILMENT
GIRLS AND LAND
HER BEAUTY
IF I WERE A MAN
IN TWO HOUSES
JOAN’S DEFENDER
MAKING A CHANGE
MR PEEBLES’S HEART
MRS ELDER’S IDEA
MRS HINES’S MONEY
MRS MERRILL’S DUTIES
ONE WAY OUT
THAT RARE JEWEL
THE COTTAGETTE
THE GIANT WISTERIA
THE JUMPING-OFF PLACE
THE MISLEADING OF PENDLETON OAKS
THE ROCKING-CHAIR
THE UNEXPECTED
THE WIDOW’S MIGHT
THE YELLOW WALLPAPER
THEIR HOUSE
THREE THANKSGIVINGS
THROUGH THIS
TURNED
WHEN I WAS A WITCH
The Poetry Collections
Gilman’s home in Pasadena from 1888-1891. It was here that she wrote ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’.
IN THIS OUR WORLD
In This Our World was first published in 1893 by McCombs and Vaughn in Oakland, California. It was Gilman’s debut collection of poetry and was the first of three editions to be released between 1893 and 1898. In the introduction to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s In This Our World and Uncollected Poems Gary Scharnhorst and Denise D. Knight state the work was critically well received in both the United States of America and Europe, and the prominent American author Gertrude Atherton was a considerable admirer of Gilman’s humour and satire in the politically charged poem ‘Similar Cases’. While the collection was only a mild financial success for the author, she recognised the significance of the work in helping to establish her reputation as a talented poet. Scharnhorst and Knight assert the motivation behind Gilman’s collection of poetry was to teach and educate her readers. She was unabashedly didactic in her poems and considered them to be as instructive in nature as her novels or non-fiction work.
Though it would be untrue to claim the writer’s poems do not show versatility or artistry, she was always more concerned about the message contained in the verses than the formal aspects of the craft. Gilman decided to add new poems and rearranged their sequence in each edition of the collection to serve her purpose most completely. The topics of feminism and social and political progress are central to many of the verses in the collection. ‘Wedded Bliss’ sees Gilman admonishing the inequality between the sexes and the economic dependence of married women: she uses sets of animal relationships to convey her thoughts as the Eagle courts the Hen and claims he wants ‘my mate to rest/Forever in the nest’ while the Hen acquiesces to a life of domestic duty ‘I cannot fly/I have no wish to try’. The poet also attempts to rally workers into action in ‘To Labor’ as she demands ‘You use your power/The world must follow you!’ and urges the proletariat to ‘See justice done!/Believe, and Dare, and Do!’.
Title page of the collection
CONTENTS
THE WORLD.
BIRTH.
IN THIS OUR WORLD.
NATURE’S ANSWER.
THE COMMONPLACE.
HOMES. A SESTINA.
A COMMON INFERENCE.
THE ROCK AND THE SEA.
THE SEA.
THE LION PATH.
REINFORCEMENTS.
HEROISM.
FIRE WITH FERE.
A TYPE.
COMPROMISE.
PART OF THE BATTLE.
STEP FASTER, PLEASE.
A NEW YEAR’S REMINDER.
OUT OF PLACE.
LITTLE CELL.
THE CHILD SPEAKS.
TO A GOOD MANY.
HOW WOULD YOU?
A MAN MUST LIVE.
IN DUTY BOUND.
DESIRE.
WHY NOT?
OUT OF THE GATE.
THE MODERN SKELETON.
THE LESSON OF DEATH.
FOR US.
THANKSGIVING.
CHRISTMAS HYMN.
CHRISTMAS.
THE LIVING GOD.
A PRAYER.
GIVE WAY!
THANKSGIVING HYMN.
CHRISTMAS CAROL.
NEW DUTY.
SEEKING.
THE CUP.
WHAT THEN?
OUR LONELINESS.
THE KEEPER OF THE LIGHT.
IMMORTALITY.
WASTE.
WINGS.
THE HEART OF THE WATER.
THE SHIP.
AMONG THE GODS.
SONGS.
HEAVEN.
BALLAD OF THE SUMMER SUN.
PIONEERS.
EXILES.
A NEVADA DESERT.
THE BEDS OF FLEUR-DE-LYS.
IT IS GOOD TO BE ALIVE.
THE CHANGELESS YEAR.
WHERE MEMORY SLEEPS.
CALIFORNIA OAR WINDOWS.
LIMITS.
POWELL STREET.
FROM RUSSIAN HILL.
AN UNUSUAL RAIN.
THE HILLS.
CITY’S BEAUTY.
TWO SKIES.
WINDS AND LEAVES.
ON THE PAWTUXET.
A MOONRISE.
THEIR GRASS!
THE PROPHETS.
SIMILAR CASES.
A CONSERVATIVE.
AN OBSTACLE.
THE FOX WHO HAD LOST HIS TAIL.
THE SWEET USES OF ADVERSITY.
CONNOISSEURS.
TECHNIQUE.
THE PASTELLETTE.
THE PIG AND THE PEARL.
POOR HUMAN NATURE.
OUR SAN FRANCISCO CLIMATE.
CRITICISM.
ANOTHER CREED.
THE LITTLE LION.
A MISFIT.
ON NEW YEAR’S DAY.
OUR EAST.
UNMENTIONABLE.
AN INVITATION FROM CALIFORNIA.
RESOLVE.
WOMAN.
SHE WALKETH VEILED AND SLEEPING.
TO MAN.
WOMEN OF TO-DAY.
TO THE YOUNG WIFE.
FALSE PLAY.
MOTHERHOOD.
SIX HOURS A DAY.
AN OLD PROVERB.
REASSURANCE.
MOTHER TO CHILD.
SERVICES.
IN MOTHER-TIME.
SHE WHO IS TO COME.
GIRLS OF TO-DAY.
WE, AS WOMEN.
IF MOTHER KNEW.
THE ANTI-SUFFRAGISTS.
WOMEN DO NOT WANT IT.
WEDDED BLISS.
THE HOLY STOVE.
THE MOTHER’S CHARGE.
A BROOD MARE.
FEMININE VANITY.
THE MODEST MAID.
UNSEXED.
FEMALES.
A MOTHER’S SOLILOQUY.
THEY WANDERED FORTH.
BABY LOVE.
THE MARCH.
THE WOLF AT THE DOOR.
THE LOST GAME.
THE LOOKER-ON.
THE OLD-TIME WAIL.
FREE LAND IS NOT ENOUGH.
WHO IS TO BLAME?
IF A MAN MAY NOT EAT NEITHER CAN HE WORK.
HIS OWN LABOR.
AS FLEW THE CROSS.
TO LABOR.
HARDLY A PLEASURE.
NATIONALISM.
THE KING IS DEAD! LONG LIVE THE KING!
HOW MANY POOR!
THE DEAD LEVEL.
THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE.
THE AMŒBOID CELL.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.
DIVISION OF PROPERTY.
CHRISTIAN VIRTUES.
WHAT’S THAT?
AN ECONOMIST.
CHARITY.
WOULD YE BUT UNDERSTAND!
/> JOY IS ON EVERY HAND!
YE SHUT YOUR EYES AND CALL IT NIGHT,
YE GROPE AND FALL IN SEAS OF LIGHT —
WOULD YE BUT UNDERSTAND.
THE WORLD.
BIRTH.
LORD, I am born!
I have built me a body
Whose ways are all open,
Whose currents run free,
From the life that is thine
Flowing ever within me,
To the life that is mine
Flowing outward through me.
I am clothed, and my raiment
Fits smooth to the spirit,
The soul moves unhindered,
The body is free;
And the thought that my body
Falls short of expressing,
In texture and color
Unfoldeth on me.
I am housed, O my Father!
My body is sheltered,
My spirit has room
‘Twixt the whole world and me,
I am guarded with beauty and strength,
And within it
Is room for still union,
And birth floweth free.
IN THIS OUR WORLD.
And the union and birth
Of the house, ever growing,
Have built me a city —
Have born me a state —
Where I live manifold,
Many-voiced, many-hearted,
Never dead, never weary,
And oh! never parted!
The life of The Human,
So subtle — so great!
Lord, I am born!
From inmost to outmost
The ways are all open,
The currents run free,
From thy voice in my soul
To my joy in the people —
I thank thee, O God,
For this body thou gavest,
Which enfoldeth the earth —
Is enfolded by thee !
NATURE’S ANSWER.
I.
A MAN would build a house, and found a place
As fair as any on the earth’s fair face:
Complete Works of Charlotte Perkins Gilman Page 170
