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46 - Margaret Sanger; an autobiography by Margaret Sanger · Margaret Sanger; an autobiography

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  Speaker 1: Chapter thirty seven, Part one of Margaret Sangar by Margaret Sanger.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter thirty seven,
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  Speaker 1: Part one, Who can take a dream for truth? Quote
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  Speaker 1: Divinity sleeps in stones, breathes in plants, dreams in animals,
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  Speaker 1: and awakes in human beings end quote Indian proverb. Several
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  Speaker 1: times I had approached the idea of going to India,
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  Speaker 1: and always something had prevented me. In nineteen twenty two,
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  Speaker 1: when I was near by, it was the hot season
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  Speaker 1: and everybody had gone to the hill stations. In nineteen
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  Speaker 1: twenty eight, when I had also made tentative plans, I
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  Speaker 1: was not well. I think I had, in addition, been
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  Speaker 1: reluctant because Catherine Mayo's book had left me with such
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  Speaker 1: an aching pain. I felt powerless to help lift the
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  Speaker 1: inertia she described. Finally, in nineteen thirty six, I had
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  Speaker 1: word from Margaret Cousins, pioneer in the Indian woman's movement,
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  Speaker 1: wife of a poet and university professor, who asked whether
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  Speaker 1: I would accept an invitation to attend the coming All
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  Speaker 1: India Women's Conference. The previous conference had passed a resolution
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  Speaker 1: favoring birth control in theory, but now they wanted me
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  Speaker 1: to assist them to put teeth in it, to draw
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  Speaker 1: up one which would outline a practical plan applicable to
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  Speaker 1: all castes, to present it, and to argue for it.
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  Speaker 1: Since such a resolution would mean that the movement had
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  Speaker 1: now gone beyond the point where we had to break
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  Speaker 1: in to be heard, and would start things in the
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  Speaker 1: right direction, I arranged to spend three months in India
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  Speaker 1: from November to January, under the auspices of the International
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  Speaker 1: Information Center, which had been set up in London after
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  Speaker 1: the Geneva Conference, so that various peoples and countries interested
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  Speaker 1: in the subject might have some means of contact. Missus
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  Speaker 1: John Phillips, who had fought many battles in Pittsburgh for
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  Speaker 1: birth control, suggested that her daughter, a graduate of Vassar
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  Speaker 1: and a newspaper woman, might come along as my secretary.
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  Speaker 1: All the way, a fine young crowd rallied around the
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  Speaker 1: lively Anna Jane, who had as great a capacity for
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  Speaker 1: laughter as any human being I ever knew. Nothing was
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  Speaker 1: too hard for her, nothing too big or too small
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  Speaker 1: for her to do. Altogether, she was a perfect companion.
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  Speaker 1: Beginning with our voyage to England, and ending in Honolulu
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  Speaker 1: temporarily in London, was Gandhi's appointed successor, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru,
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  Speaker 1: of a family noted for scholarship. He was the youthful
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  Speaker 1: leader of the more radical elements in India, much more
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  Speaker 1: inclined towards communism than Gandhi. After having been in jail
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  Speaker 1: for four years, he had now been released to see
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  Speaker 1: his wife, who was ill and dying in Germany. I
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  Speaker 1: was unable to be present at a reception for him,
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  Speaker 1: so Anna Jane telephoned to say I was sorry. Why
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  Speaker 1: should missus Sanger be sorry? He said, with the simplicity
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  Speaker 1: of the truly great, she can come any time. I
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  Speaker 1: did so the next afternoon. Nehru was quiet and poised,
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  Speaker 1: with a thoughtful manner which impressed you immediately as one
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  Speaker 1: of controlled intelligence. His intention was to establish in the
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  Speaker 1: mind of young India that Gandhi's spiritual doctrines would only
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  Speaker 1: be effective if knit with economic and sociological principles. More
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  Speaker 1: recondite than the Indian was the Englishman Paul Brunton. Small
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  Speaker 1: and dark, with a solemn, intense, almost mystic expression in
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  Speaker 1: his eyes. He was attempting to find what virtue lay
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  Speaker 1: in Fakir's and holy men coming India for them, and
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  Speaker 1: had embodied the result in his book The Search in
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  Speaker 1: Secret India. He told me not many holy men remain.
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  Speaker 1: Most of them have gone back into the mountains inaccessible
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  Speaker 1: to Westerners. The one for whom I have the greatest
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  Speaker 1: regard is the sage of Arunakala, the Maharishi of Taruvana Mahali.
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  Speaker 1: My wife and I have a little hut southwest of Madras,
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  Speaker 1: and if you will visit us when you reach that
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  Speaker 1: section of India, I will see that you come into
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  Speaker 1: his presence. Naturally. I accepted his offer eagerly and put
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  Speaker 1: it on my must list. Shortly before my departure from London,
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  Speaker 1: a farewell banquet was given at the Barber Surgeon's Hall,
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  Speaker 1: a relic of old London, known to few and to
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  Speaker 1: which you could be admitted only by invitation. It was
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  Speaker 1: on Munkwell Street in the city, near the London Wall
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  Speaker 1: and Aldersgate. Well aware of the difficulties of threading that
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  Speaker 1: maze even by daylight, I inquired of the carriage attendant
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  Speaker 1: at the Savoy whether the taxi driver were familiar with it.
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  Speaker 1: Certainly Madame Off. I went with missus Kerr Lawson, the
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  Speaker 1: painter's wife, somewhat pressed for time. As usual in November,
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  Speaker 1: it was raining. After we had serpentined in and out
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  Speaker 1: for twenty minutes, we began to surmise that the driver
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  Speaker 1: was lost, and I called to him, don't you know
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  Speaker 1: the way? Well? I thought it was down here, but
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  Speaker 1: it don't seem to be. Why don't you ask somebody,
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  Speaker 1: where's Barberzaal? He addressed a mail carrier, who paused to
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  Speaker 1: think and then said, well, it's along there, pointing back
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  Speaker 1: from where we had come. We turned about, but had
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  Speaker 1: no better luck. The driver stopped at least ten people,
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  Speaker 1: each in uniform or livery of some kind or another.
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  Speaker 1: Where's Barber's all? And all we heard was the echo
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  Speaker 1: Barber's all? He drew up beside a bobby even he
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  Speaker 1: did not know. Finally, we saw smart looking cars going
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  Speaker 1: in a certain direction. We said that must be it,
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  Speaker 1: and sure enough, there on the corner was the sign
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  Speaker 1: for our own peace of mind. We were not last.
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  Speaker 1: H G was close behind us, frothing with fury because
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  Speaker 1: he too had been driving around Robin Hood's barn. Much
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  Speaker 1: of the building was locked up, but what we saw
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  Speaker 1: was beautifully preserved. Evidently the Guild of the Barbers had
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  Speaker 1: prospered in the days when their members did bleeding and leeching,
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  Speaker 1: and attended to other annoyances of humanity, such as pulling teeth.
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  Speaker 1: The dining room, once the operating theater, was now the
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  Speaker 1: fairest setting for a dinner that one could have. The
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  Speaker 1: service presented by Queen Anne, crystal goblets, a silver rose
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  Speaker 1: carved finger bowl, the vast Royal Grace cup given by
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  Speaker 1: Henry the eighth, like a chalice with a six inch stem.
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  Speaker 1: Everything used only on rare occasions. The table was like
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  Speaker 1: an e with the middle left out, and in the
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  Speaker 1: center sat hairy guy in his high backed chair. Above
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  Speaker 1: the rest of us. I was on his right, and
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  Speaker 1: next me was a man whose name had performed almost
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  Speaker 1: a miracle for birth control in England, Baron Thomas Horder,
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  Speaker 1: then physician to the Prince of Wales. Sidney Walton, the
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  Speaker 1: member without whom this banquet could not have taken place,
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  Speaker 1: opened the affair, as ancient custom prescribed by declaiming pray
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  Speaker 1: silence for the king. After the toast to his majesty,
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  Speaker 1: one was drunk to the President of the United States,
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  Speaker 1: and then my health was proposed. The loving cup, containing
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  Speaker 1: about a quart of red wine, began to make the rounds.
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  Speaker 1: During the toast. Three people had to be standing, the
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  Speaker 1: one holding the cup, the one who just had it
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  Speaker 1: on the left, and the one on the right who
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  Speaker 1: was to receive it. The waiter came to wipe the
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  Speaker 1: lip hygienically when each had swallowed his sip. This was
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  Speaker 1: the sole modern touch. London offered me many courtesies. The
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  Speaker 1: Italian invasion of Ethiopia was now in full swing. Rumors
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  Speaker 1: were abroad that British ships were avoiding the Suez Canal.
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  Speaker 1: Therefore I booked on a Dutch line. When I mention
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  Speaker 1: this to Sir John Meegaw, former Director of the Indian
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  Speaker 1: Medical Service, he practically stopped breathing and bristled in every
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  Speaker 1: hair of his head. What a p and O boat
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  Speaker 1: not go through the canal for fear of Italy? So
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  Speaker 1: I've heard, my dear missus sanger, you can go through
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  Speaker 1: the Suez Canal on a British boat if the British
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  Speaker 1: Navy has to escort you through. Sir John's report calling
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  Speaker 1: upon the British government to make some plan for population growth,
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  Speaker 1: increase and distribution for India was one of the most
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  Speaker 1: intelligent issued by any health officer in this age. Although
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  Speaker 1: entirely in sympathy with my project, yet he doubted whether
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  Speaker 1: it would be possible for me to do anything. That
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  Speaker 1: I was an American, however, he thought might obviate the
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  Speaker 1: antagonism which would inevitably follow the mention of birth control
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  Speaker 1: by anybody from the British Isles. Almost as soon as
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  Speaker 1: the Viceroy of India assailed, we seemed much nearer the East.
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  Speaker 1: Indian deckhands moved about, distinguishable by their slim bodies, brown
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  Speaker 1: faces and turbans, but the English were in command of
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  Speaker 1: all departments. It must have been a source of resentment
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  Speaker 1: to the Indian passengers to be ignored or treated as
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  Speaker 1: inferiors by the English civil service going to rule them
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  Speaker 1: in their own land. The ship was second rate, rocky
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  Speaker 1: in a heavy sea, and raucous. The blast of bugles
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  Speaker 1: for rising and meals had long since been outmoded on
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  Speaker 1: most passenger liners, but was retained here. I was awakened
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  Speaker 1: at eight or earlier every morning by the most awful
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  Speaker 1: thud thud thud overhead. After I had had a headache
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  Speaker 1: for two days. I went up to the sports deck
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  Speaker 1: and found the English were getting exercise by throwing quoits
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  Speaker 1: around directly above my stateroom. The Suez Canal was bright
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  Speaker 1: with yellow sand and blue sky. We slowly steamed past
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  Speaker 1: two Italian transports with bandaged soldiers on the decks, invalided
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  Speaker 1: home from Ethiopia. As far as conversation on our own
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  Speaker 1: vessel went, no one would have suspected there was a war.
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  Speaker 1: Not an Englishman brought up the subject, and if drawn
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  Speaker 1: into a discussion, he eluded it by saying his country
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  Speaker 1: could jolly well look after itself. Once we were in
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  Speaker 1: the Red Sea, passengers and officers emerged in white. The
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  Speaker 1: decks were roofed with canvas so that the games might
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  Speaker 1: go on. Most of these British had traveled so much
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  Speaker 1: they had a seafaring routine. They indulged in sports in
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  Speaker 1: the morning, dressed appropriately. From two to four in the afternoon,
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  Speaker 1: a pall of silence descended. All the chairs on the
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  Speaker 1: deck were occupied by dozing browsing loungers. But as soon
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  Speaker 1: as the tea things appeared life began to be interesting.
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  Speaker 1: Music burst forth from the orchestra. Babies were brought up
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  Speaker 1: from the nursery. Everybody hurried to and fro from chair
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  Speaker 1: to table, picking and choosing cakes or buns, sandwiches or
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  Speaker 1: plain bread and jam. After dinner again, the full blazing
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  Speaker 1: lights gave ample illumination for the interminable deck tennis and quoits.
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  Speaker 1: Bombay from the distance was a city of tall buildings.
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  Speaker 1: Not until very close could you see the sizzling heat
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  Speaker 1: on the water. The hot sun and heavy air made
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  Speaker 1: it unpleasant to stand on deck. The wharf was filled,
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  Speaker 1: the British, easily recognizable by their sola topies, the ugliest
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  Speaker 1: headgear in the world. All were waving with great excitement,
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  Speaker 1: and many carried flower garlands for visitors or those coming home.
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  Speaker 1: Amid scrambling and confusion, coolly swarmed aboard for luggage. A
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  Speaker 1: delegation of about fifty welcomed us, including Edith Howe Martin,
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  Speaker 1: who had been sounding out popular and religious sentiment, and
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  Speaker 1: doctor A. P. Palat, editor of the magazine Marriage Hygiene,
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  Speaker 1: the man most active in eugenics and birth control in India.
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  Speaker 1: I had written to Gandhi and a reply from him
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  Speaker 1: greeted me at the boat do by all means, come
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  Speaker 1: whenever you can, and you shall stay with me if
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  Speaker 1: you would not mind what must appear to you to
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  Speaker 1: be our extreme simplicity. We have no masters and no
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  Speaker 1: servants here. The evening was hot and oppressive indoors, but
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  Speaker 1: mild and balmy outside, and I sauntered under a lovely,
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  Speaker 1: deep sky. The women, small of body, ankles and wrists,
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  Speaker 1: with well formed features, and softly spoken as the Japanese,
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  Speaker 1: whether poor or not, wore bracelets, anklets, rings in the ears,
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  Speaker 1: and some a buttoned jewel in the side of the nose.
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  Speaker 1: Seldom were any in western costume. Almost always they were sorries,
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  Speaker 1: graceful folds draped over their heads. Men and boys were
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  Speaker 1: stretched out on the walks, their only belongings the mats
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  Speaker 1: on which they lay. It was revolting to see something
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  Speaker 1: stir in the dust and watch rags change into a
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  Speaker 1: human being sleeping there. The next afternoon I had my
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  Speaker 1: first meeting in Kwaji Yahangir Hall, the largest in Bombay
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  Speaker 1: and clamorously noisy. It was open to the street and
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  Speaker 1: trams went wobbling by. Pedestrians talked loudly, and dozens and
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  Speaker 1: dozens of electric fans purred round and round and round.
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  Speaker 1: You had to speak at the very top of your
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  Speaker 1: throat in order to be heard. Indians were accustomed to
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  Speaker 1: the British annunciation and the British pitch, and found American
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  Speaker 1: English difficult to understand. Looking down on the audience was
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  Speaker 1: like gazing at a choppy sea. It was a broken
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  Speaker 1: mass of gandy white caps, shaped rather like those worn
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  Speaker 1: by our soldiers overseas. They were not removed in the house,
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  Speaker 1: in shops or even at table. Everywhere in India you
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  Speaker 1: saw them, showing how large was his following. I had
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  Speaker 1: been told that unmarried women did not exist in India,
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  Speaker 1: and none of the cultured class worked for wages. However,
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  Speaker 1: the very day I landed, I met three girls who
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  Speaker 1: were still single, gave their time to help the outcasts,
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  Speaker 1: and had small apartments of their own. Two of them
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  Speaker 1: were trying to be independent. Another received an allowance from
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  Speaker 1: her father, who, though disapproving, supplied her livelihood. It had
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  Speaker 1: been predicted also that only Eurasians and the lower classes
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  Speaker 1: would listen to me on birth control, but the question
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  Speaker 1: turned out to be not shall it be given? But
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  Speaker 1: what to give? And it came from all strata. The
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  Speaker 1: Mayor of Bombay invited me to address a gathering of
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  Speaker 1: city officials. Missus Sarahjini Naidu, the famous poetess outstanding for
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  Speaker 1: her loyalty to India and next to Gandhi, the most
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  Speaker 1: beloved person in the country, talked with me about holding
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  Speaker 1: a meeting in Hyderabad, where her husband was head of
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  Speaker 1: a medical profession. Lady Brayborne, during luncheon at Government House,
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  Speaker 1: told me that she and the Governor were anxious to
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  Speaker 1: prevent the fifteen hundred people on their own compound from
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  Speaker 1: doubling their numbers within a few years. What would I suggest?
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  Speaker 1: The answer was complicated by many factors. First and foremost
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  Speaker 1: was the unspeakable poverty, which prevailed. A contraceptive so cheap
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  Speaker 1: that it could be available to every one had been
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  Speaker 1: invented in the form of a foam powder, which could
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  Speaker 1: be made from rice starch enough for a year should
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  Speaker 1: not cost more than ten cents, but as yet we
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  Speaker 1: had not tested it sufficiently to guarantee its harmlessness and efficacy.
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  Speaker 1: The poorer woman of Bombay, sober faced and dull looking,
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  Speaker 1: who particularly needed this method, lived in the grubby and
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  Speaker 1: deadly chawls huts of corrugated iron, no windows, no lights,
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  Speaker 1: no lamps, just three walls and sometimes old pieces of
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  Speaker 1: rag or paper hung up in front in a pitiful
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  Speaker 1: attempt at privacy. I soon learned that when traveling through
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  Speaker 1: the country we had to have a servant or bearer
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  Speaker 1: to secure railroad compartments, make up the beds, see we
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  Speaker 1: had food at various stations, and keep the venders off mattresses, blankets, sheets, pillows,
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  Speaker 1: towels and soap. Had to accompany us on trains. From
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  Speaker 1: Cook's we acquired Joseph, an extraordinary character, dressed always in
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  Speaker 1: a black alpaca coat and colorful turban. We paid him
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  Speaker 1: about a dollar a day, considered a very good salary. However,
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  Speaker 1: since he spoke not only Hindustani, but also Bengali, Tamil
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  Speaker 1: and English, we thought him an excellent find. He waited
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  Speaker 1: on us, brought us tea in the morning, went with
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  Speaker 1: us on calls. Joseph's respet spec for us was enormously
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  Speaker 1: increased when he heard we were going to visit Gandhi.
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  Speaker 1: He became our devoted adviser, sleeping outside the door at night.
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  Speaker 1: Because of his position, it was beneath his dignity to
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  Speaker 1: carry anything. Consequently, we were obliged to hire a koulie
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  Speaker 1: for his luggage, as well as several for our own.
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  Speaker 1: India was undoubtedly the place for the white man to
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  Speaker 1: lose his inferiority complex, should he have one. The serving
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  Speaker 1: class was obsequious, and the educated aloof and superior. End
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  Speaker 1: of Chapter thirty seven, Part one,