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Lizzie M. Swank, “An Open Letter to the Moral Education Society,” (1884)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

CORRESPONDENCE. AN OPEN LETTER TO THE MORAL EDUCATION SOCIETY. To the Editors of The Radical Review: I was among the number who listened to the able lecture of Dr. Thomas, on the evening of May 20, in the audience room of the M. E. Church. Will they grant me the privilege of asking a few questions on the subject? I believe the aims of this society are high and pure, and will result in great good to the human race; but they must be mingled with other reform principles, or no permanent change can come. Allow me to ask the […]

Lizzie M. Holmes, “Trade Unionism the Only Hope” (1906)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

Trade Unionism The Only Hope. IT SHOULD be self-evident that in trade unionism the toiler finds his only hope and security while we live under the commercial system which reigns today. Sugar coat it as we may, labor is today a commodity, and the capitalist goes into the market and buys it as cheaply as it can be purchased. So there seems to be no limit to the lowering of wages were there no preventing forces. Men’s very necessities compel them to compete with one another until the very lowest possible living price is reached. The fact that a man […]

Lizzie M. Holmes, “Trade Unionism the Only Hope” (1906)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

Trade Unionism The Only Hope. IT SHOULD be self-evident that in trade unionism the toiler finds his only hope and security while we live under the commercial system which reigns today. Sugar coat it as we may, labor is today a commodity, and the capitalist goes into the market and buys it as cheaply as it can be purchased. So there seems to be no limit to the lowering of wages were there no preventing forces. Men’s very necessities compel them to compete with one another until the very lowest possible living price is reached. The fact that a man […]

Lizzie M. Holmes, “A Plain Story of Plain Folks” (1906)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

A Plain Story of Plain Folks. Somewhere at the head of the long, dusty, noisy room a bell rank out, the big wheel slowed up, the sewing machines on the long tables ceased their clatter and the new silence seemed to settle down with a startling emphasis on ears accustomed for so many hours to a ceaseless din and turmoil. It was hot, suffocating unwholesome, and the very air seemed to reek with weariness and lassitude. The hands were too tired for their usual banter and chaff as they passed one another, but piled up their work and hurried away […]

Lizzie M. Holmes, “Ideals” (1907)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

IDEALS For the Journal. As a boy Marius Dale was a dreamer. A backwoods farmer’s son, usually occupied in hoeing corn, watching sheep, hauling wood or weeding the garden, he still dreamed—dreamed of beauty, or greatness, of power, of achievement, and with it all, of love and kindness to his fellow-creatures. Little he knew of the need for love and kindness out in the struggling, cruel world, but the light of a divine yearning toward all suffering beings, dwelt in his soul from the first. Many of his dreams were vague and purposeless, but sometimes when his work was done […]

Lizzie M. Holmes, “The Slavery of Civilization” (1907)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

The Slavery of Civilization Daniel Henderson sat luxuriously before his grate fire, with decanter, glass and box of fine cigars on a small stand at his elbow, and his feet in velvet slippers resting on a table in front of him. It was storming outside, making the warmth and cosiness of his room seem doubly inviting. He had had a very busy day and was now taking a rest he believed he had well earned. “I am deuced glad I didn’t go out this evening—this beats all the club dinners, balls, theaters and receptions the city can afford,” he mused […]

Lizzie M. Holmes, “The World’s Beautiful Failures” (1907)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

THE WORLD’S BEAUTIFUL FAILURES THERE is no lack of praise for those who succeed. The whole world knows, applauds and points out as shining examples for coming generations to follow, those who have reached the object of their ambitions in any line. No one stops to consider what that success has cost—the success is the thing—the victor is the one important topic for consideration. But I write of the failures of society, the beautiful failures who have died in obscurity and silence, leaving only a heart here and there the better and gladder for having known them. Dear, lovable, self-sacrificing […]

Lizzie M. Holmes, “Society Notes from the People’s Quarters” (1907)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

Society Notes from the People’s Quarters How the Workers of the City “Spend the Summer.” The heated months have not abated the activities of the tenement house habitants to any great extent. Several prominent functions have taken place (luring the last week which were well attended by the best known people in Alley L. The first was a fire, the next a funeral and the last was a street fight and an arrest. Mother McFarden was present at the first in a becoming gold colored nightgown which .displayed her well-rounded arms and ample ankles to good advantage. Several other prominent […]

Lizzie M. Holmes, “Women and the Strike” (1907)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

Women and the Strike. BY LIZZIE M. HOLMES. The men stood about in groups at the car barns, the cars were ready, the time to start had arrived—but, not a man boarded his car, not a car moved. All down the long street that stretched away to the center of the city at every street corner were groups of twos and threes or more, looking anxiously toward the car barns, from which their usually unconsidered and convenient transportation was expected to come. And down other streets all over the city, people stood on the street corners and waited— and waited […]

Lizzie M. Holmes, “The Scab” (1905)

July 24, 2017 Shawn P. Wilbur

THE SCAB. The rays from a low afternoon sun fell through the dusty panes of a kitchen window and across a disorderly floor where a young man and woman were washing clothes. There were two large tubs of water on a bench, several pails and pans standing about, and a large basket near the door was heaped with clean, wet clothes. The man straightened up, rubbed the suds from his muscular arms, and exclaimed. “Gosh, Mollie, that’s harder work than runnin’ an engine. Now they’re ready to hang out, ain’t they? I’ll help you out with them but you’ll put […]