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W YORK TIMES. SUNDAY. JUNE 26, 1910. HE cause of women’s suffrage 2 has no more earnest advocate than Mme. Lillian Nordica. Were it not for the exacting demands of her art and the claims of society and her domestic life upon her time the famous singer would take an active part in the crusade. Nor is this a recent conversion, for she has held very decided convictions on the subject throughout her life. Mme. Nordica’s interest in the move ment meanwhile has a thoroughly prac tical side. Within a few days she gave to her neighbors up the Hudson a mu sicale, the receipts of which, something more than $1,040, were handed over to the Suffrage Society for carrying on its work. In the Fall a second concert will be given in New York with the same disinterested motives. At the close of the recent recital sev eral of the ladies present spoke infor mally of the work of the movement, and among them Mme. Nordica. Being a successful woman of affairs, her remarks had unusual interest. To her intimate friends these views were no surprise. Later Mme. Nordica con sented to amplify these remarks for THe SuNoDaY TIMEs. “They are such old, obvious truths,” Mme. Nordica protested, “ that it seems a commonplace to repeat them. Ob vious as they are, it has often required some courage to hold and announce such views. ‘Today I think the situation is much improved. Now that the best minds are on our side, the most intelli gent, right-thinking people in the com munity, the advance will be more rapid. The time has passed when we may be ridiculed and laughed out of court. We have been a little slow to press the cause in America,” Mme. Nordica continued. “Why? Well, the older countries are likely to take the lead in many things.For one thing, the wo men in America have not felt the need of exercising their rights , until re cently. Madame Lillian Nordica Talks Interestingly of the Movement, Which She Is Giving Her Enthusiastic Support, the child laws in this country? These are questions, great pressing, vital problems, which demand instant at tention. And they are questions which women are peculiarly fitted to deal with. I think everyone must admit that. Certainly the community loses, the general movement of our civiliza tion is retarded by the loss of the intel ligent sympathy which women would sing, no matter what her art or genius. We see little boys accorded this privi lege, for it is a privilege, and no one appreciates the fact more than I. We see these little boys permitted to approach ‘the altar to come under the influence of refined, intelligent, noble men, whose influence makes for character. Women are forbidden this privilege ing. The sewing table was not, in any sense, a stage setting, but a practical, well-equipped work bench. One might expect to find some airy trifle in the singer's hand which pre sented the ideal picture rather than the dull reality of sewing. The work actually in hand was the hemming of a heavy curtain, many yards of it, and the reader may be interested to know rain had been reached. It was exam ined, laid aside, and a new piece taken up. We don’t want to fight husbands and brothers. A new needle was threaded with a skill born of long expe rience. “‘ Women will always continue to depend upon their husbands and brothers. There is not the slightest danger that they will become mascue We see on every hand how women are making their way in business and the professions. When they have fought their way to success they find them selves, municipally speaking, nonenti ties. They naturally claim their rights and out of this awakening comes the great modern suffrage movement: “I have made my way in the world. My position is that of thousands of women. I do not want to be a nonen tity. And now, if you'll excuse me, I will go on with my work as we talk. You see I am a very busy woman.” Mme. Nordica was seated on the broad porch of her beautiful Summer home at Ardsley-on-Hudson. The trel lised window commanded a character istic sweep of the Hudson River, be syond several acres of closely clipped lawns. In the more immediate fore ground was a broad, sewing table piled high with the day’s task. As I say, this awakening comes when we look about us and try to reap the benefits of the civilization we have done so much to develop. We bear the burden of taxation. We must abide by the laws. But we have no responsi bility, no voice in fixing these taxes, no matter how unjustly they may bear upon us. We have no influence in making the laws which we are obliged to follow.I may accumulate a for tune, many of us have done so, and we have no right, no opportunity, to In fluence the laws under which it is ad ministered.” For a moment the sewing was for gotten. Mme. Nordica spoke with conviction. A fleeting memory of the greatest of all SBrunhildes passed through the interviewer's mind. We do not feel that we would be a menace to the Church, the State, or the home if we had a voice in the govern ment. How many saloons are there in the town in which live? What is the condition of the streets? What is being done for the pale-faced children sickening and dying in the crowded tenements? In attacking these condi tions would the Church, the State, or the home be endangered? “How many men are familiar with bring to bear in solving these problems.” The sewing was resumed. “I don’t want to give you the im pression that I take an extreme view,” Mme. Nordica added. “Take the saloon, for instance. I am not sure that I would close all the saloons. T] probably should not. The question of individual liberty is very important. Nor do I think that women as a whole would be found unjust or intolerant In dealing with great vital questions. Our greatest enemies today are the Hiquor dealers, the brewers, the gam blers, for it is they who have most cause to fear us. They fight woman suffrage because they know very well that we would vote against their in terests. And yet, I repeat, I do not believe I would not vote for prohibition. I be lieve strongly in freedom to a law abid ing degree.” Mme. Nordica’s words alone carry conviction, but the interviewer is pow erless to convey the charm of their de livery. ‘If women are able to win the prizes of life in open competition with men, well, it seems to me in common fair ness, they should have them.” contin ues Mme. Nordica. ‘Take the con ditions in our colleges today, where we naturally look for enlightenment. .At Wesleyan University, I understand, co education is discouraged for the highly ingenious reason that the women take all the prizes, or many of them, from the men. Women are said to be too illogical to vote. Well, then, heresy masculine logic with a venegeance.” It had been a continual surprise for the caller that Mme. Nordica had so far avoided the slightest suggestion of “shop talk.” The name of Nordica brings up memories of brilliant stages, crowded theatres, and the loud voice of acclaim. This gracious hostess in the most domestic of settings pained a curious charm by comparison. The only mention of the great world of music, of which Mme. Nordica may speak with such authority, came next. We are one-half the universe—we women—and we contribute three fourths of the money to the churches, and yet we are to-day excluded from some of them. I do not like this. I feel strongly. Do not misunderstand me, for I have many dear friends in the church I refer to. It is not a general indictment. “I am not allowed to sing in many churches. No woman is allowed to It is not a question with us women of wanting to do this or that thing, but it is irksome to know that we cannot do it if we chose. I do not want to jump from this porch and run to the river over there. It is much too warm for one thing. But if I felt that I could not leave this porch I should feel con strained and unhappy. We are actually opposed in this movement by certain bodies of women. You have heard of the anti-suffragists and their plea that women should ex ert, what do they call it, a great silent influence, is it not?” “TI believe that 's the phrase.” “Well, then,” Mme. Nordica contin ued, “why do they not practice what they preach? Why don't they keep si lent? I think it is no less than unwo manly for them to come out as they do against us. Let them exert their great silent influence if they chose, and let us have peace.” It may be of interest to Mme. Nor dica’s great host of admirers to know the nature of the prima donna's sow that the work progressed rapidly dur ing the Interview. “We are told that women are Inca pable of organization and the serious work of life,” said Mme. Nordica “Well, many of the corporations, to be sure, have this matter of voting very thoroughly organized indeed. I under stand that during the voting on one of the great questions in California re cently the organization was such that the ballots were all prepared in advance by the corporations, and the voters were shown just where to place their marks in case they could not write their names. ‘There are many railroads,” Mme. Nordica continued, “many political machines, which have this voting prob lem regulated like clockwork. Would women fall into any such system? I feel very certain they would not. Here would be an instance when woman would not necessarily be obliged to lean upon her husband or her brother.” The end of the long hem of the cur line and independent in any unpleasant sense. “No, the world misunderstands us, purposely, perhaps. We want to help, not to hinder our husbands or brothers —not to fight them. We want to work with them as their equals in arms in the great battles of life. ‘Certainly we can be of greater as sistance to them by entering intelli gently into their lives than by being excluded from them. “It does not follow that I will,exer cise every right I am allowed under the law. I have selected a certain work in the world and the granting of the suffrage to worsen would not cause me to forsake my art, and it is the same with all women. But I don’t want to feel that under the law I am a nonentity in the community.” Meanwhile there had been a number of interruptions, for Mme. Nord has a housekeeper in fact as well as name, and a dozen questions of detail were brought to her. ‘Housekeeping is very well in its way,” said the great singer, after one of these interruptions. “I enjoy it for one. A woman's home, we are told, is her life. I believe that it is. But the suffrage will not interfere with that, will not cause her to neglect this obvi ous duty. We will agree that house keeping is very important, but why should it keep women from going be yond that? The drudgery of house keeping does not round out the fullest possible life for her. ~ And the transitioners] come gradu ally without shock from the present state of affairs to a newer and broader life. We are told that women are ig norant of great affairs and that to vote without intelligent knowledge would be a menace to the State. “I might point out that many men do not take the trouble to study and inform themselves on questions placed before them for decision. But apart from this I, believe that women would not care to take an interest, or, at least, an active part In questions on which they were not informed. But gradually they would become familiar with the situation and as the awaken ing came they would learn to vote more intelligently.” The next interruption was a call over the long-distance telephone and a question of important concert engage ments must be considered and decide “Then we are asked,” Mme. Nordica resumed, “why it is if women want to vote they do not come forward in a great body and demand the franchise. Well, we once had the great problem of slavery to decide in this country, and I took the best thought of the greatest minds in the country working for many years, and the efforts of some 4,000,000 men to decide the question and free the slaves.” An errand to the end of the long porch carried Mme. Nordica away for a moment. A moment later there came from some distance a few notes, sung quite simply, a memory of La Giloconda. The exquisite delicacy of the note on the quiet Summer air brought up a very different picture. In another set ting, so familiar to music lovers the world over, it would have dominated a great orchestra and aroused thousands of listeners to enthusiastic applause. Then there is the question of sex,” said Mme. Nordica, as she resumed her sewing. “ Woman will not become mas culine by merely voting. She is not unsexed £ 0 easily, believe me “Give us the franchise. We won’t hate you. We won't leave you. Give woman a chance to bear the burden which is hers. Free her from the ig norance which has been her portion for centuries. ‘Nor will men be less chivalrous to woman in her new position. We want men’s friendship. We want to meet them in the affairs of life without the question of sex entering in. When we may bear the burden and the heat of the day with our husbands and broth ers We will not find that men are any the less chivalrous to us. “Perhaps you think I deal too much in generalities? Well, let me give you something concrete and definite. In the State of Texas a woman recently had some trouble with her husband, and left him to earn her own living. She prospered. Here is a situation which occurs every day. ‘At the end of the year this woman found herself with $1,500 as the result of hard work and economy. But now the husband appears and puts in a claim—everything is carried out legal ly, of course—a claim in the courts for the money his wife had earned and saved—the $1,500. And the court decided, how, do you think? After due deliberation the Judge handed down the decision that, although, personally, he regretted to do so, the law left him no alternative. The money was legally the husband's, and the court directed the wife to pay the money to him. “Do you know that ?it is only a very recent law which gives the mother equal control with the father over the children in the State of New York? Think of it! A mother not having the right to control her own children! And there are many more cases of flagrant injustice to women I might add. “To return to the question whether women have brains, enough to vets. Really, I am inclined to think that some of them have. In questions affecting children and the schools, for instance, the instinct of the average mother would certainly be as dependable, in telligence apart, as that of the average man. It seems very obvious, does it not. *The world must give woman time. Today she is entirely capable of vot ing, the great mass of them, on a va riety of subjects, and she will quickly accommodate herself to new condi tions. ‘We hear a great deal about the menace of women in modern affairs. It is suggested that she will crowd men out of their regular vocations. There is no ambition to do so. We do not want to war against men—our hus bands or brothers—but to be their helpmates. ~ And tin carrying out this obvious destiny,” Mme. Nordica concluded, “women will not be a menace to the State, to society, or the holy bonds of matrimony.” Madame Nordica Sewing on Her Porch at Ardsley-on-Hudson. A Recent Photograph of Madame Nordica. As “ Brunhilde.”
Newspaper Details
New York Times
New York, New York, US
Sun, Jun 26, 1910
Page 41
Full Page
Clipped by
Sarah C.
AU 14 Jun 2026
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