Betina Krahn by The Last Bachelor Read Free Book Online Page A

lifted a magazine and adopted an oratorical stance.
    “Lord Carr writes in
Blackwood’s Magazine
this month: ‘It has been suggested that one way of dealing with the problem of surplus women is to gather them up and transport them to the colonies, where they would find usefulness as wives and companions of the men on the frontiers of the empire. But there is no evidence that these noble men laboring to enlarge British fortunes abroad are pining for marriage. Indeed, many of them may have fled England’s shores to avoid being trapped in that onerous and inequitable union.’”
    Antonia’s heart began to pound and her eyes burned dryly as she stared at the speaker without blinking. Onerous … inequitable … how dare he speak about marriage so? Then the name of the author of those words righted in her mind. It was Remington Carr, Earl of Landon—author of that vile, antimarriage piece she had read two months ago in the
Spectator
, and also of a series of articlesdemanding that women be given the vote, which had appeared in the
Telegraph
over the last three weeks. It was he who had coined that noxious phrase “surplus women.” Now even the renowned
Blackwood’s
was printing his scurrilous ramblings!
    “‘Instead’”—the young MP read on—“‘I venture to offer a modest proposal for dealing with spinsters, widows, and other surplus women. These unfortunates have been duped by the popular, oversentimentalized ideals of Home and Family into believing that they are entitled to the support and status of their own homes—to be provided by men. But most of these women shall never marry, never preside over a home of their own. And even if they could, marriage is no guarantee of security. Nowhere is this more painfully obvious than in the case of
widows
, those pathetic women who have learned firsthand the folly of depending on another for the security and substance of their lives. The false ideal of marriage is as much a trap for these poor, deluded women as it is for the unhappy men who find themselves snared in it.
    “‘Revision of the marriage laws is no answer to the problem of our surfeit of women. I propose, instead, that these unattached females who languish about the landscape be reeducated in the realities of life. They could be trained in a trade or craft and put to work at an honorable wage, so that they may be made self-supporting. This would have the effects of enhancing the general productivity, of providing an inexpensive new source of labor, and of reassigning the burden of their care from the male members of society to their own shoulders, where it rightly belongs. These women have most certainly been trained for
dependence
by our societal myths. Why should they not be retrained for
independence
by our societal truths?’”
    The young MP went on reading and speaking, but past that point—“trained for dependence”—Antonia heard onlyone word in three. Marriage and the ideal of the loving family a hoax? Widows called pathetic, dependent, and a burden to others? Women should be forced into shops and factories and mills and offices … required to support themselves by all manner of unseemly labor? Dear God, what would happen to the families? the homes? the children?
    The loathsome earl was proposing nothing less than an assault upon the institutions of Home and Family! The old wretch would dispense with marriage altogether, if he could—the devil take children, decency, charity, humanity, and all other such worthy products of wedlock and family life!
    Through a deepening haze of anger, she watched young Shelburne sit down with a satisfied expression while a storm of controversy erupted around him. The other members of the House jolted to their feet, some outraged, some cheering—both sides spoiling for a fight in the volatile atmosphere.
    The shouting and fist shaking accelerated and soon got so out of hand that the Speaker was unable to hammer the chamber back to order. He called for the