THE DISABILITIES.
It had been arranged that on Friday evening Lady George should call for
Aunt Ju in Green Street, and that they should go together to the
Institute in the Marylebone Road. The real and full name of the
college, as some ladies delighted to call it, was, though somewhat
lengthy, placarded in big letters on a long black board on the front of
the building, and was as follows, "Rights of Women Institute;
Established for the Relief of the Disabilities of Females." By friendly
tongues to friendly ears "The College" or "the Institute" was the
pleasant name used; but the irreverent public was apt to speak of the
building generally as the "Female Disabilities." And the title was made
even shorter. Omnibuses were desired to stop at the "Disabilities;" and
it had become notorious that it was just a mile from King's Cross to
the "Disabilities." There had been serious thoughts among those who
were dominant in the Institute of taking down the big board and
dropping the word. But then a change of a name implies such a
confession of failure! It had on the whole been thought better to
maintain the courage of the opinion which had first made the mistake.
"So you're going to the Disabilities, are you?" Mrs. Houghton had said
to Lady George.
"I'm to be taken by old Miss Mildmay."
"Oh, yes; Aunt Ju is a sort of first-class priestess among them. Don't
let them bind you over to belong to them. Don't go in for it." Lady
George had declared it to be very improbable that she should go in for
it, but had adhered to her determination of visiting the Institute.
She called in Green Street fearing that she should see Guss Mildmay
whom she had determined to keep at arm's distance as well as her
friendship with Mrs. Houghton would permit; but Aunt Ju was ready for
her in the passage. "I forgot to tell you that we ought to be a little
early, as I have to take the chair. I daresay we shall do very well,"
she added, "if the man drives fast. But the thing is so important! One
doesn't like to be flurried when one gets up to make the preliminary
address." The only public meetings at which Mary had ever been present
had appertained to certain lectures at Brotherton, at which her father
or some other clerical dignity had presided, and she could not as yet
understand that such a duty should be performed by a woman. She
muttered something expressing a hope that all would go right. "I've got
to introduce the Baroness, you know."
"Introduce the Baroness?"
"The Baroness Banmann. Haven't you seen the bill of the evening? The
Baroness is going to address the meeting on the propriety of
patronising female artists,--especially in regard to architecture. A
combined college of female architects is to be established in Posen and
Chicago, and why should we not have a branch in London, which is the
centre of the world?"
"Would a woman have to build a house?" asked Lady George.
"She would draw the plans, and devise the proportions, and--and--do the
aesthetic part of it. An architect doesn't carry bricks on his back, my
dear."
"But he walks over planks, I suppose."
"And so could I walk over a plank; why not as well as a man? But you
will hear what the Baroness says. The worst is that I am a little
afraid of her English."
"She's a foreigner, of course. How will she manage?"
"Her English is perfect, but I am afraid of her pronunciation. However,
we shall see." They had now arrived at the building, and Lady George
followed the old lady in with the crowd. But when once inside the door
they turned to a small passage on the left, which conducted those in
authority to the august room preparatory to the platform. It is here
that bashful speakers try to remember their first sentences, and that
lecturers, proud of their prominence, receive the homage of the
officers of the Institute. Aunt Ju, who on this occasion was second in
glory, made her way in among the crowd and welcomed the Baroness, who
had just arrived. The Baroness, was a very stout woman, about fifty,
with a double chin, a considerable moustache, a low broad forehead, and
bright, round, black eyes, very far apart. When introduced to Lady
George, she declared that she had great honour in accepting the
re-cog-nition. She had a stout roll of paper in her hand, and was
dressed in a black stuff gown, with a cloth jacket buttoned up to neck,
which hardly gave to her copious bust that appearance of manly firmness
which the occasion almost required. But the virile collars budding out
over it perhaps supplied what was wanting. Lady George looked at her to
see if she was trembling. How, thought Lady George, would it have been
with herself if she had been called upon to address a French audience
in French! But as far as she could judge from experience, the Baroness
was quite at her ease. Then she was introduced by Aunt Ju to Lady
Selina Protest, who was a very little woman with spectacles,--of a
most severe aspect. "I hope, Lady George, that you mean to put your
shoulder to the wheel," said Lady Selina. "I am only here as a
stranger," said Lady George. Lady Selina did not believe in strangers
and passed on very severely. There was no time for further ceremonies,
as a bald-headed old gentleman, who seemed to act as chief usher,
informed Aunt Ju that it was time for her to take the Baroness on to
the platform. Aunt Ju led the way, puffing a little, for she had been
somewhat hurried on the stairs, and was not as yet quite used to the
thing,--but still with a proudly prominent step. The Baroness waddled
after her, apparently quite indifferent to the occasion. Then followed
Lady Selina,--and Lady George, the bald-headed gentleman telling her
where to place herself. She had never been on a platform before, and it
seemed as though the crowd of people below was looking specially at
her. As she sat down, at the right hand of the Baroness, who was of
course at the right hand of the Chairwoman, the bald-headed gentleman
introduced her to her other neighbour, Miss Doctor Olivia Q. Fleabody,
from Vermont. There was so much of the name and it all sounded so
strange to the ears of Lady George that she could remember very little
of it, but she was conscious that her new acquaintance was a miss and a
doctor. She looked timidly round, and saw what would have been a pretty
face, had it not been marred by a pinched look of studious severity and
a pair of glass spectacles of which the glasses shone in a disagreeable
manner. There are spectacles which are so much more spectacles than
other spectacles that they make the beholder feel that there is before
him a pair of spectacles carrying a face, rather than a face carrying a
pair of spectacles. So it was with the spectacles of Olivia Q.
Fleabody. She was very thin, and the jacket and collars were quite
successful. Sitting in the front row she displayed her feet,--and it
may also be said her trousers, for the tunic which she wore came down
hardly below the knees. Lady George's enquiring mind instantly began to
ask itself what the lady had done with her petticoats. "This is a great
occasion," said Dr. Fleabody, speaking almost out loud, and with a very
strong nasal twang.
Lady George looked at the chair before she answered, feeling that she
would not dare to speak a word if Aunt Ju were already on her legs; but
Aunt Ju was taking advantage of the commotion which was still going on
among those who were looking for seats to get her breath, and therefore
she could whisper a reply. "I suppose it is," she said.
"If it were not that I have wedded myself in a peculiar manner to the
prophylactick and therapeutick sciences, I would certainly now put my
foot down firmly in the cause of architecture. I hope to have an
opportunity of saying a few words on the subject myself before this
interesting session shall have closed." Lady George looked at her again
and thought that this enthusiastic hybrid who was addressing her could
not be more than twenty-four years old.
But Aunt Ju was soon on her legs. It did not seem to Lady George that
Aunt Ju enjoyed the moment now that it was come. She looked hot, and
puffed once or twice before she spoke. But she had studied her few
words so long, and had made so sure of them, that she could not go very
far wrong. She assured her audience that the Baroness Banmann, whose
name had only to be mentioned to be honoured both throughout Europe and
America, had, at great personal inconvenience, come all the way from
Bavaria to give them the advantage of her vast experience on the
present occasion. Like a good chairwoman, she took none of the bread
out of the Baroness's mouth--as we have occasionally known it to be
done on such occasions--but confined herself to ecstatic praises of the
German lady. All these the Baroness bore without a quiver, and when
Aunt Ju sat down she stepped on to the rostrum of the evening amidst
the plaudits of the room, with a confidence which to Lady George was
miraculous. Then Aunt Ju took her seat, and was able for the next hour
and a half to occupy her arm-chair with gratifying faineant dignity.
The Baroness, to tell the truth, waddled rather than stepped to the
rostrum. She swung herself heavily about as she went sideways; but it
was manifest to all eyes that she was not in the least ashamed of her
waddling. She undid her manuscript on the desk, and flattened it down
all over with her great fat hand, rolling her head about as she looked
around, and then gave a grunt before she began. During this time the
audience was applauding her loudly, and it was evident that she did not
intend to lose a breath of their incense by any hurry on her own part.
At last the voices and the hands and the feet were silent. Then she
gave a last roll to her head and a last pat to the papers, and began.
"De manifest infairiority of de tyrant saix----."
Those first words, spoken in a very loud voice, came clearly home to
Lady George's ear, though they were uttered with a most un-English
accent. The Baroness paused before she completed her first sentence,
and then there was renewed applause. Lady George could remark that the
bald-headed old gentleman behind and a cadaverous youth who was near to
him were particularly energetic in stamping on the ground. Indeed, it
seemed that the men were specially charmed with this commencement of
the Baroness's oration. It was so good that she repeated it with,
perhaps, even a louder shout. "De manifest infairiority of de tyrant
saix----." Lady George, with considerable trouble, was able to follow
the first sentence or two, which went to assert that the inferiority of
man to woman in all work was quite as conspicuous as his rapacity and
tyranny in taking to himself all the wages. The Baroness, though
addressing a mixed audience, seemed to have no hesitation in speaking
of man generally as a foul worm who ought to be put down and kept
under, and merely allowed to be the father of children. But after a
minute or two Lady George found that she could not understand two words
consecutively, although she was close to the lecturer. The Baroness,
as she became heated, threw out her words quicker and more quickly,
till it became almost impossible to know in what language they were
spoken. By degrees our friend became aware that the subject of
architecture had been reached, and then she caught a word or two as the
Baroness declared that the science was "adaapted only to de aestetic and
comprehensive intelligence of de famale mind." But the audience
applauded throughout as though every word reached them; and when from
time to time the Baroness wiped her brows with a very large
handkerchief, they shook the building with their appreciation of her
energy. Then came a loud rolling sentence, with the old words as an
audible termination--"de manifest infairiority of de tyrant saix!" As
she said this she waved her handkerchief in the air and almost threw
herself over the desk. "She is very great to-night,--very great
indeed," whispered Miss Doctor Olivia Q. Fleabody to Lady George. Lady
George was afraid to ask her neighbour whether she understood one word
out of ten that were being spoken.
Great as the Baroness was, Lady George became very tired of it all. The
chair was hard and the room was full of dust, and she could not get up.
It was worse than the longest and the worst sermon she had ever heard.
It seemed to her at last that there was no reason why the Baroness
should not go on for ever. The woman liked it, and the people applauded
her. The poor victim had made up her mind that there was no hope of
cessation, and in doing so was very nearly asleep, when, on a sudden,
the Baroness had finished and had thrown herself violently back into
her chair. "Baroness, believe me," said Dr. Fleabody, stretching across
Lady George, "it is the greatest treat I ever had in my life." The
Baroness hardly condescended to answer the compliment. She was at this
moment so great a woman, at this moment so immeasurably the greatest
human being at any rate in London, that it did not become her to
acknowledge single compliments. She had worked hard and was very hot,
but still she had sufficient presence of mind to remember her
demeanour.
When the tumult was a little subsided, Lady Selina Protest got up to
move a vote of thanks. She was sitting on the left-hand side of the
Chair, and rose so silently that Lady George had at first thought that
the affair was all over, and that they might go away. Alas, alas! there
was more to be borne yet! Lady Selina spoke with a clear but low voice,
and though she was quite audible, and an earl's sister, did not evoke
any enthusiasm. She declared that the thanks of every woman in England
were due to the Baroness for her exertions, and of every man who wished
to be regarded as the friend of women. But Lady Selina was very quiet,
making no gestures, and was indeed somewhat flat. When she sat down no
notice whatever was taken of her. Then very quickly, before Lady George
had time to look about her, the Doctor was on her feet. It was her task
to second the vote of thanks, but she was far too experienced an
occupant of platforms to waste her precious occasion simply on so poor
a task. She began by declaring that never in her life had a duty been
assigned to her more consonant to her taste than that of seconding a
vote of thanks to a woman so eminent, so humanitarian, and at the same
time so essentially a female as the Baroness Banmann. Lady George, who
knew nothing about speaking, felt at once that here was a speaker who
could at any rate make herself audible and intelligible. Then the
Doctor broke away into the general subject, with special allusions to
the special matter of female architecture, and went on for twenty
minutes without dropping a word. There was a moment in which she had
almost made Lady George think that women ought to build houses. Her
dislike to the American twang had vanished, and she was almost sorry
when Miss Doctor Fleabody resumed her seat.
But it was after that,--after the Baroness had occupied another ten
minutes in thanking the British public for the thanks that had been
given to herself,--that the supreme emotion of the evening came to Lady
George. Again she had thought, when the Baroness a second time rolled
back to her chair, that the time for departure had come. Many in the
hall, indeed, were already going, and she could not quite understand
why no one on the platform had as yet moved. Then came that bald-headed
old gentleman to her, to her very self, and suggested to her that
she,--she, Lady George Germain, who the other day was Mary Lovelace,
the Brotherton girl,--should stand up and make a speech! "There is to
be a vote of thanks to Miss Mildmay as Chairwoman," said the
bald-headed old man, "and we hope, Lady George, that you will favour us
with a few words."
Her heart utterly gave way and the blood flew into her cheeks, and she
thoroughly repented of having come to this dreadful place. She knew
that she could not do it, though the world were to depend upon it; but
she did not know whether the bald-headed old gentleman might not have
the right of insisting on it. And then all the people were looking at
her as the horrible old man was pressing his request over her shoulder.
"Oh," she said; "no, I can't. Pray don't. Indeed I can't,--and I
won't." The idea had come upon her that it was necessary that she
should be very absolute. The old man retired meekly, and himself made
the speech in honour of Aunt Ju.
As they were going away Lady George found that she was to have the
honour of conveying the Baroness to her lodgings in Conduit Street.
This was all very well, as there was room for three in the brougham,
and she was not ill-pleased to hear the ecstasies of Aunt Ju about the
lecture. Aunt Ju declared that she had agreed with every word that had
been uttered. Aunt Ju thought that the cause was flourishing. Aunt Ju
was of opinion that women in England would before long be able to sit
in Parliament and practise in the Law Courts. Aunt Ju was thoroughly in
earnest; but the Baroness had expended her energy in the lecture, and
was more inclined to talk about persons. Lady George was surprised to
hear her say that this young man was a very handsome young man, and
that old man a very nice old man. She was almost in love with Mr.
Spuffin, the bald-headed gentleman usher; and when she was particular
in asking whether Mr. Spuffin was married, Lady George could hardly
think that this was the woman who had been so eloquent on the
"infairiority of de tyrant saix."
But it was not till Aunt Ju had been dropped in Green Street, and the
conversation fell upon Lady George herself, that the difficulty began.
"You no speak?" asked the Baroness.
"What, in public! Not for the world!"
"You wrong dere. Noting so easy. Say just as you please, only say it
vera loud. And alvays abuse somebody or someting. You s'ould try."
"I would sooner die," said Lady George. "Indeed, I should be dead
before I could utter a word. Isn't it odd how that lady Doctor could
speak like that."
"De American young woman! Dey have de impudence of--of--of everything
you please; but it come to noting."
"But she spoke well."
"Dear me, no; noting at all. Dere was noting but vords, vords, vords.
Tank you; here I am. Mind you come again, and you shall learn to
speak."
Lady George, as she was driven home, was lost in her inability to
understand it all. She had thought that the Doctor spoke the best of
all, and now she was told that it was nothing. She did not yet
understand that even people so great as female orators, so nobly
humanitarian as the Baroness Banmann, can be jealous of the greatness
of others.