James Bay Hotel, by the sea. ‘This is a lovely spot and very cheap’, wrote a
contented Emmeline to Ethel, so happy to have her small children around her
again. She also confessed that she had been dabbling in a little spiritualism,
buying a Ouija board which she now used as a travelling tea-tray since she did
not want to believe in it. Thinking she might earn some extra money by
writing, she had tried her hand at this, without success. ‘I am really very reluc-
tant to do anything except potter about, sewing for myself and the children, and
reading. Also I found I was getting fatter than I have ever been, and am having
massage and “rolling” exercise to reduce my weight.’^15 Before her breakfast each
morning, Emmeline now began to drink a cup of hot water, claiming that it
helped to keep her slim.^16 As the summer was beginning to fade away, she had
to prepare herself for more addresses and lecture tours, the means whereby she
earned her living.
In early October 1920, Emmeline spoke on ‘Citizenship’ at the Metropolitan
Methodist Church on behalf of the Women’s Canadian Club fund for the
Jubilee Hospital. The main theme of her talk involved defining the responsibili-
ties which their recently granted citizenship had imposed on woman. ‘One of
the greatest objections to women having the vote had been that they did not
understand Imperial politics’, Emmeline pointed out, as she spoke forcibly
against those who advised that Canada should cut its ties from Britain.^17 Later
in the month, when she addressed the Municipal Chapter, the Imperial Order
Daughters of the Empire which had been working hard for the cause of the
Empire, especially through its educational schemes for the children of perma-
nently disabled soldiers, she stressed again that ‘loyal support to the Empire is
most needed today’, especially when there were constant attacks on it. Women
should advance through their influence and through their newly won citizen-
ship ‘the feeling of loyalty and faithfulness to the Mother Country’, something
that could be realised through the work that was most needed at present, that of
helping in the stabilisation, construction and reconstruction of war-torn soci-
eties. In the old days, she concluded, her complaint had been that women were
not asked to do enough. ‘[N]ow the time has come for women to make sacrifices
and work for the salvation of the Empire, and save this great Empire of ours
from all the dangers that threaten.’^18
Emmeline’s speech was enthusiastically received and she was presented with
a bouquet of roses and violets. Such occasions were often complemented by
invitations to dinner by local residents or influential British visitors. That
autumn, she received such an invitation from a Mrs. Neville Rolphe, secretary
of Britain’s Social Hygiene Council, formed mainly to campaign against vene-
real disease which was spreading at an alarming rate, primarily due to the return
home of infected soldiers.^19 Mrs. Rolphe was in Victoria as part of a world tour
to collect more information about the problem, and included also on her dinner
list was a recently demobilised doctor from the Canadian Army Medical Corps,
Dr. Gordon Bates. Dr. Bates was a pioneer in the public health field and had
founded the Canadian National Council for Combating Venereal Diseases
LECTURER IN NORTH AMERICA