Once when the children were given a copy of Charles Lamb’sTales from
ShakespeareEmmeline took the book away and gave them Shakespeare to read
instead. As the children struggled with the text, they would ask Mother about
words and descriptions. Classics, such as Dickens and Thackeray were read too,
as well as the Bible which was treated as history rather than religion. ‘And
another thing’, continued Mary, ‘if we ever said, “I’m bored”, or “I don’t know
what to do”, she’d say, “Neversay that”. She’d getveryangry with that. Mother
wouldn’tallowanybody to be bored. She’d say, “Don’t be bored. You’ve got a
brain, think for yourself ” .’^41
An apologetic Dr. Bates, who was soon to be married, eventually replied in
mid September to Emmeline’s letter, suggesting that she might work with the
CNCCVD at its headquarters in Toronto, giving addresses to attract funds for
the Toronto Branch. If that campaign was successful, then they might mount a
campaign similar to that arranged last spring only this time they would cover
the eastern provinces and the remainder of Ontario.^42 At the time, Emmeline
was busy helping in the general election campaign, hoping that the Union
government under Prime Minister Arthur Meighen, a Liberal-Conservative,
would be returned and so suggested 17 October as a provisional date for starting
the Toronto work. Because she depended upon the lecturing for her livelihood,
she had to face the embarrassment of discussing the financial aspects of her
employment:
I don’t know what to suggest as to renumeration. What are your ideas
on the question. I have never before been paid for that kind of work. I
should like to leave the matter in your hands just pointing out that the
work will be done during the very short lecture season, that my house-
hold expenses will go on in my absence & that the work if done with
enthusiasm is rather exhausting to me.^43Now sixty-three years old, the constant strain of travelling and speaking was
beginning to tell on Emmeline. Nothing in her life had been easy and there
were further hiccups before she could begin work in Toronto. On receipt of
Emmeline’s letter, a worried Gordon Bates immediately sent her a telegram,
advising that no prominent speaker for the CNCCVD should be allied to any
political party at the present time, especially since that body depended on the
government for financial support. Reluctantly, Emmeline conceded the point
only to find in early October that another potential embarrassment arose. Dr.
Bates wrote an anxious letter asking for a clear statement, for publicity purposes,
regarding her activities before and during the war. ‘One difficulty of a particu-
larly insidious character with which we have to deal has been the suggestion
that instead of opposing Bolshevism you were a protaganist [sic] of Bolshevism
during the period of the War. If you will forgive the suggestion I believe this to
be due to a mis-reporting of some of the work which Miss Sylvia Pankhurst has
undertaken of recent years.’^44 That her own name had been confused with that
LECTURER IN NORTH AMERICA