Mother Earth, Vol. 1

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Mother Earth E. GOLDMAN and M. BAGINSKI 1

The Song of the Storm-Finch MAXIM GORKY 4

Observations and Comments 5

The Tragedy of Women's Emancipation E. GOLDMAN 9

Try Love GRACE POTTER 18

Without Government MAX BAGINSKI 20

Vive Le Roi FRANCES WAULS BJORKMAN 27

Reflections of a Rich Man 28

Comstockery JOHN R. CORYELL 30

Don Quixote and Hamlet TURGENIEFF 40

On the Banks of Acheron EDWIN BJORKMAN 42

The British Elections and the Labor Parties H. KELLY 44

And You? BOLTON HALL 48

National Atavism INTERNATIONALIST 49

Mine Owners' Revenge M. B. 56

International Review 58

Literary Notes 61

Advertisements 63




10c. A COPY $1.00 PER YEAR


Mother Earth


EMMA GOLDMAN, PUBLISHER
P. O. BOX MADISON SQ. STATION, N. Y. CITY


Vol. I MARCH, 1906 No. 1


[Illustration]




MOTHER EARTH


There was a time when men imagined the Earth as the center of the
universe. The stars, large and small, they believed were created merely
for their delectation. It was their vain conception that a supreme
being, weary of solitude, had manufactured a giant toy and put them into
possession of it.

When, however, the human mind was illumined by the torch-light of
science, it came to understand that the Earth was but one of a myriad of
stars floating in infinite space, a mere speck of dust.

Man issued from the womb of Mother Earth, but he knew it not, nor
recognized her, to whom he owed his life. In his egotism he sought an
explanation of himself in the infinite, and out of his efforts there
arose the dreary doctrine that he was not related to the Earth, that she
was but a temporary resting place for his scornful feet and that she
held nothing for him but temptation to degrade himself. Interpreters and
prophets of the infinite sprang into being, creating the "Great Beyond"
and proclaiming Heaven and Hell, between which stood the poor, trembling
human being, tormented by that priest-born monster, Conscience.

In this frightful scheme, gods and devils waged eternal war against
each other with wretched man as the prize of victory; and the priest,
self-constituted interpreter of the will of the gods, stood in front of
the only refuge from harm and demanded as the price of entrance that
ignorance, that asceticism, that self-abnegation which could but end in
the complete subjugation of man to superstition. He was taught that
Heaven, the refuge, was the very antithesis of Earth, which was the
source of sin. To gain for himself a seat in Heaven, man devastated the
Earth. Yet she renewed herself, the good mother, and came again each
Spring, radiant with youthful beauty, beckoning her children to come to
her bosom and partake of her bounty. But ever the air grew thick with
mephitic darkness, ever a hollow voice was heard calling: "Touch not the
beautiful form of the sorceress; she leads to sin!"