Previous | Next
Part: 12 Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536 Page 1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344454647484950 of 1143
He was absolutely staggered over how anyone could live so well on such a small amount of money and decided to marry me for my money, he said!
...they were actually staggered by such things. Their friends would laugh, but they were absolutely startled beyond words by what I thought and how women should be independent and have careers. I can recall going to Ireland for a visit in 1912, when I was quite young and really a child, with my mother, and I insisted on paying for my busfare when I went out with my cousin and her beau, not letting this boy pay for it. You see, already I had this terrific idea that women should be independent and not be dependent on anybody for their livelihood.
And you derived this largely from your mother, then?
I would think largely from my mother and also from the times, because it was the time of great discussions on women's rights and women's careers, and whether women should be independent and whether they should have careers and be in business. There was much discussion about it.
And the decade or two before in England you had the Pankhursts and people like that.
Yes, and all this had influenced me. And there were tremendous things, parades for women's rights and for women
© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help