A poem published in the Woman Voter in 7 July 1914.
Once upon a time a Man married a Woman. Time passed, and one day the Man said: “I love all women. I need a great deal of love.” And the Woman replied: “I love all men. I also need a great deal of love.” Said the Man: “If you talk like that I will hit you over the head with a club.” And the Woman said: “Forgive me, Lord and Master.” Ten thousand years passed, and again the Man said: “I love all women. I need a great deal of love.” And the Woman replied: “I love all men. I also need a great deal of love.” Said the Man: “If you talk like that I will divorce you, and you will find it hard to earn your own living.” And the Woman said: “You are a Brute.” Another hundred years passed, and again the Man said: “I love all women. I need a great deal of love.” And the Woman replied, “I love all men. I also need a great deal of love. And, as you know, I can earn my own living.” Said the Man: “If you talk like that I shall have to behave myself.” And the Woman said: “At last.”Further Reading
Jo Aitken, ‘“The horrors of matrimony among the masses”: feminist representations of wife beating in England and Australia, 1870-1914’, Journal of Women’s History, 19(4), (2007), pp. 107-131.
Katie Barclay is a historian of marriage. She found this poem when reading Jo Aitken’s article above and it amused her no end.
