MY TWO COUNTRIES
MY TWO
COUNTRIES
By
LADY ASTOR
GARDEN CITY NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1923
COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION
INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES
AT
THE COUNTRY LIFE PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y.
First Edition
AMERICA
I[A]
“I can conceive of nothing worse thana man-governed world—except a woman-governedworld.”
I KNOW that this welcome hasnothing to do with me. Eversince I first entered the Mother ofParliaments I realised that I hadceased to be a person and had becomea symbol. The safe thing about beinga symbol is this—you realise thatyou of yourself can do nothing, butwhat you symbolise gives you courageand strength, and should give youwisdom. I certainly have been givencourage and strength. I won’t saytoo much about wisdom.
[4]My entrance into the House ofCommons was not, as some thought,in the nature of a revolution. It wassimply evolution. It is interestinghow it came about. My husbandwas the one who started me off on thisdownward career—from home to theHouse. If I have helped the cause ofwomen, he is the one to thank—notme. He is a strange and remarkableman. First, it was strange to urgehis wife to take up public life, especiallyas he is a most domesticatedcreature; but the truth is, he is a bornsocial reformer. He has avoided thepitfalls which so many well-to-do menfall into. He doesn’t think that youcan right wrongs with philanthropy.He realises that you must go to thebottom of the causes of wrongs andnot simply gild over the top. Foreleven years I had helped him with hiswork at Plymouth. Mine was thepersonal side. I found out the wrongs[5]and he tried to right them. It was awonderful and happy combination,and I often wish that it was still goingon. However, I am not here to tellyou of his work, but it is interestingin so far as it shows you how it cameabout that I stood for Parliament atall. Unless he had been the kind ofman that he was, I don’t believe thatthe first woman Member of the oldestParliament in the world would havecome from Plymouth—and that wouldhave been a pity.
Plymouth is an ideal port to sailfrom or to. It has bidden “GodSpeed” to so many voyagers. I feltthat I was embarking on a voyage offaith, but when I arrived at my destinationsome of the HonourableMembers looked upon me more as apirate than a Pilgrim! A woman inthe House of Commons! It was almostenough to have broken up theHouse. I don’t blame them, but it...