Typescript essay.
Political Manuscript
Freeman, Mary E. Wilkins. Untitled political manuscript. N.D. [ca. early 20th century].
One leaf of typing paper; typescript; black ink annotations throughout; creased at fold; minor edgewear.
In this apparently complete essay – although untitled and beginning at the very top of the page – Freeman devotes 46 lines to her opinions on various political issues plaguing the United States. She begins, “I am most assurdly [sic] in favor of world-wide Peace, but it does not seem reasonable to me that it can be obtained, and maintained except on paper (and paper can be scrapped), by disarmament, and absence of defense. All nations may be perfectly sincere at present, but the present is not the future nor – the past.”
On the Cruiser Bill, she writes, “The people who oppose this Bill are honest enough, in many cases actuated by the noblest if mistaken motives. They really believe that the Country will be perfectly safe with unguarded ports, if the other Powers give their promise not to invade.”
On the state of the country: “This country is so beloved, so young and ingenious, and eager, but other countries are older and craftier…We as a nation ought to begin to grow up even if we lose the charm of youth and its belief and trust.”
Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman (1852-1930) was born in Randolph, Massachusetts. Best known for her ghost stories, her fictions, short and long, are often compared to those of Sarah Orne Jewett in terms of content and those of Samuel Clemens for use of local dialects. In 1926 she received the William Dean Howells Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Letters for distinction in fiction. That same year, she and Edith Wharton were among the first women elected to membership in the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
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