This column first appeared in the Victoria Daily Times on Feb. 22, 1941.
Sometimes we forget we have a thin spot in our form of government. Sometimes in our exaltation we even persuade ourselves that we have permanently mended it.
It is as old as humanity — this thin place, this weak link in the chain, this defective bolt that snaps when pressure is put on it. Democracy simply means the rule of the people, and the defect that mars democracy is an entirely human quality. It is plainly visible in childhood.
The little girl who cries and kicks, and takes her doll’s dishes and goes home from the party because she had been turned out of the swing to give some other little girl her turn, is the type, and if she is received by a fond and foolish mother who sympathizes with her, she is well on her way to become a permanent disrupter.
The problem of democracy is not to keep people young, but to see to it that they grow up. Democracy requires maturity, as well as intelligence and a sense of social responsibility.
I have been thinking seriously of this matter of Bible readings in schools. The Bible is not the property of any one type of religion. The Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, the Sermon on the Mount, the parable of the Prodigal Son, will not violate anyone’s conscience.
They are as universal as the stars. The Bible is our great charter of liberties, as well as a storehouse of dynamic thoughts, expressed in language of great beauty. Selections could be chosen for daily readings that would not raise any controversial subject. We do not need to choose the parts that deal with methods of baptism, whether sprinkling or immersion, the observance of the Sabbath, predestination or free will.
But here comes the weak link in democracy’s chain. There is a small but turbulent minority who would raise the cry of coercion. The professional letter-writers would burst into bloom. They are only a very small percentage of the population, but to some of our legislators they look like an army with banners.
And I hasten to say it will not be the Jews who will write letters to the paper to object to Bible reading in the schools. Scholem Asch, one of the greatest Jewish writers of today, author of the book called The Nazarene, has this to say in the Atlantic Monthly of December 1940:
“I have the utmost reverence for the authors of the New Testament. As a Jew, I believe with all my heart that many chapters and parables were written in the holy spirit. I am thankful to these men for having enriched Jewish literature with many profound moral passages. The Epistle of the Apostle James is a part of Jewish literature, not to speak of many passages in the Synoptic Gospels — as, for example, the Sermon on the Mount.”
And then, speaking of the relation between Jews and Christians, he makes this appeal:
“Why cannot a bridge be thrown between the two faiths, a bridge between two great moral forces whose essence is professedly a belief in God — a bridge that shall rest on the twin pillars of love of God and love of man?”
The weak place in our democratic system is that we pay too much attention to disrupters. We should make up our minds carefully and deliberately, with due respect for minority opinions, and then proceed to implement the wish of the majority. There is no use waiting until every person is satisfied.
Naturally, democracy is government by discussion, and just as naturally, discussion often runs into a harangue. But let us never forget that we have within our hands the remedy for all this. This is our country and our pattern of living, and if it suffers a puncture we can mend it.
We see another and a brighter side of democracy in the Savings Certificate campaign which is going on this month. Here we see Canadians doing of their own free will, something which the oppressed people of overrun Europe are compelled to do. We lend to our country, gladly and freely, with confidence.
We know that everything we have is in danger, so why should we withhold our money? If we are inclined to hesitate, let us think of Poland. Any sacrifice we can make here in Canada seems trivial in comparison with the stern demands life is making on the people of Britain and in the unhappy countries where freedom is only a name.
Do we give up silk stockings for cotton and lisle — do we wear our old clothes — do we walk or take the bus to save gasoline — do we mend more and buy less — do we have paper for the school children to gather it, and all metal tubes, and old kid gloves, and cut the stamps from letters? If we ever feel too virtuous over any of these little things, I recommend the reading of a new volume called War Letters From Britain, edited by Diana Forbes-Robertson.
I heard the other day of four families who, inspired by the communal kitchens in England, are working together to their mutual advantage. One woman has an electric washer and she washes for her three neighbours, and in turn one does her sewing, another her ironing and mending, and a third provides meals on the wash days. One has a spare room, another one has a piano, all of them have gardens, but one has a little greenhouse and will sow flats of plants this spring to economize on seeds.
They are all buying War Savings Certificates, and there is a wholesome rivalry going on. It is a great thing for families to work together, and there is nothing new about it.
This system of co-operation flourished along the Souris River in the early 1880s, long before we ever heard of communal kitchens or electric washers. It was easy to co-operate then. You do not quarrel with your neighbour in the summer when you know very well you will need his help in threshing time. No one reasoned it out in this cold-blooded way, but that was the background.
The church and Sunday school were stabilizing influences. All our social life revolved around them. The Bible was read in school each morning, and the Sunday school lessons studied during the week.
We lived in normal times, and yet we needed all these sources of light and strength. I have always been grateful to the people who held up to the best they knew.
What about the children of today — facing a world in flames? This is a war to defend Christian democracy, and yet we neglect the most obvious and logical way of building a Christian democracy at home.
Some of McClung’s columns from the 1930s and 1940s have been collected in a book, The Valiant Nellie McClung: Selected Writings by Canada’s Most Famous Suffragist, by Barbara Smith.
