frankly expressed by her would be the sentiment of all who dare to speak truthfully.
The signature of this letter was merely "Lewis," written in a somewhat different hand and with paler ink. When I came to look at it closely and realized anew how terrified people become who are afraid to face situations and refuse to stand for Right, the bitter resentment I felt because of her insinuations gave place to pity.
What a sorry state of affairs for the greatest country on earth! The Harding attitude was but the universal social attitude toward all unwedded mothers: that they have sinned against society and must suffer the penalty. Indeed, do not ministers all over the country preach this to a public willing to accept it, because, in most individual instances, either temptation has not been experienced or else, being experienced and indulged, has not resulted in actual childbirth? And so this attitude is generally accepted as Right.
My own situation, which differed and was distinguished only because it concerned the child of a man who had been placed in the highest position the greatest republic in the world can offer, led me to the conclusion that it was high time it was righted, and that little children should be recognized, not for their parental origin, but for themselves and as having every right to legitimacy, and to every opportunity that would be theirs if they had been born under the yoke of legal marriage.
In the chapter entitled "Social Justice," in Warren G. Harding's book, "Our Common Country," he says: "It will not be the America we love which will neglect the American mother and the American child."
If every man, woman and child were to ask this question: "Would I like to suffer ignominy, neglect, social slights, and unfair recognition because my mother and father had not been
