ffred's
nearly-forgotten treasuresWhich is of the most importance, a people's flag or a people's health?
———
When will man learn to take his hands off us and allow us to find our own place?
———
"The law!" how busily its sustainers are engaged in straining out the smallest gnats, and how triumphantly the camels continue to escape!
———
Men can never be really free till their mothers are.
———
Who are these who claim the right to control us? The fruit of our bodies. Shall we then permit that which has come forth from between our feet to rise up and claim to be our head!
In anticipation of the 200th anniversary of Lois Waisbrooker's birthday in February 2026, I decided that My Century Plant was quite appropriate for transcription as a nearly-forgotten treasure. Albeit dated, this abundantly quotable work is a quintessential exposition of her philosophy of life, and deserves perusal and appreciation in today's world, where injustice toward women (at the cost of humanity as a whole) is yet so prevalent.
The text is taken from this scan of the 1896 edition. However, the quality of the source is poor, and in some places illegible (not to mention the numerous typographical errors). Fortunately, I was able to restore the damaged text from other sources. Aside from correcting obvious errors, I updated a few archaic or obsolete spellings (notably "stayed" for "staid").
So here it is: the master HTML version, the home-brew Kindle version, and the actual Amazon publication.
August 2, 2025
————
Appendix: "The Prodigal Daughter" [1885], by Rachel Campbell
Lois Waisbrooker quoted the following passage in My Century Plant:
"It is not honest thought and honorable opposition with which we have to deal. Organized oppression is well aware of our aim and purpose to effectually overthrow and destroy every form of tyranny and injustice, and to break every yoke and fetter that cripples the growth and hinders the happiness of humanity. The aristocracy of religion has joined hands with the aristocracy of wealth and their united powers are used to influence legislation and procure the enactment of such laws as will enable them under the pretense of guarding good morals, to persecute reformers, forbid agitation, stifle inquiry, the more effectually to smother all freedom either of thought, speech or action."
Here is the complete text of the pamphlet, scanned by the Huntington Library and uploaded to Internet Archive.