THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1912. A SOCIAL HERO.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10679, 6 July 1912, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1912. A SOCIAL HERO.

Among those who are taking an active part in the erusatte in tdve Uniticd Kingdom for the extension of the fr'auchiise to wo-mon is Mr Fethick Lawrence, a m.'.ui of culture and of brilliant aifeiiHnents, who, with a devoted wiife, has made large -sacrifices for a cause which he has dearly at lieark.. In 1901, after spending a period at the Bar, Mr Pethick Lawrence gained a controlling interest in, and became editor of the London "Echo." This paper was run on advanced Hires, and was the first great daily in the United Kingdom to exclude- betting news from its columns. Unfortunate'iy, however, the 'business was not a paying proposition, and it went into the hands.! of the debenture; holders. Fourteen years ago Mr Pe-ihick Lawrence paid a visit to New Zealand, and if wa>s here that he Inarmed how smootlny <and successfully woman's suffrage had worked. Since lievoring his connection with the "Echo," he has devoted his energies aimost unreservedly to the emancipation of women. With maiiiv of his methods people may not agree, but his uncompromising honesty aud strength of peasonaLity are admitted by even his bitterest enemies. Wher.i he .stood in the dude with his wife a few weeks back the following eulogiuin was written of him : "Conscious unity with the entire sentient creation is part of his religion. He sees life as cu'j and indivisible in all its forms, and every pulsating creature is his felkiw, -who shares wi'th him the burden of suffering and of sacrifk-i.vl service. This sense of fellowship is of the spirit, not cf the emotions, and manifests itself not outwardly, but inwardly by his mental attitude, which places him on a- 'level with all living things. W'iih ehilduvn. he is accepted «« an equal and a mate—and that if.' his own attitude towards thcni. .He Dover thinks of talking down to them, #.nd when hei plays their games he does it as a child who enjoys the fun in exactly the same way as they do. He accords to their .opinions and tastes precisely the same respect as ho would accord to thoM> of grown people, in a word, he is as real as they are, and therefore he is an act- j ual personality in them of whom they !

trlko recount. To the human person.afiSv, whether ho .mosts it in the child or in the man or in the woman, in- the "savant" or in the unlearned, , IJio yields reverence and respect. Ho is imbued writh ttio soiuu of human dignity mid human equality, and on itlw clenienltal ground of hiumuivty lie regard® each human soul as his peer, j ,u-rosip>:etive of all social and intellectual divernitkis. Raiiity a.-.id simpleit y are the fundamental condition of iVr, every rtfhiJx'ntlbip -iiml the mcalled "diivuvlry" AMhitlh is tco often ilnvf ruii'ibbory. ha'if iMvt.rc.na.gc, is uttri\y alien to ibis nat.mv. Weakness net' (k^'jiideuce ;x oudi ma.ke.no appeal to'him. Ho docs not need them as a stimulus to his endeavour or as ,'iii dfect in. con trusts, to mini.stor to ir's 'J3iiso of self-importance. Strength c-alleth nnto strengtliiy deep unto deep, ■ v.vl Mian unions Malt©. ISia* Mr Bcitihifk Lawrence should stand in thedock w&h his wife as a. Leader of a ■Vtliv.'i.nent for the establishment of the human equality of men and women is the perfect and complete, ex-prc-.sini of the- faith to whidh they together hear public witness, the fcuth which .bails the coining cf * better cuy, when, men and women yhall bs lone'in purpose and one in service to .the genial good. It is only natural in a world of so much make-believe that the very simplicity of sudi a personality should be a stumbling block to many. The sophisticated and the self-diffident shrink from his uncompromising tnvthfuluet's, and instinctively fight ohy cf it. He i& impersonal as the rocks and the trees, and that in Ktsclf is a change to persons of .importance. He will never know the, sweets of porsoiwii popularity and would not appreciate them if he did. \ We lives to obey a law which ie the law of his being, and to accomplish a purpoe* to which he knows himself called, and thus he has paired already in spirjt into the world ot universal life of which he is parcel and pari. Ko powers cf the world can crush his will or weaken his spirit or subvert him from ihis aim. It is of ouch t:.:m<er..tal stuff that reformers 1 are made."