other Earth

EMMA GOLDMAN, PUBLISHER
P. O. BOX MADISON SQ. STATION, N. Y. CITY

Vol. I MARCH, 1906 No. 1

[Illustration]

MOTHER EARTH

There was a time when men imagined the Earth as the center of the
universe. The stars, large and small, they believed were created merely
for their delectation. It was their vain conception that a supreme
being, weary of solitude, had manufactured a giant toy and put them into
possession of it.

When, however, the human mind was illumined by the torch-light of
science, it came to understand that the Earth was but one of a myriad of
stars floating in infinite space, a mere speck of dust.

Man issued from the womb of Mother Earth, but he knew it not, nor
recognized her, to whom he owed his life. In his egotism he sought an
explanation of himself in the infinite, and out of his efforts there
arose the dreary doctrine that he was not related to the Earth, that she
was but a temporary resting place for his scornful feet and that she
held nothing for him but temptation to degrade himself. Interpreters and
prophets of the infinite sprang into being, creating the "Great Beyond"
and proclaiming Heaven and Hell, between which stood the poor, trembling
human being, tormented by that priest-born monster, Conscience.

In this frightful scheme, gods and devils waged eternal war against
each other with wretched man as the prize of victory; and the priest,
self-constituted interpreter of the will of the gods, stood in front of
the only refuge from harm and demanded as the price of entrance that
ignorance, that asceticism, that self-abnegation which could but end in
the complete subjugation of man to superstition. He was taught that
Heaven, the refuge, was the very antithesis of Earth, which was the
source of sin. To gain for himself a seat in Heaven, man devastated the
Earth. Yet she renewed herself, the good mother, and came again each
Spring, radiant with youthful beauty, beckoning her children to come to
her bosom and partake of her bounty. But ever the air grew thick with
mephitic darkness, ever a hollow voice was heard calling: "Touch not the
beautiful form of the sorceress; she leads to sin!"

But if the priests decried the Earth, there were others who found in it
a source of power and who took possession of it. Then it happened that
the autocrats at the gates of Heaven joined forces with the powers that
had taken possession of the Earth; and humanity began it