Angel Island

"We thought that we were going with them every day, not to work but to

sit in the nearby shade, to encourage them with our praise and

appreciation. And we did go for a month. But they had to carry us all

the way - or nearly carry us. Think of that - supporting a full-grown

woman all that weary road. I saw the feeling begin to grow in them that

we were burdens. I watched it develop. Understand me, a beautiful

burden, a beloved burden, but still a burden, a burden that it would be

good to slip off the back for the hours of the working day. I could not

blame them. For we were burdens. Then, under one pretext or another,

they began to suggest to us not to go daily to the New Camp with them.

The sun was too hot; we might fall; insects would sting us; the sudden

showers were too violent. Finally, that if we did not watch the New Camp

grow, it would be a glorious surprise to us when it was finished.

"At first, you were all touched and delighted with their gallantry - but

I - I knew what it meant."

"I tried to stem the torrent of their strange, absorption, but I could

not. It grew and grew. And now you see what has happened. It has been

months since one of us has been to the New Camp and all of you, except

Peachy and myself, have entirely lost interest in it. It is not

surprising. It is natural. I, too, would lose interest if I did not

force myself to talk with Billy about it every night of my life. Lulu

said yesterday that it seemed strange to her that, after working

together all day, they should want to get together in the Clubhouse at

night. For a long time that seemed strange to me - until I discovered

that there is a chain binding them to each other even as there is a

chain binding them to us. And the Bond of Work is stronger than the Bond

of Sex because Work is a living, growing thing."

"In the meantime, we have our work too - the five children. But it is a

little constructive work - not a great one. For in this beautiful, safe

island, there is not much that we can do besides feed them. And so, here

we sit day after day, five women who could once fly, big, strong,

full-bodied, teeming with various efficiencies and abilities - wasted.

If we had kept our wings, we could have been of incalculable assistance

to them. Or if we could walk - ."