Page:Heroines of freethought (IA cu31924031228699).pdf/26

18 and his republican views accepted by many as the true theory of government. That personal feeling had something to do with her admiration of a free government the following incident will show:

When about twelve years old she accompanied her mother on a visit to a relative who occupied some menial position in the palace at Versailles. After a day or two there, Manon was asked by her mother if she enjoyed being in a palace. Stung with a feeling of humiliation, which the distinction of rank exhibited there caused her, she replied with passionate vehemence, "I like it, if it be soon ended, for, else, in a few more days, I shall so much detest all the persons I see, that I should not know what to do with my hatred!”

“Why, what harm have they done you?” inquired, her mother in surprise.

“They have made me feel injustice and look upon absurdity,” was her reply.

A thoughtful, conscientious child, she began at a very early age to give much