Samantha on the Woman Question

. He'd took off a big crate of eggs and got returns from

o bring mor'n the white Leghorns; they're bigger and it stands to reason they're worth more, and he

z I, "could eat fi

one time. 'Tennyrate, I'm goin

you goin

' in onexpected and I lay out to catch

" sez I. "

what he writ back? He'd sent a great load of potatoes to him and he didn't get hardly anything for 'em, only their big bill for sellin'

arnel thief, you, put in "stea

dishonest. There are good me

ey ever charge me for 'ratage' and 'satage' I'm

Society wuz dretful exercised about it. The President's stepma is a strong She Aunty and has always ruled Philander with an iron hand. I've always noticed that women who didn't want any rights always took the right to have their own way. But 'tennyrate Philander come up a very strong He Aunt

d the She Aunties didn

ch he made at the meetin' wuz a powerful effort. And the members most all on 'em believin' as he did--the

, and said it give a staggerin' blow agin Woman's Suffrage,

"the She Aunties are shocked at the sight, and say they marched to attract the attention of men. Why can't women stay to home and set down and knit? And then men would love 'em. But if they keep on with these bold, forward actions, men won't love 'em, and they wi

almost crazes a man, and makes him temporarily out of his head, to see women do anyth

see gracin' the sensational newspapers. Their white womanly neck and shoulders, glitterin' with jewels, no brighter than their eyes. They don't appear there for sex appeal, or to win admiration. No indeed! No doubt they shrink from the publ

ly, give out for publication, and ent

eadin' Creation Searcher had some impediment in his way, and couldn't

ent leave home for fear she'd fall offen the barrel and break her neck. She had a board laid acrost two barrels to stand up on. And every day Philander would leave his outside work and come into the house, and set round and w

' her house work, and makin' seventy-five yards of rag carpet. And she thought onions wouldn't be so wearin' on her as turkeys, for onions, she said, will stay where they are put, but turkeys are born wanderers and hikers. And they led her through sun and rain, swamp and swale,

r tramp than common, and didn't hear of the Parade or meetin' of the C.S.S. at all. She writ home a day or two before the me

w if they did. So they give up goin'. But I spoze they made fun of the Woman's Parade amongst theirselves, and mourne

my goin'. And suffice it to say that we arrove at that Middleman's safe and sound, though why we didn't git l

nd set by a winder, where there was a good view on't. We'd eat our lunch on the train and we accepted his invitation, and sot down by a winder then and there, though it wuz a hour or so before the time sot for the Parade. And I should have taken solid comfort watchin' the endless procession of men and women and

straight behind more'n a foot, an' her dress puckered in so 'round the bottom, she couldn't have took a long step if a

s that thing kno

things to think about she'd loosen the puckerin' strings 'round her ank

nkles, if I wuz a-dyin' on the upper shelf in the buttery, you couldn't step u

yin' on the buttery

st a figger of s

m in figgers of speech, J

n describin' them fool skirts, and them slit skirts, a

as they can,

that thing,"

y sect was disgraced by the sight. She wuz real pretty, but she didn't have muc

ore modest and decent if she wuz naked,

give no communion to a Jezabel.' And the pity of it is," sez I, "lots of them girls are innocent and do

iah sez, soty vosy, "I should think she wuz old enough to know sunthin'. Who wants to see he

h had cigarettes in their mouths, and I sez, "Does that thing know enough to vote?" And jest behind them come a lot of furrin laborers, rough and rowdy-lookin', with no more expression in their faces than a mule or any other animal. "Do they know en

d the prancin' steed with one hand, and with the other held aloft the flag of our country. Jest as women ort to, and have to. They have got to manage wayward pardners, children and domestics who, no matter how good they are, will take their bits in their

m free Suffrage states, showin' by their noble looks that votin' hadn't hurt 'em any. They carried the most gorgeous banner in the whole Parade. Then the Wimm

horseback, and one blowin' a bugle, led the way for the carriage of Madam Antoinette Blackwell. I wonder if she ever dreamed when she wuz tryin' to climb the hill of knowledge through the thorny path

olleges: Vassar, Wellesley, Smith, etc., etc. High-school pupils, Woman's Suffrage League, Woman's Social League, and all along the brilliant line each division dressed in beautiful costumes and carryin' their own gorgeous banners. And anon or oftener all along the long, long procession bands of music pealin' out high and sweet, as if the Spirit of Music, who is always depictered as a woman, was glad and p

the past chasin' Fashion and Amusement, and why shouldn't they enjoy seein' them follow Principle and Justice? Well, I might talk all day and not begin to tell of the beauty and splendor of the Woman's Parade. And

aws regarding marriage--divorce, and care of children, and I can't blame them married females for wantin' to control their own money, specially if they earnt it by scrubbin' floors and washin'. I can't blame 'em for not wantin' their husbands to take that mone

bosom of the earth. Mindin' their own business, antagonizin' and troublin' no one, they march along and show to every beholder jest how earnest they be. They quietly and efficiently answer that argument of the She Auntys, that women don't want to vote, by a parade two hours in length, of twenty thousand. They answer the argument that the ballot would render women careless in dres

lift a paper ballot, had prophesied that woman wuz too delicately organized, too "fraguile,"

g plow shares of duty and domestic tribulation, till their fe

males had any more burnin' plow

ore praise or justice than men. I simply want 'em to get as much--just a

"I guess it wuz a surprise even to the marchers that of all the ambulances that kept along

siah couldn't dispute that, for he knows I am truthful. But he sez, sunthin' in the spe

"You broke a piece of c

ickin' out of the ambulance, but I'll bet they didn't hav

r comfort and health to hist themselves up on such little high

trouses slit up the sides to show gauze stockin's and anklets and diamond buckles. And you didn't see my sect who honored the Parade by marchin' in it, have a g

ashionable to walk comfortable, and as they've got to take some pretty long steps to reach the ballot in 1916, it stands to reason they've got to have a skirt wide enough at the bottom to step up on the gole of Victory. It is a high step, Josiah, but women are goin' to take it. They've always tended to cleanin' their own house, and makin' it comfortable and hy

dark, forebodin' look on h

radiant look into the futu

eyes of my sperit. Good men and good women, each fillin' their different spears