The Desired Woman

he made a pretty, hesitating bow. To Mostyn she was a marvel of beauty, anim

promptly threw the defense of this-I started to say silly question on my shoulders, but I won't call it silly, because, do you know, as I sat there listening to Warren Wilks reel off all that harangue it occurred to me that he was employing exactly the same threadbare method of browbeating women that has been the style with men ever since the world began to roll. Now, listen-you women that blistered your hands clapping just now-how are you ever going to get at the straight of this thing if you hug and kiss the men every time they tell you that you

room. There was considerable applau

e shoe-leather!" came from Mrs. Timmons, who seemed to think that

aid. "So many robust men wouldn't have skinny-looking, consumptive wives

stom, but one day a meddlesome squaw began to think for herself. She called some other squaws together while Frog-in-the-face and his braves were off hunting, and she had the boldness to tell them that she believed they could shoot as well as the men. She said she could, because she had tried it on the sly. With that they got out some old worn-out bows and arrows and went into the woods to try their luck. Well, do you know, those squaws killed so many bears and deer and ducks and turkeys that, loaded down with a baby each, they had hard work getting the meat home, but somehow they did. Well, as luck would have it, Frog-in-the-face and his sharp-shooters had got hold of some fire-water and smoking-tobacco, and they didn't do any hunting that day at all, but came back hungry and tired out over a big pow-wow they had had about another tribe infringing on their

great laughter among both men and women.

But, mind you, Warren Wilks was making all that up. Listen to me, and I'll tell you what one of your elections really looks like. I've seen one, and that was enough for me. At the precinct of Ridgeville, where only two hundred votes have ever been polled, there were at the last county election fully a hundred drunk from mor

've got 'em on the run!

an' hard! The

would change it right away. They wouldn't continue giving the men an excuse two or three times a year to engage in all that carnag

ks answered, dryly. "It w

But sensible women will wipe all that out. On election day in the future a trustworthy man will ride from house to house on a horse or mule with the ballot-box in his lap. It will be brought to the farmhouse door. The busy wife will leave her churning, or sweeping, or sewing for a minute. She will scribble her n

ne!" Timmons shouted.

uition is the greatest faculty given to the human race and that woman has the biggest share of it. Oh no, women oughtn't to be allowed to take part in any important public issue! Away back in France, some centuries ago, a simple, uneducated country-girl, seventeen years of age-Joan of Arc-noticed that the men of the period were not properly managing the military affairs of her country, and she took the matter under consideration. She stepped in among

p as he rode away from the court of Spain on a mule, when Isabella called him back and furnished the money out of her own pocket to buy and man his ships. Folks, that is the kind of brain Warren Wilks and his crowd will tell you ought to be kept at the cook-stove and the wash-tub. Oh, women will be given the vote in time, don't you bother!" Dolly said, with renewed conviction. "We can't have progress without change. I never thought about it myself before, but it is as plain as the nose on your face. It has to come because it is simple justice. A law which is unfair to one single person is not a perfect l

him!" Dolly cried. "Vote

itement. Timmons stood by his wife's sid

yelled. "Them fellers got this thing up agi

waving her hands with the delight of a happy child. She turned to the tea

d, and, flushed and panting, she t

beside himself with enthusiasm. A lump of tense emotion filled his thr

, when he finally reached her,

mindedly; and he noticed that she wa

sh!" he cried. "You fairly wi

d, excitedly. "Come on, ple

congratulations and good-natured jests. At the door she reached back, caught Mostyn's hand, and drew him out into the open. A few paces away stood a couple under a tree. And toward them D

sing a few feet from the pair,

man moved away, and Ann slowly an

you wan

home!" Dolly retorted. "I'll

ing," Ann began; but

m ashamed of you-actually a

Ann turned and

kled, still under the heat of her triumph. "I never was so

s in the valley. He belongs to a low family, and he hasn't a speck of honor. For the last two months he has been trying to turn Ann's head. I stopped him from coming to our house, but as soon as I stepped on the platform to-night I saw him and her on the back seat. He was whispering to

beautiful one at that. He had a temptation to clasp her hand, draw her to him, and kiss her as he had kissed her three years before. Yet he refrained. He told himself that, soiled by conventional vice as he was soiled, he would force himself to respect in the highest this wonderful charge upon his awakened sense of honor. He found something new and assuring in checking the passion that filled him like a flood at its height. Yes, she should be his wife; no other living man should have her. Fate had rescued him in the nick of time from the temptation to wed for ulterior motives. A

to himself, with fervor.