The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-05-12
REAL rs. IDEAL.

-N0@A1 ~ @S~|~@- 49,
Many women who never hesitate to
mix with the promiscuous crowds who
attend onr State Fairs, and numberless
men who think it perfectly proper for
them to do so, utter pious calculations
accompanied by suggestive shrugs when
women are mentioned in connection
with elections; for, are not the polling
places surrounded by motley crowd,
they ask, and will it not degrade
women to mingle therein? The
strangest and most ridiculous phase of
this false alarm, to which mock mod
esty is hand-maiden, is that men really
seem sometimes to be stricken with
concern at the prospect, and are seized
with as genuine spasm of virtue as
would overtake them were they in
formed by a disreputable man, who is
welcome guest at their homes, that
actually a wife or daughter who had
entertained him had been so shock
ingly indiscreet as to speak to a dis
reputable woman.
OF course, persons who have consid-
cred the matter, and, per consequence,
take a sensible view of it, do not share
in the belief that women cannot go into
a crowd composed of men and women
without suffering insult; but these per-
sons find it hard to make many take
common-sense view of even so plain
a case as this, and, for their benefit, we
will report the manner in which
Woman Suffrage in school matters has
worked in Minnesota recently.
A law was passed by the legislature of
that State last winter extending to
women the right to hold the office
of school director, and to vote for candi-
dates for that Office. In the first
elections that occurred under this new
law, the Minneapolis papers state that,
in a certain portion of the city usually
Democratic, the Democrats nominated
two of their most popular men, and the
Republicans two competent women, and
that the latter were elected-one by a
majority of 145, and the other by AS.
There were no noisy appeals, and only
one meeting was held which was ad-
dressed by women; but the canvass,
though quiet, was earnest, and several
hundred women availed themselves of
the right to vote. The Tribune, of the
city named, says concerning the matter:
Separate boxes had been provided for the
ladies, and, to the credit of their big and
brawny brothers, be it said, they were every
where treated with the highest courtesy and
respect, and one would hardly expect, from a
casual observation, that anything unusual was
transpiring in political life. Nearly all the
ladies voting came in groups, from four TO six
in number, the men stepping aside until their
ballots were placed in the special deposit pro-
vided for them, leaving their brothers some
what astounded that Woman Suffrage could be
so courteously and effectively demonstrated.
Occasionally lady appeared alone, but the
rulewas largely in favor Of the grouping pro-
gramme.
When Woman Suffrage can be thus
tcourteously and effectively demon
strated," it is about time for highly
imaginative theories to give place to
sober fact. The truth is, it is for the
real woman, and not the ideal, that
we plead-not the typical embodiment
of all the feminine graces, but the dig
nified woman of experience, to whom
life's cares are not myths, and who
would fain enjoy its blessings and priv
ileges, untrammeled by impracticable
theories. Wedo not plead for the unreal
creatures who people the realms of
fancy and are utterly useless, even
there, but for women who understand
themselves too well to make arrogant
claim to angelic prerogatives and titles;
who are the companions Of men as they
journey up the sleeps and down the
slopes of life, and are not easily de-
luded by sophistry that calls them an
gels and treats them as human beings,
and of an Inferior order at that. These,
clad in the livery of truth and justice,
do not for a moment doubt their ability
to visit voting places and return home
without contamination