St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1878-01-04
A Woman's Letter.
NOT TO BE READ BY MEN-UNLESs THEY
WISH TO HEAR SOME UNPLEASANT
TRUTHS.


[FrOm the Christian Union.
have paid my respects to our State
Legislature for the first time in my life
and am deeply impressed thereby,
though not in the manner l had antici
pated. Having been instructed from
my earliest days that law-making was
an employment for which only the su
perior masculine mind was capable;
having been frequently informed, since
reaching maturity, that women could
not be expected to comprehend the ma
ture and extent of the vast and impor
tant public interests repOsing of neces-
sity in masculine hands /; having been
summarily snubbed, time and again,
since we began our temperance work,
by being told that important public
issues, the nature of which | could not
comprehend, were at stake, with which
/ must not interfere by agitating the
subject of legislation against the liquor
traffic, you may imagine that felt no
little awe at the thought of standing in
the august presence of the assembled
body of our law-givers, whom you and
| are not even wise enough to help
choose, and hearing them discuss those
important questions which we are in
capable of understanding.
The first impression received upon
entering the Assembly chamber was
that it forcibly reminded me of our
county jail, which | had visited several
times on missionary work intent. l
could not at once imagine what asso-
citation of ideas had called up so uu-
| tiattering comparison. 1t certainly
was much larger, lighter and hand
s0mer room and more sumptuously fur
nished than the Jail. Its inmates were
finer looking class of men and better
clothed. Presently it became apparent
to me that the air was heavy and blue
with tobacco smoke, and then recog-
nized the tie which binds the higher
and lower classes, law makers and law
breakers alike, in common brotherhood.
Before l left | recognized other points
of resemblance.
Members began to cOngregate at nine
o'clock in the morning and stood around
smoking and talking till 10 A. NJ, when
the sessions were opened. They were
adjourned at any time from ii A. NJ. to
P. M, rarely extending beyond the
latter hour. As had frequently heard
our representatives complain of the
hard work and terrible pressure of busi-
ness brought to bear upon them at the
capital and the complete exhaustion
they experienced after few weeks of
legislative labor | was surprised at the
brevity of the sessions, but concluded
that the remainder of the day was spent
in profound and careful investigation,
by the individual members, of the vari-
GUS bills pending, and study of the in
tricate social problems many of them
involved. The extreme rapidity with
which business was transacted during
the sessions was a marvel to my un-
sophisticated eyes. Bills were called
up by their numbers, the titles were
ratified off and they were put to vote,
one after another, with such dispatch
that they were frequently either passed
or indefinitely postponed before the
members could turn to their printed
copies and find out what they were
voting upon. Sometimes several bills
were dumped" together and carried ol
lost at one fell stroke. Their consider.
alton in Committee of the Whole was
equally hasty and-to profane eyes
superficial. The only object of the
members seemed to be to get through
and that presiding officer who coulC
run through the greatest number of bills
in an hour was considered the "bes
fellow" Evidently, unless bill haC
an active friend or active enemy on the
floor it was likely to be either made 8
law or consigned to obliviOn-it seemed
to matter little which-without thought
or discussion. A bill to restore capita
punishment, having an earnest friend
on the floor, was discussed for nearly
half an hour before it was voted down
and one exempting certain railroad
lands from taxation, since it involved
large pecuniary interests of influential
people, occupied several days. Bills
affecting the liquor traffic, the rights OF
women, and prison reform had been in.
troduced; and when | reflected that
none of them had earnest advocates in
either house, and that only such bills al
involved the pecuniary interests of in
fluential persons on the spot and work
ing hard for their passage were likely
to receive respectful consideration, all
others being got rid of in the speediest
manner possible, / trembled for theil
fate.
Surely, l thought, there must be a
time when these w-makers devote
serious and earnest study to the sub
jects upon which they are called to leg
islate. Doubtless the afternoons are
devoted to that purpose. So deter
mined to wait and see. The moment
the session was adjourned the mem bers
jumped up like roomfull of restless
school boys who had with difficulty been
repressed so long. Some lighted cigars,