The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1878-01-25

On Tuesday the morning journals an
n0unced that would be s'Woman's Day
in the senate. The announcement IN
the Journals was made with dignity and
without comment. In the Senate the
petitions were presented without digni-
". and. with a few exceptions, with
comments which reflected with deep dis
credit on the ones who uttered them.
Its a disgrace 10 the United states SEN
ate, which can not be wiped out, thatii
will not present petition coming from
thousands Of honorable women In the
land without laughter, ridicule and
sneers. II we needed any added proof
10 the already TOO evident fact that, a. an
aggregate, the Congress Of the American
people does not consist Of gentlemen,
we have il in their tones, words and
manners when they present womans
petition. Judging by these. you must
believe that nothing on earth Is quite 80
funny " as that tax-paying citizen
often the widowed he.sd Of family. an
intelligent, educated, thoughtful being
should ask that she have some voice
in the laws that govern her.
Forty Senator'S presented petitions,
signed By thousands Of men and women,
asking for constitutional amendment
enfranchising women. A few read the
petitions a they would any other, with
dignity and without comment; bur the
majority seemed intensely conscious Of
holding something unutterably funny
\ IN their hands. They appeared to con
slider it huge joke. The entire SEN
ate presented the appearance Of
laughing school practising side-splitting
and ear-extending grins. Mr. Wadleigh
leaned back in his chair and shook with
laughter, after portraying 70 his next
neighbor, Pinkney Whyte Of Maryland,
the apparition u Pinkney's landlady
descending upon the polls like woh on
the fold, 70 annihilate Pinkney's election
an avenging landlady, Of terrible re-
pute for executive temper. who, il y de-
clared. imprisoned Pinkney IN his Own
parlOr, and barricaded another descend
ant Of a signer Of the Declaration of In
dependence. Hester Clymer. till.to save
him from starvation. food was lifted y
him from the street on poles. Ogle-by.
erst warrior Of Illinois. spake with en-
dearing gallantrv u his :. dear constitn-
entS.f whom he did All his wit could ID
10 make ridiculous. till the whole sem
ate laughed. and even Roscoe Conkling.
who never cOndescends to sheer ~ a
woman in public, turned and listened
aud smiled his most sardonic smile.
Then Thurman blew his loudest regula-
ton blast--sure portent Of approach
ing hattle-and rose and moved that the
petitions be referred 20 the Committee
D..t, a. - Drfaat4r-
chairman At this propo~ition--in-
tended ~ be equally humorous and CON
temptuOus-the whole senate laugh
cd aloud. There WAS one Senator
man enough and gentleman enough
20 lit the petitions from this
insulting proposition. II was Senator
Sargent u California, the husband ot
the woman who, though Senator's
wife. i brave enough 20 he the Presi-
dent ~ the Woman's National Suffrage
Association He turned ~ Mr.. Thur
man and demanded for the petition "
more than ten thousand women AZ least
the courtesy that would b. given - any
other petition. WhereupOn Thurman.
with tiippancy Ot which | would not
have selieved him capable. il had not
Ell that he = only wished the petition
referred ID the Committee on Public
Lands that the women might have TWO
=.rirxs - their bow Then the craven
Senate declared .the motion" which
was only an insult, carried Let X be
recorded Of the Senate II the United
States OF the forty-tifth Congress that
the one petition which il received a. 4
preposterous joke and treated with Ut
ter contempt and outrage was the PEE
tition Of tens Of thousands Of the moth
ers. daughters and wives Of the land I;
that the one petition which they receiy-
ed and dropped with utter indifference
was the petition against intemperance-
the petition that seeks to tighten the
heavy load Of degradation. misery. muir
der, that lies upon the land and most
heavily upon the hearts, the lives. the
homes u women.
In it, unmincing utterance. the Cap
stGI Of Sunday was perfectly correct
when il said "The ladies managing
the business managed il badly. II they
had employed the female lobby or sent
! in delegation Of pretty Treasury clerks,
: the venerable Solons would have soften.
! ed, and thrown open their doors a.
readily a. their hearts II seems ar
ungracious thing to say; but il j. the
truth. The woman who wins her way
with the majority of these men i not ths
plain, earnest-eyed woman, with a small
knob of native hair at the back of hel
head. II Is the siren Of the gallery ane
the ante-room, who sends in her carg
and the invitation 10 the Senator At hi
desk. She never talks Of "rights :
! She cares for no cause but her 0wr
, cause of ease and pelf. She shakes be,
tresseS, banged" and usually blonde
she lifts hOr alEuring eyes, aud nin,