Litchfield enquirer., 1881-02-03
A Colloquy.

1 right not to vote--that 1t is one of the bur dens from which, oyer-weighted as the 1 mass of them already are, they should be
 excused. The women, with great unanim- l ity, take the same view of the matter, and instead of going about the country de- nouncing 'male dynasty" the few un-
 easy females who fairly manage to keep this question alive should devote their time to enlightening and converting their l sisters. The men are not such tyrants as to insist that women who don't want to
 want the ballot they will get it, as they Ikget pretty much everything else they real ly banker after. er.-Boston Herald. Nov that's what I call sensibly put. I don't think women ought to be made to
 vote. You wouldn't want to vote, would
 you, Jane? | Wife. Of course not. am we'll enough Eof now but did not know that if the
 law passed we should have to vote wheth-
 CT we wanted to or not. Do they fine peo- pie for not voting?
 Husband. Oh, no Still if the other
 women voted, you know, you would have to. Wife. .--H the other women did not want
 to vote any more than I do, and they
 couldn't make us vote, why couldn't we
 all stay at home just as we do now?
 Husband (candidly). - You could, but I
 am afraid you wouldn't There aint
 many that can vote that don't. I should
 hate to see you all dragged into the dirty
 pool of politics.
 Wife. Then you really think that if we
 had chance, and knew what politics
 meant, we should all want to vote? Husband.-I don't believe you could
 keep out of it long. I tell you it is an ! awful mess.
 Wife.-I suppose it is. Why don't you
 let it alone, and all the best men, and not
 go near the polls? Hushand.-What, and let the DeMo-
 crats have it all their own way, and ruin
 everything You ought to see the way
 they peddle rum and money.
 Wife.-I hope Republicans don't do SO. Husband.-They have to "fight the devll With nre We beat them at thelr
 own game, though, last November. Wife.-I declare, John Brimble, if I
 thought you had anything to do with
 such goings on, I should wish could vote,
 and I'd vote against you every time! Husband.-I am no politician, and
 never want to be but that is the only way ! to carry elections.
 Wife.-Then why don't you stay at home. r.'
 1 Husband.-I say I won't let 'em beat
 us SD long as can help it.
 Wife. You wouldn't give man whis- key or money to vote the Republican tick
 ct, would you? .... Husband-Of course not The candi-
 dates find plenty to do it, though. Wife.-And you vote for such candi- dates?
 | Husband.-How can I help it? I've got to vote for such candidates if vote
 at all. They're all in it. Nobody can go to Congress or even to the State Senate from about here, that don't buy his way in. .1aa
 Wife. II don't believe anybody could
 make me vote for such men. eeF Husband. d.-.Yes, they would. They would make you believe the country would go to ruin if you did not shut your eyes to all their election deviltries and vote the straight ticket. t..d ..s s.et .,... Wife. Tt strikes me that the country has gone to ruin already when the chief offices are bought and sold. Y ha5. Husband. --Perhs ps but if it must be
 ruin, givesus Republican ruin '!' |. :, V Wife. Nov, I'll tell you what I really think about it. That "higher right not
 vote, the paper talks of, is nonsense. We
 shall have that right with the ballot, and we shall also have the right to vote if we can do any good by 1t. l have
 never wanted to vote except for one thing. I do believe that rum selling ought to be
 stopped by law, and I don't believe men alone will ever stop it.. They don't believe l in and practice total abstinence as wewo- men do. Even when we can prevail on them to vote 'No License, ;" they general ly elect officers who won't enforce the
 vote. The way you talk about politics
 generally almost persuades me that we
 ought to vote and put stop to the ini- quities our " fathers, brothers, and hus-
 hands" practice. On all questions of mor-
 ality know we should vote more con-
 scientiously than you do; and, on your own statement, morality is just what pol itics is lacking most of anything. Husband. I never would have supp ,sed you would be womau's right CT --.-...,- Wife.-I am not. don't want to vote; but if the respectable voters are put to such shifts as you say to keep from being outyoted by the disreputabls s, I think the woman vote would help turn the sc lie the
 other way. Wouldn't it?
 Husband. = If all women vot unbiass- 1 ed it would, but they'd be deceived and
 wheedled into doing just as wrong as we | do. a..a.t.5t ,satd et@ si Wife.-It don't seem SO to me. We ] don't expsct any offices we hate rum and 1 blackguardism as no man ever hates them; 1 and it doesn't seem possible that there are l as many women as men who would sell I their votes. 1t would have to be v, ry
 different breed of politicians from the ! coarse fellows who now rule politics that would ever get our votes. All women are | not saints and all men are not sinners, but
 as far as decency and morality go, don't you think women average ratner higher 1 than men