The Osceola times., 1884-03-15
PEITlC0ATS AT TilE POLLS.
ny BILL NNE.
nnirnlt Ernr prr..

lhtfe nave bctn hdnN ftdNnnr gwen
first and last why women should not vote
but desire b. say, in the full light ora
ripe experience, that some of them are
falacious. refer more particularly 10
the argument that it will degrade wom-
en- to 90 to the polls and vote like a little
man While am not and have never
been a howler for female suffrage, must
admit that il is much more Of success
than prohibition and speculative science
My wife voted eight years with nv full
knowledge and consent, and TODAY |
cannot see but that she is As docilc AS
when she won my trusting heart. Now
those know me best will admit that am
not ladies' man, and therefore what
ma say here is not said to secure Gayor
ana grateful smiles am not attractive
and am not in politics. | believe that
am homelier this winter than usual.
There are reasons why | believe thai
what may say on this subject will be
sincere, and not sensational or selfish.
1t has been urged that good women do
not generally exercise the right of suf
frage when they have the opportunity.
and that only those whose social record
has been tarnished good deal 20 to the
polls This Is not true. 1t is the truth
that a good full vote always shows a list
Of the best women and the wives Of the
best men. \ bright day makes a better
showing of lady voters than bad one.
and the weather makes more percent
| Bile difference in the female vote than
| the male, but when things are exciting
and the battle red-hot, and the tocsin of
war sounds anon, the wife and mother
puts ON her armOT and her Scalskin
sadue and knocks things Cross-cved.
Itls generally supposed that the fe-
male voter is a pantaloondtic, a half
horse, half alligator kind of woman. who
looks like DIR. Mary Walker, and has the
appearance Of one of fire and dressed
! herself partially in her own garments
and partially in her husbands. Til. is
a popular error. In Wyoming, where
| female suffrage has ragged for wears, You
meet quiet, courteous AID gallant gentle.
men, and fair, quiet, sensible women at
| the polls, where there isn't loud or pro-
| fame word, and where it Is an Infinitely
more ,ropcr place to send young lady
unescortcd than TO the po-t-ollipo In any
city in the Union. You can readily see
why this is so. The men about tue polls
are always candidates and their friends
That is the reason that neither party can
afford to show the slightest tudcnc~s
toward voter, The man who on
| Wednesday would tell her 10 90 and soak
her head, perhaps, would stand bare
! headed to let her pas on Tuesday
4 l.. l. 4.
ed under the palm of her grav kid glove
she may walk over the candidates pros
trate form with Inipunity and her over
/ sho,s if she chooses TO.
! Weeks and months before election in
| Wyoming the party with the longest
purse subsidies the most livery stables
and carriages Then on the ev'ntful DAY
| every conveyance available is decorated
with a political placard and driven 10y a
polite young man, who is instructed to
improve the time. Thus every woman
in Wyoming has a chance TO ride once
year at least. Lately, however many
prefer to walk to the polls and they 20
in pairs, rios and quartettes, voting their
little sentiments and calmly returning to
their cookies and crazy quilts ~ though
politics didn't jar their mental poise
minute.
/ It IL possible, and even probable, that
man and his wife may disagree on pol.
itics as they might on religion. The
| husband may believe in Andrew jackson
and a relentless hell, while his wife NAV
be stalwart and rather liberal on the
question Of eternal punishment. If the
| husband manages his wife as he would
clothoe-wringcr, and turns her through
! life by crank he will no doubt wori,
/ her politically, but if she has her own
| idea about things she will naturally act
on other matters till he cant see out Of
| his eyes, will he hcnpecked, no doubt, in
the matter of national and local politics.
These are a few facts about the actual
workings of female suffrage, and do not
tackle the great question of the ultimate
I results upon the political machinery if
woman suffrage were to become general
! do not pretend to say as to that !
| know great deal, but | do not know
that. There are millions of women, no
| doubt, who are better qualified to note
and yet cannot than millions Of allcdged
men who do vote but no one can tell
now what the ultimate effect of change
might be. 30 far as Wyoming is con.
ccrned, the territory is prosperous and
happy. ! see, also, that a murderer was
hung 10y process Of law there the other
day That looks like the onward march
of reform whether female suffrage had
anything to do with it OF not And
they're going TO hang another in March
If the weather is favorable and executive
clemency remains dormant, and | think
it will. All these things look hopeful,
We cau't tell what the territory would
have been without female suffrage but
when they begin TO hang men by law
instead ofby moonlight, the future begins
to brighten up. When you have to get
upin the night to hang man every
little while and don't get any per diem
for il, YOU feel as though Won were good