The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1888-10-19
A WOMAN'S FIRST VOTE.
The Sensations Experienced by q Lady
Who for the First Time Exercised Her
Rights at the Polls.

Who for the First Time Exercised Her
Rights at the Polls.
/ have just enjoyed a new experience
an old one to many of my readers, l
have no doubt. but an entirely new one
TO me, writes Miss Jeanette Glider.
editor OF the Critic. in the Saturday
Gazette. n few days since l cast my
first vote, My sensations were peculiar
on this momentous occasion. and |
could not tell exactly whether felt as
though suffrage had at last been ex-
tended to women, or whether / had
just come of age.
The way Oft was this: In the suburb
where | sleep at night and eat my
breakfast in the morning. am mod
est property owner, and property own
ers in this district. regardless of race.
color or sex, are allowed to cast vote
at the election of school trustees On
this generous law / made my debut as
a voter. The occasion was an exciting
one, for there We're two regular tickets.
and a third made up by some disafected
parties.
Usually. it is merely the more intelli-
gent candidates against the less enlight-
ened, or. to put it in another form. those
who have had the advantage of school,
ing against those who have not. But
on this occasion there was division in
the former camp, and the ticket was
split, the name OF one man being sub
stituted for that of another. the rest
being the same. OF course. more of
the property owners from my end of
the township were going to vote the lat
ter ticket. So the question with us was
to keep solid on the regular ticket, for
fear split would give the unschooled a
chance Feeling ran high, and the vote
was just double that polled last year. /
never felt my own importance more
than when the friends of both parties
began paying me attention. For the
time being felt quite belle. Two
carriages were at my service to be
driven to the poles, and for a while 1
experienced all the sensations of boo
die alderman-ninus the Doodle.
The polling was to take place at q
school house mile and half away,
/ went over in stage chartered for the
purpose. half Of whose passengers were
property owning ladies. each with her
ballot clasped tightly in her hand. As
We went about picking up dilatory vot-
ers. We arrived at the school house af-
ter the proceedings had begun. The
place was packed. and the atmosphere
something like, l imagine. that of the
black hole OF Calcutta mixed with the
odors of kerosene oil and bad whisky.
The kid-gloved element was well up to
the front. while the horny handed sons
OF toll hung about the back door.
(There was beer saloon at the foot of
the school yard.) There was some
little disorder during the meeting, but
considering the character of part of the
free and independent voters. and the
violence of their feelings in the matter,
they behaved very well.
When the balloting began there was
q rush for the ballot-box, but the chair
man OF the meeting was a man of de-
cided character. and he would not toll
crate mudh roughness- When he sug-
gested that it would be more courteous
to make room for the ladies to pass up
to the box. every man there drew back
at once, and the ladies marched boldly
up and did their duty like men. / no
ticed that they were much more consci-
entious about their eligibility than the
men, and several withdrew when they
heard the qualification laws read.
Among the men on the other hand.
there were a number of votes chaI-
lenged. and the challenging was sus-
tanned By the chair.
could not help thinking. as looked
at some of the voters, THAI there was a
good deal of humbug on this question
Of eligibility. The question was not
one of politics, even, but of education; |
and there were men and women who |
bad the legal right to voice in the
matter who ware very Gtt,s removed