Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1894-12-18
AWAKENED WOMAN.
MISS WlllARD'S ADDRESS BEFORE
THE NATIONAL CONVENTION.

Equal Suffrage.
Frances L. Willard, in her address at
tho National ". c. T. U. convention in
Cleveland, spoke strongly for woman
suffrage She said:
The leading liquor paper Of Califor-
mia recently stated that the chief men,
ACC of "the trade is tho woman suffrage
agitation. 1t takes tho position that wo-
men arc persistent in any cause that per-
tains to the well being of their children,
and that for this reason those whose
money is invested-in the liquor traffic
must keep down these wild and ram
pant efforts to admit women to the gov
ernment The influence Of the liquor
trade last spring defeated the municipal
suffrage bill which had already passed
ono branch of the Massachusetts legisla-
ture, and those who understand the true
inwardness of tho Tammany ring can
explain the defeat of the proposed pro-
vision of tho constitutional amendment
in New York admitting women to the
franchise.
Who are against the ballot for wom-
en-? Always the saloons, the gambling
houses, the haunts Of infamy, the igno-
rant, the foreigners newly arrived. Be-
sides these, Of reputable people, certain
ecclesiastical classes and conservative
temperaments. While we entertain to-
ward the latter the same respect and
good will that we desire them to show
to US, theirs is q case of "dog Tray in
bad company, and they will not be
exalted in their own opinion when the
next generation takes account of those
who have prepared the way for its
higher outlook and broader opportunity.
wish that instead of using the term
"woman's rights woman" which is
drastic and aggressive, we might say,
"the awakened woman" She is TO-
day the leader of her sex, because she
has answered to the call: "Arise, wake
out Of sleep. Hear my voice, ye careless
daughterp' A leading thinker, man
of strong character and wide observa-
tion, said to me, TRY to get women to
think, to be less frivolous, less occupied
with trivial subjects, more earnest,
larger minded, more devoted to general
ideas. And l thought what must be
the weariness of life to such a man if,
ON returning to his home, he found that
the rim of tea cup or the circumfer-
ence of q thimble was the emblem Of the
circuit of talk. But the awakened wo-
man who begins to see that the whole
realm of thought is her heritage and the
entire world of power her kingdom
can only hope to see her ideals realized
through the enlistment of the average
woman. She is the key to the position.
For the abstract principle of justice OH
which the woman question is really
based the average woman does not care
a farthing while for the sake of JUS
tice in the concrete she often plays the
part Of heroine. If she thought she
ought to want the ballot, she would seek
it with persevering zeal, but she honest
ly believes that it is more womanly to
cry out against it. She has been told
this from press and pulpit since her
earliest recollections, and she has learn
ed the same doctrine from ''her hus-
band at home. - The average woman is
often member of the church, and, like
the rest of us. falls into the error Of
confounding the husks of Christ's gopsel
embodied in theology with its kernel
embodied in the golden rule. Sho is de-
voted and good and conventional. She
usually has home of her own. and her
favorite end Of all controversy is. II
have all the rights want. "
She is like somo others disgusted
with tho woman novel;" and not too
we'll pleased with platform women-at
least not until she has had the happiness
Of hearing them. After that she says.
with all thy faults I love thee still.
She is attractive, kindly and we'll mean
ing, but breads "the speech of people. "
She is not clear concerning cause and
effect in politics and law. but she must
be if women are to win tho ballot. She
had not studied Frances Power Cobbe
on the Duties nor John Stuart Mill
on the "Subjection of Women. She
could not for the life Of her state the
theory Of evolution or Henry Georges
heavenly vision of the single tax. but
this same average woman has q lot Of
hard sense in her head, and, whoever
counts her out, let not the progressive
women do so. She is not imaginative.
and if she believes in politics at all it
will be decidedly practical politics.
In America. Australia and New Zea-
land the average woman has rallied to
tho polls to vote against the saloon,
against the gambling house and den Of
vice. In the nature of the case she can
be counted on to stand with practical
solidarity against this trinity of evils
that forms the fortress of temptation-to
her children. She is perfectly "clear in
her mind" that no one has a right to
set these institutions along the streets in
-neighborly nearness to her home, and if
the power is given her she will remorse-
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