The news & observer., 1897-02-13
MISS HELEN LEWIS'LEcTURE
THE BEAUTIES OF WOMAN SUE
FRAG4 EXPLAINED.
Col, lusk Presided While Col. Hile
man Held Town the Bald
Head Row.

! If Miss Helen Lewis wanted to catch
/ legislators in her net of Mary-Ellcn-
Lease oratory and woman-suffrage angu-
ment in the hall of the House OF Rep
resentatives last night, she failed sadly.
There were people there to hear her, to
be sure. oh yes, plenty of them. The
seats were all taken-on the floor and
in the gallery--and a few men stood in
the lobby chewing tobacco and splitting
/ at the nearest corner Then there were
women there-old maids and a few young
ones too, and still fewer married ones. The
| eolored contingent was especially well
| represented. 1t always is when there
is anything to be said or done about vot-
ing And they listened as intently and
interestedly as if they knew what it was
| all about. They also did their part in
| helping the men applaud Miss Lewis
| choice philippines against the male half
| of Gods creation.
| But the festive legislator, he wasn't
there. He was at the theatre or some
where else, probably the latter place.
Anyway / could only count 13 of him-I
hope those fellows will not be unlucky--
when Miss Lewis lifted up her voice
and began her discourse. Of these Col.
| Virgilius Lusk presided and introduced
the oratoress of the evening, while Col.
| Ambrose Fcstina Hileman sat on the
bald head row, directly under the drip
pings of the sanctuary. These two lead
ing lights heard the oration through.
They sat as still as a boy at circus,
| never stirring eye or muscle till Miss
Lewis had completed her eloquent pero-
ration in which she took down the Amer
o.la md aa11f Ianr zvon,I
in its place.
AS her voice died away Ambrose chang
ed his crossed legs, locking and unlocking
his hands in front of him, while Virgilius
| rose in State and escorted the oratoress
OF the evening behind the Speakers
stand, and out OF view OF the audience,
where, l am confidentially Informed, he
warmly congratulated her on her mis-
lfressly effort Then the audience, and
the six remaining legislators who had
been unable TO escape earlier, rose as one
! man and went out.
/ was unable to learn how many con-
verts were made, though perhaps that
was not the object of the meeting /
am prepared to believe, however, after
careful investigation, that 1t will have
as much influence as have previous lee
lures of this kind which have been bien-
nially delivered here before each sue
| ceeding Legislature, by women not so
/ half young and good-looking as is Miss
| Lewis.
! The most Of her speech last night was
! devoted to answering arguments that
| have been brought forward by ''tyranni-
| cal man" against allowing suffering
woman" the privilege OF voting. These
she took up one by one and Knocked
! them into cooked hats, now and then
! giving the male part of the population a
trouncing for the detestable and unim-
| portant part they were playing in the
program Of the universe
/ She showed the audience beyond all
cavil and question that a woman could
1 vote and hold office and make stump
1 speeches and yet keep her sweet, clinging
nature, modest demeamor and attend to
| she baby and wash the dishes. More
/ than that, she announced in her most
( impressive and dramatic manner that the
! greatest fighters in the world are wo-
men. There wasn't a man in the audi
cnce brave enough to dispute the state
ment With eagle eye Miss Lewis, in
! a moment, detected this lack OF moral
1 and physical courage, and she was not
/ slow to take advantage of it, | thought
| then, and still think now, it was an I'M
( due advantage OF weaker adversary
/ who was already down. She waded in
and went for them. "Tyrant," she hiss
ed, ''the very name Of justice bushes in
your presence. You fight against taxa
tion without representation for yourself
and then subject woman-n0ble woman
to the very tyranny against which you
fought. Equal rights to all and special
privileges to none-it is a lie.''
The applause was yociferous lit was
/ all very fine. But as the microbe-laden
dust, beat out of the carpet by the stamp
! ing feet, settled down, | thought could
! detect the trace OF tear in Representa-
tive Schulken's eye And, as il he could
no longer conceal his feelings, he rose
and went out while the speakeress OF
| the evening gazed triumphantly down
/ ON the bald spot ON Col. Lnsk's head and
] mopped the perspiration from her woman
ly brow.
Every sentence was thus winged with
/ epigram, every argument was clinched
| with facts. The speakers enunciation
was good, her utterance vehement and
her gestures dramatic 1t was all very
fine and the audience enjoyed it, even If
| they were not convinced