The news & observer., 1897-01-24
Taa New Reform Has Pre- baby
Gene TO Stay.
VOTE as THEIR r,UsBANDs
AND THERE HAS NOT COME
PURIFICATION OF POLITICS.
a WOMAN as a JURYMAN
She Tells Her Exp rie,,ce, and De-
clares That Woman Suffrage ard
Jury DUTY Are Not So CesIr-
able as She thought.

able as She hought.
To the Editor In these West
ern States the women have at
tanned to the full stature of citi-
zenship and all the honor and dignity of
the ballot are now hers. She no longer
stays at home and patches the old mans
'britches while he goes off to the election
and returns home in "the we sma' hours
o. mornin' hilarious in celebrate ton of
his superiority over the weaker sex. Out
in "the wild and woolly west" where the
sage brush fourishes as the green bay
tree and the cayote sings his mournful
ditty, suffering wOmanhood has secured
the full enjoyment of the rights of an
American citizen. The trough and un-
couth" westerner has said in the most
emphatic way that an intelligent Ameri-
can woman is as capable and has as much
right to say who shall rule the land she
/. lives in as the ignorant negroes of the
South or the untutored "dagoes" Of the
North II may be that she is not 80 capa-
BILE of properly exercising the elective
franchise as ''the wards of the nation"
or the imported paupcrs of Europe, but
she has that privilege in several West
ern States any way, and there are people
who have seen their mother, sister or
sweetheart at the polls and yet retained
all the love, honor and respect for her
that they previously entertained.
1t was my privilege at the Nov amber
election to go to the polls with my wife
and we each cast our ballots for the men
and principles of our choice. After We
voted | looked at my better three quar-.
ters" to see if she was suffering any very
great fatigue by reason of having per-
formed the arduous duties OF citizenship.
and she gave no evidence of any great
strain upon her physical or mental pow
ers | hooked AT other women who had
voted and they did not, strange rs it may
sound, evince any very great exhaustion.
It has been my lot to see q number of
women who were much more fatisucd
from plowing stump-tailed OK, or wash
ing dirty shirt for her lord and mas
ter" while he followed the chase, than
they gave eridence of beng after having
cast their ballot.
Ill was, of course. 2byel sight to ire
IL see women voting. Itw1s doubtless
novel sight to the 'Ilords and ladies" of
''uid Hengland' to see the people of that
country force from the powers the right
of trial by jury. But while it was a
novel sight to see women vote, it did not
appear to my obtuse mind that the women
had unsexed themselves by doing so.
| am satisfied that the same persons
were elected in those Sta ties where they
voted as would have been if they had not
voted, and that the elevating influence of
:. women in politics that has been so loud
ly proclaimed, has not material Ezed. The
right of suffrage has been so recently
accorded womankind that we have not
the light of experience from which TO
draw conclusions. That the presence of
women at the political speakings has had
a good effect on campaign oratory, there
is no question in my mind. The obscene
joke that has grown gray in the service,
is conspicuous by it's absence. The audi
ence at each political meeting is largely
composed of women, and as result the
speeches are of q higher moral tone.
Drunkenness and profanity are also rele-
gated to "inocuous desuetude."
There are a number of women holding
office in these Western States, and most
of them are very capable officers and give
satisfaction to the public. The Superin-
tendent Of Public Instructions of the
State of Wyoming is a woman and
young, good looking and Intelligent wo-
man at that. She is deservedly the most
popular and, in my judgment, the best
State officer in Wyoming.
One of the Mckinley electors in Wyom-
ing was woman and her husband is one
of the most influential and truest Demo
Gratis in the State.
In Utah woman was elected State
Senator, defeating her former husband.
She never had but one-sixth interest in
him, however, as he had five other wives.
Last year while in Wyoming / met
a lady who told me of her experience as
juror. She was one of the most enter
tanning and intelligent women that it has
been my pleasure to meet in q long time
and her description of the part she took
in upholding the dignity of the law and
enforcing the glorious and blood bought
right of trial by jury was vivacious and
amusing.
She lived in the big Horn Basin
some hundred miles from a railroad, and
I'M that neighborhood there resided an