The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-03-25
The Confessions of a Club Woman
By AGNES SURBRZDGE Copyright 1904
Copyright, 1904.

q
summer kindergartens and cooking
schools among the poor. At any rate,
club topics were stabooed at Meguntic
Cove until the day I was leaving for
Chicago.
"Well, suppose we shall soon be all
over in club work, she said, then.
"Altho IN quite out of the spirit Of it
"I've got to keep out Of it, I said
in reply. ~ promised Joe.''
shs xDu It ent gecya
position in the club to sacrifice, it
now: Why, / know women who have
worked and climbed and pulled wires for
years! and have not yet attained the
age It, JjackieqS She n" eyed me mar.
rowly, but I maintained wise silence.
'You are a shrewd woman she re
sumed. EPlay your cards right and
you'll be a leader in another year or
two. But give up what you have gained
an fy you II meyer ye1 recover it. Don It be
But what is woman to do whose
husband stands ready to leave her il
she takes up public work?'' I asked
in despair.
"Play, your cards at home as well as
abroad,' was the answer. "Be careful
about letting your. name get into the
papers. Make a point of being atshome
for all meals when your husband is
fore him. You can manage to attend
most Of the meetings with little do
mestic diplomacy. Mark my words,
now-I have been all thru this refrac-
! tory-husband business, and I've found
few men that object to clubs if their
wives are, at home to dinner; well
I have my plans laid to make the Nota
Bene an influence in Chicago. It is GO
ing to be more than social and literary
club this winter; it will Influence poll
tics - P ha7, e. gasP-I'm depending on
-~"I shall be only too willing,' said
I, IF I can only keep Joe quiet. He's
ties: opposed to women in poll
"He's old-fashioned in his notions,
then, :" was the answer. "But he lis
I not to be told. I've chosen you as my
a secret.'
Back in Chicago a month later, I be-
gan see what she meant. The guber-
Material election that year was most ex-
citing. Party feeling ran high, and the
election promised to be close. The re-
publican candidate was a millionaire,
an aristocrat, an educated, refined, up.
right man. The democratic aspirant for
the office was a "man of the people, -
popular with the workingnen, and in
the hands of the !" machine 4bosses.'
Theodore Parsons was a republican of
the type that votes only on pleasant
days or when dire necessity compeis.
Joe Henning was a democrat who never
neglected an opportunity to vote, and
attended ward caucuses in season and
out Of season, believing that $50 he
served his country. Like many other
i political questions up to the present
time and when Mrs. Parsons sent for
me one day and told me Of her plans for
the publication OF politics, u was
aghast.
would never dare, ~ I protested
alsfWes are democrats, Joe and IT,
-"You? "a and she raised her eye.
throws. 'sTell me, for what does your
party platform stand this yearq' q
! She had me there and she knew it.
II could no more have told her than i
could have explained the differential
I calculus.
"Come, we must take hold of these
things Do you know what machine poll
tics 5nean9 Do you know the processes
ingnan9 Do you know that right here
in Chicago there are thousands of 4men
who dare not vote except as they are
told? No. But I know it. And it is
proceedings.
eminent club,'' which she had planned
4 to be made up Of picked members Of
. the Nota lBene. Before she was thru
s was enthusiastic overEit. But my con
science still pricked and [ could not
4 decide.
Philip Haven had already formed 8
habit Of dropping into our house in
formally, often remaining to luncheon
4 there when / returned from my cal
at Mrs. Parsons house.
I'm SO glad,'' / said as took his
hand. 81 want your advice. > ust wait
till I lay off my wraps and Ill make
you my father-confessor. -
termined that he should decide for me
How easy it is to lay our moral respon
sibilities upon some other soul for de
!, cision.
4 When I came down I laid Mrs. Par
sons proposition before him. Shall
4 join it it, = Iasked.
:, HWhy not?" was his reply. "Tht
& influence of good women was never
more necessary IN Chicago than it il
} today"
J sssBut Joe is democrat I an
: swered. q And-and I've always called
i myself one, tho I really know nothins
; Of the merits or dement's of either
) party
J He smiled indulgently.
} Il would not wish to advise anything
! that might cause you trouble at home,
i he said. But, as I understand it
+ this Good Government club is to b
J neither democratic nor republican; i
I is to- work for the publication Of boil
/ parties. Am / right -
) I-assented eagerly I.
J UThen why should you hesitate9,