Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-12-23

GOING IT ALL THE TIME
BALLOT AND MANNISHNESS

teenth annual dinner celebrating the land
ing of the Pilgrim mothers was given
| yesterday by the New York Legislative
League at the Hotel Astor. The speakers
discussed the mothers, how they endured
many trials and the Pilgrim fathers as
| well. The reference to the Pilgrim faith.
ers is joke by Mrs. Lille Devereux
| Blake, president of the league, which is
brought up annually at the dinner. After
talking of the Pilgrim fathers Mrs. Blake
in her opening remarks said:
the men of this country are, on the
whole, pretty good fellows, but I would
like to state that we women are the silent
sex. Men have long laughed at us for
being the talking sex. but while l am
| saying these few words to you men all
over the country have been talking from
Q o'clock in the morning till all hours of
the night
! They only call us the talking sex to
| hide how much they talk themselves.
There is really only one way in which
we can go ahead of the men, and that is
| in virtue. There Is not a single masculine
| virtue. / do not mean to say that no
men have virtues, but tenderness, good
ness. gentleness and all the other virtues
are always spoken of as feminine
| "They speak of the Mayf1ower, in which
1 y
SMALL" said Mrs. Carrie Chapman Gait
president Of the International Suffrage
| Society. I'm fact, it held exactly 1O2
| persons: but as ! go about the country
flower people that l have become con-
WINGED that the vessel must have been as
large as the Lusitania, If 1t was not
whole fleet"
Savior of the Pilgrim Mothers.
! Mrs. Gait said that if it had not been
for Mrs. Blake the Pilgrim mothers would
have been drowned in oblivion, and no
one would have had a chance to be de-
scended from any one but the Pilgrim
| fathers.
There Is one woman among us who is
our SUPERIOR said Mrs. Blake, introduce
ing Mrs. Minerva Welsh from Colorado,
for she is a free woman and We are
still slaves
II do not wonder you look at me- said
Mrs. Welsh before beginning her ad-
dress on the woman Citizen of Colo
RADIO"
"The women in Colorado come from
every state in the Union and from every
quarter of the globe. There is no woman
who is of any age who was born there,
and it is the same with the men.
For fifteen years the women of Colo
RADIO have been criticised, questioned and
to women every one wondered what we
! would do, why We would do it and why
| we would not do something else. In the
| first place, there was no great struggle
for the franchise. 1t was simply cues
| ton agitated 1 think in that new state
| we were nearer the condition of the Pill
grim mothers.
Women's Help Appreciated.
I'VE went through the trials of frontier
to1
| more the value Of woman's help.
Immediately after receiving the fran
chise in Denver twelve women organized
a club for parliamentary instruction and
engaged prominent man to give lectures
on political economy. We invited all the
women interested to come, and the church
| In which the lectures were held was filled.
| Then followed instruction ON civil gov
| eminent. You must understand that the
franchise was granted one fall and the
| next We voted, and believe we voted in
telligently. Since then We have learned
many things, because as you use thing
| you do learn.
| Questions and criticisms in regard to
| women voting come in letters from all
over the country directed to the secretary
of state, and these are referred to me to
answer, and ! know how the whole cOun-
try Is interested in the subject. ] have
had four letters forwarded to me since l
came to New York from schools and col
leges making inquiries. Remember, these
letters are addressed to the secretary Of
state: they are not supposed so he adj
dressed to a woman.
Laws Made for Both Sexes.
lone of the questions they ask is,
Does voting make woman mannish"
Now. We are a company of women talking
together. and l can tell you what think.
Women from the beginning of life
have lived in contact with men, and has
it made them mannish? Or is there some
thing so obnoxious about men that We
should be afraid to come in contact with
them? Surely at the polling places We
will not come in any closer contact with
men not of our own families than We do
in the street cars Or in a bank. Then
the questioners ask IL We neglect our
homes, il We marry, and If We have chill
dren.
Il assure you when the suffrage came
to me l thought / had all the rights l
needed. The property rights in Colorado
are excellent. A woman on the death OF
her husband gets half OF his property.
and II there are no children she gets 1t
all. 1t is the same for the men. Laws
there seem TO be made for both men and
women.
! when the Rev. Anna Shaw was in
Denver at election time she told mo she
noticed the advance that had been made
In lack of sex consciousness. To my
mind it is a great gain when men and
women can come together and discuss
great problems without that feeling ue-
ing uppermost.
Government with women and men
both taking part seems to me like Kip
lings Ship That Found Herself. 1t
draws out the best qualities OF both men
and women. 1t is Gods plan.
AYNS