The Washington herald., 1908-04-12

Atebt AiustAitit 1Vf llC past ipItf Year, .
ito hear that the idea of suffrage foi
women originated IN England. Why. We
American women have always considered
that we were the pioneers IN this mat
ter and now. since the recent agitation
In England, cur work for nearly half q
century is overlooked or forgotten. This
is due TO our innocuous desuetude. foI
there was 50 little opposition TO suffrage
for women among the men OF this coun-
try that there seemed to be really moth
ing to fight for And then our many
valiant campaigns here we're campaigns
OF education. we taught women to think,
10 study. TO learn; and while there is
now but little leud talking from the
rostrum the idea of equal rights has
taken deep hold of the women of the
country and they are getting what they
want, gradually, very gradually, it is
true, but surely.
Whether women viii one day vote cc-
pends entirely upon themselves, If they
want to vote they probably viii, FOR
they are rather successful in this coun-
try in getting all they want, and when
the franchise is given to them II Will
be given to them because they have
earned 1t and are worthy Of IT, not
because they have invaded the halls Of
Congress or made unseemly demonstra-
tions on the street. To my mind the
methods pursued by the sufrraSettes in
England are vulgar in the extreme, and,
had I the power. / would hesitate long
before giving ballot TO women who,
seemingly, lack self-control and dignity.
II am sorry TO say this, for we owe
much TO English women from the time of
Mary Wollst0necraft. who. in her Vim
dication of the Rights Of Women. pre-
sented every argument in favor of wom-
ans suffrage. and. although this book
was written more than hundred years
ago, nothing has been published since
that SO thoroughly covers the subject or
is more convincing. and there have been
many others who, if they are less we'll
known, have been equally devoted to the
cause, but that does not alter the fact
tnat the English women OF to-day are
showing bad taste to put it no stronger
in the fight they are making for equal
rights. IN America It is the women OF the
upper classes. the educated. well bred,
who are most interested in this subject;
IN England. on the contrary. the leaders
of the movement have succeeded in
prOselytizing the working women. who
are very much like the rice Christians
OF China, in it for what they can get out
Of il, either in notoTiety or something
more substantial The English suf
fragettes who have visited this country
recently complain bitterly that their
American sisters are lulewarH, that there
Is no enthusiasm for the cause Of uni
versal suffrage, but they Judge only by
the surface. There is. to be sure, little
shouting, marching. and the flying of
flags. as there was in the early days,
when the suffTagists, as they were called
then, talked more and thought less, but
there is much deep thinking by the best
element in the country on the subject,
and when the time is ripe for giving the
ballot TO women she will come into her
own, rest assured of that"
Several years back Babism was fad
with small and wealthy set Of women
who are always on the lookout for new
sensations and new cults A lean. lank.
and wild-eyed Persian was the high priest
sent 10 this land of the gullible, 20 the
people who are most happy when they
are being most fooled, to make pro-
paganda for the sect which Mira All
founded out Of whatever met with his
appreciation In the Christian, Jewish, No /
hammedan. and Parsee religions. And the 1
wild-eyed Persian was very successful |
Soon gathered about him a number of |
women, who, bored to death by the fash /
i0nable lives they had been living. put /
behind them the vanities of society and |
ranged themselves at the feet of the pro- /
phet. They were taught that if they
would be good very, very good, that they
might one day become ike unto that holy |
one, Gurret-ul-Ayn. the Consolation OF /
the Eyes, who abandoned her husband /
and her children to devote herself to the 4
OF the faith OF Bah Some
followed the example OF this sanity per-
son 50 far as deserting their husbands /
Went but IN what other ways they emu
lated the example OF the Consolation of 1
the Eyes, is not known, The Persian /
apostle visited many cities in America /
and made many converts. some Of whom /
followed him TO Persia to study their new
religion in the place of its birth and the
Bahist missionary became richer because
Of the converts he made and left the coun-
try with his pauneh and his pockets both
better filed than when he arrived.
In Washington he made few, surprising
~ few, converts when one considers what
a cultured town it is, but the few he did
secure were Of most superior order. and
none OF them was more enthusiastic or
devoted 20 her new faith than Miss Bar
ney. who made a comprehensive study OF
1t and started out to learn Persian Thar
she might read its sacred writings In the
original, and, it is said, that she herself
made converts. Interest in Babism diz5
out with Miss Barney's departure for
Paris, where she has been living for the
past four years, but it has been awakened
again by the appearance in town of an
other Babist, . 5t lean and Wild-eyed this
time, but sh =; and unctuous, who viii
gather whatever bored ladies he can find
IN search Of a new sensation, and who are
willing 70 leave their happy. happy homes
10 find one.
"Oh, you Americans; you Americans!"
exclaimed a foreigner VINO makes his
nome in Washington, at a tea where the
visiting Babist was being Iionized, TO one
IF the women guests. Abraham Lincoln
vas wrong after all. for ali the people Of
this country like to be fooled all the
lime. Babisn, indeed. Now what do you
know about Babism and what IS Babism
anyway, but a little. upstart religion
'oUnded hardly more than fifty years ago
1y discontented fanatic? Why, If I h
SHOULD this very minute put on your
,erise hat hind side before. wrap myself {
n one Of madame s table scarfs, and go !
'nt into the street proelaimgng myself a I
7rophet. followers would spring I'D out of !
he earth to join me. and inside a week I
he press Of the whole country would be
discussing the new faith. then. II 1 could !
manage 10 be prosecuted and die a cruel ]
ieath, why, my religion would become a
'ermanent one, and I would go down to {
history in haze OF glory, so much do {
'ou ike TO be fooled" I
All Of which is very true. but Amer t
cans are not the only people who like to l
e fooled; al the world, without distine- 6