Milford chronicle., 1909-07-16
Women Do Not Want 1t. i"
BY ALICE STONE BLACKWELL

1t is often said that when tn,
I majority of women want the ballot
. they will get it.
: Every improvement in the con
dition of women thus far has beer
secured not by a general demauc
: from the majority of women. but
by the arguments, entreaties aud
continual coming" of a persis.
reuS r-s -Iu each case the advo-
Gates of progress have had to con-
tend not merely with the conserva-
tism Of men, but with the iuiiher-
ence of women, aud often with ac-
tive opposition from some Of them.
When a merchant in Saco, Me.
first employed a sales eswomau. the
men boycotted his store, and the
women demonstrated with him on
the sin Of placing a young woman
in a position of such publicity
+ When Lucy Stone began to secure
for married women the right Ito
their own property, women asked
with scorn. "Do you think I would
give myself where I would not give
my property9 When Miss An
thony in 1854 circulated a petition
to give women the control of their
own wages, MANY women slamm-
ed the door in her face, with the
statement that they had all the
rights they wanted. When Eliz-
abeth Blackwell began to study
medicine, the women at her board
ing house refused to speak to her,
and women passing her on the
street held their skirts aside. Marv (
Lyon first efforts for the higher |
education Of women were received /
with ridicule, not only by the ma
jority Of men, but by the majority /
OF women as we'll. When Vassar
College was opened, a woman Of
more than ordinary education ard
intelligence voiced the general feel
ing when she said, The mere fact H
that it is called a college for women
IS enough to condemn it. Of one
thing we may be sure: no refined
christian mother will ever send her
daughter to Vassar Collegel"
Mrs Alice Fireman Palmer wrote:
The objections to the political
woman and to the educated women
present some instructive analogies
Fifty years ago it was seriously be
ieved that knowing the classic /
would ruin her morals, philosopt
ler religion, and mathematics d kN
lealth. In general, a college ed 4
.ation would take away her de- lire
o be good wife and mother. To {
'rOtect a being so frail, the COLD ges t
we're carefully closed against nd !" t
When the Oxford examinations y
we're thrown open to women, / lie a
Jean Of Chichester preached a r. d
ION against it. He said: TtBv Il
he sex at large. certainly, the d lew d
is not asked for.I l d
ave ascertained, by extended in t,
uiry among gentlewomen, that, h
18th true feminine instinct. thev n
ther entirely distrust, or else look Z.
18th downright disfavor on so wild p-
d innovation and interference with
le best traditions of their sex.
In eastern countries. where 4
omen are shut up in zenanas and
Ridden to walk the streets un-
eiled, the women themselves are
ten the strongest upholders of
ese traditional restrictions. which
ey have been taught to think add
their dignity. The Chinese lady
as proud Of her small feet as anv
merican anti-sufragist is of her
'litical disabilities. Pubdita Ram
al tells us that the ideh of educa-
N for girls is so UNPOPULAR with
lndoo women that when a pro-
essive HindOO proposes to edu-
te his little daughter. it is not un- -
mmon for the women Of his fam
to threaten to drown themselves.
All this merely shows that hum A
nature is conservative, and that ~
IS fully as conservative in women
men. The persons who take a
ong interest in any reform are
1erally few, whether among men
women, and they are habitually
arded with disfavor BY most of
,se whom the proposed reform is
benefit. no
Before the suffrage movement in
gland began, but when an agita-
had arisen against women's une
-