The Washington herald., 1913-07-10
INDIFFERENCE TO
WOMAN SUFFRAGE
Little Handful Who Have Been Re
sponsible for All the Great Move
ments Toward Betfefment.
Nv FRANCES sHAFFER.

me0O Toward 0eUefme0Is
By FRANCES SKATER.
Probably it is lack of thought-it can
not be ignorance-that makes some foil
so persistently bring forward that OLE
plea Of "woman's Indifference to the bal
lot" whenever they think or talk OF
woman suffrage
They declare that with SO large q
body Of women not caring single straw
which way the suffrage wind blows, ii
would be the rankest folly. Indeed. il
would SAVIOR of injustice, to infiict upon
them a duty to which they are supreme
~ Indifferent.
A woman once heard a tale Of vicious
cruelty, a story in which helpless young
children were involved; and as the de-
tails fell with sickening minuteness 1t
seemed to her that all the listeners must
be stirred to action, or at least that their
emotions must be touched to the depths
But as there came lull in the pitt
full recital, a woman, closest of all to
the speaker, indifferently spoke up, as
she glanced across the street.-the look
at that awful gown OF course. that
revealed the strength of her interest, and
that was not all. For of that little
group of listeners. there was strangely
small majority of women who seemed to
care at all that children were being vic
timized.
And of the small minority of SYM
pathetic women, there was just one who
counted il a duty to bring the story to
the attention of those with the author
ity and the will to act. And that one
had an awakening.
Met Indifference.
For when she carried her story to
those whom she expected to help. she
met-indifference They listened with po-
lite attention. pronounced it really too
bad" but the most that any would
do was casually to wish her well.
She sought a clergyman, and thought,
OF course, he would be glad to cooperate.
but he went not one step farther than
to remark that some enc ought to be
aroused. when his thoughts and his talk
turned to the things that more deeply
interested him. And wherever she looked
Tor the help that she thought Should
be forthcoming, she stumbled against
an unyielding wall OF Indifference Folk
lad their own interests. their troubles.
and all. and would not step aside; and
she was left to fight il out by herself.
of course, she might have waited for
indifference TO come to life, but there
was not a fiutter to lead her to hope that
there ever would be any life. And she
learned then. as many another had
learned before her. that the majority OF
folk are born indifferent.
She learned, too, to reward with great
respect the little handful of men and
women that, in the beginning. alone have
been responsible for any great movement
toward human betterment. Not a thing
in the long list of world benefactions has
come about because a surging majority
of earnest believers were ready to work
and to protest their faith in the cause
they had at heart.
There We're no overwhelming numbers,
not even a comfortable balance. But al
ways in the background of any upheaval
that has been proven right by the sure
test of time, there have stood the faithful
few who nave pinned their colors to the
mast and never have taken them down.
II they had waited to arouse the sleeping
maiorities, the world would be living in
darkness today. For the majority of folk
in the years that are gone had not the
ewes to see that the very best movement |
in the world was good until its fruits |
were placed in their Indifferent hands.
It was a minority of rugged heroes, |
lean revolution.
The Plain Fact.
The plain fact is. though it is not at all !
pleasant to contemplate, had the fate of
broader education for women been left |
in the hands of the great majority, many |
would have spurned the movement and |
protestingly turned it aside, and many |
more would have been quite indifferent.
Indeed. that is exactly what happened. |
But that did not dismay the intrepid few
who believed that as educational light
was let in upon women. they would grow
and develop as nature intended. and that
they should be given the chance.
Does anybody today believe that the
courageous handful of women who at
last prevailed upon the world to let
them into the sanctuary of knowledge
were wrong in their haste and that they
should have waited for the faltering voice
of the real majority? 1t makes one smile,
for the real majority then were modestly
drawing their feminine skirts aside, some
disclaiming their need of anything more
than they had. others announcing their
utter indifference!
When the few-very few and very brave
they were-began to say that the mar
ried woman should be allowed to control
her own property and be granted a few
more rights" storm OF indignationl
arose And feminine protests and femi-
nine indifference on the part of the great 1
ma jority almost blocked the way of the !
earnest minority-handful
But what does the majority think to-
day? Do they wish that indifference had
prevailed? To some of us it seems that
they quite enjoy the fruits of victory, I
won at no little cost. for the Indifferent {
and the protesters made life pretty hard G
for the few.
Those who turn the pages of history
at all, those who have followed, even in q
small way, the growth of the human race 6
know that the majority have always been
when they did not deliber- I
ateiy stand in the way.
And why should they suddenly grow I
alive and alert, actively taking sides? b
The religious spirit did not arouse the
majority in the years when freedom. of Il
was only a dream, the call oil @
does not stir them from their I
peaceful moorings-why should they bel O
expected to lend their ear or their in b
terest to. the question of woman suffrage?l n