New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-02-20
BY Gertrude Atherton:

Votes for Women is death TO literature.
That lofty detachment OF soul. tnat So
rene ssclusion i'm which great thoughts
terminate. is impossible for suiiraSis'
Hence. we may expect no woman shahe-
spear.s-or is il Bacons?
This is the autobiographical lament OF
Miss Beatrice IIarradcn. of London once
writer. now suffragette who talked 70
lot OF women at the Berkeley Theatre
Yesterday morning.
Women writer's have been abused pc
cause they have been so slow e enter
into the arena of the suffrage con1ici'
she said. You must forgive ~. We
nave been reluctant To surrender our Sc
reui;,. II meant the end III imaginative
creative work.
Picture how il works. You Just nave
things going comfortably. your hero neat
Is murdered in an Alpine valley. or y"ur
heroine clipping IN an airship-your IRE
nurns bright. the candle light Is reflected
deliciously in tn. eyes Of your black cat
YOU are creating literature with great
ze.t-when the telephone rings 20 III
one. to the corner of Jones street ana
make a speech. your CAPTAIN COMMANDS
or a telegram arrives: Send thrr" thou-.
sand words by night mail on hystc'a Ia
the House Of Commons.
NO. / didn't IN the least want - near
the call To- suffrage. | was most peace
ful ana comparatively harmless PERSON
saw. however. that Mrs PankhuiSt hdh
great idea. and that We all must .tA down
nur likes and follow her she HJd" votes
for women a matter of practical politics.
Snc tore the sham haloes irom tie heads
of cabinet ministers She showed up the
politician as q mere man like any Other
mo superior creature, but "A stTuGsIlho'
selfish human being uyinb {" iuithet ms
own ends 10y a scheme in which tne WEI
fare of women had very llttlr !nlp'i-
lance
There was a second speaker Miss Ger
mud. AthertOn. who related some al hei
experiences with women IN politics III
California She. by the wa, i>h "orIH %
ing about suffrage and iiteiatu;e-tnere
,,uf b.. nleuty IF time TOT the Literature"
she had consulted a specialist one tlIh''
she said in regard TO a fearful notion III"
had that the DAY would come when she
corld not longer write. Tae doctor al
laN.d her fears.
"'rhore j. no reason why one should not
write better books at ninety than ~
fo,i.." Fe said The brain docs noe
change. II remains VIGOROUS so long as
ones health is reasonably good.
A. for women In politics. Miss Ather-
TON said many things. among them. sucn
as
Women are oysters
a woman politician - no different from
a male one.
Women are too economical FOR polit-
ics
"rbc well known cost OF living viii
moi b. helped any 10y the entranc" OF
women into political life. Tor they are. as
81 spending money.
Women must get over that ancient
instinct for economy which * bred IN
their bone" SIN. said. Men never heSi-
,at. Ia spend money where II viii be
effective. In Los Angeles was 10 Mold
e, hin, meeting I'll" women engaged
hall for five thousand people. but they
refused o. spend money to advertise. As
, result. there were about tire" hundred
people there. That You $50, was false
economy.
..Th. women of California are intel
l.cually lazy. They have been held IN
on a ped.s,a for 80 long that they think
all they nave To de- is 10 smile and b.
queens. they didn't come out To regis
ter Well. I called them oysters. The
next morning ten thousand furious wom-
,..t.
.rhe women also took themselves too
seriously. was success where they
failed because I WAS not too serious. |
told funny stories. where they bored.
"A politician j. "A politician. be II male
OF female. There is no distinction in sen.
Women politicians viii be just as bad AZ
men. no better. no worse.