Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-06

poor, like QumD, driven cattle, are AFRAID TO
protest, and the rich are Indifferent. 1t is
time people Weakened to their Individual
responsibilities Her authoritative voice
and bovine eyes embraced Mrs Varian with
an approving smile. Il am glad to see you
here this morning. she continued. "If more
of your kind would come to these shops and
markets, and lift up their voices where it will
do most good, living conditions would not be
as thew are"
"When women get the VOTE" said Dosia
with smile, "there will be"
"The deuce to pay!'
"You're not suffragette?"
Sod Forbid"
With military precision they turned about
and faced each other in quick sympathy.
shaking with laughter.
LET me show you wherein lies woman's
strength" and the cadence of her voice, SO
different from its former tones, went straight
to Dosia Variants heart.
In and out of pushcarts and stalls Mrs. Var
ian followed her guide, observing the shrewd-
ness and economy with which the housewives
chose and bought. The smaller vegetables
doled out in paper bags were revelation.
"The bags are numbered, said the guide;
lone or two quarts, as the case may be.
But YOU must take the sellers word for it.
When the purchasers get home and weigh
the contents, it's buttons to doughnuts they
are short quarter of a pound, half pint
In Paris you can take your butter or meat
to an official bureau in the neighborhood,
and have test made of both weight and
quality. Proof of fraudulent dealing is
promptly punished"
"Why haven't we one?" asked Dosia in
terestedly, her eye on the fat thumb OF a
butcher holding down the scales while he
weighed steak.
"New York has bureau of weights and
measures; but municipal officers cannot
exercise eternal vigilance. The housewives
should help enforce the law"
Gould they without the vote?'
@Don't get that nonsense into your pretty
head! No vote is necessary to put down
evils of the sort l have pointed out to YOU
1t requires only heart and will. The remedy
is in the hand of the homemakers, wives and
mothers!' She put whistle to her lips and
summoned touring car from cross street.
1Let me take you home, Mrs. Varian?
You re not using your car these days, 1notice."
Dosia hesitated. She had been SO alb
sorbed in all she had heard and seen that
she had forgotten that the woman beside
her was a stranger How had she learned
her own name?
Il read the papers, she said with smile
divining Mrs Variants perplexity.
"And-and believe all you read!"
IL was not born yesterday"
Dosia stepped into the car, and was
speeding homeward without having given
or been asked her address.
IL hope | haven't taken you out of your
way" she said as she ahghted at her own
door. "And while thanking you for your
exceeding kindness, may ask your name?'
"Mrs. Stephen Griswold. l have been
your neighbor for three years" And, with
a vigorous handshake and motherly nod, she
disappeared into the adjoining house, leav
ing Dosia wide-eyed on her own threshold.
THE five weeks were drawing to a close
= when Willis telegraphed:
What's this newspaper acknowledgements
-bridge-suffrage? Much truth as Tobacco
slump. Nicotine soaring Hurrahl Home soon.
Tobacco soaring! Dosia balanced her ac-
counts, and squared the bank shortage she
had borrowed from her husband. She gave
a triumphant little whistle, then a long look
into the future.
THE GRIND Of TIL