The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1917, 1913-11-06

a cnanSe. IL these early pioneers or
suffrage could have lived longer
and trained their disciples, perhaps
there would not now be the record Of
violence, arson and malicious acts
that are chalked up against the fol-
lowers of the movement.
Mrs. Pankhurst has been one of
the most active, and her crime is the
greater for the reason that she is of
a higher type than the average Eng
lish woman of the class whom suf-
frage was meant to benefit. She has
been bitten by the bug of notoriety,
and has almost lost sight of the fact
that she had started as the represen-
tative of a movement that was to
mean much or nothing for a lot of
people who were unfairly treated.
The other example of suffrage ad-
herents, the American woman, was
also bitten by the bug of notoriety;
from tolerance, the husband viewed
with amusement the efforts of his
wife to make things other than they
were; that he was at least in sympa-
thy with her, was evident from the
fact that he often accompanied her
to the meetings she was to address.
When the rival sets of leaders and
breach between Mrs. Mackay and
Mrs Belmont was public gossip, it
is said young Mr.. Mackay begged his
wife to give the thing up. But the
bug Of nOtoriety had bitten deeply,
and the poison was doing it's work.
The home was no longer the attrac-
tive place it had been, and the brill
liant woman became the ferVid ora
tor; the devoted mother became the
inspired champion of other moth
ers who were demanding rights
which they had no more conception
of, than the negroes of the Sixties
had.
Theorists have caused more blood
shed and more tragedy in this world
than the worst rake who ever
smashed the whole decalogue at one
sweep.
Theorists have less sense, and more
reasons for being theorists than any
other class Of people on earth; they
are blind and deaf to the things that
count-the things that are worth
while-the things that go to make
life what it should be.
And your suffragette, of any class,
age or state, is a theorist; she will
not look at the fact indisputable-
that the home is the bulWark; that
the children in the home are the ones
who may be trained to remedy the
evils that are, and bring about the
good that may be possible.
1t is just as sensible to say that an
incubator will make as good moth
er to a chicken as the good old fash
toned hen, as to say that the child
problem is no problem at ALL and
that children may be raised" in any
slip-shod method that will enable
mothers to go off after every fad and
every folly that the homeless, child
less woman may cOncoct.
The problems of the age are with
the women of the age to solve; but
the ballot box is a small thing in
comparison with the other weapons
they may use.
Mrs. Pankhurst and Mrs. Mackay
are each living examples of what too
much notoriety will do. The coarsen-
ing and the ultimate death of much
that may have made them fine wo-
men, is traceable directly to the
methods each has used to gain.
what?
Mrs. Pankhurst showed in the
early days of her lecture trip here
that it was 1.-The money there was in
it," as much as any desire to benefit
her sisters that actuated her trip to
this country.
The domestic tragedy which has