The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1914-07-03
FROM A LAKELAND WoMAN's
PEDESTAL
Lakeland, Fla, June 20, 1914

4
i've and most interesting article in
the Ocala Banner.
My pedestal is a very high and a
very rickety one, and often do l fear
as l clutch madly to it. that it viii
topple over and precipitate me into
the vulgar crowd below.
Sometimes as / sit up here, watch
ing the stream of poor, suffering hui
mainly go by, l long to reach down
and help them, but the pedestal is too
high, and my poor, weak hands can
do nothing to aid them.
see a mother coming. She is the
bread-winner for a family of seven.
She tolls from daylight until way into
the night. Her husband has gone to
destruction, wrecked by the legalized
liquor traffic. He has wasted a small
fortune, and now must look to the
little woman, tottering along on her
pedestal, her back nearly breaking
meath it's heavy load, to stand be-
tween him and starvation. He is
bloated, blear-eyed and savage of tenn
per, but he can vOte-yea, he can vote.
The world seeks his opinion on all
questions of the nations welfare and
the little woman-welI, she can toll
and pray. Her sons and daughters
are growing up, beset by temptations,
and she is powerless to save them
from the snares that await them if
they are weak enough to yield.
l look again, compassiGnately, down
from my pedestal. l see two young
men, fair of face, made in the image
of their Lord, the hope and pride of
some mothers heart. They see me
not. l reach out my hands to them
and implore them to come up and sit
ON my pedestal with me, safe from the
dangers of the world. They heed me
not, but humble something about
personal liberty" and rush along to
their destruction.
Months pass. I see them emerge
from the door of the grog shop. Their
debauched faces telling tale too sad
for words to express. They can vote
yea, vote for the destruction of their
bodies and the damnation of their
souls, and their poor mother, on her
pedestal, is powerIess to save them.
I look again. / see a fair, young,
motherless girl caught in the snare of
legalized vice. oh, how I long to
reach out my hands and protect her.
but no! my pedestal is too high, and
she rushes along to worse than death
when the right kind of votes might
have saved her.
look again. see woman working
like slave from morning until night,
serving hearty meals and preparing
comfortable. beds for twenty men
boarders. She has the respect of ev-
cry man in the house, of her neigh
bors, and of her church; but, as l
look, am shocked to see that she has
stepped down from her pedestal. She
said she could not get around fast
enough on such an fncumbrance.
There was SO much work to be done.
Just then her husband came in. ut
takes all he earns to buy whiskey, so
it is impossible for him to help sup
port the family. His wife and l had
been talking about votes for women.
He scowled savagely at us, and you
just ought to have seen that little
woman scramble upon her pedestal
again.
Votes for women" said he bah,
such talk is disgusting. l wouldn' t
have any respect for my wife if she
were to vote. A woman is out of her
sphere elbowing her way among men
to the ballot box. A woman's place
is the home. She has no right to neg
lect her home and her family by go
ing to the polls"
And right there, Mr. Editor, / slip
ped down from my pedestal-just long
enough to tell him a thing or two.
told him that I thought that any
woman who could trot around in a
dining room full of men and minister
to their wants and keep their respect,
could do the same if she went to the
ballot box And that she must be a
very down-trodden creature, indeed
if she could not be spared from her
home for a few minutes at election
time to show the nation which side OF
the fence she stands on-the side OF
corruption and wrong-doing, or the
Lords side. To hear some people
talk, one would think that a woman
had to vote three or four times a day
l on1 che bod - ~