The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-16
CONN NECTfCUT
 SUFFRA AGE NEWS
1A G Por.ri.tt.l


 One might think that there were no people living whose memories can go back forty or fifty years, no men and women who lived through the fright and turmoil among tlrnid and corlse1-v- ative souls when g1rls first began to go to college Apparently the aaN11es who are associated dn the oTga11aza- ton for opposing woman suffrage are all very young. They must be Wtthoszt relatives and 1t must also be the cass that they have no knowledge of recent history and no acquaintance wtth the course sof development of An1ertcan women Less than fifty years ago people were writing and talking of the utter destruction of society, Of the nonae Of wonaaa1Iy virtue and charm and Of all s11otherlv sentiment in wo-4 men which was to come about hecalse women were demanding a college ed- ucation. The agitation was far more severe ti1an the present agitation about woman suffrage and with good qeasons for the change in the outlook of women through the e1IRcation and traanine was far greater than any |ohange that is likely to come over the minds and hearts of the women of the country 6hroudgh the obtaining of the ballot.
 It was a real revolution when wo-5 men first began to be educated, and to look abroad beyond their own door Istep. It made possible the formation of wornen's clubs a11ot ther step for ward that frightened the tiraid almost out of their wdts. Is there anyone liv- ing who can rernenEber-I can myself and do not concede that am aged-s the ridicu1e that was poured out upon Soroslts when that famous club. held its curly meetings in New York Has anyone in Connecticut in her ssses- sion an old volume of seEIm as in which women were severely sec a for neglect of their natural duties nd for delighti1lg instead of belong1ni to a cl1loa masculine invention never in- tended for poor weak fennaaes2 Yet the world survived the coming of higher edueaeton for women and Of woznenss clubs and organisations, and nowadays the esnti-s6drage orgaTlfxa- tions are made possible by advances not any less radical than the further lds there now who wiM uphold that ei- ucatIon. is pernfcioqls for women, and that women unsex themselves by 5oi11-s ing one of the myriad women's clubs There is not town or city without a woTnan'S club, and the ministers nowadays encourage the formation Of such associations in connection with the churches
 This advance of the past fifty years is all part of the great government of 4eEldaisrn-tla fenintsn of wRlich the ant i-sufrragists bid us all beware. In stead Of considering the movement in Iites large and worthy aspects the ant suffragists like to dfscover some obscure and erratic irdfvidlal-and all for ward movements have some such Individuals who attach themselves to thern-and to pick out little dread fl1s', and then hold up hands in holy horror and declare that these unrelat- ed excerpts indicate the teaching of quite unrelated people
 Mrs Williams. the press chafr1nan or | tJ1es Connecffc71f Assocjafion ClxSs,nssad
 to Women Suffrage, follows this plan ! in some of her recent protounceTf1ents She mentions two or three women whom the sufnragists of Connectacut for the most part never heard of and | in whom they haves no interest She makes few extracts of the value Of which it is Impossible to judge without the context; and then on the strength Of this evidence C?) declares that if women gain the vote they and or course she herself along with the rest ] of the women, will become utterly inn
 moral. will break up their homes; and give up caring for fheir children. It l is a. pity that the suffFag1sts feel that their morality is so feeble and weak. The suffragists cannot easaly be convinced that the possession of the vote will prove SO intoxicating
 They see in ft 9, new power for right ! eousneass a weapon for the defence Of the home and of the children: a pos- session which will make the working woman person worthy of corsidera- tdon by the legislators and the admin tstrators Of the law They do not see in it any subtle poison that will change the mature Of the women and make those who have always been the guar dians Of the home and of morality suddenly reverse their traditions and CTS Of all that women hold most dear and Inbst precious