The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-23
lWOMAN'S SPHERE BA

arms. cease their slaughter and bring
back peace-not because some women
who are voters make such demand,
but because the nobility Of woman
hood. unable longer to endure the
wholesale murder without protest. Is
impelled to raise its voice unselfishly
and unafra!d. That some Of the
women thus engaged in voicing
humanity's protest happen TO be voters
does not add a straw's weight to the
splendor OF their appeal. 1t is not
votes that is being heard at The
Hague, but the soul OF courageous
! womanhood.
No" said Or. Boynton refiective.y,
"a great deal Of the urgent desire on
the part OF some women for the fran
chise arises from n Misunderstanding
OF facts at bottom of the whole ques-
ton. the question OF American
womanhood, which Is so large so far
reaching. that suffrage is but an in
cdental part In It. And while my own
opinion may be changed at some flu
| ture date" he went on with a smile,
yet I am quite sure that up to the
present time the millions upon millions
OF wives and mothers and grand
mothers who give our country its very
life, its abiding strength. moral and
other-I am quite sure that American
womanhood itself Is not ready to take
its ideals from academic spinsters and
divorced women who occupy such
prominent place and WELD such In
fuence in this latter day campaigning
for equal political activities with men,
You know the trouble with a great
deal Of the utterance OF to-day is that
those voicing It speak--and act-with-
out giving due study and cons deration
to the matter as a whole. Let me H.
lustrate. Here Is a charming young
girl, brought up in a home of bound
less affection, guarded from every
harm that might befal her, supplied
with clothing. food, shelter, amuse-
ments. entertainments. with every
thing her father and mother can be-
stow. She goes 10 college. where she
IS suddenly thrown from her home en-
vironment into one totally strange,
where the home element Is perforce
lacking. Whether she live in a dor
mitory or elsewhere, IL is not her own
home. Suddenly large measure Of
liberty Is achieved. in thinking as well
as N doing. In all likelihood n num-
Der OF the faculty members with
whom she comes In contact are spin
sters who have had no real experience
with life: merely that of training hun
dreds Of girls who are temporary resi-
dents Of the college building. The new
doctrine is N the air; on every side
the young girl hears about votes for
WON n and 'woman's rightful place
in the world
"Is it any wonder. 7 ask, that after
months and years OF breathing such
atmosphere she Is become obsessed
with the idea? Forgetting for a time
the conditions of concord and natural
div sion OF duties and responsibilities
which have existed in her fathers
home. she is caught up in the swirl
she Is too immature to have vision
of the underlying facts---and when she
comes ont OF college the chances al
are that IL she isn't a passive suffra-
gst she is an active one. And his
sweet young girl, IN the early COS,
with such positive and insistent
opinions doesn't really know any more
about life than chicken knows about
chicken pie.
The suffragsts say they want free
dom, and ! would be the last person
to deny it to them. Freedom? OF
course! They ought to have freedom
but do the demands for political ac-
tiviY mean freedom7 I asked one
very active woman Just what Il IA
that she wants, and she replied. \ van,