Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-02-22

~ per cent. of the women of Maine
VINO are demanding this vote. There
fore, gentlemen, it is for you to say
whether you believe on your oath ~
office that you are doing right in plac-
ing upon this State the extra burden of
expense of a special election next Sep
TENDER to settle this matter.
ask you. who agitates this question?
When this Legislature shall finally adj
journ. how many times will you hear
anything about this question? 1t is
true that you read in the papers that
some of the western states have adopt
ed It and that sometimes ii is spoken
OF at the flreside, but in your meeting
people in your daily walks of life, how
many times and by whom have you
heard it spoken Of?
Much to my pleasure, l have seen no
one wearing red heckling members of this
House in yonder hail whose business
should better call them to the commit
tee rooms. / thank God that the noble
women who are wearing red today have
attended to their home duties and Left
the men to provide for them as l believe
is correct.
How many mornings have you awokc
IN the summer time and found that the
window was open and that the flies that
had crept in were heckling you? The old
frog story is particularly applicable here.
Many of you have heard it; some of you
have not. A farmer went to New YORK
to dispose of some frogs, and he said.
What are you getting for them" They
told him, and they said How mant
have you got?" He said: Il have got !
carload" They said: why YOU haven't
got a carload" He said: II have get
frog pond down there, and you ought
to hear them holler, and you ought to
| hear the noise they make" They said
they could not use a carload but they
could use a bushel. The old man said
ali right, l will send you a bushel." On
his return home nothing was heard from
him for some time, so they wrote him
and said: Where is that bushel Of
| frogs?" The reply that came back was;
For once I was mistaken. When l Went
, down to look for that bushel of frogs,
would you believe it. could find but one
frog down there; but, believe me, he had
a voice that you could hear u half Il
| the same plan that a few women's clubS
get together few ladies get together
! and make a great stir while that noble
womanhood of Maine, as | said before, in
! the houses over the hills and through the
valleys of this grand Cd State. are pay
ing attention to their duties and main
tanning that womanhood as l believe they
should.
] claim that womans status If equal to
mans and, in many cases, far superior
| When we lift her, as you call il. from one
side. that of neutral power, over to the
political body on the other side, in which
she must necessarily take her part, you
/ have transferred her usefulness, her grea;
humanity and her soothing influence
which she has ever maintained against
mans antagonistic nature.
/ Why do we honor women? notice
I that some of YOU gentlemen when riGn ,
| I'D in the elevator remove your hats
when ladies are there. Who taught YOU
| to do it? 1t was your mothers teaching,
which was due to her great interest il
the home. How many men sitting in THIS
! hall can look back with pleasure AMI
remember the teachings of the mother
who is gone, when home was home. Cen
tlemen, the old New England home is fast
passing. and l want to call your atten-
( ton to the old-fashoned. two-story
| house which you see as you drive out
! through the country and to picture in
your minds the inside. and the large fire
place 1t was thought nothing of for
| merly to find father and mother and six
aye, 10 or 10 children assembled there in
the home. and by the teachings Of that
mother and by the teachings of that faith
err the sons of Maine and the daughters
! of Maine have become known all over the
world. In that home. perchance, YOU
found that old, familiar motto, What is
home without a mother
Now, picture to your mind the little
bungalow house of today. Go inside, and
ask YOU, gentlemen. if there is any nee
Of that motto, What is home without a
mother"
submit to you that 1t was the
! teaching of the mother when the moth
err attended to the home duties and
faithfully performed her part OF the
work, that made Maine famous the
world over.
We now come down to one of the
questions very many times raised, tax
alton without representation. This
question is so fraught with lnslGnifi-
canoe that I hardly want to talk on 1t,
l cannot conceive, gentlemen, OF you
men legislating against your own prop
erty, and | do not believe YOU men
have sunk so low that you would enact
laws against the ladies on my right or
on my left. A law that is good for your
property is certainly good for theirs. L
believe the question seriously put to
YOU today is: Is that law good for your
mother, for your wife, or for your sis
ter? Therefore, j am going to pass
right along, as l do not consider this
question worth taking up time on.
Now, gentlemen l am no. going to
weary you, as / am no specchmaker,
and it is nearly time to stop, but | do
I Just want to say this. that it is q rank
| Injustice to the women of Maine to
drag them down from that high pedes-
tai which they occupy in the home and
| in the community in which they belong
| and endeavor to commentaries them.
| | do not believe it is right
fp no nf tho