The Cotton Factory Times. — 1906-05-04 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

CON CORRIGAN.  The other night a few o' the boys gev me a call, an' among them was Flannaghan. I could see at once he was full of a grievanoe, an' it wasn't long before we wor discussin' the scene in the House o' Commons over the Women's Suffrage Bill—or, rather, Flan was givin' his views, for none of us got much of a look in wid him. "I never had a good opinion of Parhernia," sea he, "but I did think the present wan was a bit better than many or most that wint before it; but, the devil a bit! Wasn't it a beautiful an' edifyin' spectacle to see so-called min shoutin' out for the police because six women said 'Boo!' to thim? It reminds wan o' Teunyson's pome wid a bit of alteration :  Bobbies to right o' them, Bobbies to left o' them: Six ladies said "ahem!" Parliament wondered; "Treason!" widout a doubt, Loud cries of "Chuck 'em out." What was yer fear about, fliai..stsT Six Hundred?  "It's a great wonder," continued Flan, "that the polite didn't go on strike. An' mebbe they wculd ha' done if they had a union behind 'em." "But, look ye here, Flan," sea Doolin, timidly, "the Beane. o' Commons has to maintain its dignity, an' they can't allow this sort o' thing to go on in the sacred praycincts." "The sacred—what?" ses Flan. "The sacred praycincts," ses Doolin, a trifle boulder.  "Well, be the holy farmkr," replied Flan, "dignity' an" sacred praycincts ' applied to the Heause o' Commons; shure, it's Westminster Abbey across the way yer thinkin' abeaut, man! There's nothin' sacred abeaut the Heause of Commons—not even its prayers; an' as to its dignity, well, it has lost what it was plaised to call its dignity many and many a time." "There wasn't much dignity in the conduct o' the brave min who 'talked' women's suffrage out. An' could ye blame the women for gettin' excited whin they seen they wor bein' bate with their own waypon—the tongue?" "But one of them said they'd ha' to commit some murders before they got their rights," ees Empire. "They'd do a betther service if they'd commit some suicides," sea Johnny O'Brien. "That's just what I'd expect from you, Johnny, wid yer milishia trainin'. Tell me, how did min get their rights—or what they fancy they've got? Didn't they pull London to pieces? Didn't they play 'Hamlet' wid everythin' an' everybody? If a woman is fit to be Queen of England surely she's fit to have a Parliamentary vote. Why shouldn't she be an M.P.? God knows, the Heause o' Commons has harboured many an' ould woman o' the male persuasion wid breeches for ginerations, an' why should they fear a female woman, wid petticoats an'—brains? Even workin' min look down on women as their infayriors ; but whin the employers take the cue, and engage women to do min's work, for Ipwer wages, the mmx! cry out that the women should be equal—in wages! There's beautiful logic for ye, me beauties! Women voters wouldn't go maffickin' mad' for their sons an' brothers an' husbands to be killed; an' they wouldn't hang off the pollin' booth till five minits to eight. mouchin' ale, like some o' the min voters do now." "But:" sea Doolin, "we min are the naeheral rulers; it's our prayrogathe as the lords an' masters, an' the wimmin should lave the affairs o' the nation to us, who understand thim." . _  "Why, ye chicken-hearted nonentity," began Flan, but Doolin interrupted him to rayiterate his belief in "the soveraigntv of man," but had got no further whin Mrs. Doolin put her head in at the door, an' said to her excited better half :  " Me good man, didn't I tell y; whin ye wint out to be in in half-an-hour? Come along here, ,ye little blatherskite, or I'll pull the head off o' ye!' Poor Doolin wint—as tamely as "Mary's little lamb," an' the laugh that followed him put even Flan in a good humour, so we dropped the woman's suffrage question, au' talked :11ut the earthquake.