The Project Gutenberg eBook, Are Women People?, by Alice Duer Miller This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Are Women People? Author: Alice Duer Miller Release Date: March 23, 2004 [eBook #11689] Language: English Character set encoding: iso-8859-1 ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARE WOMEN PEOPLE?*** E-text prepared by papeters and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team ARE WOMEN PEOPLE? By ALICE DUER MILLER ARE WOMEN PEOPLE? A BOOK OF RHYMES FOR SUFFRAGE TIMES BY ALICE DUER MILLER AUTHOR OF "BLUE ARCH," "THE MODERN OBSTACLE." ETC. TO V.B.W. SLAVE-DRIVER AND FRIEND Introduction Father, what is a Legislature? A representative body elected by the people of the state. Are women people? No, my son, criminals, lunatics and women are not people. Do legislators legislate for nothing? Oh, no; they are paid a salary. By whom? By the people. Are women people? Of course, my son, just as much as men are. To the New York Tribune, in whose generous columns many of these verses first appeared, the author here wishes to express her gratitude. CONTENTS Introduction CONTENTS TREACHEROUS TEXTS CAMPAIGN MATERIAL WOMEN'S SPHERE A MASQUE OF TEACHERS THE UNCONSCIOUS SUFFRAGISTS TREACHEROUS TEXTS ARE WOMEN PEOPLE? A Consistent Anti to Her Son ("Look at the hazards, the risks, the physical dangers that ladies would be exposed to at the polls."—Anti-suffrage speech.) You're twenty-one to-day, Willie, And a danger lurks at the door, I've known about it always, But I never spoke before; When you were only a baby It seemed so very remote, But you're twenty-one to-day, Willie, And old enough to vote. You must not go to the polls, Willie, Never go to the polls, They're dark and dreadful places Where many lose their souls; They smirch, degrade and coarsen, Terrible things they do To quiet, elderly women— What would they do to you! If you've a boyish fancy For any measure or man, Tell me, and I'll tell Father, He'll vote for it, if he can. He casts my vote, and Louisa's, And Sarah, and dear Aunt Clo; Wouldn't you let him vote for you? Father, who loves you so? I've guarded you always, Willie, Body and soul from harm; I'll guard your faith and honor, Your innocence and charm From the polls and their evil spirits, Politics, rum and pelf; Do you think I'd send my only son Where I would not go myself? Our Idea of Nothing at All ("I am opposed to woman suffrage, but I am not opposed to woman."—Anti-suffrage speech of Mr. Webb of North Carolina.) O women, have you heard the news O women, have you heard the news Of charity and grace? Look, look, how joy and gratitude Are beaming in my face! For Mr. Webb is not opposed To woman in her place! O Mr. Webb, how kind you are To let us live at all, To let us light the kitchen range And tidy up the hall; To tolerate the female sex In spite of Adam's fall. O girls, suppose that Mr. Webb Should alter his decree! Suppose he were opposed to us— Opposed to you and me. What would be left for us to do— Except to cease to be? Lines to Mr. Bowdle of Ohio ("The women of this smart capital are beautiful. Their beauty is disturbing to business; their feet are beautiful, their ankles are beautiful, but here I must pause."—Mr. Bowdle's anti-suffrage speech in Congress, January 12, 1915.) You, who despise the so-called fairer sex, Be brave. There really isn't any reason You should not, if you wish, oppose and vex And scold us in, and even out of season; But don't regard it as your bounden duty To open with a tribute to our beauty. Say if you like that women have no sense, No self-control, no power of concentration; Say that hysterics is our one defence Our virtue but an absence of temptation; These I can bear, but, oh, I own it rankles To hear you maundering on about our ankles. Tell those old stories, which have now and then Been from the Record thoughtfully deleted, Repeat that favorite one about the hen, Repeat the ones that cannot be repeated; But in the midst of such enjoyments, smother The impulse to extol your "sainted mother." On Not Believing All You Hear ("Women are angels, they are jewels, they are queens and princesses of our hearts."—Anti-suffrage speech of Mr. Carter of Oklahoma.) "Angel, or jewel, or princess, or queen, Tell me immediately, where have you been?" "I've been to ask all my slaves so devoted Why they against my enfranchisement voted." "Angel and princess, that action was wrong. Back to the kitchen, where angels belong." The Revolt of Mother ("Every true woman feels----"—Speech of almost any Congressman.) I am old-fashioned, and I think it right That man should know, by Nature's laws eternal, The proper way to rule, to earn, to fight, And exercise those functions called paternal; But even I a little bit rebel At finding that he knows my job as well. At least he's always ready to expound it, Especially in legislative hall, The joys, the cares, the halos that surround it, "How women feel"—he knows that best of all. In fact his thesis is that no one can Know what is womanly except a man. I am old-fashioned, and I am content When he explains the world of art and science And government—to him divinely sent— I drink it in with ladylike compliance. But cannot listen—no, I'm only human— While he instructs me how to be a woman. The Gallant Sex (A woman engineer has been dismissed by the Board of Education, under their new rule that women shall not attend high pressure boilers, although her work has been satisfactory and she holds a license to attend such boilers from the Police Department.) Lady, dangers lurk in boilers, Risks I could not let you face. Men were meant to be the toilers, Home, you know, is woman's place. Have no home? Well, is that so? Still, it's not my fault, you know. Charming lady, work no more; Fair you are and sweet as honey; Work might make your fingers sore, And, besides, I need the money. Prithee rest,—or starve or rob— Only let me have your job! Representation ("My wife is against suffrage, and that settles me."—Vice-President Marshall.) I My wife dislikes the income tax, And so I cannot pay it; She thinks that golf all interest lacks, So now I never play it; She is opposed to tolls repeal (Though why I cannot say), But woman's duty is to feel, And man's is to obey. II I'm in a hard position for a perfect gentleman, I want to please the ladies, but I don't see how I can, My present wife's a suffragist, and counts on my support, But my mother is an anti, of a rather biting sort; One grandmother is on the fence, the other much opposed, And my sister lives in Oregon, and thinks the question's closed; Each one is counting on my vote to represent her view. Now what should you think proper for a gentleman to do? Sonnet ("Three bills known as the Thompson-Bewley cannery bills have been advanced to third reading in the Senate and Assembly at Albany. One permits the canners to work their employés seven days a week, a second allows them to work women after 9 p.m. and a third removes every restriction upon the hours of labor of women and minors."—Zenas L. Potter, former chief cannery investigator for New York State Factory Investigating Commission.) Let us not to an unrestricted day Impediments admit. Work is not work To our employés, but a merry play; They do not ask the law's excuse to shirk. Ah, no, the canning season is at hand, When summer scents are on the air distilled, When golden fruits are ripening in the land, And silvery tins are gaping to be filled. Now to the cannery with jocund mien Before the dawn come women, girls and boys, Whose weekly hours (a hundred and nineteen) Seem all too short for their industrious joys. If this be error and be proved, alas The Thompson-Bewley bills may fail to pass! To President Wilson ("I hold it as a fundamental principle and so do you, that every people has the right to determine its own form of government. And until recently 50 per cent, of the people of Mexico have not had a look-in in determining who should be their governors, or what their government should be."—Speech of President Wilson.) Wise and just man—for such I think you are— How can you see so burningly and clear Injustices and tyrannies afar, Yet blind your eyes to one that lies so near? How can you plead so earnestly for men Who fight their own fight with a bloody hand; How hold their cause so wildly dear, and then Forget the women of your native land? With your stern ardor and your scholar's word You speak to us of human liberty; Can you believe that women are not stirred By this same human longing to be free? He who for liberty would strike a blow Need not take arms, or fly to Mexico. Home and Where It Is (An Indiana judge has recently ruled: As to the right of the husband to decide the location of the home that "home is where the husband is.") Home is where the husband is, Home is where the husband is, Be it near or be it far, Office, theatre, Pullman car, Poolroom, polls, or corner bar— All good wives remember this— Home is where the husband is. Woman's place is home, I wis. Leave your family bacon frying, Leave your wash and dishes drying, Leave your little children crying; Join your husband, near or far, At the club or corner bar, For the court has taught us this: "Home is where the husband is." The Maiden's Vow (A speaker at the National Education Association advised girls not to study algebra. Many girls, he said, had lost their souls through this study. The idea has been taken up with enthusiasm.) I will avoid equations, And shun the naughty surd, I must beware the perfect square, Through it young girls have erred: And when men mention Rule of Three Pretend I have not heard. Through Sturm's delightful theorems Illicit joys assure, Though permutations and combinations My woman's heart allure, I'll never study algebra, But keep my spirit pure. Such Nonsense ("Where on earth did the idea come from that the ballot is a boon, a privilege and an honor? From men."—Mrs. Prestonia Mann Martin.) Who is it thinks the vote some use? Man. (Man is often such a goose!) Indeed it makes me laugh to see How men have struggled to be free. Poor Washington, who meant so well, And Nathan Hale and William Tell, Hampden and Bolivar and Pym, And L'Ouverture—remember him? And Garibaldi and Kossuth, And some who threw away their youth, All bitten by the stupid notion That liberty was worth emotion. They could not get it through their heads That if they stayed tucked up in beds, Avoiding politics and strife, They'd lead a pleasant, peaceful life. Let us, dear sisters, never make Such a ridiculous mistake; But teach our children o'er and o'er That liberty is just a chore. A Suggested Campaign Song ("No brass bands. No speeches. Instead a still, silent, effective influence."—Anti-suffrage speech.) We are waging—can you doubt it? A campaign so calm and still No one knows a thing about it, And we hope they never will. No one knows What we oppose, And we hope they never will. We are ladylike and quiet, Here a whisper—there a hint; Never speeches, bands or riot, Nothing suitable for print. No one knows What we oppose, For we never speak for print. Sometimes in profound seclusion, In some far (but homelike) spot, We will make a dark allusion: "We're opposed to you-know-what." No one knows What we oppose, For we call it "You-Know-What." The Woman of Charm ("I hate a woman who is not a mystery to herself, as well as to me."—The Phoenix.) If you want a receipt for that popular mystery Known to the world as a Woman of Charm, Take all the conspicuous ladies of history, Mix them all up without doing them harm. The beauty of Helen, the warmth of Cleopatra, Salome's notorious skill in the dance, The dusky allure of the belles of Sumatra, The fashion and finish of ladies from France. The youth of Susanna, beloved by an elder, The wit of a Chambers' incomparable minx, The conjugal views of the patient Griselda, The fire of Sappho, the calm of the Sphinx, The eyes of La Vallière, the voice of Cordelia, The musical gifts of the sainted Cecelia, Trilby and Carmen and Ruth and Ophelia, Madame de Staël and the matron Cornelia, Iseult, Hypatia and naughty Nell Gwynn, Una, Titania and Elinor Glyn. Take of these elements all that is fusible, Melt 'em all down in a pipkin or crucible, Set 'em to simmer and take off the scum, And a Woman of Charm is the residuum! (Slightly adapted from W.S. Gilbert.) A Modern Proposal (It has been said that the feminist movement is the true solution of the mother-in-law problem.) Sylvia, my dear, I would be yours with pleasure, All that you are seems excellent to me, Except your mother, who's much more at leisure Than mothers ought to be. Find her a fad, a job, an occupation, Eugenics, dancing, uplift, yes, or crime, Set her to work for her Emancipation— That takes a lot of time. Or, if the suffrage doctrine fails to charm her, There are the Antis—rather in her line— Guarding the Home from Maine to Alabama Would keep her out of mine. The Newer Lullaby ("Good heavens, when I think what the young boy of to-day is growing up to I gasp. He has too many women around him all the time. He has his mother when he is a baby."—Bernard Fagin, Probation Officer.) Hush-a-bye, baby, Feel no alarm, Gunmen shall guard you, Lest Mother should harm. Wake in your cradle, Hear father curse! Isn't that better Than Mother or Nurse? The Protected Sex With apologies to James Whitcomb Riley. ("The result of taking second place to girls at school is that the boy feels a sense of inferiority that he is never afterward able entirely to shake off."—Editorial in London Globe against co-education.) There, little girl, don't read, You're fond of your books, I know, But Brother might mope If he had no hope Of getting ahead of you. It's dull for a boy who cannot lead. There, little girl, don't read. Warning to Suffragists ("The Latin man believes that giving woman the vote will make her less attractive."—Anna H. Shaw.) They must sacrifice their beauty Who would do their civic duty, Who the polling booth would enter, Who the ballot box would use; As they drop their ballots in it Men and women in a minute, Lose their charm, the antis tell us, But—the men have less to lose. Partners ("Our laws have not yet reached the point of holding that property which is the result of the husband's earnings and the wife's savings becomes their joint property.... In this most important of all partnerships there is no partnership property."—Recent decision of the New York Supreme Court.) Lady, lovely lady, come and share All my care; Oh how gladly I will hurry To confide my every worry (And they're very dark and drear) In your ear. Lady, share the praise I obtain Now and again; Though I'm shy, it doesn't matter, I will tell you how they flatter: Every compliment I'll share Fair and square. Lady, I my toil will divide At your side; I outside the home, you within; You shall wash and cook and spin, I'll provide the flax and food, If you're good. Partners, lady, we shall be, You and me, Partners in the highest sense Looking for no recompense, For, the savings that we make, I shall take. What Governments Say to Women (The law compels a married woman to take the nationality of her husband.) I In Time of War Help us. Your country needs you; Show that you love her, Give her your men to fight, Ay, even to fall; The fair, free land of your birth, Set nothing above her, Not husband nor son, She must come first of all. II In Time of Peace What's this? You've wed an alien, Yet you ask for legislation To guard your nationality? We're shocked at your demand. A woman when she marries Takes her husband's name and nation: She should love her husband only. What's a woman's native land? "Oh, That 'Twere Possible!" With apologies to Lord Tennyson. ("The grant of suffrage to women is repugnant to instincts that strike their roots deep in the order of nature. It runs counter to human reason, it flouts the teachings of experience and the admonitions of common sense."—N.Y. Times, Feb. 7, 1915.) Oh, that 'twere possible After those words inane For me to read The Times Ever again! When I was wont to read it In the early morning hours, In a mood 'twixt wrath and mirth, I exclaimed: "Alas, Ye Powers, These ideas are fainter, quainter Than anything on earth!" A paper's laid before me. Not thou, not like to thee. Dear me, if it were possible The Times should ever see How very far the times have moved (Spelt with a little "t"). The Times Editorials Lovely Antiques, breathing in every line The perfume of an age long passed away, Wafting us back to 1829, Museum pieces of a by-gone day, You should not languish in the public press Where modern thought might reach and do you harm, And vulgar youth insult your hoariness, Missing the flavor of your old world charm; You should be locked, where rust cannot corrode In some old rosewood cabinet, dimmed by age, With silver-lustre, tortoise shell and Spode; And all would cry, who read your yellowing page: "Yes, that's the sort of thing that men believed Before the First Reform Bill was conceived!" CAMPAIGN MATERIAL (For Both Sides) Our Own Twelve Anti-suffragist Reasons 1. Because no woman will leave her domestic duties to vote. 2. Because no woman who may vote will attend to her domestic duties. 3. Because it will make dissension between husband and wife. 4. Because every woman will vote as her husband tells her to. 5. Because bad women will corrupt politics. 6. Because bad politics will corrupt women. 7. Because women have no power of organization. 8. Because women will form a solid party and outvote men. 9. Because men and women are so different that they must stick to different duties. 10. Because men and women are so much alike that men, with one vote each, can represent their own views and ours too. 11. Because women cannot use force. 12. Because the militants did use force. Why We Oppose Pockets for Women 1. Because pockets are not a natural right. 2. Because the great majority of women do not want pockets. If they did they would have them. 3. Because whenever women have had pockets they have not used them. 4. Because women are required to carry enough things as it is, without the additional burden of pockets. 5. Because it would make dissension between husband and wife as to whose pockets were to be filled. 6. Because it would destroy man's chivalry toward woman, if he did not have to carry all her things in his pockets. 7. Because men are men, and women are women. We must not fly in the face of nature. 8. Because pockets have been used by men to carry tobacco, pipes, whiskey flasks, chewing gum and compromising letters. We see no reason to suppose that women would use them more wisely. Fashion Notes: Past and Present 1880—Anti-suffrage arguments are being worn long, calm and flowing this year, with the dominant note that of woman's intellectual inferiority. 1890—Violence is very evident in this season's modes, and our more conservative thinkers are saying that woman suffrage threatens the home, the Church and the Republic. 1900—A complete change of style has taken place. Everything is being worn a l'aristocrate, with the repeated assertion that too many people are voting already. 1915—The best line of goods shown by the leading anti-suffrage houses this spring is the statement that woman suffrage is the same thing as free love. The effect is extremely piquant and surprising. Why We Oppose Women Travelling in Railway Trains 1. Because travelling in trains is not a natural right. 2. Because our great-grandmothers never asked to travel in trains. 3. Because woman's place is the home, not the train. 4. Because it is unnecessary; there is no point reached by a train that cannot be reached on foot. 5. Because it will double the work of conductors, engineers and brakemen who are already overburdened. 6. Because men smoke and play cards in trains. Is there any reason to believe that women will behave better? Why We Oppose Schools for Children (By the Children's Anti-School League.) 1. Because education is a burden, not a right. 2. Because not one-tenth of one per cent. of the children of this country have demanded education. 3. Because if we are educated we should have to behave as if we were and we don't want to. 4. Because it is essentially against the nature of a child to be educated. 5. Because we can't see that it has done so much for grown-ups, and there is no reason for thinking it will make children perfect. 6. Because the time of children is already sufficiently occupied without going to school. 7. Because it would make dissension between parent and child. Imagine the home life of a parent who turned out to be more ignorant than his (or her) child? 8. Because we believe in the indirect education of the theatre, the baseball field and the moving picture. We believe that schools would in a great measure deprive us of this. 9. Because our parents went to school. They love us, they take care of us, they tell us what to do. We are content that they should be educated for us. But Then Who Cares for Figures An argument sometimes used against paying women as highly as men for the same work is that women are only temporarily in industry. Forty-four per cent of the women teachers in the public schools of New York have been more than ten years in the service, while only twenty-six per cent of the men teachers have served as long. The Bundesrath of Germany has decided to furnish medical and financial assistance to women at the time of childbirth, in order "to alleviate the anxiety of husbands at the front." How strange this would sound: "The Bundesrath has decided to furnish medical assistance to the wounded at the front, in order to alleviate the anxiety of wives and mothers at home." When a benefit is suggested for men, the question asked is: "Will it benefit men?" When a benefit is suggested for women, the question is: "Will it benefit men?" Why We Oppose Votes for Men 1. Because man's place is the armory. 2. Because no really manly man wants to settle any question otherwise than by fighting about it. 3. Because if men should adopt peaceable methods women will no longer look up to them. 4. Because men will lose their charm if they step out of their natural sphere and interest themselves in other matters than feats of arms, uniforms and drums. 5. Because men are too emotional to vote. Their conduct at baseball games and political conventions shows this, while their innate tendency to appeal to force renders them peculiarly unfit for the task of government. The Logic of the Law In 1875 the Supreme Court of Wisconsin in denying the petition of women to practise before it said: "It would be shocking to man's reverence for womanhood and faith in woman ... that woman should be permitted to mix professionally in all the nastiness which finds its way into courts of justice." It then names thirteen subjects as unfit for the attention of women—three of them are crimes committed against women. Consistency ("Vile insults, lewd talk and brutal conduct were used by the indicted men to frighten respectable women who went to the polls in Terre Haute at the last election, asserted District Attorney Dailey."—Press Dispatch.) Are the polls unfit for decent women? No, sir, they are perfectly orderly. Tut, tut! Go there at once and swear and be brutal, or what will become of our anti-suffrage argument? Sometimes We're Ivy, and Sometimes We're Oak Is it true that the English government is calling on women to do work abandoned by men? Yes, it is true. Is not woman's place the home? No, not when men need her services outside the home. Will she never be told again that her place is the home? Oh, yes, indeed. When? As soon as men want their jobs back again. Do You Know That in 1869 Miss Jex-Blake and four other women entered for a medical degree at the University of Edinburgh? That the president of the College of Physicians refused to give the women the prizes they had won? That the undergraduates insulted any professor who allowed women to compete for prizes? That the women were stoned in the streets, and finally excluded from the medical school? That in 1877 the British Medical Association declared women ineligible for membership? That in 1881 the International Medical Congress excluded women from all but its "social and ceremonial meetings"? That the Obstetrical Society refused to allow a woman's name to appear on the title page of a pamphlet which she had written with her husband? That according to a recent dispatch from London, many hospitals, since the outbreak of hostilities, have asked women to become resident physicians, and public authorities are daily endeavoring to obtain women as assistant medical officers and as school doctors? Interviews With Celebrated Anti-Suffragists "Woman's place is in my home."—Appius Claudius. "I have never felt the need of the ballot."—Cleopatra. "Magna Charta merely fashionable fad of ye Barons."—King John. "Boston Tea Party shows American colonists to be hysterical and utterly incapable of self-government."—George III. "Know of no really good slaves who desire emancipation."—President of the United Slaveholders' Protective Association. Another of Those Curious Coincidences On February 15, the House of Representatives passed a bill making it unlawful to ship in interstate commerce the products of a mill, cannery or factory which have been produced by the labor of children under fourteen years. Forty-three gentlemen voted against it. Forty-one of those forty-three had also voted against the woman suffrage bill. Not one single vote was cast against it by a representative from any state where women vote for Congressmen. The New Freedom "The Michigan commission on industrial relations has discovered," says "The Detroit Journal," "that thousands of wives support their husbands." Woman's place is the home, but under a special privilege she is sometimes allowed to send her wages as a substitute. To the Great Dining Out Majority The New York State Association Opposed to Woman Suffrage is sending out leaflets to its members urging them to "tell every man you meet, your tailor, your postman, your grocer, as well as your dinner partner, that you are opposed to woman suffrage." We hope that the 90,000 sewing machine operatives, the 40,000 saleswomen, the 32,000 laundry operatives, the 20,000 knitting and silk mill girls, the 17,000 women janitors and cleaners, the 12,000 cigar-makers, to say nothing of the 700,000 other women and girls in industry in New York State, will remember when they have drawn off their long gloves and tasted their oysters to tell their dinner partners that they are opposed to woman suffrage because they fear it might take women out of the home. WOMEN'S SPHERE Many Men to Any Woman If you have beauty, charm, refinement, tact, If you can prove that should I set you free, You would not contemplate the smallest act That might annoy or interfere with me. If you can show that women will abide By the best standards of their womanhood— (And I must be the person to decide What in a woman is the highest good); If you display efficiency supreme In philanthropic work devoid of pay; If you can show a clearly thought-out scheme For bringing the millennium in a day: Why, then, dear lady, at some time remote, I might consider giving you the vote. A Sex Difference When men in Congress come to blows at something someone said, I always notice that it shows their blood is quick and red; But if two women disagree, with very little noise, It proves, and this seems strange to me, that women have no poise. Advice to Heroines I A heroine must shrink and cling When heroes are about, And thus the watching world will think: "How brave his heart and stout!" But if he chance to be away When bright-faced dangers shine, It will be best for her to play The oak-tree, not the vine. In fact the most important thing Is knowing when it's time to cling. II With apologies to R.L.S. A heroine must be polite And do what others say is right, And think men wise and formidable— At least as far as she is able. Mutual Vows "My dear," he said, "observe this frightful bill, Run up, I think you'll own, against my will. If you will recollect our wedding day You vowed on that occasion to obey." "I do recall the day," said she, "and how Me with your worldly goods you did endow." "That," he replied, "is palpably absurd----" "You mean you did not mean to keep your word?" "O, yes," he answered, "in a general way." "And that," said she, "is how I meant obey." If They Meant All They Said Charm is a woman's strongest arm; My charwoman is full of charm; I chose her, not for strength of arm But for her strange elusive charm. And how tears heighten woman's powers! My typist weeps for hours and hours: I took her for her weeping powers— They so delight my business hours. A woman lives by intuition. Though my accountant shuns addition She has the rarest intuition. (And I myself can do addition.)