She threw herself into the suffrage movement. It satisfied her for a
while. She had the rare gift of public speaking, and enjoyed her
triumphs. She was temperate, reasonable; persuasive rather than
aggressive; feeling her audience as she went, never losing touch with
them. She had the magnetism that comes of sympathy. Medical students
who came intending to tell her to go home and mind the baby, remained to
wonder if man really was the undoubted sovereign of the world, born to
look upon woman as his willing subject; to wonder whether under some
unwritten whispered law it might not be the other way about. Perhaps she
had the right--with or without the baby--to move about the kingdom,
express her wishes for its care and management. Possibly his doubts may
not have been brought about solely by the force and logic of her
arguments. Possibly the voice of Nature is not altogether out of place
in discussions upon Humanity's affairs.
She wanted votes for women. But she wanted them clean--won without
dishonour. These "monkey tricks"--this apish fury and impatience!
Suppose it did hasten by a few months, more or less, the coming of the
inevitable.
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