,
she was discovered to be shouting--
'You men 'ad just better keep an eye on us----'
'Can't take our eyes off yer!'
'We Suffragettes _never_ have a Day of Rest! Every day in the week,
while you men are at work or sitting in the public-house, we are
visiting the women in their homes, explaining and stirring them up to a
sense of their wrongs.'
'This I should call an example of what _not_ to say!' remarked a
shrewd-looking man with a grin.
The crowd were ragging the speaker again, while she shouted--
'We are going to effect such a revolution as the world has never seen!'
'I'd like to bash her head for her!'
'We let them know that so long as women have no citizenship they are
outside the pale of the law. If we are outside the law, we can't _break_
the law. It is not our fault that we're outlaws. It is you men's fault.'
'Don't say that,' said a voice in mock agony. 'I love you so.'
'I know you can't help it,' she retorted.
'If we gave you the vote, what would you do with it? Put it in a pie?'
'Well, I wouldn't make the _hash_ of it you men do!' and she turned the
laugh. 'Look at you! _Look_ at you!' she said, when quiet was restored.
The young revellers gave a rather blank snigger, as though they had all
along supposed looking at them to be an exhilarating occupation for any
young woman.
'What do you do with your power? You throw it away. You submit to being
taxed and to _our_ being taxed to the tune of a hundred and twenty-seven
millions, that a war may be carried on in South Africa--a war that most
of you know nothing about and care nothing about--a war that some of us
knew only too much about, and wanted only to see abandoned. We see
constantly how you men either misuse the power you have or you don't use
it at all. Don't appreciate it. Don't know what to do with it. Haven't a
notion you ought to be turning it into good for the world. Hundreds of
men don't care anything about political influence, except that women
shouldn't have it.'
She was getting on better till some one called out, 'You ought to get
married.'
'I'm going to. If you don't be good you won't be asked to the wedding.'
Before the temptation of a retort she had dropped her argument and
encouraged personalities. In vain she tried to recover that thread of
attention which, not her interrupter, but herself had snapped. She
retired in the midst of uproar.
The chairman came forward and berated the crowd for its un-English
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