THE RESULTS OF THE SUFFRAGE AGITATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14002, 7 September 1907, Page 4

THE RESULTS OF THE SUFFRAGE AGITATION

■-v ■ Bt Constance Clyde. "But what good came of it at last," quoth lij-tle Petcrkin? These words rose to my. mind ae I entered the House to consult a Member of Parliament, and noticed what seemed the chief consequence of our riotthat ladic-s are now no longer permitted to go .into'tho inner hall, but must wait outside till their member's presence guarantees them.

What'are the results? Reported nervous breakdown of one or more well-known suffrage leaders, and l for the rest,—well, a stall at Earl's Court for the' rale of suffrago literature no doubt does good, but it seems tamo after the more spirited outbursts of . tbo earlier-months of the year. Yet the movement has not been unproductive of good. The magazines have given spaco to the subject. Brougham Villieis has published: a book wherein the leading agitators, Mrs Pankhurst, 'Mrs Dcspard, and others explain their views, nblo articles also being contributed by Millicent Fawcett and Israel Zangwill. Miss Nellie Martell of Australia deals with the results of tho iolbriial franchise, and instanccß the Oldago Pensions Act and other schemes which followed tho women's vote in New Zealand, tho Australasian ,results being mentioned with a frequency that justifies the criticism of an English writer That, while Australian suffrago is much discussed very little is said concerning the vote in those American States where it ; has been conccdcd much longer. Not only has controversial literature been augmented, but tho effects of the agitation are' shown in other ways. Miss Annie Kenny, the Joan of Arc of the movement'as Stead callcd her, narrowly cscaped having a' volume of poems dedicated- to her, while Ruth Young, a Lon.don bard,'embodies in her latest book. "Tlie•Heart of tho Wind,"-an allegorical poem, which is to be set to music, called "Evo's Eldest Child." It- is a very pretty and original idea, the story narrating that when Evo quitted Paradise she left behind her a child who, unlike those born to her later, inherited Paradise, its sinlessncss and its joys. " God, however, no mhre walla with her as He walked with her parents of old," so'she goes forth to find Him iu the world, and by so doing brings a new 'spirit into the weary earth. Sho is the ancestress of those who strive for tho higher needs of humanity and womanhood, the other Evo who sinned not but. came out of her own free will.

• In somo respects English charity has not doiio much'for women. Now,' however, ,tli?ro Beems to be a change. Men of the working chsses have had their Kowantreo Houses, those cheap and comfortable boarding houses, of which working mothers complain that they keep the men from marrying and so'do harm. Surely, then, women all the mora ncod such accommodation too, yet, beyond tho factoiy girls' clubs, there is. nothing of the snmesortforthem. Even jiiglil shelters are unknown, en that poor and respectable women stranded in London find it very difficult to find accommodation within their means. Now, however, this is to be remedied, a schcme being on foot to start a twopence-n-night shelter for women only. Mies Constance Smcdley, of the Lyceum Club, is keenly interested l in the matter, which i 8 the result of tho investigation made by Olive Malvery (now lire M'Kiidv) in the Ea6t Knd, written up in a series of articles that appeared in Pearson's Magazine, The common lodging houses to which women of tho poorer classes arc reduced aro by 110 means always suitable for them, on the grounds either of cleanliness or morality. It is singular how often a reverence for motherhood, goes band in hand with very littlo regard for tho actual mothers themselves. Wo show our respcct for these working mothers by allowing them- to work a littlo harder in order that- we can reverence them still more. ' Thus the model dwellings of which we hear so much aro ofton curiously bahindlmnd in any real assistance which their contrivances give the housewife. "If this boiler hacl a tap to it, it would save much time in letting the water out," I remarked to an estate agent as we went the rounds. "Oh, what aro thesewomen for, except to work," 110 replied not wholly in jest. When the new woman comes into her kingdom she will want less respect and more comfort. Writers' Club, Norfolk street, . Strand, London, July 26.