Women -- Suffrage -- History; Women -- Suffrage -- United States -- History; Women's rights -- History; Women's rights -- United States -- History
In a frontier settlement is a log-cabin, and it is in a region
which is infested by wolves. There are in the family a
broken-down patient of a man, a mother, and three daughters. The
house is surrounded by a pack of these voracious animals, and the
inmates feel that their safety requires that the intruders should
be driven away. There are three or four rifles in the house. The
man creeps to one of the windows, and to the mother and daughters
it is said, "You load the rifles, and hand them to me, and let me
fire them." But they can load all the four rifles, and he can not
fire half as fast as they can load; and I say to the mother, "Can
you shoot?" She says, "Let me try;" and she takes a gun, and
points it at the wolves, and pulls the trigger, and I see one of
them throw his feet up in the air. "Ah!" I say, "I see you can
shoot! You keep the rifle, and fire it yourself." And I say to
the oldest daughter, "Can you shoot?" "I guess I can," she says.
"Well, dare you?" "I dare do anything to save father and the
family." And she takes one of the rifles, and pops over another
of the pack. And I tell you, if the wolves knew that all the
women were firing, they would flee from that cabin instanter.
(Laughter). I do not object to a woman loading a man's rifle and
letting him shoot; but I say that, if there are two rifles, she
ought to load one of them, and shoot herself. And I do not see
any use of a woman's influencing a man and loading him with a
vote, and letting him go and fire it off at the ballot-box.
(Laughter and applause).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account