I am not an alarmist. I hope I am as cool as anybody this hot summer. But I am quite ready to say to Polly or any other woman, "You can have the ballot; only leave me the vegetables, or, what is more important, the consciousness of power in vegetables." I see how it is. Woman is now supreme in the house. She already stretches out her hand to grasp the garden. She will gradually control everything. Woman is one of the ablest and most cunning creatures who have ever mingled in human affairs. I understand those women who say they don't want the ballot. They purpose to hold the real power while we go through the mockery of making laws. They want the power without the responsibility. (Suppose my squash had not come up, or my beans--as they threatened at one time--had gone the wrong way: where would I have been?) We are to be held to all the responsibilities. Woman takes the lead in all the departments, leaving us politics only. And what is politics? Let me raise the vegetables of a nation, says Polly, and I care not who makes its politics. Here I sat at the table, armed with the ballot, but really powerless among my own vegetables. While we are being amused by the ballot, woman is quietly taking things into her own hands. NOTES =comparative philology=:--The comparison of words from different languages, for the purpose of seeing what relationships can be found. =protoplasm=:--"The physical basis of life"; the substance which passes life on from one vegetable or animal to another. =attic salt=:--The delicate wit of the Athenians, who lived in the state of Attica, in Greece. =parvenu=:--A French word meaning an upstart who tries to force himself into good society. =Aaron's rod=:--See Numbers, 17:1-10. =Bacchus and Venus=:--Bacchus was the Greek god of wine; Venus was the Greek goddess of love. =Darwinian theory=:--Charles R. Darwin (1809-1882) was a great English scientist who proved that the higher forms of life have developed from the lower. =natural selection=:--One of Darwin's theories, to the effect that nature weeds out the weak and unfit, leaving the others to continue the species; the result is called "the survival of the fittest." =steal a while away=:--A quotation from a well known hymn beginning,-- I love to steal a while away From every cumbering care. It was written in 1829, by Deodatus Dutton. =Roman supper=:--The Romans were noted for the extravagance of their evening meals, at which all sorts of delicacies were served. =John Stuart Mill=:--An English philosopher (1806-1873). He wrote about theories of government. =Polly=:--The author's wife. =the day of my destiny=:--A quotation from Lord Byron's poem, _Stanzas to Augusta_ [his sister]. The lines run:-- Though the day of my destiny's over, And the star of my fate hath declined, Thy soft heart refused to discover The faults that so many could find.