SUSAN, (_rapping on table with her umbrella_) Ladies! Fellow females! I have heard what you said. Your wrongs are enormous, but what does man live for but to oppress us? We are down-trod, down-trod by man, that worm that like a roaring lion seeks to cast dust in our eyes with his soaring wings while he rends our heart with his cruel beak! Shall we, ladies, be slaves to a worm? PAULINE. No, mam. (_curtseys_) SUSAN. No! You wish the men were extinct. We will extinguish them. Why waste your lives here doing plain and fancy sewing-- PAULINE. And scrubbin'-- SUSAN. When woman was meant to occupy the noblest spheres? Wives? Faugh! Housewives? Faugh! Let us take the work of the men, and do it! Follow the bright banner of Susan Jane Jones, the Militant Suffragette, and drive the men into the sea! I have heard the story of your wrongs-- KATE. Well, I do think Henry was just too mean for anything. SUSAN. Sewing! Scrubbing! Have you women never wished to do the work of men? KATE. Yes, I have. I always wanted to be a doctor, but my father wouldn't hear of it. GRACE. What kind of a doctor, Kate? KATE. Oh, a handsome doctor with curly gray hair. And you, Grace? GRACE. Oh, I want to be a lawyer, a plump, jolly lawyer. And you, Edith? EDITH. I want to be an editor. GRACE. Republican or Democrat? EDITH. I don't know. The kind with a big automobile. And you, Ida? IDA. I want to be a politician. Mat. An honest one, of course. IDA. Well, no. A successful politician. And you, May? Mat. I want to run a vegetable market, where the women can come with their market baskets. SUSAN. Where the _men_ can come with their market baskets, (_to_ PAULINE) And you, you poor creature, have you never felt the longing to usurp man's sphere? Have you never longed to do a man's work? PAULINE. Oh, yes, mam. This humble heart (_tapping her waist_) has felt the what-you-call it many a time. I have always wished, mam, to be a pirate. All. A pirate! PAULINE. A pirate. And why not? That's men's work. Listen:-- Since my mother's lap I played in When I was a wee small maiden-- SUSAN. Just so high! All. Just so high! PAULINE. I have had a great ambition For to better my condition-- SUSAN. So have I. All. So have I. PAULINE. Dolls was things I much detested Toys left me uninterested. Even as a little baby I had hopes that sometime, maybe I could be a roaring pirate, Be a swearing, tearing pirate, Be a shocking, wicked pirate, With a cruel, cruel eye, SUSAN. I call that a very noble and uplifting ambition for a modern young lady. PAULINE. Listen:-- I have dreamed of death and slaughter On the wild tumultuous water SUSAN. Oh, how dear! ALL. Oh, how dear! PAULINE. I have longed to wear a dagger And cut throats, and swear, and swagger. SUSAN, Hear! Hear! All. Hear! Hear! PAULINE.