Yes, that's almost the first thing we have to learn--to get over our touching faith that, because a man tells us something, it's true. I got to the right court, and I was so anxious not to be late, I was too early. The case before the Women's was just coming on. I heard a noise. At the door I saw the helmets of two policemen, and I said to myself: "What sort of crime shall I have to sit and hear about? Is this a burglar coming along between the two big policemen, or will it be a murderer? What sort of felon is to stand in the dock before the women whose crime is they ask for the vote?" But, try as I would, I couldn't see the prisoner. My heart misgave me. Is it a woman, I wondered? Then the policemen got nearer, and I saw--(_she waits an instant_)--a little, thin, half-starved boy. What do you think he was charged with? Stealing. What had he been stealing--that small criminal? _Milk._ It seemed to me as I sat there looking on, that the men who had the affairs of the world in their hands from the beginning, and who've made so poor a business of it---- VOICES. Oh! oh! Pore benighted man! Are we down-'earted? _Oh_, no! MISS L.--so poor a business of it as to have the poor and the unemployed in the condition they're in to-day--when your only remedy for a starving child is to hale him off to the police-court--because he had managed to get a little milk--well, I _did_ wonder that the men refuse to be helped with a problem they've so notoriously failed at. I began to say to myself: "Isn't it time the women lent a hand?" A VOICE. Would you have women magistrates? (_She is stumped by the suddenness of the demand._) VOICES. Haw! Haw! Magistrates! ANOTHER. Women! Let 'em prove first they deserve---- A SHABBY ART STUDENT (_his hair longish, soft hat, and flowing tie_). They study music by thousands; where's their Beethoven? Where's their Plato? Where's the woman Shakespeare? ANOTHER. Yes--what 'a' they ever _done_? (_The speaker clenches her hands, and is recovering her presence of mind, so that by the time the_ CHAIRMAN _can make himself heard with, "Now men, give this lady a fair hearing--don't interrupt"--she, with the slightest of gestures, waves him aside with a low "It's all right."_) MISS L. (_steadying and raising her voice_). These questions are quite proper! They are often asked elsewhere; and I would like to ask in return: Since when was human society held to exist for its handful of geniuses? How many Platos are there here in this crowd? A VOICE (_very loud and shrill_). Divil a wan! (_Laughter._) MISS L. Not one. Yet that doesn't keep you men off the register. How many Shakespeares are there in all England to-day? Not one. Yet the State doesn't tumble to pieces. Railroads and ships are built--homes are kept going, and babies are born. The world goes on! (_bending over the crowd_) It goes on _by virtue of its common people_. VOICES (_subdued_). Hear! hear!