Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 5.djvu/316

 mer, "Dorothy Dix," in an address on The Real Reason why Women cannot Vote, gave a delightful imitation of the voice and words of a wise old negro, "Mirandy," from which the following is quoted:

Yassum, dat's de trouble wid women down to dis very day. Dey ain't got no backbone. Of a rib dey was made an' a rib dey has stayed an' nobody ain't got no right to expect nothin' else from 'em. Hit's becaze woman was made out of man's rib—an' from de way she acts hit looks lak she was made out of a floatin' rib at dat— an' man was left wid all his backbone, dat he has got de comeuppance over woman. Dat's de reason we women sets down an' cries when we ought to git up an' heave brickbats. What's de reason dat we women can't vote, an' ain't got no say-so 'bout makin' de laws dat bosses us? Ain't we got de right on our side? Yassir, but we'se got no backbone in us to just retch out an' grab dat ballot.

Dere ain't nobody 'sputing dat we'se got to scrape up de money to pay de tax collector, even if we does have to get down into a skirt pocket for hit insted of pants' pocket, an' our belongin' to de angel sect ain't gwine to keep us out of jail if we gits in a fight wid anodder lady or we swipes a ruffled petticote off de clothesline next do'. Fudermo', when de meat trust puts up de price of po'k chops, hits de woman dat has to squeeze de eagle on de dollar ontel hit holler a little louder an' pare de potato peelin's a little thinner. An' dat makes us women jest a-achin' to have a finger in dat government pie an' see if we can't put a little mo' sweetnin' in hit, an' make hit a little lighter so dat hit won't get so heavy an' ondigestible on de stomachs of dem what ain't millionaires.

Yassir, we'se jest a-honin' for de franchise an' we might have had hit any time dese last forty years ef we'd had enough backbone to riz up an' fit one good fight for hit, but instead of dat we set around a-holdin' our hands an' all we'se done is to say in a meek voice: "Please, sir, I don't lak to trouble you but ef you'd kindly pass me de ballot hit sho'ly would be agreeable to me." An' instead of givin' hit to us, men has kinder winked one eye at de odder an' said: "Lawd, she don't want hit or else she's make a row about hit. Dat's de way we men did. We didn't go after de right to vote wid our pink tea manners on."

Yassir, dat's de true word, an' you listen to me—de day dat women spunks up an' rolls up dere sleeves an' says to dere husband dat dey ain't a-gwine to do no' mo' cookin' in his house, nor darnin' of socks, nor patchin' of britches untel dere is some female votin', why dat day de ballot will be fetched home to women on a silver platter. All dat stands between women an' suffrage is de lack of a spinal colum.

An able address was given by Henry Wilbur, as representative of the Friends' Equal Rights Association. Max Eastman, assist-