most effectively at the polls. Some men thought that the women themselves should go and present in person the names of their candidates. At first the women who had carried on the campaign shrank from this last test of their faithfulness; but, after carefully considering the matter, they concluded that it was the right thing to do. The repugnance felt at that time, at the thought of "women going to the polls" can hardly be appreciated to-day. Since they have begun to vote in Massachusetts the terror expressed at the idea of such a proceeding has somewhat abated; but in 1876 it was thought to be a rash act for a woman to appear at the polls in company with men. Some attempt was made to deter them from their purpose, and stories of pipes and tobacco and probable insults were told; but they had no terrors for women who knew better than to believe that their neighbors would be turned into beasts (like the man in the fairy tale) for this one day in the year.[1]
It was a sight to be remembered, to behold women "crowned with honor" standing at the polls to see the freed slave go by and vote, and the newly-naturalized fellow-citizen, and the blind, the paralytic, the boy of twenty-one with his newly-fledged vote, the drunken man who did not know Hayes from Tilden, and the man who read his ballot upside down. All these voted for the men they wanted to represent them, but the women, being neither colored, nor foreign, nor blind, nor paralytic, nor newly-fledged, nor drunk, nor ignorant, but only women, could not vote for the men they wanted to represent them.[2]
The women learned several things during this campaign in Massachusetts. One was, that weak parties are no more to be trusted than strong ones; and another, that men grant but little until the ballot is placed in the hands of those who make the demand. They learned also how political caucuses and conventions are managed. The resolution passed by the Prohibitionists enabled them to do this. So the great "open sesame" is reached. It is but fair to state that since 1876 the Prohibitory party has
- ↑ Election day dawned and it rained hard, but the women braved the storm. There they stood from 9 o'clock a.m. till a quarter of 5 p.m. and distributed votes, only leaving their positions long enough to get a cup of coffee and a luncheon, which was provided at the headquarters. They distributed 1,700 woman suffrage ballots and 1,000 circulars containing arguments on the rights of women. They were treated with unexceptionable politeness and kindness by the voters.
- ↑ The first time women went to the polls in Massachusetts was in 1870, when forty-two women of Hyde Park, led by Angelina Grimké Weld and Sarah Grimké, deposited their ballots, in solemn protest "against the political ostracism of women, against leaving every vital interest of a majority of the citizens to the monopoly of a male minority." It is hardly needful to record that these ballots were not counted.
