appreciated their good intentions, but that I had associated with men all my life, and had always been treated as a lady; that the men I should meet at the polls were the same that I met in church and social gatherings, and I knew they would treat me with respect. Then they begged my husband not to allow me to go; but he told them his wife had as good a right to vote as he had; and that no citizen can legally deprive another of the right to vote.
On the morning of the election, just before we reached the schoolhouse, a man met us and said, "Mr. Brown, look here now! If Mrs. Brown goes up to vote she will be insulted! If I was in your place I wouldn't let her go any farther. She had better go back." My husband answered, "Mr. Brannan, my wife has as good a right to vote as I have, and I would not prevent her if I could. She has a mind of her own and will do as she thinks best, and I shall stand by her and see that she is well treated! Besides [speaking with emphasis], she will not be insulted either!" "Well," said the man, "if she was my wife she shouldn't go! She'll be sure to be insulted!" I looked him full in the face, and said with decision, '" Mr. Brannan, a gentleman will be a gentleman under all circumstances, and will always treat a lady with respect." I said this because I knew the man, and knew that if anyone offered any annoyance, it would be he, and so it proved.
As we drove up to the school-house and alighted, a man in an angry voice snapped out, "Well! if the women are coming to vote, I'm going home!' But he did not go; he had too much curiosity; he wanted to see the fun. He stayed and was converted. After watching the sovereign "white male citizen" perform the laborious task of depositing his vote in the ballot-box, I thought if I braced myself up I might be equal to the task. So, summoning all my strength, I walked up to the desk behind which sat the august officers of election, and presented my vote. When behold! [was pompously met with the assertion, "You are not an American citizen; hence not entitled to vote." The great unabridged dictionary of Noah Webster was opened, and the definition of the word citizen read tome. They all looked to see me vanquished; they thought I would have to retreat before such an overwhelming array of sagacity. The countenances of the judges wore a pleased expression that they had hit on so easy an expedient to put me hors du combat, while the crowd looked astonished that I did not sink out of sight. Waiting a moment, I said, "The definition is correct. A citizen of the United States, is a person owing allegiance to the government; but then all persons are not men; and the definition of "citizeness" is a female citizen. I claim to be an American citizen, and a native-born citizen at that; and I wish to show you from the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States, that women are not only citizens having the constitutional right to vote, but also that our territorial election law gives women the privilege of exercising that right."
When I commenced speaking, all the men, with the exception of two —the one who had urged my husband not to let me go to the schoolhouse, and a low, degraded fellow, who had a squaw for a wife—came and
