The Admiral winced, but shook his head in dissent.

"There is banking, the law, veterinary surgery, government offices, the

civil service, all these at least should be thrown freely open to women,

if they have brains enough to compete successfully for them. Then if

woman were unsuccessful it would be her own fault, and the majority of

the population of this country could no longer complain that they live

under a different law to the minority, and that they are held down in

poverty and serfdom, with every road to independence sealed to them."

"What would you propose to do, ma'am?"

"To set the more obvious injustices right, and so to pave the way for

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a reform. Now look at that man digging in the field. I know him. He

can neither read nor write, he is steeped in whisky, and he has as much

intelligence as the potatoes that he is digging. Yet the man has a vote,

can possibly turn the scale of an election, and may help to decide the

policy of this empire. Now, to take the nearest example, here am I, a

woman who have had some education, who have traveled, and who have seen

and studied the institutions of many countries. I hold considerable

property, and I pay more in imperial taxes than that man spends in

whisky, which is saying a great deal, and yet I have no more direct

influence upon the disposal of the money which I pay than that fly which

creeps along the wall. Is that right? Is it fair?"

The Admiral moved uneasily in his chair. "Yours is an exceptional case,"

said he.

"But no woman has a voice. Consider that the women are a majority in the

nation. Yet if there was a question of legislation upon which all women

were agreed upon one side and all the men upon the other, it would

appear that the matter was settled unanimously when more than half the

population were opposed to it. Is that right?"

Again the Admiral wriggled. It was very awkward for the gallant seaman

to have a handsome woman opposite to him, bombarding him with questions

to none of which he could find an answer. "Couldn't even get the

tompions out of his guns," as he explained the matter to the Doctor that

evening.

"Now those are really the points that we shall lay stress upon at the

meeting. The free and complete opening of the professions, the final

abolition of the zenana I call it, and the franchise to all women

who pay Queen's taxes above a certain sum. Surely there is nothing

unreasonable in that. Nothing which could offend your principles. We

shall have medicine, law, and the church all rallying that night for the

protection of woman. Is the navy to be the one profession absent?"




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