University of Virginia Library

Already Overburdened.

Mrs. Alice Freeman Palmer wrote: "How much time must she
spend on her political duties? If she belongs to the well-to-do class,
and hires others to do her work, she has time for whatever interests
her most—only let these interests be noble! If she does her own
housework, she can take ten minutes to stop on her way to market
and vote once or twice a year. She can find half an hour a day for
the newspapers and other means of information. She can talk with
family and friends about what she reads. She does this now; she
will then do it more intelligently, and will give and receive more from
what she says and hears. If she does this reading and talking, she
will be better informed than the majority of voters are now.

"The duties of motherhood and the making of a home are the most
sacred work of women, and the dearest to them, of every class. If

casting an intelligent vote would interfere with what only women
can do—and what, failed in, undermines society and government—
no one can question which a woman must choose. But it cannot be
shown that there are any large number of women in this country who
have not the necessary time to vote intelligently, and it can be argued
that study of the vital questions of our government would make them
better comrades to their husbands and friends, better guides to their
sons, and more interesting and valuable members of society. Women
of every class have more leisure than men, are less tied to hours of
routine; they have had more years of school training than men. All
this makes simple the combination of public and higher duties."