ndifference and apathy of its own women members have given
the unthinking a reason for their attitude. Why should the vote be
forced on women? they have asked. It is quite true that the women of
the Church have not said much, for the reason that many of the
brightest women, on account of the Church's narrowness, have withdrawn
and gone elsewhere, where more liberty could be found. This is
unfortunate, and I think a mistake on the part of the women. Better to
have stayed and fought it out than to go out slamming the door.

Many sermons have I listened to in the last quarter of a century of
fairly regular church attendance; once I heard an Englishman preaching
bitterly of the Suffragettes' militant methods, and he said they
should all "be condemned to motherhood to tame their wild spirits."
And I surely had the desire to slam the door that morning, for I
thought I never heard a more terrible insult to all womankind than to
speak of motherhood as a punishment. But I stayed through the service;
I stayed after the service! I interviewed the preacher. So did many
other women! He had a chastened spirit when we were through with him.

I have listened to many sermons that I did not like, but I possessed
my soul in patience. I knew my turn would come--it is a long lane that
has no tomato-cans! My turn did come--I was invited to address the
conference of the Church, and there with all the chief offenders lined
up in black-coated, white-collared rows, I said all that was in my
heart, and they were honestly surprised. One good old brother, who I
do not think had listened to a word that I said, arose at the back of
the church and said: "I have listened to all that this lady has had to
say, but I am not convinced. I have it on good authority that in
Colorado, where women vote, a woman once stuffed a ballot-box. How can
the lady explain that?" I said I could explain it, though, indeed, I
could not see that it needed any explanation. No one could expect
women to live all their lives with men without picking up some of
their little ways! That seemed to hold the brother for a season!

The Church's stiff attitude toward women has been a hard thing to
explain to the "world." Many a time I have been afraid that it would
be advanced as a reason for not considering woman suffrage in the
State. "If the Church," politicians might well have said, "with its
spiritual understanding of right and justice, cannot see its way clear
to give the vote t