ngs precisely from the difference in sex. If there were
only men or only women, there might be such a thing as our mutually
destroying each other, because there would be no purpose in life and
the human race would not reproduce itself. It is in the interest of
one sex not to destroy the other. On the other hand, politics is not
always a personal struggle. In its proper and loftiest sense it is a
struggle of ideas and principles, of theories and methods. Therefore,
if a man is pitted against a woman in the arena of politics, they
are certainly not compelled to engage in fisticuffs and kill each
other, but each will present his own views on the points at issue,
with more or less sound arguments in support of them. I do not believe
any man has the right to insult a woman because she is his opponent,
seeing that he has no such a right where a man is concerned. And
if in the heat of political strife such an insult should be passed,
has not woman the right to reply or to pay the offender back in his
own coin? This is a case where woman will be given an opportunity to
learn to be independent in judgment and action, seeing that certain
persons do not want woman to vote unless she possesses independence
of thought and action. I do not want, either, to give voice to the
suspicion that many men are against female suffrage because they fear
they might be worsted in a public debate, and what would then become
of the prestige of the strong sex?

In the second place, if woman wants man to adore and idolize her,
she can get him to do it whether she votes or not. Man does not
adore woman because she has less rights than he has; but he worships
her because woman is woman, the archetype of grace and beauty of
creation, and man will forever burn incense at the shrine of that
divinity. Remember that it has always been said that christianity
elevated the condition of woman and gave her greater rights, and yet
it is the Christian countries where woman is accorded the greatest
consideration and respect.

Suffrage will not detract from the beauty of the long tresses
of woman, nor will it make her cheeks and lips less rosy and the
curves of her body less graceful. On the contrary, it will lend her
an additional grace, that of being able to write a ballot in her
diminutive handwriting, and man will always feel for her that love,
tenderness, and adoration which grace and beauty will always inspire
all the world over. Hercules will always bow to