e guarded from
them. A lawyer does the thinking for a woman of property oftentimes, and
so, of course, women do not learn the necessity of precise statements,
accurate thought, and all that. From the time a girl is old enough to
think she knows she is just a girl, who her family hope will grow up to
be pretty and attractive and marry well. If her family believed she was
to grow up into a responsible citizen who would later control by her
vote all sorts of weighty questions that affect taxes and tariffs and
things, they would have to devote more thought to making her
intelligent, because it would have an effect upon their individual
interests. I'm interested in suffrage, Tom, not for the good it is going
to do politics, but for the good it's going to do women."

Tom made an exclamation of disgust. He was beside himself with scorn and
disapproval.

"Nonsense! Utter rot! Women were made to marry and be mothers. Women
were----"

"But we'd be better mothers," Ruth cut in. "Don't you see, if----"

"Oh, I don't want to discuss suffrage," interrupted Tom; "I want to
discuss your life. Let's keep to the subject. I want to see you settled
and happy some day, and as I'm so much older than you, you must put
yourself into my hands, and cheerfully. First, drop suffrage. Drop it.
Good Lord, Ruth, don't be a faddist. Then I want you to lay your
decision about Jennings on the shelf. Let it rest for a while. Postpone
the wedding if you wish----"

"But, Tom," tucked in Edith, "that's impossible. The invitations----"

"Never mind, never mind, Edith," interrupted Tom. Then to Ruth he went
on. "Postpone the wedding--oh, say a month or two, and then see how you
feel. That's all I ask. Reasonable, isn't it?" he appealed to us all.
"I'll have a talk with Jennings in the meanwhile," he went on. "This
suffrage tommy-rot is working all sorts of unnecessary havoc. I'm sick
of it. I didn't suppose it had caught any one in our family though. You
drop it, Ruth, for a while. You wait. I'm going back home next
Wednesday. Now I want you to pack up your things and be ready to start
with me Wednesday night from New York. We'll see what Elise and the
youngsters will do for you."

"I'm sorry, Tom," replied Ruth pleasantly, "but my decision about Bob is
final; and as for going out West with you and becoming a fifth wheel in
your household--no, I've had enough of that. My mind is made up. I'm
going to New York."

"But I shan't allow it," announced To