Hide Article Text (OCR)
uHOW OLD ARE YOU, MADAM?}[That Question Makes Many of Our New Voters Squirm, and, as the Town Clerks Say, Some Look Old for Their Years—But They are Registering,Though Most of Them Say TheyAre Strong “Antis”By MARJORY ADAMSHow old is Ann?That query, beloved by collegians and song writers, has been answered at lastAnn told her own age when she registered this week for the State primaries.As to whether Ann told the truth or not—that is a question which it is hardly chivalrous to ask. Its answer lies with Ann and her conscience.Conscience Caught UpThe saying that women have harder-working consciences than men was proved true In Cambridge Thursday.She was a woman of uncertain age. Her dress was neat and not gaudy, and she walked up the steps of the City Building with a determined air.She gave her name * and addressiwithout a falter. When her age was asked she hesitated. And finally she admitted her years, took the oath, was registered and left the building.11m minutes later she was back. He? dress was a trifle disordered, showing that she had hurried. “Was I under oath when I gave my age? she? inquired breathlessly.“You certainly were/* ;aaid the registrar.“Then add 10 years to the age I gave you,*’ answered the woman.“But I was once an American citizen,’* she said.Many women wore anxious to vote at once. One of these eager souls told her age without a qualm, took the oath and signed her name, completing her registration.“That’s all,” said the official.The woman lingered, however.“That’s alt,” repeated the official,“But whore's my ballot?” asked the new citizen.Another woman said slio wouldn’t bo in town when the oloctlon takes place this Fall, So It you’ll give me a ballot I’ll cast my voto now and you can put it in the box wlieii the election Is held, she explained.Same Age as Three Years Ago ti *.*** .«**•*** n-uuatii w julvi vjtLU iCfcLU fcLUVi' Not all women seem to be so truth- ; write is at once eligible for the vote.’Have to Talk About ItTown Clerk Baker said that it takes a bit longer to register women than men. “They like to talk about it,” ho said.“One woman held up a long line to discuss the qualifications for voters. She asked if it were really true that the only requisite for a voter is the ability to read the Constitution of Massachusetts. She became very indighant.“ ’The idea,’ she said. ‘To think that man or woman who can read andful. Town Clerk E. W. Baker of Brookline doesn't go so far as to say thdy are untruthful.“I fear some of them are a bit for-She continued to give us her ideas on the matter. Tho line behind her fidgeted, “At last I said, ’Yes, Madam, all you need to know is how to read. So let me see If you can read and then you’llgetful,” be said. “Or perhaPs they be all ready to sign your name,’4 ^I\r¥weren’t exactly sure the year they were born and try to be optimisticabout it.“This week a young woman came to register. She was accompanied by some friends who listened with interest when she gave her ago. I took it down and said nothing.1 “Three years ago I took down this woman’s age when she ep* plied for a marriage t license* ghe was the same , age on the marriage license that she gave for her registration papers* I didn’t ask her which was right*however.”You can well imagine her indignation. But she moved on, and the men and women In the line behind her were able to proceed with registering.■ ■ I ■As'OId as She Looked\Nfv Baker is an expert at handlingablicto situations.', It is going the riihd^ of ’ Brookline' how he managed to Iget a particularly* difficult woman totali Iher age,“I to over 21,” said the woman Arm.ly, when questioned.*“And how much over 21,” asked MrBaker politely*( *1 decline to answer,” retorted the vpoman. “Now what can ytm do about It,”■ “There’s nothing I can do exoept put down the age I think you are,” said Mr Baker, smiling urbanely.Curiously the woman looked at him. “How old would you take me for?”Register Under ProtestMr Baker, Mr Penniman and other officials were surprised at the number of avowed antlsuffraglsts who registered.“I am against equal suffrage,” the women said, “but since the responsibility has been placed on our shoulders we will make,the best of it. Voting is now a duty/ which we would prefer not to assume, but which we will hot shirk.”. *According to the officials, the majority of women who have declared themselves lmve admitted that they are strong ontlsnffragists.she queried,“I shall put down 63,” said Mr Baker. “Why, how dare you,” snapped the registration candidate, “X am only 54.”eShn10%8Bt a■.H*IS-yfftoftI-10 EI-r0reity■08:it-;10Yidnis10i“Over 21” Doesn’t AnswerIn New York they allowed women, when they received the privilege to vote, to say that they were “over 21.” Massachusetts is not so tender # toward the feelings of its new citizens!“I don’t see why we can’t say ’over 21* when. we register,” pouted the pretty little 28-year-old nurse* who was registering in Cambridge.“I don't see why you should mind putting down your age,” ropllod gallant Harry Penniman, who was swearing in the men and women seeking registration.“I don’t mind now,” admitted tho young woman, but think how I’ll feel 10 years from now.”There was only one woman in Cambridge who refused point blank to give her age when asked. Mr Penniman explained to her that under the laws of Massachusetts she couldn’t vote unless she gave her age. The woman, eviden t-ly no longer young, glared at him andsaid with a I-dare-you-to-ooutradlet-meair, “I am 35,”“She looked rather old for her years,” smfled the registrar. *One, woman said she was old^r thanshe* was. When , she consul ted hermemory for the date of her birth she remembered she was younger than she had said.The women who registered were from all classes and admitted to all ages from “21 next October,” to “I’m 86 and only hope I’ll still be on this earth next Pali, so that Til be able to oast my first ballot,”In Cambridge there were dozens of colored women who regloterod. One official said that colored women seem to appreciate the ballot more than their white sisters, He said he found that colored women seem to enjoy their newprivilege even more tfian the men.Jolly Old colored women have madethe entire force of men registering thenew voters in Cambridge laugh heartily .at their amusing remarks. When asked jf she were married, one old colored woman drew herself up and replied;“Noii suh, I’se single, t I euah has hard e.nuf work to euppoah mahself. le* atone some po’ no-count husband.””1 do this under protest,” one Cambridge woman said, “but ’if Its a duty Tam surely not'going to shirk it.” ..In Brookline, where the strongest antisuffrage sentimnte may be found, there were hundreds of women who told the officials they did not believe In equal suffrage.One of them, who wore a wonderful fur-trimmed coat and expensive frock, said she was an “anti,” but realising her duty lay in voting she had made a special trip from her Summer home in Maine to register for the election. Another young woman, who did not state her beliefs, came to register from Montreal, where she is spending the Summer.Cruel and Unusual PunishmentIn practically every case the candidates have fulfilled all qualifications. Men and women alike have selected little printed stripe, bearing lines from the State Constitution, and read them aloud,/One poor old woman !n Cambridge was unable to read the slips, even with a magnifying glass. Three officials attempted to help her, but she was unable to meet the test. She went out of the City Building almost crying, when they told her that because of her inability to read she could not vote next Fall. The woman was nearly 80 years old.When bright young women appeared at the Brookline Town Hall to vote and sniffed at the reading teat the official slyly handed them the slip containing the words, “To which oourts and judicatories are given and granted full power-/’ Two High School graduates failed miserably to pronounce thai word “Judicatories.” \ -The slip containing the statutes com cerning the inability of the courts tt administer cruel and unusual punish* monts” caused much scornful Jaughtei on the part of one Brookline woman “If making a woman vote isn’t crue and unusual I don’t know what. Is,* she said with a charming lack of logicd4 •'9r-4isr9atSit.9ftrWanted Ballot at OnceSwedes, Lithuanians, Norwegians, andChilclf®*1 in the CorridorsThere were all types, from the pocworking woman, to. the .society woma who came in her limousine and left ht Pomeranian dog outside with the fociman. In Brookline many .large partilt; of expensively dressed women arrive together to register. ■,One father brought his two fur-anlt; silk-clad daughters and coached thei before they registered. They took It a as a lark and went out in a flurry lt;laughter.Many husbands brought their wive and one gopa-looking young America escorted hia elderly mother to tt Brookline Town Hall, Afternoor mothers came to register while takin their small children for* am airing, anin Cambridge little figures played aboi the corridors while their mothers weitaking their oath.Although so many amusing Inciden occurred In the registration of women, la hardly to be wondered at “Yc mostn’t laugh at-us,” said a younmany other women of foreign birth tae°game”m °a' are so newcldmoi’ed for the npw privilege grantedlay the United'States to its women*Almost' halij of the women in Cam** bridge carried' with them their hu«K baiVd’s naturaiisatlon .papers to provetheir right to bn called American citizens, 'There was one amusing incident irw Cambridge, a. womans born in Ireland/ was married, and her husband took but naturaUzation-papers, He died and the remarried, Her second husband iaunnaturaUzod, ,4/ ■Chdauhted by this fact, the, Irish wom-an appeared* bringing her first hus-bdnd’a haturaljsattpn papers, and wa*very indignant when she learned thatshe must take her citizenship from that1 f? A : :*?■ - * t-'IAnd without exception the women wlregistered showed that they intend take their new privilege or duty, whibi ever they call it, as a grave respoi■Ability,;Their intelligent faces, their quick a]prepiatton of what the ballot mean their, antlon of maklrth«lr partlout^me help in making th a 3tter:po,untry ,wae,(elt by every reiistratioh oifiplalr. '■;//•..' to the rule—an unuspal woman—'Who wanted toknow it had, to pay the Ik poll•; tax Cf anem ./■ Intend to,” fhe■;-7; think the yote IsliSilii+1* : *+ - ft‘ '* 4/; • ; . *- y • ? ' r.i
Newspaper Details
Boston Globe
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Sun, Aug 29, 1920
Page 48
Full Page
Clipped by
Candice L.
USA 15 Feb 2022
Other Publications Near Boston, Massachusetts
Massachusetts Centinel
Boston Globe
Boston Daily Globe
UMB News
Mass Media
