There is something to be said for the view that women are comparatively indifferent to empire or ethics so long as they are not compelled to publish their age. This belief has just had. fairly strong proof in the United States where a woman wished to vote, was prepared to admit that she was over 21, but would go no further. The officials refused to allow her the suffrage until she disclosed her tale of years, but this she positively declined to do and, being strong-minded after a fashion, she is now raising an action in the courts to have her plea of "over 21" held good. She ought to lose, and the official who refused to listen to her argument should be decorated with all the medals and orders that men have invented, For if women are to have the feminine privilege of concealing their age, they must make compensation elsewhere and why not as regards the vote? It may be an old fashioned view but there is something to be said for the contention that votes do not match well with frills and flounces and silk stockings. The nonsensical part of the business is that 21 does not count any more. Jane Austen's heroines could fall in love at 16 and wed at 17, but the girl of to-day can still be youthful at 30 or thereabouts, and provided she be clever enough to be interesting she can remain in the category of "girl" for very much longer than that.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.