1. Education
A Modern Proposal
From the book Are Women People? by Alice Duer Miller, 1915

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A Modern Proposal

(It has been said that the feminist movement is the true solution of the mother-in-law problem.)

SYLVIA, my dear, I would be yours with pleasure,
All that you are seems excellent to me,
Except your mother, who's much more at leisure
Than mothers ought to be.

Find her a fad, a job, an occupation,
Eugenics, dancing, uplift, yes, or crime,
Set her to work for her Emancipation-
That takes a lot of time.

Or, if the suffrage doctrine fails to charm her,
There are the Antis-rather in her line-
Guarding the Home from Maine to Alabama
Would keep her out of mine.


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About this book: In 1915, the state-by-state battle for suffrage had won a few battles. Supporters of woman suffrage had multiplied, which also brought anti-suffrage sentiments to the surface to counter the suffrage arguments.

The author of this volume of feminist humor and satire, Alice Duer Miller, wrote many of the pieces for her column in the New York Tribune, "Are Women People?" She also wrote a sequel, published in 1917, Women Are People!

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Part of a collection of etexts on women's history produced by Jone Johnson Lewis. Editing and formatting © 1999-2003 Jone Johnson Lewis.

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