say?

MAY. He said, "Well, I'm sorry I can't go with, you!"

All. Oh, how horrid!

EDITH. Well, I've had all of Sam I want! When I got home from school yesterday I sat on the front porch all afternoon. Of course I expected Sam would happen to pass by.

KATE. Of course. Any gentleman would happen, to pass by.

EDITH. Certainly. And there I sat. And sat. And sat. And no Sam came by. Oh, I was mad. And what do you think his excuse was? His mother had fallen down the cellar stairs and broken her arm.

KATE. And he let that keep him home! Girls, I think the way the boys treat us is perfectly outrageous! There are whole minutes in every day when they don't think of us at all.

GRACE. Oh, not whole minutes.

KATE. Well, parts of minutes, anyway. I understand that several times this term several of the boys almost knew their lessons. That couldn't happen if they thought of us all the time.

All. The horrid things!

KATE. Well, for my part, I'm through with boys! I wish they were all—all extinct.

SUSAN, (rapping on table with her umbrella) Ladies! Fellow females! I have heard what you said. Your wrongs are enormous, but what does man live for but to oppress us? We are down-trod, down-trod by man, that worm that like a roaring lion seeks to cast dust in our eyes with his soaring wings while he rends our heart with his cruel beak! Shall we, ladies, be slaves to a worm?

PAULINE. No, mam. (curtseys)

SUSAN. No! You wish the men were extinct. We will extinguish them. Why waste your lives here doing plain and fancy sewing—

PAULINE. And scrubbin'—

SUSAN. When woman was meant to occupy the noblest spheres? Wives? Faugh! Housewives? Faugh! Let us take the work of the men, and do it! Follow the bright banner of Susan Jane Jones, the Militant Suffragette, and drive the men into the sea! I have heard the story of your wrongs—

KATE. Well, I do think Henry was just too mean for anything.

SUSAN. Sewing! Scrubbing! Have you women never wished to do the work of men?

KATE. Yes, I have. I always wanted to be a doctor, but my father wouldn't hear of it.

GRACE. What kind of a doctor, Kate?

KATE. Oh, a handsome doctor with curly gray hair. And you, Grace?

GRACE. Oh, I want to be a lawyer, a plump, jolly lawyer. And you, Edith?

EDITH. I want to be an editor.

GRACE. Republican or Democrat?

EDITH. I don't know. The kind with a big automobile. And you, Ida?

IDA. I want to be a politician.

Mat. An honest one, of course.

IDA. Well, no. A successful politician. And you, May?

Mat. I want to run a vegetable market, where the women can come with their market baskets.

SUSAN. Where the men can come with their market baskets, (to PAULINE) And you, you poor creature, have you never felt the longing to usurp man's sphere? Have you never longed to do a man's work?

PAULINE. Oh, yes, mam. This humble heart (tapping her waist) has felt the what-you-call it many a time. I have always wished, mam, to be a pirate.

All. A pirate!

PAULINE. A pirate. And why not? That's men's work. Listen:—

SUSAN. Just so high!

All. Just so high!

PAULINE.

SUSAN. So have I.

All. So have I.

PAULINE.