A Woman for Mayor | Page 2

will
consent to be mayor of Roma."
"They're all afraid of the demagogues," put in another. "There's Albert
Turner; he ought to stand as a candidate. But I suppose he wouldn't?"

She turned to a large fair lady across the table who was placidly
consuming her soup.
"My husband isn't interested in politics," was the reply. "His business
affairs are too pressing."
"That's the trouble with most of the men," commented another. "They
are too much absorbed in their own affairs to care much what happens
to the community. We need a little more of the socialistic spirit."
"Oh, dreadful!" muttered another. "We shall be preaching anarchy
next."
"And Granville Mason--or Geoffrey Bateman," added the fluffy lady in
blue.
"My husband said last night that politics had sunk to such a pass in this
town that no decent man would touch the City Hall with a pair of
tongs," said Mrs. Mason. "That's the answer he gave a couple of men
who came from Headquarters to ask him to stand. And he said that
whatever decent man accepted the nomination was sure to be defeated.
He doesn't care to be the figure-head of Defeat."
"That's the way they all feel," said Gertrude Van Deusen. "I wish I
were a man. I'd run for mayor! I wouldn't let the figure of Defeat worry
me. I'd make a fight, I would, and we'd see if the demagogues had
everything their own way."
"Why not run, then?" asked Mrs. Bateman, smiling across the table.
"I'd get every decent man roused up, for once," said Gertrude,
enthusiastically, "I'd go into every ward and organize--as they do. I'd
work among the poor, the illiterate, the unfortunate; and I'd rouse the
rich and educated, too. That's the class that need awakening in this
town."
"Then you're the right candidate," said Mrs. Bateman. "Why don't you
take it? Really, now, why not?"

"O, Mrs. Bateman, I was only imagining a case." Miss Van Deusen was
blushing and confused now. "Of course I couldn't run for office, not
really."
"Why not?" asked the elder woman in the calm, judicial way which
made her a leader among women. "Why not? The town is going to the
dogs--or rather, to the demagogues. We need a complete revolution in
Roma. We women have the vote in this state; why not take matters into
our own hands? Why not have a woman for mayor?"
"O-o-oh!" gasped several of her hearers in the slight pause.
"Think of the field of activities that would open up before a good
woman," she went on. "The condition of our paupers, of our children's
institutions, of our schools. Think of the intemperance and the vagrancy
and the immorality that flourish under our very noses. Yes, and the
machine-politics that keep them flourishing. Oh, there is so much to be
done, and our good men too busy, or--as they claim--too high-minded
to meddle with it."
"Then what would, what could a decent woman do with it?" demanded
Mrs. Jewett.
"Walk through it like an angel of light," answered Mrs. Bateman.
"Ladies, we as the 'Progressive Workers' have labored ten years to
effect reforms in this town, to further the interests of the schools, the
poor, the dependent. What have we accomplished?"
"Why, why, a little," replied Mrs. Jewett. "Enough to have made our
names respected and--yes, a little to be feared."
"But not enough," resumed Mrs. Bateman. "Not so much as we ought
to have done. Not so much as we might have done had the City Council
been with, instead of against us, or at best, merely tolerant of us. Now
here is our opportunity. The lower element has put up a man,
notoriously bad and unfit, to be mayor. The better side is all at sea. Our
old mayor (weak enough, but infinitely better than Barnaby Burke) is
ill with an incurable disease, and no one whose name inspires the least

particle of confidence has been mentioned yet to take his place. Let us
put up a good, whole-souled, fearless woman and get her elected."
"Impossible!" said Mrs. Jewett.
"We can do it," said the fluffy woman in blue. "My husband would
help us; I know he would."
"But who?" asked Mrs. Mason. "Where could we find the woman?"
"Right here in our ranks," said Mrs. Bateman. "One of our own
members. Gertrude, you're just the woman for us."
Miss Van Deusen did not answer. Only the quick flush showed how the
possibilities of the moment found echo in the consternation at her heart.
"You are independent both by nature and by inheritance. You represent
the best element of our citizens, you have means and time, you are
bound by no family ties, and you have the kind of courage for the
position," urged Mrs. Bateman.
"What will the