At tea that evening I was prepared with a special topic to suggest. Tomorrow would be the first federal election in which women would participate. I wondered what my brood thought of that and which of the women old enough to vote had registered and would vote. I was just about to speak when Louis beat me to it. He tapped his teacup with his spoon in his most formal matter to get attention. I had never seen anyone do that before at tea. He must have thought his topic important, or himself to be important at any rate.
"Now that at least some of you now have been given the right to vote, will you use it? Will you vote in the federal election tomorrow?"
I looked slowly from one to another of the silent faces in the room, hoping my excitement wasn't too obvious on my face. Constance Claire looked quite startled, which for her meant that something surely would come out, and soon. I moved my eyes to Erica. As I did this, I noticed Dora Lund and Robert Miller also looking at her. She herself was looking at me, as though I had the response she wanted to hear. John Watson did not seem to react at all, which was normal for him. He did his thinking first and without much forewarning. Louis had asked his question with a very slight smile, as though the others could take his proposal seriously or not as they pleased, he was ready for either. As I expected, Constance Claire broke the silence.
"I don't think we have been given anything at all, Louis. Nor have we earned anything. It has finally been acknowledged in law that we have the same right to vote as men do in a democracy. We have not been given our right, we have claimed it." Then, turning from Louis to me, "What do you think about women voting, Mary Susan?"
"I agree with you, Constance Claire." I said. "If we have been given something, then there is a giver. Who is the giver of our right to vote? Men? If so, then will they someday change their minds and take it back? No, I think that the right to vote has neither been given nor granted to women. I think that women have always had the same rights as men in all things. The vote for women is a wrong now righted, not a gift given. But it is also a fact that with that right comes responsibility. We women can no longer blame the men for all the ills of the country."
"I'm not sure I don't like the old way better." Dora Lund said slowly, "I'm not sure I want the same responsibilities as the men have. Let the men be men. I think I would rather just be a woman. I don't think I want to vote in the election."
Constance Claire was quick to reply. "Use it or lose it. Now that we can vote, we must do so, or we lose everything."
Robert Miller said, "No, I think women's right to vote is here to stay. It's the modern thing. All of the advanced societies have acknowledged the equality of the genders. Take the Soviet Union for instance. Since the revolution, women there are the absolute equals of men."
There was silence in the room. Robert Miller was as good a show-stopper as Erica was. The Red Scare was still upon us, somewhat abated but not gone. This was dangerous talk, even for a gathering at Begley House. I noticed looks around the room, as though each was evaluating the others to see if there was agreement, or betrayal.
Constance Claire was not intimidated by the reference to the revolution in Russia. "I don't think we need the guidance of the Russian revolution and all the bloodshed that follows that to help us with equality. I believe we can come to our own decisions without their help"
"Yes," Louis added firmly, "We do things a little differently here in America."
Turning towards Erica and looking somewhat confrontational, it seemed to me, she then asked, "What about German women? Do they have the right to vote?"
No. And if things continue to go as they now seem to be going, the men won't be voting for much longer either.
This was Erica all over, I thought, a blast in the dark, with neither warning nor context. After several seconds, Constance Claire responded.
"Whatever can you mean, Erica? I thought Germany was a democracy now.
"I thought so too. Then I went there."
"What made you change your mind?"
But Erica clamed up in her inimitable way and said no more on that subject or any other. After the now-familiar uncomfortable silence, Constance Claire turned her attention to Elizabeth Porter. "What do you think, Elizabeth? Will you vote tomorrow?"
"I will, simply to support the idea. I really have no idea for whom to vote, especially on the Federal level. There are at least six candidates, each espousing different ideas. Some of the ideas are difficult to choose among. If I support labor, am I not supporting socialism? One man is running on the prohibition idea. Is he for it or against it? Do I vote for him just because he is interested in the idea? It's the law of the land now. What more need be said of it?"
M Dumont not being present, of course, all eyes turned to the only person who had not spoken, the housekeeper, Margaret Hines. Would she speak? Should she speak, being only the housekeeper? For all of that, should she even be in the room? Do housekeepers too have the right to vote? How was she to be addressed? Margaret, as one addresses the servants or Miss Hines, as one addresses people not of your set? Would "Margaret" be a label for servant, or the name of a new friend? I smiled at all this, shamelessly looking forward to what might follow. I noticed that Margo was also smiling slightly. I learned later that one needed to be very attentive when one saw that smile. She waited. How would she be addressed? Would she be addressed at all. She held her peace far longer than I would have under the same circumstances. "Margaret, what do you think?" That was Constance Claire. I mentally put a full mark on her balance sheet. Elizabeth Porter looked relieved. Neither of the men had noticed anything at all, by their looks. Erica showed no emotion whatever. I supposed that once one has been close to death as often as Erica has, one is less interested in the finer points of Southern Hospitality and social awareness as practiced on a modern college campus. "I think that it is no longer a right, whether given, earned, or inalienable. From now on it is an obligation. If we don't vote, it comes to exactly the same thing as if we couldn't vote." And there it was. Delivered without a hint of discomfort or strangeness. This was Margaret the fellow student, not Margaret the housekeeper. I remembered the way she had carried their plates to the kitchen just minutes ago. The kid was a born actress. She was going to make it too easy for them, but it was a demonstration of what they all said they wanted after all. The Dean had been oh so very right about little Margo. "It is the duty of every citizen to vote in a socialist democracy." Robert again, speaking from the high authority of, of what exactly, I wondered. "Oh, quite!" Margaret quipped at him impishly. I was actually looking forward to Robert moving on her. I was, I knew in my heart, an evil woman. "Well," Dora retorted, "I don't think anyone has the right to make me vote if I don't want to. I have a very full life with my own work without taking on the responsibilities of the men as well." "But you've enrolled in a college. Is that traditional women's work?" Constance Claire wanted to know. Dora had the answer. "I want to be educated enough to help my children with school. I think everyone should be educated, at least somewhat."