Chapter I: Front Matter

THE SCRAP BOOK

Vol. II. OCTOBER, 1906. No. 2.

HOW TO LIVE WELL.

BY GEORGE WASHINGTON.

Be courteous to all, but intimate with few; and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence. True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation. Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distresses of every one, and let your hand give in proportion to your purse; remembering always the estimation of the widow’s mite, that it is not every one that asketh that deserveth charity; all, however, are worthy of the inquiry, or the deserving may suffer. Do not conceive that fine clothes make fine men, any more than fine feathers make fine birds. A plain, genteel dress is more admired, and obtains more credit, than lace and embroidery, in the eyes of the judicious and sensible.—_From a Letter to His Nephew, Bushrod Washington, 1783._

The Latest Viewpoints of Men Worth While

Lady Ward Discusses Female Suffrage in New Zealand—C. F. Birdseye
Shows That the Scope of College Fraternities is Widening—Professor
Borgerhoff Points Out Merits of Esperanto—Mormon Elder Says It
Costs $1,500 to Save a Soul—President Faunce Believes Public
Schools Will Supply Antidote for War—Dr. Louis Elkino Writes of
German Methods in Fight for Commercial Supremacy—Bernard Shaw Says
Americans Are Children in Business—Queen Margherita on Race
Suicide—Charles F. Pidgin Finds Boston a Big Debtor—Lord Roberts
Wants Rifle-Shooting Made a National Sport.

_Compiled and edited for_ THE SCRAP BOOK.

HOW FEMALE SUFFRAGE WORKS IN NEW ZEALAND.

Even Maori Women Vote, But Only Men Hold Office—Lack of Servants Keeps
Fair Sex Home.

What about woman in New Zealand? We are arguing for and against woman suffrage in the United States with almost as much theory and as little practical knowledge of the proposed conditions as was the case thirty years ago. Some of us are positive in the conviction that the right to vote would unsex the sex—would harden motherhood and sisterhood into a sedulous mannishness.

Others believe that womanly intuitions would soften the sheer practicality of politics and induce gentleness where roughness has ruled. And for a dozen years we need only have looked to the Antipodes to learn how woman suffrage might work out in practise.

Lady Ward, wife of the premier of New Zealand, during a recent visit to the United States, said to a representative of the New York _Tribune_ that the women of New Zealand, despite their participation in colonial politics, are very feminine. She added:

Sometimes women do speak at political meetings, but it generally turns
out afterward that they are visiting Americans, or perhaps English
women. No, we don’t sit on juries, and we don’t run for Parliament.
The law would have to be changed before we could do so, but I don’t
believe we want to. Perhaps some time in the future it will come to
that, but I think it will be a long time.

We did have a mayoress once in a town in the northern part of the
colony, but no one seems inclined to repeat the experiment. In fact,
we are very busy with our domestic affairs, and are quite content for
the present to leave the management of public affairs to the men.

The women of New Zealand place their homes before every other
consideration, and their domestic problems are just as serious as
those of any other country. Our young women would rather be
stenographers than domestic servants, and we have not found any way of
getting on without servants.

But don’t imagine that we are not interested in politics and that we
don’t vote. There isn’t a woman in New Zealand who doesn’t know every
member of Parliament either by sight or by reputation, and there isn’t
one who can’t talk intelligently about political questions. Out on the
farms and in the villages it is just the same as in the cities, and it
makes life very much more interesting.

No matter whom you meet, you will always find one subject of common
interest. People here don’t seem to be much interested in politics,
and even your men don’t vote, I am told. Isn’t it strange? Perhaps it
is because our country is smaller that we take so much more interest
in its affairs.

Our elections are most interesting events, and the women do a great
deal of electioneering, just as they do in England. But they don’t do
much speechmaking, except among themselves. Political afternoon teas
are a favorite method of winning over doubtful women voters.

What becomes of the babies when the mothers are out electioneering?
Why, I really don’t know. I suppose there is always some kind-hearted
woman to take care of them. Perhaps the women take care of one
another’s babies. I never heard of any difficulties of that kind.

Do the native women vote? Yes, certainly. Every woman over twenty-one
votes. The only qualification is a residence of twelve months in the
colony and three months in the electorate where the vote is cast. The
native women take just as much interest in politics as the white
women, and are thoroughly well posted in everything concerning native
affairs. We have an aboriginal population of forty thousand, and they
have their own representatives in Parliament.

Women in New Zealand have the more time for politics because they do not carry the burden of charitable work. The charities there are subsidized by the State.

WIDENING SCOPE OF COLLEGE FRATERNITIES.