88 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



woman, "You can have the ballot; only 

 leave me the vegetables, or, what is more 

 important,- the consciousness of power in 

 vegetables." I see how it is. Woman is 

 now supreme in the house. She already 

 stretches out her hand to grasp the garden. ' 

 She will gradually control everything. Wo- 

 man is one of the ablest and most cunning 

 creatures who have ever mingled in human 

 affairs. ; I understand those women who say 

 they don't want the ballot. They purpose 

 to hold the real power while we go through 

 the mockery of making laws. They want 

 the power without the responsibility. (Sup- 

 pose my squash had not come up, or my 

 b eans a s they threatened at one time 

 had gone the wrong way: where would I 

 have been ?) We are to be held to all the 

 responsibilities. Woman takes the lead in 

 all the departments, leaving us politics only. 

 And what is politics? Let me raise the 

 vegetables of a nation, says Polly, and I 

 care not who makes its politics. Here I sat 

 at the table, armed with the ballot, but 



