Whiston, also, had her trials of the same character. Nothing
ever annoyed her so much as a little blunder she made, the week
after the opening of the session. I have not yet mentioned that
there was already a universal dissatisfaction among the women, on
account of their being liable to military service. The war seemed
to have hardly begun, as yet, and conscription was already talked
about; the women, therefore, clamored for an exemption on
account of sex. Although we all felt that this was a retrograde
movement, the pressure was so great that we yielded. Mrs. Whiston,
reluctant at first, no sooner made up her mind that the thing must
be done, than she furthered it with all her might. After several
attempts to introduce a bill, which were always cut off by some
"point of order," she unhappily lost her usual patience.
I don't know that I can exactly explain how it happened, for what
the men call "parliamentary tactics" always made me fidgetty. But
the "previous question" turned up (as it always seemed to me to do,
at the wrong time), and cut her off before she had spoken ten
words.
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