A Woman for Mayor

A Woman for Mayor, by Helen
M. Winslow

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Title: A Woman for Mayor A Novel of To-day
Author: Helen M. Winslow
Illustrator: Walter Dean Goldbeck
Release Date: August 8, 2007 [EBook #22267]
Language: English
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A Woman For Mayor
A Novel of To-day
By Helen M. Winslow
Author of "Literary Boston of Today," etc. Former Editor of "The Club
Woman"
Frontispiece by Walter Dean Goldbeck
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Copyright 1909 by The Reilly & Britton Co.
All rights reserved
Published June, 1909
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LIST OF CHAPTERS
CHAPTER PAGE
I An Unprecedented Proposal 11
II A Perplexed Reformer 23
III Learning the Ropes 35
IV Practical Politics 55
V The Opposition Candidate 65
VI A Political Trick 77

VII An Unusual Ride 90
VIII Modern Journalism 102
IX Election Day 112
X The New Mayor's Policy 125
XI At Work 140
XII Skirmishing 152
XIII An Important Appointment 166
XIV Graft 177
XV Setting the Trap 191
XVI Divided Interests 207
XVII A Dumbfounded Populace 220
XVIII A Futile Search 230
XIX The Boodlers Score 240
XX An Enforced Vacation 247
XXI Word from the Missing 261
XXII A Daring Escape 273
XXIII The Hearts of the People 284
XXIV An Honest Confession 295
XXV The Old, Old Story 310
XXVI Retrospect and Prophecy 326

XXVII A Heart's Awakening 338
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FOREWORD
"Chimerical!" the average man will exclaim when he reads the title of
this book.
"But why not?" his wife will answer.
"Worth trying," the reformers and philanthropists will add.
"One of us," the suffragette will conclude.
And there may be a grain of truth in every answer. But the idea is not
absolutely new. At this writing, there is a woman-mayor in one of the
smaller cities of the middle states in America; while over in England
there are, I believe, two women doing good work in the municipal
chair.
And again, "Why not?" Housekeeping is a woman's business. It is the
primeval instinct at the bottom of every woman's heart. The average
American and English home is a clean, sweet, sanitary and
well-governed institution,--made and kept so by some woman. God
made women to be wives, mothers and home-makers; and if our
modern conditions have sent some of us out into the world to earn our
own living and perhaps to support somebody else, the instinct
remains--as witness the thousands of tiny flats or cottages where these
women dwell and maintain a home, "be it ever so humble." And so, if
we are the natural housekeepers, the conservators of health and morals
and civic pride, why not a woman at the head of municipal affairs?
The suffragette, the reformer, the philanthropist, the average wife are
right, too. As for the average man--let him read the story of Roma's
woman-mayor and think it over. And if he does not decide to vote for a
woman as mayor, perhaps he will come to see that woman's
housekeeping instinct and newly awakened civic sense, added to a

revival of public honesty among men, might well combine to make a
model city.
If "it is not good for man to live alone," perhaps it is not well for him to
manage his City Hall alone. After all, is it "chimerical?"
H. M. W. Cambridge, Mass. May, 1909.
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A WOMAN FOR MAYOR
CHAPTER I
An Unprecedented Proposal
"Well, why shouldn't we change it?" asked Mrs. Bateman, as she
scooped out the grape-fruit that formed the first course at the P. W.'s
regular monthly luncheon.
"Change it? Change what?--How?" asked several voices at once.
"The state of affairs in this city," pursued Mrs. Bateman calmly. "I have
been thinking things over since I got home this fall. Everybody agrees
that our little city is going to the dogs; that municipal affairs were never
so muddled as now. And now, here is Barnaby Burke running for
mayor, with a ravenous pack of demagogues behind him."
"Yes, and not a decent man to run against him," added Cornelia Jewett.
"I don't see why," began the fluffy little woman in light blue, "I don't
see why no genuine, honest, upright gentleman will allow his name to
be used. Rudolph says it has got so that nobody but a politician