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Suffrage Songs and Verses

Chapter 21: The Anti and the Fly
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About This Book

A collection of poems and songs that urge women's political enfranchisement and social reform, blending moral argument, satire, and lyrical reflection. Several pieces reframe motherhood and domestic labor as public responsibilities, converting private care into a reason for civic participation; others mock anti-suffrage rationales and challenge female passivity. The verse alternates earnest exhortation, vivid domestic scenes, and rallying refrains to encourage collective action, education, and self-recognition. Overall it presents suffrage as necessary for family welfare and social progress, urging women to move from seclusion to engaged public life.

THE “ANTI” AND THE FLY f

The fly upon the Cartwheel
Thought he made all the Sound;
He thought he made the Cart go on—
And made the wheels go round.
The Fly upon the Cartwheel
Has won undying fame
For Conceit that was colossal,
And Ignorance the same.
But today he has a Rival
As we roll down History’s Track—
For the “Anti” on the Cartwheel
Thinks she makes the Wheels go back!