George A. Birmingham

“ Challoner, "you'll see the priest, Dr. Whitty, and talk to him. My doctor has strictly forbidden me to undertake any work I can possibly avoid. Otherwise, of course, I should not dream of encroaching on your time."
"I will," said Dr. Whitty. "I'll see him to-morrow. I'll work the whole thing up for you. You'll want women and not men at the meeting?"
"Certainly. Get all the women you can. It's a woman's question, and it ought to be settled by women. ”

“ That poor woman——"
"The priest won't like a meeting for women," said the colonel; "and you can't run a thing of the sort here without the priest."
"We'll try," said Mrs. Challoner, smiling again. "I have faced worse obstacles than that."
"The priest will be all right," said Dr. Whitty. "He's a reasonable man. If he's approached the right way and talked to sensibly he'll come to the meeting and make a speech."
"He ought to, of course," said Mrs. Challoner. "The Church has always taken a strong line on the subject. We count on the support of the clergy of every denomination wherever we go." ”

“ Why, your own bishop is as strongly in favour of it as any man."
"What makes you say that? I never heard it of him."
"Mrs. Challoner told me so," said the doctor, lying boldly, "and she'd be sure to know."
"She's mistaken," said the priest. "The bishop has more sense."
"I don't see what harm it can do you to preside," said the doctor. "You may just as well do the civil thing when you're asked. We won't let it get into the papers."
"I'm against it," said the priest. "That's why I won't do it. In my opinion women are a deal better without votes." ”

“ You'll be quite safe. I won't have a man in the room except Father Henaghan, Mr. Jackson—you'd like to have him, of course, when you're having the priest—and myself. We don't count. Clergy and doctors occupy a sort of intermediate position between the two sexes. We're not really either one thing or the other."
Next day Dr. Whitty felt rather less confident about the success of his mission to the town of Ballintra. The daylight of an October morning is not a good tonic for a fading enthusiasm. Tea—breakfast tea—does not exhilarate as champagne does. ”

“ Jackson held no strong views on any political subject except temperance. About that he was violent and extreme. He wanted a Bill passed forbidding the sale of alcohol in any form, except in chemists' shops on presentation of a written order from a medical man. Dr. Whitty knew this and shaped his arguments to suit the circumstances.
"In Finland," he said, "the effect of the women's vote—you know, of course, that women have votes in Finland—has been to close every public-house in the entire country, and to make the manufacture of whisky a criminal offence." ”

“ I'm a man myself, and in my opinion it's women who ought to look into the matter. I haven't what you call a strong opinion either one way or the other."
The schoolmaster's wife applauded feebly with her umbrella. Mrs. Michael Geraghty, noticing that the doctor was looking the other way, slipped as quietly as possible from the room. She was really anxious about her baby. Mrs. Challoner appeared puzzled and slightly annoyed. Dr. Whitty winked ferociously at Father Henaghan. He was watching Mrs. Challoner's face, and he didn't like the look of it. ”

“ In fact, this one will be a great deal more good than most. For if you preside at it, like a sensible man, the colonel will be so pleased that he'll give you that field beyond my house for your new school. ”