Oldest Woman Registered Says
It Is "Religious Duty of All
Women to Register and to Vote"
"I firmly believe that it is the re-
ligious duty of every decent woman of
Knoxville to register and vote in the
coming elections now that the women
have actually obtained the right of
suffrage," said Mrs. Emma Doyle, 812
Second street, the oldest woman who
has registered in Knoxville so far, for
the coming municipal election, when
interviewed by a reporter for The
Sentinel. Mrs. Doyle is 83 years old,
and will soon celebrate her 84th
birthday. She registered last Thursday, in the twenty-sixth ward.
"When the question of woman suffrage first came up I was opposed to
it," continued Mrs. Doyle, "and I still
maintain the view that it would have
been a far better thing for the country if the women had not received the
vote. But, now that the women have
that right, those of the low and vicious classes are going to register
and vote without exception; and the
educated, God-fearing women of
Knoxville are going to have to vote
in pure self-defense, and in defense
of the city government."
"I have already picked out my men,
and in doing so have tried to select
men who stood for a better, cleaner
condition of municipal politics. That
is what every modern city needs today. The general tendency over the
country is very often toward the low
and vicious and we of Knoxville must
see to it that men are placed in office
who will not tolerate such a condition
of things. If the right men are not
able to get into office, I can plainly
see the day—not so far in the future--
when women will be running for of-
fice; and not only running for office,
but getting there. Women have always had a way of getting what they
wanted.
"As for myself, l still believe that
the rightful place of woman is in the
home. I have always found it so, and
it seems to me that the world got
along mighty well with that way of
living. I did not register in order
simply to vote, for I do not care that
much about the ballot. I did it simply, as I said before, because I believe that every woman of the better
class owes it to herself, her children
and to her community, to do what
she can to aid in straightening out the
city financially, cleaning it up morally, and in making of it. a better place
in which to live. I hear that the women of the state of Oklahoma, who
have been voting for some time, have
succeeded in running out the pool
halls and second class shows. If that
is the case, then the ballot should
prove a good thing after all."
Although Mrs. Doyle is nearly 84
years old, she does all her own house
work, and "gets around as spry as any
one." She is a firm believer in the
maxium that "a person is just as old
as she feels." When the reporter in-
terviewed her this morning, she had
just completed a washing which many
a younger woman would not think of
doing, as "help just can not be gotten
and the laundry just simply tears
your things all to pieces."
"I hope you will encourage every
good woman you know to register and
vote when the time comes, next September," concluded Mrs. Doyle.
Women's Suffrage
