MR. MELVIN. Did you ever wonder what your mother would have said to all this tomfoolery? Don’t you care more for your mother’s opinion than for that of Mrs. Thom?
MILDRED. Why do you call it tomfoolery?
MR. MELVIN. Can you call it anything else? These parades and platform speeches, these huge badges and conspicuous standards? Daughters of the Danaïdes! Do you know what punishment was inflicted upon the Danaïdes?
MILDRED. No.
MR. MELVIN. They were condemned to carry water in a sieve.
MILDRED. (After a slight pause.) You mean that my efforts in the cause of Woman Suffrage are futile? That I am trying to carry water in a sieve?
MR. MELVIN. Are you getting any results?
MILDRED. We increased our membership last year from two hundred to over a thousand.
MR. MELVIN. Statistics. Have you gained anything? Made any real advance? Do your members really want to vote?
MILDRED. How can you talk to me in this way! There are a great many nice and clever women in our Society who believe in the enfranchisement of women sincerely, and would make any sacrifice to accomplish it. Look at my stepmother. She is naturally fond of art and fond of society, but she has neglected both to work in the cause. We are not trying to carry water in a sieve.