Don't Betray Me

If a woman demands her political right in Switzerland, she is told: this is no affair of yours, my dear; confine your attention to church, child, and kitchen. Even so, every now and then a referendum is held to see whether she has become worthy of voting in the election of members of parliament. A referendum was lately held in Zurich, and a women's committee was formed to campaign for winning it. They distributed boxes of chocolates to the voters — without this counting as bribery under the law protecting the liberties — and the boxes were exquisitely wrapped and inscribed: Don't betray me, darling... The men ate the chocolates and betrayed them: the woman's supporters numbered 39 thousand and her opponents 134 thousand.