Punch, 29 (1892):79
source of humiliation for many women was the "exclusion [from the
franchise] of women who fulfill the necessary qualifications, and who are,
besides, very frequently persons of high intelligence and good culture," in
light of the fact that Parliament had worked very hard to secure the voting
privilege for the vast population of illiterate male workers. This
injustice was voiced by prominent Victorians like Jacob Bright, and is the
topic of "Cultcha!", Punch Volume, . A young woman characterized as a 'Girtonite,' (Girton was a prominent girls' school, later incorporated
into Cambridge University), is offered Punch's Happy Thoughts, by a man and refuses his offer in favor of a work written by a famous mathematician,
Pascal. The fact that the woman is offered a Punch magazine in a Punch cartoon, and turns it down for a more intellectually high-brow piece of literature, seems to be making a statement. Perhaps the reader is supposed to look at the girl's choice and chuckle conspiratorially with Mr. Punch that just because she attends a feminist school, she too may comprehend the most rational of all subjects, mathematics.
[Victorian initial "A" by Harlan Wallach ©copyright 1994.]