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"The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads."
In the 1820s when Clement Moore wrote his classic Christmas poem, "'The Night Before Christmas," kids would have loved to find sugar plums, apples or other fruit in their stockings.
Today's children wouldn't be quite so pleased with such gifts. But they surely would love a fudge pop from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Delafield or maybe a chocolate dipped crispy Christmas tree from Allo Chocolat in Waukesha or a decorated chocolate Santa from Sweet Dreams Candies and Gifts in Oconomowoc.
The chocolatiers are girding their shops for the onslaught of treat seekers. Colorful shelves, trays and packages fill the stores with delightful creations, rivalling sugar plums or any other goodies from the past.
At Rocky Mountain, owners Mary and Harry Schaff of Pewaukee have holiday-themed confections throughout the store.
Harry, an IT guy for 30 years before opening his Rocky Mountain franchise seven years ago, said his shop is one of the few places you'll find caramel apples year-round, including the ones in his shop decorated like snowmen, reindeer and the like for Christmas at $9.95.
The Schaffs came up with the idea for the fudge pops, decadent chocolate covered fudgy treats on a stick in a variety of flavors such as peanut butter fudge and sea salt caramel at $2.95 each.
"Mary is the creative one," said Harry of the chocolates' artistic looks.
But that is just the tip of the icicle. Harry said kids love their chocolate dipped treats like Oreos and pretzels, plus the ever popular "gummies." The peppermint Oreos – in dark, milk or white chocolate – are $3.95 for a pack of three.
Allo Chocolat also has plenty of candy delights for kids, and grownups. Owner Carrie Igielski said kids love their dipped treats, such as the crispy Christmas trees for $1.99 each. Igielski also has some cute dipped Nutter Butter Santas on hand that sell at $3.95 for a package of two.
At Sweet Dreams, owner Ben Korpal has lots of nostalgia candy of which kids have never grown tired. Kids love to see jaw breakers, or candy or bubble gum cigarettes, in their stockings. His holiday gummies are also a favorite. They come in shapes of trees and other festive looks at $7.99 a pound.
Korpal said he doesn't know of anyone else around who carries chocolate potpourri, which features sweetly scented peppermint chocolate covered in red and green. A bag is $9.99.
"It smells up a room pretty good," said Korpal.
His fairy food is also a popular item during the holidays.
But it's not just Christmas people are buying for.
The surrounding area also celebrates St. Nicholas Day, according to Igielski.
St. Nicholas Day, which is Dec. 6, is not celebrated in all parts of the country. Children leave their stockings out on Dec. 5 to find them filled with treats when they wake up the next morning.
There are bags and bags of holiday treats at Allo Chocolat, including colorful chocolates in shapes of presents, Santas, balls and bells wrapped in foil that are $8.99 for eight ounces. An eight-ounce bag of gummy Christmas trees is $2.75.
But kids aren't the only ones who like goodies. There are plenty of ways to fill grown-ups' stockings, as well.
For those looking for homemade fudge, there's no need to go to Door County or Wisconsin Dells.
"We make it here and sell it here," said Harry Schaff at Rocky Mountain.
Fudge varieties include vanilla peanut butter, Snickers, Oreo and black cherry truffle.
Harry Schaff's personal favorite candy item is something called a "Bear."
"It's a giant turtle," said Harry, referring to the nutty, caramel, chocolate confection. The Bears might have pecans or cashews.
"They're a meal in themselves," Harry said. "They're really big."
Korpal's latest favorite is his peanut banana pretzel balls, although he added, "I never stay loyal to one thing."
All three stores also have selections of truffles.
"Truffles are huge," said Harry, strolling past a display of the beautifully decorated candies.
Sweet Dreams has added some festive truffle flavors, including eggnog, creme brulee, s'mores and gingerbread. The store has carried as many as 20 varieties.
Allo Chocolat has 12 flavors of truffles and "meltaways" that will be featured during the holiday season.
The shop also has a nice selection of molded chocolate appropriate for teachers, nurses, policemen and others. For instance, the teacher set includes a molded chocolate school bus, scissors, stapler, ruler and even a red apple that sells for $12.90. There are even small molds of Wisconsin with the state name on them.
Rocky Mountain also features chocolate dipped fruit, such as pineapples, kiwis, cherries, apricots and some huge cherry "bombs."
All three stores can also put together custom boxes of assorted chocolates and candies for corporate or personal giving. Allo Chocolate and Rocky Mountain offer shipping of their products.
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory
807 Genesee St., Delafield
Open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday
Allo Chocolat
234 W. Main St., Waukesha
Open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, noon to 4 p.m. Sunday
Sweet Dreams Candies & Gifts
126 N. Main St., Oconomowoc
Open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday-Friday, noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; hours the week before Christmas will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday


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text:
'Supernatural' Season 8 Sam Related News07/20/2012
Supernatural: Sam related scoop on season 8 from TVLine's Matt Webb Mitovich
Supernatural | Pamela emailed to ask if I have "any inside scoop on the Winchester boys." Well, this week's Ask Ausiello – coupled with this casting news – gave you a taste of what Dean will be dealing with at the start of the season. So let's turn to Sam. Because while this other (and prettier) piece of casting may have you thinking (proactively freaking?) that time will be spent on lovey-dovey romance, Jared Padalecki reveals, "Sam is no longer with [Amelia]" when the season starts. "Most of the love interest stuff we see is all in flashback, though I know she will come back to non-flashback at some point in time." What else was Sam up to while Dean was in purgatory, aside from getting' down with his new girl? Not killing things that go bump in the night, it turns out. "Essentially, Sam walked away from the life when Dean, Castiel, Kevin and Crowley disappeared," Padalecki previews.
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Me and this guy knew each other first he introduced me to my ex and I was with him for 2 years.
Most Helpful Guy
I think there's none. If you're happy dating with his best friend, then you're good to pursue it.
Your ex doesn't have a power on you anymore 'cause you've drifted apart already.00|00|0


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Sergei Aksyonov is Vladimir Putin's kind of politician. The man leading Crimea toward union with Russia bristles with that same kind of controlled anger that Mr. Putin has when he meets the media, the contempt for his questioners that bubbles just underneath the surface.
Mr. Aksyonov also has the same ability to smile through an obvious lie.
There is no gun to the head of Crimeans ahead of Sunday's referendum, he told reporters here on Friday, less than 48 hours before voting begins in a controversial referendum on joining the Russian Federation. Crimeans – not Moscow – will decide the region's fate. And no, those are not Russian soldiers and military vehicles you're seeing all over the peninsula.
"There are no guns pointed at people's heads. Those are just self-defence units guarding certain locations," Mr. Aksyonov said of the various militias with undefined powers that occupy most squares and public buildings in Crimea.
"There are always Russian forces in Crimea. The Russian navy never left Sevastopol. But they are not doing any abnormal activities," he told a press conference full of people who had seen Russian military – often in vehicles with Russian license plates on them – for the past two weeks. "What you see in the streets are just voluntary self-defence units."
If the forces deployed throughout Crimea are indeed a self-organized and self-financed army, this peninsula has mobilized and equipped itself faster than any breakaway region in history.
On Friday, Reuters reported one of its reporters witnessed a Russian warship unloading troops trucks and at least one armoured personnel carrier at a port near Sevastopol.
The Globe and Mail spotted a long column of supply vehicles – including a mobile radar unit and fuel and ammunition trucks – moving through Simferopol to a point further north on the peninsula. The Ukrainian government says there are at least 18,800 Russian soldiers now in Crimea, a presence Kiev calls an "invasion."
None of that is relevant to Mr. Aksyonov's narrative. A 41-year-old Greco-Roman wrestler and alleged gangster, he won just 4 per cent of the vote in 2010 local elections, but came to power on Feb. 27 in a vote held by the Crimean parliament after pro-Russian gunmen seized control of the building.
What matters to Mr. Aksyonov is trying to convince the world that what he and the Kremlin are doing in Crimea is no different than what Kosovo did with Western support when it broke away from Serbia in 2008.
"We are not enemies," he said of governments in Europe and North America that have called Sunday's referendum illegitimate, and vowed not to recognize. "They have the right to say whatever they want, but they shouldn't tell us what to do in our land. Moreover, what we are doing in Crimea now is what has been done in Kosovo some time ago."
That, unsurprisingly, is the same argument the Russian Foreign Ministry has been making for weeks. Mr. Aksyonov says he doesn't get directives from Moscow – he has yet to speak directly with Mr. Putin – though he acknowledges there are now Russian government representatives embedded as "consultants" at all of the Crimean government ministries.
Mr. Aksyonov was confident of Sunday's referendum result, noting that no one was really bothering to campaign against the idea of union with Russia. He said he expected turnout to be in the range of 80 per cent, despite a promise from the region's Crimean Tatars, who make up about 13 per cent of the region's two million people, to boycott the vote.
"Whether we vote or not, we already know what the result will be. It has already been fixed," said Azize Ablyaeva, a 19-year-old engineering student who was among several hundred Crimean Tatars protesting against the referendum along the side of a highway on Friday. She wore a small Ukrainian flag on her lapel, which is an act of dissent in today's Crimea.
In his press conference, Mr. Aksyonov made no allowances for the possibility of a "no" vote on joining Russia. He said the integration process would take up to a year.
Monday, the day after the referendum, might be a flashpoint, however. Mr. Aksyonov said Ukrainian forces based in Crimea would quickly have to decide whether they would join the army of the newly independent Crimea, or make a humbling march to another base in Ukraine.
"We are holding negotiations with them. They should either swear an oath to Crimea, or retire, or return to Ukraine. We will secure a path to Ukraine for them if they choose to do so."
Asked by The Globe and Mail how he hoped history would view him, Mr. Aksyonov responded with assumed modesty. "It doesn't matter how history remembers me. What matters is how Crimeans see me now. What's important is that I'm fulfilling their expectations."
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Divine decadence in & out of the canals of Venice! A statuesque dominatrix strolls down a cobbled street, meeting up with 2 boy toys who give her a delicious double penetration. A gorgeous American tourist manages to accommodate all of an enormously hung gigolo in her derriere. During a masked orgy, a body beautiful brunette gets all of her holes gloriously filled. The edge play continues in this beautifully photographed feature--one of our hottest titles!
Performers: Samantha Bentley, Mira, Irina Bruni, Hennessy, Kerry
Feature Runtime: 129 Minutes


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InfoWorld What do you guys think?
Personally I find some of them useful, some not so much, some just plain odd.
I only really see a need for a couple of the tools as an all purpose toolbox.
Never tried AMANDA and a lot of shops don't use exchange, sharepoint, or have need of the archiving tools. I'm perfectly happy with the windows defragger, I don't have any use for OCS as I have a wonderful program called Spiceworks. :) ClamAV isn't bad but wouldn't use it on my servers. I'd just buy a WiFi Access point rather than setting up a machine as one.
18 Replies
Sep 19, 2011 at 3:56 UTC
Love VirtualBox, WireShark, and if I actually used Server Core I'd be using the Server Core Configurator. Can certainly live without the rest though...
Sep 19, 2011 at 5:04 UTC
Nice share. I've used a couple of those, but there's a couple more that I will be looking into.
Sep 19, 2011 at 5:32 UTC
A weird list at best.
Some, like Wireshark and Zenmap are very useful.
A lot of the rest make me wonder if I'm doing all that great a job if I haven't heard of some of these.
I'm not sure though that Clam-Win has any place on that list - I have yet to find an actual use for it.
Clam Win isn't even the best free AV, though that's a bit confusing.
ClamAV is the guts - the engine.
ClamWin is a graphical gui mated to the ClamAV engine. It doesn't do real time scanning.
ClamAV for Windows (Immunet is a another front end, but this one does do real time scanning. It also has both a free and a paid version. It's way better in that regard than the original.
It does bear mentioning that the project founders sold their rights to a commercial developer. It remains to be seen whether this will be a good or bad thing for the 'product.'
I have a copy installed as a test, but I haven't created a dirty disk rom to test it against yet.
Sep 19, 2011 at 6:24 UTC
This is an interesting list and good software for very specific use cases that you need to do a major function but cant get any $$ for it.
Really its only a list if 14 pieces .of software as NMAP and Zenmap were listed separately
Sep 19, 2011 at 6:40 UTC
Ok Thank you for posting this list i have a new favorite program: PowerGUI
Sep 19, 2011 at 7:03 UTC
Astute Technology Solutions is an IT service provider.
Good post. I have not used many of these, but I am researching them now. I feel some of them will most likely help me manage our network.
Sep 20, 2011 at 4:10 UTC
Cheers for the post, I might have a look into that powergui.
Sep 20, 2011 at 6:41 UTC
Bluecube ICT is an IT service provider.
nice to know..
Sep 20, 2011 at 11:36 UTC
I haven't used Amanda in about ten years now, but it was a fabulous backup system when I was maintaining a network of Unix machines at a previous job. Very robust, intelligent, configurable, and made smart use of available media.
I should investigate that to replace the awful Acronis system we implemented about six months ago. :)
Sep 20, 2011 at 11:51 UTC
Ya was looking at AMANDA, it's pretty cool, I have a few *nix machines around the office now so I can use one of them as the backup system, and PowerGUI is really cool. That is worth the whole article.
Sep 20, 2011 at 11:53 UTC
Good post, I've used most at one time or another. Thrilled that PowerGUI makes the lsit, if you haven't played with it, try it.
Sep 21, 2011 at 7:37 UTC
Bit of a weird list. I agree with NMap & Wireshark. For server core I'd rather use the RSAT. I also doubt I'd want to use VirtualBox on a Win Server. It's a great app but I'd rather use Hyper-V on a server.
Sep 21, 2011 at 11:32 UTC
Should have been "15 open source tools you might want to look at"
Sep 21, 2011 at 2:35 UTC
awww no richcopy?
or windirstat?
Sep 21, 2011 at 3:05 UTC
Both great utilities, but are they Open Source? gotta keep in mind that is the point of the list. Though I know there are other tools he could have chosen.
Sep 22, 2011 at 1:50 UTC
How can they not have 7Zip on that list?
Sep 22, 2011 at 12:26 UTC
wow good call, didn't even notice, that's one of the first things i install on a new machine. so handy!
Sep 22, 2011 at 12:26 UTC
wow good call, didn't even notice, that's one of the first things i install on a new machine. so handy!
This discussion has been inactive for over a year.
You may get a better answer to your question by starting a new discussion.


text: [ Hip Hop 101 [VIDEO] By Freeloader Joe July 21, 2014 This amazing 5-year-old boy could be the next big rap star. Read More Category: Humor, Jacktube Tags: 5 year old raps. jordan, Hip-Hop Send to a friend! Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Pin it! Reddit This! Share on Tumblr!


text:
Chao Phraya Abhaibhubate Building
The type of search By District | By Place
Map Have Map No Map
Prachin Buri attractions
Attractions in Thailand
Operating day: Daily
Operating time: 08.00 - 17.00
The building is located in Chao Phraya Abhai bhubate Hospital on Prachin Anuson Road. It was constructed by the budget of Chao Phraya Abphaibhubate in 1909 as a residence for King Rama V on his royal visit to Prachin Buri.
Its architecture is a 2-storey Renaissance building with the front porch featuring a central dome. Floral design ornated the outside walls, doors and windows. The inside is decorated in a western style.
Website: www.abhaiherb.com
Chao Phraya Abhaibhubate Building Map
Category: ●Art, Culture and Heritage
Group: ●Royal Palace
Tag: ●Chao Phraya Abhaibhubate Building
Last Update: 3 YearAgo
|Keyword (Advance)
Facebook Fanpage


text:
Allison Williams is moving beyond Girls. Today we're looking at this week's big news that Allison will play Peter Pan in a live-action version airing on NBC this December — and why a woman playing the role of a young boy who doesn't want to grow up is actually the norm!
Join The Conversation
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9 x 5 inches
Susan Carr graduated from The School of The Museum of Fine Arts Boston and Tufts 2003 with a MFA. Currently she has participated in her own solo show at Hows Howard project space Boston Mass, Faburry Gallery's first online show, and a three person show at 337 project space Grand Rapids Michigan. She has worked with #Save Art space Brooklyn showing her own drawing on a billboard in 2015 during Brooklyn open studios, Co-curated a show Going Big at Central Booking, Co-Curated a show Lost Cat at Dennis Museum of Art Cape Cod 2015 and enjoyed being part of the great Family Ties shows. Susan is currently pushing herself to try new ways of approaching the act of painting.
Price: $225
"my dreams always start out like this" by Susan Carr
9 x 5 inches


text:
Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram's IT Club, Exun has partnered with Bennett University and organizing an event called Digital Poster Design.
Students interested may sign up at http://poster.exun.co
The prizes are as follows:
Winner – iPad Mini
Runner Up – Harman Kardon Wireless Bluetooth Speakers
Second Runner Up – Samsung Galaxy Tab
Here are few things you must note:
Should you have any questions, feel free to contact us at firstname.lastname@example.com and we will get in touch with you.
Delhi Public School, R.K.Puram has been rated India`s best school 2016-17 among deserving schools in India (Jury's Choice Award) by Education Today. The panel comprises eminent personalities from the education fraternity with a vision for excellence in education. It specializes in analyzing schools in the country and abroad. Various Parameters like Academic Reputation, Co-Curricular Education, Sports Education, Holistic Development, Individual Attention, Leadership Quality, Infrastructure, Special Need Education, Innovative Teaching & Value for Money for India`s Best School have been taken into consideration for the selection.
The Awards Ceremony will be held in Bangalore on 10th December 2016.
As per directions of Delhi Government, DPS R. K. Puram will remain closed for Students and Teachers on 7th, 8th and 9th November. Weekly Test will be held on 10th November.


text:
Fortune has once again put together the top 100 companies to work for in the United States. Not surprisingly at the top of the list is Google! With over a 67% growth rate and 6,500 employees Google is almost in another league compared to the other employers in the list. The video below is the best inside look that I have seen when it comes to a "Googler's" life:
I was a little surprised that Google receives over 3,000 job applications per day (almost 1.1 million per year), but I guess that's what happens when employees get gourmet food, free massages, and free access to 5 doctors on the premises. How did some of the other big technology companies stack up compared to Google?
- Adobe
Rank: 31
Growth: 33%
Number of Employees: 3,604
- Yahoo!
Rank: 44
Growth: 26%
Number of Employees: 6,840
- Microsoft
Rank: 50
Growth: 13%
Number of Employees: 44,298
I thought that Yahoo! had more employees than that, but I think that means Google will be passing them up pretty soon since they are only about 350 people behind right now.
So I'll leave you with a quick question…if you had the knowledge and know-how to work at Google, would you?


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Get ready to shake those hips and dance when The Gipsy Kings featuring Nicolas Reyes and Tonnino Baliardo take the stage at Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa on Friday, Aug. 19. The group is known for its infectious and high energy shows featuring Flamenco, salsa and pop fusion. Hit songs include "Bamboléo," "Baila Me" and "Sin Ella."
9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19, Morongo Casino, Resort & Spa, 49500 Seminole Drive, Cabazon. $59-$69. 951-849-3080, morongocasinoresort.com.
Pat Benatar, Neil Giraldo and Melissa Etheridge all take the stage for a night of full-throttle music at Pechanga Resort and Casino on Friday, Aug. 19. Benatar was a mainstay on radio and MTV in the '80s with hits such as "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," "Love is a Battlefield" and "We Belong." Etheridge is a performing powerhouse with chart toppers that include "I'm the Only One," "Come to My Window" and "I Want to Come Over."
8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 19, Pechanga Resort & Casino, 45000 Pechanga Parkway, Temecula. $100-$135. 951-693-1819, pechanga.com.
Head to Pala Casino Spa & Resort and sample over 50 wines from regions including Paso Robles, Napa and Temecula at the Starlight Food & Wine Festival. Eats such as lobster ravioli with lobster sauce, stuffed crab claws with plum sauce and a Kobe burger with chive aioli and truffle fries will be paired with a variety of vino.
4- 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, Pala Casino Spa & Resort, 11154 Highway 76, Pala. $75 per person. 877-946-7252, palacasino.com.
Reggae music tends to induce mellow, relaxing and chill-out vibes, so if that's a space you want to be in, head to the Pala Vibes show. The line-up includes Common Kings, Josh Heinrichs, Skillinjah and Tribal Theory. There will be no chairs at the event, so guests are allowed to bring small blankets or towels.
3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 21, Pala Casino Spa & Resort, 11154 Highway 76, Pala. $35 in advance; $45 day of show, 21 years and older. 877-946-7252, palacasino.com.
Contact the writer: firstname.lastname@example.com, 951-368-9457


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Obviously, you bought your Savoy because you wanted to buy efficiency and fun both impeccably combined into one automobile. When your Plymouth Savoy left the factory, it was destined for a person with discerning taste who wants a trusted name in their automobile. Plymouth vehicle enthusiasts have come to expect a certain level of reliability when driving their Savoy around town. Auto enthusiasts appreciate the value built into each Plymouth, and understand that only the best replacement Savoy parts will suffice when repairs are needed.
You can't get the best combination of fuel efficiency and engine output without great fuel delivery parts. The fuel filter in your car or truck removes tiny bits of dirt and debris from your fuel that could potentially end up in the engine. These particulates negatively affect how powerful and efficient the engine is in your Plymouth Savoy, because dirty gas lowers its octane and could create pre-detonation and knocking. When your Plymouth Savoy fuel filter gets filled with the particulates that it is filtering, your fuel supply will be restricted and the same effects could result. That is why it is important to change your fuel filter every year.
At Car Parts Discount, we have real customer support agents on the phone with enough expertise to help you purchase the correct Plymouth Savoy part for your needs. Given all the hassles associated with fixing broken parts on your car or truck, let www.carpartsdiscount.com be the most authoritative website you go to make buying it easy. Ordering new Plymouth parts from www.carpartsdiscount.com means you are taking advantage of the absolute greatest original and aftermarket replacement Savoy parts on the internet. Plymouth Savoy Fuel Filter parts for 1964, 1963, 1962, 1961, 1960, 1959, 1958, 1957, 1956, 1955, 1954, 1953 vehicles are available here... just click your year to find them.


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Colonial context behind suffrage
A new Electoral Act became law 120 years ago today, making New Zealand the first self-governing country to grant all women the right to vote in parliamentary elections. Dr Katie Pickles looks at how this happened.
Of all places on the planet, 120 years ago New Zealand was the first nation to grant women the right to vote.
Christchurch was a hotbed for the hard work that it took to get the elected male politicians in Wellington to narrowly pass a bill that pragmatically allowed women to have a say in the governance of the nation, and that symbolically signalled the equality of women and men in society.
What happened here in 1893 was orderly, largely good-willed and fusty compared with the awful events to come elsewhere.
We escaped the militant desperation of the hunger strikes, bombs and martyrdom that women around the world would resort to in later decades as they attempted to catch up to the rights and respect that New Zealand women enjoyed. Writing letters to newspapers and MPs, holding meetings, distributing leaflets and signing a massive petition actually worked here.
And in enfranchising all New Zealand women from the outset we transcended the race, class and age divisions that often accompanied the gradual attainment of the vote for women in England, America and Canada.
There were Maori women's voices present in the New Zealand suffrage campaign, and there is plenty of evidence that the dominant white middle class women actively sought to include Maori perspectives.
But why was New Zealand able to pull off this momentous first? Leading the charge of explanations was the colonial context.
With more men than women migrating to the new colony there was the mythology of a "surplus of men". These were the young, lively, visible and unruly specimens living a frontier lifestyle of alcohol, violence and vice. Why should these men have the vote when respectable middle and upper class women did not?
Importantly, the relative scarcity of women put a premium on women as wives, mothers and moral guardians. Add to this the importance of the family economy, and increasingly flattering ideologies of women's maternal worth, and women's value in New Zealand was on a high. The colonial context was right for granting women the vote.
It is very telling that it was the liquor barons who opposed votes for women. A vote for women was widely considered a vote for the settler family man against the "loafing single men". The men who supported women's suffrage believed that women's votes would have an orderly, conservative effect on society. In the colonial setting, women's part as maternal, civilising agents was especially needed.
Demonstrating the clear connection between alcohol and the vote, the New Zealand campaign was run through the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), a part of an international women's maternal feminism dedicated to improving family life through ridding the world of alcohol and its attendant problems.
The colonial context leads to a second important factor that explains why New Zealand was first: the political structure of society. In contrast to old world Europe, New Zealand lacked the obstacles that impeded the progression of women's rights.
In particular, it did not have a centuries old entrenched conservatism, but rather was a place of rapid change and new ideas, and one that that liked to consider itself "God's own country" and a utopic paradise. Women's rights clung on as part of a liberal progressive package of late 19th century causes.
The remaining ingredient important in clinching votes for women in 1893 was individual agency. There was a bounty of local women who seized the moment and had the resources necessary to agitate for the vote. Here Kate Sheppard reigns as the iconic leader and there is no questioning that she was talented, dedicated and articulate.
But there were many other impressive women too.
In Christchurch, Ada Wells stood out, and spread out around the country were Amey Daldy, Meri Te Tai Mangakahia, Harriet Morison, Mary Ann Muller, Helen Nicol, Annie Schnackenberg, Margaret Sievwright and Anna Stout, just to mention a few formidable and capable women.
And while we can focus on individuals, the women's suffrage campaign was a mass movement, with three petitions in 1891, 1892 and 1893 that one quarter of adult New Zealand women signed. Clearly, getting the vote was considered an important way by many women to improve their lives and get equal with men.
But at the end of the day it was the men in Parliament who had to vote for the women's suffrage bill. And because of the moral and civilising value placed on women in the colonial context, Kate Sheppard found vital support in advocate Sir John Hall, the conservative politician from Hororata, who presented the mass petition to Parliament.
Why New Zealand lead the world becomes clearer by looking internationally.
Other places that shared the winning cocktail of unruly colonial context, flexible social structure and local talent were the wild western states of America. Women's suffrage was granted in Wyoming in 1869, Utah in 1870, Colorado in 1893 and Idaho in 1895. As in New Zealand, women did the campaigning and the men legalised their dreams. And similar to New Zealand, for these men the promise of a more settled society was the carrot.
Across the Tasman women got the vote in South Australia in 1894 and Western Australia in 1899. Ahead of the game, New Zealand was the only nation to implement women's suffrage in the 19th century.
But have we stayed ahead? There are many measures and indicators that can be manipulated to argue yes and no. And the maternal platform that was so important in 1893 has waxed and waned in the intervening years. We're still a small country that can experience intense periods of rapid change. And an egalitarian spirit, however battered and bruised, marches on.
So in celebrating 120 years of women's suffrage it's important to reflect on why New Zealand was first in the world, and how understanding where we have come from can assist plans for where we'd like to go next.
Katie Pickles is Associate Professor in History at the University of Canterbury where she teaches and researches women's history.
The Press


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