i watched a river of women,
rippling purple, white and golden,
stream toward the national capitol.
along its border,
like a purple flower floating,
moved a young woman, worn, wraithlike,
with eyes alight, keenly observing the marchers.
out there on the curb, she looked so little, so lonely;
few appeared even to see her;
no one saluted her.
yet commander was she of the column, its leader;
she was the spring whence arose that irresistible river of women
streaming steadily towards the national capitol.
katherine rolston fisher,
the suffragist, january 19, 1918.
it is an interesting coincidence that the woman who bore the greatest single part in the suffrage fight at the beginning—susan anthony—and the woman who bore the greatest single part at the end—alice paul—were both quakers.
it is very difficult to get alice paul to talk about herself. she is not much interested in herself and she is interested, with every atom of her, in the work she is doing. she will tell you, if you ask her, that she was born in moorestown, new jersey, and then her interest seems to die. she apparently does not remember herself very clearly either as a child or a young girl. that is not strange. so intently has she worked in the last eight years and so intensely has she lived in that work that each year seems to have erased its predecessor. she is absolutely concentrated on now. i 7asked alice paul once what converted her to woman suffrage. she said that she could not remember when she did not believe in it. she added, “you know the quakers have always believed in woman suffrage.”
anne herendeen, in a vivacious article on alice paul in everybody’s magazine for october, 1919, says, describing a visit to moorestown:
“what do you think of all these goings-on?” i asked her mother. she sighed.
“well, mr. paul always used to say, when there was anything hard and disagreeable to be done, ‘i bank on alice.’”
the degree of education in alice paul’s life and the amount of social service which she had performed are a little staggering in view of her youth. just the list of the degrees she achieved and the positions she held before she started the national woman’s party covers a typewritten page. they have even an unexpected international quality. one notes first—and without undue astonishment—that she acquired a b.a. at swarthmore in 1905; an m.a. at the university of pennsylvania in 1907; a ph.d. at the same university in 1912. this would seem enough to fill the educational leisure of most young women, but it does not by any means complete alice paul’s student career. she was a graduate of the new york school of philanthropy in 1906. she was a student at the woodbrooke settlement for social work at woodbrooke, birmingham, and in the university of birmingham, england, in 1907-08; a graduate student in sociology and economics in the school of economics of the university of london in 1908-09.
she was, in addition, a resident worker of the new york college settlement in 1905-06; a visitor for the new york charity organization society in the summer of 1906; a worker in the summer lane settlement, and a visitor in the charity organization society of birmingham, england, during the winter of 1907-08; assistant-secretary to the dalston branch of the charity organization society in 8london for a half year in 1908; a visitor for the peel institute for social work at clerkenwell, london, for a half year in 1908-09; a resident worker for the christian social union settlement of hoxton, london, in the summer of 1908. she was also in charge of the women’s department of the branch of adult schools at hoxton in the summer of 1908.
i asked mabel vernon, who went to swarthmore with her, about alice paul. her impressions were a little vague—mainly of a normal, average young girl who had not yet begun to “show.” she remembered that, although biology was her specialty, miss paul was catholic in her choice of courses; how—as though it were something she expected to need—she took a great deal of latin; and that—as though at the urge of the same intuition—she devoted herself to athletics. she had apparently no athletic gifts; yet before she left swarthmore she was on the girls’ varsity basketball team, was on her own class hockey team, and had taken third place in the women’s tennis tournament. she was a rosy, rounded, vigorous-looking girl then. when mabel vernon saw her next, she had been hunger-striking in england and was thin to the point of emaciation.
i asked alice paul herself about her work with the poor in england. she said, looking back on it—and it is apparently always a great effort for her to remove her mental vision from the present demand—that her main impression was of the hopelessness of it all, that there seemed nothing to do but sweep all that poverty away. the thing that she remembers especially now is that they were always burying children.
the first great, outstanding fact of alice paul’s training is that in the english interregnum which divided her american education, she joined the pankhurst forces. in the beginning all her work was of the passive kind. she attended meetings and ushered. she was about to go home; indeed she had bought her passage when the pankhursts asked her to join a deputation to parliament. this deputation, which 9consisted of more than a hundred women, and was led by mrs. pankhurst herself, was arrested at the entrance to parliament. they were detained in the policemen’s billiard room of the cannon row police station, the only place at that station large enough to hold so many women.
the second great outstanding fact of alice paul’s career in england is that she met lucy burns.
lucy burns was born in brooklyn. the facts of her education, although superficially not so multitudinous as those of alice paul, are even more impressive in point of international quality. she was graduated from packer institute in 1899 and from vassar college in 1902. she studied at yale university in 1902-03, at the university of berlin in 1906-08, at the university of bonn in 1908-09. she joined the woman’s social and political union of london in 1909 and she worked as an organizer in edinburgh and the east of scotland in 1909-12.
lucy burns thinks she first met alice paul at a suffrage demonstration. alice paul thinks she first met lucy burns in that same policemen’s billiard room of the cannon row police station, london. both these young women remember their english experiences in flashes and pictures. they worked too hard and too militantly to keep any written record; and successive hardships wiped away all traces of their predecessors. at any rate, alice paul says that she spoke to miss burns because she noticed that she wore a little american flag. sitting on the billiard table, they talked of home. alice paul also says that lucy burns, a student at that time of the university of bonn in germany, had come to england for a holiday. she entered the militant movement a few weeks after she landed and this was her first demonstration.
the women were held for trial, giving bail for their appearance. alice paul had engaged passage home, but she had to cancel it as the trial did not occur until after the date of her sailing. the case was appealed in the courts and was finally dropped by the government.
10from this time on, the paths of the two girls kept crossing. frequently, indeed, they worked together. the next time alice paul was arrested, however, lucy burns was not with her. this was at norwich. winston churchill, a member of the cabinet, was holding a meeting. outside, alice paul spoke at a meeting too—a protest against the government’s stand on woman suffrage. on this occasion, she was released without being tried. at the next suffrage demonstration—at limehouse in london—both girls assisted. on this occasion, lloyd george was holding a meeting. miss paul and miss burns were arrested for trying to speak at a protest meeting outside, and were sentenced to two weeks in holloway jail. they went on a hunger-strike; but were released after five days and a half.
after they recovered from this experience, miss paul and miss burns motored to scotland with mrs. pankhurst and other english suffragists, in order to assist with the scottish campaign. at glasgow, the party organized a demonstration outside of a meeting held by lord crewe, a member of the cabinet. arrested, they were released without trial. proceeding northward, miss paul assisted in organizing the suffrage campaign in east fife, the district of prime minister herbert asquith. at dundee, miss paul and miss burns took part in a demonstration outside a meeting held by winston churchill. the two american girls and an english suffragist were sentenced to ten days in dundee prison. after four days of hunger-strike, all were released. each night during their imprisonment, great crowds of citizens marched round the prison singing scotch songs as a means of showing their sympathy with the campaign. upon their release, the suffragists were welcomed at a mass-meeting over which the lord mayor presided. thence they went to edinburgh where they assisted in organizing a procession and pageant in princess street—one of the most beautiful and famous thoroughfares of the world. the pageant of the scotch heroines who had made sacrifices for liberty is still remembered in scotland for its beauty. 11the next job was less agreeable. the two american girls were sent to berwick-on-tweed to interrupt with a protest a meeting of sir edward grey, then minister of foreign affairs. miss paul made the interruption, was arrested, but was released on the following day without going to trial. miss burns was not arrested that time.
next in bermondsey, one of the slum districts of london, they waged a plain, old-fashioned electoral campaign to defeat a candidate. when this was over, miss paul, in company with a miss brown, was sent to make a suffrage protest at the lord mayor’s banquet in the guildhall. they were arrested, of course, and were sentenced to thirty days in holloway jail. they hunger struck, and were forcibly fed. this experience left its mark on miss paul’s health for some time; it was several weeks after her release before she was strong enough to travel. but in january, 1910, she sailed for america—and arrived the pale, emaciated creature who so shocked mabel vernon.
lucy burns tells an amusing story of alice paul’s experiences in england. lord crewe was to speak at a meeting at glasgow, and alice paul was delegated to represent the suffragists at that meeting and to heckle the speaker. that meant that she must conceal herself in the building, where the meeting was to take place, the night before. the building was a big, high one—st. andrew’s hall, the girls remember the name—and it was surrounded by a high, formidable iron fence. the night before lucy burns walked with alice paul to the hall and helped her to climb to the top of this fence. then alice paul jumped down into the grounds and lucy burns left her there. there was some building going on at this hall and with great difficulty alice paul climbed the scaffolding to the high second story and settled herself on a roof to spend the night. it rained all night; and of course she had no protection against the wet. and after all this discomfort, when daylight broke, laborers coming to work on a neighboring building observed the strange phenomenon of a woman lying on a second-story 12roof. they reported her and she was ignominously led down and out.
in the summer of 1912, lucy burns returned to america. alice paul visited her in long island. for some time now, alice paul had been considering the suffrage situation of the united states in its national aspect. here, she broached to lucy burns her idea of working for a constitutional amendment in washington—her belief that with six states enfranchised—with six states that could be used as a lever on congress—the time had come when further work in state campaigns was sheer waste. more even than english conditions, american conditions favored the policy of holding the party in power responsible in regard to suffrage. in england, there was no body of women completely enfranchised. in america there were approximately two million women voters who, completely enfranchised, could command a hearing from the politicians. she felt that such a campaign in america would be more productive of result for still another reason. in pursuing that policy in england, the suffragists were often placed in the embarrassing position of defeating suffragists and putting in anti-suffragists. but in america, no matter what party was in power, only suffrage senators and representatives could be elected from the suffrage states. in other words, if, in defeating the party in power they defeated suffragists—as was inevitable in the suffrage states—other suffragists as inevitably took their places. moreover, there was no immediate motive urging senators and representatives from the suffrage states—although often they were individually helpful—to convert senators and representatives of their own party from non-suffrage states. were their party in jeopardy at home, however, that motive was instantly supplied. also, alice paul thought that it was more dignified of women to ask the vote of other women than to beg it of men.
alice paul was the first to apply this policy to the suffrage situation in the united states. as late as 1917, other 13suffrage leaders, as well as members of congress, were reiterating that there was no such thing as a party in power in the united states, that that idea was brought from england by alice paul and was not adapted to our american institutions.
the two girls concocted a scheme for starting federal work in washington. they went with it to the national american woman suffrage association, to anna howard shaw, to harriot stanton blatch, to mary ware dennett. lucy burns pictures alice paul at that last interview—“a little quakerish figure, crumpled up in her chair and for the first time i noticed how beautiful her eyes were.” finally alice paul went to the convention of the national american association at philadelphia. she talked with jane addams. alice paul suggested that she be allowed to come to washington at her own expense to begin work on congress for the passing of a constitutional amendment. she agreed to raise the necessary money. jane addams brought this suggestion before the board of the national american woman suffrage association, urged its acceptance. it was approved. the board appointed a committee consisting of alice paul, chairman; lucy burns, vice-chairman; crystal eastman. later in washington, mrs. lawrence lewis and mary beard joined that committee. alice paul went first to philadelphia and collected money for a few days. mrs. lawrence lewis, who, miss paul says, was one of the first to say, “i have always believed that the way to get suffrage is by a federal amendment,” gave her name; gave money; collected money.
and so—all alone—alice paul came to washington.
