Suffragists -- United States; Women -- Suffrage -- United States
The movement also lost Miss Anthony’s militant spirit, her keen
appreciation of the fact that the attention of the nation must be
focussed on minority issues by dramatic acts of protest.
Susan B. Anthony’s fundamental objective, her political attitude toward
attaining it, and her militant spirit were revived in suffrage history
in 1913 when Alice Paul, also of Quaker background, entered the
national field as leader of the new suffrage forces in America.
Chapter 2
A Militant General—Alice Paul
Most people conjure up a menacing picture when a person is called not
only a general, but a militant one. In appearance Alice Paul is
anything but menacing. Quiet, almost mouselike, this frail young
Quakeress sits in silence and baffles you with her contradictions.
Large, soft, gray eyes that strike you with a positive impact make you
feel the indescribable force and power behind them. A mass of soft
brown hair, caught easily at the neck, makes the contour of her head
strong and graceful. Tiny, fragile hands that look more like an X-ray
picture of hands, rest in her lap in Quakerish pose. Her whole
atmosphere when she is not in action is one of strength and quiet
determination. In action she is swift, alert, almost panther-like in
her movements. Dressed always in simple frocks, preferably soft shades
of purple, she conforms to an individual style and taste of her own
rather than to the prevailing vogue.
I am going recklessly on to try to tell what I think about Alice Paul.
It is difficult, for when I begin to put it down on paper, I realize
how little we know about this laconic person, and yet how abundantly we
feel her power, her will and her compelling leadership. In an instant
and vivid reaction, I am either congealed or inspired; exhilarated or
depressed; sometimes even exasperated, but always _moved_. I have seen
her very presence in headquarters change in the twinkling of an eye the
mood of fifty people. It is not through their affections that she moves
them, but through a naked force, a vital force which is indefinable but
of which one simply cannot be unaware. Aiming primarily at the
intellect of an audience or an individual, she almost never fails to
win an emotional allegiance.
I shall never forget my first contact with her. I tell it here as an
illustration of what happened to countless women who came in touch with
her to remain under her leadership to the end. I had come to Washington
to take part in the demonstration on the Senate in July, 1913, en route
to a muchneeded, as I thought, holiday in the Adirondacks.
“Can’t you stay on and help us with a hearing next week?” said Miss
Paul.
“I’m sorry,” said I, “but I have promised to join a party of friends in
the mountains for a summer holiday and . . .”
“Holiday?” said she, looking straight at me. Instantly ashamed at
having mentioned such a legitimate excuse, I murmured something about
not having had one since before entering college.
“But can’t you stay?” she said.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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