Life — December 8, 1910 — page 24: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

1068 Priscilla Still at her Task NE hundred and eight —or was it one hundred and eighteen ?— more martyrs to the sa- cred cause! Our dear English sisters once more have shown the wom- anly heroism which ani- mates the heart of a true Suffra- gette. Their splendid- ly feminine logic is shown by the fact that they went to beard the British government in its den, but they were so filled with the abstract idea of the tremendous injustice from which they suffer that they failed to take along with them anyone who would know the British government when she saw it. It was on that account that they failed to recognize Prime Minister Asquith when he passed through the room where the leading Suffragettes were waiting to pin a “Votes for Women!” badge on the left lapel of his frock coat. This splendid attack of our English sis- ters on the Houses of Parliament, there- fore, came to nought in the way of pro- ducing any effect on the ministers or the members of either house. But one hun- dred and eight or one hundred and cigh- teen of our dear sisters made sufficient nuisances of themselves to be arrested by the brutal men-police whose uniforms they tore, and they thus hecame noble martyrs to a glorious cause. Unfortu- nately the brutal men-magistrates refused to take them seriously and discharged them from custody. There was one stunning victory, though. Two of the peerless leade Mrs. Pethick Lawrence and Mr: line Pankhurst, got their names in the newspapers again, ‘mme- O the Sun comes a cable account of the Suffragette raid on the Houses of Parlia- ment. From it I take this ribald story, which I have no doubt is the pure in- vention of some man-reporter: «LEPE= One of the most amusing incidents of the fray was furnished by the irrepres- sible vigor of an athletic, red-haired girl, who, after throwing hersclf against the police lines thirty times and being thirty times hurled back panting, mounted a costermonger’s cart drawn by a donkey and standing on it began to harangue the crowd. The donkey, which had be- fore this been passively ‘stationary, sud- denly for some asinine reason started, with the result that the girl was thrown helplessly backward to the ground. Somebody shouted, “ You silly ass,” and the crowd roared with laughter. I sce nothing at all humorous in this occurrence. The poor animal was doubt- less excited by the unusual surroundings and the red hair of our Suffragette sister was in no way responsible for his start- ing and throwing her out of the car. Why calling the poor animal a “silly ass" should make the crowd roar is wholly unexplainable, unless the mob was composed of male tyrants with a very degraded sense of humor. From now until January, dear sisters, the Suffragette slogan will be “On to Albany.” If we expect to accomplish anything we must all get on to Albany. Our peerless leaders promise to be there often enough to get acquainted with the Albany correspondents and have their names frequently mentioned in the newspapers. Our younger and prettier sisters need not be afraid to go. They will find the Tammany politicians and up-State statesmen extremely affable and PATS WAR easy to get acquainted with. [he capi- tol itself is a large and pleas: at building with many sequestered nooks where the sisters can argue at length with the leg- islators and do much good for our sacred cause. The coming session of the New York Legislature promises pleasant experiences for some of us and profit for others, with notoriety for all. On to Albany! The Hon William Sulzer—some per- sons with gaseous ideas call him Seltzer —is a real nice man and a Congressman. He is a shrewd politician and a brilliant office-seeker, which is shown by the splendid speech he made at the Clinton Hall Suffragette meeting. In it he paid Mrs. O. H. P. Belmont a beautiful com- pliment and the next day her name was printed again in every New York news- paper. This of course was pleasant for her and the rest of us Suffragettes should be grateful that a Congressman has espoused our cause. Mr. Seltzer—I beg pardon—Mr. Sulzer has set other politicians and office- seekers a good example. When we get Votes for Women we will of course re- member those who have helped us in our struggle against man’s cruelty and op- pression, Mr. Sulzer is wise enough to look into the future. Other politicians should take notice, Priscitra JawBones, ALTERNATING CURRENT comicbooks.com