Quicklinks:
|
Great Writing - Home > Extended > Day after Day - Chapter 18
| READING ROOM | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| COMMUNITY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
| ABOUT GREAT WRITING | ||
|---|---|---|
|
| WORK AWAITING REVIEW |
|---|
|
| GW IS... |
|---|
|
Great Writing creative writing community is designed to prompt ideas
and provide inspiration and motivation within aspiring and amateur
authors. Whatever your topic; from love poetry to Doctor Who or Harry
Potter fan fiction, Great Writing's online writing group is where you
can make new friends and improve your creative writing. |
| WHO'S ONLINE |
|---|
| We have 2064 guests online and 6 members online |
Extended Work
| print friendly version | |
| Day after Day - Chapter 18 | |
| By jean.day | ||||
| 17 July 2006 | ||||
|
This chapter, and the next couple are about the suffragettes. And in fact one of the Tree sisters was a suffragette but not til quite a bit later. You might have noticed that things are happening a bit quicker now.I spent 15 chapters on 1901, 2 on 1902, and now we have a few in 1903. I am in a hurry to get to the real meaty bits which didn't happen until 1907. Muriel had a plan. It was not really a new plan as she had been mulling it over in the back of her mind for months, if not years. She wanted to help the cause of women’s suffrage, and she wanted to do it in Worcester. The New Zealanders had allowed women to vote back in 1896, and the Australians had made the change last year. ‘Great Britain was supposed to be the most influential country in the world,’ she thought, ‘so we should be leading in this fight, not holding back.’ It was important that women’s voices were heard and their votes counted. Muriel knew that May wouldn’t help her much as she was so much not wanting to do anything that might annoy John. And you can be sure that John would not approve of what Muriel was going to do. Harold, on the other hand, would be proud of her. She hadn’t actually told him in detail what she was proposing, but she knew that he felt like she did, that women needed to take their rightful place beside men, not two steps behind. Muriel decided that her most likely ally in her plan was Charlotte. The youngest of the Walker girls, Charlotte, was caring for her father who was getting more senile by the day. Her oldest sister, Mary, was not very capable so the entire burden fell on Charlotte. She might not be able to get out to march with Muriel, but she could help her plan the campaign. Muriel decided that she would collect all the information that she could find on the subject and pay a call on Charlotte, and consult about what to do next. From the middle of the 19th century, many women campaigned peacefully for the right to vote on the same terms as male voters. They organised themselves into groups, held meetings, sent petitions to Parliament and tried to persuade MPs to change the law to enable them to vote. In 1897 all these small groups came together to form one large group, The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) led by Millicent Fawcett. However, the Government continued to ignore the activities of the NUWSS and, at the beginning of the 20th century, women seemed no nearer to winning the right to vote in parliamentary elections, although they could do so in municipal ones. In 1903 the campaign for women's 'suffrage' or the right to vote entered a new phase. That year Emmeline Pankhurst and her daughters Christabel, Sylvia and Adela started the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in Manchester. The motto of the WSPU was 'Deeds not words'. The Pankhursts and their supporters were determined to win the right to vote by any means. The Pankhursts led an extremely well-organised campaign and established local branches of the WSPU throughout the country. The Union published a weekly newspaper called Votes for Women to inform members about recent developments and to raise much needed money. Supporters were encouraged to wear clothes, sashes and badges in the Union's colours of purple, white and green to bring attention to themselves and their campaign. These items could be purchased in specialist WSPU shops. Muriel purchased a copy of the petition with which Parliament had been appealed to previously, so that she could use it as a template for what she intended to do. To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled. The humble petition of the undersigned the Head Mistress and Assistant Mistresses of the Dulwich High School Sheweth That a measure is now before Parliament for extending the franchise to all men householders in the United Kingdom. That by this Bill two millions of the least educated section of the Community will be added to the electorate, while educated and intelligent women, who are head of households are excluded from the operation of the Bill although they contribute equally with men to the taxation of the Country. That among the persons so excluded are women landowners, who form one seventh of the land proprietors of the country; women of means and position living on their own property, schoolmistresses and other Teachers, women farmers, merchants manufacturers and shopkeepers besides large number of self-supporting women engaged in other occupations. They believe that the claim of these householders for admission within the pale of the Constitution is as reasonable as that of the County householders and that they would be at least equal in general and political intelligence to the great body of agricultural and other labourers who are to be enfranchised by the Government Bill. That the injustice of excluding women householders from representation would be greatly intensified by the operation of the new service franchise, under which the servants of a Lady, living in houses for which she paid rent and taxes, would have the vote in right of the occupation of those houses while she herself though the head of the household would have no vote. Wherefore your petitioners humbly pray that in any measure which may be submitted to your Right Honourable House, for amending the Law relating to the Representation of the People, your Lordships will make such provisions as shall seem expedient for the exercise of the Franchise by duly qualified women. And your petitioners will ever pray etc. Muriel collected all the newspaper evidence she could find to try to convince her friends that they had right on their side. She found an article about Dorothy Levitt, a secretary who shocked conventional society by being the first woman to take part in a car race. Of course Marie Curie was awarded a Nobel Prize for her work on radioactivity and the discovery of radium. Mary Howard became the launch editor for the Daily Mirror, a paper aimed specially at women. Charlotte was very enthused about Muriel’s plan and they invited the older two Tree girls to their first planning meeting. ‘I have had a thought,’ said Muriel brightly as the meeting of the planning committee got underway. ‘We need to involve people who nobody else has thought to involve – the servants.’ ‘What do you mean,’ said Margaret, ‘they won’t have time off to go to a rally, much less money to donate to the cause.’ ‘No doubt that is true, but there must be away we can have them represented. Think that for every household there are at least one if not four women who have very little say in their lives. They are badly educated, usually through no fault of their own. They don’t have a chance to read the newspaper, so they probably are even unaware of the wave of action that is now sweeping the nation. But if we could represent them, that would make everyone sit up and notice us. It would be different – not the daughters of mayor’s and clergymen and musicians – but women who have been denied most of their civil rights, making their voice heard in some way or another.’ ‘I still don’t know how you intend to include them?’ ‘What about a petition? We could march to the Guildhall with our banners, and as well as demanding votes for women, not only in the local elections but in the Parliament. This would be for all women including the domestic servants – so we could say we have the backing of the working classes – and produce the petition.’ ‘How would we go about it? I can just see my mother being very upset at the very idea of her servants having a voice in anything.’ ‘Well, we can start from home ground. We all have servants in our households. We can find out more about them. Then we can explain about women’s rights and ask them to sign.’ ‘What if they won’t?’ ‘Nothing will be lost but my good idea. And you must always look at things from the positive side. Assume they will, and that they will be pleased to do so, and that we in some way can make their lives better.’ ‘What if they can’t even write?’ ‘I thought about that. I think we should find out how many of our domestics have been badly failed by the school system as it is, and see if we can get local legislation for employers to be obliged to let their workers go to the WEA for reading lessons.’ ‘That sounds a bit much to aim for. Those classes are just at the time they are doing the washing up.’ ‘They don’t need to be. We could get classes run for them at a time to suit them. That’s what the WEA is all about – improving the lot of the common man. Making education available to those who have not had it in their childhood.’ ‘We could set up classes in our homes – for the servants on our road. We know most of the owners nearby, and those we don’t we can call on, and explain about our scheme. Some will not like it, I know, but I think we should try to make a difference somehow in the world – and this might be our best chance.’ ‘I don’t know how to teach reading. But we could ask the leaders of the WEA to teach us how to teach, and to lend us books to do it with – simple books, not the ones in our parents’ bookcases.’ ‘And maybe we could teach simple maths too, so they can figure out how badly off they are and how we should pay them more money,’ said Charlotte, laughing. ‘An excellent idea,’ said Muriel, and Charlotte looked taken aback, as she hadn’t meant her suggestion to be taken seriously. ‘If we wanted to we could teach them all sorts of skills to help them advance. So what if it means they advance beyond our employment. There will be others to take their places. But we will have made a difference to a few lives. Maybe instead of domestic service, they will have the skills and confidence to work in a shop, and make twice the money, or even in a factory.’ ‘Well this is all very well to speculate about, but where do we start, Muriel – not with giving them new jobs just yet.’ ‘We start by writing a petition, with the intention of sending it to the Mayor along with our views about women’s suffrage. We ask them to sign it, and at the same time we find out if they are lacking in basic educational skills, and how they feel about bettering themselves, without actually promising anything. After all, we mustn’t raise up their hopes only to dash them again.’ ‘Let’s get down to business. Muriel, you dictate what is to be in the petition, and then I will make 10 copies of it. Each of us should try to get at least 20 signatures on it by next week.’ ‘We don’t actually need to have the petitions ready until just before the rally.’ ‘Let’s say, We the undersigned, believe in the right of women to vote in order to be able to express our views and help make the world a better place.’ ‘I think maybe that is a bit too much Muriel,’ said Margaret. ‘What we don’t want to have happen is for people, meaning men, to be so frightened of giving us the vote, because they think we will immediately take away all their privileges and make life more difficult for them.’ ‘Well, why do we want to vote anyway?’ ‘I want to have a say in who represents me at Parliament where the real decisions are made.’ ‘Do you want it to be a woman?’ ‘Not to start with – but a man who has sympathy with the cause. If one man strongly states his views publicly and supports us, others will not be quite so able to be critical of the idea.’ ‘What does your father think on the subject?’ ‘He is not strongly committed at the moment but I am sure I can talk him around.’ ‘What about Mr. Tree? Should we ask him to speak for us?’ ‘No, I think we should not consider one of our family or friends but someone outside of our circle. I will give it some thought and report back.’ ‘As far as running classes for the servants, Charlotte, you could do it at your house. The rest of us have parents who might object to such a scheme, but your father is not really in a position to object. So effectively you are the head of the house, and could make that decision yourself. Your father, if he were able to do so, would probably be in favour of it, wouldn’t he?’ ‘I must admit that now that my father is virtually senile and I can’t communicate with him. I have actually taken to reading his diaries going way back to the 1850’s. He kept every one. And I find that I feel that I now know him much better as a person, now that he no longer is much of a person. And I do think he had very high regard for those he considered not to be his social equals. He for many years kept up a strong friendship with Mr. Jones and Adlelaide Hilbourne, both of whom many would not consider proper to be seen with. He obviously felt very strongly about education.’ ‘What else have you found out from reading the diaries?’ ‘Well, not only the diaries, but also journals that my mother kept for awhile. She wrote very movingly about her feelings when she was pregnant with Mary, and the time when Mary was first born and they found out that she had had brain damage at her birth which caused her to be as she is. And also I was interested to read about the death of my brother, Frank – as I was only very young at the time, and his death was never openly discussed by my parents. I can now read about what he was like and how they doted on him, especially my father with him being the only boy. After he died on March 22, 1881, my father changed and became a much more protective person almost to the extent of obsession. That is why he so objected to my sisters leaving home. He felt that he wanted control over all of us. The family still have a memorial message in the paper each year on my brother’s anniversary.’ ‘I think that is very sweet.’ ‘Yes, but there comes a time when you have to say goodbye and get on with real life, like treating your other children as if they had some worth, even if they aren’t boys.’ Muriel agreed, and the meeting soon adjourned, with plans to meet again the following week.
Only registered users can rate and write comments. Powered by AkoComment 2.0! |
||||
 Previous item
|
Next item
|
|---|