PANKHURST AND PARTY.

BY MRS. .LEO MYERS.

Of all the causes and crusades-and they are legion .rend the social atmosphere of London, none so strongly obtrudes itself in print and talk, in mart and club, in house and hall, as the Woman's Franchise Agitation. Think what v you will, you cannot long remain on neutral ground where this question is involved. You must be of the camp of the sheep or of the goats; either a quiet normal creature, content to live sanely and sweetly until the natural trend of the times brings the fruit of enfranchisement to all women or an hysterical super-woman touched by the contagion of notoriety, clamouring and fighting for that freedom which such actions so surely defer and defeat. Being an easily enfranchised New Zealandress, I found myself lodged midway between the two campsthe moderates and the militantslike Wordsworth's maid "of reluctant feet standing where the brook and river meet" ('tis a faulty quotation but t'will serve) —and I needed to stretch out new feelers to grip hold of things here and now. Therefore, I 'accepted with alacrity an invitation to a colossal rally at Albert Hall of the Women's Social and Political Union—Mrs. Pankhurst in the chair. Set for 8 o'clock, I was warned to be at the doors at 7 ; so taking a brief Bohemian meal with a woman friend instead of a delectable dinner, and taking my husband as protector, as sign and seal of my status, we three pressed our way through battalions of women and police. Hero is where a man escort is as valuable as a passport to Russia; for the police herd droves of women right and . left ! saying : " Move along ladies, now step lively—move on—" but seeing a man at our side the big boy in blue became defer- v ential, leading us in official fashion to a private box. „ Inside Albert Hall, we came upon a great spectacle. Above the organ, at which an elderly lady played plaintive melodies—there stretched these words in white on purple background : " God Befriend Us." This, and the 200 whitsrobed women on the platform bearing banners and singing siiffragetto songs, gave to the assemblage a spiritual air, sorely needed as the speeches and demonstration proceeded. Under the baton of Dr. Ethel Smyth (Mus. Doc.), celebrated composer of Oratorios, this choir was entirely made up of some 200 women all of whom had suffered imprisonment for the cause. It was then, a sort of martyr's hymnal making rythmical and effective appeal.

The great Albert Hall was packed with >ver 10,000 people, women predominating md averaging probably 20 women to ono nan, which I gather is an exaggerated inlication of the matrimonial disproportion jf the sexes in England (small wonder women want the vote). From floor to lome, tier upon tier, draped in banners >f every borough and county in Britain, women sat eagerly waiting while many noved among the crowd selling suffragette literature and talking earnestly. The tiling was colossal in its portent: wo elf its silent force galvanising that vast audience; felt that it was morel than a move racnt— it was a mighty crusade j con scions, pdrtento^ Ai embodying .thgjsp|rii, qj Lho age that bore it; and that : its "fulfil mcnt was coming as surely as light fol lows upon darkness. A slender black-gowned woman— Pankhurst—mounted the platform amic the plaudits of thousands of women anc the shouts of many men. In her smal Frame is concentrated the motive powej jf suffragette militancy. From the verj beginning when her voice rang out ir trumpet tones, calling her audience to ac [ion, she stood to her petticoated armj is a field marshall to his soldiers whipping with words their awakened conscious aess, stirring to concerted action their scattered forces. . . " Although we have not won the vote, w/> who are militant are free—our souls are free!" she jhouled (tumultuous applause). "So long is women are outlaws, so long as women suffer from intolerable wrongs, they are justified in open rebellion. Wo will dc what men do when they fight for theii uause, when they wage war against tyranny and oppression. Only, being women, we fight in a different way. We will strike through property— is sc lear to the Government— with every regard for human life. We will defy legal enactments. Let us put on oui irmour and be militant each in her own way. Let all who can break windows 3o so. ; . I incite this meeting to rebellion ! . . The Government has no( lared to take the leaders of Ulster foi their incitement to rebellionlet them take us if they dare !" Whew! What a flaming sword unsheathed. What an unbridled tongue ashing in all directions. What a burning [use setting alight thousands of hyperemotional irresponsible forces! What a ivild wicked propoganda. I conjugate it iluisly : militant, malevolent, irritant) :ermagent!!there should be an asylum .or such as these. Between militant sufxagette and latest anarchist there is but die thin paper of separation. The end >f this conflict is not yet. There is no 'rophecying to what outrages, to what ncreasing danger to life and property, lucli influences and examples—such bare:'aced sedition lead. The fine creed of economic freedom for rvomen is suffering, like all reforms, from be mad zeal of its front flank. The Conciliation Bill was murdered by militancy: md if the amendment enfranchising wonen on the Reform Bill is defeated, nilitancy and militancy alone will be responsible. The Pankhurst rally reached its finale in ,he collection of funds for the continuance >f the campaign. Down the great aisles slowly marched the _ heads of various tranches bearing their banners and the unounts collected in the three months' interval. Also cheques and coin poured in — whole big basketfull. In exactly three ninutes, the figures that went up in large letters on the platform showed that £712 aad come in. This sum steadily mounted jp to £3350! and then rings, brooches, Bracelets, chains, purses, bags, laces, furs, md a mixed array of feminine possession.' idded their value to the fund. . . (1 was told that a woman's wedding ring was imong the sacrifices on the altar of emancipation, enclosing a note explaining that the ring was given with her husband's ful] and voluntary consent). " Since few mcr wear the badge of matrimony," said my smiling suffragette friend, "why should women? It is merely the modern relic of a barbarous servile civilisation wher women were chattels.". . . I noticed, however, that my friend still wore hei own wedding ring with orthodox pride. - Leaving Albert Hall before the . vast crowd surged forth, we wondered and we pondered. Here had we witnessed the stress and storm of a social revolution as intense and as vital. as the Home Rule movement. We believe in the moral oi it — not in the method of it. . Anc yet—by these means much has been ac ccmplished. The minds of the men o: England have been roused to the justice and the humanity of woman's claims. II is a colossal constitutional and economic question which, during forty years o' Parliamentary delay, has now reached thi climax of its necessity. In God's gooc time not even Pankhurst and party cai prevent its final fulfilment.