In Her Own Words...

"Fate decreed that I was to spend the summer of 1907 in Des Moines. The weather was hot, dry and generally uncomfortable. It was vacation time for the Unitarian church. All the church clubs and classes were adjourned until September. The hard, sordid life about Roadside Settlement took no vacation, but all the summer work lacked the enthusiasm of the winter months. Life seemed dreary and harkly worth the effort it took to keep it going.

"Perhaps the dreariest of all the dreary meetings of the summer were the monthly meetings of the Des Moines Political Equality Club. No matter how hot and dusty the day might be, dear Mrs. Coggeshall would not consent to a single adjourned session.

"I remember particularly the August meeting of the Club. Evan a salamander would have been tired of the heat by August if he lived in Iowa. That day, following a hot night, had brought me about to the limit of my strength and courage. Eight or ten faithful souls were present. It was loyalty to Mrs. Coggeshall that brought us together rather than an interest in the meetings. We listened to an earnest paper written by an earnest woman, read in an earnest manner, giving good and sufficient reasons why women were entitled to vote. All of us had believed in this doctrine since the day of our birth, so there was no answering thrill as the earnest voice went on its earnest way.

" As I walked slowly home over the hot and dusty pavement I said to myself, "Something must be done and done quickly or we shall learn to hate the whole business. Something is wrong with our propaganda or else it would not be true that only a half dozen of already conviced women will attend a Suffrage meeting."

"I was the President of the State Association and was facing a State Convention in Boone, the program for which was yet nebulous in my mind. That night I wrote to Mrs. Stevens, President of the Boone Suffrage Club, asking if I might come to her and talk over with her the coming two days' meeting. I found her in much the same mood as myself. She agreed with me that a change of program was most desirable, but what could we do? That was the question.

"At last I suggested, "Why not have a parade? Why not attempt something different, even if we are accused of imitating the English Militants?" We decided to do it, and all details were left with her. Mrs Coggeshall and some others did not at all like the proposed innovation but, of course,the plans of the hostess Club could not be criticised over much.

"The date of the convention arrived and brought the usual number of delegates. Dr. Anna Howad Shaw and two English girls, students in Bryn Mawr, came early on the first day, which was the day of the parade. Those girls had been militant suffragists in England. It was planned that the parade would leave the chuch[sp] at 11.45, reaching the main street at noon when the children would be going home from school and the men leaving their offices and stores.

"It was a most disagreeable day. The wind blew great clouds of dust. During a short intemission in the forenoon session Mrs. Coggeshall came to me and said, "Miss Gordon, will it not be better to give up the parade since the wind blows so hard? It will be impossible to carry our banner or the flag." "No," I said, "the program must be carried out. But, my dear Mrs. Coggeshall, you need not go. Please do not if you feel that we are doing an unwise thing." "If the delegates of this convention march, I shall go," she said, in that gentle voice that with all its gentleness could be so firm and decided.

"As Mrs. Coggeshall turned away another lady, a member of the Boone Club, came up. Her husband was a lawyer in Boone. I can not remember her name. She began, "Miss Gordon, my husband says (oh, how tired I was of the phrase, 'my husband says') "my husband says that if you carry out your plan of marching down to the business center of town you will kill the Suffrage movement in Boone." Again I had to say "The program is printed. It must be carried out but you do not have to march. Please do not do so if you think it unwise."

"Mrs. Stevens had secured the services of the Boone band. Prompt to the minute we started. The procession as arranged by Mrs. Stevens was, - the band; the automobile with Dr. Shaw and the two English girls; the flag, Mrs. Coggeshall, who was the honorary State President, and myself; two sturdy women carrying the beautiful banner of the State Association; then two by two the delegates. We walked as far apart as was consistent with what we insisted was a procession. There could not have been over thirty, all told. The time was just right. The auto stopped at the corner selected by Mrs. Stevens. The English girls spoke briefly, Dr. Shaw about fifteen minutes. I could not hear her but everyone said she had never spoken more to the point or with greater wit.

"The band wheeled into position, the auto folowed, the rest of us fell into line and with dignity slowly marched back to the church where we were to have luncheon. As the church was only a few blocks from the main street the whold performance could not have taken over three quarters of an hour.

"Just before the afternoon session Mrs. Coggeshall came to me and said, " It wasn't so bad, affter all." That evening at the close of the meeting the lady who had protested in the morning came and said, "Miss Gordon, my husband says that the parade today has done more to advance the cause of political equality in Boone than all the Suffrage clubs, all the conventions, all the lectures and debates have ever done. He says there was but one topic of conversation this afternoon in the homes, shops offices and stores and on the street, and that was Suffrage for women."

"And thus we staged and played the first open air demonstration in the United States for Woman Suffrage. As I think it over I can not help asking, "When the next innovation found its way to Boone did 'my husband' say, 'There is something worh investigating', or did he say, 'Don't do it'?"