Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 6.djvu/851

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THE INTERNATIONAL WOMAN SUFFRAGE ALLIANCE
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received. The Bohemian delegate, Marie Tumova, could not be present because making a campaign for election to the Diet.

The delegates had a strenuous time trying to attend the business meetings, listen to the excellent programs of prominent speakers, go to the enjoyable social affairs and make the visits and excursions to the many historical places in and around London which most of them had always longed to see. The Executive Committee of the National Union, Mrs. Fawcett, chairman, served as Reception Committee; its treasurer, Miss Bertha Mason, expended the large fund subscribed for the use of the convention; the Press Committee managed the newspapers through Miss Compton Burnett; Mrs. Anstruther, Rutland House, Portland Gardens, had the exacting but pleasant duties of chairman of the Hospitality Committee.

A delightful reception on Sunday evening, April 25, at the Lyceum Club, introduced the pleasures of the week, which ended with a handsome reception given by the Men's League for Women's Suffrage on Saturday evening. There was a brilliant official dinner at Prince's Restaurant and there were teas and concerts and dramatic entertainments. To most of the delegates the weeks were the richest in experience ever known, with the specially conducted visits to famous universities and schools; cathedrals and abbeys; galleries and palaces; courts and gardens— every spot filled with historic associations for English speaking people and with intense interest for those of other countries. For delegates concerned with civic and social work there was the keenest enjoyment in the specialized and extensive developments along many lines. The Minutes of the convention thus describe one of its leading events:

The mass meeting at the Royal Albert Hall under the auspices of the London Society for Women's Suffrage afforded the delegates a most impressive display of the earnestness of the British suffragists. A procession of women engaged in various trades and professions, carrying the emblems of their work, marched from Eaton Square to the hall. It was a wonderful inspiration to the brave bands of pioneers from other lands to see the long procession march with fluttering flags and swinging lanterns along the darkening streets, greeted now with sympathy, now with jeers. As it entered the hall and trade after trade, profession after profession filed past the platform on which were seated women of all nations,