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The Guardian , 2 nd February 1897
WOMEN'S SUFFRAGE
The following letter has been forwarded to all members of the House of Commons:—
Sir, —We, the undersigned, have learnt with deep satisfaction that the Parliamentary Franchise (Extension to Women) Bill has first place on Wednesday, February 3. We desire to express our earnest hope that you will give support to that bill. Measures are brought forward year by year in the House of Commons bearing on domestic, educational, and industrial questions on which women can bring special experience to bear. Moreover, we believe the interests of the community at large suffer from the present total exclusion of that experience from the representation of the country. We therefore trust the bill will receive your support. —Yours faithfully (signed) Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, M.D., Alice Balfour (Miss Balfour), Mary Burt (Mrs. Thomas Burt), Kate Courtney, A. Zara Fell (Ms. Fell), Millicent Garrett Fawcett (Mrs. Fawcett)…
There were some years when Aziraphale barely missed Crowley, or even thought of the demon at all. Not really. Not much. The world was accelerating at breakneck speed and the angel had enough to do just keeping tethered amid the whirlwind of evolution and revolution that set the human spirit aflutter in the latter half of the nineteenth century, for better and for worse.
It seemed to Aziraphale that London had picked up the reins of change with particularly vengeful glee, oh, around the 1860s.
Locomotives burrowed into the ground under the city only months after their- well. It wouldn't do to dwell. The fact of the matter was that the underground railway burst suddenly from the ground, opening up patches of humid, smoggy, crowded tunnels which in the angel's holy opinion brought Hell a little too close to Earth. Practically forcing innocent passers-by to think of Evil and the end days and the other side and bookshops and chocolate boxes with every huff of scorching smoke from one of the station entrance hellholes.
Factories increased tenfold. The docks of the Thames expanded to make a home for the ever-larger ships which, now engineered and made of iron, no longer heeded the authority of the wind to set them on the right course. Motors were added to everything that moved or might possibly move. Everything became automated, fast and efficient. Crowley, surely, would be delighted.
In fact Aziraphale often wondered, in the weaker moments in the middle of the night, or out on endless strolls, or as dusk and the smog which continually loomed around Soho those days conspired to paint the London sky the most alluring shades of pinks and reds and orange, whether the demon had sped up the world on purpose. In revenge.
The angel's breaking point came one day in 1896 when the speed limit for horseless carriages was increased to 14 miles per hour.
And thus the bookshop stood empty for a year while Aziraphale escaped the City, the reminders and the revolutions, and moved to Shropshire.
Aziraphale didn't miss the demon; it wasn't a loss as much as a- as a change . Yes. And it wasn't that all change was bad, no matter how discomforting it might seem at first. It simply took… getting used to. Aziraphale had had six millennia of getting used to getting used to things.
Aziraphale - and certainly Crowley, too - knew that change, for good or bad, was in their blood, woven into humanity's very creation. They were more like demons than angels in that regard, Aziraphale thought in the middle of adding another green and luscious hill to Shropshire's countryside.
The angel spent the next two months adding quite an overwhelming amount of trees and meadows and fossils and ducks to the hill trying very hard not to think of humans and revolutions and falls and one particular demon before giving up.
And so the bookshop opened up again in 1897 and the angel got involved, publicly, with a much greater, better and more time-consuming cause, a thoroughly Good change for the better. Simply and only for the fact that the cause was Good and Just, not at all hoping to catch any particular attention.
The Observer , 19 th October 1902
ADVER TISEM ENTS
TIME TO TUR N OVER A NEW LEAF
Following the umpteenth defeat of the Parliamentary Suffrage (Extension to Women) Bill in the House of Lords, A.Z. Fell and Co., purveyor of antiquarian and unusual books, will host a sale this coming Saturday in favour of Votes for Women. Members of the National Union for Women's Suffrage Societies will receive a significant discount. Women across the world have made magnificent progress towards a brighter future through patient, reasoned means. A.Z. Fell declares its support.
In the words of Mrs. Millicent Fawcett, Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere.
Not a single redhead turned up that Saturday. However…
The Observer , 5 th November 1902
ADVER TISEM ENTS
TIME TO TUR N OVER A N EW TEA LEAF
Gunsmith Frank Clarke and clockmaker A. E. Richardson present the
AUTOMATIC TEA-MAKING MACHINE
The world is changing. Forget about the ancient rituals of yesteryear; there is no more time for silly dawdling. The TEASMADE miracle machine makes you double the tea in half the time and comes with a mechanical alarm clock and a year's worth of tea leaves.
All you have to do is supply the water.
Brought to you through the generuos patronage of Mr. F. U. Crowley.
The Observer , 7 th November 1902
COR RECTI ONS
TIME TO TURN OVER A NEW TEA LEAF
We apologise for the typesetting error in the word 'generous' in the advertisement entitled the above of the 5 th November and thank Mr. A.Z. Fell for pointing it out to us.
The Manchester Guardian , Morning Edition , 13th October 1905
ADVER TISEM ENTS
VOTE S. FOR. WO MEN.
Parliament has, once again, discarded the Bill for Women's Suffrage. We declare that the old methods have FAILED and that it is time for new blood in a movement which has stagnated. We thank Mrs. Fawcett and the ladies of the National Union for Women's Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) for their work and patience and wish them a happy retirement. It is time for ACTION and real resistance.
The new century calls for DEEDS, NOT WORDS.
Join the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) for FAST CHANGE.
Signed, Emmeline Pankhurst, Christabel Pankhurst, Annie Kenney, Teresa Billington, Sylvia Pankhurst, Florence Ursula Crowley, Adela Pankhurst…
The Times , Evening Edition , 13th October 1905
LATE ST N EWS
LADIES CHA RGED WITH ASSAULT
So-called suffragettes and WSPU-members Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney have been arrested after causing havoc in parliament. During minister Edward Grey's speech, the ladies – if one can call them that – continually called out "Will the Government give votes to women?". When the women refused to quiet down, police were called to evict them from the meeting. During the struggle, the two hysterical women kicked and spat at a police officer. The ladies were fined but chose prison instead, and called for physical escalation, even violence if necessary, from their sisters.
The Englishwoman's Review , 21st October 1905
O PINIO N
A UNI TED FR ONT
It was with great sorrow that I read the news of the two young women's arrest for our common cause last week. I understand the anger and dejection of our suffragette sisters in the face of yet another Bill lost. Progress, however, takes time and patience. Peaceful protesters have made the world a much better place slowly through collective effort, together through quiet, solemn, and meaningful resistance. It is through arrangements such as these that meaningful connections are made; ones that may change the world. I speak from personal experience.
I understand that younger women who have not witnessed the changes themselves may be swayed by these knee-jerk reactions and displays.
I urge the older members of the WSPU – and the ancient members in particular – to bear in mind that the price of violent resistance and taking up arms is chaos and destruction. One need only think of 1793 to know the price of dangerous weapons. You may feel inclined towards chaos; I know that natures are different. Resist, wreak chaos if you must, be angry, but please do not endanger the young souls in your care - nor yourself - unnecessarily.
Sincerely, and with best wishes to all her suffragette sisters.
Signed, Ms. A. Zara Fell.
The Englishwoman's Review , 24 th November 1905
O PINIO N
A UNI TED FR ONT?
In last month's edition of the journal, Ms. Fell makes an impassioned plea for unity between her peaceful suffragists and us suffragettes. For peaceful protest. It’s a touching sentiment, of course. No one wants to take up arms. To use weapons and take risks. Sometimes, though, it is necessary. The " ancient" Ms. Fell, if she were to draw on her experience of the world, would know as well as me that when all other options have been exhausted, taking a stand is the right thing to do, come what may. Sometimes risking potential harm is worth the reward for a much better existence.
Ms. Fell, the only way to get insurance for our cause is to secure "The Vote". That way we have a voice and a weapon and an ace to play OUR hand if our interests are threatened in future.
We all want unity. Now it is time for YOU to take a stand and join OUR SIDE.
Obviously.
Signed, Ms. F.U. Crowley
The Englishwoman's Review , 21st January 1906
O PINIO N
ON SUFFRAGISTS AND SUFFRAGE TTES AND SACRIFICE
My dear Ms. Crowley. Who are you to decide on my behalf which sacrifice is worth the pain it will cause? I have thought a great deal about the matter at hand in the time since our last correspondence, I assure you, and it is with grave but steadfast heart that I stick to my conclusions that:
1) I cannot support your version of the cause when it may put you and others in great danger and even bring about your destruction.
2) I will wait for better times and continue to work patiently and carefully towards our common interests and have Faith that one day we may put our differences behind us once more.
I make my own very painful sacrifice in keeping apart, by necessity, from your companionship and sisterhood in order to protect the both of us and our common cause and finding myself powerless to protect you from harm. I pray for your safety.
Signed, regretfully, Ms. A. Zara Fell
Crowley read the piece, let it turn to rot in her hand, and went back to bed. Truth be told, the demon had only woken up back in 1902 for a quick bathroom break. And got somewhat distracted by a stupid advertisement in the nearest of the papers that miraculously still spilt through the door to Crowley’s cottage several times a day even after a half-century nap.
The demon tossed and turned for another year and gave up on going to sleep again in June 1907, no less angry and disappointed – not sad, though, sadness was for losers – than she had been when she got in.
If the angel believed there'd be a better time, well. Nothing to do but bring it about then.
The Englishwoman's Review , 23 rd February 1913
THOUGHTS OF THE MONTH
The renowned suffragist Ms. Fell, however much she condemns the escalating violence of the WSPU, would like to commend her suffragette sisters for their recent disruption of the London-Glasgow telegraph communication line earlier this month. Unlike the horrific bombs and the terror and the violence of Mrs. Pankhurst and her fellows, this move had a stroke of genius about it. She believes she is right in accrediting the move to an old friend and hopes to see more of this type of resistance in future.
Crowley scribbled down several responses. The one she went with never made it into the newspaper – a WSPU bomb blew up the letterbox.
The demon had left that group behind a few months earlier, back when the first post-human was injured. As always, the human capacity for creativity and violence had surprised her. Male or female or whatever else, it didn't matter: Humans were, fundamentally, people, capable of greater terror than Hell could ever imagine.
…And, she mocked, in perfectly prim, impeccably pronounced enunciation, capable of greater selflessness and greater good than Heaven would ever think of. She'd heard the argument hundreds of times through the past millennium, wished she could hear the words from the angel-… But. She couldn't, could she, was the point. Noooo point in dwelling. The past was in the past – the only thing to do for the two of them was bring about the future and all the opportunities it brought.
It couldn't come fast enough in Crowley's opinion. Automobiles were looking promising. Even vacuum cleaners had motors these days.
And so Crowley threw herself into the campaign with renewed effort, though she steered clear of the crazier factions of the suffragette section. She chained herself to parliament in protest, got very goo- skilled at bombing churches and found her forte, unusually, when the government and the police started locking up suffragettes. The suffragettes, in turn, refused to eat in prison until police was forced to release them and re-arrest them when they'd regained their strength. And round and round it went.
Ms. Crowley made quite a name for herself, locked up for months and months without eating anything at all, remaining perfectly fine, much to the consternation of her guards. Oh – and:
The Daily Mail , 18 th September 1913
NEWS
SUFFRAGETTES HAVE LOST THEIR MINDS!
While it is very charming to see fresh-faced ladies protest in front of parliament, chaining themselves to things to call attention to themselves, and great for serious news journals such as THE DAILY MAIL (ONLY HALF A SHILLING A MONTH, SEE A NEW DEBUTANTE SHOW A BIT OF ANKLE ON PAGE 3 EVERY ISSUE) when they cause outrage, we must condemn a recent move by suffragettes including Ms. Edith Garrud and Ms. Crowley: The ladies have begun practising JIU-JITSU to avoid arrest. Renowned fair-haired suffragist Ms. Fell refused to condemn the development, though she did note her hopes that Ms. Crowley had remembered to practise her catching hand since they last practised together.
They saw each other once, for just a glimpse, in early 1914. The demon chained to the gates of parliament once more, corset-less and brilliant, red hair coming loose from its giant updo. The angel moving slowly across Parliament Square on one of those new velocipedes.
Time froze for the briefest second.
The angel nodded, flustered, fighting her urge to release the demon with a quick little miracle, and sped through the crowd to reach the speakers' chair with her notes for Mrs. Fawcett, long dress fluttering behind her. The demon laughed to herself, showing teeth and all, terrifying the police-humans moving in for her thirteenth arrest. It was the biggest laugh she'd had in half a century, watching the angel speed away without the bicycle's pedals moving at all.