Sigma Alpha Iota

22 Winter 2024 • sai-national.org Music Histy NEW WOMAN continued from page 13 The beautiful woman surveyed the scene, Her flatterers by the score; Her gems were the purest, her gown divine, So what could a woman want more. But memory brings back the face of a lad, Whose love she had turned aside, But happiness cannot be bought with gold, Altho' she's a rich man's bride. Refrain I stood in a churchyard just at eve, When sunset adorned the west; And looked at the people who'd come to give For lov'd ones now laid at rest. A tall marble monument mark'd the grave, Of one who'd been fashion's queen, And I thought she is happier here at rest, Than to have people say, when seen: Refrain. 3 Perhaps you caught that slightly sexual reference "youth cannot mate with age." We can almost hear the clucking of gossipy tongues. If her first role was to marry, her second role was to produce children. A woman of higher social status was not to work outside the home. Her only interests were to be her family, her kitchen, and her church or synagogue. Many states did not allow her to sign contracts or own property. In the extremely unusual situation of a divorce, she would not be awarded custody of the children. They were the property of her husband. He could have been a roaring drunk who beat her every night, but, in the eyes of the court, she was not considered capable of making good decisions. This was true for all classes of women. At various rallies songs were sung to describe a woman's plight. In fact, various groups of Suffragettes created their own songbooks. These books mostly consisted of new lyrics set to existing melodies. This one is sung to the tune Auld Lang Syne and is titled Keep Woman in Her Sphere: I have a neighbor, one of those Not very hard to find Who know it all without debate And never change their mind. I asked him "What of woman's rights?" He said in tones severe-- "My mind on that is all made up, Keep woman in her sphere." I saw a man in tattered garb Forth from the grog-shop come He squandered all his cash for drink and starved his wife at home. I asked him "Should not woman vote" He answered with a sneer-- "I've taught my wife to know her place, Keep woman in her sphere." I met an earnest, thoughtful man Not many days ago Who pondered deep all human law The honest truth to know. I asked him "What of woman's cause?" The answer came sincere -- "Her rights are just the same as mine, Let woman choose her sphere." The Suffragettes appealed to politicians, local and national. You have heard of Susan B. Anthony. She was arrested for illegally voting. She was even thrown in jail because she refused to pay the $100 fine. Oddly enough in the year that Susan B. Anthony voted (1872), Victoria Woodhull ran for President. Woodhull did not have the right to vote, but she could run for president. Other women discovered that they could be poll workers. This helped to clean up some illegal voting practices. Polling places were often in cigar stores and bars. Candidates, or their stooges, could be seen at bars buying votes in the form of free drinks. By becoming poll workers, the Suffragettes found ways to take baby steps toward their goal. Not all men opposed women's right to vote. Theodore Roosevelt was one of the politicians who sympathized with the Suffragettes. He was a good friend to bandleader Helen May Butler, who was also a composer. Butler had a professional, all female touring band starting in the mid 1890s. She became known as "The Female Sousa." Theodore Roosevelt served as Vice President to William McKinley and became acquainted with her group when the band was appearing at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY. The year was 1901. When President McKinley was assassinated, Roosevelt became President and completed McKinley's term. Then, at the 1904 Republican Convention held in Chicago, Helen May Butler and Her Band were invited to perform. She was also asked to compose the official march of the convention. Thus was born Cosmopolitan America. This march has a slightly different form. 4 What might be considered the Trio section is a composite of various well-known melodies such as Maryland, My Maryland (also known as O Tannenbaum), Du, Du Liegst Mir in Herzen, and some Wagner for good measure. I speculate that these melodies were favorites for some states that were attending the convention. Note also that this is one of the earliest known published band compositions by a female composer. For the band members who were traveling as performers, life was not always easy and they were often booed, until they played. By all accounts, Helen May Butler and Her American Ladies Concert Band were a great hit. They toured for over twenty years, no mean feat in itself. A woman's lot in life improved slowly. For the National Woman Suffrage Association and the National American Woman Suffrage Association, fighting for their right to vote during these times became known as the doldrums. They had tried doing parades. The first was in February of 1908, but it wasn't overly successful. It took another young woman named Alice Paul to get things moving again. She created an event in Washington, DC called the Women's Suffrage Procession. Alice Paul was a master at getting publicity for the movement. She chose March 13, 1913 in Washington, DC as the perfect date and place for this parade. It was the day before Woodrow Wilson was to be inaugurated and Washington, DC was packed with people from all across the country. This would naturally include the press. Her participants numbered somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 marchers. The parade line-up from the official program book has been preserved. Sadly for those of us who want to know the names of the bands that marched and what selections they played, none was ever given. Even the newspaper only lists them as "band" or, in one case "women's band." We do know that there were at least six bands, possibly nine, and we know that one was an all female group.

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