April 29, 1912. J. and I went to a meeting at William Sargeant Kendall’s. J. is asked to be one of the founders of the Newport Art Association. We nominated Mr. Kendall for president. I think we could make a good thing out of this. It is really an outgrowth of the little exhibition that went along with my Current Topics Club lecture on “Artists’ Life in Rome.”
April 30, 1912. Am possessed to arrange a banner with Mother’s name and portrait for the Suffrage Parade in New York on Saturday. With great effort arranged to have it made by Baldwin Coolidge. After the order was given I heard that Mrs. Blatch, leader of the procession, had written Boston headquarters, asking for such a banner. Another case of “wireless.” I get them oftener and oftener.
May 3, 1912. To Boston on early train and to Baldwin Coolidge’s. The banner very successful. On one side a good reproduction of J.’s portrait of Mother, her name above—below “Our God is Marching On.” The reverse shows the legend, “Gens Guilia” at the top—below, “He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat.” Got Margaret Foley from the Suffrage Association to see the banner and promise to carry it, as Coolidge assured me I was not strong enough to carry it myself.
May 4, 1912. A perfect day for the great parade, which led by fifty young women on horseback marched from Eleventh Street up Fifth Avenue to Carnegie Hall. Marion Lawson and Clara Fuller among the riders. Florence Hall and I marched with the Massachusetts delegation, who were all dressed in white. Miss Foley gallantly carried the banner, little Floss and I walking on either side, holding the gold cords that held it in place. It was greeted with great applause all along the line of march. One very rough-looking man took off his hat to the dear portrait and stood bareheaded until we passed.
May 10, 1912. A good letter from Mr. van Allen of the Church of the Advent, thanking me for the protest in the Herald against Senator Sharp’s profanity. I believe that the offensive remarks will be expunged from the Congressional Record.
June 24, 1912. Much cast down about the result of the Republican National Convention in Chicago. Mr. Taft has the nomination. Roosevelt will try and form a third party. In Massachusetts Arthur Dehon Hill and Matthew Hale are among the young blood who will support him.
August 7, 1912. To Point of Pines with LeRoy Dresser for the first great Progressive rally in Massachusetts. Mr. Roosevelt arrived at half-past three. He shook hands with us and thanked us for coming. Though we had good places, I lost much of his speech made in the open air to ten thousand people. For me the great speech came later at the banquet of five hundred people. There he opened his heart and called upon Massachusetts to take her old place as the leader in every reform. Likened the forming of the new party of the Progressives to the founding of the Republican Party by the abolitionists and the liberals of that time. The Golden Rule and the Decalogue must animate all our legislation.
“Industrial freedom” is one of the battle cries. Mr. Roosevelt spoke an hour and a half in the afternoon and half an hour at the banquet.
The enthusiasm was heartfelt and magnificent. I felt that I had been in good company, the very best.
Newport. August 24, 1912. To the Tennis Tournament. A great spectacle. The girls charming in 1812 dresses. I sat with a group of pretty madcaps who could only talk of the Cornelius Vanderbilt Oriental ball last night, said to have cost fifty thousand dollars. A whole opera troupe was had on from New York to amuse the guests. The young people danced till six o’clock in the morning. None of the girls in my group had been to bed at all. Some had gone for a swim, some for a motor trip after the breakfast of sausages and scrambled eggs. Though none of them had slept, all were dressed in their morning finery for the tennis match at eleven. O tempora, o mores!