CHAPTER IV "THE TENDER SENSIBILITIESOF WOMEN'': CAROLINEEARLE WfflTE, THEWOMEN'S BRANCH OF THE PSPCA, AND THEANIMAL SHELTER Sometime in 1870, reportingon a new institution in Philadelphia, the New York Tribune pointed, with amusement, to a "gush of sweet emotion" in the City of Brotherly Love. There, it seemed, Dogs have suddenlybeen discovered to be the most precious heritage and wardsof the Philadelphiapu blic. Theq ualityof mercy there is being strained. Verses in their honor are freely circuJated in the public schools. andto everychild whoco mmits them a rewardis given of the photographof some noble cur. The ladies (GodBless lbem ) who leadthis popularmovement havepe titioned Councils for $25,000to erectan Asy lum. or moreproperly speakin g, a House of 1 Entertainment., forsuch dogs as mayhave lost their way while pursuingtheir dailywalks abroad. In its rushto satirize, however, the Tribune told its readers very little about the new "Asylum"--America's first animal shelter--or the serious practical goals of its founders. Tipping its hat to HenryBergh' s humane endeavors. the articlelamented the tendency of women to "get hold of a theory... and befrilland beruffleit ... as they would a dress." In fact, the women in question, members of the Women's Branch of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Crueltyto Animals (PSPCA), had gone well beyond Bergh in forginga new path forhumane work. It was one that would alter the course of animal protection in the United States. Because of their efforts, the animal 1 Undated. unsourced article. in Women's Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Scrapbook. Women's Pennsylvania Society forthe Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia. PA [WPSPCA-HSP. SBK). This fancifulaccount., widely published. deeply angeredthe shelter's founder . CarolineEarle White. who believed it haddone damage to hercause. See Women's Branch, PSPCA. Ann. R. 1870, 6. 149 ISO shelter became a fundamentalinstitution of the humane movement, and an important locus forthe transmission of its values. Beyond this single accomplishment, moreover, CarolineEarle White, the pillar of Philadelphia activism, became one of the most influential and by far the most important female figurein American humane work. White devoted more than half a centuryto animal protection, and was a pioneer in strategy, tactics, public education, litigation, enforcement, and pragmaticcare for animals. In many respects, her long-term influence surpassed that of Henry Bergh and George Angell, the other members of the movement's founding triumvirate. 2 Finally, the Women's Branch exemplified the inherent opportunitiesfor women in humane work. Concern foranimals became an established domain of women's social activism, in part because the larger society deemed it an appropriate channel forfeminine sensitivities. The Women's Branch members made the most of this assumption, and, in their hands, concernfor animals became not simply a suitable channel forwomen's energies but an importantexpression of social feminism. The Origins of Humane Work in Pennsylvania Within a week of Bergh' s incorporation of the American Society forthe Prevention of Crueltyto Animals (ASPCA), Philadelphia newspaperman M. Richards Muckle published a notice soliciting the supportof like-minded persons foran 2 For biographical information, seeJane Campbell,"Mrs. CarolineEarle White. The Friendof the AnimalCreation," Woman's Progress I (June 1893), 113-23; idem, "Mrs. CarolineF.arle White, Refonner," AmericanCatho lic Historical Review 33 (Mar. 1922): 28-S I; "Women Leadersin Humane Work,"Our Fourfooted Friends 11 (Oct.1912), 2-3; and MaryF. Lovell and Mrs. John H. Easby, "CarolineF.arle White," in Gertrude B. Biddle andSarah D. Lowrie, eds.,Notable Women of Pennsylvania (Phila: 1942), 186-87. 151 organizationto pursue the samework in that city. From his officewindow atThird and Chestnut, Muckle oftenwitnessed the mistreatment of animals who carried people and freight through the city, and he sometimes went into the street to remonstrate with drivers. Muckle had been considering the formationof an anti-cruelty society in the fall of 1865, but suspended his effortsfor want of information concerningthe movement in England.3 Other Philadelphians were thinking and acting along similar lines. Kate Covert had been taking in animals and trying to place them in homes since 1844. As early as 1858, Annie Waln and Elizabeth Morris, two women who would play significant roles in the Women's Branch, began collecting strays with the same goal. Waln and Morris used chloroformto kill animals tooill or otherwise unfit forplace ment. In 1860, Wain's brother, a prominent Quaker merchant, wroteto the Royal Society forthe Prevention of Crueltyto Animals (RSPCA) forinformation about startinga similar organization, but, as he later recalled, "the unhappy civil war ... caused the plan to be deferred." Instead, 3 "Pennsylvania Society forthe Preve ntion of Crueltyto Animals,"Phila Bulletin. 27 Apr. 1866, PennsylvaniaSociety for the Prevention of Crueltyto Animals Archives,Philadelphia, PA [PSPCA-PAI, SBK 1866-1877; Sydney H. Coleman, HwnaneSociety Leaders of America (Albany: AmericanHumane Association [AHAi, 1924), 144-45;"History of Societyto PreventCruelty to Animals," Journalof Zoophily[hereafter JOZ) 14 (Dec. 1905), 134-35; and "M. Richards Muckle, 90,"Public Ledger. 30 Mar. 1915, PSPCA-PA, SBK Oct. 1914-Mar. 1917. Onelate-life profile asserts that in 1842, as a 17-yearold, Muckle protestedagainst acts of cruelty. See"SPCA Preparingfor Swnmer," Phila. Record, 11 May 1913, PSPCA-PA, SBK Jan.1911-0ct. 1914. It seemsprobable that Muckle wasresponsible for the 1861 editorial, "A Pleafor the Mule," Public Ledger,repr. in ChristianRecorder, 16 Feb. 1861. It cameoutjust asa groupof Philadelphianspetitioned their city council for action to curbthe abuseof animalsby freight railroads. SeeChapter I. 152 Samuel Morris Waln made testamentary provisions to supportthe foundingof such a society.4 In a late-life reminiscence, Caroline Earle White recalled that she had always loved animals, and that the frequencyof animal abuse at intersections near her home caused her so much distress that she avoided those streets altogether. Years before she helped to launch the PSPCA, attorneyRichard White, her Irish-bornfiance, suggested that with such affinitiesshe should support the RSPCA. s White read of Henry Bergh's work while vacationing in the Adirondacks, and, in the summer of 1866, aftervisi ting him in New York, she determined to gather supportfor a societyto prevent crueltyto animals in her own city. Together with her husband, she began to secure signatures fora petition supporting its formation. It may have been Bergh who told her about Muckle' s interest, but, in any case, White and the newspaperman were soon working together. White's husband helped them drafta charterwith laws patternedafter the New York model, and they soon gained the approval of all the judges of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, as well as the endorsement of other judicial officialsin the state. By the end of February 1867, the state legislature had granted a charter, and the PSPCA was incorporated in April 1868. White, by one account, coaxeda $10,000 donation from S. 4 "DogWoman's Semi-Centennial," Unsourced 1894, PSPCA-PA. SBK 1880-1902; Elizabeth Morris, Originand Historyof the Morris Refuge Association for Homeless and SufferingAnimals (Phila: Morris Refuge Association, 1903), 3; "Samuel Morris Waln," Public Ledger. 23 Dec. 1870, 2; "S. Morris Waln," OurDumb Animals [hereafterODA! 3 (Feb. 1871), 69; and RSPCA Minute Book9: 14, citedin James C. Turner,Reckoning with the Beast: Animals.Pain, and Humanityin the VictorianMind (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins UniversityPress, 1980), 46, 155. s Campbell,"Caroline Earle White,Reformer," 37. 153 Morris Waln to endow the new organization. One year later, the PSPCA convened a public meetingat which Bergh spoke before2,000 Philadelphians.6 Caroline Earle White descended fromreform-minded Quakers on both sides. Her father Thomas Earle, an architect of the 1838 revision of the Pennsylvania Constitution, actively campaigned forNegro suffrage and the abolition of slavery. Earle was the Liberty Party'svice presidential candidate in 1840. White's mother Mary was also active in anti-slavery work. One uncle, Pliny Earle, was a psychiatrist and pioneering reformer in the care of the insane; another, John Milton Earle, was a Free Soifer and an ally of Charles Sumner. White's brother, George Earle, was an attorney and abolitionist lecturer, who, like their father, tookon many slaves and freedmenas clients. In her youth, White attended anti-slavery conventions, contributed money to the cause, and was a follower and admirer of the abolitionist and fe minist Mary Grew. White endorsed the women's suffragemovement, but devoted little of her own energy to the cause. 7 Although she was the principal forcebehind the organization of the PSPCA, it was her husband, not White herself, who was elected to serveon the board. Mary F. Lovell and Jane Campbell, who knew her well, believed that White had not initially expected "to take an active partin the administration of [PSPCA] affairs." But male 6 Caroline Earle White, in AHA, Ann. R. 1907, 29; White to Bergh, Feb. 15, 1867, in Edward Buffet Manuscript, "Bergh's Waron VestedCruelty," Vol. 7, AmericanSociety forthe Prevention of Crueltyto Animals Archives, New York City (ASPCA- NYC]; "Crueltyto Animals," Phila.