The Quill

There is no other symbol that is as near and dear to our hearts as the golden quill of Alpha Xi Delta. Since the beginning, it has been the visible link that binds our sisterhood together. Our badge, and all that it represents, is a gift from our Founders; a visible legacy passed down to us through time. But why was the quill chosen as our badge? Part of the inspiration that motivated Lewie Strong Taylor was the quote, "The pen is mightier than the sword." It is a simple yet timeless statement that touches the very ideals and beliefs of our Founders. Another thing that influenced Mrs. Taylor was a memory from her childhood:

"When I was a young girl, my grand father whittled the end of a nice quill from the poultry yard, shaping it into a pen to show me how he used to write when he was a boy. This was interesting to me.

When I was in Galesburg, attending Lombard College (1893), the ten girls who formed the first group of Alpha Xi Delta were each asked to submit a design for a pin to be worn to distinguish its members. I thought of the quill pen my grand father had used and how it would look in gold and of the significance of the pen, and I did not hesitate to ask for its consideration. I was not greatly surprised when it wore was accepted as I felt sure it would mean much to each one of our members. "

That first design by Lewie Strong Taylor was originally drawn with a rose above the quill, but this addition was discarded on the advice of the jeweler who made those first pins. The badges worn by our Founders were simple, plain gold quills, about 7/8 of an inch long, set on stickpins. Bertha Cook Evans felt that their one big disappointment was that the badges were not ready for the founding. "We had wild ideas that we could have a die made and our first pins made in time for our first public announcement and appearance."

"Naive? Surely!," wrote Almira Cheney. She continued: "On April 17 1893, having no pins to wear, we wore a long stemmed pink rose and a tiny badge of the colors. By the second winter we grew in self-esteem, I suppose, so we enlarged the ribbon badge until it was four inches across and with many loops. For a year or so we usually the colors over the heart with the pin stuck through them. We loved our pin, colors, and rose; in fact everything about Alpha Xi Delta passionately."

Miss Cheney wrote on: " . . . Being stickpins, with a tiny prong guard, we promptly lost them during the first few years. I believe I still had mine when I graduated in 1896 but had lost it by 1913. Since they cost $2.50 [Bertha Cook Evans thought that they only cost $1.25], the lost ones were slow to be replaced. We thought all of them were lost, but on that happy day when I arrived at our Glacier Park Convention [1926], the first person I saw was Aileen Taylor, our convention initiate and she was wearing her mother's original pin! Aileen made me wear it all through convention, [it was) a great privilege."

During the formative years of Alpha Xi Delta, the badge varied in both form and ornamentation. In 1894, the sapphire was adopted as our official jewel and soon after, the stickpins were replaced with clasp pins. Generally, the quill design and jewel choice was left up to each individual member. Cora Bollinger Block was the first to add gems to their quill in the form of a sapphire flanked with turquoise on each side, representing light and dark blue. Other pins were adorned with opals and a few were even made with our fraternity letters in black enamel instead of burnished gold.

The lack of a uniform pin became a growing concern among members during the years following nationalization. One standard badge design was needed to represent a united fraternity. This desire crystallized in an address given by Ella Boston Leib, then Grand President, at the Fifth National Convention in 1909. Standardization of the quill was finally accomplished two years later in 1911. A definite die was chosen and the choice of jewels was limited to pearls and diamonds. It was also adopted that an official jeweler would be appointed to further insure the uniformity of our badge.

Even though the design of the quill has remained unchanged since 1911, somehow, each pin becomes as unique as the sister who wears it. For it not only symbolizes the ideals and tenets of the Fraternity, it comes to reflect the wearer's own personal spirit as well. "Memories of joys and sorrows past are ever clinging tendrils about it," wrote an Alpha at the turn of the century. There is an even greater mystique surrounding the emblems worn by those women of strength and vision who formed Alpha Xi Delta. The inspiration that these women encourage cannot help but become intertwined with their pins. One woman, Elsie Hankey Matson, Mu, was one of those fortunate few who came into possession of a Founder's quill, and in 1962, she told us her story:

"Because over many years we had the rare privilege to be intimately associated with Founder Julia Maude Foster, the members of Mu Chapter at the University of Minnesota felt that we were signally honored . . . So close were our mutual associations and friendships that we even called this distinguished, silvery-haired lady by her given names -indeed, she preferred to be called 'Julia Maude.' One of Mu's own beloved charter members was Mary Helson Harmon, a woman of rare qualities and beauty of character, who, just as Julia Maude Foster, embodied all of the nobel traits idealized by our sisterhood. She, too, loved Alpha Xi Delta with a depth of affection and devotion which drew her into close rapport with the older woman, and together they shared many hours of both joy and sorrow.

"It was from Mary's own lips that I heard the statement that at one time when she and Julia Maude were discussing the latter's quill, Mary impulsively asked, 'Julia Maude, some day may I have your pin?' Whether Mary knew what plans were in the offing at the time, no one knows; but Julia Maude made the promise. Strangely enough, its fulfillment came sooner than she had anticipated. At the next National Convention, when she was acting as Chaplain, National Council presented Miss Foster with a beautifully jewelled Quill which she wore henceforth; and Mary came into possession of the one replaced by it . . .

"Time passed and all too soon Julia Maude Foster was called to Chapter Eternal on August 30, 1948, to be followed some years later by Mary Helson Harmon. The question then arose in the minds of Alice and Ada, sisters of Mary what to do with her Quills. Each had her own, plus Mary's two. I do not know why they did it, but they made me happy beyond words by asking me to be the recipient of the emblem worn by two women for whom I had the deepest love and admiration. Thus the Pin came to me and until Convention time, 1962, I cherished it with joy and pride. The warmth, strength, and sincerity of these two remarkable women enveloped me whenever I wore it.

"Almost from the first I had a haunting realization that the pin could belong to no one sister, but rather to all; that it should be placed in the archives of the Fraternity for safekeeping in perpetuity. Simply to mail it to the Central Office with a prosaic explanation seemed lacking in regard, sentiment, and a sense of propriety. I was impelled to write to the National President asking whether at some point during the Convention proceedings of 1962 a ceremony could be arranged for the purpose of formally presenting this emblem . . . to the Fraternity." Mrs. Nash approved of the idea and in a dignified and solemn atmosphere, this historic quill was donated to Alpha Xi Delta.

For almost one hundred years the quill has been the symbol of our Fraternity and even though the years have brought change in its form and design, the history and heritage that it represents has remained unchanged. It is our link with the past and yet it shines as a beacon to light our future. In 1904, an Alpha Chapter member wrote these words and offered us this advice: "It is our pin. It is our pride. It is more than dear to us. No one can buy it from us. It.is ours and ours alone. Let us not be among those who have lost sight of such a vital part of our sisterhood. Our pin should be where we can see it, where others can see it, and where it can always cheer and strengthen us." Our Quill should be worn with dignity and pride.

-Author unknown

Reprinted from The Quill of Alpha Xi Delta, Winter 1990