instead, she became interested in philanthropic causes and extending the Parliamentary Franchise to women, besides other social causes connected with the interests and general progress of women. For personal protection, she kept a secret revolver concealed in her purse. She joined women's clubs and circles where women's interests were discussed. Though she disliked public speaking, she became an influential public speaker, beloved by audiences. Women's movement and social causes One of her most memorable visits was to Rome, Italy, where she met several of the leading women amongst the Roman nobility who were promoting the woman movement in Italy. She admired Queen Margherita for her care and efforts on behalf of poor working girls. Mr. and Mrs. Haweis were welcomed by the Queen personally and invited to a public ball during which Mary Eliza Haweis admired the gorgeous court pageantries and Drawing Rooms. She was in awe of and in love with all the beautiful forms and colors. In her late years, Haweis also wrote articles on husbands and wives, particularly investigating how the wife might best "survive" with a husband who guards her. Like many other women writers of the nineteenth century, she turned to journalism, adding fashion and domesticity to the subjects of science, religion, and philosophy intended for men. She wrote a lengthy piece with photographs and illustrations for the Lady's Realm in 1897 entitled "The Empress Frederick and Friedrichshof." It was a history of Victoria, Princess Royal, the elder child of Queen Victoria and a German monarch in her own right by marriage who, in Haweis's view, "has left a permanent and noble mark on German history, not only by her domestic devotion, but by all she has tried to do for the elevation of her own sex." Because of her father's portrait painting, Haweis retained early memories of the empress, reminiscing, "The Princess Royal was a very sweet-looking child. I remember a rough drawing of her done by my father, T.M. Joy, by for us children – a softened Georgian face in a quaint cap, and the stiff gown of some old German costume, in which Queen Victoria had commissioned him to sketch the child, I think in 1842: the original, of course, is still possessed by Her Majesty." Late in her life, Haweis developed a strong addiction to occult and astrological studies, which is referenced in the article concerning the Empress Frederick, and left