XLII. INDIANA…

XLII. INDIANA

The First Woman Suffrage Convention After the War, 1869--Amanda M. Way--Annual Meetings, 1870-85, in the Larger Cities--Indianapolis Equal Suffrage Society, 1878--A Course of Lectures--In May, 1880, National Convention in Indianapolis--Zerelda G. Wallace--Social Entertainment--Governor Albert G. Porter--Susan B. Anthony's Birthday--Schuyler Colfax--Legislative Hearings--Temperance Women of Indiana--Helen M. Gougar--General Assembly--Delegates to Political Conventions--Women Address Political Meetings--Important Changes in the Laws for Women, from 1860 to 1884--Colleges Open to Women--Demia Butler--Professors--Lawyers--Doctors--Ministers--Miss Catherine Merrill--Miss Elizabeth Eaglesfield--Rev. Prudence Le Clerc--Dr. Mary F. Thomas--Prominent Men and Women--George W. Julian--The Journals--Gertrude Garrison.

This was one of the first States to form a Woman Suffrage Society[325] for thoroughly organized action, with a president, secretary, treasurer, and constitution and by-laws. From October, 1851, this association held annual meetings, sent petitions and appeals to the legislature, and had frequent hearings at the capitol, diligently pressing the question of political equality for woman for ten consecutive years. Then, although the society did not disband, we find no record of meetings or aggressive action until 1869, for here, as elsewhere, all other interests were forgotten in the intense excitement of a civil war. But no sooner were the battles fought, victory achieved, and the army disbanded, than woman's protests against her wrongs were heard throughout the Northern States; and in Indiana the same Amanda M. Way who took the initiative step in 1851 for the first woman's convention, summoned her coaedjutors once more to action in 1869[326], and with the same platform and officers renewed the work with added determination for a final victory.

For this interesting chapter we are indebted to Mrs. May Wright Sewall, who has patiently gathered and arranged this material, and laid it, as a free gift, at our feet. Those who have ever attempted to unearth the most trivial incidents of history, will appreciate the difficulties she must have encountered in this work, as well as in condensing all she desired to say within the very limited space allowed to this chapter. Mrs. Sewall writes:

The first convention after the war, June 8, 9, 1869, was held in Masonic Hall, and continued two days. The Indianapolis Journal devoted several columns daily to the proceedings, closing with the following complimentary editorial:

As a deliberative assembly it compared favorably with the best that have ever been conducted by our own sex. To say that there was as much order, propriety and dignity as usually characterizes male conventions of a political character is but to put the matter in a very mild shape. Whatever was said, was said with earnestness and for a purpose, and while several times the debate was considerably spiced, the ladies never fell below their brothers in sound sense. We have yet to see any sensible man who attended the convention whose esteem for woman has been lowered, while very many have been converted by the captivating speeches of Mrs. Cole, Mrs. Swank and Mrs. Livermore.

In the Sentinel of June 11, 1869, an editorial appeared whose evident object was to reaessure the public mind and to restore to peace and confidence any souls that might have been agitated during the convention by so unusual and novel an exercise as thought. The nature of the sedative potion thus editorially administered to an alarmed public may be inferred from this sample:

No amount of human ingenuity can change the arrangement of nature. The history of the race furnishes the evidence that the species of man and woman are opposite. The distinctions that now exist have existed from the time that the "Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam," and said: "Thy desire shall be to thy husband; he shall rule over thee." This brief story comprises the history of man and woman, and defines the relations which shall ever exist between them. When woman ceases to be womanly, woman's rights associations become her fitting province.

The editor of the Journal at that time was Colonel W. R. Holloway, the present very liberal manager of the Times. The editor of the Sentinel was Joseph J. Bingham. The State was then Republican, and as the organ of that party the Journal probably had the larger number of readers.

The State Woman Suffrage Association convened in Indianapolis, June 8, 1870, and held a two days' meeting. The Journal contains, as usual, a full report. The Sentinel's tone is quite different from that which distinguished its utterances the preceding year. Its reports are full and perfectly respectful. This convention is memorable as that at which the Indiana Society became auxiliary to the American Association. The records show that this union was accomplished by a majority of one, the ballot on the proposition standing 15 for and 14 against. As soon as the union was thus effected the following was adopted:

Resolved, That this association is in favor of the union of the National and American Associations as soon as practicable.

On the same day Judge Bradwell of Chicago submitted a resolution favoring the union of the two national societies, which was laid on the table. Of the annual meetings from 1871 to 1878 the Indianapolis papers contain no reports, save the briefest mention of those of 1873-4. From 1878 to 1885 short but fair reports may be found. Since 1870, the conventions of this society[327] have been held in different towns throughout the State.[328] The minutes show that the propriety of withdrawing from the American Association and remaining independent was brought before the convention of 1871, under the head of special business; that it was decided to postpone action until the next annual meeting, and to make the matter of withdrawal a special order of business, but it does not appear that from that time the subject has ever been broached. At the annual meeting of 1875, held at a time when preparations for celebrating our national centennial were in progress, the following resolution was passed:

Resolved, That we congratulate the voters of the United States on their enjoyment of the right of suffrage, and commend them for the great centenary celebration of the establishment of that right, which they are about to have. But we do earnestly protest against the action of the Indiana legislature by which it made appropriations for that purpose of moneys collected by taxing women's property.

In November, 1878, the ninth annual meeting of the American Association was held in Indianapolis, by invitation from the State Society.[329]

In the month of March, 1878, some very mysterious whisperings advertised the fact that there was to be a meeting of the ladies of Indianapolis known to have "advanced ideas" concerning their sex. In response to a secretly circulated summons, there met at No. 18 Circle Hall nine women and one man, who, though not mutually acquainted, were the most courageous of those to whom the call had come. Probably each of the ten often thinks with amusement of the suspicious glances with which they regarded one another. As a participant, I may say that the company had the air of a band of conspirators. Had we convened consciously to plot the ruin of our domestic life, which opponents predict as the result of woman's enfranchisement, we could not have looked more guilty or have moved about with more unnatural stealth. That demeanor I explain as an unconscious tribute to what "Madam Grundy" would have thought had she known of our conclave.

At that meeting one point only was definitely settled; which was, whether the new society should take a name which would conceal from the public its primary object, or one which would clearly advertise it. The honesty of the incipient organization was vindicated by its deciding upon the latter. I do not record in detail the initiative steps of this flourishing society in order to awaken in its members any humiliating memories, but because the fact that ten conscientious, upright persons could thus secretly convene in an obscure room, and that such a question could agitate them for more than two hours, is the best indication that could be given of the conservative atmosphere which enveloped Indianapolis, even as late as 1878. The next meeting was appointed for April 2, at the residence of Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace. Notices were inserted in the papers, and in the meantime some pains was taken to secure not only the presence of persons who had not previously been identified with any reform movement, but also that of some well-known friends. It was attended by twenty-six men and women, representing various religious and political parties, most of whom enjoyed the advantages of education and social position, and resulted in a permanent organization under a constitution whose first article is as follows:

This organization shall be known as the Indianapolis Equal Suffrage Society, and shall consist of such men and women as are willing to labor for the attainment of equal rights at the ballot-box for all citizens on the same conditions.

On the principle that that which has some restrictions is most desired, membership was at first hedged about with certain formalities. While most reform organizations welcome as members all who will pay their annual fee and subscribe to the constitution, this society requires that the names of candidates be presented at one meeting and formally balloted on at the next, thus providing a month for consideration. Since 1878 this society[330] has held forty-three public meetings, and distributed throughout the city several thousand tracts. At intervals the society has engaged speakers from abroad. Miss Anthony gave her "Bread and Ballot" to a large audience in Masonic Hall, and many date their conversion from that evening. Mrs. Stanton has appeared twice under the auspices of the society. On the first occasion it secured for her the court-room in which the upper house of the general assembly was then sitting. Tickets of admission were sent to all the members of both houses. Her lecture on "The Education of Girls," made a profound impression. On her second appearance she spoke in the First Christian Church, on "Boys." For Miss Frances E. Willard, Robert's Park Church was obtained, and thus suffrage principles were presented to a new class of minds. Mrs. J. Ellen Foster spoke on "Women before the Law," in the Criminal-court room. The society made every effort to secure the general attendance of members of the bar. Before one of its regular meetings in the Christian chapel, Mrs. Louise V. Boyd read a very bright paper on "A Cheerful Outlook for Women." At its present parlors, Mrs. Harbert delivered an address for the benefit of the suffrage campaign in Oregon.

In May, 1880, this society invited the National Association to hold its annual convention in Indianapolis. Entertainment was provided for eighty-seven delegates, besides the friends who came from different parts of the State. In Park Theatre, the largest auditorium of the city, eloquent voices for two days pleaded the cause of freedom. The reports in the city press were full and fair, and the editorials commendatory. The fact that the Sentinel contained a long editorial advocating the doctrines of equal suffrage, shows the progress since 1869. The evening after the convention a reception was given to the members and friends of the National Association in the spacious parlors of Mrs. John C. New.

From its origin the Indianapolis society has held aloof from all formal alliances. Thus it has been free to work with individuals and organizations that have woman suffrage for their aim. It habitually sends delegates to the State annual conventions, and in those of the American and National it is usually represented.

In December, 1880, the society issued a letter, secured its publication in the leading papers of the State, and addressed a copy to each member of the General Assembly, in order to advise that body that there were women ready to watch their official careers and to demand from them the consideration of just claims:

INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 22, 1880.

DEAR SIR: The Equal Suffrage Society of Indianapolis, in behalf of citizens of Indiana who believe that liberty to exercise the right of suffrage should neither be granted nor denied on the ground of sex, would respectfully notify you that during the next session of the State legislature it will invite the attention of that body to the consideration of what is popularly called "The Suffrage Question." The society will petition the legislature to devote a day to hearing, from representative advocates of woman suffrage, appeals and arguments for such legislation as may be necessary to abolish the present unjust restriction of the elective franchise to one sex, and to secure to women the free exercise of the ballot, under the same conditions and such only, as are imposed upon men. To this matter we ask your unprejudiced attention, that when our cause shall be brought before the legislature its advocates may have your cooeperation.

Very respectfully yours, ZERELDA G. WALLACE, President.

MAY WRIGHT SEWALL, Secretary,

By order of the Equal Suffrage Society of Indianapolis.

The society has lately taken a new departure, giving lunches, parties and literary entertainments, to which invitations[331] are issued, by the officers, thus becoming a factor in the social life of the city. The invitation, programme, and press comments of its last entertainment indicate the character of these reuenions, and the esteem in which they are held. These occasions have been the means of securing for the society greater popular favor than it has hitherto enjoyed. At the conclusion of the formal toasts, the president called upon Gov. Albert G. Porter, who had come in a few minutes before. He thanked the meeting for its reference to what he had done for the cause of equal suffrage, and announced that while he remained governor of Indiana he would do all he could for the rights of women.[332] He referred to the progress made, and to the refining influence that women would have on political matters. Of all the social entertainments given, none has secured more converts than the celebration of Susan B. Anthony's sixty-second birthday. The arrangements for this event were placed in the hands of Mrs. Mary E.N. Carey and Mrs. May Wright Sewall. The following account, prepared by the author of this chapter for the Indianapolis Times of February 18, 1882, will sufficiently indicate the spirit of the occasion:

The anniversary was a unique event. A number of invitations were issued to citizens interested in suffrage who were not formally connected with the association. As a result, on the evening of February 15, there were gathered in the spacious parlors of Dr. Carey's hospitable home, one hundred and fifty persons representing the best circles of Indianapolis society. A portrait of Miss Anthony rested upon an easel, conspicuously placed, that all might see the serene face of the woman who for thirty years has preached the gospel of political freedom, and expounded the constitution of the United States in favor of justice to all. The programme was somewhat informal, all but two of the speeches[333] being spontaneous expressions of admiration for Miss Anthony and her fidelity to principle. There were two regrets connected with the programme. These were caused by the absence of Gov. Porter and Hon. Schuyler Colfax; but the gracious presence of Mrs. Colfax was a reminder of her husband's fidelity to our cause, and Mrs. Porter's sympathetic face was a scarcely less potent support than would have been a speech from the governor. Just before the close of the meeting the following telegram was sent to Miss Anthony:

Susan B. Anthony, Tenafly, New Jersey.

The Indianapolis Equal Suffrage Society, in meeting assembled with many friends sends you greeting on this anniversary occasion, in recognition of your devotion to the cause of women.

MAY WRIGHT SEWALL, Secretary.

To report the details of this social gathering would be wearisome, but some reflections to which the occasion gave rise may be permitted. One lady upon seeing the invitation to the meeting exclaimed: "This little bit of paper is an indication of a higher civilization than I supposed we had yet entered upon. Until recently it has been like the betrayal of a secret for a woman, particularly for an unmarried woman, to have a birthday." This exclamation but expresses a historical fact and a prophetic truth. So long as woman's only value depended upon physical charms, the years which destroyed them were deemed enemies. The fact that an unmarried woman's sixty-second birthday can be celebrated, shows the dawning of the idea that the loss of youth and its fresh beauty may be more than compensated by the higher charms of intellectual attainments. The time will never come when women, or men either, will delight in the possession of crows-feet, gray hairs and wrinkles; but the time will come, aye, and now is, when they will view these blemishes as but a petty price to pay for the joy of new knowledge, for the deeper joy of closer contact with humanity, and for the deepest joy of worthy work well done.

The first legislative hearing since 1860, was that granted January, 1871, to Miss Amanda Way and Mrs. Emma B. Swank. The two houses received them in joint session, the lieutenant-governor and speaker of the house occupying the speaker's desk. Mr. William Cumback introduced Miss Way, who read the following memorial:

Mr. President and Gentlemen--We come before you as a committee appointed by the Woman Suffrage Association to memorialize your honorable body in behalf of the women of Indiana. We ask you to take the necessary steps to so amend the State constitution as to secure to women the right of suffrage. We believe the extension of the full rights of citizenship to all the people of the State, is in accordance with the fundamental principles of a just government. We believe that as woman has an equal interest with man in all public questions, she should therefore have an equal voice in their decision. We believe that as woman's life, prosperity and happiness are equally dependent upon the order and morality of society, she should have an equal voice in the laws regulating her surroundings. We believe that as woman is human, she has human needs and rights, and as she is held responsible to law, she should have an equal voice in electing her law-makers.

We believe that the interests of man and woman are equally improved in securing to both equal education, a place in the trades and professions, equal honor and dignity everywhere; and as the first step to this end is equality before the law, we, your petitioners, ask that you extend to the women of Indiana the right of suffrage, and thus enable one-half the citizens of the State to protect themselves in their most sacred rights.

Miss Way spoke briefly to the points in the memorial, urging the legislators to give to women the same chances for improvement, the same means for defense, and the same weapons for protection that they have secured to themselves. Mrs. Swank also made a logical and eloquent speech. No action was taken by the legislature.

On January 22, 1875, the two houses of the General Assembly convened in joint session, to receive petitions from the "Temperance Women of Indiana," who were on this occasion represented by Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace, Mrs. Avaline and Mrs. Robinson, who had been appointed by the State Temperance Association. Mrs. Wallace read a memorial and stated that it was signed by 10,000 women, and then argued its various points and pleaded for the action of the "Honorable Body." Mrs. Avaline and Mrs. Robinson followed in briefer, but not less earnest appeals. The only answer elicited by these ladies was the assurance made by Dr. Thompson, a member of the Senate, that he and his colleagues were there, "not to represent their consciences, but to represent their constituents," whose will was directly opposed to the petition offered.

On January 3, 1877, a resolution to the effect that the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United States give the ballot to women, came to its third reading in the lower House. On that occasion, Mrs. Wallace and Dr. Mary F. Thomas represented the women of Indiana, and Mrs. Mary A. Livermore was present to lend the assistance of her oratory. The speeches created a profound impression, but neither native nor foreign eloquence was able to secure the requisite vote. When the ayes and nays were called, the resolution was lost--51 to 22.

On February 24, 1879, once again in joint session, the General Assembly received a committee appointed by the State Association and the Equal Suffrage Society of Indianapolis, to support woman's claim to the ballot. Mrs. Wallace, Dr. Mary F. Thomas, Mary E. Haggart and Amy E. Dunn, each spoke at length on the points clearly set forth in the memorial. Whatever arguments could reach the intellect, whatever could touch the sensibilities, were urged by these ladies on that occasion, and the gentlemen did not fail to compliment their abilities, although the exercise of them had no palpable effect upon legislation.

Before the General Assembly of 1880-81, had convened, it was known by its members-elect that the women of the State would be a constant factor in their deliberations. They had been notified of this intention by the circular letter from the City Society, and by the published fact that the State Association had already appointed representatives, whose duty it should be to secure a hearing for such an amendment to the constitution of the State as should enable women to vote. As soon as the legislature assembled, committees on women's claims were appointed in both branches; Simeon P. Yancey being the chairman of the Senate, and J. M. Furnas of the House, committee. Two points had been determined upon. These were to try to secure the passage of a bill which should immediately authorize women to vote for presidential electors, and such an amendment to the constitution of the State as should enable women to exercise the right of suffrage on all questions.

In connection with the first of these points the name of Helen M. Gougar deserves especial mention. At the Washington convention of the American Association, Mr. Blackwell suggested that the States try to secure the electoral ballot for women, and as soon as Mrs. Gougar returned she urged the members of the legislature to take the matter up. At her suggestion, Dr. Mary F. Thomas addressed a letter to W. D. Wallace, esq., a prominent lawyer of Lafayette, asking him if, in his opinion, the extension of the electoral ballot to women would be incompatible with the present constitution of the State; in reply to this Mr. Wallace set forth an exhaustive argument,[334] proving the entire constitutionality of such an act. Five thousand were printed and gratuitously distributed throughout the State.

The Committee on Women's Claims in both Houses met at sundry times with members of the Suffrage Association to discuss the merits of these bills and to become familiar with the arguments. During the regular session Mrs. Wallace and Mrs. Gougar spent two consecutive weeks in attendance at the legislature, watching the attitude of the different members and lobbying, in the good sense of that word. The immediate object was to secure the passage of the electoral bill, for that once gained, and women by act of the legislature made voters upon the most important question, it was reasonably thought that the passage of the amendment would be thereby facilitated. A hearing was granted on February 16, 1881, and the House took a recess to listen to the speeches of the women appointed by the State Association, Mrs. Haggart and Mrs. Gougar. The next day, February 17, the Senate afforded a similar opportunity, and the same ladies addressed that body.

In addition to the faithful exertions of Mrs. Wallace and Mrs. Gougar, and the public hearing granted by both houses, much quiet but most effective work was done with individual members. To no one is more due than to Paulina T. Merritt, whose reputation for intelligent charity is widely known. Mrs. Merritt was a frequent attendant upon the sessions of the legislature and her untiring efforts in private conversations with members were invaluable. In spite of all these influences, when the electoral bill was brought to a vote upon its third reading, it was lost on the ground that it was unconstitutional.

At the special session all efforts centered upon the bill for amending section 2, of article II., of the State constitution, so as to give women the right to vote in all elections. Mrs. Wallace and Mrs. Gougar gave another week to the work, and on April 7 the bill was brought to a vote in the House, and passed--ayes 62, nays 24; in the Senate, on April 8, it also passed--ayes 25, nays 18; and so the first entrenchment was won.

No one believed that the bill to amend the constitution would have passed had it not been preceded by the battle over the electoral bill and the consequent education of the General Assembly in regard to this great question of political rights. Immediately a conference was held as to the proper manner of expressing our gratitude to the committees on women's political claims. It was at first thought the recognition should come from the Equal Suffrage Society, but it was finally considered wiser to have a reception given the honorable body by a voluntary committee of women who should act quite independently of any society.[335]

The passage of the amendment by the legislature of 1881 gave the advocates of our cause a common objective point, and the efforts of all during the two years immediately succeeding were directed toward securing the election of such a legislature as might be relied upon to repass the bill in 1883. The State society at its annual meeting enlarged its central committee and instructed it to arrange meetings in various parts of the State, to send out speakers, and to organize local societies.[336] This committee prepared a letter, for general distribution, indicating to the women of the State their duty in the premises, and suggesting various lines of work. Blanks for a special petition to the General Assembly were sent to every township, which were industriously circulated and numerously signed.

In the spring of 1882 the officers of the State society issued a call for a mass-meeting, to which "all women within the boundaries of the State who believed in equal suffrage, or were interested in the fate of the pending amendment," were invited. The meeting was held on May 19, at the Grand Opera House, and the attendance exceeded the most extravagant hopes of those who had called it. If any came to scoff, they remained to participate with pride in this remarkable convention, which is yet frequently referred to as the largest and most impressive meeting ever held in the Hoosier capital. The call had invited those who could not attend the meeting to manifest their sympathy by sending postal-cards to the corresponding secretary. These were received in such numbers for several days that Mrs. Adkinson and the half-dozen clerks appointed to assist her in counting them, unable to bring in a full report, announced at the close of the evening session, that having reached 5,000, they desisted from further enumeration.

No effort was spared to make the demonstration truly representative of the suffrage interest throughout the State. All the sessions were presided over by Mrs. Sewall, who called the roll by congressional districts, some one of whose representatives responded. The ease and dignity with which women, many of whom had never spoken before any audience save their own neighbors gathered in Sunday-school or prayer-meeting, reported the status of their respective communities on the suffrage question, was matter of astonishment as well as of admiration.[337] So exceptional in all regards was the conduct of the meeting that the papers united in expressing surprise at the strength of the suffrage sentiment in the State as indicated by the mass-convention.

This meeting of May 19, 1882, struck the key on which the friends in the State spoke during the summer and fall of that year. Large numbers of societies were organized and numerous meetings held; the immediate object being to secure the election of a legislature that should vote to submit the amendment passed by the General Assembly of 1881 to the decision of what is mis-named "a popular vote." The degree to which this action influenced the politicians of the State cannot be accurately known, but we are compelled to believe that it was one of the causes which induced the Republicans in convention assembled to declare for the "submission of the pending amendments." The Republican State convention was held August 8, 1882, and the first plank in the platform reads thus:

Resolved, First--That reposing trust in the people as the fountain of power, we demand that the pending amendments to the constitution shall be agreed to and submitted by the next legislature to the voters of the State for their decision thereon. These amendments were not partisan in their origin, and are not so in character, and should not be made so in voting upon them. Recognizing the fact that the people are divided in sentiment in regard to the propriety of their adoption or rejection, and cherishing the right of private judgment, we favor the submission of these amendments at a special election, so that there may be an intelligent decision thereon, uninfluenced by partisan issues.

At the mass-meeting of May 19, Mrs. P. T. Merritt of Indianapolis, Mrs. M. E. M. Price of Kokomo, and Mrs. J. C. Ridpath of Greencastle were appointed as delegates to the different political State conventions. As a Republican, Mrs. Merritt was received with great courtesy and accorded time to speak. Her address was characterized by sound logic and dignity of expression, and was reported in full with the rest of the proceedings of the Republican convention. As a prohibition amendment had also been passed by the legislature of 1881, the interests of suffrage and prohibition in the campaign of 1882 were identical. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Indiana sent Mrs. Helen M. Gougar to the Republican State convention, by which she was respectfully received and which she ably addressed.

The advocates of suffrage did not content themselves during the summer of 1882 by merely holding suffrage meetings proper, and addressing political bodies, but they sought every opportunity to reach the ears of the people for whatever purpose convened. The Equal Suffrage Society received from the managers of the Acton camp-meeting a place on their programme; accordingly Mrs. Haggart and Mrs. Gougar, as delegates, addressed immense audiences. Both of these ladies labored indefatigably, discussing the question of submission of the amendments before Sunday-school conventions, teachers' associations, agricultural fairs, picnics and assemblies of every name. Others rendered less conspicuous, but not less earnest or constant service; and when the political campaign proper opened, it was evident that every candidate would firmly and unreservedly answer the challenge: "Submission, or non-submission?"

For the first time in the history of Indiana, women were employed by party managers to address political meetings and advocate the election of candidates. Mrs. Gougar addressed Republican rallies at various points; she and Mrs. Haggart together made a canvass of Tippecanoe county on behalf of the Republican candidate for representative in the General Assembly, Captain W. De Witt Wallace, who was committed not only to the submission of the amendments, but also to the advocacy of both woman suffrage and prohibition. The animosity of the liquor league was aroused, and this powerful association threw itself against submission. The result was the election of a legislature containing so large a Democratic majority that there was no ground for hoping that the amendments would be re-passed and sent to the voters of the State for final adoption or rejection.

Though the submission of the amendments was one of the chief issues in the campaign, many candidates who pledged themselves on the ground that they involved questions which it was the privilege of the voters to decide, reserved their own opinions upon their merits. There were, however, candidates who openly espoused woman suffrage per se.[338] Knowing that a majority of the members of the General Assembly were pledged to vote down the pending amendments, the friends tacitly agreed to maintain a dignified silence toward that body concerning them. The Suffrage Society at the capital, however, appointed a committee[339] to watch the interests of woman in the legislature; and through its influence, special committees on women's claims were obtained in both Houses. Disappointed by the result in the legislature of 1883, but not discouraged, the society continued to labor with undiminished zeal, and sought every legitimate opportunity to prove woman a factor in State politics.

Several weeks prior to the Republican nominating convention at Chicago, June 3, 1884, this society appointed committees to correspond with each of the gentlemen prominently named as candidates for nomination to the office of president, and also appointed committees[340] to press upon the attention of the different parties the political claims of women. The society instructed each committee to carry on its work according to the united judgment of its members and continue it until the close of the legislative session of 1885. The committee appointed to communicate with the Republicans addressed a letter to each of the thirty delegates sent by Indiana to the nominating convention at Chicago. They also addressed letters to the Republican State central committee, and through the courtesy of Mr. John Overmeyer, chairman, they were given an opportunity to appear before the committee on resolutions. Mrs. Sewall presented a resolution, and in a brief speech urged its adoption and incorporation into the platform of the Republican party. Mrs. Merritt and Mrs. Sewall were offered an opportunity to speak before the convention, which they declined in the belief that it was a greater gain to the cause to appear before the resolution and platform committee than before the convention itself.

To what an appalling degree women were discriminated against by the law prior to 1860, may be inferred from subsequent legislative enactments. At almost every sitting of the biennial legislature, since 1860, some important change will be observed. In 1861 was passed the following:

AN ACT to enlarge the Legal Capacity of Married Women whose Husbands are Insane, and to enable them to Contract as if they were Unmarried.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana: That all married women, or those who may hereafter be married, whose husbands are or may be insane, are, during the continuance of such insanity, hereby enabled and authorized to make and to execute all such contracts, and to be contracted with in relation to their separate property, as they could if they were unmarried, and they may sue and be sued as if they were sole.

The legislature of 1863 was undisturbed by any question concerning women. In 1865 the legislature discriminated against women by the passage of a very long act, prescribing the manner in which enumerations of white male citizens shall be made; thus implying that a white male citizen is an honorable and important person, whose existence is to be noted with due care; with a care that distinguishes him equally above the white female and the black male citizen, and in effect places these two unenumerated divisions of human beings into one class.

Another act of 1865 reaeffirmed an act of 1852 which prescribed the classes of persons capable of making a will, from which married women were excluded.

The legislature of 1867 passed an act in regard to conveyance of lands by wives of persons of unsound mind, which read as follows:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Indiana: That in cases where the guardian of any person of unsound mind, under the direction of any court of competent jurisdiction has made, or may hereafter make, sale of any lands of such person of unsound mind, the wife of such person of unsound mind may by her separate deed release and convey all her interest in and title to such land, and her deed so made shall thereafter debar her from all claim to such land, and shall have the same effect on her rights as if her husband had been of sound mind and she had joined with such husband in the execution of such conveyance.

In 1869, an act passed by the legislature of 1852, providing for the settlement of a decedent's estate, was so amended as to provide that the widow might select articles to the value of $500, or receive the first $500 derived from the sale, or in case it was worth no more than $500, might hold it. In 1871 the amendment of 1869 was further amended so that in case the personal property was less than $500 the deficit could be a lien on the real estate, to be settled with other judgments and mortgages.

In 1873 the possible ability of women to serve the State officially was recognized by the passage of the following bill:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Indiana: That women are hereby declared to be eligible to any office, the election to which is or shall be vested in the General Assembly of this State; or the appointment to which is or shall be vested in the governor thereof.

SEC. 2. The foregoing shall not include women who shall labor under any disability which may prevent them from binding themselves by an official bond.

The legislature of 1873 also passed an act regulating the liquor traffic, in which it is formally provided that a wife shall have the same right to sue, to control the suit, and to control the sum recovered by the suit, as a feme sole.

In 1875 an act passed the General Assembly making it impossible to sell real property in which a woman has, by virtue of her marriage; an inchoate right, for less than four-ninths of its appraised value: and also providing that upon the sale of any piece or aggregate of pieces of real property not exceeding $2,000, the wife has her absolute right; and moreover providing that in case of a judicial sale, the wife's inchoate interests become absolute, and she may demand a partition.

In 1877 the General Assembly passed an act enabling married women whose husbands are insane to sell and to convey real-estate belonging to such married women, in the same way as if femes soles.

When the act for establishing a female prison passed the legislature of 1860, it provided that the board managing its affairs should consist of three men, who should be assisted by an advisory board composed of one man and two women. By the legislature of 1877 this section was so amended as to make the managing board consist of women exclusively, and the advisory board was abolished.[341]

Of all the changes effected in the statutory law of Indiana since 1860, the following is the most important and may be regarded, so far as women are concerned, the measure of the highest legislative justice thus far attained in any State. This bill was prepared by Addison C. Harris, then representing Indianapolis in the State Senate, and was approved March 25, 1879:

AN ACT concerning Married Women--Approved March 25, 1879:

SEC. 1.--Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana: A married woman may bargain, sell, assign and transfer her separate personal property the same as if she were sole.

SEC. 2.--A married woman may carry on any trade or business, and perform any labor or service on her sole and separate account. The earnings and profits of any married woman accruing from her trade, business, services or labor, other than labor for her husband or family, shall be her sole and separate property.

SEC. 3.--A married woman may enter into any contract in reference to her personal estate, trade, business, labor or service, and the management and improvement of her separate real property, the same as if she were sole; and her separate estate, real and personal, shall be liable therefor on execution or other judicial process.

SEC. 4.--No conveyance or contract made by a married woman for the sale of her lands or any interest therein, other than leases for a term not exceeding three years, and mortgages on lands to secure the purchase money of such lands, shall be valid, unless her husband shall join therein. Provided, however, that if she shall have attempted to convey her real estate or shall have agreed to convey the same, and shall have received the whole or any part of the consideration therefor, the person paying such consideration, or the person for whose benefit the same was paid, shall have the right to sue and recover judgment therefor, and the same may be enforced against the property of such married woman.

SEC. 5.--A married woman shall be bound by the covenants of the title in a deed of conveyance of her real property.

SEC. 6.--A married woman may bring and maintain an action in her own name against any person or body corporate for damages for any injury to her person or character, the same as if she were sole; and the money recovered shall be her separate property, and her husband in such case shall not be liable for costs.

SEC. 7.--Whenever the husband causes repairs or improvements to be made on the real property of the wife, with her knowledge and consent thereto in writing, delivered to the contractor or person performing the labor or furnishing the material, she shall alone be liable for material furnished or labor done.

SEC. 8.--A husband shall not be liable for any debts contracted by the wife in carrying on any trade, labor or business on her sole and separate account, nor for improvements made by her authority on her separate real property.

SEC. 9.--Whenever a judgment is recovered against a married woman, her separate property may be sold on execution to satisfy the same, as in other cases. Provided, however, that her wearing apparel and articles of personal adornment purchased by her, not exceeding two hundred dollars in value, and all such jewelry, ornaments, books, works of art and virtu, and other such effects for personal or household use as may have been given to her as presents, gifts and keep-sakes, shall not be subject to execution. And provided further, that she shall hold as exempt, except for the purchase money therefor, other property to the amount of three hundred dollars to be set apart and appraised in the manner provided by law for exemption of property.

SEC. 10.--A married woman shall not mortgage or in any manner encumber her separate property acquired by descent, devise or gift, as a security for the debt or liability of her husband or any other person.

The legislature of 1881 enacted the following, which is really a sequence of the property-rights statute of 1879:

A married woman may sue alone when: First--The action concerns her own property. Second--When the action is between herself and her husband. But in no case shall she be required to sue or defend by guardian or next friend, unless she be under twenty-one years.

It further enacted, making it section 28, to act 38, that: When a husband or father has deserted his family, or is imprisoned, the wife or mother may prosecute or defend in his name any action which he might have prosecuted or defended, and shall have the same powers and rights therein as he might have had.

The legislature of 1881 also passed the following:

AN ACT to Authorize the Election of Women to School Offices:

SEC. 1.--Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Indiana, that any woman, married or single, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, and possessing the qualifications prescribed for men, shall be eligible to any office under the general or special school laws of the State.

SEC. 2.--That any woman elected or appointed to any office under the provisions of this act, before she enters upon the discharge of the duties of her office, shall qualify and give bond as required by law; and such bond shall be binding upon her and her securities.

The following, enacted by this same legislature of 1881, would indicate that fidelity to his domestic obligations is not even yet esteemed in man as a virtue of high order; the value attached to the fidelity can be measured by the penalty incurred by infidelity, which is thus stated:

Whoever without cause deserts his wife or children, and leaves wife and child or children as a charge upon any county of this State, shall be fined not more than $100 nor less than $10.

As has been indicated in another connection, it was the legislature of 1881 which distinguished itself by passing a bill for amending section 2 of article II. of the State constitution so as to give women the right to vote in all elections. The legislature of 1883 did nothing to further ameliorate the legal condition of women; and the highest legal rights enjoyed by women of Indiana are indicated in the foregoing recital of legislative action upon the subject from 1860 to 1884 inclusive.

For some years after public schools were established in Indiana, women had no recognition. I am told by a reliable gentleman, Dr. R. T. Brown, who served from 1833 to 1840 as examiner in one of the most advanced counties of the commonwealth, that during that period no woman ever applied to him for a license to teach, and that up to 1850 very few were employed in the public schools. At that time it was permitted women to teach "subscription" schools during the vacations, for which purpose the use of the district school-house was frequently granted. It was by demonstrating their capacity in this unobtrusive use of holidays, that women obtained employment in the regular schools. The tables show that in 1861 there were 6,421 men and 1,905 women employed in the primary schools, and 128 men and 72 women in the high schools. From that time up to 1866, owing to the war, the number of men decreased while that of women rapidly increased. The tables for that year show 5,330 men and 4,163 women in the schools. The number of men employed in 1880 was 7,802, of women, 5,776. While the very best places are held by men, the majority of the second-rate places are filled by women, and men fill a majority of the lowest places. The average daily wages received by men engaged in the public schools in 1880 was $1.86, while the average daily wages of women was $1.76.

Of the twenty-six academies, colleges and universities, all are, with two notable exceptions--Hanover and Wabash--open to women. Of these, Butler, at Irvington, formerly known as the Northwestern Christian University, was the first to admit women to a "female course," which its managers arranged to meet the needs of the female mind. In its laudable endeavor to adapt its requirements to this intermediate class of beings, the university substituted music for mathematics, and French for Greek. Few, however, availed themselves of this course, and it was utterly rejected by Demia Butler, a daughter of the founder of the institution, who entered it in 1860, and graduated from what was then known as the male course, in 1864, thus winning the right to be remembered as the first woman in Indiana to demonstrate the capacity of her sex to cope with the classics and higher mathematics. From that time the "female course" became gradually less popular, until it was discarded. One after another, private and denominational schools have fallen into line, until nearly all of them are open to women without humiliating conditions.

Up to 1867 the Indiana University exhibited the anomaly of a great institution of learning supported by the State, and regarding itself as the crown of the public-school system, free to but one-half of the children of the commonwealth. Since that date it has been open equally to both sexes in all three of its departments--the State Normal School, located at Terre Haute, the Agricultural College, located at Lafayette and commonly known as Purdue University, and the State University proper, including literary and scientific departments located at Bloomington. Of this last branch, 30 per cent. are women. That there is no longer any discrimination in these higher institutions of learning is not true. Girls must always feel that they are regarded as belonging to a subordinate class, wherever women are not found in the faculty and board of managers. The depressing influence of their absence in superior positions cannot be measured.

Very few women are found in college faculties in Indiana, and none on boards of trustees. Those most conspicuous in ability are Mrs. Sarah A. Oren,[342] who, having served two successive terms as State librarian, was called from that position to fill a chair at Purdue University, where she remained several years; Miss Catharine Merrill, professor of English literature in Butler University, who throughout her term of service from 1869 to 1883 enjoyed the deserved reputation of being one of the strongest members of the faculty;[343] and Miss Rebecca I. Thompson, who is professor of mathematics at Franklin College, the leading Baptist school in the State. The women occupying these conspicuous positions are all identified with the suffrage movement; Professor Thompson, of Franklin, is the president of the Johnson County Suffrage Association. Miss N. Cropsey has served the cause of public education in Indianapolis in some capacity for twenty years, and has for several years been superintendent of the primary schools, a place which she fills with acknowledged ability. Miss Cropsey is another living denial of the common assertion, that only half-cultured and ill-paid women want the ballot.

Of the four medical colleges in Indianapolis, two admit women and two exclude them. No theological school in the State receives women, nor does the only law school, which is located at Indianapolis; but its former president, Hon. James B. Black, told me that it was ready to receive them upon application.

Formerly, many questions now decided by the board of trustees of each school district, were directly settled by the people themselves at the annual school meeting. For instance, the teacher for the coming term was elected from among the candidates for that place; the salary to be paid, the length of term, the location of the school-house, were all questions to be decided by ballot. I have reliable authority for the assertion that in some parts of the State, as early as 1860, widows, and wives whose husbands were necessarily absent from the school meetings, voted upon these questions. During the years of the war this practice became very common, but fell into disuse upon the return of peace.

There are many physicians in Indiana enjoying the merited esteem of their respective communities and having a lucrative practice. The most notable example of success in this profession is Dr. Mary F. Thomas of Richmond.[344] Another living testimony to woman's right in the medical profession is Dr. Rachel Swain of Indianapolis, whose patrons are among the first families of the city. By zealous devotion to her profession she has secured the respect and social recognition of the community in which she moves. As an avowed friend of suffrage, whose word in season is never lacking, Dr. Swain carries a knowledge of our principles into circles where it would otherwise slowly penetrate. Dr. Mary Wilhite of Crawfordsville ranks with the best physicians of that city. In her practice she has gained a competence for herself and disseminated among her patients a knowledge of hygienic laws that has improved the health and the morals of the community to which she has ministered. She, too, advocates political equality for woman. Dr. Sarah Stockton of Lafayette settled in Indianapolis in the autumn of 1883, and was soon, on the petition of leading citizens, including both men and women, appointed as physician to the Woman's Department of the Hospital for the Insane. Her professional labors at the hospital and in general practice indicate both learning and skill. In November, Dr. Marie Haslep was elected attendant physician at the Woman's Reformatory, a State institution having some four hundred inmates, where her services have been characterized by faithfulness and caution.

Elizabeth Eaglesfield, a graduate of the law department of Michigan University, was admitted to the bar of Marion county in the spring of 1885, and is the first woman to open an independent law-office in this State.

Very few women have served in the ministry. The only one who ever secured any prominence in this profession was Miss Prudence LeClerc, who was pastor of the Universalist church in Madison in 1870-71, and served parishes at different points in south-eastern Indiana until her death in 1878. Miss LeClerc frequently spoke at suffrage conventions, and called meetings wherever she preached, instructing the people in the philosophy of this reform.

To obtain accurate statistics as to the professions and industries is extremely difficult, as the year 1881 was the first in which the State considered women at all. That year the head of the bureau of statistics sent to each town and county commissioner certain sets of questions relative to women's occupations. The grace with which they were received, the seriousness with which they were considered, the consequent accuracy with which they were answered, may be inferred from the fact that one trustee replied, "The women in our county are mostly engaged in baby-tending," and that his response was generally copied by the press as a manifestation of brilliant wit. Although some commissioners felt their time too valuable to spend in gathering information relative to the work of women, from the reports of those who seriously undertook to canvass this matter, a table has been arranged and published, which, though incomplete, must be regarded, both in variety of occupations and in the numbers of women registered, as a most favorable showing for this Western State. The total number of women engaged outside of home, in non-domestic and money-making industries, is 15,122; the number of industries represented by them is 51. Add to these the number of teachers, and we have over 20,000 women in the trades and professions denied the ballot, that sole weapon pledged by a republic to every citizen for the protection of person and property.

Of the men and women prominent in this movement since 1860, whose names are not mentioned in the first volume, the one meriting the first place is beyond doubt Dr. R. T. Brown of Indianapolis. He has the longest record as an advocate of suffrage to be found in the State. As a speaker in the first Harrison campaign (1836) he advocated suffrage without regard to sex. Engaged as a teacher or inspector in the public schools in the early years, Dr. Brown argued the adaptation of women to the teacher's profession, and insisted that salaries should be independent of sex; and in many individual cases where he had authority, women secured this recognition before it was generally admitted even in theory to be just.

When, in 1855, the Northwestern Christian (now Butler) University was founded, Dr. Brown, as one of the trustees, advocated coeducation; in 1858 he took the chair of natural science, and in that branch taught classes of both sexes until 1871. In 1868 he was active in organizing the Indiana Medical College on the basis of equal rights to women, and filled the chair of chemistry until 1872; in 1873 he was appointed to the chair of physiology, which he held until 1877, and then resigned because the board of trustees determined to exclude women. This proves that Dr. Brown's devotion to the doctrine of equal rights is of that rare degree which will bear the crucial test of official and pecuniary sacrifice. He has been an active member of the State and city suffrage associations from the beginning.

The name of Mary E. Haggart first appears as a member of the State Association at the convention held in Indianapolis in 1869. In 1870, Mr. Hadley made a speech in the State Senate against woman suffrage, to which Mrs. Haggart wrote an able reply which was published and widely commented on by the press of the State. Her next notable effort was in a discussion through several numbers of the Ladies' Own Magazine, published by Mrs. Cora Bland, where she completely refuted the objections urged by her opponent, a literary gentleman of some note. Mrs. Haggart has addressed the legislatures of her own State, of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Kentucky, as well as the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives at the hearing granted the National Association. She seldom speaks without the most careful preparation, and never without manifesting abilities of the highest order. Perhaps no woman in the State, as a speaker, has won higher encomiums from the press or has better deserved them.

The first active step taken in suffrage by Mrs. Florence M. Adkinson (then Miss Burlingame) was to call a convention in Lawrenceburg. In 1871, 1872, she gave several lectures on suffrage and temperance in Ohio, and held a series of meetings in southeastern Indiana. Though an acceptable speaker, it is as a writer that Mrs. Adkinson is best known; she is an officer in both the State and the city organizations, and in every capacity serves the cause with rare fidelity.

The name of Lizzie Boynton of Crawfordsville frequently occurs in suffrage reports between 1865 and 1870. She was a member of the State Association and a frequent speaker at its conventions. Besides working in that body, she assisted in the organization of the local society at Crawfordsville, wrote poems, stories, essays, and won high rank in the State in literature and reform. From mature womanhood her record as Mrs. Harbert belongs to Illinois rather than Indiana.

The first time I met Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace she was circulating a temperance petition to present to the legislature. One day while busy on the third floor of the high-school building a fellow-teacher sent up word that a lady wished to see me. Descending, I was introduced to Mrs. Wallace, who, in a bland way, requested me to sign the paper which she extended. Never doubting that I might do so, I had taken my pen when my eye caught the words: "While we do not clamor for any additional civil or political rights." "But I do clamor," I exclaimed, and threw down the paper and pen and went back to my work, vexed in soul that I should have been dragged down three flights of stairs to see one more proof of the degree to which honorable women love to humiliate themselves before men for sweet favor's sake. Mrs. Wallace went forward with her work of solicitation, thinking me, no doubt, to be a very impetuous, if not impertinent, young woman.

When, however, upon the presentation of her petition, whose framers had taken such care to disclaim any desire "for additional civil and political rights," Mrs. Wallace was startled by Dr. Thompson's avowal (having known the doctor, as she naively says, "as a Christian gentleman"), that he was not there "to represent his conscience, but to obey his constituents," in her aroused soul there was that instant born the determination to become a "constituent." As soon as the hearing was at an end, Mrs. Wallace confessed this determination to Dr. Thompson, thanking him for unintentionally awakening her to a sense of woman's proper position in the republic. This change in Mrs. Wallace's attitude was not generally known until the following May, when the annual State Temperance convention was held in Indianapolis; then, in her address before that body, she avowed her conviction that it was woman's duty to seek the ballot as a means of exerting her will upon legislation. From that time Mrs. Wallace has neglected no opportunity to propagate suffrage doctrines, and has been most potent in influencing her temperance coaedjutors to embrace these principles. Earnestness and logic are Mrs. Wallace's abiding forces. Her literary work is chiefly confined to correspondence, in which she is so faithful that it is doubtful if any man in public life in Indiana can plead ignorance of the arguments in favor of suffrage. Mrs. Wallace has been an officer in the National, the American and the State suffrage societies, and has served the Equal Suffrage Society of Indianapolis as president most of the time since its formation. Having lived in this city more than half a century, related to many men who have held high official positions, she has had an opportunity to exert a wide influence, and it may be safe to say that, by virtue of her own consecrated life, she exerts more moral power in this community than any other woman in Indiana.

Mrs. Helen M. Gougar has addressed the legislatures of New York, Kansas and Wisconsin, besides that of her own State. As an extempore speaker she has no peer among her co-workers; her first suffrage speech was made at Delphi, May, 1877. In July, 1881, Mrs. Gougar became the editor of Our Herald, a weekly which she conducted with great ability and success in the interest of the two constitutional amendments then pending. In 1884, in an extensive lecturing tour, she addressed large audiences in Washington, Philadelphia, New York and Albany. In the year 1883, Mrs. Josephine R. Nichols of Illinois, and Mrs. L. May Wheeler of Massachusetts, came to reside in Indianapolis. Both these ladies have lectured frequently and with marked effect in various parts of the State.

I cannot close without a mention of those public men who have honored this State by their adherence to the principle of woman suffrage and thereby earned a title to the fame which will belong to the advocates of this cause in the hour of its triumph. Among these Hon. George W. Julian is most conspicuous. Referring to his services in congress, Mr. Julian once wrote:

My opinions about woman suffrage, however, date much further back. The subject was first brought to my attention in a brief chapter on the "Political Non-existence of Women," in Miss Martineau's book on "Society in America," which I read in 1847. She there pithily stated the substance of all that has since been said respecting the logic of woman's right to the ballot; and finding myself unable to answer, I accepted it. On recently referring to this chapter I find myself more impressed by its force than when I first read it. * * * My interest in anti-slavery was awakened about the same time, and I regarded it as the previous question, and as less abstract and far more important and absorbing than that of suffrage for women. For the sake of the negro I accepted Mr. Lincoln's philosophy of "one war at a time," though always ready to own and defend my position as to woman's right to the ballot.

The sincerity of Mr. Julian's belief in woman suffrage is proved by his repeated efforts to further the cause in the United States congress. On December 8, 1868, he submitted an amendment to the constitution, guaranteeing suffrage to all United States citizens, which, as the negro had not then been enfranchised, he numbered article fifteen. On March 15, 1869, he submitted the same amendment, with the exception that the words "race" and "color" were omitted; on the same day Mr. Julian offered a bill providing for the immediate enfranchisement of women in all the territories of the United States, thus doubling on one day his claim to the gratitude of American women. On April 4, 1870, he offered another amendment, numbered article sixteen, which followed the exact form and phraseology of the fifteenth. On January 20, 1871, he offered an amendment to the bill, providing a government for the District of Columbia, striking out the word "male" in the section defining the right of suffrage. It is interesting to note that even so long ago that amendment received 55 yeas against 117 nays.[345] The bills which Mr. Julian thus submitted to congress when he was a member of that body prove his constancy to a cause early espoused, his conversion to which was due to that remarkable English woman whose claims to the gratitude of her American sisters are thus enhanced. Mr. Julian has not worked much with the suffrage societies of his own State, but he has never failed in his repeated canvasses to utter the seasonable word. His conviction that it is the duty of the national government to take the initiative in defining the political rights of its citizens has naturally led him to present this question to the nation as represented in its congress, rather than to agitate it in the State.

Oliver P. Morton and Joseph E. McDonald are two other names conspicuous in Indiana history which occur frequently in connection with "aye" in the records which have preserved the action of every member of congress on the various amendments brought before it involving woman's political equality.

Albert G. Porter, ex-governor of Indiana, has on more than one public occasion avowed his belief in woman's equality as a citizen, and has assented to the proposition that under a republic the only sign of such equality is the ballot. Ardent advocates have often thought him inexcusably reticent in expressing his convictions upon this subject, but such have learned that it is given to but few mortals to "remember those in bonds as bound with them," and no other governor of Indiana has ever taken occasion to remind the General Assembly of its duties to women, as Governor Porter habitually did. In his address of 1881 he called the attention of the legislature to the improved condition of women under the laws, pointed out disabilities still continuing, and bespoke the respectful attention of the General Assembly to the women who proposed to come before it with their claims. In his biennial message, 1883, the governor recommended the enactment of a statute which should require that at least one of the physicians appointed to attend in the department for women in the hospital for the insane should be a woman. The whole tone of Governor Porter's administration was liberal toward women; he invariably implied his belief in their equality, and on one or two occasions has evinced his respect for their ability by conferring on them responsible offices. Many of the leading men in the Republican party, and a few in the Democratic, are favorable, and while they do not labor for the enfranchisement of their sisters with the same enthusiasm which personal bondage excites, their constant influence is on the side of woman's emancipation.

As to the charities conducted by Indiana women, for a condensed narrative of the efficient service of Mrs. L. B. Wishard and Miss Susan Fussell, I must refer readers to the account kindly prepared for me by Mrs. Paulina T. Merritt.[346]

Whether or not justified by the facts, the feeling is current that those whom the masses favor hold themselves aloof from those whom personal experience, or a sense of justice, compels to walk the stony path of reform. The litterateurs often form a sort of pseudo-intellectual aristocracy, and do not willingly affiliate with reformers, whom they are ready to assume to be less cultivated than themselves. Of this weakness our literary women have not been guilty. Most of them are members of the suffrage society.[347]

A system is now developing which will not only stimulate women to engage in competitive industries and secure justice in rewarding such labor, but will greatly facilitate the work of ascertaining what part women do take in the general industries of the State. Indiana, being mainly agricultural, is divided into sixteen districts, each of which has organized an agricultural society. Besides these there are also county societies. These organizations are composed of men and women, the latter having nominally the same powers and privileges as the former. Annually the State Agricultural Association holds a meeting at Indianapolis. This is a delegate body, consisting of representatives from the district and county societies. There is no constitutional check against sending women as delegates, though it has not hitherto been done. One chief duty of the primary convention is to elect a State board of agriculture. This board consists of sixteen members, one for each agricultural district. The managers of the Woman's State Fair Association have called an industrial convention, whose sessions will be held at the same time that the Agricultural Association holds its annual meeting.[348]

If the press reflects the public, it also moulds it; and its conservative attitude is doubtless to a very considerable degree responsible for the tone of opinion which prevailed here up to recent years. Papers throughout the State naturally take their cue from the party organs published at the capital, while the few papers identified with no party are wont to adapt themselves even more carefully to popular opinion upon general subjects.

The citations made in the earlier part of this chapter from the Sentinel and the Journal clearly show the spirit of their management in 1869. But it must not be inferred that the Journal has through all these years maintained the position occupied by it at that time. Had it done so, one may reasonably believe that the women of Indiana would before to-day have been enfranchised. On the contrary, that sheet has been very vacillating, speaking for or against the cause according to the principles of its managers, the paper having frequently changed hands; and until recently the principles of the same managers upon this question have been shifting; but for the last five or six years the Journal has been a consistent, though somewhat mild, supporter of woman suffrage.

On the contrary, the Sentinel had been constant in its opposition, until, about eight years since, Mr. Shoemaker becoming the manager, it announced a Sunday issue devoted to the interests of women. The pledge then made has been nobly kept, and although for a few months the Sentinel seemed to edit its week-day issues with a view to counteracting the possible good effect of its Sunday utterances, the better spirit gradually triumphed, until at last, so far as the woman question is concerned, the paper is from Sunday to Saturday in harmony with itself. For some time it gave one column in each Sunday issue to the control of the State Central Suffrage Committee, and printed two hundred copies of the column for special distribution among the country papers.

The Saturday Herald, established in 1873, under the editorial management of George C. Harding, deserves mention. From the outset, this paper was the advocate of woman's right to be paid for work done according to its market value, and to protect herself and her property by the ballot. Perhaps the best service rendered to women by Mr. Harding, was that of securing in 1874 Gertrude Garrison as assistant editor of the Herald. Mrs. Garrison is, beyond question, one of the ablest journalists Indiana can boast, and the influence of her pen in modifying the popular estimate of woman's capabilities has been incalculable. From 1874 she did half the work, editorial articles, locals, sketches, and all the varieties of writing required upon a weekly paper, but at her own request her name was not announced as associate editor until 1876. In this capacity she remained upon the Herald until January 1, 1880, when the paper passed from Mr. Harding's into other hands. During her connection with the Herald, if there was anything particularly strong in the paper, her associate received the credit. The public will not permit itself to believe a woman capable of humor, though I think Mrs. Garrison did as much to sustain the paper's reputation for wit as even Mr. Harding. A. H. Dooley succeeded Mr. Harding as editor of the Saturday Herald, and it remained under his management a sturdy advocate of woman's enfranchisement. The Saturday Review was established by Mr. Harding in October, 1880, with Mrs. Garrison associate editor. Upon the death of Mr. Harding, May 8, 1881, Mr. Charles Dennis became chief editor, Mrs. Garrison[349] remaining on the staff as his assistant.

The Times was founded in June, 1881. From the first it devoted a column to notes on women's work. From September of that year there appeared in each Saturday issue a department devoted to the interests of women, particularly to woman suffrage, under the editorial management of May Wright Sewall. This department reaeppeared in the weekly and was thus widely circulated among country readers. The Times is under the management of Colonel W. R. Holloway. Although from the first fair in its discussions of all reform questions, it did not avow itself to be an advocate of woman suffrage until the week after the public entertainment of the Equal Suffrage Society, 1881, when there appeared an editorial nearly one column in length, setting forth its views upon the whole subject. This editorial contained the following paragraph:

As the question is likely to become a prominent theme of discussion during the next few years, the Times will now say that it is decidedly and unequivocally in favor of woman suffrage. We believe that women have the same right to vote that men have, that it is impolitic and unjust to deprive them of the right, and that its free and full bestowal would conserve the welfare of society and the good of government.

In the daily Evening News, Mr. J. H. Holliday, with his editorial aids, has set himself to stem the tide of progress which he evidently thinks will, unless a manful endeavor on his part shall prevent it, bear all things down to ruin. The character of his efforts may be inferred from the following extracts which appeared in January and December of 1881:

We wish our legislators would go home and ponder this thing. Read the Bible and understand the scheme of creation. Read the New Testament, and appreciate the creation of the Christian home, and the headship of things. Reflect upon what rests the future of this government we have reared, and ask what would become of it if the Christian homes in which it is founded were broken up; then reflect upon what would become of the Christian homes if men and women were to attend to the same duties in life. To get a realistic notion, let every man who has a wife ask himself how he would relish being told by her, "I have an engagement with John Smith to-night to see about fixing up a slate to get Mrs. Jones nominated for sheriff," and being left to go his own way while she goes with Smith. If that wouldn't make hell in the household in one act we don't know what would, yet this is merely one little trivial episode of what this anti-christian woman suffrage scheme means.

To what straits must the advocates of suffrage for women be driven when they needs must seek to show that the ballot is not degrading. What becomes of all our fine talk of the ballot as an educator if they who seek to secure it for women must advocate as a reason why it should not be withheld that it is not degrading! But what better can one expect from those who, when it is suggested that there are duties attaching to the ballot as well as rights, solemnly say that the few moments necessary to deposit a ballot will not interfere with women's duties of sweeping and dusting and baby-tending. When one hears talk of this sort, there is indeed a grave doubt as to whether the ballot really is an educator after all.

The first of the above citations is from what might be called an article of instruction addressed to the legislature then in session, and considering the question of woman suffrage. The occasion which inspired the second paragraph may be readily inferred. It seems "profitable for the instruction" of the future to preserve a few extracts like the above, that it may be seen how weak and wild, strength itself becomes, when the ally of prejudice and precedent.

The Indiana Farmer, exceptionally well edited, having a wide circulation in the agricultural sections of the State, and enjoying there a powerful influence, is an outspoken advocate of equal suffrage. From statistics regarding papers published outside of Indianapolis, it may be safe to say that two hundred of them favor, with varying degrees of constancy, giving the ballot to women. On the staff of nearly all the papers whose status is above given, are women, who in their respective departments faithfully serve the common cause. During the last few years, efforts have been directed to the capture of the local press, and many of the county papers now have a department edited by women. In most instances this work is done gratuitously, and their success in this new line, entering upon it as they have without previous training, illustrates the versatility of woman's powers. Mrs. M. E. Price of Kokomo, Mrs. Sarah P. Franklin of Anderson, Mrs. Laura Sandafur of Franklin, and Mrs. Ida M. Harper of Terre Haute, deserve especial mention for their admirable work in the papers of their respective towns. Mrs. Laura C. Arnold is the chief editor of the Columbus Democrat, and is the only woman in the State having editorial charge of a political party paper, Our Herald, under the able editorial management of Mrs. Helen M. Gougar, was a weekly published at Lafayette. It was devoted to securing the re-passage and adoption of the woman suffrage and prohibition amendments. It was a strong, aggressive sheet, and deserved its almost unparalleled success.[350]

In closing this able report for Indiana a few facts in regard to the author may interest the general reader as well as the student of history.

Mrs. May Wright Sewall has been well known for many years in Indianapolis in the higher departments of education, and has recently crowned her efforts as a teacher by establishing a model classical school for girls, in which she is not only training their minds to vigorous thought, but taking the initiative steps to secure for them an equally vigorous physical development. Her pupils are required to wear a comfortable gymnastic costume, all their garments loosely resting on their shoulders; corsets, tight waists and high-heeled boots forbidden, for deep thinking requires deep breathing. The whole upper floor of her new building is a spacious gymnasium, where her pupils exercise every day under the instruction of a skillful German; and on every Saturday morning they take lessons from the best dancing master in the city. The result is, she has no dull scholars complaining of headaches. All are alike happy in their studies and amusements.

Mrs. Sewall is a preeminently common-sense woman, believing that sound theories can be put into practice. Although her tastes are decidedly literary and aesthetic, she is a radical reformer. Hence her services in the literary club and suffrage society are alike invaluable. And as chairman of the executive committee of the National Association, she is without her peer in planning and executing the work.

As her husband, Mr. Theodore L. Sewall, is also at the head of a classical school, and equally successful in training boys, it may be said that both institutions have the advantage of the united thought of man and woman. As educators, Mr. and Mrs. Sewall have reaped much practical wisdom from their mutual consultations and suggestions, the results of which have been of incalculable benefit to their pupils.

Peering into the homes of the young women in the suffrage movement, one cannot but remark the deference and respect with which these intelligent, self-reliant wives are uniformly treated by their husbands, and the unbounded confidence and affection they give in return. For happiness in domestic life, men and women must meet as equals. A position of inferiority and dependence for even the best organized women, will either wither all their powers and reduce them to apathetic machines, going the round of life's duties with a kind of hopeless dissatisfaction, or it will rouse a bitter antagonism, an active resistance, an offensive self-assertion, poisoning the very sources of domestic happiness. The true ideal of family life can never be realized until woman is restored to her rightful throne. Tennyson, in his "Princess," gives us the prophetic vision when he says:

"Everywhere Two heads in council, two beside the hearth, Two in the tangled business of the world, Two in the liberal offices of life, Two plummets dropped for one, to sound the abyss Of science, and the secrets of the mind."

FOOTNOTES:

[325] See Vol. I., page 306.

[326] The call for this convention was signed by Amanda M. Way, Mrs. M. C. Bland, Mrs. M. M. B. Goodwin, Mrs. Henry Blanchard, Mrs. Emma B. Swank, Indianapolis; Mrs. Isaac Kinley, Richmond; Dr. Mary F. Thomas, Camden; Dr. Mary H. Wilhite, Miss Lizzie Boynton, Miss Mollie Krout, Dr. E. E. Barrett, Crawfordsville; Mrs. Abula Pucket Nind, Fort Wayne; Mrs. L. S. Bidell, Crown Point; Rev. E. P. Ingersoll, J. V. R. Miller, Rev. Henry Blanchard, Rev. William Hannaman, Professor A. C. Shortridge, Professor R. T. Brown, Professor Thomas Rhodes, Dr. T. A. Bland, Indianapolis; Hon. Isaac Kinley, Isaac H. Julian, Richmond; Hon. L. M. Nind, Fort Wayne; Hon. S. T. Montgomery, Kokomo; D. R. Pershing and Rev. T. Sells, Warsaw.

[327] The officers of the State Association in 1883 were: President, Dr. Mary F. Thomas: Vice-Presidents, Mrs. Helen V. Austin, Mrs. S. S. McCain, Mrs. M. V. Berg, Mrs. G. Gifford, Mrs. M. P. Lindsey, Mrs. C. A. P. Smith and Mrs. F. G. Scofield; Secretary, Mrs. M. E. M. Price; Corresponding Secretary, Mrs. F. M. Adkinson; Treasurer, Miss Mary D. Naylor; State Central Committee, Mrs. Mary E. Haggart, Mrs. Z. G. Wallace and May Wright Sewall.

[328] Annual--1871, June 21, 22, Bloomington; 1872, June 5, 6, Dublin; 1873, June 11, 12, Terre Haute; Semi-Annual, November 19, Richmond. Annual--1874, May 28, 29, Fort Wayne; 1875, May 25, 26, Liberty; Semi-Annual, November 23, 24, Winchester. Annual--1876, May 30, 31, Anderson; 1877, September 4, 5, Knightstown; 1878, June 11, 12, Richmond: 1879, May 14, 15, Kokomo; 1880, April 27, 28, Crawfordsville; 1881, June 15, 16, Kokomo; Semi-Annual, October 29, Dublin. Annual--1882, May, Columbus; 1883, June, Logansport; 1884, Kokomo; 1885, November 22, 23, Warsaw.

[329] See Vol. II., page 851.

[330] The Equal Suffrage Society has now, 1885, a membership of 175, including many representatives of whatever in Indianapolis is best in character, culture and social place. The society has lately districted the city for local work, assuming the boundaries of the school districts as its own for this purpose; its present plan is to place each of these twenty-six districts under the especial care of a committee whose business shall be to hold meetings, distribute literature and circulate petitions. The society thus hopes to create a stimulating suffrage atmosphere at the capital which shall inspire the legislators with courage to do good work for women at their next session.

[331] INVITATION.--The Indianapolis Equal Suffrage Society requests the pleasure of your company at a literary and social entertainment to be given in the Bates House parlors, Friday evening, November 4, 1881. Committee--May Wright Sewall, Mary C. Raridan, Mrs. H.G. Carey, Mrs. Charles Kregelo, and Miss Lydia Halley. Please present invitation at the door.

PROGRAMME.--1. Music, piano solo, Miss Dietrich; 2. Toast, Yorktown, Henry D. Pierce; 3. Toast, The True Republic, Mrs. Z.G. Wallace; 4. Music, solo (vocal), Mrs. J.J. Cole; 5. Toast, Women in Indiana, Gen. John Coburn; 6. Toast, Women in the "Revised Version," Arthur W. Tyler; 7. Music, solo (vocal), Arthur Miller: 8. Toast. The Literary Women of Indiana. 9. Toast, Women in the U.S. School System, Horace S. Tarbell; 10. Recitation, Lida Hood Talbott; 11. Toast, Our Forefathers, Rev. Myron W. Reed; 12. A Reply, Mary C. Raridan; 13. Music, solo (vocal), Mrs. J.C. New. Music In charge of Mrs. John C. New. W.B. Stone, accompanist.

[332] The speakers were Helen M. Gouger, Florence M. Adkinson, Mary A. Haggart, Ex-Gov. Baker, Judge Martindale, Mrs. Wallace, Messrs. Walker and Dooley, editors of the Times and Herald, Mr. Tarbell, superintendent of the city schools, and May Wright Sewall.

[333] See Indiana Appendix, note A.

[334] See Appendix to Indiana, note B.

[335] The following invitation was sent to every member of the legislature who had voted for the amendment, and also to all the leading people of the city: The pleasure of your company is requested at the parlors of the New-Denison, Friday evening, April 15, from 8 to 12, where a social entertainment will be given in honor of the passage of the suffrage amendment by our State legislature. [Signed:] Mrs. Zerelda G. Wallace, Miss Catherine Merrill, Mrs. Harvey G. Carey, Mrs. Charles Kregelo, Mrs. Henry D. Pierce, Mrs. Thomas A. Hendricks, May Wright Sewall, Mrs. George Merritt, Mrs. John C. New and Mrs. John M. Judah. The programme was as follows: 1. Music, Solo (vocal), Zelda Seguin Wallace. 2. Toast, Our Legislature, Senator Spann. 3. Toast, Our Opponents, Colonel DeWitt Wallace. 4. Toast, The Press and Progress, Laura Ream. 5. Toast, The Indiana Woman under the Law, William Wallace. 6. Music, Solo (vocal), Mrs. John C. New. 7. Toast, The Ideal Man, Mrs. J. M. Judah. 8. Toast, The Ideal Woman, Mr. A. S. Caldwell. 9. Toast, The Home of the Future, May Wright Sewall. 10. Music, German Song, Professor John Fiske. 11. Toast, The Woman who "Don't want to Vote," Gertrude Garrison. 12. Recitation, Lida Hood Talbot. 13. Toast, The Attitude of the Pulpit toward Reform, Rev. Myron W. Reed. 14. Music, Solo (vocal), Zelda Seguin Wallace.

[336] The persons thus authorized by the central committee to hold meetings and organize societies were Dr. Mary F. Thomas, Mary E. Haggart, Zerelda G. Wallace, Helen M. Gougar, May Wright Sewall and L. May Wheeler.

[337] Besides these five-minute reports, addresses were delivered by Rev. Myron W. Reed, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis; Captain DeWitt Wallace of Lafayette, Dr. Ridpath of DePaun University, Colonel Maynard, chief editorial writer on the Sentinel; Mrs. Haggart, Mrs. Gougar, Mrs. Josephine R. Nichols, and other men and women of less prominence, but on that occasion of hardly less interest.

[338] Among these the names of William Dudley Foulke of Richmond, W. DeWitt Wallace of Lafayette, G. H. Thomas of Huntington, and S. P. Yancey, merit honorable mention.

[339] Mrs. Sewall, Mrs. Merritt and Mrs. Mary E. Newman Carey.

[340] Republican, May Wright Sewall and Paulina T. Merritt; Democratic, Mary E. Haggart and Florence M. Adkinson.

[341] For an account of this prison, see Appendix to Indiana chapter, note C.

[342] See Appendix to Indiana chapter, note G.

[343] Miss Merrill resigned in the autumn of 1883, and was immediately succeeded by Miss Harriet Noble of Vincennes, a graduate of Vassar, and a lady of most admirable qualities, whose success is assured by the record of her first year in this responsible position.

[344] See sketch of Dr. Thomas, Vol. I., page 324.

[345] For these bills and amendments, see Vol. II., pages 325, 333.

[346] See Appendix, Indiana chapter, notes E and F.

[347] Mrs. Sarah T. Bolton, Laura Ream, Mrs. Lew Wallace, Mary H. Korut, Mary Dean, Margaret Holmes (Mrs. M. V. Bates), Mrs. M. E. Banta, Mrs. Louise V. Boyd, Mrs. Helen V. Austin, Mrs. Hettie A. Morrison, Mrs. E. S. L. Thompson, Mrs. Amy E. Dunn, Mrs. A. D. Hawkins, Miss Rena L. Miner, Miss Edna C. Jackson and Mrs. D. M. Jordan are all literary women who sympathize with and aid this reform.

[348] The woman's department has constantly grown in extent and value, until it has become one of the most important features of the State fair, and this year, 1885, the managers have allowed to it twice the space hitherto occupied. It is worthy of note that suffrage papers, tracts and books are always to be found among the exhibits.

[349] Mrs. Garrison left Indianapolis for New York in May of 1882. Success followed her to the metropolis and she now has, 1885, the entire editorial management of the literary department of the American Press Association, and her work goes into more than fifty of the best weekly papers in the country.

[350] Our Herald did royal service in the campaign of 1882; it subsequently became a monthly and in addition to other admirable efforts, undertook to introduce leading western women to the larger world by publishing a series of biographical sketches of the most prominent. In the winter of 1885 Mrs. Gougar sold Our Herald to Mrs. Harbert, who published it in Chicago as the The New Era.

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XLIII. ILLINOIS

Chicago a Great Commercial Center--First Woman Suffrage Agitation, 1855--A. J. Grover--Society at Earlville--Prudence Crandall--Sanitary Movement--Woman in Journalism--Myra Bradwell--Excitement in Elmwood Church, 1868--Mrs. Huldah Joy--Pulpit Utterances--Convention, 1869, Library Hall, Chicago--Anna Dickinson--Robert Laird Collier Debate--Manhood Suffrage Denounced by Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony--Judge Charles B. Waite on the Constitutional Convention--Hearing Before the Legislature--Western Suffrage Convention, Mrs. Livermore, President--Annual Meeting at Bloomington--Women Eligible to School Offices--Evanston College--Miss Alta Hulett--Medical Association--Dr. Sarah Hackett Stephenson--"Woman's Kingdom," in the Inter-Ocean--Mrs. Harbert--Centennial Celebration at Evanston--Temperance Petition, 180,000--Frances E. Willard--Social Science Association--Art Union--International Congress at Paris--Jane Graham Jones--Moline Association.

Illinois, one of the Central States in our vast country, stretching over five and a half degrees of latitude, was admitted to the Union in 1818. Its chief city, Chicago, extending for miles round the southern shores of Lake Michigan, is the great commercial center of the boundless West. We may get some idea of the magnitude of her commerce from the fact that the receipts and shipment of flour, grain and cattle from that port alone in 1872 were valued at $370,000,000.

When the battles with the Indians were finally ended, the population of the State rapidly increased, and in 1880 the census gave 1,586,523 males and 1,491,348 females. In the school statistics we find about the same proportionate number of women and girls as teachers and scholars in the public schools and in all the honest walks of life; while men and boys in the criminal ranks are out of all proportion. For example, in the state-prison at Joliet there were, in 1873, 1,321 criminals; fifteen only were women. And yet the more virtuous, educated, self-governed part of the population, that shared equally the hardships of the early days, and by industry and self-sacrifice helped to build up that great State, is still denied the civil and political rights declared by the constitution to belong to every citizen of the commonwealth. The trials and triumphs of the women of Illinois are vividly portrayed in the following records sent us by Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Ph. D.:

His biographer asserts that Bernini, the celebrated Florentine artist, architect, painter and poet, once gave a public opera in Rome, for which he painted the scenes, composed the music, wrote the poem, carved the statues, invented the engines, and built the theater. Because of his versatile talents the man Bernini has passed into history. Of almost equal versatility were the women of the equal-rights movement, since in many instances their names appear and reaeppear in the records we have consulted as authors, editors, journalists, lecturers, teachers, physicians, lawyers, ordained ministers and home-makers; and in many localities a woman, to be eligible for the lyceum, was expected to be statesmanlike as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, executive as Susan B. Anthony, spiritual as Lucretia Mott, eloquent as Anna Dickinson, graceful as Celia Burleigh, fascinating as Paulina Wright Davis; a social queen, very domestic, a skillful musician, an excellent cook, very young, and the mother of at least six children; even then she was not entitled to the rights, privileges and immunities of an American citizen. So "the divine rights of the people" became the watchword of thoughtful men and women of the Prairie State, and at the dawn of the second half of the present century many caught the echoes of that historic convention at Seneca Falls and insisted that the fundamental principles of our government should be applied to all the citizens of the United States.

In view of the fearless heroism and steady adherence to principle of many comparatively unknown lives, the historian is painfully conscious of the meagerness of the record, as compared with the amount of labor that must necessarily have been performed. In almost every city, village and school district some earnest man or woman has been quietly waging the great moral battle that will eventually make us free; and while it would be a labor of love to recognize every one who has wrought for freedom, doubtless many names worthy of mention may unintentionally be omitted.

The earliest account of specific work that we have been able to trace is an address delivered in Earlville by A. J. Grover, esq., in 1855, who from that time until the present has been an able champion of the constitutional rights of women. As a result of his efforts, and the discussion that followed, a society was formed, of which Mrs. Susan Hoxie Richardson (a cousin of Susan B. Anthony) was elected president, and Mrs. Octavia Grover secretary. This, we believe, was the first suffrage society in Illinois. Its influence was increased by the fact that, during two years of Mr. Grover's editorial control, the Earlville Transcript was a fearless champion of equal rights. While that band of pioneers was actively at work, Prudence Crandall, who was mobbed and imprisoned in Connecticut for teaching a school for colored girls, was actively engaged in Mendota, in the same county. A few years later, lectures were delivered[351] on the subject of equal rights for women in different parts of the State.

Copies of two of the early appeals have been secured. One by A. J. Grover, published in pamphlet form, was extensively circulated; the other by Mrs. Catharine V. Waite, appeared in the Earlville Transcript. Both of these documents are yellowed with age, but the arguments presented are as logical as the more recent utterances of our most radical champions. There is a tradition of a convention at Galesburg some years later, but we have failed to find any accurate data. During the interim between these dates and that never-to-be-forgotten April day in 1861, but little agitation of this great subject can be traced, and during the six years subsequent to that time we witness all previously defined boundaries of spheres brushed away like cobwebs, when women, north and south, were obliged to fill the places made vacant by our civil war. An adequate record of the work accomplished during those eventful years by Illinois women, notably among them being Mary A. Livermore and Jane C. Hoge, lies before us in a bound volume of the paper published under the auspices of the Northwestern Sanitary Fair, edited by the Hon. Andrew Shuman. This little journal was called the Voice of the Fair, a prophetic name, as really through the medium of these sanitary fairs were the voices of the fair all potent, and through their patriotic services to our soldiery did the women of the United States first discover their talent for managing and administering great enterprises. In his first editorial Lieutenant-Governor Shuman says:

On motion of Mrs. Elizabeth A. Loomis, it was decided to open the fair on February 22, 1865, Washington's birthday, and to continue it till March 4, the presidential inauguration day. A committee, consisting of Mrs. H. H. Hoge, Mrs. D. P. Livermore and Mrs. E. W. Blatchford for the commission, and Mrs. O. E. Hosmer, Mrs. C. P. Dickinson and Mr. L. B. Bryan for the Home, was appointed as executive. This was the little cloud, scarcely larger than a man's hand, which grew till it almost encircled the heavens, spreading into every corner of our broad land, and including every department of industry in its ample details.

The undertaking was herculean, and on the grand occasion of the opening of the fair, although we do not find any account of women sharing in the honors of the day, yet they were vouchsafed honorable mention in the following terms by the governor of the State: "I do not know how to praise women, but I can say nothing so good as our late president once said on a similar occasion, 'God bless the women of America.' They have been our faithful allies during this fearful war. They have toiled steadily by our side, with the most enduring constancy through the frightful contest." Amid the first impulses of genuine gratitude men recognized what at present they seem to forget, that by inheritance and patriotic service woman has an equal right with man to a share in the rights and privileges of this government.

In the winter of 1860 Hannah Tracy Cutler, M. D., and Mrs. Frances D. Gage made a canvass of the interior and western parts of the State, procuring signatures to petitions asking for equality before the law, and especially for the right of married women to earn and hold and dispose of property the same as a feme-sole. Also, that property acquired before marriage, or that may afterward accrue to a married woman by gift, devise, descent or deed, may be held, controlled and disposed of by herself where it had not been intentionally converted to common property by her consent. In response to a request for data on this point, Mrs. Cutler writes:

At the close of our campaign we were summoned to Ohio to assist in the canvass in that State. Returning to Illinois, I learned that no action had been taken on our petitions. The member to whom we had consigned them, and who had promised to act in our behalf, had found no convenient opportunity. I at once repaired to Springfield, and, on inquiry, was told that it was now too late in the session--that members were so busy that no one could be induced to draft a bill for an act granting such laws as we desired. I found one member ready to assist to the full measure of his ability--Mr. Pickett of Rock Island. By his encouragement I went to the State library and there drew up a bill giving women, during coverture, certain personal and property rights. Mr. Pickett presented our petitions, got a special committee, took my bill before it, got a favorable report, and a law was passed to that effect. Some decisions occurred under this law. I think, however, that in a codification a year or two after, this law was left out, I know not by what authority, and some years later Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Bradwell and others presented the matter afresh, and succeeded in procuring again a similar enactment. The winter following I presented petitions for the right of guardianship; also, I asked that for estates not exceeding $5,000 the widow should not be required to take out letters of administration, but should be permitted to continue in possession, the same as the husband on the decease of the wife, the property subject to the same liabilities for the payment of debts and the maintenance of children as before the decease of the husband. I made this small claim for the relief of many wives whose husbands had gone into the army, leaving them with all the responsibility; and there seemed no sufficient reason for disturbing and distributing either the family or the estate, when the husband exchanged the battle-field for the "sleep that knows no waking." This petition, asking for these reasonable and righteous laws, was, by motion of Colonel Mack, in a spirit of burlesque, referred to the Committee on Internal Navigation, and a burlesque report was made in open Senate, too indecent to be entered on the records. The grave and reverend seigniors, on this, indulged in a hearty guffaw, hugely enjoyed by his honor Lieutenant-Governor Hoffman, and, to this day, no further action has been taken to give the wife and mother this small modicum of justice, though many of the senators at that time promised the question an early consideration.

On Saturday, October 3, 1868, a genuine sensation was produced by the appearance of the Chicago Legal News, edited by Mrs. Myra Bradwell. At this day it is impossible to realize with what supreme astonishment this journal was received. Neither can we estimate its influence upon the subsequent legislation of the State. Looking through its files we find that no opportunity was lost for exposing all laws unjust to woman, or for noting each indication of progress throughout the world. Under date of October 31, 1868, a short article in regard to the "Citizenship of Women" reads thus:

The act of congress provides that any alien, being a free white person, may become a citizen of the United States. While congress was very careful to limit this great privilege of citizenship to the free white person, it made no distinction or limitation whatever on account of sex. Under this statute it has been held that a married woman may be naturalized and become a citizen of the United States, and that, too, without the consent of her husband. A woman may be a citizen of the United States, be subject to the laws, own property, and be compelled to pay taxes to support a government she has no voice in administering or vote in electing its officers.

In the same issue of the News we meet with an earnest appeal for the prompt passage of a law conferring upon woman a right to her earnings. When we realize that one of the Supreme Judges soon after this assured Mrs. Bradwell that she was editing a paper that no lawyer could afford to do without, we shall understand how important a part this journal has played in the courts. In the sixth number of the News we find the attention of the legal fraternity called to the fact that in the reign of James I. it was held in the cases of Coats vs. Lyall and Holt vs. Lyall, tried in Westminster Hall, that a single woman, if a freeholder, had the right to vote for a parliament man; and in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, Lady Packington, in right of property held by her, did actually vote for a return of two burgesses to parliament for the borough of Aylesburg; and in the time of Charles I., Mrs. Copley voted, in right of her property, for the return of a burgess for Gratton. The subject of their return was brought before parliament, and amended by joining other persons with Mrs. Copley in the right of returning burgesses for Gratton. Women have actually sat and voted in the English parliament.

In 1868, Sorosis, a woman's club, was organized in Chicago, with Mrs. Delia Waterman president, and soon after several periodicals were established; The Chicago Sorosis, with Mrs. Mary L. Walker, Cynthia Leonard and Agnes L. Knowlton, editors; The Inland Monthly, Mrs. Charlotte Clark, editor and publisher; and The Agitator, with Mary A. Livermore and Mary L. Walker editors. Though all were short-lived, they serve to show woman's ambition in the direction of journalism.

In 1868 there was a decided "awakening" on the question of woman suffrage in central Illinois. In the town of Elmwood, Peoria county, the question drew large audiences to lyceum discussions, and was argued in school, church and caucus. The conservatives became alarmed, and announced their determination to "nip the innovation in the bud." A spirited editorial in the New York Independent was based upon the following facts, given by request of some of the disfranchised women:

Rev. W. G. Pierce was the pastor of the Elmwood Congregational Church. A large majority of the members were women, and there was no discrimination against them in the church manual. The pastor and two or three members decided that a change of rules was needed. A church meeting was held in March, 1868, at which the number in attendance was very small, owing to some irregularities in issuing the call. The suffrage question was brought up by the pastor, and the talk soon became so insulting that the women present felt compelled to leave the house. The manual was then amended so as to exclude women from voting "in matters pertaining to the welfare of the church," and making a two-thirds vote of adult males necessary to any change thereafter. This was carried by five yeas to one nay--only six votes out of a membership of 210! The church was taken by surprise, and there was no little excitement when the fact became known next day. A vigorous protest and a call for reconsideration was quickly signed by nearly a hundred members and sent to the pastor. The meeting was not called for weeks, and when at last it was secured, he, as moderator, ruled reconsideration out, on the ground that there was an error in the announcement of the business (by himself!) from the pulpit. At a later meeting a vote on reconsideration was reached, and enough of the male adult minority were in attendance to make the vote stand 19 to 17, not two-thirds of the male adult element voting for reconsideration.

The contention now became bitter, and twenty-eight of the more intelligent and earnest members withdrew and asked for letters to other churches. Such of the "adult males" as "tarried by the altar," refused to give the outgoing members the usual letters, to join in a mutual council on an equal footing, or to discipline the seceders. The latter called an ex-parte council, composed of such men as Dr. Bascom, of Princeton; Dr. Edward Beecher, of Galesburg; Dr. Haven, of Evanston; Dr. C. D. Helmer, of Chicago, and others. This council gave the desired letters, but advised reconciliation. Among the seceders, Mrs. Huldah Joy, an educated and intensely religious woman, was one of the most active and earnest, her husband, F. R. Joy, and her daughters, also doing good service. Mrs. H. E. Sunderland,[352] another woman of culture, and Mrs. Mary Ann Cone and Mrs. S. R. Murray were faithful, brave and earnest. The church, which previous to the secession, was strong and flourishing, became an inharmonious organization, and has never rallied from the effects of that unjust action.

At a meeting held in Chicago, in the autumn of 1868, a resolution was offered to the effect that "a State association be formed, having for its object the advocacy of universal suffrage." Among the many interesting facts connected with the "rise and progress" of the equal-rights movement is the large number of representative men and women who have from the first been identified with it.[353] January 25, 1860 we find among the most progressive utterances from the pulpit, a sermon by the Rev. Sumner Ellis of Chicago, while Rev. Charles Fowler and Dr. H. W. Thomas were ever fearless and earnest in their advocacy of this measure. In February, 1869, the Legal News said:

A call has been issued, inviting all persons in favor of woman suffrage to meet in convention in Library Hall, Chicago. There are many hundred names appended, including the judges of all the courts of Cook county, leading members of the bar throughout the State, representatives of the press, ministers of the gospel, from all denominations, and representatives from every profession and business. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and the Rev. Olympia Brown have been invited and are expected to attend.

Pursuant to the foregoing "call," a notable convention was held.[354] The Tribune devoted nine columns to an account of the proceedings, respectful in tone and fair in statement. During its two days' session, Library Hall was packed to its utmost capacity with the beauty and fashion of the city. Able lawyers, eloquent and distinguished divines and gallant generals occupied seats upon the platform and took part in the deliberations. The special importance of this convention at this time, was the consideration of the immediate duty of securing a recognition of the rights of women in the new constitution, for the framing of which a convention had been called.

All the speakers had strong convictions and showed broad differences, continually making sharp points against each other. Several clergymen were present, some in favor of woman suffrage, some opposed, some in doubt. Among these were the two Collyers--one, the Rev. Robert, the English blacksmith of former days, liberal, progressive, of large physical proportions; the other, the Rev. Robert Laird, a much smaller man, and of conservative tendencies.

The Rev. Robert Collyer dissented so entirely from what the preceding speaker, Dr. Hammond, had said, that he was determined to run the risk of attempting to reply. He thought that a majority of men who began by being reformers, ended by being old fogies, and he thought that might be the case with Mr. Hammond. He felt no doubt that the whole movement of women's rights was to be established in America. He had seen the effects of woman's presence in associations upon men, and he was sure that this same agency would have the effect of bringing politics to such a condition as that decent people of either sex might take part in it. As to the Bible declaring that man shall rule over woman, he found a similar case where it used to be quoted in support of the institution of slavery, but when the grander and more beautiful principles of the Bible came to be applied the contrary was clearly established. So it was with the question of woman's rights. To him the Bible seemed like an immense pasture wherein any and every species of animal might find its own peculiar food. In regard to what Mr. Hammond said as to the rights of infants, he wished he had conferred with his wife and got her approval before he said it. The speaker was sure his own wife would not have advised him to say it. He believed that when maternal and home duties conflicted, the children and the home relations would take the preference invariably, and the remarks of Mr. Hammond seemed to imply a terrible want of confidence in woman. He believed that woman would always do her duty to her children and her home. Then, too, he had been surprised, that Mr. Hammond, in speaking of preventing children from coming into the world, had failed to speak of the complicity of man, in reality the greatest criminal, in that matter. As to the excitement attendant upon political issues, was it worse, viewed as mere excitement, than that which is so earnestly sought to be aroused at religious meetings? Elizabeth, Anne, and Victoria were, with the exception, perhaps, of Cromwell, the best rulers England ever had, and, when the administration of Andrew Johnson was remembered, he thought we might do worse than to have a woman for president, after Grant's term shall have expired. [Applause.] In conclusion, Mr. Collyer said that, even if the fearful picture drawn by Mr. Hammond, of 70,000 immoral women marching to the polls in New York, were realized, he could draw another picture--that of 75,000 good and pure women marching to the polls to vote the others down. [Applause.]

Rev. Edward Beecher, of Galesburg, said: Exclusive class legislation was not safe; it was oppressive and degrading. Female influence has procured the repeal of some obnoxious laws, and that proved it was a powerful element. He thought the Bible, as regards man being the head, had been misinterpreted. When man took the attitude in relation to women which Christ sustains to the church, that of love, of service, of helpfulness and sacrifice, he would be an example of true headship. He read an extract from an editorial in the Tribune, of February 11, in regard to the giving way of moral integrity in the affairs of the nation, and commended the question to the consideration of all. The country was never in greater danger than now of having the whole political system destroyed. Some great moral influence ought to be brought to eradicate the corruption so prevalent among public men. There were two great vices in existence--drunkenness and licentiousness--and in both, woman was the victim of man in the majority of cases. The legislation which pressed down women was wrong, and should be remedied. He admitted it was an experiment to introduce the female element into legislation, but the success of the male element had thus far been such that, according to his judgment, things could not be much worse than they are. Women were always deeply interested in all public questions. If responsibilities were put upon them they would become greater intellectually, morally and socially.

Several able lawyers also took part in the convention, who brought their legal learning to bear on the question. Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony, hostile to the action of the Republican party as manifested in the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, were present with their stern criticisms and scathing resolutions on "manhood suffrage," submitting the following to the convention:

Resolved, That a man's government is worse than a white man's government, because in proportion as you increase the rulers you make the condition of the ostracised more hopeless and degraded.

Resolved, That as the Democratic cry of "a white man's government" created an antagonism between the Irish and the negro, culminating in the New York riots of '63, so the Republican cry of "manhood suffrage" creates an antagonism between the black man and all women, and will culminate in fearful outrages on womanhood, especially in the Southern States.

Resolved, That by the establishment of an aristocracy of sex in the District of Columbia, by the introduction of the word "male" into the federal constitution in article XIV., section 2, and by the proposition to enforce manhood suffrage in all the States of the Union, the Republican party has been guilty of three successive arbitrary acts, three retrogressive steps in legislation, alike invidious and insulting to women and suicidal to the nation.

After a long and earnest discussion, the resolutions were voted down. Mrs. Stanton's speech setting forth six reasons against a "male aristocracy"[355] was pronounced able and eloquent, though directly in opposition to the general sentiment of the convention, which was mainly Republican. Miss Anna Dickinson, having a lyceum engagement in Chicago, was present at one of the sessions, and had quite a spirited encounter with Robert Laird Collier. As she appeared on the platform at the close of some remarks by that gentleman, loud calls were made for her, when she came forward and spoke as follows:

MRS. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: It is impossible for me to continue in my seat after so kind and cordial a call from this house, and I thank you for the pleasant and friendly feeling you have shown. I have but a word to say. I had gone out of the room, not because of the discussion, but because it was too warm and the atmosphere so stifling, when I was recalled by hearing something to this effect: "That there had not been a single logical argument used on this platform in behalf of woman suffrage; that woman is abundantly represented by some man of her family; that when a woman lifts herself up in opposition against her husband, she lifts herself up, if I properly and rightly understood the declaration, against God; that the inspired assertion is that the husband is the head of the wife." Oh! but Mr. Collier forgot to say the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. In my observation, and it has not been a limited one, though I confess I am not an unprejudiced observer, I have never yet discovered a man who is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church. Furthermore, he announces that these women, being represented by men, if they lift themselves up in opposition to their husbands, lose that womanly and feminine element which is so admirable and pure and beautiful, and nothing can preserve them from the contamination of politics. Woman is to lift herself against God if she lifts herself against her husband, and woman is abundantly represented by this same husband, or by some man in her own family. There are a multitude of women who have no husbands [laughter]. There are a multitude of women who never will have any husbands [renewed laughter]. There are a great many women who have no men in their own households to represent them, either for their wrongs or their rights. Mr. Collier, I suppose, however, is talking about women who have husbands.

He says the woman loses her purity, her delicacy, her feminine attributes when she lifts her voice and sentiments against the man whose name she bears. We will say, then, look across these western prairies to Utah. If the women there dare to say to the congress of the United States, "Amend this constitution that we women of Utah can have one husband, and that the husband can take but one wife"; if these women demand decency in the marriage relation, demand justice for themselves, demand purity, they are lifting themselves against the laws of womanhood and the laws of God. Every woman represented by her husband is to lose her purity, her delicacy, her refinement, if she dares to lift her hand against him and his will. You have here, within the limits of your State of Illinois, 100,000 drunkards. Every woman who dares to lift her hand, cry out with her voice, "Give me the ballot that may offset the votes of these drunkards at the polls and save my children from starvation and myself from being put into the workhouse"--this woman is lifting herself against the laws of God and womanhood. That is not all! Last summer this question of prohibition was being tested in Massachusetts by votes. I went from town to town--my engagements taking me all over the State at that time--and said my say upon this question of woman suffrage. In whatever city or town I went, women, bowed down with grief, who desired to preserve their womanhood, their persons from blows and abuse, their sons from going to gambling hells and rum shops, their girls from being sent to houses of abomination, came to me and said: "Anna Dickinson, if you are a woman, speak and use your influence for our cause." Women who have drunken husbands, whether they lived in Beacon street or at the North End, whether they lived in luxury or poverty, said: "For the sake of womanhood, for the sake of motherhood, for the sake of all things good and true in the world, lift up our hands and voices, through yourself, to protest against these men whose names we bear." Ah! that Mr. Collier could have seen these drunkards' wives, standing with tears streaming down their cheeks, and begging for power, begging for the ballot to save their homes, and themselves, and their children. Do you tell this audience--do you tell any mother or daughter here this afternoon, that she protests against the purity of womanhood, and lifts her powers against the laws of God? Pardon me for taking this much of your time. I will simply add a thought. This is the cause of purity. This is the cause which is to strengthen young girls, which is to give them self-reliance and self-respect. This is the thing that is to put these girls on their feet; say to them "you are an independent being; you are to earn the clothes that cover you," and this will allow them to walk with steady feet through rough places. This thing which is to give these women such power, certainly will be strengthening to them by making them independent and self-reliant. The ballot is to save womanhood and save purity, which he says is in danger--the feminine element of dependence and weakness and tenderness, of clinging helplessness, which he so much adores. Let justice be done. Give us the ballot. Here is the power to defend yourself when your rights are assailed; when your home is entered. Here is the authority to tell the spoiler to stand back; when our sons are being brought up to wickedness and our daughters to lives of shame, here is the power in the mother's hand which says these children shall be taken from the wrong place and put in the right one. For the rights of mothers I plead. Let us allow, from one end of this country to the other, every man and woman, black and white, to go to the polls to defend their own rights and the rights of their homes.

The Rev. R. L. COLLIER said he would to God that every woman in America had such a heart and such a voice for woman's rights. But sympathy was one thing and logic was another. If he thought the ballot in the hand of woman would cure the wrongs she speaks of, he would favor female suffrage, but he was firmly convinced that it would only aggravate their wrongs. He could not fight Anna Dickinson.

ANNA DICKINSON: I certainly do not intend to fight Mr. Collier. I believe I have the name of not being a belligerent woman. Mr. Collier says sympathy is one thing and logic is another. Very true! I did not speak of the 40,000 women in the State of Massachusetts who are wives of drunkards, as a matter which shall appeal to your sympathies, or move your tears. Mr. Collier says that these women are to find their rights by influence at home.

Mr. COLLIER: That is what I mean.

Miss DICKINSON: That they are to do it by womanly and feminine love, and I tell him that is the duty of this same feminine element which is so admirable and adorable. I have seen men on your street corners, as I have seen men on the street corners of every city of America, with bloated faces, with mangled forms, and eyes blackened by the horrible vice and orgies carried on in their dens of iniquity and drunkenness and sin. I have seen men with not a semblance of humanity in their form or in their face, and not a sentiment of manhood in their souls. I have seen these men made absolute masters of wives and children; men who reel to their homes night after night to beat some helpless child; to beat some helpless woman. A woman was beaten here in Chicago the other day until there was scarcely a trace of the woman's face left, and scarcely a trace of the woman's form remaining. Mr. Collier tells me, then, that these women whose husbands reel home at 12, 1, 2, 3 o'clock at night, to demolish the furniture, beat the children, and destroy their wives' peace and lives--that these women are to find their rights by influence, by argument, by tenderness. These brutes who deserve the gallows if any human being can deserve anything so atrocious in these days--are these women, their wives, to find their safety, their security for themselves and their children, by influence, through argument and tenderness, or love, when nothing can influence save drink? The law gives man the power to say, "I will have drink; I will put this into my mouth." If the ballot were given to women they would vote against drunkenness. It is not sentiment, it is logic, if there be any logic in votes and in a home saved.

The Rev. R. L. COLLIER, in reply to Miss Dickinson, quoted a story from an English author of a drunkard who was reclaimed by a daughter's love and devotion. He never wanted to hear a woman say that law could accomplish what love could not.

Miss DICKINSON: I only want to ask Mr. Collier a question, and it is this: Whether he does not think that man would have been a great deal better off if this woman's vote could have offset his vote, and the rum thereby prevented from being sold at the outset?

Mr. COLLIER: I wish to say that law never yet cured crime; that men are not our only drunkards. Women are drunkards as well as men.

Miss DICKINSON (excitedly): It is not so, in anything like the same proportion; a drunken woman is a rare sight.

Mr. COLLIER: I wish to say that intemperance can never be cured by law.

Miss DICKINSON: Very well. You tell me that there are woman in the land who are drunkards. Doubtless there are. Then I stand here as a woman to entreat, to beseech, to pray against this sin. For the sake of these drunken woman, I ask the ballot to drag them back from the rum-shops and shut their doors [applause]. God forbid that I should underrate the power of love; that I should discard tenderness. Let us have entreaty, let us have prayers, and let us have the ballot, to eradicate this evil. Mr. Collier says he is full of sympathy, and intimates that women should stand here and elevate love above law. So long as a man can be influenced by love, well and good. When a man has sunk to the point where he beats his wife and children, and burns the house over them, reduces his family to starvation to get this accursed drink; when a man has sunk to such a level, is woman to stand still and entreat? Is this all woman is to do? No! She is to have the power added that will drag the firebrand out of his hand, and when sense and reason return, when the fire is extinguished, then, I say, let us have the power of love to interfere. I think keeping a man out of sin is better than trying to drag him out afterward by love.

Mr. COLLIER said he was placed in a false position of prominence because, unfortunately, he was the only gentleman on the platform who entertained serious convictions on the negative side of the subject. The only question was, would the ballot cure these wrongs? If so, he would like to hear the reasons, philosophical and logical, set forth. The appeals that had been made to the convention were illogical and sympathetic. He believed the persecutors of women were women. Fashion and the prejudice in the minds of women had been the barriers to their own elevation. That the ballot in the hands of women would cure these evils he denied.

Miss DICKINSON: Mr. Collier says, "The worst enemies of women are women"; that the worst opponents of this measure are fashion, dress and idleness. I confess there are no bitterer opponents or enemies of this measure than women. On that very ground I assert that the ballot will prove woman's best friend. If woman has something else to think about than simply to please men, something else than the splendor of her diamonds, or the magnificence of her carriage, you may be sure, with broader fields to survey, it would be a good thing for her. If women could earn their bread and buy the houses over their heads, in honorable and lucrative avocations; if they stood in the eye of the law men's equals, there would be better work, more hopeful hearts, more Christian magnanimity, and less petty selfishness and meanness than, I confess with sorrow and tears, are found among women to-day.

One of the ablest speeches of the convention was made by Judge Chas. B. Waite, on woman's position before the law. Immediately after this enthusiastic convention[356] the Illinois State Suffrage Association was formed, a committee[357] appointed to visit Springfield and request the legislature to so "change the laws that the earnings of a married woman may be secured to her own use; that married women may have the same right to their own property that married men have; and that the mother may have an equal right with the father to the custody of the children." The need of such a committee existed in that year of 1869, and they seemed to have wrought effective service, since on March 24 the married woman's earnings act was approved.

AN ACT in Relation to the Earnings of Married Women.

SEC. 1.--Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That a married woman shall be entitled to receive, use and possess her own earnings, and sue for the same in her own name, free from the interference of her husband or his creditors: Provided, This act shall not be construed to give to the wife any compensation for any labor performed for her minor children or husband.

Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Stanton, Judge Waite, Judge and Mrs. Bradwell, had an enthusiastic meeting in the Opera House, Springfield, most of the members of the legislature being present.

September 9, 10, 1869, the Western Convention was held in Library Hall, Chicago; Mrs. Livermore presided. This influential gathering was largely attended by leading friends from other States.[358] Mrs. Kate Doggett and Dr. Mary Safford were appointed to attend the Woman's Industrial Congress at Berlin. Letters were read from Wm. Lloyd Garrison and others.[359]

February 8, 9, 1870, the first annual meeting of the State Association was held at Springfield in the Opera House, Hon. James B. Bradwell in the chair. Many members of the legislature were present during the various sessions and a hearing[360] before the House was granted next day. Resolutions were discussed and adopted, declaring that women were enfranchised under the fourteenth amendment. As a constitutional convention was in session, and there was an effort being made to have an amendment for woman suffrage submitted to a vote of the people, greater interest was felt in all that was said at this convention.

The strange inconsistency of the opponents of woman suffrage was perhaps never more fully illustrated than by the following occurrence: While the patriotic and earnest women of Illinois were quietly acting upon the advice of their representatives, and relying upon their "quiet, moral influence" to secure a just recognition of their rights in the constitutional convention, a conservative woman of Michigan, who, afraid that the women of Illinois were about to lose their womanliness by asking for the right to have their opinions counted, deserted her home in the Peninsular State, went to Springfield, secured the hall of the convention, and gave two lectures against woman suffrage. A meeting was called at the close of the second lecture, and in a resolution moved by a member of the convention, as Mrs. Bradwell pertinently says, "the people of the State were told that one woman had proved herself competent and well qualified to enlighten the constitutional convention upon the evils of woman suffrage."[361] Such was the effect of this self-appointed obtruder from another State that the members of the convention, without giving a woman of their own State opportunity for reply, not only struck out the clause submitting the question to the people in a separate article, but actually incorporated in the body of the constitution a clause which would not allow a woman to hold any office, public position, place of trust or emolument in the State. Through the efforts of such staunch friends as Judge Bradwell, Judge Waite and others, this latter clause was stricken out, and one inserted which, under a fair construction, will allow a woman to hold almost any office, provided she receives a sufficient number of votes.

By the accidental insertion of another clause in the constitution under consideration, Section 1, of Article VII., any foreign born woman, naturalized previous to January, 1870, was given the right to vote. So that Illinois was the first State in the Union, since the time when the women of New Jersey were disfranchised, to give to foreign-born women the elective franchise. This mistake of the wise Solons was guarded as a State secret.

Previous to the great fire of 1871, the most popular and influential woman's club in Chicago was the organization known as Sorosis. This club, by the generous aid of many prominent gentlemen of the city, established pleasant headquarters, where, in addition to bright carpets and artistic decorations, were books, flowers, birds, and other refined accessories. Mrs. Elizabeth Loomis says of the meetings held in those delightful parlors: "At every successive session we could see that we were gaining ground and receiving influential members. I well remember how it encouraged us to number the Rev. Dr. Thomas among our friends; and how gladly I made the motion to have him appointed temporary chairman in the absence of the president--a position which he cheerfully accepted." One of the most brilliant reunions ever enjoyed by the club, was a reception given to Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony, as they were en route to California, early in June, 1871. Of this reception, Miss Anthony, in a letter from Des Moines, Iowa, to The Revolution, said: "Mrs. Stanton and I were in Chicago the evening the Illinois State and Cook County Association held their opening reception at their new central bureau, a suite of fine rooms handsomely carpeted and furnished by prominent merchants of the city, where, with music, conversation, speeches, etc., the hours passed delightfully away," forming, as Miss Anthony might have added, a delightful oasis amid the many discomforts of a continuous appeal to the people to deal justly.

In November, 1871, Mrs. Catharine V. Waite, of Hyde Park, made a written application to the board of registration, asking them to place her name upon the register as a voter, which they refused to do on the ground that she was a woman, whereupon Mrs. Waite filed a petition in the Supreme Court of Cook county, stating the facts, and praying that the board be compelled by mandamus to place her name upon the register. Chief-Justice Jameson granted an alternative writ, returnable on the following Monday, commanding the board to show cause, if any they have, why Mrs. Waite's name should not be placed upon the register. Judge Charles B. Waite, the husband of the plaintiff, made an exhaustive and unanswerable argument before Judge Jameson, but to no purpose as far as the result of that case was concerned, as the opinion of the court delivered January 12, 1872, which was very lengthy,[362] denied the relator with costs.

In 1872, Norman T. Gassette, esq., clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook county, and recorder of deeds, remembering the limited number of industrial occupations open to women, and seeing no reason why they could not perform the work of that office, resolved to try the experiment. A room was fitted up for the special use of women, a number of whom gladly accepted the proffered positions and received the same pay per folio as that earned by men. The experiment proved entirely satisfactory, Major Brockway having officially testified in regard to woman's especial fitness for the work.

There was an attempt this year to get a law licensing houses of ill-fame in Chicago, and an immense petition was rolled up and presented to the legislature by ladies who desired to defeat the proposed enactment. They carried their point by as neat a flank movement as Sherman ever executed. A quiet move to Springfield with a petition signed by thousands of the best men and women of the city, and our enemies found themselves checkmated before the game had fairly begun.

February 13, 14, 1872, the State Association held its annual meeting at Bloomington, with large and interested audiences.[363] March 28 Mrs. Jane Graham Jones secured a hearing before the legislature for Miss Anthony, who made one of her most convincing arguments, and had in her audience nearly every member of that body who voted for what was termed the Alta Hulett bill.

To Myra Bradwell and Alta C. Hulett belongs the credit of a long and persevering struggle to open the legal profession to women. The latter succeeded at last in slipping the bolt which had barred woman from her right to practice law. We take the following statement in regard to Miss Hulett's experience from the "Women of the Century":

At the age of seventeen, Miss Alta Hulett entered the law office of Mr. Lathrop, of Rockford, as a student, and after a few months' study passed the required examination, and sent her credentials to the Supreme Court, which, instead of granting or refusing her plea for admission, ignored it altogether. Myra Bradwell, the successful editor of the Legal News, had just been denied admission. Her case, stated in brief, is this: Mrs. Bradwell made application for a license to practice law. The court refused it on the ground of her being a married woman. She immediately brought a suit to test the legality of this decision. This interesting case was carried to the Supreme Court of the United States, which sustained the decision of the lower courts.[364] Miss Hulett had reason to expect that since she was unmarried, this decision would not prejudice her case. Just on the threshold of her chosen profession, the rewards of youthful aspirations and earnest study apparently within her grasp, her dismay may be imagined when no response whatever was vouchsafed her petition. A fainter heart would have accepted the situation. To battle successfully with old prejudices, entrenched in the strongholds of the law, required not only marked ability, but also a courage which could not surrender. Miss Hulett took a country school for four months, and bravely went to work again. While teaching and "boarding round," she prepared a lecture, "Justice vs. The Supreme Court," in which she vigorously and eloquently stated her case. This lecture was delivered in Rockford, Freeport, and many other towns, enlisting everywhere sympathy and admiration in her behalf. After taking counsel with Lieutenant-Governor Early and other prominent members of the legislature, she drafted a bill, the provisions of which are:

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly, That no person shall be precluded or debarred from any occupation, profession, or employment (except military), on account of sex. Provided this act shall not be construed to affect the eligibility of any person to an elective office.

Nothing in this act shall be construed as requiring any female to work on streets or roads, or serve on juries. All laws inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.

Friends obtained for this bill a very favorable introduction into the legislature, where it passed and received the Governor's signature. Passing up the steps to her home one rainy day, the telegram announcing that the bill had become a law was placed in her hands, and in referring to the incident, Miss Hulett said: "I shall never again know a moment of such supreme happiness." We can only add in this connection that after a most vigorous examination she stood at the head of a class of twenty-eight, all the other members being gentlemen. This time the Supreme Court made the amende honorable, courteously and cordially welcoming her into the ranks of the profession on her birthday, June 4, 1873, and at the age of nineteen Miss Hulett commenced the practice of law.

But Miss Hulett's career, so full of promise, was soon ended. The announcement of her untimely death, which occurred at San Diego, Cal., March 26, 1877, sent a pang to the hearts of those who knew her personally, and of thousands who regarded her with pride as a representative woman. A Chicago correspondent says:

The daily press of the city have already borne ample testimony to her professional talents and success and to the esteem and admiration accorded her by the bar of Chicago and by the general public; for her somewhat exceptional position as well as her ability had made her one of the marked characters of the city. Her short life, so successful and brilliant to the public eye, was not without its dark and thorny places. Unusual responsibilities of a domestic nature, opposition of various kinds and keen disappointments only nerved her to greater persistency, and her courage was upheld by the generous and abundant recognition which she received on every hand from leading members of the bar--a recognition for which she never failed, when opportunity offered, to express her sense of profound obligation--and she was accustomed to say that the law was the most liberal of the professions. Much as Miss Hulett had accomplished hitherto, it was felt that she had only crossed the threshold of a career of surpassing usefulness; all things seemed possible to one so richly endowed; her mental vigor seemed matched by a physique, the apparent type of blooming health; but the seeds of disease were inherited and only awaited a combination of circumstances to assert their fatal power. Absorbing enthusiasm for her profession, and the cares of a rapidly increasing practice, made her overlook the insidious danger lurking in a cold, and not until her alarmed physician ordered her to the soft climate of Southern California did she comprehend her danger. This peremptory order was a terrible shock, and the forced exile from the field of her hopes and ambitions, more bitter than death. She never rallied, but continued rapidly to fail until the end came. At a meeting of the bar of Chicago, held to take action in commemoration of the death of Miss Alta M. Hulett, attorney-at-law, the following was one of the resolutions adopted:

Resolved, That although the legal profession has hitherto been almost, if not altogether, considered as exclusively for men to practice, yet we freely recognize Miss Hulett's right to adopt it as her pursuit in life, and cheerfully bear testimony to the fact that in her practice she never demeaned herself in any way unbecoming a woman. She was always true to her clients and their interests, but she was equally true to her sex and her duty; and if women who now are, or hereafter shall become, members of our profession shall be equally true, its honor will never be tarnished, nor the respect, good-will and esteem which it is the duty and pride of man to accord to woman be in the least diminished by their membership.

Which, translated, means that men are not only ready to welcome into one of their own professions women having the requisite intellectual qualifications, but that the welcome will be the warmer if the women entering shall not leave behind the more feminine attributes of the sex. Portia did deliver judgment, but the counselor's cap became the pretty locks it could not hide, and the jurist's cloak lent additional grace to the symmetry and litheness of female youth.

M. Fredrica Perry began the study of law in the office of Shipman & Loveridge, Coldwater, Michigan, in the winter of 1870-71. She spent two years in the law-office and then two years in the law-school of Michigan University. On graduating from the law-school in March, 1875, she was admitted to the Michigan bar. She located in Chicago in August, and in September was admitted to the Illinois bar and began practice. A few weeks later she was, on motion of Miss Hulett, admitted to the U.S. Circuit and District Courts for the Northern District of Illinois. She was in partnership with Ellen A. Martin under the name of Perry & Martin. Her death occured June 3, 1883, and was the result of pneumonia. Miss Perry was a successful lawyer and combined in an eminent degree the qualities which distinguish able barristers and jurists; her mind was broad and catholic, clear, quick, logical and profound; her information on legal and general matters was extensive. She was an excellent advocate, a skillful examiner of witnesses, and understood as few do, save practitioners who have grown old in experience, the nice discriminations of common-law pleading and the rules of evidence. She was engrossed in the study and practice of law, and gained steadily in efficiency and power year by year. She had the genius and ability for the highest attainment in all branches of civil practice, and joined with these the power of close application and hard work. She belonged to the Strong family which has furnished a good deal of the legal talent of the United States. Judge Tuley, a chancery judge of Chicago before whom she often appeared, said of her at the bar meeting called to take action upon her death: "I was surprised at the extent of her legal knowledge and the great legal acumen she displayed." And of her manner and method of conducting a certain bitterly-contested case in his court: "I became satisfied that the influence of woman would be highly beneficial in preserving and sustaining that high standard of professional courtesy which should always exist among the members of our profession."----Ellen A. Martin, of Perry & Martin, Chicago, spent two years in a law-office and two years in Michigan University law-school, and was graduated and admitted to practice in Michigan at the same time with Miss Perry. She was admitted in Illinois in January, 1876, and since then to the U. S. Circuit Court.----In the summer of 1879, Mrs. M. B. R. Shay, Streator, graduating from the Bloomington law-school, was admitted to the bar. She has published a book entitled, "Students Guide to Common-Law Pleading."----In 1880, Cora A. Benneson, Quincy, was graduated from the Michigan University law-school and admitted to the Michigan and Illinois bar.----Ada H. Kepley, in practice with her husband at Effingham, was graduated from the Chicago law-school in June, 1870, but was refused admission to the bar. In November of that year, a motion was made in the Court at Effingham that she should be allowed to act as attorney in a case at that bar, and Judge Decius said that though the Supreme Court had refused to license a woman, he yet thought the motion was proper and in accord with the spirit of the age and granted the motion. Mrs. Kepley was finally admitted, January, 1881.----Miss Bessie Bradwell, graduated from the Union College of Law of Chicago and admitted to the bar in 1882, is associated with her parents, Judge and Mrs. Bradwell, on the Legal News and in the preparation of Bradwell's Appellate Court Reports.

July 1, 1873, the bill making women eligible as school officers became a law, and in the fall elections of the same year the people gave unmistakable indorsement of the champions of the bill, by electing women as superintendent of schools in ten counties, while in sixteen others women were nominated. Many of these earnest women have been in the service ever since. As the practical results of woman's controlling influence as superintendents of schools seems to epitomize her work in all official positions, we submit a report compiled by Miss Mary Allen West, made at the request of the Illinois Social Science Association, regretting that we have not space for one of the model reports of Miss Sarah Raymond, also for ten years superintendent of the schools of Bloomington:

During the session of 1872-3, Judge Bradwell introduced into the legislature the following bill, which became a law April 3, 1873: "Be it enacted by the people of Illinois, represented in General Assembly, that any woman, married or single, of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, and possessing the qualifications prescribed for men, shall be eligible to any office under the general school laws of this State." A second section provides for her giving bonds.

At the next election, November, 1873, ten ladies were elected to the office of county superintendent of schools for a term of four years. As this term has now expired, it is a favorable time to inquire how women have succeeded in this new line of labor. That the work that devolves upon county superintendents may be understood, I give a part of the synopsis of the duties pertaining to the office, as enumerated by Dr. Newton Bateman:

First--She must carefully inspect and pass upon the bonds of all township treasurers, and upon the securities given in each case, and is personally liable as well upon her official bond for any loss to the school funds sustained through her neglect or careless performance of duty.

Second--She must keep herself fully and carefully informed as to what townships have and what have not complied with the provisions of the law in respect to maintenance of schools; so that no funds may in ignorance be paid to townships having no legal claim to them.

Third--She must collect, transcribe, classify, verify, tabulate, and transmit annually to the State superintendent the school statistics of her county, together with a detailed written report of the condition of the common schools therein.

Fourth--She must arrange, classify, file and preserve all books, papers, bonds, official correspondence and other documents belonging to her office.

Fifth--She must impart instruction and give directions to inexperienced teachers in the science, art and method of teaching, and must be ready, at all times, to counsel, advise and assist the school officers of her county.

Sixth--She must take an active part in the management of County Teachers' Institutes, and labor in every way to improve the quality of teaching in her county.

Seventh--She must hear, examine, and determine all questions and controversies under school law, which may be referred to her, and must carefully prepare, to the best of her knowledge and ability, such replies to all letters from school officers and teachers as each case demands.

Eighth--She must examine all candidates desiring to teach in her county, and grant certificates to such, and such only, as she honestly thinks are of good moral character and sufficient scholastic attainments. As no one can teach in a public school without such certificate, this gives her the veto power over all teachers. Dr. Bateman, commenting on fourteen specifications, of which the foregoing constitute but eight, says these are some of the many duties made obligatory upon the county superintendent by law. Besides all these, is the visitation of schools, which every true superintendent considers a very important part of the work.

For convenience we will group these duties in three classes: 1. Those concerning finance. 2. Legal duties. 3. Duties to teachers and schools.

I. To give an idea of the financial interests intrusted to the hands of these women, we find by reference to the State superintendent's report for last year that the total receipts for school purposes in these ten counties which they superintend was $1,009,441. So far as can be learned from the records, not one cent of the large sums over which they had supervision has been lost through their dishonesty, or, what was more to be feared, their ignorance of business. Unlike those of Dora Copperfield, their accounts will "add up." In the county (Knox) where the receipts are greatest, aggregating $182,423.22, the greatest difference between receipts and expenditures, as shown by the superintendent's books, is ten cents. In many of these counties the financial affairs were in the greatest confusion when the ladies came into office. In one, perhaps more, the preceding superintendent was a defaulter, in another he was engaged in a law-suit with the county board, and in still others strange irregularities were discovered. In every instance, so far as we can ascertain, these crookednesses have been straightened out, the finances put upon a surer basis, hundreds, we believe thousands, of dollars of bad debts have been collected, treasurers and directors have been induced to keep their books with greater care and in better shape, reckless expenditure of school funds has been discouraged, and directors encouraged to expend the money for things which will permanently benefit the schools. So much for finance.

II. Legal Duties.--Rightly to discharge the duties imposed by specification 7, the county superintendent needs to be a very good lawyer, for school law in its ramifications reaches many other departments of law. Especially is it inextricably mixed up with election laws, and all know that cases arising under election laws are among the most complex and difficult to handle. Probably a school election never occurrs in which some such cases are not referred to the county superintendent. In the settlement of these and other cases arising under school law, these women have been peculiarly successful, and some of them have earned the blessing bestowed upon the peacemakers. We know of one county where, after last spring's election, five contested cases were referred to the superintendent for settlement; these were all satisfactorily adjusted by her. During her four years' administration, scores of controversies were referred to her, and there has never been a single appeal from her decisions. Another most complicated case involving a defaulting treasurer, was conducted entirely by the county superintendent until it became necessary to employ a lawyer to argue the case in court. What she had done was then submitted to one of the leading lawyers of the State, and he sanctioned and approved each step. Numerous other instances might be cited to show that woman has not failed in the legal part of her work as superintendent of schools.

III. Her Work with Teachers and Schools.--Here our superintendents were perfectly at home. Each of the ten had taught successfully for years, and so knew the wants of the school-room. This knowledge was invaluable, both in the examination of teachers and in the supervision of schools. Fears were expressed lest in the examination of candidates, womanly sympathy would lead them to grant certificates to needy applicants who were not altogether qualified. But the motherliness which is in every true woman's heart, warded off this danger. As one remarked, "I have a great deal of the milk of human kindness in my nature, but its streams flow toward the roomful of children to be injured by an incompetent teacher, rather than toward that teacher, however needy he may be. If his claims rest on his needs rather than his merits, let the poormaster attend to his wants, not the superintendent. School money is not a pauper fund." This motherliness comes in good play in school visitation. It draws the children to the superintendent; keeps them from being afraid of her, and hence leads them to work naturally during her visit; thus she can obtain a true idea of the status of the school, and know just how to advise and direct the teacher. The same thing holds true in regard to teachers; the majority of them are ladies, and they will come to a lady for the solution of their doubts and difficulties much more freely than to a gentleman. This gives her better opportunity to "impart instruction and give directions to inexperienced teachers." Woman's power to lift up the teachers under her control to a higher plane, both intellectually and morally, has been signally demonstrated by the experience of the past four years.

In looking after the details of official work, those tiresome minutiae so often left at "loose ends," producing endless confusion, woman has shown great aptitude. You say, "this is but the clean sweeping of a new broom." May be so, in part; but in part it comes from the womanly instinct to "look well to the ways of her household," whether that household be the occupants of a cottage or the schools of a county. In the work of the State Association of County Superintendents, the ladies have well sustained their part. When placed on the programme, they have come prepared with carefully written papers, showing their desire to give the Association the benefit of their best thoughts, and not put off upon it such crudely digested ideas as may spring up at the moment. At the last meeting at Springfield, four out of the nine superintendents now in office were present, 44 per cent.; out of the 93 gentlemen in the same office, 18 were present, 19 per cent. The ratio of attendance has been about the same for the four years.

How has woman's work as county superintendent impressed other educators? State-Superintendent Etter, who confesses that he was not in favor of the plan, said at the State Teachers' Association, above referred to: "The ladies compare very favorably with their gentlemen co-laborers." Mr. E.L. Wells, for twelve years county superintendent of Ogle county, and thoroughly conversant with the work throughout the State, concurs in this opinion. President Newton Bateman, than whom no man in the State is better fitted to speak on this subject, in his political-economy class in Knox college, took occasion to commend the efficiency of women as county superintendents of our State. A gentleman who travels extensively, and looks into school affairs closely, says he is convinced that in every county where a woman was elected four years ago, the efficiency of the office had been doubled and in some cases increased four or even ten fold. If this be not an exaggeration, an explanation may be found in the fact that in most of these counties the best ladies were put in the place of gentlemen most poorly fitted for the place. The office had become a political foot-ball, kicked about as party exigencies demanded, and often came into possession of political hacks who "must be provided for," and for whom no other place could be found. They had no qualifications for the office, and, of course, could not perform its duties. The people, disgusted, turned to the women for relief, and took good care to elect the ones best fitted to do the work. Had equal care been used in the selection of their predecessors, they might have done equally good work. In quoting opinions, I have purposely confined myself to those given by gentlemen.

The limits of this paper have restricted this discussion to the work of woman as a county superintendent; but in other school offices she is doing efficient work. All over the State we have examples of her efficiency as school director. Miss Sarah E. Raymond, in Bloomington, and Miss Ludlow, in Davenport (by the way, the Iowa State Teachers' Association last year honored itself by electing her president), abundantly proves woman's ability to superintend the schools of large cities. M.A.W.

In Zion's Herald 1873, on the origin of the Woman's College in Evanston, Miss Frances E. Willard writes:

In 1866, when we were all tugging away to build Heck Hall for ministers, I heard several thoughtful women say, "We ought to be doing this for our own sex. Men have help from every side, while no one thinks of women." In the summer of 1868 Mrs. Mary F. Haskins, who had been treasurer of the American Methodist Ladies' Centenary Association, which built Heck Hall, raising for the purpose $50,000, invited the ladies of Evanston to her home to talk over the subject of founding a Woman's College, which should secure to young women the highest educational advantages. Mrs. Haskin originated the thought--with her own hands assisted in laying the corner-stone, and in her first address as president she said: "I have often thought that to the successful teacher the words must be full of hope and promise, which a great writer uses of education: 'It is a companion which no misfortune can distress, no crime destroy, no enemy alienate, no despot enslave; at home a friend, abroad an introduction; in solitude a solace, in society an ornament. It chastens vice, it guides virtue, it adds a grace to genius. Without it what is man?'--and I would add with emphasis, Without an education, what is woman?"

This Woman's College at Evanston is the first on record to which a charter, granting full collegiate powers, was ever given by legislative act, including only names of women in its board of trustees. This board, elected Miss Frances E. Willard president, who presided over the institution for two years, during which term a class of young women was graduated, the first in history to whom diplomas were voted and conferred by women. The degree of A. M. was given Mrs. Jennie Fowler Willing, of Chicago, who preached the baccalaureate sermon at the unique commencement exercises. Mrs. Mary F. Haskin, and Mrs. Elizabeth Greenleaf were respectively presidents of the board of trustees.

Later on, as a higher evolution of the central thought, an arrangement was made between the Woman's College and the Northwestern University, by which the former became the woman's department of the latter, on condition that in its board of trustees, faculty of instruction, and all its departments of culture, women should be admitted on an equality with men, as to opportunities, positions and salaries. Miss Willard was then chosen dean of the Woman's College, and professor of aesthetics in the University. Mrs. Emily Huntington Miller was placed on the executive committee of the board, and Mrs. R. F. Queal, Mrs. Jennie Fowler Willing, Mrs. Mary Bannister Willard, and Mrs. L. L. Greenleaf were elected trustees. One year later, Miss Willard entered the temperance work since which time Miss Ellen M. Soule and Miss Jane Bancroft have successively served in the position of dean.

The young women have led in scholarship, taken prizes in composition and oratory, while upon one occasion the delighted students dragged forth the only artillery in the village to voice their enthusiasm over the fact that to Miss Lizzie R. Hunt had been awarded at the great international contest the first prize for the best English essay.

In 1873, while filling the duties of professor in Wesleyan University, Mrs. Jennie Fowler Willing was licensed as a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the first woman engaged as evangelist in Illinois.

The Monticello Ladies' Seminary at Godfrey is worthy of mention. Miss Harriet N. Haskell, its president, has done a noble work there in making possible for many girls, by labor under her roof to pay in part for a liberal education. She has been at the head of this institution for thirty years. Mrs. F.A. Shiner at Mt. Carroll, is another grand woman worthy of mention. She, too, gives poor girls an opportunity in her household to pay in part for their education. In this way many are being trained in domestic accomplishments as well as the higher branches of education. There is no distinction made between those who work a certain number of hours each day and those who pay in full for their advantages; and in many cases the best scholars have been found from year to year among those who had the stimulus of labor. As Miss Haskell and Mrs. Shiner have uniformly entertained all the lyceum lecturers[365] at their beautiful homes, many have had the pleasure of seeing and talking with these bright girls, and the worthy presidents of the institutions.

We believe to Illinois belongs the distinction of being the birthplace of the first woman admitted to the American Medical Association--Dr. Sarah Hackett Stevenson, born at Buffalo Grove, Ogle county. Dr. Stevenson was admitted to this time-honored association June, 1876. The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin thus refers to the innovation:

The doctors have combined millennial with centennial glories. The largest assemblage of the medical profession ever held in America yesterday honored itself by bursting the bonds of ancient prejudice, and admitting a woman to its membership by a vote that proved the battle won, and that henceforth professional qualification, and not sex, is to be the test of standing in the medical world. Looking over the past fierce resistance by which every advance of woman into the field of medical life was met, yesterday's action seems like the opening of a scientific millennium. It was a most appropriate time and place for the beginning of this new era of medical righteousness and peace. Here, in the centennial year, in the "City of Brotherly Love," where the first organized effort for the medical education of women was made, where the oldest medical college for women in the world is located, and where the fight against woman's entry into the medical profession was most hotly waged, was the place to take the manly new departure, which, so far as the National Association is concerned, began yesterday in the election of Dr. Sarah Hackett Stevenson as a member in full standing from the State of Illinois.

Dr. Mary H. Thompson, who was graduated at Boston in 1863, and who, removing to Chicago, succeeded in establishing a woman's hospital, is included in a short list of notable alumnae of the Boston Medical School. Dr. Lelia G. Bedell, Dr. E. G. Cook, Dr. Julia Holmes Smith, Dr. Alice B. Stockham, and many others have won honorable distinction in this profession.

One of the marked crises in the history of the reform we trace was the centennial Fourth of July. The daughters of the Pilgrims realized as never before the cruel injustice by which they were deprived of their birthright, and from the Western prairies and Eastern hills their earnest protest was given to the nation. As early as May 2, 1876, at a special convention of the Illinois Woman Suffrage Association, two vigorous protests were read as the official utterances of State and National Associations. The convention was called to order by Mrs. Alma Van Winkle, who stated that Mrs. Jane Graham Jones,[366] the beloved and efficient president of the association, having determined upon a European sojourn, had sent her resignation to the executive committee, and that Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, recently removed to the State, had been elected to fill her place. This action being ratified, Susan B. Anthony was introduced, and although she had just concluded an intensely vigorous lyceum tour, extending through many months, she spoke with unusual power. Just here I wish to emphasize the great loss to women in the fact that as Miss Anthony's speeches were never written, but came with thrilling effect from her patriotic soul, scarce any record of them remains, other than the intangible memories of her grateful countrywomen. At this convention the following address was read and adopted:

To the Women of the United States of America, greeting:

While the centennial clock is striking the hour of opportunity for the Pilgrims' daughters to prove themselves regenerate children of a worthy ancestry, while the air reverberates to the watchwords of the statesmen of the Revolution, let the daughters of the nation, in clear, steady and womanly voices, chorus through the States: "Taxation without representation is tyranny," and "all governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed."

Womanly hands, firm, capable and loving, have been steadily, persistently and unceasingly knocking, knocking at the doors of judicial, ecclesiastical and legislative halls, until at last the rusty bars are yielding and the persistent knocking is beginning to tell upon iron nerves and all kinds of masculine constitutions. Just now, in the centennial year, another door has opened, preparing the way for the Pilgrims' daughters to present their claim before the assembled nation on the "Fourth of July, 1876."

A joint resolution of congress, signed by the president of the United States, and made the subject of proclamation by the governor of the State, reads as follows:

Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, That it be, and is hereby, recommended by the Senate and the House of Representatives to the people of the several States, that they assemble in the several counties and towns on the approaching centennial anniversary of our national independence, and that they cause to have delivered on such day an historical sketch of said county or town from its foundation, and that a copy of said sketch may be filed, in print or manuscript, in the clerk's office of said county, and an additional copy be filed in the office of the librarian of congress at the city of Washington, to the intent that a complete record may thus be obtained of the progress of our institutions during the first centennial of their existence.

The governor of this State earnestly recommends that prompt measures be taken in each county and town for the selection of one or more persons who shall prepare complete, thorough and accurate historical sketches of each county, city, town or village, from the date of the settlement to the present time.

In view of the fact that since our civil war thousands of charitable, scientific, philanthropic, religious and political associations have been organized among women, of which but few accurate records are now accessible to the general public, and in view of the fact that the Supreme Court and many of our legislators construe "persons" to indicate only men (except when persons are to be taxed, fined or executed), we respectfully suggest that in all cases one member of the committee shall be a woman, to the end that there may be submitted to future historians accurate data of the extent and scope of the work of American women; that this historian of woman shall carefully and impartially record the literary, educational, journalistic, industrial, charitable and political work of woman as expressed in temperance, missionary and woman suffrage organization.

Let a meeting of every woman suffrage organization throughout the State, or, where none exists, let any friend of the cause call a meeting, at which a committee shall be appointed to present this suggestion to the people as they may meet in the different cities, villages and towns, to perfect arrangements for their local celebration.

As American citizens we salute the tri-color, emblem of the rights obtained and liberties won by husbands, fathers and sons, meanwhile pledging, if need be, another century of toil and effort to the sacred cause of human rights, and the establishment of a genuine republic.

ELIZABETH BOYNTON HARBERT, Pres. Ill. Woman Suffrage Society.

It was decided at this convention to celebrate the Fourth of July in some appropriate manner. Under the auspices of Mrs. Harbert this was done at Evanston. The occasion was heralded as "The Woman's Fourth," and programmes[367] were scattered through the village.

The auditorium of the large Methodist Church was tastefully decorated with exquisite flowers; flags were gracefully festooned about the pulpit, and all the appointments were pronounced artistic by the most critical, and Mrs. Harbert's oration, of which we give a few extracts, aimed to be in keeping with her surroundings:

If possessed of artistic genius, I would seize the pencil and imprison in rich and gorgeous coloring two pictures for the woman's pavilion of our centennial; for the first I would reproduce that prophetically symbolic scene at the dawn of our history, when with a faith and generosity worthy of honorable mention, Isabella of Castile placed her jewels in the almost discouraged mariner's hands, and bade Columbus give to the world Columbia. The second scene would be the antithesis of the first, as to-day, the women of the United States make haste to lay at the feet of our statesmen and prophets their jewels of thought and influence, bidding them, in the name of woman, give to the world a perfected government, a genuine republic, a purer civilization. Now, as then, there are many ready with mocking jeers; but, turning not to the right nor the left, the faith of woman and the courage of man move on apace to sure success. That historic "first gun" not only jarred loose every rivet in the manacles of 4,000,000 slaves, but when the smoke of the cannonading had lifted, the entire horizon of woman was broadened, illuminated, glorified. On that April day when a nation of citizens were suddenly transformed into an army of warriors, American women, with a patriotism as intense as theirs, a consecration as true, quietly assumed their vacated places and became citizens. Out from market-place and forum, counting-house and farm--keeping time to the chime of the music of the Union--marched father, husband and son; into office, store and farm, called there by no ambitious desire to wander out of their sphere, but by the same dire military necessity that called our men to the front stepped orphaned daughter and widowed wife. Anna Dickinson captured the lyceum and platform. The almost classic scene of "Corinne at the Capitol" is not more remarkable than that historic scene of the Quaker girl at Washington, called there to receive the plaudits of the highest officials of our nation, for services rendered in the then vital political campaigns of New Hampshire, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and New York.

The cruel, scarlet days of war dragged wearily on. Up from the Southern battle-fields, borne northward in the lull of the war tempest, came a wailing appeal from "the boys," who hitherto had never appealed to "mother" in vain: "We are wounded, sick and starving." Instantly the mother-heart responded--waiting not for "orders," snapping official red-tape, as though it had been woven of cob-webs, two women started southward with the needed supplies, and this great, anxious, agonized North gave a sob of relief when the message thrilled through the land that Jane C. Hoge and Mary A. Livermore had arrived at the front with the needed supplies. Idle, helpless, dependent queens were not then in demand, but women fitted to be wives of heroes. Because our lake-bordered, tree-fringed village was once her home, I lovingly trace first on Evanston's scroll of honor the name of Jane C. Hoge, while just underneath it I write that of our venerable philanthropist, who was the first woman in these United States to receive the badge of the Christian commission, Mrs. Arza Brown.

And now, standing here upon the border-land of two centuries, over-shadowed by the dear old flag, re-baptized with the blood of my beloved as of yours--standing here, a native-born citizen, as a woman to whom the honor, purity, peace and freedom of native land is dear as life; as a wife vitally interested in the interests of manhood; as a mother responsible for the best development of her children; as a human being, responsible to her Creator for the highest possible usefulness, I claim equality before the law.

Mrs. Mary Bannister Willard gave some surprising facts in regard to woman's work in connection with the North Western University, and reminded us that foremost among the women of the dawning century was Eliza Garret of Chicago, who secured to the Garret Biblical Institute its endowment of a quarter of a million of dollars, with the proviso that a certain increase of income from the same after the wants of the young theologues had been met, should be applied to the erection and endowment of a seminary for young ladies. But alas! the theological appetite has been insatiate, even unto this last, and deliverance has come to our girls from another quarter. And this was the throwing down of university gates and bars, and a free extension of all educational privileges to women. Upon the roll of honor connected with this work we gratefully place the names of many brave, self-sacrificing women.[368]

The Rev. Mr. Chappell, pastor of the Baptist church, then gave a most eloquent, liberal oration. In closing, he said: "But what think you, sisters, of the dangers that threaten the republic? Do they lie on your hearts? Are they in your prayers? Do they enter into your plans? All compliments and gallantries aside, it makes a vast difference in the destiny of the republic whether you understand and feel its dangers. The scale has turned. No longer need we dread oppression, disability, power; but on the other hand, license, luxury, listlessness, forgetfulness of God and the wholesome truth. This watch-night of the republic augurs well. This gathering of the sisterhood has its meaning. You are the power behind the throne; with you and with God lies the destiny of the republic." After the benediction the audience dispersed, all expressing of the entire programme the most enthusiastic approval.

About the close of the year 1876, a noticeable change in the direction of thought and effort was very apparent in the State of Illinois. As a result of the ravages of the fire and the severe mental strain to which business men were subjected, women sprang to the rescue, and actively engaged in business. These additional burdens assumed by the many, the few were left to bear the weight of religious, philanthropic and social duties. Women had tested their powers sufficiently to realize their strength, and were impatient for immediate results, hence many of the active friends of woman suffrage, believing that the temperance ballot could be more speedily secured than entire political equality, joined the home-protection movement, while through the broadening and helpful influence of the Grange in the farm-homes of the northwest, requests for aids to organization came from all quarters. In order that the earnest thoughts of the one class and the practical methods of the other, might be rendered mutually beneficial, I one day entered the sanctum of the progressive editor of the Inter-Ocean, and asked for a ten-minute audience. The request was granted, and Wm. Penn Nixon, esq., courteously listened to the following questions: "As a progressive journalist, and one who must recognize the philanthropic activity of the women of the Northwest, has it ever occurred to you that there is nowhere in journalism a special recognition of their interests? We have special fashion departments, special cooking departments, but no niche or corner devoted to the moral, industrial, educational, philanthropic and political interests of women; and does not your judgment assure you that such a department could be rendered popular?" As a result of this conversation a special corner of the Inter-Ocean was yielded to woman's interests, designated by the editors, "Woman's Kingdom," and on January 6, 1877, the following announcement appeared:

Congratulations to women that we have at last found a home in journalism; that amid the clashing of sabers of our modern press tournament, the knights of the quill recognize that women have some rights that journalists are bound to respect. These columns are in the interest of no class, clique, sect, or section, and we earnestly request accurate data of woman's work. All missionary, literary, temperance and woman suffrage organizations, will be accorded space for announcing their aims. With an occasional review of new books, we will confer in regard to what woman has written; wandering through studios and sanctums, we will record what she is painting and preaching. Pleading an intense and loving interest in the splendid opportunities now opening to American women, we shall hope that some truth may be evolved that may enrich their lives.

Notwithstanding this was the first special department of the kind, much of the best journalistic work of the State was being done by women,[369] who seemed to have received a new baptism to serve the higher interests of humanity. From the desire for cooeperation expressed by many contributors to "Woman's Kingdom," the following little item was set afloat in May, 1877:

Many facts recently arresting attention, in connection with the industrial, political, and moral interests of women, seem to render a conference of their representatives in regard to business aims, expedient. There is need of a bureau through which the industrial interests of women can be promoted and some practical answer given to the question everywhere heard, "How can we earn a living?" There is a demand for an educational bureau of correspondence and also a lyceum bureau through whose agency good lectures upon practical subjects can be secured in every city and village. All interested in such a conference are requested to send their names to Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Evanston, Ill., or Mrs. Louise Rockwood Wardner, Cairo, Ill.

Hon. Frank Sanborn, in his annual report to the American Social Science Association, mentioned the formation of a branch society[370] in this State. He said:

Like the State Charities Aid Association of New York, which was organized and is directed by women, the Illinois Association devotes itself chiefly to practical applications of social science, though in a somewhat different direction. It was formed in October, 1877, with a membership of some two hundred women; it publishes a monthly newspaper, The Illinois Social Science Journal, full of interesting communications, and it has organized in its first seven months' existence eight smaller associations in other States.

The enthusiasm in this society branching out in so many practical directions, absorbed for a time the energies of the Illinois women. Our membership reached 400. This may account for the apparent lethargy of the Suffrage Association during the years of 1877-78. Caroline F. Corbin dealt an effective blow in her novel, entitled "Rebecca; or, A Woman's Secret." Jane Grey Swisshelm, with trenchant pen, wrote earnest strictures against the shams of society. Elizabeth Holt Babbitt wrote earnestly for all reform movements. Myra Bradwell persistently held up to the view of the legislators of the State the injustice of the laws for woman. Mrs. Julia Mills Dunn and Mrs. Hannah J. Coffee were doing quiet but most effective work in Henry county. Miss Eliza Bowman was consecrating her young womanhood to the care of the Foundlings' Home. Mrs. Wardner, Mrs. Candee, Mrs. George, and other women in the southern part of the State, were founding the library at Cairo, while in every village and hamlet clubs for study or philanthropic work were being organized. Mrs. Kate N. Doggett, as president of the Association for the advancement of Women, was lending her influence to the formation of art clubs. And all this in addition to the vast army of faithful teachers, represented by Sarah B. Raymond, Professor Louisa Allen Gregory and Mary C. Larned. Mrs. Louise Rockwood Wardner, president of the Illinois Industrial School for Girls, and the noble band of women associated with her, were earnestly at work in the endeavor to secure to the vagrant girls of the State an industrial education. Miss Frances E. Willard and the dauntless army of temperance workers were petitioning for the right to vote on all questions pertaining to the liquor traffic.

Meanwhile many of the members of the Illinois Social Science Association were beginning to realize that every measure proposed for progressive action was thwarted because of woman's inability to crystallize her opinions into law. This has been the uniform experience in every department of reform, and sooner or later all thinking women see plainly that the direct influence secured by political power gives weight and dignity to their words and wishes. Mrs. Jane Graham Jones, ex-president of the State Association, continued her effective work in Europe, and, as a delegate from the National Association, prepared the following address of welcome to the International Congress, convened in Paris, July 5, 1878:

Friends, compatriots, and confreres of the International Congress assembled to discuss the rights of women: Allow me to extend to you the congratulations of the National Woman Suffrage Association of America, which I have the honor to represent. I congratulate you upon this important, this sublime moment, this auspicious place for the meeting of a woman's congress. Paris, gorgeous under the grand monarch who surrounded his royal person with a splendid galaxy of beauty, genius, and chivalry; attractive and influential under the great emperor whose meteoric genius held spell-bound the wondering gaze of a world; to-day, with neither king nor court, nor man of destiny, is grander, more gorgeous, more beautiful and more influential than ever before. To-day this is the shrine toward which the pilgrims from every land turn their impatient steps.

Each balmy breeze comes to us heavily laden with the dialects of all nations. Not only are the different parts represented in their economic and industrial products, but each thought, idea, motive and need is brought before the world in the various congresses assembled during this great union festival of liberty, peace and labor. Literature, science, religion, education, philosophy, and labor, each has had its eloquent advocates. At this time, when the great ones of the earth are met together in earnest thought and honest discussion, when each mind and conscience is attuned to the highest motive, how appropriate that woman, whose labor, wealth and brain have cemented the stones in every monument that man has reared to himself; that woman, the oppressed, woman, the hater of wars, the faithful, quiet drudge of the centuries, watching while others slept, working while others plundered and murdered; woman, who has died in prison and on the scaffold for liberty, should here and now have her audience and her advocates.

As a child of America I love and venerate France. We cannot forget LaFayette, although a hundred years have passed since generous France sent him to our aid in our great struggle for freedom. But as a woman I glory in her. [Great and deafening applause.] All true women love and honor France. [At this point the reader was interrupted with wild cries of "Bravo! bravo!" "Live America!" "True, true."] France, in whose prolific soil great and progressive ideas generate and take root, in spite of king, emperor, priest or tyrant; France, the protectress of science, art, and philosophy; France, the home of the scholar and thinker; France, the asylum which generously received the women who came hither seeking those intellectual advantages and privileges cruelly denied them at home; France, that compelled republican America and civilized England to open their educational institutions to women; France, the birth-place of a host of women whose splendid genius, devoted lives, and heroic deaths have encouraged and inspired women of other lands in their struggles to strike off the ignominious shackles which the ages have riveted upon them! [Loud applause.] How apropos it is, then, that the women from all nations meet on the free soil of France to give to the world their declaration of rights. To-day we clasp hands and pledge hearts to the sacred cause of woman's emancipation. To-day we meet to thank France for the grand women whose lofty utterances come echoing and reechoing to us through the corridors of time, and to thank her for her great men who have been the beacon lights to guide the world to higher civilization and greater hatred of oppression. In the name of my great countrywomen, inaugurators and leaders of the woman's rights movement in America, the eloquent and ardent advocates of liberty for men and women alike, both black and white; in the name of the officers of the National Woman Suffrage Association; in the name of those grand women, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony, I salute the women of France and of the world assembled in this congress, and bid them god-speed. When we call to mind what has been accomplished by noble women everywhere, we are encouraged to renewed effort.

In America we have accomplished wonders, and yet we demand more; and shall continue to demand until we are equal in the state, in the church, and in the home. Twenty years ago woman entered our courts of law only as a criminal to be tried; now she enters as an advocate to plead the cause of justice, and invoke the spirit of mercy. Twenty years ago woman entered the sick room only as the poorly-paid nurse; now she is the trusted medical adviser, friend and counsellor. To-day she is in many respects the peer of man, to-morrow she will be in all respects his acknowledged equal. [Great and continued applause.]

Who can measure the influence this congress may have on woman's advancement toward that perfect equality which justice and humanity demand. Women of France and of the world, be of good cheer, and continue to agitate for the right, for in the elevation of woman lies the progress of the world. [Deafening applause, and cries of hear, hear.]

A letter to the Chicago Times commenting upon the above address says:

Mrs. Jones being indisposed, was replaced momentarily by her daughter, a beautiful young lady of about sixteen summers, who read the opening address of her mother; her rich voice pronouncing with such distinctness and beauty, the earnest words, translated into French, won all hearts, and gave to the opening of the congress such a prestige as it would otherwise never have had. After its close, Miss Jones regained her seat amidst the hearty congratulations of the throng assembled in that great hall, and I was proud of our little American. Her beauty and courage, coupled with her extreme youth, were the principal topics discussed during the day by outsiders. I was thankful that our nation was so well represented at the very first meeting, and the Parisian journals were all loud in their praise of Mrs. Jones' welcoming address, as well as the charming apparition of her young and accomplished daughter.

As indicating the numerous lines along which woman's aroused energies have found expression, we would call attention to the Art Union of central Illinois. It is composed of nine societies, "The Historical," and "The Palladium," of Bloomington; the art class at Decatur; "Art Society," of Lincoln; "Art Association," of Jacksonville; "Art Society," of Peoria; "Art Society," of Springfield, and "Art Club," of Champagne. Mrs. Lavilla Wyatt Latham, wife of Col. Robert G. Latham, of Lincoln, was the originator of the Art Union. Their spacious home, built with large piazzas in true southern style, is a museum of curiosities. Its library, cabinet, pictures, and statuary, make it a most attractive harbor of rest to the wandering band of lecturers, especially as the cultivated host and hostess are in warm sympathy with all reform movements. Mr. Latham was a warm friend of Abraham Lincoln, and entertained him many times under his roof.

The Woman's Journal of March 24, 1877, said:

Seventy women of Illinois, appointed by the Woman's State Temperance Union, went to the legislature, bearing a petition signed by 7,000 persons, asking that no licenses to sell liquor be granted, which are not asked for by a majority of the citizens of the place.

Mr. SHERMAN moved a suspension of the rules to admit of the presentation of the petition.

Mr. MERRITT objected, but, by a decided vote, the rules were suspended, and the petition was received and read.

Mr. SHERMAN moved that Mrs. Prof. S. M. D. Fry of Wesleyan University of Bloomington, be invited to address the House upon the subject of the petition.

Mr. HERRINGTON objected to the obtrusion of such trifling matter upon the House, which had business to do. It was well enough to let the petition be received, but he wanted nobody to be allowed to interfere with the business of the House. Referring to some forty or fifty ladies of the Union who had been admitted to the floor of the House, he wanted to know by what authority persons not entitled to the privilege of the floor had been admitted. He insisted on his prerogative as a member, and asked that the floor and lobbies be cleared of all persons not entitled to the privilege of the House.

According to the Chicago Tribune, this speech of Herrington created a slight sensation, among the ladies especially, but Mr. Herrington's demand was ignored, and a recess of thirty minutes was taken to allow Mrs. Fry to address the House in support of the petition, which she did in a speech put in very telling phrases. At its conclusion, some of the members opposed to temperance legislation, signalized their ill-breeding, to say the least, by derisive yells for Mr. Herrington and others to answer Mrs. Fry. Presently the hall was resonant with yells and cheers, converting it into a a very babel, and the hubbub was kept up until, at the expiration of the half-hour recess, Speaker Shaw called "order" and the House immediately adjourned.

If any body of men bearing a petition of 7,000 voting men, had gone to the same legislature, and by courtesy been admitted to speak for their petition, no member would have dared to insult them. It is because they had no recognized political rights that these women were insulted. Claim your right, ladies, to be equal members of the legislature, then you can enact temperance laws, and have an unquestioned right "to the privilege of the floor."

In 1879, under the lead of their president, Frances E. Willard, the women of Illinois rolled up a mammoth petition of 180,000, asking the right to vote on the question of license. This prayer, like that of the 7,000, met the fate of all attempts of disfranchised classes to influence legislation. Following this repulse, in some ten or fifteen of the smaller cities of the State, boards of common council were prevailed upon to pass ordinances giving the women the right to vote on the question. Without an exception, the result was overwhelming majorities for "No License." In the cities where officers were elected at the same time, almost without exception, the majority of them were in favor of license, while in those in which the old board of officers held over, no licenses were granted, until the new board elected only by the votes of the men of the city, was installed. Dr. Alice B. Stockham, in her report at the Washington convention of 1885, said:

After the city ordinance of Keithsburg allowed women to vote, the hardest work was to convert the women themselves. Committees were appointed who visited from house to house to persuade women to go to the polls for the suppression of the rule of liquor. On the morning of election they met in a church for conference and prayer. At 10 o'clock forty brave women marched to the polls and cast their first ballot for home protection. Carriages were running to and fro all day to bring the invalid and the aged. For once they were induced to leave the making of ruffles and crazy quilts, to give their silent voice for the suppression of vice. Three weeks later not a woman could be found in the town opposed to suffrage, and for one year not a glass of liquor could be bought in Keithsburg.

Under the act of 1872, the women of Illinois thought their right to pursue every avocation, except the military, secure. But in 1880, a judicial decision proved the contrary. We quote from the National Citizen:

In June, 1879, the Circuit Court of Union County, Judge John Dougherty presiding, appointed Helen A. Schuchardt, resident of the county, to the office of Master in Chancery. Mrs. Schuchardt gave bond with security approved by the court, taking and subscribing the required oath of office. Since that day, she has been the acting Master of Chancery of that county, taking proofs, making judicial rules, and performing the other various duties incident to such office. At the last term of the court the State attorney, at the instance of Mr. Frank Hall, relator, filed an information in the nature of a quo warranto charging that Mrs. Schuchardt had usurped and was unlawfully holding and exercising the office. Mrs. Schuchardt filed pleas setting forth the order of the court appointing her, her bonds with the order of approval, and the oath of office filed by her. To these pleas a general demurrer was interposed and argued.

The questions presented by the demurrer were: First--Is the defendant eligible to this office, she being neither a practicing nor a learned lawyer? Second--Is the defendant eligible to this office, she being a female? The court dismissed the first question on the ground that the statute does not require admission to the bar as a qualification. Of the eleven Masters in Chancery in that Judicial Circuit, it was shown that only five had been admitted to the bar. As to the second objection, i. e., that Mrs. Schuchardt was a female (!) it was decided that the common law never contemplated the admittance of a woman to the office of Master in Chancery, and that doubtless it was the first instance in which a woman had been admitted to the office. It was also decided that the act of March 22, 1872, did not make women eligible to this office; Master in Chancery--for woman--did not mean "occupation, profession, or employment," and that "persons do not select an office, but are selected for the office."

Judge Harker, in delivering this opinion, said: "It is due to Mrs. Schuchardt to say in conclusion, that while I am constrained to sustain this demurrer and hold that under the law she cannot retain this office, there is not one of the Masters in Chancery in the four counties where I preside, who has been more faithful or attentive in the discharge of his duties, and none who has exhibited higher qualifications to discharge well those duties. And it is my sincere hope that at its next session the legislature will make this office accessible to females."

One of the most influential local associations has been that of Chicago, or Cook county.[371] From 1870 to 1876 Mrs. Jane Graham Jones was its president, as well as the leading spirit in the State Society.[372] She was the one to plan and execute the attacks upon the board of education, the common council, and the legislature, holding many meetings in Chicago, and at Springfield, the seat of government. Another flourishing association is that of Moline. We give the following from its secretary:

In May, 1877, Mrs. Eunice G. Sayles, and Mrs. Julia Mills Dunn, secured Mrs. Stanton to give a lecture on woman suffrage in Moline, and at a reception given to her by Mrs. Sayles, a society with 22 members was organized, which has held meetings regularly since that time, with the reading of papers on topics previously arranged by the president. It is a matter of pride that not a failure has ever occurred, each member always cheerfully performing the duty assigned her. An evening reception is held annually to celebrate the organization of the society, to which two hundred or more guests are invited, each member being entitled to bring several outside of her own family. The meetings have been valuable, not only in promoting friendly relations between the members, but also in the mental stimulus they have afforded. Much of the success of this society is due to the literary culture and earnestness of Mrs. Anne M. J. Dow, who was our president for three years. We have sustained a great loss in the death of Mrs. Sarah D. Nourse, who for thirty-five years was an earnest friend of all reforms.

Soon after its organization, our society became auxiliary to the National Association. We have circulated petitions and forwarded them to Springfield and Washington, where they have met the fate common to all prayers of the disfranchised; we have circulated tracts, placed on file in the public reading room all the suffrage journals, and secured the best lecturers on the question. We are organizing an afternoon reading society, to have read aloud "The History of Woman Suffrage," and shall soon place it on the shelves of the public library of the village. While we cannot point to any wonderful revolution in public sentiment because of our work, we are nevertheless full of courage, and under the leadership of our State president, Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, we shall go forward in faith and good works, hoping for the end of woman's political slavery.[373]

In concluding this meager record of the methods of earnest men and women of Illinois in their brave work for liberty, we are painfully conscious of a vast aggregate of personal toil and self sacrifice which can never be reported. We write of petitions presented to State and National legislative assemblies, but it is impossible to record the personal sacrifice and moral heroism of the women who went from house to house in the cities and villages, or traveled long distances across the broad prairies to secure the signatures. Only those who have carried a petition from door to door can know the fatigue and humiliation of spirit it involves. Though these earnest women ask only the influence of the names of persons to help on our reform, they are often treated with less courtesy than the dreaded book-agent and peddler.

WATSEKA, Ill.

I send you petitions, the one circulated by me has 270 names--the other by Clara L. Peters, 139.[374] We are interested heart and soul in the movement, and our efforts here have made many friends for the cause. Have been an ardent worker since I was a child, and well remember that grand hero of moral reforms, Samuel J. May of Syracuse, N. Y., at a Woman's Temperance Convention held in Rochester in 1852, when I was eight years old.

VIOLA HAWKS ARCHIBALD.[375]

The following letter from Mary L. Davis, gives some idea of the toils of circulating petitions:

DAVIS, Stephenson Co., Ill., May 28, 1877.

EDITOR Ballot-Box:--The question of suffrage for woman has been thoroughly discussed in our society, and last week I started out with my petition. I could work but a short time each day, but I systematically canvassed our beautiful little village, taking it by streets, and although I have been over but a small portion, I have ninety signatures. I met with but little opposition, and with kind wishes in abundance; with some amusing, some provoking, some pathetic, and some disgusting phases of human nature--with very agreeable disappointments, and very disagreeable ones. Very often some person would say to me, there is no use in calling at such a house; the man will not, and the woman dare not, sign. I went to such a place last week, was met with all the courtesy one could ask. The man looked over the petition thoughtfully, affixed his own name, and asked his wife if she did not wish to do so, and called in a beautiful sister who was out playing ball with the children, telling her as it was for the especial benefit of women, she ought to sign it too. I write these things to encourage our young girls, who will take up the work. Take every house, ask every person; "No," will not hurt or kill you. Be prepared to meet every argument that can possibly be advanced. The one which I meet oftenest, is that woman cannot fight, and therefore she shall not vote; and strange to relate, it is almost always advanced by a person who was never a soldier, through physical disability, cowardice, or over or under age.

The shortest "No," without the slightest shadow of courtesy, was shot from the lips of a man who is doing business on capital furnished by his wife, and who lives in a house purchased with his wife's money. Graceful return for her devotion, wasn't it? I suppose he prefers to keep her in her present state of serfdom, as, if she should ever find out that she was of any importance in the world, except as his housekeeper, cook, washerwoman, and waiter-in-general, she might possibly inquire into the stewardship of her lord and master. And it seemed to me if that ever came to pass, a man who could say "no" so cavalierly, without even a "thank you, ma'am," or, "you're quite welcome," both could and would manage to make surroundings rather disagreeable to the party of the second part. So far no person who has thought much, read much, or suffered much, has refused to sign, and in the few hours which I have devoted to the work, three grandmothers nearly ninety years of age, wished to have their names recorded on the right side of the question, and in two of those instances the grandmother, daughter, and grandfather affixed their signatures, one after another.[376]

We have been permitted to copy the following private letter from A.J. Grover to Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who is now at her home in Tenafly, N. J., busily at work with Miss Anthony and Mrs. Gage on the second volume of the "History of Woman Suffrage." The first volume should be on the center-table of every family in the land as a complete text-book on the woman suffrage question, which is to be one of the great issues, social and political, in the coming years. These three women have grown old and won their crowns of white hair in the cause of not only their sex, but of mankind:

CHICAGO, November 29, 1881.

MY DEAR FRIEND: You represent a movement of more importance to mankind than any that ever before claimed attention in the whole history of the race, viz.: the freedom of one-half of it. You have enforced this claim by half a century of heroic discussion--of persistent, unanswerable logic and appeal against the theory and practice of all nations, against all governments, codes and creeds. You proclaimed fifty years ago the novel doctrine that woman by nature is, and by law and usage should be, the absolute equal of man. A claim so self-evident should only have to be stated to be recognized by all civilized nations; and yet to this hour the highest civilization, equally with the lowest, is built on the slavery of woman. In the darkest corners of the earth and on the sunlit heights of civilization, the mothers of the race are by law, religion and custom doomed to degradation. And if the seal of their bondage is never to be broken, they themselves as well as the lords and masters they serve, are equally unconscious of the servitude. No religion, no civil government, has ever taught or recognized any other condition for woman than that of subjection. Against the accumulated precedents of all the ages, you and your noble coaedjutors have rebelled in the face of derision for fifty long, weary years. Was ever such sublime womanly heroism and self-sacrifice before known? Was ever such worth of culture, such wealth of womanhood, laid on the altar of country and humanity? And all this comparatively unrecognized and unrewarded. Where is the boasted chivalry of the English-speaking nations? It is a virtue we boast of, but do not possess. It never, in fact, had any real existence based on genuine respect for woman. It is a bitter sarcasm in the mouth of an American male citizen. A few men like Theodore Parker, Joshua R. Giddings, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Gerrit Smith, Samuel J. May and Parker Pillsbury have measurably redeemed this nation, recognizing your claim for woman as self-evidently just and righteous, and cooeperating with you in maintaining it. There are only a score or two of such men in a generation with sufficient chivalry or perception of justice to publicly claim for women the rights they themselves possess.

Science has demonstrated that men to be manly must be well born, must have noble mothers. How can a mother give birth to a noble soul while herself a slave? How can she impart a free spirit when her own is servile? A stream cannot rise higher than its fountain.

We have thought to bring about a high order of civilization by freeing our sons, while chaining our daughters, by sending sons to college and daughters to menial service for a mere pittance as wages, or selling them in marriage to the highest bidder--by robbing them on the very threshold of life of all noble ambition. By the degradation of our women we take from the inherited qualities of the race as much as is added by culture. We take from the metal before casting as much as we restore by polish afterwards, and thus we curse and stultify both sexes.

The law and religion of man can be no better than man himself. If religion, law, justice and social order are to improve, man must first be improved. Religion and law are effects, not causes. They are fruits, not the tree--the products of the human mind. If these are to be improved, mankind must first be improved. This will be impossible until freedom and culture shall become the inalienable rights of woman. It would be a thousand times better, if either must be a slave to the other, that man should be a slave to woman. The History of Woman Suffrage, on which you are engaged, if the second volume shall prove equal to the first, will be the richest legacy this age will bequeath to the future. It is a revelation from God, in which, if men believe, they shall be saved. Religion itself, without this great salvation, will continue to remain little else than "a wretched record of inspired crime" against woman. Woman must be free! Protection as an underling from man, savage or civilized, she in reality never had and never will have. Protection she does not want. What she needs is equal rights, when she can protect herself--rights of person, rights of labor, rights of property, rights of culture, rights of leisure, rights to participate in the making and administering of the laws. Give her equality in exchange for protection; give her her earnings in exchange for support; give her justice in exchange for charity. Let man trust woman as woman trusts man, with entire liberty of action, and she will show the world that liberty is her highest good.

In conclusion, let me confess that I read your first volume with a feeling of inexpressible shame and mortification for my sex.

Yours faithfully, A.J. GROVER.

Mrs. Boynton Harbert, to whom we are indebted for this chapter, has from girlhood been an enthusiastic advocate of the rights of women. Growing up in Crawfordsville, Indiana, under the very shadow of a collegiate institution into which girls were not permitted to enter, she early learned the humiliation of sex. After vain attempts to slip the bolts riveted with precedent and prejudice that barred the daughters of the State outside, she tried with pen and voice to rouse those whose stronger hands could open wide the doors to the justice of her appeals. Her youthful peaens to liberty in prose and verse early found their way into our Eastern journals, and later in arguments before conventions and legislative assemblies in Illinois, Iowa and other Western States. As editor for seven years of the "Woman's Kingdom" in the Chicago Inter-Ocean--one of the most popular journals in the nation--she has exerted a widespread influence over the lives of women, bringing new hope and ambition into many prairie homes. As editor-in-chief of the New Era, in which she is free to utter her deepest convictions; as wife and mother, with life's multiplied experiences, a wider outlook now opens before her, with added wisdom for the responsibilities involved in public life. In all her endeavors she has been nobly sustained by her husband, Mr. William Harbert, a successful lawyer, many years in practice in Chicago, whose clear judgment and generous sympathies have made his services invaluable in the reform movements of the day.

FOOTNOTES:

[351] Judge and Mrs. Catharine V. Waite, Mrs. Hannah M. Tracy Cutler, Amelia Bloomer, Dr. Ellen B. Ferguson, Mrs. E. O. G. Willard, the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Harrison of Earlville; Professor and Mrs. D. L. Brooks, Mrs. M. E. De Geer, Mrs. Frances D. Gage.

[352] Mrs. Sunderland was one of the many New England girls who in the early days went West to teach. Speaking of the large number of women elected to the office of county superintendent (one of them her own daughter), she told me that thirty years ago when she arrived at the settlement where she had been engaged as teacher, the trustees being unable to make the "examination" deputed one of their number to take her to an adjoining county, where another New England girl was teaching. The excursion was made in a lumber wagon with an ox-team. All the ordinary questions asked and promptly answered, the trustee rather hesitatingly said, "Now, while you're about it, wouldn't you just as lief write out the certificate?" This was readily done, and the man affixing his cross thereto, triumphantly carried the applicant back to his district, announcing her duly qualified to teach; and that trio of unlettered men installed the cultivated New England girl in their log school-house, probably without the thought entering the heads of trustees or teacher, that woman, when better educated, should hold the superior position.--[S. B. A.

[353] Dr. Mary Safford, Mrs. A. M. Freeman, Hon. and Mrs. Sharon Tyndale, Hon. E. Haines, Fernando Jones, Jane Graham Jones, Professor Bailey, Mr. and Mrs. Ezra Prince, Mr. and Mrs. R. M. Fell, Mrs. Belle S. Candee, General J. M. Thompson, Mrs. Professor Noyes of Evanston, Charles B. Waite, Catharine V. Waite, Susan Bronson, E. S. Williams, Kate N. Doggett, C. B. Farwell, L. Z. Leiter, J. L. Pickard, Henry M. Smith, Frank Gilbert, Ann Telford, Mrs. L. C. Levanway, Myra Bradwell, Mary E. Haven, Mrs. A. L. Taylor, Elizabeth Eggleston, P. D. Livermore, James B. Bradwell, Joseph Haven, J. H. Bayliss, D. Blakely, R. E. Hoyt, C. D. Helmer, Alfred L. Sewell, George D. Willigton, H. Allen, R. N. Foster, W. W. Smith, M. B. Smith, Amos G. Throop, Robert Collyer, L. I. Colburn, G. Percy English, Arthur Edwards, A. Reed and Sons, S. M. Booth, Sumner Ellis, George B. Marsh, Sarah Marsh, Ruth Graham, John Nutt, J. W. Butler, Mrs. J. Butler, Mrs. S. A. Richards, Mrs. S. W. Roe, F. W. Hall, Mrs. Fanny Blake, Mary S. Waite, J. F. Temple, A. W. Kellogg, W. H. Thomson, J. W. Loomis, James E. Curtis, Elizabeth Johnston, E. F. Hurlbut, E. E. Pratt, Mrs. E. M. Warren, William Doggett, Edward Beecher, James P. Weston, E. R. Allen, J. E. Forrester, Mrs. J. F. Temple, Mrs. F. W. Adams, L. Walker, Mary A. Whitaker, Elvira W. Ruggles, W. W. Corbett, H. B. Norton, W. H. Davis, I. S. Dennis, G. T. Flanders, Mrs. H. B. Manford, Edward Eggleston, Sarah G. Cleveland, G. G. Lyon, E. Manford, William D. Babbitt, Elizabeth Holt Babbitt, I. S. Page, W. O. Carpenter, Mrs. W. O. Carpenter, Mrs. H. W. Cobb, T. D. Fitch, Harriet Fitch, Mary A. Livermore, T. W. Eddy, A. G. Brackett, Andrew Shuman, John A. Jameson, John V. Farwell, B. W. Raymond, E. G. Taylor, Mems Root and lady, Rev. John McLean, Mrs. Owen Lovejoy, Mrs. Noyes Kendall.

[354] The officers were: President, Mrs. M. Livermore; Vice-Presidents, the Rev. Dr. Goodspeed, Mrs. Helen M. Beveridge, Judge Bradwell, the Rev. Edward Beecher, the Rev. D. Eggleston, Miss Eliza Bowman, the Rev. Dr. Fowler, Mrs. Elizabeth Loomis, Mrs. M. Hawley, Mrs. M. Wheeler, Mrs. Myra Bradwell; Secretaries, Mrs. Jeanne Fowler Willing, of Rockford, Mrs. Elizabeth Babbitt, and George Graham, Esq.; Committee on Finance, Judge Bradwell, General Beveridge and the Hon. S. M. Booth. The speakers were Anna Dickinson, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Rev. Robert Collyer, Rev. Mr. Hammond, Rev. Robert Laird Collier, Kate N. Doggett, and many of the officers of the convention.

[355] For this speech see Vol. II., page 348.

[356] The officers of the convention were: President, Mary A. Livermore; Vice-Presidents, the Rev. Robert Collyer, Professor Haven; Recording Secretary, Jeanne Willing, of Rockford; Corresponding Secretary, Myra Bradwell; Executive Committee, Professor Haven, chairman; the Rev. Dr. Edward Beecher, Elizabeth J. Loomis, Hannah B. Manford, the Rev. E. Eggleston, the Rev. C. H. Fowler the Rev. E. J. Goodspeed, Rebecca Mott, Charlotte L. Levanway.

[357] The committee to visit Springfield were Hon. James B. Bradwell, Mrs. Myra Bradwell, Mrs. Kate N. Doggett, the Rev. E. Goodspeed, the Hon. C. B. Waite, and Mrs. Rebecca Mott.

[358] Indiana--Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Dr. Mary Wilhite, Emma Mallory, and Amanda Way; Missouri--Rebecca N. Hazzard; Wisconsin--Lelia Peckham; Iowa--Mary Newbury Adams, Matilda Fletcher; Minnesota--Mrs. Bishop; Kansas--Mrs. Henry; Ohio--Margaret V. Longley; Michigan--Professor Stone; Massachusetts--Henry B. Blackwell, and Lucy Stone; New York--Susan B. Anthony, most of whom took part in the discussions.

[359] Letters were also received from Paulina Wright Davis, Frederick Douglass, Hon. Sharon Tyndale, Rev. D. H. N. Powers, Mrs. Arabella Mansfield, Rev. Willis Lord.

[360] The speakers were Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Stone, Hon. Sharon Tyndale, Hon. E. Haines, and Judge Bradwell.

[361] One thousand three hundred and eighty women of Peoria also prayed that the constitution might not be so amended as to enfranchise women; another evidence of the demoralizing influence of any form of slavery upon the human mind. Had not these women been lacking in a proper self-respect they would not have protested against the right to govern themselves.--[E. C. S.

[362] Our limited space prevents the publication of Judge Waite's argument and Judge Jameson's decision.

[363] Jane Graham Jones and Elizabeth Loomis represented the Cook County Association. Delegates from several other districts were present. The speakers were A. J. Grover, Mrs. Jane Graham Jones, Miss Anthony, Mrs. Adelle Hazlett of Michigan, Dr. Ellen B. Furguson of Indiana, Mr. and Mrs. Fell, Mr. and Mrs. Prince.

[364] For Mrs. Bradwell's case see Vol. II., page 601.

[365] Those who have traveled and lectured through the West and spent many rainy Sundays in dreary hotels, know how to appreciate a few days rest in the delightful homes scattered over the country as well as in the towns and cities. How many of these memory recalls in the State of Illinois! What a hospitable reception we had in the cozy farm-house of Mrs. Owen Lovejoy at Princeton, and in the stately residence of Mrs. Noyes Kendall at La Moile, in the home of Judge Lawrence at Galesburg, Mrs. Judge Joslyn at Woodstock, Mrs. R.M. Patrick, Marengo; Mrs. A.W. Brayton, Mt. Morris; Mrs. Eldridge Norwood, Olney; Rev. Dr. Moffatt, Monticello; Col. E.B. Loop, Belvidere; Mrs. Judge Greer, Decatur; Mr. and Mrs. Prince, Bloomington; Col. and Mrs. Latham, Lincoln, and others too numerous to mention in all the Western States.--[S.B.A.

[366] At her beautiful home, 910 Prairie avenue, her social influence was even more than her public work. An unfriendly report in any journal was uniformly followed by an invitation to dinner to the editor or some one of his staff, to meet the lady criticised, or discuss the point of attack. Miss Emily Faithful, Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony and Miss Couzins have all in turn shared these dinners and discussions. If the Methodist Episcopal conference sent an opponent to preach in their church, and a little social attention did not convert him, two persons left the church. Neither Mrs. Jones nor her husband would listen to the Rev. Dr. Hatfield, for Fernando Jones was always as staunch an advocate of the suffrage for women as his wife, and had no faith in a religion that did not teach human equality.--[S. B. A.

[367] "Ducit Amor Patriae"; "1876."--Centennial Commemoration, Evanston, Ill. Music, prayer, music; recitation, Miss M. E. Brown; music, "Battle Hymn"; salutatory, "Woman and Philanthropy," Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert; "Historical Record of the Educational Work of Our Women," Mrs. Mary Bannister Willard; music, "Whittier's Hymn; recitation, Miss M. E. Brown; Missionary Roll of Honor, Miss Jessie Brown; oration, Rev. F. L. Chapell; benediction.

[368] Mary F. Haskin, Melinda Hamline, Caroline Bishop, Elizabeth M. Greenleaf, Harriet S. Kidder, Mary T. Willard, Mary I. K. Huse, Cornelia Lunt, Harriet N. Noyes, Maria Cook, Margaret P. Evans, Sarah I. Hurd, Annie H. Thornton, Abby L. Brown, and Virginia S. Kent.

[369] Prominent among these journalists were Margaret Buchanan Sullivan and Mrs. Annie Kerr of the Chicago Times, Mrs. Hubbard of the Tribune, Miss Farrand of the Advance, Virginia Fitzgerald and Alice Hobbins of the Inter-Ocean, Mrs. Myra Bradwell, editor of the Legal News, Mrs. Catharine V. Waite and Mrs. DeGeer of the Crusader, Mrs. Louisa White of the Moline Dispatch, Mrs. C. B. Bostwick of the Mattoon Gazette, Mrs. J. Oberly of the Cairo Bulletin, Miss Mary West of the Galesburg Republican, Mrs. Celia Wooley, Miss Eliza Bowman, Mrs. Clara Lyon Peters of the Watseka Times, Jane Grey Swisshelm, Elizabeth Holt Babbitt, and many others.

[370] The officers of the Illinois Social Science Association were: President, Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Evanston; _Recording Secretary_, Miss Sarah A. Richards, Chicago; _Corresponding Secretary_, Mrs. W. E. Clifford, Evanston; Treasurer, Mrs. H. H. Candee, Cairo; Directors, Mrs. Helen M. Beveredge, Evanston; Mrs. Frank Denman, Quincy; Mrs. C. A. Beck, Centralia; Mrs. R. McLoughrey, Joliet; Mrs. W. O. Carpenter, Chicago; Miss M. Fredricka Perry, Chicago; Vice-Presidents, First Congressional District, Mrs. Eliza R. Sunderland, Chicago; Second, Mrs. W. D. Babbitt, Chicago; Third, Mrs. Chas. E. Brown. Evanston; Fourth, Mrs. Carrie A. Potter, Rockford; Fifth, Mrs. F. A. W. Shimer, Mt. Carroll; Sixth, Mrs. Sarah C. McIntosh, Joliet; Thirteenth, Mrs. B. M. Prince, Bloomington; Fourteenth, Mrs. C. B. Bostwick, Mattoon; Sixteenth, Mrs. J. W. Seymour, Centralia; Nineteenth, Mrs. J. H. Oberly, Cairo.

[371] President, Mrs. Fernando Jones; Vice-Presidents, Mrs. Robert Collyer, Mrs. Richard Somers, Rev. C. D. Helmer; Corresponding-Secretary, Mrs. C. B. Waite; Recording-Secretary, Mrs. S. H. Pierce; Treasurer, Mrs. J. W. Loomis; _Executive Committee_, Mrs. Rebecca Mott, Mrs. H. W. Fuller, Mrs. Dr. C. D. R. Levanway, Fernando Jones, Miss Thayer, Rev. J. M. Reid, Mrs. Jno. Jones, Mrs. Wm. Coker, Dr. S. C. Blake.

[372] The officers of the Illinois State Association are now, 1885; President, Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, Evanston; Vice-President-at-large, Mrs. M. E. Holmes, Galva; Secretary, Rev. Florence Kollock, Englewood; Treasurer, Dr. L. C. Bedell, 354 N. La Salle street, Chicago; Executive Committee, Hon. M. B. Castle, Sandwich: Mrs. E. J. Loomis, 2,939 Wabash avenue, Chicago; Mrs. Clara L. Peters, Watseka; Mrs. L. R. Wardner, Anna; Mrs. Julia Mills Dunn, Moline; Mrs. Helen E. Starrett, Lake Side Building, Chicago; Capt. W. S. Harbert, Evanston; Rev. C. C. Harrah, Galva.

[373] From time to time we have had for president, Mrs. Eunice G. Sayles, Mrs. Anna M. J. Dow, Mrs. Flora N. Candee, Mrs. Julia Mills Dunn, Mrs. Nettie H. Wheelock; for secretaries, Mrs. C. W. Heald, Mrs. Lucy Anderson, Mrs. Kate Anderson; among those who have been active members of the society from its formation are, Harriet B. G. Lester, Ida Peyton, L. F. M'Clennan, Catharine H. Calkins, Dr. Jane H. Miller, Margaret Osborne, Harriet M. Gillette, Laoti Gates, Mary F. Barnes, Mary Wright, M. M. Hubbard, Emma Jones, Mary A. Stewart, Kate S. Holt, Mary A. Stephens, Abbie A. Gould, Mrs. M'Cord, Lydia Wheelock, Mrs. E. P. Reynolds, J. A. Tallman, Ann Eliza Reator, Dr. S. E. Bailey, Dr. E. A. Taylor, Lucy Ainsworth, Jerome B. Wheelock, M. A. Young, Mary Knowles, M. E. Abbot, Lois Forward, Mrs. Young.

[374] Mrs. Clara Lyon Peters of Watseka, furnished the largest petition ever sent from Illinois; W. B. Wright of Greenview, Mrs. S. Eliza Lyon of Toulon, Mrs. Hannah J. Coffee of Orion, Mrs. Eva Edwards of Plymouth, Mrs. C. E. Larned of Champaign, Mrs. Barbara M. Prince of Bloomington, Mrs. F. B. Rowe of Freedom, Mrs. Jane Barnett, Mrs. E. H. Blacfan, and Mrs. E. T. Lippincott of Orion, Mrs. Julia Dunn of Moline, Mrs. Clara P. Bourland of Peoria, Sybilla Leek Browne of Odell, Mrs. Jacob Martin, Cairo, Mary E. Higbee, Kirkland Grove, Mary Thompson, LaSalle, Emily Z. Hall of Savoy, Elizabeth J. Loomis of Chicago, have all done worthy work in circulating petitions, both to congress and the State legislature.

[375] Mrs. Archibald is the daughter of Betsey Hawks, of Genesee county, N. Y. I well remember the brave-hearted mother in the early days of the movement, when in 1852 I made my first stammering speech in the town-hall at Batavia. She arranged the meeting, and entertained the speakers, and was indeed "the cause" in that conservative village.--[S. B. A.

[376] When at Durand, near Davis, in 1877, Mrs. Davis and her husband drove over, and at the close of my lecture, she gave me her maiden name and said, "Do you not remember me? I sat by your side and fairly pushed you up in that teachers' convention at Rochester, in 1853, when you made that first speech you told about; and I have been most earnestly hoping and working for the enfranchisement of women ever since."--[S.B.A.

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