XXXVIII. PENNSYLVANIA…

XXXVIII. PENNSYLVANIA

Carrie Burnham--The Canon and Civil Law the Source of Woman's Degradation--Women Sold with Cattle in 1768--Women Arrested in Pittsburgh--Mrs. McManus--Opposition to Women in the Colleges and Hospitals; John W. Forney Vindicates their Rights--Ann Preston--Women in Dentistry--James Truman's Letter--Swarthmore College--Suffrage Association Formed in 1866, in Philadelphia--John K. Wildman's Letter--Judge William S. Pierce--The Citizens' Suffrage Association, 333 Walnut Street, Edward M. Davis, President--Petitions to the Legislature--Constitutional Convention, 1873--Bishop Simpson, Mary Grew, Sarah C. Hallowell, Matilda Hindman, Mrs. Stanton, Address the Convention--Messrs. Broomall and Campbell Debate With the Opposition--Amendment Making Women Eligible to School Offices--Two Women Elected to Philadelphia School Board, 1874--The Wages of Married Women Protected--J. Edgar Thomson's Will--Literary Women as Editors--The Rev. Knox Little--Anne E. McDowell--Women as Physicians in Insane Asylums--The Fourteenth Amendment Resolution, 1881--Ex-Governor Hoyt's Lecture on Wyoming.

In the demand for the right of suffrage, women are constantly asked by the opposition if they cannot trust their own fathers, husbands and brothers to legislate for them. The answer to this question may be found in an able digest of the old common laws and the Revised Statutes of Pennsylvania,[255] prepared by Carrie S. Burnham[256] of Pennsylvania. A careful perusal of this paper will show the relative position of man and woman to be that of sovereign and subject.

To get at the real sentiments of a people in regard to the true status of woman we must read the canon and civil laws that form the basic principles of their religion and government. We must not trust to the feelings and actions of the best men towards the individual women whom they may chance to love and respect. The chivalry and courtesy that the few command through their beauty, wealth and position, are one thing; but justice, equality, liberty for the multitude, are quite another. And when the few, through misfortune, are made to feel the iron teeth of the law, they regret that they had not used their power to secure permanent protection under just laws, rather than to have trusted the transient favors of individuals to shield them in life's emergencies.

The law securing to married women the right to property,[257] inherited by will or bequest, passed the legislature of Pennsylvania, and was approved by the governor April 11, 1848, just five days after a similar law had been passed in New York. Judge Bovier was the mover for the Pennsylvania Married Women's Property Law. His feelings had been so often outraged with the misery caused by men marrying women for their property, that he was bound the law should be repealed. He prevailed on several young Quakers who had rich sisters, to run for the legislature. They were elected and did their duty. Judge Bovier was a descendent of the Waldenses, a society of French Quakers who fled to the mountains from persecution. Their descendants are still living in France.[258]

The disabilities and degradation that women suffer to-day grow out of the spirit of laws that date from a time when women were viewed in the light of beasts of burden. Scarce a century has passed since women were sold in this country with cattle. In the Pennsylvania Gazette for January 7, 1768, is the following advertisement:

TO BE SEEN.--At the Crooked Billet, near the Court-house, Philadelphia (Price Three Pence), A Two Year Old Hogg, 12 Hands high, and in length 16 Feet; thought to be the largest of its Kind ever seen in America.

In the same paper of the following week occurs this yet more extraordinary announcement:

TO BE SOLD.--A Healthy Young Dutch Woman, fit for town or country business; about 18 years old; can spin well; she speaks good English, and has about five years to serve. Inquire at James Der Kinderen's, Strawberry alley.

In one century of growth a woman's sewing machine was better protected than the woman herself under the old common law:

AN ACT to exempt Sewing Machines belonging to Seamstresses in this Commonwealth from levy and sale on execution or distress for rent:

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania in general assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That hereafter all sewing machines belonging to seamstresses in this commonwealth shall be exempt from levy and sale on execution or distress for rent, in addition to any article or money now exempt by law. Approved, April 17, 1869.

While the following order reflects the spirit of the seventeenth century, the comments show the dawning of the right idea, and are worthy the time in which the great State of Pennsylvania could boast such women as Lucretia Mott, Anna E. Dickinson, Jane G. Swisshelm and Sarah J. Hale:

A WOMAN ORDER IN PITTSBURGH.--The mayor of Pittsburgh has ordered the arrest of every woman found on the streets alone after 9 o'clock in the evening; the consequence of which has been that some respectable ladies have recently seen the inside of the lock-up.--Exchange, June, 1869.

Now let the mothers, wives and daughters of Pittsburgh obtain the passage, by the city council, of an ordinance causing the arrest of every man found in the streets after 9 o'clock in the evening, and the law will then be equal in its operation. This legislating upon the behavior of one sex by the other exclusively, is one-sided and despotic. Give both sexes a chance at reforming each other.

Another step in progress was indicated by the assumption of some women to influence civil administration, not only for their own protection, but for that of their sires and sons:

An exchange says that women are becoming perfect nuisances, and to substantiate the assertion adds that 1,500 women in Chester county, Pennsylvania, have petitioned the court to grant no more liquor licenses.

Suppose wives should come reeling home, night after night, with curses on their lips, to destroy the food, the dishes, the furniture for which husbands toiled; to abuse trembling children, making the home, from year to year, a pandemonium on earth--would the good men properly be called "nuisances," who should rise up and say this must end; we must protect our firesides, our children, ourselves, society at large? To have women even suggest such beneficent laws for the men of their families is called "a nuisance," while the whole barbarous code for women was declared by Lord Coke to be the "perfection of reason."

The prejudice against sex has been as bitter and unreasonable as against color, and far more reprehensible, because in too many cases it has been a contest between the inferior, with law on his side, and the superior, with law and custom against her, as the following facts in the Sunday Dispatch, by Anne E. McDowell, fully show:

The decision of the Court of Common Pleas in the case of Mrs. McManus, elected principal of the Mount Vernon Boys' Grammar School, is to the effect that, no rule being in existence prohibiting the exercise of the duties of such office by a woman, the resolution of the controllers against the exercise of the duties of that office by the lady was unjustifiable and illegal. Since the decision was pronounced the controllers have come up to the boundary of the principle held by the court, and a rule has been proposed that in future women shall be ineligible to be principals of boys' grammar schools--the case of Mrs. McManus being specially excepted. That lady, therefore, will be undisturbed. But she may be, like the celebrated "Lady Freemason." an exception to her sex. The controllers have not favored the public with their reasons for opposition to the employment of females in the higher positions of teaching. Women are good enough for inferior service about a boys' grammar-school, it seems, but they are not capable of superintending it. They may be, and are, teachers in all the classes in such schools, even to the highest; but when the question arises whether a woman, perfectly competent, shall be superintendent of all the classes--for a principal is little more--the controllers say no. If this action is influenced by a belief that women cannot control a school of boys, we hope that the experience in the case of Mrs. McManus will dispel the illusion, and the public can afford to await the result of the trial. But if it is caused by a regard to tradition or precedent, or because there never has yet been an instance of a woman being a principal of a boys' grammar-school before this case of Mrs. McManus, we hope that the controllers will soon see the error of their course. The complaints from the sections are to the effect that it is very difficult to get a competent male teacher to remain principal of a boys' grammar-school for any length of time. The salary attached to that position is inadequate, according to the increased cost of living of the times. Gentlemen who are competent to act as principals of the public schools find that they can make more money by establishing private schools; and hence they are uneasy and dissatisfied while in the public service. A woman able to take charge of a boys' grammar-school will be paid a more liberal salary (such is the injustice of our social system in relation to female labor) in that position than in any other connected with education that she can command, and she will therefore be likely to be better satisfied with the duties and to perform them more properly. That such advantage ought to be held out to ladies competent to be teachers of the highest grade, we firmly believe. The field of female avocations should be extended in every legitimate direction; and it seems to us, unless some reason can be given for the exception, which has not yet been presented in the case of Mrs. McManus, that the principalships of the boys' grammar-schools ought to be accessible to ladies of the proper character and qualification, without the imputation that by reason of their sex they must necessarily be unfitted for such duties.

In preparing themselves for the medical profession, for which the most conservative people now admit that women are peculiarly adapted, students have encountered years of opposition, ridicule and persecution. After a college for women was established in Philadelphia,[259] there was another long struggle before their right to attend the clinics in the hospitals was accorded. The faculty and students alike protested against the admission of women into mixed classes; but as there was no provision to give them the clinics alone, a protest against mixed classes was a protest against such advantages to women altogether. One would have supposed the men might have left the delicacy of the question to the decision of the women themselves. But in this struggle for education men have always been more concerned about the loss of modesty than the acquirement of knowledge and wisdom. From the opinions usually expressed by these self-constituted guardians of the feminine character, we might be led to infer that the virtues of women were not a part of the essential elements of their organization, but a sort of temporary scaffolding, erected by society to shield a naturally weak structure that any wind could readily demolish.

At a meeting convened November 15 at the University of Pennsylvania, to consider the subject of clinical instruction to mixed classes the following remonstrance was unanimously adopted:

The undersigned, professors in the University of Pennsylvania, professors in Jefferson Medical College, members of the medical staff of various hospitals of Philadelphia, and members of the medical profession in Philadelphia at large, out of respect for their profession, and for the interests of the public, do feel it to be their duty, at the present time, to express their convictions upon the subject of "clinical instruction to mixed classes of male and female students of medicine." They are induced to present their views on this question, which is of so grave importance to medical education, from the fact that it is misunderstood by the public, and because an attempt is now being made to force it before the community in a shape which they conceive to be injurious to the progress of medical science, and to the efficiency of clinical teaching. They have no hesitation in declaring that their deliberate conviction is adverse to conducting clinical instruction in the presence of students of both sexes. The judgment that has been arrived at is based upon the following considerations:

I. Clinical instruction in practical medicine demands an examination of all the organs and parts of the body, as far as practicable; hence, personal exposure becomes for this purpose often a matter of absolute necessity. It cannot be assumed, by any right-minded person, that male patients should be subjected to inspection before a class of females, although this inspection may, without impropriety, be submitted to before those of their own sex. A thorough investigation, as well as demonstration, in these cases--so necessary to render instruction complete and effective--is, by a mixed audience, precluded; while the clinical lecturer is restrained and embarrassed in his inquiries, and must therefore fall short in the conclusions which he may draw, and in the instruction which he communicates.

II. In many operations upon male patients exposure of the body is inevitable, and demonstrations must be made which are unfitted for the observation of students of the opposite sex. These expositions, when made under the eye of such a conjoined assemblage, are shocking to the sense of decency, and entail the risk of unmanning the surgeon--of distracting his mind, and endangering the life of his patient. Besides this, a large class of surgical diseases of the male is of so delicate a nature as altogether to forbid inspection by female students. Yet a complete understanding of this particular class of diseases is of preeminent importance to the community. Moreover, such affections can be thoroughly studied only in the clinics of the large cities, and the opportunity for studying them, so far from being curtailed, should be extended to the utmost possible degree. To those who are familiar with such cases as are here alluded to, it is inconceivable that females should ever be called to their treatment.

III. By the joint participation, on the part of male and female students, in the instruction and in the demonstrations which properly belong to the clinical lecture-room, the barrier of respect is broken down, and that high estimation of womanly qualities, which should always be sustained and cherished, and which has its origin in domestic and social associations, is lost, by an inevitable and positive demoralization of the individuals concerned, thereby entailing most serious detriment to the morals of society. In view of the above considerations, the undersigned[260] do earnestly and solemnly protest against the admixture of the sexes at clinical instruction in medicine and surgery, and do respectfully lay these their views before the board of managers of the hospitals in Philadelphia.

November 15, 1869.

At meetings held at the University and Jefferson Medical Colleges, by the students, on Wednesday evening, the following preambles and resolutions were adopted:

WHEREAS, The managers of the Pennsylvania Hospital have seen fit to admit female students to the clinics of that establishment, thereby excluding from the lectures many cases, medical and surgical; and

WHEREAS, We consider that in our purchase of tickets of admission there was a tacit agreement that we should have the benefit of all cases which the medical and surgical staff of that hospital should deem fit for our instruction:

Resolved, That a respectful request be made to the managers of the Pennsylvania Hospital that we be informed as to whether the usual character of the clinics will be changed.

Resolved, That pending the action of the managers on this question, we as a class and individually absent ourselves from the clinical lectures. And

WHEREAS, The levity of a few thoughtless young men in the presence of the females at the hospital has caused the journals of this city to assume that the whole class of medical students are utterly devoid of all the attributes of gentlemen,

Resolved, That while we do not by any means concede that the published accounts of the affair are correct, we deplore the fact that any demonstration should have taken place; for although the female students may be considered by their presence at the hospital where male students are present, to have cast aside that delicacy and modesty which constitutes the aegis of their sex, they are women, and as such demand our forbearance, if not our respect.

Resolved, That these preambles and resolutions be published in some respectable journal of this city.[261]

On these remonstrances of the faculty and students, The Press, John W. Forney, editor, had many able editorials condemning the action of the medical fraternity. The leading journals throughout the country advocated the right of the women to enjoy the advantages of the hospital clinics. The Press, November 22, 1869, said:

The proceedings of the meeting held by the faculties of our two leading medical schools evince the disposition which lurks at the bottom of the movement against women as physicians. The hospital managers are to be browbeaten into the stand taken by the students, and now sanctioned by the professors. If the women are to be denied the privilege of clinical lectures, why do not learned professors, or students, or both, have the manliness to suggest and advocate some means of solving the difficulty so that the rights of neither sex shall be impaired? Would any professor agree to lecture to the women separately? Would any professor favor the admission of women into the female wards of the hospitals? Would any professor agree to propose anything, or do anything that would weaken the firm stand taken against the admission of women to professional privileges? If so, why not do it at once? Nothing else will make protestations of fairness appear at all genuine. Nothing else will remove the stigma of attempting to drag the hospitals into a support of this crusade against women. * * * How absurd the solemn declaration, "it cannot be assumed by any right-minded person that male patients should be subjected to inspection before a class of females, although this inspection may, without impropriety, be submitted to before those of their own sex." This cuts both ways. If it be improper for female students to be present when patients of the other sex are treated, is it proper for male students to witness the treatment of female patients?

The practical good sense shown in the following report of a committee of the Faculty of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, makes a very favorable contrast with the unreasonable remonstrances of the so-called superior sex:

PHILADELPHIA, NOV. 15, 1869.

As the relation of students of medicine to public clinics, and the views entertained by those entitled to speak for their medical education, are now extensively discussed in the public journals, it seems necessary for us to state our position. Considering it decided that, as practitioners of medicine, the guardianship of life and health is to be placed in the keeping of women, it becomes the interest of society and the duty of those entrusted with their professional training to endeavor to provide for them all suitable means for that practical instruction which is gained at hospital clinics.

The taunt has heretofore been frequently thrown out that ladies have not attended the great clinical schools of the country, nor listened to its celebrated teachers, and that, consequently, they cannot be as well prepared as men for medical practice. We believe, as we have always done, that in all special diseases of men and women, and in all operations necessarily involving embarrassing exposure of person, it is not fitting or expedient that students of different sexes should attend promiscuously; that all special diseases of men should be treated by men in the presence of men only, and those of women, where it is practicable, by women in the presence of women only. It was this feeling, founded on the respect due to the delicacy of women as patients, perhaps more than any other consideration, which led to the founding of the Women's Hospital in Philadelphia. There the clinical demonstration of special diseases is made by and before women alone. As we would not permit men to enter these clinics, neither would we be willing--out of regard to the feelings of men as patients, if for no other considerations--that our students should attend clinics where men are specially treated, and there has been no time in the history of our college when our students could intentionally do so, save in direct contravention of our known views. In nearly all the great public hospitals, however, by far the larger proportion of cases suited for clinical illustration--whether medical or surgical--is of those which involve no necessary exposure, and are the results of diseases and accidents to which man and woman are subject alike, and which women are constantly called upon to treat. Into these clinics, women also--often sensitive and shrinking, albeit poor--are brought as patients to illustrate the lectures, and we maintain that wherever it is proper to introduce women as patients, there also is it but just and in accordance with the instincts of the truest womanhood for women to appear as physicians and students.

We had arranged when our class was admitted to the Pennsylvania hospital to attend on alternate clinic days only, so as to allow ample opportunity for the unembarrassed exhibition of special cases to the other students by themselves. We encouraged our students to visit the hospital upon this view, sustained by our confidence in the sound judgment and high-minded courtesy of the medical gentlemen in charge of the wards. All the objections that have been made to our students' admission to these clinics seem to be based upon the mistaken assumption that they had designed to attend them indiscriminately. As we state distinctly and unequivocally that this was not the fact, that they had no idea or intention of being present except on one day of the week, and when no cases which it would not be proper to illustrate before both classes of students would necessarily be brought in--it seems to us that all these objections are destroyed, and we cannot but feel that those fair-minded professional gentlemen, who, under this false impression as to facts, have objected to our course, will, upon a candid reconsideration, acknowledge that our position is just and intrinsically right. The general testimony of those who attended the Saturday clinics last winter at the Philadelphia Hospital at Blockley, when about forty ladies made regular visits, was that the tone and bearing of the students were greatly improved, while the usual cases were brought forward and the full measure of instruction given without any violation of refined propriety.

We maintain, in common with all medical men, that science is impersonal, and that the high aim of relief to suffering humanity sanctifies all duties: and we repel, as derogatory to the science of medicine, the assertion that the physician who has risen to the level of his high calling need be embarrassed, in treating general diseases, by the presence of earnest women. The movement for woman's medical education has been sustained from the beginning by the most refined, intelligent, and religious women, and by the noblest and best men in the community. It has ever been regarded by these as the cause of humanity, calculated in its very nature to enlarge professional experience, bless women, and refine society. It has in our own city caused a college and a hospital not only to be founded, but to be sustained and endowed by those who have known intimately the character and objects of this work, and the aims and efforts of those connected with it. It has this year brought to this city some fifty educated and earnest women to study medicine, women who have come to this labor enthusiastically but reverently, as to a great life-interest and a holy calling. These ladies purchased tickets, and entered the clinic of the Pennsylvania Hospital, with no obtrusive spirit, and with no intention of interfering with the legitimate advantages of other students. If they have been forced into an unwelcome notoriety, it has not been of their own seeking.

ANN PRESTON, M. D., Dean.

EMELINE H. CLEVELAND, M. D., Secretary.

We are indebted to James Truman, D. D. S., of the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery, for the following account of the admission of women into that branch of the medical profession:

The general agitation of the question: What are women best qualified for in the struggle for existence? naturally led liberal minds to the opening of new avenues for the employment of their talents, shared equally with men. Her right to practice in medicine had been conceded after a long and severe conflict. Even the domain of the theologian had been invaded, but law and dentistry were as yet closed, and in the case of the latter, unthought of as an appropriate avocation for women. The subject, however, seemed so important, presenting a field of labor peculiarly suited to her, that one gentleman, then professor in the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery, felt it his duty to call public attention to this promising work. In a valedictory delivered by him to the class of 1866, at Musical Fund Hall of Philadelphia, he included in his theme the peculiar fitness of dentistry for women. The question was briefly stated, but it rather startled the large audience by its novelty, and the effect was no less surprising on the faculty, board of trustees and professional gentlemen on the platform.

In the fall of 1868 the dean of the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery was waited upon by a German gentleman, who desired to introduce a lady who had come to this country with the expectation that all colleges were open to women. Although informed that this was not the case, he still entertained the hope that she might be admitted as a student of dentistry. She gave her name as Henrietti Hirschfeld, of Berlin. The matter came up before the faculty, and after a free discussion of the whole subject, she was rejected by a majority vote, but two voting in her favor.

In a subsequent interview with Professor Truman, he learned that she had left her native land with the full assurance that she would have no difficulty in "free America" in securing a dental education. She had also the positive sanction of her government, through the then minister of instruction, Dr. Falk, that on condition of receiving an American diploma she would be permitted to practice on her return. Her distress, therefore, at this initial failure was, naturally, very great. The excitement that this application made was intensified when it was rumored among the students that a woman desired to be matriculated. The opposition became very bitter, and manifested itself in many petty annoyances. In the course of a day or two one gentleman of the faculty, and he the dean, concluded to change his vote, and as this decided the question, she was admitted. The opposition of the professor of anatomy, who belonged to the old school of medical teachers, was so manifest that it was deemed advisable to have her take anatomy in the Woman's Medical College for that winter. The first year of this was in every way satisfactory. Although the students received her and Mrs. Truman, who accompanied her on the first visit, with a storm of hisses, they gradually learned not only to treat her with respect, but she became a favorite with all, and while not convinced as to the propriety of women in dentistry, they all agreed that Mrs. Hirschfeld might do as an exception. The last year she was permitted by the irate professor of anatomy, Dr. Forbes, to take that subject under him.

She graduated with honor, and returned to Berlin to practice her profession. This was regarded as an exceptional case, and by no means settled the status of the college in regard to women. The conservative element was exceedingly bitter, and it was very evident that a long time must elapse before another woman could be admitted. The great stir made by Mrs. Hirschfeld's graduation brought several other applications from ladies of Germany, but these were without hesitation denied. Failing to convince his colleagues of the injustice of their action, Dr. Truman tried to secure more favorable results from other colleges, and applied personally to Dr. Gorgas of the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery. The answer was favorable, and he accompanied the applicant and entered her in that institution. This furnished accommodation for the few applicants. The loss in money began to tell on the pockets, if not the consciences, of the faculty of the Philadelphia school. They saw the stream had flown in another direction, swelling the coffers of another institution, when, without an effort, they could have retained the whole. They concluded to try the experiment again, and accepted three ladies in 1872 and 1873--Miss Annie D. Ramborger of Philadelphia, Fraulein Veleske Wilcke and Dr. Jacoby of Germany. Their first year was very satisfactory, but at its close it was very evident that there was a determination on the part of the minority of the class to spare no effort to effect their removal from the school. A petition was forwarded to the faculty to this effect, and although one was presented by the majority of the students in their favor, the faculty chose to accept the former as representing public sentiment, and it was decided not to allow them to take another year at this college. This outrage was not accomplished without forcible protest from the gentleman previously named, and he appealed from this decision to the governing power, the board of trustees.[262] To hear this appeal a special meeting was called for March 27, 1873, at which the communication of Professor Truman was read and ordered filed. A similar communication, in opposition, was received, signed by Professors T. L. Buckingham, E. Wildman, George T. Barker, James Tyson and J. Ewing Mears. The matter was referred to a committee consisting of Hon. Henry C. Carey, W. S. Pierce and G. R. Morehouse, M. D. At a special meeting convened for this purpose, March 31, 1873, this committee made their report. They say:

Three ladies entered as students of this college at the commencement of the session, 1872-73, paid their matriculation fees, attended the course of lectures, and were informed, by a resolution adopted by a majority of the faculty at the close of the session, that they would not be permitted to attend the second course of lectures. No other cause was assigned for the action of the faculty than that they deemed it against the interest of the college to permit them to do so, on account of the dissatisfaction which it gave to certain male students, etc. * * * The goal to which all medical and dental students look, is graduation and the diploma, which is to be the evidence of their qualification to practice their art. To qualify themselves for this they bestow their time, their money and their labor. To deprive them of this without just cause is to disappoint their hopes, and to receive from them money and bestowal of time and labor without the full equivalent which they had a right to expect.

After discussing at length the legal aspects of the case, the summing up is as follows:

We, therefore, respectfully report that in our opinion it is the legal right of these ladies to attend, and it is the legal duty of this college to give them, as students, a second course of lectures on the terms of the announcement which forms the basis of the contract with them.

This report was signed by all the committee, and read by W. S. Pierce, one of the number, and judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia. It carried with it, therefore, all the force of a judicial decision, and was so accepted by the board, and adopted at once. This left the majority of the faculty no choice but to accept the decision as final as far as these ladies were concerned. This they did, and the three were invited to resume their studies. Two, Misses Ramborger and Wilcke, accepted, Miss Jacoby refused and went to Baltimore.

The most interesting feature of this matter, and that which clearly demonstrated a marked advance in public opinion, was the stir it made in the press. The daily and Sunday papers bristled with strong leaders, the faculty being denounced in no measured terms for their action. To such an extent was this carried, and so overwhelming was the indignation, that it practically settled the question for Philadelphia, although several years elapsed after these ladies were graduated before others were accepted. When that time did arrive, under the present dean, Dr. C. N. Pierce, they were accorded everything, without any reservation, and the school has continued ever since to accept them. At the meeting of the National Association of Dentists, held at Saratoga, 1869, Dr. Truman introduced a resolution looking to the recognition of women in the profession. The resolution and the remarks were kindly received, but were, of course, laid on the table. This was expected, the object being to make the thought familiar in every section of the country.

These efforts have borne rich fruit, and now women are being educated at a majority of the prominent dental colleges, and no complaints are heard of coeducation in this department of work. The college that first accepted and then rejected--the Pennsylvania of Philadelphia--has a yearly average of seven to eight women, nearly equally divided between America and Germany. Of the three dental schools in Philadelphia, two accept women, and the third--the Dental Department of the University of Pennsylvania--would, if the faculty were not overruled by the governing powers.

The learned theories that were promulgated in regard to the injury the practice of dentistry would be to women, have all fallen to the ground. The advocates of women in dentistry were met at the outstart with the health question, and as it had never been tested, the most favorably inclined looked forward with some anxiety to the result. Fifteen years have elapsed since then, and almost every town in Germany is supplied with a woman in this profession. Many are also established in America. These have all the usual requisites of bodily strength, and the writer has yet to learn of a single failure from physical deterioration.

The first lady, Miss Lucy B. Hobbs, to graduate in dentistry, was sent out from the Cincinnati College, and she, I believe, is still in active practice in Kansas. She graduated in 1866. Mrs. Hirschfeld, before spoken of, returned to Germany and became at once a subject for the fun of the comic papers, and for the more serious work of the Bajan and Uberlana und Meer, both of them containing elaborate and illustrated notices of her. She had some friends in the higher walks of life; notable amongst these was President Lette of the Trauen-Verein, whose aid and powerful influence had assisted her materially in the early stages of her effort. The result of these combined forces soon placed her in possession of a large practice. She was patronized by ladies in the highest circles, including the crown princess. She subsequently married, had two boys to rear and educate, and a large household to supervise. She has assisted several of her relatives into professions, two in medicine and two in dentistry, besides aiding many worthy persons. She has established a clinic for women in Berlin, something very badly needed there. This is in charge of two physicians, one being her husband's sister, Dr. Fanny Tiburtius. She has also started a hospital for women. These are mainly supported by her individual exertions. Notwithstanding all these multifarious and trying duties, she practices daily, and is as well physically and mentally as when she commenced. Fraulein Valeske Wilcke of Koenigsberg has been over twelve years in a very large practice with no evil results; Miss Annie D. Ramborger, an equal time, with an equally large practice, and enjoys apparently far better health than most ladies of thirty.

Dentistry is, probably, one of the most trying professions, very few men being equal to the severe strain, and many are obliged to succumb. No woman has as yet failed, though it would not be at all remarkable if such were the case. The probabilities are that comparatively few will choose it as a profession, but that another door has been opened for employment is a cause for congratulation with all right-thinking minds.

For opening this profession to women a debt of gratitude is due to Dr. Truman from all his countrywomen, as well as to those noble German students, who have so ably filled the positions he secured for them. Similar struggles, both in medicine and dentistry, were encountered in other States, but the result was as it must be in every case, the final triumph of justice for women. Already they are in most of the colleges and hospitals, and members of many of the State and National associations.

In 1870, the Society of Friends founded Swarthmore College[263] for the education of both sexes, erecting a fine building in a beautiful locality. At the dedication of this institution, Lucretia Mott was elected to honorary membership and invited to the platform. With her own hands she planted the first tree, which now adorns those spacious grounds.

The persecutions that women encountered in every onward step soon taught them the necessity of remodeling the laws and customs for themselves. They began to see the fallacy of the old ideas, that men looked after the interests of women, "that they were their natural protectors," that they could safely trust them to legislate on their personal and property rights; for they found in almost every case that whatever right and privilege man claimed for himself, he proposed exactly the opposite for women. Hence the necessity for them to have a voice as to the laws and the rulers under which they lived. Whatever reform they attempted they soon found their labors valueless, because they had no power to remedy any evils protected by law. After laboring in temperance, prison-reform, coeducation, and women's rights in the trades and professions, their hopes all alike centered at last in the suffrage movement.

In 1866, a suffrage association was formed in Philadelphia at a meeting of the American Equal Rights Society,[264] held in Franklin Institute. This convention was marked by a heated debate on the duty of the abolitionists now that the black man was emancipated, to make the demand for the enfranchisement of women, as well as the freedmen.

We are indebted to John K. Wildman of Philadelphia for the following:

The Pennsylvania association was organized December 22, 1869, in Mercantile Library Hall, Philadelphia. The meeting was called to order by John K. Wildman, who said: "The time has arrived when it is necessary for us to take some action towards promoting the cause of woman suffrage. We desire to do our part as far as practicable, in the work of enlightening the people of our State upon this important subject. With this end in view we propose to organize, hoping that all friends of the movement will cordially give us their influence." Edward M. Davis then proposed the appointment of Judge William S. Pierce as chairman of the meeting. This was agreed to, and Judge Pierce announced that the meeting was ready for business, reserving for another stage of the proceedings any remarks he might wish to make. Annie Heacock was chosen to act as secretary. In accordance with a motion that was adopted, the chairman appointed a committee of five persons[265] to prepare a constitution, and present the same for the action of the meeting. Mary Grew spoke at length in her earnest and impressive manner, presenting forcibly those familiar yet solid arguments in favor of woman suffrage which form the basis of the discussion, and which should irrevocably settle the question. Dr. Henry T. Child followed with a brief address, showing his zealous interest in the object of the meeting, and trusting that at no distant period the ballot would be placed in the hands of the women of the land. Judge Pierce said:

I am in favor of giving woman a chance in the world. I feel very much in regard to woman as Diogenes did when Alexander the Great went to see him. When the monarch arrived at the city in which Diogenes lived, he sent a request for him to come to see him. Diogenes declined to go. The monarch then went to the place of his residence, and found him lying in his court-yard sunning himself. He did not even rise when Alexander approached. Standing over him, the warrior asked, "Diogenes, what can I do for you?" And the philosopher answered, "Nothing, except to stand out of my sunshine." Now, I am disposed to stand out of woman's sunshine. If she wants the light of the sun upon her, and the breath of heaven upon her, and freedom of action necessary to develop herself, heaven forbid that I should stand in her way. I believe that everything goes to its own place in God's world, and woman will go to her place if you do not impede her. We should not be afraid to trust her, or to apply the same principles to her in regard to suffrage that we apply to ourselves. There should be no distinction. Her claims to the ballot rest upon a just and logical foundation.

The venerable Sojourner Truth spoke a few words of encouragement, showing in her humble and fervid way a reverent faith in the final triumph of justice. After the adoption of the constitution, the organization was completed by the election of officers[266] to serve for the ensuing year.

The first thing that claimed the attention of the officers of the new society was the representation of the different counties on the executive committee; and for this purpose the chairman wrote to nearly all of the sixty-three counties, chiefly to the postmasters of the principal towns. The replies that were received presented a curious medley of sentiment and opinion touching the object in view, disclosing every shade of tone and temper between the two extremes of cold indifference and warm enthusiasm. It was evident that, in a large number of cases, the inquiries promptly found their resting-place in the waste-basket. Before the close of the year twenty-two counties were represented. Thus reinforced, the committee took immediate steps towards distributing documents and circulating petitions throughout the State. Many of the county members cooeperated earnestly in this work. Some of them, not satisfied to limit their action to this particular form of service, aided the movement by collecting funds and holding public meetings in their respective localities. Matilda Hindman, representing Alleghany county, evinced both energy and enterprise in forwarding the movement through the agency of public meetings. She did good service from the beginning, relying almost solely upon her own determined purpose. Her deep interest in the work and its object, and the courage that animated her at the first impulse of duty, have continued without abatement to the present time. Her usefulness and activity have not confined themselves within the limits of Pennsylvania, but have extended to other States, both in the East and West.

Miss Matilda Hindman, of Philadelphia, pays the following tribute to her parents:

In 1837, my father being a member of the school committee of the Union township, Washington county, secured equal salaries for women; and in spite of steady opposition, there was no difference made for four years. The women who taught the schools in the summer were paid the same as the men who taught in the winter. At the death of my father the board returned to the old system of half pay for women; the result was "incompetent teachers," furnishing the opposition with just the plea they desired--that women were not fit for school teachers. My mother remonstrated, but in vain. They replied, "women never received as much as men for any work"; "it did not cost as much to keep a woman as a man," and moreover, these school matters belonged to men, and women had no right to interfere. In 1842, my mother offered to board the teacher in her district, gratis, if the board would raise her salary proportionally. They received her proposition with scorn. She then refused to pay her taxes. Such was the respect for her in the community, and the sense of justice in regard to the teachers, that the authorities suffered the tax to go unpaid, and at the end of the year accepted the proposition, and for many years after, she boarded the teacher in her district, making the woman's net salary equal to that of the man.

My mother lived to see her daughters employed in her township on equal salaries with men. But in process of time, another board, for the express purpose of humiliating mother and daughters alike, passed a resolution to take two dollars a month from each of their salaries, when all three resigned. They all honored her, by carrying into their life-work the noble principles for which she suffered so much.

She was the grand-daughter of a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian minister, who, with his young family, was among the earliest settlers in the wilderness of what is now known as the prosperous and beautiful county of Washington, Pennsylvania. Her name was Sarah Campbell. She was born in 1798. From her earliest girlhood she rebelled against the injustice done women by the law. She felt acutely the wrong done her and her sisters by being denied an education equal to their brothers, and denied also an equal share of their inheritance. While the father possessed a large estate, and provided liberally for his sons, he left his daughters a mere pittance.

In view of such facts, it is folly to say that women were ever satisfied with the humiliating discriminations of sex they have endured in all periods, and in all ranks in society.

The first annual report of the association was prepared by Eliza Sproat Turner. She said:

We do not complain that man is slow to realize the injustice of his present attitude towards woman--an attitude once, from necessity, endurable; now, from too long continuance, grown intolerable. It would not be natural for him to feel it with equal keenness. It takes a great-minded fox to find out, what every goose knows, that foxes' teeth are cruel. And while we do not complain of this incapacity on his part, the advocates of this cause feel the necessity for woman to take upon herself whatever share in the management of their mutual affairs shall be needed to right the balance; concluding that the defects in legislation which she is, by reason of her position, more competent to understand, she should be more competent to remedy. Not these innovations alone, but others involving matters beyond individual interests, she expects to achieve by the power she shall gain through the exercise of her right of suffrage. We discern, in the consideration of nearly all questions of national welfare, a disposition to press unduly the interests of trade and commerce rather than the interests of the fireside.

Mary Grew presided, and has been elected president of the association every year from the beginning, performing the duties of the position with ability, earnestness and satisfaction. In the winter of 1870-71 the executive committee recommended the passage of a law that should give married women the control of their own earnings. The appeal to the legislature in behalf of such a law was renewed the following winter, and its passage finally secured. Among the resolutions adopted at the annual meeting was the following:

Resolved, That the vote of the legislature of this State for a convention to amend the constitution, makes it our duty to work for the exclusion of the word "male" from the provision defining the qualifications for the elective franchise, and that we call upon all friends of justice to give their best energies to the sustaining of this object.

Subsequently the executive committee prepared a petition with reference to the formation of the constitutional convention, asking the legislature, in making the needful regulations, to frame them in such a way as to secure the representation of the women of the State. This petition was unavailing. At the next annual meeting, which was held at the time the constitutional convention was in session, a resolution was adopted containing an appeal to that body, earnestly requesting it to present to the people of the State a constitution that should secure the right of suffrage to its citizens without distinction of sex, accompanied by a request for a hearing at such time and place as the convention should decide. The request was willingly granted, and an evening assigned for that purpose. An evening was also given to the Citizens' Suffrage Society of Philadelphia for a like object. These meetings were held in the hall of the convention, and were largely attended by the members and by the people generally. Addresses were delivered by various friends of woman suffrage, as representatives of the two societies.[267] Still another evening was granted the Pennsylvania association for a meeting to be addressed by Bishop Matthew Simpson of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The earnest and forcible words of the eloquent speaker, and his solid array of arguments, made a deep impression on the attentive audience.

In the convention the question was discussed during five successive days. Hon. John M. Broomall introduced a provision in favor of making the ballot free to men and women alike, proposing that it be incorporated in the new constitution. This provision was ably advocated by Mr. Broomall and many other members of the convention. Their firm convictions in behalf of equal and exact justice, however well sustained by sound reasoning and earnest appeal, was an unequal match for the rooted conservatism which recoiled from such a new departure. Although the measure was defeated, its discussion had an influence. It was animated, intelligent and exhaustive, and drew public attention more directly to the subject than anything that had occurred since the beginning of its agitation in the State.

The only act of the convention that gave hope to the friends of impartial suffrage was the adoption of the third section of Article X.: "Women twenty-one years of age and upwards shall be eligible to any office of control or management under the school laws of this State." It was a very faint gleam of comfort, too small to stir more than a breath of praise. It had the merit of being a step in the right direction, though timid and feeble, and as it has never disturbed the equilibrium of society, it may ultimately be followed by others of more importance.

The annual meetings of the association have been held in Philadelphia, Westchester, Bristol, Kennett Square and Media, respectively. An interesting feature of the Westchester meeting was the reading of an essay, entitled "Four quite New Reasons why you should wish your Wife to Vote." It was written for the occasion by Eliza Sproat Turner, and was subsequently printed and re-printed in tract form by order of the executive committee, and freely circulated among the people. It was likewise published in the Woman's Journal. Other documents relative to the question have been printed from time to time by authority of the committee, and large numbers of suffrage tracts have been purchased for distribution year after year, embodying the best thoughts, the soundest arguments, and the most forcible reasoning that the question has elicited. Frequent petitions have been sent to the legislature and to congress, all having in view the one paramount object, and showing by their repeated and persistent appearance the indefatigable nature of a living, breathing reform. The executive committee at one time employed Matilda Hindman as State agent. Meetings were held by her chiefly in the western part of the State. In 1874 her services extended to the State of Michigan, where the question of woman suffrage was specially before the people. Lelia E. Patridge also represented the association in Michigan at that time, where she performed excellent service in addressing numerous meetings in different parts of the State. In 1877 Miss Patridge was appointed to represent the society in Colorado. There she labored with others to secure the adoption of a constitutional amendment providing for suffrage without regard to sex. On several occasions the executive committee has contributed to woman suffrage purposes in other States. Massachusetts, Michigan, Colorado and Oregon have been recipients of the limited resources of the association. The executive committee has felt the cramping influence of an unfriended treasury. Its provision has been the fruit of unwearied soliciting, and should the especial object of the association ever be accomplished, the honors of success may be fitly contested by the fine art of begging.

The following report was sent us by Mrs. Mary Byrnes:

March 22, 1872, the Citizens' Suffrage Association of Philadelphia was formed, William Morris Davis, president, with fifty members. The name of the society was chosen to denote the view of its members as to the basis of the elective franchise. The amendments to the United States constitution had clearly defined who were citizens, and shown citizenship to be without sex. Woman was as indisputably a citizen as man. Whatever rights he possessed as a citizen she possessed also. The supreme law of the land placed her on the same plane of political rights with him. If man held the right of suffrage as a citizen of the United States, either by birthright within the respective States, or by naturalization under the United States, then the right of the female citizen to vote was as absolute as that of the male citizen; and woman's disfranchisement became a wrong inflicted upon her by usurped power. Men became voters by reason of their citizenship, having first complied with certain police regulations imposed within and by the respective States. The Citizens' Suffrage Association demanded the same political rights for all citizens, nothing more, nothing less. It repudiated the idea that one class of citizens should ask of another class rights which that other class never possessed, and which those who were denied them never had lost. This society held that the right to give implied the right to take away; and further, that the right to give implied a right lodged somewhere in society, which society had never acquired by any direct concession from the people.

This society held also, that the theory of the right to the franchise, as a gift, bore with it the power somewhere to restrict the male citizen's suffrage, and to strike at the principle of self-government. They had seen this doctrine earnestly advanced. They knew that there was a growing class in the country who were inimical to universal suffrage. In view of this they chose the name of citizen suffrage, as the highest and broadest term by which to designate their devotion to the political rights of all citizens. They held that the political condition of the white women of the United States was totally unlike that of the slave population in this: that while the slaves were not considered citizens until the adoption of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, white women had always been citizens, and always entitled to all the political rights of citizenship. The colored male citizen became a voter--subject to the police regulations of the different States--upon acquiring citizenship. No constitutional enactment denied equal political rights to women as citizens. No constitutional enactment was therefore required to enable them to exercise the right to vote, which became the right of male slaves upon their securing citizenship under the law. The first legal argument on the subject of woman's right to the ballot as a citizen of the United States, was made by Jacob F. Byrnes before the Pennsylvania Society. Had it been published as soon as written, instead of being circulated privately, surprising person after person with the position taken, it would have antedated the report of General Benjamin F. Butler in the House of Representatives in the winter of 1871.

Edward M. Davis, president for many years, was one of the most active and untiring officers of this association, giving generously of his time and money not only to its support but to the general agitation of the suffrage question in every part of the country. The meetings were held regularly at his office, 333 Walnut street, as were also those of the Radical Club. This was composed largely of the same members as the suffrage society, but in this organization they had a greater latitude in discussion, covering all questions of political, religious and social interest. As the division in the National Society produced division everywhere, some of the friends in Philadelphia made themselves auxiliary to the American Association, and the sympathy of others was with the National, thus forming two rival societies, which together kept the suffrage question before the people and roused their attention, particularly to the fact of a pending constitutional convention. Hence the necessity of holding meetings throughout the State, and rolling up petitions asking that the constitution be so amended as to secure to women the right to vote. The following appeal was issued by this association:

To the Editor of the Post:

SIR: There is no political question now before the people of this commonwealth more important than the consideration of the changes to be made in our constitution. The citizens of the State, by an enormous majority of votes, have re-claimed the sovereign powers of government, and evinced a determination to re-form the fundamental law, the constitution of this State, in the interest of a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." In this new adaptation of old rules of government to the advanced ideas of the age, it seems to us fitting and opportune that woman in her new status as a citizen of the United States (under the fourteenth amendment of the constitution), should be allowed the exercise of rights which have been withheld under old rules of action. Therefore we respectfully ask you to give this, with our appeal, an insertion in your paper, and to continue the appeal until further notice. And we ask all the friends of woman suffrage to aid our association in placing this appeal in each paper of our city, as well as of the neighboring towns.

"There is no distinction in citizenship as has been determined by the fourteenth amendment to the constitution of the United States. The citizens of Pennsylvania have decided on a revision of the constitution of the commonwealth. The power of revision is to be delegated by the citizens of the commonwealth to a convention. The foundation of free government is based on the consent of the governed. Therefore, the Citizens' Suffrage Association of Pennsylvania appeals to the sense of right and justice in the hearts of the citizens of this State, to aid in securing to every citizen, irrespective of sex, an equal voice in the selection of delegates, and an equal right, if elected thereto, to a seat in said constitutional convention."

WM. MORRIS DAVIS, Controller.

Mr. Robert Purvis, at the request of the Citizens' Suffrage Association of Philadelphia, waited upon Mrs. President Hayes and presented to her an address adopted by that society. Mr. Purvis wrote:

I have just returned from a very satisfactory and delightful interview with Mrs. Hayes. She received me most cordially. I read to her the eloquent address from the Citizens' Suffrage Association. She listened with marked attention, was grateful for the high favor conferred upon her, and sent her best wishes for the success of the cause. I made reference to the fact that the address bore the honored name of Lucretia Mott, which she received with a ready acknowledgment of her great worth and usefulness, and her distinguished place as a reformer and philanthropist.

Through the liberality of Edward M. Davis, this society was able to publish and circulate an immense number of tracts covering all phases of the question. He has been one of the few abolitionists who have thrown into this movement all the old-time fervor manifested in the slavery conflict. A worthy son of the sainted Lucretia Mott, her mantle seems to have fallen on his shoulders.

The Hon. John M. Broomall was ever ready to champion the cause of equality of rights for women, not only in the legislature and in the constitutional conventions of his own State, but on the floor of congress as well. In a letter giving us valuable information on several points, he says:

You ask when I made my first declaration for woman suffrage. I cannot tell. I was born in 1816, and one of the earliest settled convictions I formed as a man was that no person should be discriminated against on account of sect, sex, race or color, but that all should have an equal chance in the race which the Divine Ruler has set before all; and I never missed an opportunity to give utterance to this conviction in conversation, on the stump, on the platform and in legislative bodies. My views were set out concisely in my remarks in congress, on January 30, 1869, and I cite the commencement and conclusion, as I find them in The Globe of that date:

Every person owing allegiance to the government and not under the legal control of another, should have an equal voice in making and administering the laws, unless debarred for violating those laws; and in this I make no distinction of wealth, intelligence, race, family or sex. If just government is founded upon the consent of the governed, and if the established mode of consent is through the ballot-box, then those who are denied the right of suffrage can in no sense be held as consenting, and the government which withholds that right is as to those from whom it is withheld no just government. * * * * The measure now before the House is necessary to the complete fulfillment of what has gone before it. To hesitate now is to put in peril all we have gained. Let this, too, pass into history as an accomplished fact. Let it be followed, in due course of time, by the last crowning act of the series--an amendment to the constitution securing to all citizens of full age, without regard to sex, an equal voice in making and amending the laws under which they live, to be forfeited only for crime. Then the great mission of the party in power will be fulfilled; then will have been demonstrated the capacity of man for self-government; then a just nation, founded upon the full and free consent of its citizens will be no longer a dream of the optimist.

Mrs. Virginia Barnhurst writes:

I think you should make mention of the few men who, against the greatest opposition, stood boldly up and avowed themselves in favor of woman's cause. When I think of some of the speeches that I heard from the opposite side--expressions which sent the hot blood to my face, and which showed the low estimate law-makers put upon woman, those few men who dared to defend mothers and sisters, stand out in my mind as worthy of having their names go down in history--and especially in a history written by women. I had a good talk with Lawyer Campbell. He is one of the most ardent in the cause; he believes the ballot to be a necessity to woman, as a means of self-protection, this necessity being seen in the unequal operation of many laws relating to the guardianship of children and the ownership of property. Caleb White's words have in them the just consciousness of their own immortality: "I want my vote to be recorded; not to be judged of here, but to be judged of by coming generations, who, at least, will give to woman the rights which God intended she should have."

The constitutional convention to which reference has been so frequently made in this chapter, assembled November 12, 1872, and as early as the 22d, resolutions relative to women holding school-offices and to the property-rights of women were presented. Numberless petitions for these and full suffrage for women were sent in during the entire sitting of the convention. February 3, 1873, John H. Campbell presented the minority report of the Committee on Suffrage and Elections:

The undersigned, members of the Committee on Suffrage, Election and Representation, dissent from that part of the majority report of said committee, which limits the right of suffrage to male electors. We recommend that the question, "Shall woman exercise the right of suffrage," be submitted by the convention to the qualified electors of this commonwealth, and also upon the same day therewith, to those women of the commonwealth who upon the day of voting shall be of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, and have been residents of the State one year, and in the district where they offered to vote at least sixty days prior thereto; and that if the majority of all the votes cast at said election should be in the affirmative, then the word "male" as a qualification for an elector, contained in section ----, article ---- on suffrage and election shall be stricken out, and women in this State shall thereafter exercise the right of suffrage, subject only to the restrictions placed upon the male voters.

JOHN H. CAMPBELL, LEWIS C. CASSIDY, LEVI ROOKE.

The amendment for full suffrage was lost by a vote of 75 to 25, with 33 absent, while the amendment making women eligible for school offices was carried by a vote of 60 to 32.[268] The debate by those in favor of the amendment was so ably and eloquently conducted that we would gladly reproduce it, had not all the salient points been so often and so exhaustively presented on the floor of congress, and by some of the members from Pennsylvania.

After the passage of the school law of 1873, it was immediately tested all over the State, rousing opposition and conflict everywhere, but the struggle resulted favorably to women, who now hold many offices to which they were once ineligible. At the first election of school directors in Philadelphia the nomination of two women was hotly contested. The Evening Telegraph of February 6, 1874, gives the following:

There is progressing in the Thirteenth ward a contest which involves so peculiar and important an issue as to merit the widest publicity. It illustrates how the rights guaranteed to women under the new constitution are to be denied them, if cunning and bold chicanery are to be tolerated, by a few ward politicians. At the Republican primary election, held January 20, Mrs. Harriet W. Paist and Mrs. George W. Woelpper were duly nominated as candidates for members of the board of school directors of the ward. Both of these ladies received their certificates, that given to Mrs. Paist reading as follows:

This is to certify that at a meeting of the judges of the different divisions of the Thirteenth ward, held in accordance with the rules of the Republican party, on the evening of January 20, 1874, Mrs. Harriet W. Paist was found to be elected as candidate upon the Republican ticket from the Thirteenth ward, for school director.

CHARLES M. CARPENTER, President.

JAMES M. STEWART, } Clerks. DAVID J. SMITH, }

No sooner was it ascertained that the ladies had actually become candidates on the Republican ticket than a movement was inaugurated to oust them, the old war tocsin of "Anything to beat Grant" being for this purpose amended thus: "Anything to beat the women." This antagonism to the fair candidates was based entirely upon the supposition that their names would so materially weaken the ticket as to place the election of the Republican common councilman, Henry C. Dunlap, in the greatest jeopardy. To save him, therefore, the managers of the movement must sacrifice Mesdames Woelpper and Paist. How was this to be accomplished? Each was fortified in her position by a genuine certificate of election, and had, furthermore, expressed her determination to run. What could not be done fairly must be accomplished by strategy. Mr. Ezra Lukens called upon Mrs. Paist, stating that if she did not withdraw the Republicans who were opposed to the lady candidates would unite with the "other party" and defeat the Republican ward ticket. Mrs. Paist inquired if she had not been regularly nominated, and his reply was that she had been, but that her opponents in the party would unite with the "other party" and defeat her. Mrs. Paist was firm, and Mr. Lukens retired foiled. A day or two after, the chairman of the Thirteenth ward Republican executive committee received somehow this letter:

PHILADELPHIA, February 2, 1874.

DEAR SIR: Please accept this as my declination as school director on the Thirteenth ward Republican ticket. Hoping it will please those opposed to a lady director.

Respectfully yours, HARRIET W. PAIST.

A week previous to this the husband of Mrs. Woelpper was called upon by Mr. William B. Elliott, a member of this executive committee, and was informed by him that Mrs. Paist had withdrawn, and that it would be unpleasant, if not inexpedient, for Mrs. Woelpper to run alone. Mr. Woelpper expressed his belief that if such were the case his wife would withdraw. At a meeting of the executive committee a short time after, it was announced that both the ladies had withdrawn, and everything looked serene for victory, when the next day the members were individually informed that the letter of declination written above was a base forgery, and that neither of the ladies intended to withdraw from the contest. Another meeting of the executive committee was held on the 2d inst., at which Mr. Woelpper, jr., was present. He declared that the statement made to his father was false, and that he was present to say for his mother that she was still a candidate. This announcement fell like a bomb in a peaceful camp, causing great confusion. After order was restored, William B. Elliott, the collector, offered a resolution declaring it inexpedient to have any ladies on the ticket at this time. This resolution was opposed by F. Theodore Walton and a number of the members, who denied the power of the committee to change the ticket regularly chosen at the primary election. They favored the fair candidates, for whose election as school directors the constitution had made special provisions, and whose presence in the school-boards had been very favorably commented upon by all the papers of the city. Besides, the ladies were as legitimately entitled to their candidacy as Mr. Dunlap, and it would be a gross and unparalelled outrage to sacrifice them from mere prejudice, or in the belief that their presence would injure the chances of Mr. Dunlap. Then arose Collector Elliott, his face fairly glowing with honest indignation, and his voice sharp and stinging in his tirade against the newspapers. What did he care what the newspapers said? What are the newspapers but sheets sold out to the highest bidder? The newspapers, he cried, are all in the market, to be bought and sold the same as coal! That was their business, and they didn't want stability so long as there was cash to be got. Then he came down upon them in a perfect whirlwind of wrath for daring to favor the women candidates for school directors of the Thirteenth ward, and sat down as though he had accomplished a noble purpose.

The question on the resolution was pressed, and resulted in its adoption by a vote of 20 to 12.[269] A resolution was offered by David T. Smith that Mrs. Paist and Mrs. Woelpper be thrown off the ticket, and this resolution was carried by the same vote as the preceding one. The meeting then adjourned. In consequence of this action Mrs. Paist addressed to the citizens of the Thirteenth ward the following card, in which she declares that she does not intend to resign:

To the Citizens of the Thirteenth Ward.:

Unpleasant though it may be to thus appear before the public, I feel that I must, in justice to myself, expose the fraud and deception that have been practiced to defeat my election on the 17th of February next. I received the nomination and certificate of election signed by James M. Stewart, David T. Smith, clerks, and Charles M. Carpenter, president. Certainly they would not be guilty of deceiving, for are they not "all honorable men"? John B. Green, George M. Taylor and A. W. Lyman then (Ezra Lukens having been on a similar fruitless mission) called on the eve of January 30, 1874, wishing me to withdraw; stating that Mrs. Woelpper had done so (which was false), and they thought it would not be pleasant for me to serve. They also placed it on the ground of expediency, fearing that their candidate for council (Mr. Dunlap) was so weak that a woman on the ticket might jeopardize the election. I knew not before that woman held the balance of power. After sending their emissaries under the false garb of friendship to induce me to decline, without success, they were reduced to the desperate means of producing a letter, which was read by the secretary of the executive meeting, February 2, purporting to come from me, and withdrawing my name. I pronounce it publicly to be a forgery. I have not withdrawn, neither do I intend to withdraw. Would that I had the power of Brutus or a Patrick Henry, that I might put these designing, intriguing politicians in their true light! They deserve to be held up to the contumely and scorn of the community.

February 3, 1874. HARRIET W. PAIST.

Despite the action of the committee, these talented ladies will be run as the regular candidates for school directors. A committee of citizens of the Republican party will prepare the tickets and see that they are properly distributed, and take all precautions against fraud at the election and against any effort that may be made to count out the fair candidates at the meeting of the ward return judges. It is of the greatest importance that all good citizens of the ward shall do all in their power to secure not only the fullest possible number of votes for the lady candidates, but a fair count when they have been received. It remains to be seen whether the Republican citizens of the ward will endorse the action of a committee which from mere prejudice can throw off regularly-elected candidates from a ticket.

The ladies were elected, and Mrs. Paist served her term. Mrs. Woelpper died immediately after the election.

Anna McDowell, in the Sunday Republic of April 8, 1877, in a long article shows the necessity of some legal knowledge for women, enough at least to look after their own interests, and not be compelled through their ignorance to trust absolutely to the protection of others. They should be trained to understand that all pecuniary affairs should be placed on a business basis as strictly between themselves and their fathers and brothers as men require in their contracts with each other. After giving many instances in which women have been grossly defrauded by their relatives, she points to the will of the great railroad king of Pennsylvania:

Let us glance for a moment at the will of the late J. Edgar Thomson, than which no more unjust testament was ever offered for probate. This gentleman, the sole object of affection of two most worthy and self-sacrificing sisters, married late in life without making any adequate settlement upon the relatives to whom, in a great measure, he owed his success. He always promised to provide for them amply, saying, repeatedly, in effect, in letters which we have seen, "As my fortune advances so also shall yours; my prosperity will be your prosperity," etc. Oblivious to the ties of nature and affection, however, when he came to make his will he, out of a fortune of two millions, bequeathed to these sisters, during life, an annuity of $1,200 per annum only, leaving the rest of the income of his estate to his wife and her niece, the latter a young lady whom he had previously made independent by his skilful investment of a few thousand dollars left her by her father. Not content with the will which gave her also a large income for life out of Mr. Thomson's estate, this niece of his wife brought suit against the executors to recover bonds found after the death of the testator in an envelope on which her name was written, and through the ruling of Judge Thayer, a relation by marriage to the husband of the lady, the case was decided in her favor, and $100,000 was thus absolutely and permanently taken from the fund designed for the asylum which it was Mr. Thomson's long-cherished desire to found for the benefit and education of orphan girls whose fathers had been or might be killed by accident on the Pennsylvania and other railroads. The injustice of this decision is made manifest when we reflect that the Misses Anna and Adeline Thomson, who worked side by side with their brother as civil engineers in their father's office, and labored, without pay, therein, that he might be educated and sent abroad further to perfect himself in his profession, were cut off with a comparatively paltry stipend for life, this being still further reduced by the collateral-inheritance tax. As high an authority as Dr. William A. Hammond says that, "for a man to cut off his natural heirs in his will is prima facie evidence of abberation of mind," and we believe this to be true.

Had these sisters[270] been brothers they would have been recognized as partners and had their legal proportion of the accumulations of the business in which they labored in early years with equal faithfulness, side by side. This is but another instance of women's blind faith in the men of their families and of the danger in allowing business matters to adjust themselves on the basis of honor, courtesy and protection.

Among the literary women of the State are Sarah C. Hallowell, on the editorial staff of the Public Ledger; the daughters of John W. Forney, for many years in charge of the woman's department of Forney's Progress; Anne McDowell, editor of the woman's department in The Sunday Republic; Mrs. E. A. Wade; "Bessie Bramble" of Pittsburg has for many years ably edited a woman's department in the Sunday Leader; Matilda Hindman, an excellent column in the Pittsburg Commercial Gazette. In science Grace Anna Lewis stands foremost. Her paper read before the Woman's Congress in Philadelphia in 1876, attracted much attention. These ladies with others organized "The Century Club"[271] in 1876, for preeminently practical and benevolent work. Its objects are various: looking after working girls, sending children into the country for fresh air during summer, and improving the houses of the poor and needy. The Club has a large house to which is attached a cooking-school and lodgings for unfortunates in great emergencies.

Woman's ambition was not confined at this period to literature and the learned professions; she found herself capable of practical work on a large scale in the department of agriculture. The Philadelphia Press has the following:

The beautiful farm of Abel C. Thomas, at Tacony, near Philadelphia, is remarkable chiefly because it is managed by a woman, Mrs. Louise H. Thomas. Her husband, the intimate friend of Horace Greeley, and well known as an author and theologian, in time past, has long been too feeble to take any part in managing the property. That duty has devolved upon Mrs. Thomas. The house, two hundred yards from the Pennsylvania railroad, is hidden from view by the trees which surround it. The grounds are tastefully laid out, and the lawn mowed with a regularity that indicates constant feminine attention. The plot is 20 acres in extent. Six acres comprise the orchard and garden. In addition to apple, apricot, pear, peach, plum and cherry, there are specimens of all kinds of trees, from pine to poplar.

A Press reporter recently walked over the premises, and Mrs. Thomas explained her manner of doing business. "I look after everything about the farm; take my little sample bags of wheat to the mills, and sell the crop by it; and twice I got ten cents more a bushel than any of my neighbors. But the things I take most interest in are my cows, chickens and bees. My cattle are from Jersey island, and pure Alderney. They are very gentle and good milkers. From four of them I get about 800 pounds of butter a year. The price of this butter varies from 50 cents to $1.00 per pound. There's my dog. When it's milking time, the hired man says to the dog, 'Shep, go after the cows,' and away he goes, and in a little while the herd come tinkling up. Why send a man to do a boy's work, or a boy to do that which a shepherd dog can do just as well? The cows understand him, and readily come when they are sent after. Well, so much for the milk department. Now, as to the garden; I don't sell much from that. Still, if the vegetables were not grown, they would have to be bought, and I take all that into consideration in closing accounts. And that's one thing most farmers don't do; they don't put on the cash side of the ledger the cost of their living, for which they have been to no expense. Now, as to the bees. The first cost is about the only expense attached to these little workers. I have twenty-five colonies, and can, and do handle them with as much safety as if they were so much dry wheat. I sell about $100 worth of honey yearly, and consume half as much at home. The bees are not troublesome when you know how to handle them, but they require to be delicately handled at swarming time.

"Now, as to chickens. My stock consists exclusively of the light Brahma breed. They come early, grow fast, sell readily, are tender, and have no disposition to forage; they are not all the time wandering round and flying over the garden fence, and scratching up flower and vegetable seeds. In fact, if you'll notice, there is a docility about my live-stock that is very attractive. The cows and chickens only need articulation to carry on conversation. You didn't see the hatching department of my chicken-house? I modeled the building after one used by a Madame de Linas, a French lady living near Paris, and am much pleased with it. I sometimes raise 1,000 chickens a season. I sell them at prices all the way up from $1 to $3 apiece. You must remember that they are full-blooded, and I always have my stock replenished. I keep the best and sell for the highest prices. They are generally sold to private families, who wish to get the stock, and I always sell them alive. They are not much trouble to raise, provided you know how, and have the accommodations for doing it. I feed them corn, milk, meal and water, and pay particular attention to their being properly housed. The eggs of this breed are very rich, and I charge one dollar and a half for a setting--that is, thirteen eggs.

"I have some three or four acres of wheat growing and it is heading out finely. Oh!" said Mrs. Thomas, becoming more enthusiastic, as she reviewed the incomes from the cereals, cows, and chickens, "I am making money, and money is a standard of success, although there is to me a greater pleasure than the mere financial part of the business, which comes from the passion I have for the life. I wish, indeed, that young ladies would turn their attention to this matter. To me, it seems to open to them an avenue for acquiring a competency in an independent way; and to one who would pursue it earnestly, I know of no avocation scarcely worth being classed with it."

"And you are not lonesome out here?"

"Oh! no. I never was lonesome an hour in my life--don't have time; I have a great deal of work to do, and am always ready to do it. Indeed, the only people I pity are those who do not work, or find no interest in it. No, no; I have plenty of visitors, and last week Jennie June, Lucretia Mott, and Anna Dickinson paid me a visit and were very much pleased while here. I have two grown-up boys, one in New York and the other in California; and have reared thirteen children besides my own family--colored, French, Italian, and I know not what nationalities."

Mrs. Thomas, who is certainly a remarkable woman, is a thoroughly educated one; has traveled extensively both in Europe and this country. Herself and husband have been intimate acquaintances of many eminent men, among whom were President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton. The activity displayed in managing the estate indicates the possession of marked executive ability, and the exercise she thus receives has doubtless had its share in keeping her young, well-preserved, and good-natured.

When the Rev. Knox Little visited this country in 1880, thinking the women of America specially needed his ministrations, he preached a sermon that called out the general ridicule of our literary women. In the Sunday Republic of December 12, Anne E. M'Dowell said:

The reverend gentlemen of St. Clement's Church, of this city, with their frequent English visiting clergymen, are not only trying their best to carry Christianity back into the dark ages, by reinvesting it with all old-time traditions and mummeries, but they are striving anew to forge chains for the minds, consciences, and bodies of women whom the spirit of Christian progress has, in a measure, made free in this country. The sermon of the Rev. Knox Little, rector of St. Alban's Church, Manchester, England, recently delivered at St. Clement's in this city, and reported in the daily Times, is just such an one as might be looked for from the class of thinkers whom he on that occasion represented. These ritualistic brethren are bitterly opposed to divorce, and hold the belief that so many Britons adhere to on their native soil, viz., that "woman is an inferior animal, created only for man's use and pleasure, and designed by Providence to be in absolute submission to her lord and master." The feeling engendered by this belief breeds contempt for and indifference to the nobler aspirations of women amongst men of the higher ranks, while it crops out in tyranny in the middle, and brutality in the lower classes of society. Even the gentry and nobility of Great Britain are not all exempt from brutal manifestations of power toward their wives. We once sheltered in our own house for weeks the wife of an English Earl who had been forced to leave her home and family through the brutality of her high-born husband--brutality from which the law could not or would not protect her. She died at our house, and when she was robed for her last rest much care had to be taken to arrange the dress and hair so that the scars of wounds inflicted on the throat, neck and cheek by her cruel husband might not be too apparent.

The reports of English police courts are full of disclosures of ill-treatment of women by their husbands, and year by year our own courts are more densely thronged by women asking safety from the brutality of men who at the altar have vowed to "love, honor and protect" them. In nearly all these cases, the men who are brought into our courts on the charge of maltreating women are of foreign birth who have been born and brought up under the spiritual guidance of such clergymen as the Rev. Knox-Little, who tell them, as he told the audience of women to whom he preached in this city: "To her husband a wife owes the duty of unqualified obedience. There is no crime that a man can commit which justifies his wife in leaving him or applying for that monstrous thing, a divorce. It is her duty to submit herself to him always, and no crime he can commit justifies her lack of obedience. If he is a bad or wicked man she may gently remonstrate with him, but disobey him, never." Again, addressing his audience at St. Clement's, he says: "You may marry a bad man, but what of that? You had no right to marry a bad man. If you knew it, you deserved it. If you did not know it, you must endure it all the same. You can pray for him, and perhaps he will reform; but leave him--never. Never think of that accursed thing--divorce. Divorce breaks up families--families build up the church. The Christian woman lives to build up the church." This is the sort of sermonizing, reiterated from year to year, that makes brutes of Englishmen, of all classes, and sinks the average English woman to the condition of a child-bearing slave, valuable, mostly, for the number of children she brings her husband. She is permitted to hold no opinion unaccepted by her master, denied all reason and forced to frequent churches where she is forbidden the exercise of her common-sense, and where she is told: "Men are logical; women lack this quality, but have an intricacy of thought. There are those who think that women can be taught logic; this is a mistake. They can never, by any process of education, arrive at the same mental status as that enjoyed by man; but they have a quickness of apprehension--what is usually called leaping at conclusions--that is astonishing."

Divorce is a question over which woman now disputes man's absolute control. His canon and civil laws alike have made marriage for her a condition of slavery, from which she is now seeking emancipation; and just in proportion as women become independent and self-supporting, they will sunder the ties that bind them in degrading relations.

In September, 1880, Governor Hoyt was petitioned to appoint a woman as member of the State Board of Commissioners of Public Charities. The special business of this commission is to examine into the condition of all charitable, reformatory and correctional institutions within the State, to have a general oversight of the methods of instruction, the well-being and comfort of the inmates, with a supervision of all those in authority in such institutions. Dr. Susan Smith of West Philadelphia, from the year of the cruel imprisonment of the unfortunate Hester Vaughan, regularly for twelve years poured petitions into both houses of the legislature, numerously signed by prominent philanthropists, setting forth the necessity of women as inspectors in the female wards of the jails of the State, and backing them by an array of appalling facts, and yet the legislature, from year to year, turned a deaf ear to her appeals. Happily for the unfortunate wards of the State, the law passed in 1881.

STATE HOSPITAL FOR THE INSANE, NORRISTOWN, Pa., Sept. 28, 1885.

MY DEAR MISS ANTHONY: I have referred your letter to my old friend, Dr. Hiram Corson, of Plymouth, Pa., who can, if he will, give a much better history of the movement in this State, than any one else, being one of the pioneers. I hope that you will hear from him. If, however, he returns your letter to me, I will give you the few facts that I know. I should be glad to have you visit our hospital and see our work.

Very respectfully yours, ALICE BENNETT.

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., Oct. 2, 1885.

MISS SUSAN B. ANTHONY: Esteemed Friend:--Dr. Alice Bennett has referred your letter with questions to me. Alice Bennett, M. D., Ph. D., is chief physician of the female department of the eastern hospital of Pennsylvania, for the insane. She is also member of the Montgomery County Medical Society, and member of the Medical Society of the State of Pennsylvania. She is the only woman in the civilized world, of whom I have ever heard, who has entire charge of the female patients in an institution for the care and treatment of the insane. We have in the Harrisburg hospital, Dr. Jane Garver, as physician for the female insane, but she is subordinate to the male physician. She has a female physician to assist her. Dr. Bennett was appointed and took charge in July, 1880, with Dr. Anna Kingler as her assistant. Dr. Kingler resigned, and went to India as medical missionary; was succeeded by Dr. Rebecca S. Hunt, who, after more than a year's service, also resigned to go to India as medical missionary. Dr. Bennett has now two women physicians to assist her in the care of more than six hundred patients, nearly as many as, if not more than, are in the female departments of the Harrisburg, Danville, and Warren hospitals all combined.

Dr. Bennett's hospital is a model one. There is a total absence of physical restraint, as used formerly under male superintendents, and, I may say, as still used in other hospitals than that of Norristown. Her skill in providing amusement, instruction and employment of various kinds, for the comfort and restoration of her patients to sanity and physical health, I feel sure has never been equaled in any hospital for the treatment of insane women. It is exceedingly interesting to see the school which she has established, and in which a large number of the insane are daily instructed, amused and interested. It is well known, now, that when the mind of the insane can be drawn away from their delusions by employment, or whatever else may interest them and absorb their attention, they are on the road to health. The public are not yet fully awake to the great reform effected in having women physicians for the women insane. Insane women have been treated as though there were no diseases peculiar to the sex. Never, so far as I have been able to learn, have they been treated by the means used for the relief of women in their homes. An eminent surgeon of Philadelphia informed me a few days since, that thirty years ago he was an assistant to Dr. Kirkbride, and desired to treat a patient for uterine troubles, but was rebuked by Dr. K., and told never to attempt to use the appliances relied on in private practice. My informant added that he believed not a single insane woman had ever received special treatment for affections in any of the hospitals under the care of male physicians. While we realize that great advantages would have come to these poor unfortunates by proper treatment, we feel that no male physician having due regard for his own reputation, should attempt to treat an insane woman for uterine diseases by means used in private practice, or even in hospitals with sane women. And this shows the importance of women physicians for women insane. One of the most intellectual and prominent women of this State was, 30 years ago, on account of domestic application, an inmate of our then champion hospital for the insane, for several months, during all of which time her sufferings were, to use her own words, indescribable, and yet she was not once asked in relation to her physical condition. Let us turn aside from this, and glance at the last annual report of Dr. Alice Bennett. She reports 180 patients examined for uterine diseases; 125 were placed under treatment; 67 treated for a length of time; 60 benefited by treatment. While Dr. Bennett does not say that their insanity was caused by the uterine disease, or that they were cured by curing that affection, she observes that in some cases the relief of the mind kept pace with the progress of cure of the uterine affections. I have, perhaps, written more than was needed on this subject, but I am so anxious that we shall have women doctors in every hospital for the treatment of insane women, and know, too, what influence yourself and good Mrs. Stanton can exert by turning your attention to it, which I am sure you will as you become informed in relation to the facts, that I could not stop short of what I have said. I have prepared a full account of our struggles with the State Society during six years to obtain for women doctors their proper recognition by the profession, and also the obstacles and opposition we encountered in our attempt to procure the law empowering boards of trustees to appoint women to hospitals for the insane of their sex. It will give me pleasure to send them to you if they would be of any use to you.

Respectfully, HIRAM CORSON.

As I am within a week of my 82d birthday, and am writing while my heart is beating one hundred and sixty times per minute, you must not criticise me too sharply.

H. C.

January 24, 1882, Miss Rachel Foster made all the arrangements for a national convention, to be held in St. George's Hall, Philadelphia.[272] She also inaugurated a course of lectures, of which she took the entire financial responsibility, in the popular hall of the Young Men's Christian Association. Ex-Governor Hoyt of Wyoming, in his lecture, gave the good results of thirteen years' experience of woman's voting in that Territory. Miss Foster employed a stenographer to report the address, had 20,000 copies printed, and circulated them in the Nebraska campaign during the following summer.

At its next session (1883) the legislature passed a resolution recommending congress to submit a sixteenth amendment, securing to women the right to vote:

HARRISBURG, Pa., March 21, 1883.--In the House, Mr. Morrison of Alleghany offered a resolution urging congress to amend the national constitution so that the right of suffrage should not be denied to citizens of any State on account of sex. It was adopted by 78 ayes[273] to 76 noes, the result being greeted with both applause and hisses.

The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin of November 8, 1882, mentions an attempt to open the University of Pennsylvania to women:

The trustees held several meetings to consider the applications. Beside Miss Craddock's, there were two others which the faculty referred to the trustees, and which appear not to have been reached in the regular course of business. Miss Florence Kelley, a post-graduate from Cornell University, daughter of Judge Kelley, who applied for admission as a special student in Greek, and Miss Frances Henrietta Mitchell, a junior student from Cornell, who asked to be admitted in the junior class. Our information comes from these ladies, who were notified that their cases would be presented. The question of coeducation, which has been seriously occupying the minds of the trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, was settled last evening, at least for the present, by the passage of a resolution refusing the admission of girls to the department of arts, but proposing to establish a separate collegiate department for them, whenever the requisite cost, about $300,000, is provided. There has been an intelligent and honest difference among both trustees and professors on this interesting question, and the diversity has been complicated by the various grounds upon which the pros and cons are maintained. There are those who advocate the admission of girls to the University as a proper thing per se. Others consent to it, because the University cannot give the desired education separately. Others hold that girls should be admitted because of their equal rights to a university education, although their admission is very undesirable. Others oppose coeducation in the abstract, conceding that girls should be as well educated as boys, but insisting that they must be differently and therefore separately educated. These draw a clear line between "equal" and "similar" education, and hold that no university course of studies can be laid out that will not present much of classical literature and much of the mental, moral and natural sciences, that cannot be studied and recited by boys and girls together, without serious risk of lasting injury to both.

Would it not be better, all things considered, to abjure this kind of classical literature, and instead of subjecting our sons to its baneful influence, give them the refining, elevating companionship of their sisters? If we would preserve the real modesty and purity of our daughters, it is quite as important that we should pay some attention to the delicacy and morality of the men with whom they are to associate.

If a girl cannot read the classics with a young man without contamination, how can she live with him in all the intimacies of family life without a constant shock to her refined sensibilities? So long as society considers that any man of known wealth is a fit husband for our daughters, all this talk of the faculties and trustees of our colleges about protecting woman's modesty is the sheerest nonsense and hypocrisy. It is well to remember that these professors and students have mothers, wives and sisters, and if man is coarse and brutal, he invariably feels free to show his worst passions at his own fireside. To warn women against coeducation is to warn them against association with men in any relation whatsoever.

FOOTNOTES:

[255] See Appendix.

[256] Carrie S. Burnham after long years of preparation and persistent effort for admission to the bar of Philadelphia, was admitted in 1884. She was thoroughly qualified to enter that profession and to practice in the courts of that State, and the only reason ever offered for her rejection from time to time was, "that she was a woman."

[257] By an oversight this law was not mentioned in Vol. I. in its proper place.

[258] George W. Childs married Judge Bovier's grand-daughter.

[259] Transcriber's Note: Footnote text is missing in original.

[260] University of Pennsylvania--Joseph Carson, Robert E. Rogers, Joseph Leidy, Henry H. Smith, Francis G. Smith, R. A. T. Penrose, Alfred Stille, George B. Wood, Samuel Jackson, Hugh L. Hodge, R. La Roche, George W. Norris. Jefferson Medical College--Joseph Pancoast, S. D. Gross, Samuel Henry Dickson, Ellerslie Wallace, B. Howard Rand, John B. Biddle, James Aitken Meigs. Pennsylvania Hospital--J. Forsyth Meigs, James H. Hutchinson, J. M. Da Costa, Addinell Hewson, William Hunt, D. Hayes Agnew. Philadelphia Hospital--R. J. Levis, William H. Pancoast, F. F. Maury, Alfred Stille, J. L. Ludlow, Edward Rhodes, D. D. Richardson, E. L. Duer, E. Scholfield, R. M. Girvin, John S. Parry, William Pepper, James Tyson. Medical Staff of Episcopal Hospital--John H. Packard., John Ashhurst, jr., Samuel Ashhurst, Alfred M. Slocum, Edward A. Smith, William Thomson, William S. Forbes. Wills Hospital for the Blind and Lame--Thomas George Morton, A. D. Hall, Harrison Allen, George C. Harlan, R. J. Levis. St. Joseph's Hospital--William V. Keating, Alfred Stille, John J. Reese, George R. Morehouse, A. C. Bournonville, Edward A. Page, John H. Brinton, Walter F. Atlee, C. S. Boker. St. Mary's Hospital--C. Percy La Roche, J. Cummiskey, A. H. Fish, J. H. Grove, W. W. Keen, W. L. Wells, L. S. Bolles. German Hospital--Albert Fricke, Emil Fischer, Joseph F. Koerper, Julius Schrotz, Julius Kamerer, Karl Beeken, Theodore A. Demme, Children's Hospital--Thomas Hewson Bache, D. Murray Cheston, H. Lenox Hodge, F. W. Lewis, Hilborn West. Charity Hospital--A. H. Fish. L. K. Baldwin, Horace Y. Evans, John M. McGrath, H. St. Clair Ash, J. M. Boisnot, N. Hatfield, W. M. Welch, H. Lycurgus Law, H. Leaman, J. A. McArthur. Howard Hospital--Thomas S. Harper, Laurence Turnbull, T. H. Andrews, Horace Williams, Joseph Klapp, William B. Atkinson, S. C. Brincklee. Physicians-at-Large of the City of Philadelphia--E. Ward, George H. Beaumont, William W. Lamb, Thomas B. Reed, Charles Schaffer, J. Heritage, W. Stump Forwood, W. J. Phelps, Richard Maris, Frank Muhlenberg, George M. Ward, James Collins, William F. Norris, Samuel Lewis, Isaac Hays, G. Emerson, W. W. Gerhard, Caspar Morris, B. H. Coates, George Strawbridge, S. Weir Mitchell, I. Minis Hays, Edward B. Van Dyke, J. Sylvester Ramsey, G. W. Bowman, W. H. H. Githens, T. W. Lewis, T. M. Finley, S. W. Butler, Robert P. Harris, C. Moehring, George L. Bomberger, Philip Leidy, D. F. Willard, James V. Ingham, Edward Hartshorne, W. S. W. Ruschenberger, Thomas Stewardson, James Darrach, S. L. Hollingworth, William Mayburry, Lewis Rodman, Casper Wister, A. Nebinger, Horace Binney Hare, Edward Shippen, S. Littell, F. W. Lewis, Robert Bridges, William H. Gloninger, James Markoe, Charles Hunter, D. F. Woods, Herbert Norris, Harrison Allen, Charles B. Nancrede, W. J. Grier, Edward J. Nolan, Richard Thomas, Lewis H. Adler, G. B. Dunmire, John Neill, Wharton Sinkler, George Pepper, J. J. Sowerby, Henry C. Eckstein, Eugene P. Bernardy, Charles K. Miles, J. Solis Cohen.

[261] C. L. Schlatter, J. Wm. White, Daniel Bray, C. E. Cassady, Robert B. Burns, Albert Trenchard, John G. Scott, J. J. Bowen, P. Collings, E. Cullen Brayton, joint committee of the University and Jefferson Medical Colleges.

[262] As through the influence of Dr. Truman Miss Hirschfeld had first been admitted to the college, he felt in a measure responsible for the fair treatment of her countrywomen who came to the United States to enjoy the same educational advantages. When the discussion in regard to expelling the young women was pending, Dr. Truman promptly and decidedly told the faculty that if such an act of injustice was permitted he should leave the college also. Much of Dr. Truman's clearsightedness and determination may be traced to the influence of his noble wife and no less noble mother-in-law, Mary Ann McClintock, who helped to inaugurate the movement in 1848 in Central New York. She lamented in her declining years that she was able to do so little. But by way of consolation I often suggested that her influence in many directions could never be measured; and here is one: Her influence on Dr. Truman opened the Dental College to women, and kept it open while Miss Hirschfeld acquired her profession. With her success in Germany, in the royal family, every child in the palace for generations that escapes a toothache will have reason to bless a noble friend, Mary Ann McClintock, that she helped to plant the seeds of justice to woman in the heart of young James Truman. We must also recognize in Dr. Truman's case that he was born and trained in a liberal Quaker family, his own father and mother having been disciples of Elias Hicks.

[263] PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 10, 1870.--The formal opening of Swarthmore College took place this afternoon, when a large number of its friends were conveyed thither in a special train on the Westchester railroad. The audience assembled in the lecture room, where addresses were delivered by Samuel Willets and John D. Hyoks, of New York, Edward Parrish, president of the college, Wm. Dorsey, and Lucretia Mott. It was stated that the amount spent in land and buildings amounted to $205,000 and contributions were solicited for $100,000 additional to fully furnish the building, and supply a library, philosophical and astronomical apparatus. The building is a massive one of five stories, constructed of Pennsylvania granite, and appointed throughout, from dormitory, bathroom, recitation-hall, to parlor, kitchen and laundry, in the most refined and substantial taste. It is 400 feet in length, by 100 deep, presenting two wings for the dormitories of the male and female students respectively, and a central part devoted to parlor, library, public hall, etc. Especially interesting in this division of the college is a room devoted to Quaker antiquities, comprising portraits and writings of the founders of the sect. Among them we notice the treaty of William Penn, a picture of the treaty assembly, a letter of George Fox, etc. The college opens with 180 pupils, about equally divided between the sexes, the system of instruction being a joint education of boys and girls, though each occupy separate wings of the building. The institution was built by the Hicksite branch of the Society of Friends, but the pupils are not confined to members of that persuasion.

[264] The speakers at this convention were Lucretia Mott, Frances Dana Gage, Wendell Phillips, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Edward M. Davis, Robert Purvis, Aaron M. Powell. The officers of the society were: President, Robert Purvis; Vice-presidents, Lucretia Mott, William Whipper, Dinah Mendenhall; Recording Secretary, Mary B. Lightfoot; Corresponding Secretary, Frances B. Jackson; Treasurer, John K. Wildman; Executive Committee, William Still, Ellen M. Child, Harriet Purvis, Elisha Meaner, Octavius Catts, Sarah S. Hawkins, Sarah Pugh, Clementina Johns, Alfred H. Love, Louisa J. Roberts, Jay Chapel.

[265] J. K. Wildman, Miss A. Ramborger, Clementina L. John, Ellen M. Child, and Passmore Williamson.

[266] President, Mary Grew; Vice-Presidents, Edward M. Davis, Mrs. C. A. Farrington, Mary K. Williamson; Recording Secretary, Annie Heacock; Corresponding Secretary, Eliza Sproat Turner; Treasurer, Gulielma M. S. P. Jones; Executive Committee, John K. Wildman, Ellen M. Child, Annie Shoemaker, Charlotte L. Pierce, and Dr. Henry T. Child.

[267] Among those who addressed the members of the convention were Bishop Matthew Simpson, Rev. Charles G. Ames, Fanny B. Ames, Mary Grew, Sarah C. Hallowell, Matilda Hindman, Elizabeth S. Bladen and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

[268] Among the men who spoke for woman's enfranchisement were John M. Broomall, John M. Campbell, Lewis C. Cassidy, Benjamin L. Temple, Levi Rooke, George F. Horton, H. W. Palmer, William Darlington, Harry White, Frank Mantor, Thomas MacConnell, Henry Carter, Thomas E. Cochran. In addition to those who spoke, those who voted yes are John E. Addicks, William H. Ainey, William D. Baker, Charles O. Bowman, Charles Brodhead, George N. Corson, David Craig, Matthew Edwards, J. Gillingham Tell, Thomas Howard, Edward C. Knight, George Lear, John S. Mann, H. W. Patterson, T. H. B. Patton, Thomas Struthers, John W. F. White.

[269] Ayes--William Styles, William McLain, clerks in the water department; A. W. Lyman, clerk in the custom-house; M. C. Coppeck, clerk in the highway department, who was defeated by one of the ladies for school directorship; John B. Green, a member of the board of education; John Buckley, clerk in the post-office; Theodore Canfield, sergeant of police; John Murray, contractor of the highway department; George W. Schrack, an ex-clerk, lately resigned from the tax receiver's office; Daniel T. Smith, ex-detective; Asher W. Dewees, Oliver Bowler, Mr. Agnew, Ezra Lukens, clerk in the United States assistant treasurer's office, president of the Republican Invincibles, candidate last year against Mr. Jonathan Pugh for commissioner of city property, and a candidate for the same office next year; William B. Elliott, collector of internal revenue; Charles M. Carpenter, alderman, who signed Mrs. Paist's certificate; Jackson Keyser, an employe in the navy yard; Alfred Ruhl, clerk in the custom-house; Mr. Jones, and Henry C. Dunlap, who is Republican candidate for common council--20. Nays--James W. Sayre, Joseph B. Ridge, Samuel Caldwell, Dr. Charles Hooker, John E. Lane, Lewis Bogy, John Mansfield. Daniel Rieff, William Githens, Thomas Evans, George Schimpf and F. Theodore Walton--12. So the resolution was carried by 20 yeas to 12 nays.

[270] Their modest home at 114 North Eleventh street has long been a hospitable retreat for reformers, where many of us identified with the suffrage movement have been most courteously entertained. Anna and Adeline Thomson after long lives of industry have been, too, the steadfast representatives of great principles in religious and political freedom, always giving freely of their means to the unpopular reforms of their day and generation.--[E. C. S.

[271] The Executive Board of the New Century Club for 1879-1880, was: President, Mrs. Eliza S. Turner; Vice-Presidents, Mrs. Emily W. Taylor, Mrs. S. C. F. Hallowell; Mrs. Henry C. Townsend, Mrs. Aubrey H. Smith; Corresponding Secretary, Miss Louise Stockton; Recording Secretary, Miss Anna C. Bliss; Treasurer, Mrs. Charlotte L. Pierce; Directors, Mrs. Susan I. Lesley, Mrs. Henry Cohen, Mrs. Huldah Justice, Miss Emily Sartain, Miss Mary Grew, Mrs. S. B. F. Greble, Mrs. M. W. Coggins, Miss Mary A. Burnham, Mrs. Ellison L. Perot, Mrs. Thomas Roberts. Others names found in its annual report as contributing to the efficiency of the club are: Mrs. Fannie B. Ames, Miss Grace Anna Lewis, Mrs. Emma J. Bartol, Mrs. E. L. Head, Miss Mary C. Coxe, Mrs. Charlotte L. Pierce, Madam Emma Seiler, Miss Amanda L. Dods, Miss Lelia Patridge, Miss Lily Ray, Miss Ella Cole, Mrs. Susan I. Lesley, Mrs. E. C. Mayer, Miss Bennett, Mlle. Frasson. The work of the club has its divisions of science, literature, art, music, entertainment, cooking, hospitalities, charities, employment for women, legal protection for working women, prisons and reformatory institutions.

[272] See Chapter 30 for an account of this Philadelphia convention.

[273] The yeas were as follows: Messrs. Ayers, Barnes, Blackford, Boyer, Boyle, Brooks, W. C. Brown, I. B. Brown, J. L. Brown, Brosius, Burnite, Burchfield, Chadwick, Coburn, E. L. Davis, Deveney, Duggan, Eckels, Ellsworth, Emery, Fetters, Gahan, Gardner, Gavitt, Gentner, Glenn, Grier, G. W. Hall, F. Hall, A. W. Hayes, Hines, Higgins, Hoofnagle, Hulings, Hughes, Jenkins, Klein, Kavanaugh, Landis, Lafferty, Merry, B. B. Mitchell, S. N. Mitchell, Millor, Molineaux, A. H. Morgan, W. D. Morgan, J. W. Morrison, E. Morrison, Myton, McCabe, McClaran, Neill, Neeley, Nelson, Nesbit, Nicholson, Parkinson, Powell, Romig, Schwartz, Short, Sinex, Slocum, J. Smith, Sneeringer, Snodgrass, Stees, Sterett, Stewart, Stubbs, Sweeney, Trant, Vanderslice, Vaughn, Vogdes, Wayne and Ziegler--78.

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XXXIX. NEW JERSEY

Women Voted in the Early Days--Deprived of the Right by Legislative Enactment in 1807--Women Demand the Restoration of Their Rights in 1868--At the Polls in Vineland and Roseville Park--Lucy Stone Agitates the Question--State Suffrage Society Organized in 1867--Conventions--A Memorial to the Legislature--Mary F. Davis--Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford--Political Science Club--Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey--Orange Club, 1870--July 4, 1874, Mrs. Devereux Blake Gives the Oration--Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell's Letter--The Laws of New Jersey in Regard to Property and Divorce--Constitutional Commission, 1873--Trial of Rev. Isaac M. See--Women Preaching in His Pulpit--The Case Appealed--Mrs. Jones, Jailoress--Legislative Hearings.

New Jersey was the only State that, in adopting her first constitution, recognized woman's right to suffrage which she had exercised during the colonial days, and from time immemorial in the mother country. The fact that she was deprived of this right from 1807 to 1840 by a legislative enactment, while the constitution secured it,[274] proves that the power of the legislature, composed of representatives from the people, was considered at that early day to be above the State constitution. If, then, the legislature could abridge the suffrage, it must have the power to extend it, and all the women of this State should demand is an act of the legislature. They need not wait for the slow process of a constitutional amendment submitted to the popular vote. In 1868, in harmony with a general movement in many other States, the women of New Jersey began to demand the restoration of their ancient rights. The following is from The Revolution of November 19, 1868, written by Elizabeth A. Kingsbury:

VINELAND, N. J., Nov. 5, 1868.

At a meeting of women, held the week before election, a unanimous vote was taken that we would go to the polls. John Gage, chairman of the Woman Suffrage Association of Vineland, called a meeting, and though the day was an inclement one, there was a good attendance. A number of earnest men as well as women addressed the audience. Among them were Colonel Moss of Missouri, and James M. Scovel of Camden, State senator, who strengthened us by their words of earnest eloquence. At 7:30 A. M., November 3, John and Portia Gage and myself entered Union Hall, where the judges of election had already established themselves for the day. Instead of occupying the center of the platform, they had taken one side of it, apparently for the purpose of leaving us room on the other. We seated ourselves in chairs brought for the occasion, when one gentleman placed a small table for our use. Another inquired if we were comfortable and the room sufficiently warm. "Truly," we thought, "this does not look like a very terrible opposition." As time passed, there came more men and women into the hall. Quite a number of the latter presented their votes first at the table where those of men were received, where they were rejected with politeness, and then taken to the other side of the platform and deposited in our box. Shall I describe this box, twelve inches long and six wide, and originally a grape-box? Very significant of Vineland. Soon there came to the aid of Mrs. Gage and myself a blooming and beautiful young lady, Estelle Thomson, who, with much grace and dignity, sat there throughout the day, recording the names of the voters. It would have done you good to have witnessed the scene. Margaret Pryor,[275] who is better known to you perhaps than to many of your readers, as one whose life has been active in the cause of freedom for the negro and for woman; a charming old lady of eighty-four years, yet with the spirit, elasticity and strength of one of thirty-five, sat there in her nice Quaker bonnet by the side of Miss Thomson a great part of the day. Sarah Pearson, also advanced in years and eminent for her labors of love for the suffering and oppressed everywhere; with her peculiarly delicate organization and placid countenance, remained with us till the last moment. There was no lack of friends and supporters. The platform was crowded with earnest, refined, intellectual women, who felt that it was good for them to be there. One beautiful girl said in my hearing, "I feel so much stronger for having voted." It was pleasant to see husbands and wives enter the hall together, only they had to separate, one turning to the right hand and the other to the left, when no separation should have taken place.

Some women spent the day in going after their friends and bringing them to the hall. Young ladies, after voting, went to the homes of their acquaintances, and took care of the babies while the mothers came out to vote. Will this fact lessen the alarm of some men for the safety of the babies of enfranchised women on election day? One lady of refinement and aristocratic birth brought her little girl of ten years with her, and I assure you it did the men good as well as us. They said they never had so quiet and pleasant a time at the polls before, though it is always more quiet here than in many other towns, because the sale of ardent spirits is forbidden. John Gage--bless his dear soul--identifies himself completely with this glorious cause, and labors with an earnestness and uniformity of purpose that is truly charming. His team was out all day, bringing women to vote, half-a-dozen at a time, while his personal efforts were unremitting and eminently successful. He and his noble wife, Portia, seem to be, indeed, one in thought and action. Some time ago he sent a pledge to the candidates for office in this State. By signing it, they promise to sustain the cause of woman suffrage by every means in their power. Nixon, candidate for the Senate, signed it last year. House, candidate for the Assembly, signed the pledge at the eleventh hour, and though he lost two of our votes by the delay, yet he, too, is elected. Thus we have, at least, three public men in New Jersey pledged to sustain the woman suffrage cause. We think it is time to say to candidates for office: "You tell us we have a good deal of influence, and ask us to exert it for your election. We will do so, if you will promise to advocate our cause. If you do not, we will oppose your election." The result of the ballots cast by the women of Vineland is this: For president--Grant, 164; Seymour, 4; E. Cady Stanton, 2; Fremont, 1; and Mrs. Governor Harvey of Wisconsin, 1. The president of the Historical Society of Vineland, S. C. Campbell, has petitioned for the ballot-box and list of voters, to put into its archives. He will probably get them.

A gentleman said to me last week: "What is the use of your doing this? Your votes will count nothing in the election." "It will do good in two ways," I replied. "You say there will not be five women there. We will show you that you are mistaken; that women do want to vote, and it will strengthen them for action in the future." Both these ends have been accomplished; and on November 12 we are to meet again, to consider and decide what to do about the taxation that is soon coming upon us.

While the Vineland women expressed their opinion by voting, other true friends of woman's enfranchisement were moved to do the same. The Revolution of November 12, 1868, gave the following:

The Newark Daily Advertiser says that Mrs. Hannah Blackwell, a highly esteemed elderly lady, long resident in Roseville, and Mrs. Lucy Stone, her daughter-in-law, both of them property-holders and tax-payers in the county, appeared at the polls in Roseville Park, accompanied by Messrs. Bathgate and Blackwell as witnesses, and offered their votes. The judges of election were divided as to the propriety of receiving the votes of the ladies, one of them stating that he was in favor of doing so, the two others objecting on the ground of their illegality. The ladies stated that they had taken advice of eminent lawyers, and were satisfied that in New Jersey, women were legally entitled to vote, from the fact that the old constitution of the State conferred suffrage upon "all inhabitants" worth $250. Under that constitution women did in fact vote until, in 1807, by an arbitrary act of the legislature, women were excluded from the polls. The new constitution, adopted in 1844, was framed by a convention and adopted by a constituency, from both of which women were unconstitutionally excluded, so that they have never been allowed to vote upon the question of their own disfranchisement. The article in the present constitution on the right of suffrage confers it upon white male citizens, but does not expressly limit it to such. It is claimed that from the absence of any express limitation in the present constitution, and from the compulsory exclusion of the parties interested from its adoption, the political rights of women under the old constitution still remain. Mrs. Stone stated these points to the judges of election with clearness and precision. After consultation, the votes of the ladies were refused. The crowd surrounding the polls gathered about the ballot-box and listened to the discussion with respectful attention; but every one behaved with the politeness which gentlemen always manifest in the presence of ladies.

The women of New Jersey may have been roused to assert their right to vote by an earnest appeal of that veteran of equal rights, Parker Pillsbury, in The Revolution of March 25, 1868, suggested by the following:

At the recent election in Vineland, New Jersey, a unanimous vote in favor of "no rum" was polled. The Vineland Weekly says: "Among the incidents of the late election was the appearance of a woman at the polls. Having provided herself with a ballot, she marched up to the rostrum and tendered it to the chairman of the board of registry. The veteran politician, John Kandle, covered with blushes, was obliged to inform the lady that no one could vote unless his name was registered. She acquiesced in the decision very readily, saying she only wished to test a principle, and retired very quietly from the hall."

While thus mentioning the women with uncounted votes, it may be well to embalm here a historical fact, published in April, 1868:

In the year 1824 widows were allowed to vote in New Jersey on their husbands' tax receipts. The election officers paid great deference to the widows on these occasions, and took particular care to send carriages after them, so as to get their votes early and make sure of them. The writer of this has often heard his grandmother state that she voted for John Quincy Adams for president of the United States when he was elected to that office. Her name was Sarah Sparks, and she voted at Barnsboro', her husband having died the year previous.

N. M. WALLINGTON, Washington, D. C.

Miss Anthony held a spirited meeting in Rahway on Christmas eve, December 24, 1867. The following October, 1868, Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony attended a two days' convention in Vineland, and helped to rouse the enthusiasm of the people. A friend, writing from there, gives us the following:

The Unitarian church in this town is highly favored in having for its pastor a young man of progressive and thoroughly liberal ideas. Rev. Oscar Clute is well known as an earnest advocate in the cause of woman. Last Sunday the communion or Lord's Supper was administered in his church. One of the laymen who usually assists in the distribution of the bread and wine, was absent, and Mr. Clute invited one of the women to officiate in his stead. She did so in such a sweet and hospitable manner that it gave new interest to the occasion. Even those who do not like innovations could not find fault. And why should any one be displeased? The Christ of the sacrament was the emancipator of women. In olden time they had deaconesses, and in most of our churches women constitute a majority of the communicants, so it seems particularly appropriate that they should be served by women. Women vote on all matters connected with this church, they are on all "standing committees," and sometimes are chosen and act as trustees.

Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford sends us the following reports of the progress of the movement in this State:

While Lucy Stone resided in New Jersey, she held several series of meetings in the chief towns and cities before the formation of the State Society.[276] The agitation that began in 1867 was probably due to her, more than to any other one person in that State. The State society was organized in the autumn of 1867, and from year to year its annual meetings have been held in Vineland, Newark, Trenton, and other cities. On its list of officers[277] are some of the best men and women in the State. Several distinguished names from other States are among the speakers[278] who have taken part in their conventions. County and local societies too have been extensively organized. These associations have circulated tracts and appeals, memorialized the legislature, and had various hearings before that body. At the annual meeting held in Newark February 15, 1871, the following memorial to the legislature, prepared by Mary F. Davis, was unanimously adopted:

To the Honorable the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

Section 2, Article 1, of the constitution of the State of New Jersey, expressly declares that "All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for the protection, security, and benefit of the people, and they have the right at all times to alter or reform the same, whenever the public good may require it." Throughout the entire article the words "people" and "person" are used, as if to apply to all the inhabitants of the State. In direct contradiction to this broad and just affirmation, section 1, article 2, begins with the restrictive and unjust sentence: "Every white male citizen of the United States, at the age of twenty-one years * * * shall be entitled to vote," etc., and the section ends with the specification that "no pauper, idiot, insane person, or person convicted of a crime * * * shall enjoy the right of an elector."

Of the word "white" in this article your memorialists need not speak, as it is made a dead letter by the limitations of the fifteenth amendment to the United States constitution. To the second restriction, indicated by the word "male" we beg leave to call the attention of the legislature, as we deem it unjust and arbitrary, as well as contradictory to the spirit of the constitution, as expressed in the first article. It is also contrary to the precedent established by the founders of political liberty in New Jersey. On the second of July, 1776, the provincial congress of New Jersey, at Burlington, adopted a constitution which remained in force until 1844; in which section 4 specified as voters, "all the inhabitants of this Colony, of full age," etc. In 1790, a committee of the legislature reported a bill regulating elections, in which the words "he and she" are applied to voters, thus giving legislative endorsement to the alleged meaning of the constitution.

The legislature of 1807 departed from this wise and just precedent, and passed an arbitrary act, in direct violation of the constitutional provision, restricting the suffrage to white male adult citizens, and this despotic ordinance was deliberately endorsed by the framers of the State constitution which was adopted in 1844. This was plainly an act of usurpation and injustice, as thereby a large proportion of the law-abiding citizens of the State were disfranchised, without so much as the privilege of signifying their acceptance or rejection of the barbarous fiat which was to rob them of the sacred right of self-protection by means of a voice in the government, and to reduce them to the political level of the "pauper, idiot, insane person, or person convicted of crime."

If this flagrant wrong, which was inflicted by one-half the citizens of a free commonwealth on the other half, had been aimed at any other than a non-aggressive and self-sacrificing class, there would have been fierce resistance, as in the case of the United Colonies under the British yoke. It has long been borne in silence. "The right of voting for representatives," says Paine, "is the primary right, by which other rights are protected. To take away this right is to reduce man to a state of slavery, for slavery consists in being subject to the will of another, and he that has not a vote in the electing of representatives is in this condition." Benjamin Franklin wrote: "They who have no voice nor vote in the electing of representatives do not enjoy liberty, but are absolutely enslaved to those who have votes and to their representatives; for to be enslaved is to have governors whom other men have set over us, and be subject to laws made by the representatives of others, without having had representatives of our own to give consent in our behalf." This is the condition of the women of New Jersey. It is evident to every reasonable mind that these unjustly disfranchised citizens should be reinstated in the right of suffrage. Therefore, we, your memorialists, ask the legislature at its present session to submit to the people of New Jersey an amendment to the constitution, striking out the word "male" from article 2, section 1, in order that the political liberty which our forefathers so nobly bestowed on men and women alike, may be restored to "all inhabitants" of the populous and prosperous State into which their brave young colony has grown.

With but a slight change of officers and arguments, these conventions were similar from year to year. There were on all occasions a certain number of the clergy in opposition. At one of these meetings the Rev. Mr. McMurdy condemned the ordination of women for the ministry. But woman's fitness[279] for that profession was successfully vindicated by Lucretia Mott and Phebe A. Hanaford. Mrs. Portia Gage writes, December 12, 1873:

There was an election held by the order of the township committee of Landis, to vote on the subject of bonding the town to build shoe and other factories. The call issued was for all legal voters. I went with some ten or twelve other women, all taxpayers. We offered our votes, claiming that we were citizens of the United States, and of the State of New Jersey, also property-holders in and residents of Landis township, and wished to express our opinion on the subject of having our property bonded. Of course our votes were not accepted, whilst every tatterdemalion in town, either black or white, who owned no property, stepped up and very pompously said what he would like to have done with his property. For the first time our claim to vote seemed to most of the voters to be a just one. They gathered together in groups and got quite excited over the injustice of refusing our vote and accepting those of men who paid no taxes.

In 1879, the Woman's Political Science Club[280] was formed in Vineland, which held its meetings semi-monthly, and discussed a wide range of subjects. Among the noble women in New Jersey who have stood for many years steadfast representatives of the suffrage movement, Cornelia Collins Hussey of Orange is worthy of mention. A long line of radical and brave ancestors[281] made it comparatively easy for her to advocate an unpopular cause. Her father, Stacy B. Collins, identified with the anti-slavery movement, was also an advocate of woman's right to do whatever she could even to the exercise of the suffrage. He maintained that the tax-payer should vote regardless of sex, and as years passed on he saw clearly that not alone the tax-payer, but every citizen of the United States governed and punished by its laws, had a just and natural right to the ballot in a country claiming to be republican. The following beautiful tribute to his memory, by Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, is found in a letter to his daughter:

LONDON, July 27, 1873.

My last letter from America brought me the sad intelligence of your dear father's departure from amongst you; and I cannot refrain from at once writing and begging you to accept the sincere sympathy and inevitable regret which I feel for your loss. The disappearance of an old friend brings up the long past times vividly to my remembrance--the time when, impelled by irresistible spiritual necessity, I strove to lead a useful but unusual life, and was able to face, with the energy of youth, both social prejudice and the hindrance of poverty. I have to recall those early days to show how precious your father's sympathy and support were to me in that difficult time; and how highly I respected his moral courage in steadily, for so many years, encouraging the singular woman doctor, at whom everybody looked askance, and in passing whom so many women held their clothes aside, lest they should touch her. I know in how many good and noble things your father took part; but, to me, this brave advocacy of woman as physician, in that early time, seems the noblest of his actions.

Speaking of the general activity of the women of Orange, Mrs. Hussey says:

The Women's Club of Orange was started in 1871. It is a social and literary club, and at present (1885) numbers about eighty members. Meetings are held in the rooms of the New England Society once in two weeks, and a reception, with refreshments, given at the house of some member once a year. Some matter of interest is discussed at each regular meeting. This is not an equal suffrage club, yet a steady growth in that direction is very evident. Very good work has been done by this club. An evening school for girls was started by it, and taught by the members for awhile, until adopted by the board of education, a boys' evening school being already in operation. Under the arrangements of the club, a course of lectures on physiology, by women, was recently given in Orange, and well attended. At the house of one of the members a discussion was held on this subject: "Does the Private Character of the Actor Concern the Public?" Although the subject was a general one, the discussion was really upon the proper course in regard to M'lle Sarah Bernhardt, who had recently arrived in the country. Reporters from the New York Sun attended the meeting, so that the views of the club of Orange gained quite a wide celebrity.

Of Mrs. Hussey's remarks, the Newark Journal said:

The sentiments of the first speaker, Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey, were generally approved, and therefore are herewith given in full: "I have so often maintained in argument that one has no right to honor those whose lives are a dishonor to virtue or principle, that I cannot see any other side to our question than the affirmative. That the stage wields a potent influence cannot be doubted. Let the plays be immoral, and its influence must be disastrous to virtue. Let the known character of the actor be what we cannot respect, the glamour which his genius or talent throws around that bad character will tend to diminish our discrimination between virtue and vice, and our distaste for the latter. Some one says: 'Let me write the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes the laws.' The poetry that Byron wrote, together with his well-known contempt for a virtuous life, is said to have had a very pernicious influence on the young men of his time, and probably, too, blinded the eyes of the young women. I recall being quite startled by reading the essay of Whittier on Byron, which showed him as he was, and not with the halo of his great genius thrown around his vices. It seemed to me that our national government dethroned virtue when it sent a homicide, if not a murderer, to represent us at a foreign court; and again when it sent as minister to another court on the continent a man whose private character was well known to be thoroughly immoral. Even to trifle with virtue, or to be a coward in the cause of principle, is a fearful thing; but when, a person comes before the public, saying by his life that he prefers the pleasures of sin to the paths of virtue, it seems to me that the way is plain--to withhold our patronage as a matter of public policy."

On the Fourth of July, 1874, Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake was invited to make the usual address in East Orange, which she did before a large audience in the public hall. Says the Journal: "Mrs. Blake's speech was characterized by simplicity of style and appropriateness of sentiment." She made mention of Molly Pitcher, Mrs. Borden and Mrs. Hall of New Jersey, and of noted women of other States, who did good service in Revolutionary times, when the country needed the help of her daughters as well as her sons.

In the summer of 1876 a noteworthy meeting was held in Orange in the interest of women. A number of ladies and gentlemen met in my parlor to listen to statements in relation to what is called the "social evil," to be made by the Rev. J. P. Gledstone and Mr. Henry J. Wilson, delegates from the "British, Continental and General Federation for the Abolition of Government Regulation of Prostitution." It is due to the English gentlemen to say that they gave some very strong reasons for bringing the disagreeable subject before the meeting, and that they handled it with becoming delicacy, though with great plainness.

"Ann A. Horton, who died in June, 1875, at the Old Ladies' Home, Newark, bequeathed $2,000 to Princeton College, to found a scholarship to be called by her name." Would not the endowment of a "free bed" in Mrs. Horton's true alma-mater, the Old Ladies' Home, have been a far wiser bequest than the foundation of a scholarship in Princeton--a college which, while fattening on enormous dole received from women, offers them nothing in return?

In relation to the law giving the mothers of New Jersey some legal claim to their children, Mrs. Hussey writes:

I have often heard it said that Kansas is the only State where the married mother has any legal ownership in her children; but the women of New Jersey have enjoyed this privilege since 1871, when it was gained for them by the efforts of Mrs. Ann H. Connelly of Rahway. She was an American woman, the mother of one daughter, and unhappily married. She desired to be divorced from her husband, but she knew that in such case he might legally take her child from her. Such a risk could not be thought of for a moment; so she applied to the legislature for a change of the law. She was assisted by many influential citizens, both men and women; petitions largely signed were presented, and the result was the amendment of the law making the mother and father equal in the ownership of their children. When a copy of the new law appeared in our papers I wrote to Mrs. Connelly, inclosing a resolution of thanks from the Essex County Woman Suffrage Society, of which I was then secretary. In her reply she said: "This unexpected and distinguishing recognition of my imperfect, but earnest, efforts for justice is inexpressibly gratifying." Several years after, I went with my daughter to Rahway to see Mrs. Connelly. She seemed to be well known and much respected. She was teaching in one of the public schools, but seemed quite feeble in health. In 1881 I saw the notice of her death. She was a woman of much intelligence, and strongly interested in suffrage, and should certainly be held in grateful remembrance by the mothers of New Jersey, to whom she restored the right which nature gave them, but which men had taken away by mistaken legislation.

This law of February 21, 1871, composed of several acts purporting to give fathers and mothers equal rights in cases of separation and divorce, is not so liberal as it seems in considering this provision:

Upon a decree of divorce the court may make such further decree as may be deemed expedient concerning the custody and maintenance of minor children, and determine with which of the parents the children shall remain.

This act, though declaring that the mother and father are equal, soon shows by its specifications that the courts can dispose of all woman's interests and affections as they may see fit. What avails a decree of divorce or separation for woman, if the court can give the children to the father at its pleasure? Here is the strong cord by which woman is held in bondage, and the courts, all composed of men, know this, and act on it in their decisions.

A petition was addressed to the constitutional commission of 1873, requesting an amendment restoring to the women of New Jersey their original right to vote, which that body decided would be "inexpedient." A bill introduced in the legislature by Senator Cutler, of Morris county, making women eligible to the office of school-trustee, became a law March 25, 1873:

Be it enacted, That hereafter no person shall be eligible to the office of school-trustee, unless he or she can read and write; and women who are residents in the district and over twenty years of age, shall also be eligible to the office of school-trustee, and may hold such office and perform the duties of the same, when duly elected by ten votes of the district.--[Chap. 386.

February 26, 1874, a law for the better protection of the property of married women was passed:

1. Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey, That any married woman who now is, or may hereafter become, entitled, by gift, devise or bequest, to any contingent estate, or any interest in any real or personal property or estate, may, with the concurrence of her husband, compound and receipt for, assign and convey the same, in all cases where she lawfully might, if a feme sole; and every release, receipt, assignment, discharge, agreement, covenant, or contract, thereupon entered into by her in regard to the same and to the said property, shall be as valid and binding in every respect, upon her, her heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, and any and all persons claiming under her, them or either of them, as if she were at the time of entering into the same, a feme sole, and when duly executed and acknowledged in the manner provided by law for conveyance of real estate, may be recorded in the surrogate's office, and whenever it relates to real estate in the clerk's or recorder's office, of the proper county or counties, in the same manner and with like effect as other receipts and discharges may now be recorded therein. 2. And be it enacted. That this act shall take effect immediately.

A most remarkable trial, lately held in Newark, New Jersey, which involved the question whether it was contrary to Scripture, and a violation of the rules of the Presbyterian Church, to admit women to the pulpit, is well reported by the New York World, January 1, 1877:

Since the time that the Rev. Theodore Cuyler was obliged by the Presbytery of Long Island to apologize for inviting Miss Sarah Smiley, the Quaker preacher, to occupy the pulpit of the Lafayette Avenue Church in Brooklyn, the question of the right of women to preach in Presbyterian churches, has come up in various parts of the country, but has never been brought judicially before any ecclesiastical body until yesterday, when it occupied the attention of the Newark Presbytery, under the following circumstances. October 29, 1876, Mrs. L. S. Robinson and Mrs. C. S. Whiting, two ladies who were much interested in the temperance movement, asked and received permission of the Rev. Isaac M. See, of the Wickliffe Presbyterian Church at Newark, to occupy his pulpit, morning and evening of that day. They accordingly addressed the congregation on the subject of temperance. To this the Rev. E. R. Craven, of the Third Presbyterian Church, of Newark, objected, and brought before the Newark Presbytery the following charge:

"The undersigned charges the Rev. Isaac M. See, pastor of the Wickliffe Church, of Newark, N. J., a member of your body, with disobedience to the divinely enacted ordinance in reference to the public speaking and teaching of women in churches, as recorded in I. Corinthians, xiv., 33 to 37, and I. Timothy, ii., 13, in that: First specification--On Sunday, October 29, 1876, in the Wickliffe Church of the city of Newark, N. J., he did, in the pulpit of the said church, and before the congregation there assembled for public worship at the usual hour of the morning service, viz., 10:30 A.M., introduce a woman, whom he permitted and encouraged then and there publicly to preach and teach." The second specification is couched in similar language, except that it charges Mr. See with introducing another woman at the evening service upon the same day. The charge was presented at the regular meeting of the Presbytery, a short time ago, and the hearing of the case was adjourned until yesterday. The meeting was held in the lecture room of the Second Presbyterian Church in Washington street. Rev. John L. Wells, pastor of the Bethany Mission Chapel, presided, and there was a fair attendance of the members of the body. Of the audience at least nine-tenths were women.[282] Dr. Craven, the prosecutor, sat on the front row of seats, near to the clerk's table, while Dr. See, who is very stout, with a double chin, and the picture of good-nature, sat in the rear of the members of the Presbytery, and among the front rows of spectators. Dr. McIllvaine introduced the following resolution:

Resolved, That this charge, by common consent of the parties, be dismissed at this stage of the proceedings, with affectionate council to the Rev. Dr. See not to go contrary to the usages of the Presbyterian Church for the future.

This brought Brother See to his feet. He could not, he said, assent to Brother McIllvaine's resolution. He had not consented that the charge should be dismissed, as in the resolution. Brother McIllvaine expressed himself as sure that Brother See had consented, but Brother See was again equally sure that he had not. Some member here suggested that Dr. Craven should first have been asked if he consented to dismiss the charge, and this brought that gentleman to his feet. A more complete antithesis to Dr. See cannot be imagined. He is tall, gaunt, with full beard and mustache, short, bristling hair, that stands upright in a row from the centre of his forehead to the crown of his head. He said that at the request of Dr. McIllvaine and another respected member of the Presbytery he had said that if the party charged would give full and free consent to the resolution, he would also assent; "and," he added, "such is now my position." Dr. McIllvaine then gave at length his reasons for desiring to arrest the case where it was. No good could come of its discussion, and the result could not but be productive of discord. The Moderator reminded Dr. See that they waited for an answer from him.

Dr. See--May we have a season of prayer, sir? The Moderator said there was no objection. Dr. See explained that the matter at issue was not a personal one; it was a question as to the meaning of the Scriptures upon a certain point, and he was there simply to know what the Presbytery would do. Rev. Drs. Brinsmayd and Fewsmith then prayed, but Dr. See's frame of mind was not in the least changed. He still insisted that his was the passive part, to sit and see what they would do with his case. Rev. Dr. Wilson thought that if Brother See did not desire to do anything contrary to the usages of the church, he might say so. Brother See said it was a question of whether God Almighty had said certain things or not, and that he could not answer. In his formal answer to the charge the accused then said: "I believe myself to be not guilty of the charge, but I admit the specifications." Dr. Craven, in his speech, said it was in no spirit of animosity that he had brought the charge. He believed that the law of God had been broken in this case; not designedly, perhaps, but really. A custom had found lodgment in a Presbyterian church that would impair its efficiency and would also injure woman in the sphere which she was called upon by God to fill. No judicial decision had been arrived at upon this question. The case of Dr. Cuyler was the first that had come before a Presbytery, and that was hardly a trial of the question. "Why should I," he continued, "bring this charge? Because I have felt it to be wrong, and feeling thus, resolved to take the duty upon myself, painful and agonizing as the task may be. I deem it my duty to God to do so." Dr. See (sotto voce)--"And the Lord will bless you for it."

Dr. Craven, continuing, read the passages of Scripture referred to in this charge. He did not, he said, affirm that woman had no work in the church. She had a great and glorious sphere; she had no right to teach and speak in public meetings, but she could teach children and ignorant men in private. He would not affirm that some women could not preach as well as, or better than some men, and he did not know but that in the future she might occupy the platform on an equality with men; but at present she could not, and it was expressly forbidden in the passages which he had read. "You may run to hear another man's wife preach, or another man's daughter," said he, "but who would have his own wife stand upon the platform, or his own daughter face the mob? Woman is the heart of man, but man is the head. Let woman go upon the platform, and she loses that shrinking modesty that gives her such power over children. What child would wish to have a public-speaking mother? I trust this evil will not creep in upon the church. I felt bound to resist it at the outset, and unless I am convinced of my error shall withstand it to the death." * * * *

January 2, 1877, Rev. Dr. See continued his defense of himself for letting a woman into his pulpit. Then the roll was called for the views of the Presbytery. Dr. McIllvaine said that the two sources of light, as he understood it, were the teachings of the Lord and his disciples. The Lord didn't select women for his twelve, and vacancies were not filled by women. It wasn't a woman who was chosen to do Paul's work. He was the chosen teacher of the church in that and all succeeding ages, and he had said, "I suffer not women to teach, or to usurp authority in the church." Dr. Brinsmade, who was the pastor of the Wickliffe Church before Dr. See was called there, admitted that women could preach well, but thought the Presbytery had better stick by the divine command. Dr. Canfield also agreed with Paul. He loved women and loved their work, but it seemed from the experience of the world that God intended that the pulpit should be the place for men. Such, at any rate, had been the principle and the practice of the Presbyterian Church; and if Brother See could not conform to its rules, he would say to him, "Go, brother; there are other churches in which you can find a place." Dr. Canfield was called to order for that addendum. Dr. Hutchings, of Orange, referred to the ancient justification of slavery from the Bible, and in view of honest differences of construction accepted by the church, thought the question should be left to the discretion of pastors and church-sessions. Rev. Jonathan F. Stearns, pastor of the First Church, demurred to this and stood by the Scripture text. Nine-tenths of the ladies of the church, he said, would vote against preaching by women.

Rev. James E. Wilson, pastor of the South Park Church, said that in churches where women had been permitted to preach, they had lost ground. "I have never heard a Quaker woman," said he, "preach a sermon worth three cents (laughter), and yet I have heard the spirit move them to get up and speak at most improper times and on most inopportune occasions, and have heard them say most improper and impertinent things." In the Methodist Church he did not believe that there were over twenty-five women preachers, so the women were losing ground, and not gaining. Even the woman suffragists, who made so much noise a few years ago, had subsided, and he did not believe there were a hundred agitators in the whole country now. "See," he said, "where Brother See's argument would carry him. Any woman that has the spirit upon her may speak, and so, by and by, two or three women may walk up into Brother See's pulpit and say,'Come down; it's our turn now, we are moved by the spirit.' (Laughter). A woman's voice was against her preaching; a man's voice came out with a 'thud,' but a woman spoke soft and pleasing; however, here were the plain words of the text, and any man that could throw it overboard could throw over the doctrine of the atonement. If a mother should teach her son from the pulpit by preaching to him, thus disobeying the plain words of the apostle, she must not be surprised if her son went contrary to some other teaching of the apostle. But the fact was, the women did not desire to preach; otherwise they would have preached long ago. He rejoiced when that convention of temperance women assembled in Newark, but he could not help pitying their husbands and families away out in Chicago and elsewhere. (Laughter).

Rev. Ferd. Smith, the pastor of the Second Church, said the president of the Woman's Temperance Union had asked him if they could have the use of the church, and he had said "yes"; "and," said Dr. Smith, "I am glad that I did it, and I am sorry that I was not there to hear the address; and now, brethren, I am going to confess that I have sinned a little in this matter of women preaching. Two or three years ago I went and heard Miss Smiley preach. I had heard in the morning--I won't mention his name--one of the most distinguished men of the country preach a very able sermon--a very long one, too. [Laughter.] I had heard in the afternoon a doctor of divinity; I don't see him here now, but I have seen him, and I won't mention his name; and I heard Miss Smiley in the evening. It may be heresy to say it, but I do think I was more fed that evening than I had been by both the others; but I do not on that account say that it is good for women to go, as a regular thing, into the pulpit. If I had heard her a dozen times, I should not have been so much moved. Woman-preaching may do for a little time, but it won't do for a permanency. I heard at Old Orchard, at a temperance convention, the most beautiful argument I ever listened to, delivered with grace and modesty and power. The words fell like dew upon the heart, enriching it, and the speaker was Miss Willard; but for all this, brethren, I do not approve of women preaching. [Great laughter.] We must not, for the sake of a little good, sacrifice a great principle." Dr. Pollock of Lyons Farms wanted to shelter women, to prevent them from being talked about as ministers are and criticised as ministers are; it was for this that he would keep them out of the pulpit. Rev. Drs. Findley and Prentiss de Neuve were in favor of sustaining the charge. Rev. Dr. Haley contended that Brother See ought not to be condemned, because he had not offended against any law of the church. Drs. Seibert, Ballantine and Hopwood spoke in favor of sustaining the charge. A vote of 16 to 12 found Rev. Dr. See guilty of violating the Scriptures by allowing women to preach, and the case was appealed to the General Assembly.

The General Assembly adopted the following report on this case:

The Rev. Isaac W. See, pastor of the Wickliffe Church, Newark, N. J., was charged by Rev. Elijah R. Craven, D. D., with disobedience to the divinely enacted ordinance in reference to the public speaking and teaching of women in the churches as recorded in I Corinthians, xiv., 33-37, and in I Timothy, ii., 11-13, in that twice on a specified Sabbath, in the pulpit of his said church, at the usual time of public service, he did introduce a woman, whom he permitted and encouraged then and there publicly to preach and teach.

The Presbytery of Newark sustained the charge, and from its decision Mr. See appealed to the synod of New Jersey, which refused by a decided vote to sustain the appeal, expressing its judgment in a minute of which the following is a part:

In sustaining the Presbytery of Newark as against the appeal of the Rev. I. M. See, the synod holds that the passages of scripture referred to in the action of the Presbytery, do prohibit the fulfilling by women of the offices of public preachers in the regular assemblies of the church.

From this decision Mr. See has further appealed to the General Assembly, which, having thereupon proceeded to issue the appeal, and having fully heard the original parties and members of the inferior judicatory, decided that the said appeal from the synod of New Jersey be not sustained by the following vote: To sustain, 85. To sustain in part, 71. Not to sustain, 201.

From the following description by Mrs. Devereux Blake, we have conclusive evidence of woman's capacity to govern under most trying circumstances:

A certain little woman living in Jersey City has, from time to time, occupied a portion of public consideration; this is Mrs. Ericka C. Jones, for four years and a half warden of the Hudson county jail, probably the only woman in the world who holds such a position. Her history is briefly this: Some seven years ago her husband obtained the appointment of jailor at this institution, and moved to it with his bride. From the time of their incoming a marked improvement in the administration of the jail became apparent, which continued, when, after two years, Mr. Jones was stricken down with softening of the brain, which reduced him to a condition of idiocy for six months before his death. When at last this occurred, by unanimous vote of the board of freeholders the woman who had really performed the duties of jailor was appointed warden of Hudson county jail. All this has been a matter of report in the papers, as well as the attempt to oust her from the position, which was made last fall, when certain male politicians wanted the place for some friend and voter, and appealed to Attorney-General Vanetta, who gave an opinion adverse to the lady's claims. Resolutions on the subject were passed by various woman suffrage societies, and anxious to see the subject of so much dispute, and hear her story from her own lips, a party of ladies was made up to call upon her.

Hudson-county jail stands in the same inclosure with the court-house, a small, neatly-kept park, well shaded by fine trees, and being on very high ground commands a view over the North River and New York Bay. The building is a substantial one of stone, with nothing of the repulsive aspect of a jail about it. Asking for Mrs. Jones, we were at once shown into the office. We had expected to see a woman of middle age and somewhat stern aspect. Instead, we beheld a pretty, young person, apparently not more than twenty-five years old, with bright, black eyes, waving brown hair, good features and plump figure. She was very neatly dressed and pleasant in manner, making us cordially welcome. We were conducted into the parlor and at once begged her to tell us all about her case, which she did very clearly and concisely. When she was left a widow with two little children she had no idea that this place would be given her, but it was tendered to her by unanimous vote of the board of freeholders. At that time there were in jail three desperate criminals, Proctor, Demsing and Foley, bank robbers, and some persons feared that a woman could not hold them, but they were safely transferred at the proper time from the jail to the state-prison. "And," she added, with a bright smile, "I never have lost a prisoner, which is more than many men-jailors can say. Some of them tried to escape last fall, but I had warning in time, sent for the police, and the attempt was prevented."

"And do you think there is any danger of your being turned out?" "I don't know. I intend to remain in the place until the end of my term, if possible, since as long as the effort to dismiss me is based solely on the ground of my sex and not of my incompetency, it ought justly to be resisted." "But Attorney-General Vanetta gave an adverse opinion as to the legality of your appointment?" "Yes, but ex-Attorney-General Robert Gilchrist, a very able lawyer, has given an opinion in my favor, while Mr. Lippincott, counsel of the board when I was appointed, also held that I was eligible for the place."

She then went on to tell us some of the petty persecutions and indirect measures Which have been resorted to in order to induce her to resign, as her term of office will not expire for two years. When her husband was given the position, the allowance consisted of 40 cents a day for each prisoner, 50 cents for each sick person, 25 cents for every committal, and 12-1/2 cents for every discharge. The daily allowance has been cut down from 40 to 25 cents, and all the other allowances have been entirely done away with. She is, therefore, at this moment running that jail on 25 cents a day for each prisoner. Out of this sum she must pay for all food, all salaries of assistant jailors, etc., all wages of servants, and even the furniture of the place. She is supplied with fuel and gas, but no stores of any description. She has also had other annoyances. The payment of money justly due has been opposed or delayed; and whereas her husband was required to give bond for only $5,000, she has been forced to give one for $10,000. She has also been troubled by the visits of persons representing themselves to be reporters of papers, who have wished to borrow money of her, and failing in this, have printed disagreeable articles about her. She has, of course, no salary whatever. "However, I do as well as I can with the money I receive," she said, with that pleasant smile. "And now would you like to see the jail?" * * * *

Ex-Attorney Gilchrist's opinion on her case is an able indorsement of her position. He says, in the first place, that as Attorney-General Vanetta's adverse view was not given officially, it is not binding on the Board of Freeholders, and then goes on to cite precedents. "Alice Stubbs, in 1787, was appointed overseer of the poor in the county of Stafford, England, and the Court of King's Bench sustained her in the office. A woman was appointed governor of the work-house at Chelmsford, England, and the court held it to be a good appointment. Lady Brangleton was appointed keeper of the Gate-House jail in London. Lady Russell was appointed keeper of the Castle of Dunnington. All these cases are reported in Stranges R., as clearly establishing the right and duty of woman to hold office. The case of Ann, Countess of Pembroke, Dorsett and Montgomery, who was sheriff of Westmoreland, is very well known." The opinion winds up by saying: "The argument that a woman is incompetent to perform the duties of such an office is doubly answered--first, by the array of cases in which it is held that she is competent; second, by the resolution of the board when Mrs. Jones was appointed, that she had for a long time prior thereto actually kept the jail while her husband was jailor." How this whole matter would be simplified if women could vote and hold office, so that merit and not sex should be the only qualification for any place.--New York Record, 1876.

The following incident shows not only what physical training will do in giving a girl self-reliance in emergencies, but it shows the nice sense of humor that grows out of conscious power with which a girl can always take a presuming youth at disadvantage. No doubt Miss McCosh, as a student in Princeton, could as easily distance her compeers in science, philosophy and the languages, as she did the dude on the highway. Why not open the doors of that institution and let her make the experiment?

The distinguished president of Princeton College, Dr. McCosh, has two daughters who are great walkers. They are in the habit of going to Trenton and back, a distance of about twenty miles, where they do their shopping. One day a dude accosted Miss Bridget on the road, and said, in the usual manner: "Beg pardon, but may I walk with you?" She replied, "Certainly," and quickened her pace a little. After the first half-mile the masher began to gasp, and then, as she passed on with a smile, he sat down panting on a mile-stone, and mopped the perspiration from his brow.

At the sixteenth national convention, held in Washington, March, 1884, the State was well represented;[283] Mrs. Hanaford gave an address on "New Jersey as a Leader." In her letter to the convention, Mrs. Hussey wrote:

An old gentleman, Aaron Burr Harrison, a resident of East Orange, has just passed on to his long home, full of years--eighty-eight--and with a good record. He told me about his sister's voting in New jersey, when he was a child--probably about 1807. The last time I took a petition for woman suffrage to him, he signed it willingly, and his daughter also.

February 12, 1884, a special committee of the New Jersey Assembly granted a hearing[284] on the petition of Mrs. Celia B. Whitehead, and 220 other citizens of Bloomfield, asking the restoration of woman's right to vote; fully one-half of the members of the Assembly were present. Mrs. Seagrove handed the committee an ancient printed copy of the original constitution of New Jersey, dated July 2, 1776. The name of James Seagrove, her husband's grandfather, is endorsed upon it in his own hand-writing. In the suffrage clause of this document the words "all inhabitants" were substituted for those of "male freeholders" in the provincial charter. Hence the constitution of 1776 gave suffrage to women and men of color. Mrs. Seagrove made an appeal on behalf of the women of the State. Mr. Blackwell gave a resume of the unconstitutional action of the legislature in its depriving women of their right to vote. Mrs. Hanaford, in answer to a question of the committee, claimed the right for women not only to vote but to hold office; and instanced from her own observation the need of women as police officers, and especially as matrons in the police stations. The result of these appeals may be seen in a paragraph from the Boston Commonwealth, a paper in hearty sympathy:

In the lower House of the New Jersey legislature a Democratic member recently moved that the word "male" be stricken from the constitution of the State. After some positive discussion a non-partisan vote of 27 to 24 defeated the motion. This occurrence, it is to be observed, is chronicled of one of the most conservative States in the Union. The arguments used on both sides were not new or remarkable. But the vote was very close. If such a measure could in so conservative a State be nearly carried, we can have reasonable hope of its favorable reception, in more radical sections. In New Jersey we did not expect success for the resolution proposed. The favorable votes really surprised us. We do not mistake the omen. Gradually the point of woman's responsibility is being conceded. The arbitrary lines now drawn politically and socially are without reason. Indeed, one of the members of the New Jersey Assembly called attention to the fact that to grant suffrage now would not be the conferring of a new gift on women, but only a restoration of rights exercised in colonial times.

FOOTNOTES:

[274] See Vol. I., page 447.

[275] Mrs. Pryor lived formerly in Waterloo, New York. She was present at the first convention at Seneca Falls, and sustained the demand for woman suffrage with earnest sympathy. I have been indebted to her for a splendid housekeeper, trained by her in all domestic accomplishments, who lived in my family for thirty years, a faithful, devoted friend to me and my children. Much that I have enjoyed and accomplished in life is due to her untiring and unselfish services. My cares were the lighter for all the heavy burdens she willingly took on her shoulders. The name of Amelia Willard should always be mentioned with loving praise by me and mine. Her sympathies have ever been in our reform. When Abby Kelly was a young girl, speaking through New York in the height of the anti-slavery mobs, Margaret Pryor traveled with her for company and protection. Abby used to say she always felt safe when she could see Margaret Pryor's Quaker bonnet.--[E. C. S.

[276] In a letter to Mary F. Davis, February 13, 1882, asking her for some facts in regard to that period, Lucy Stone says: "I have never kept any diary or record of my work. I have been too busy with the work itself. I could not answer your questions without a search among old letters and papers, which have been packed away for years, and I have not time to make the search, and cannot be accurate without. I know we had many meetings in New Jersey in all the large towns, beginning in Newark and Orange, and following the line of the railroad to Trenton, Camden, and Vineland, and then another series that included towns reached by stage, Salem being one, but I cannot tell whether these meetings were before or after the formation of the State Society." The records show that they were before, says Mrs. Davis; newspaper reports of them are in the archives of the Historical Society.

[277] President, Lucy Stone, Roseville; Vice-Presidents, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Thomas B. Peddie, Portia Gage, Rev. Robert McMurdy, Cornelia Collins Hussey, George T. Cobb, Sarah E. Webb, Dr. James Brotherton, Isaac Stevens, Rev. H. A. Butler, A. J. Davis, James H. Nixon, Dr. G. H. Haskell, I. M. Peebles, Rev. C. H. Dezanne, William Baldwin; Corresponding Secretaries, Phebe A. Pierson, Miss P. Fowler; Recording Secretary, C. A. Paul; Treasurer, S. G. Silvester; Executive Committee, Mary F. Davis, Mrs. E. L. Bush, H. B. Blackwell, Rev. Oscar Clute, Miss Charlotte Bathgate, Rowland Johnson, Mrs. Robert McMurdy, Dr. D. N. Allen, Sarah Pierson, Lizzie Prentice, W. D. Conan, John Whitehead.

[278] Among those who addressed the conventions and the legislature we find the names of Lucretia Mott, Ernestine L. Rose, Lucy Stone, Antoinette Brown Blackwell, Mary F. Davis, Charlotte B. Wilbour, Elizabeth R. Churchill, Elizabeth A. Kingsbury, Deborah Butler, Olive F. Stevens, Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, Mrs. Devereux Blake, Rev. Oscar Clute, Rev. Olympia Brown, Rev. Mr. McMurdy, Mr. Taylor, John Whitehead, Mrs. Seagrove, Henry B. Blackwell, Hon. James Scovell.

[279] This has been well illustrated by Mrs. Hanaford in her own case, she having preached for nearly twenty years with but three changes of place, and ten of these passed successively in the Universalist churches in Jersey City.--[E. C. S.

[280] VINELAND, July 15, 1879.--Club met at the residence of Mrs. Bristol. The meeting was opened with music by Mrs. Parkhurst, followed by a recitation by Miss Etta Taylor. Mrs. Andrew read an excellent essay, opposing the national bank system. Mrs. Bristol gave an instructive lesson in political economy on "Appropriation." The next lesson will be upon "Changes of Matter in Place." Appropriate remarks were made by Mrs. Neyman of New York, Mr. Broom, Mrs. Duffey and Mr. Bristol. Several new names were added to the list of membership. Miss Etta Taylor gave another recitation, which closed the exercises of the afternoon. In the evening a pleasant reception was held, and many invited guests were present. The exercises consisted of vocal and instrumental music, social converse and dancing. The club will meet again in two weeks.--[C. L. LADD, Secretary.

[281] Isaac Collins, her grandfather, died at Burlington, March 21, 1817, a man remarkable alike for his uprightness, industry, intelligence and enterprise. He was a Quaker by birth and conviction, and a printer, appointed by King George III. for the province of New Jersey. He printed many valuable books, almanacs, Bibles, revised laws, government money, and a weekly paper, The New Jersey Gazette. In making his will he so divided his property that each of his six daughters received twice the sum that he gave to each of the seven sons. This he explained by saying that the latter could go into business and support themselves, but his daughters must have enough to live upon, if they chose to remain single; he did not wish them to be forced to marry for a support.

[282] In the audience were several advocates of woman suffrage, probably there to take observations of the manner in which Christian clergymen conduct their meetings. This class of men had been so severe in their criticisms of woman suffrage conventions that we hoped to learn lessons of wisdom from the dignity, refinement and parliamentary order of their proceedings. Among these ladies were Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, Miss Arathusia Forbes, Mrs. Devereux Blake and Miss Susan King of New York, a wealthy tea-merchant and extensive traveler, and myself. That day the Rev. Dr. Craven was the principal speaker. The whole tenor of his remarks were so insulting to women that Miss King proposed to send an artist the following Sunday to photograph the women possessing so little self-respect as to sit under his ministrations. He punctuated his four-hours' vulgar diatribe by a series of resounding whacks with the Bible on the table before him.--[M. J. G.

[283] Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford, Miss Ellen Miles and Mrs. Jackson of Jersey City.

[284] Mrs. Theresa Walling Seagrove of Keyport, Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford of Jersey City and Henry B. Blackwell of Boston were the speakers.

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