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

Susan B. Anthony, Tenafly, New Jersey.

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

MAY WRIGHT SEWALL, Secretary.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The legislature of 1881 also passed the following:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FOOTNOTES:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[333] See Indiana Appendix, note A.

[334] See Appendix to Indiana, note B.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



CHAPTER XLIII.

ILLINOIS.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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