FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:[412]The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Lucretia Longshore Blankenburg of Philadelphia, who has been president of the State Suffrage Association since 1892.[413]SeeHistory of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 67.[414]Officers in 1884: President, Mary Grew, vice presidents, John K. Wildman, Ellen M. Child, Passmore Williamson, corresponding secretary, Florence A. Burleigh, recording secretary, Anna Shoemaker, treasurer, Annie Heacock, executive committee, Mary S. Hillborn, Martha B. Earle, Sarah H. Peirce, Gertrude K. Peirce, Joshua Peirce, Leslie Miller, Maria P. Miller, Harriet Purvis, Caroline L. Broomall, Deborah Pennock, J. E. Case, Matilda Hindman, Dr. Hiram Corson.[415]These meetings have been held in Chester, West Chester, Lancaster, Reading, Lewistown, Oxford, Kennett Square, Norristown, Scranton, Pittsburg, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Chester and Columbia.[416]For an account of the Citizens' Suffrage Association, Edward M. Davis, president, seeVol. III, p. 461.[417]At the annual meeting of October, 1900, the following were elected: President, Miss Jane Campbell; vice-presidents, Miss Eliza Heacock and Miss Elizabeth Dornan; corresponding secretary, Miss Katherine J. Campbell; recording secretary, Mrs. Olive Pond Amies; treasurer, Mrs. Mary F. Kenderdine. Sixteen delegates were elected to represent the society at the State convention.[418]Among the men and women who have been especially helpful to the cause of woman suffrage since 1884, besides those already mentioned, are Robert Purvis, John M. Broomall, Edward M. Davis, Drs. Hannah E. Longshore, Jane V. Myers, Jane K. Garver; Mesdames Rachel Foster Avery, Emma J. Bartol, Eliza Sproat Turner, Elizabeth B. Passmore, J. L. Koethen, Jr., Helen Mosher James, Charlotte L. Peirce, Ellen C. H. Ogden, Mary E. Mumford, Elizabeth Smith, J. M. Harsh, J. W. Scheel, H. C. Perkins, Hanna M. Harlan, Misses Julia T. Foster, M. Adeline Thomson, Susan G. Appleton, Julia A. Myers, L. M. Mather, Lucy E. Anthony.[419]William and Hannah Penn were both Proprietary Governors of the colony, William from the time of its settlement in 1682 until 1712, when he was stricken with illness. Hannah then took up the affairs and administered as governor until William's death in 1717, and after that time until her son became of age.Sidney Fisher, in his account of the Pennsylvania colony, says that this is the only instance in history where a woman has acted as Proprietary Governor. Hannah Penn was skilful in her management and retained the confidence of the people through financial and political embarrassments.[420]SeeHistory of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 389.[421]Drs. Joseph and Hannah Myers Longshore were the uncle and mother of Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg. [Eds.

[412]The History is indebted for this chapter to Mrs. Lucretia Longshore Blankenburg of Philadelphia, who has been president of the State Suffrage Association since 1892.

[413]SeeHistory of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 67.

[414]Officers in 1884: President, Mary Grew, vice presidents, John K. Wildman, Ellen M. Child, Passmore Williamson, corresponding secretary, Florence A. Burleigh, recording secretary, Anna Shoemaker, treasurer, Annie Heacock, executive committee, Mary S. Hillborn, Martha B. Earle, Sarah H. Peirce, Gertrude K. Peirce, Joshua Peirce, Leslie Miller, Maria P. Miller, Harriet Purvis, Caroline L. Broomall, Deborah Pennock, J. E. Case, Matilda Hindman, Dr. Hiram Corson.

[415]These meetings have been held in Chester, West Chester, Lancaster, Reading, Lewistown, Oxford, Kennett Square, Norristown, Scranton, Pittsburg, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Chester and Columbia.

[416]For an account of the Citizens' Suffrage Association, Edward M. Davis, president, seeVol. III, p. 461.

[417]At the annual meeting of October, 1900, the following were elected: President, Miss Jane Campbell; vice-presidents, Miss Eliza Heacock and Miss Elizabeth Dornan; corresponding secretary, Miss Katherine J. Campbell; recording secretary, Mrs. Olive Pond Amies; treasurer, Mrs. Mary F. Kenderdine. Sixteen delegates were elected to represent the society at the State convention.

[418]Among the men and women who have been especially helpful to the cause of woman suffrage since 1884, besides those already mentioned, are Robert Purvis, John M. Broomall, Edward M. Davis, Drs. Hannah E. Longshore, Jane V. Myers, Jane K. Garver; Mesdames Rachel Foster Avery, Emma J. Bartol, Eliza Sproat Turner, Elizabeth B. Passmore, J. L. Koethen, Jr., Helen Mosher James, Charlotte L. Peirce, Ellen C. H. Ogden, Mary E. Mumford, Elizabeth Smith, J. M. Harsh, J. W. Scheel, H. C. Perkins, Hanna M. Harlan, Misses Julia T. Foster, M. Adeline Thomson, Susan G. Appleton, Julia A. Myers, L. M. Mather, Lucy E. Anthony.

[419]William and Hannah Penn were both Proprietary Governors of the colony, William from the time of its settlement in 1682 until 1712, when he was stricken with illness. Hannah then took up the affairs and administered as governor until William's death in 1717, and after that time until her son became of age.Sidney Fisher, in his account of the Pennsylvania colony, says that this is the only instance in history where a woman has acted as Proprietary Governor. Hannah Penn was skilful in her management and retained the confidence of the people through financial and political embarrassments.

Sidney Fisher, in his account of the Pennsylvania colony, says that this is the only instance in history where a woman has acted as Proprietary Governor. Hannah Penn was skilful in her management and retained the confidence of the people through financial and political embarrassments.

[420]SeeHistory of Woman Suffrage, Vol. I, p. 389.

[421]Drs. Joseph and Hannah Myers Longshore were the uncle and mother of Mrs. Lucretia L. Blankenburg. [Eds.

Rhode Island was one of the pioneer States to form a woman suffrage association. On Dec. 11, 1868, in answer to a call signed by a large number of its most distinguished men and women, a successful meeting was held in Roger Williams Hall, Providence, and Mrs. Paulina Wright Davis was elected president of the new organization.[423]Many series of conventions in different parts of the State were held between 1870 and 1884, at which the officers and special speakers presented petitions for signatures and prepared for legislative appeals.

In 1884, by unanimous vote of the Assembly, the State House was granted for the first time for a woman suffrage convention. Four sessions were held in the Hall of the House of Representatives, and Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Henry B. Blackwell, William Lloyd Garrison, Mary F. Eastman and others addressed great throngs of people who filled the seats, occupied all the standing room and overflowed into the lobbies.

Up to the present date this association has held an annual convention in October, a special May Festival with social features in the spring, and from one to four meetings each intervening month. These have been rendered attractive by papers and addresses from the members and by public speakers of ability from different parts of the United States and from other lands. In addition to this active propaganda special organizers have been secured from time to time to canvass the State and win intelligent support for the cause.

The association has had but three presidents—Paulina Wright Davis for the first two years, Elizabeth Buffum Chace from 1870 until her death in 1899, aged ninety-two, and Ardelia C. Dewing,now serving. When Mrs. Chace was unable longer to be actively the leader, Anna Garlin Spencer, who returned in 1889 to reside in Rhode Island, as first vice-president acted for her about seven years and Mrs. Dewing for the remainder of the time. Mrs. Davis was an exquisite personality with soul ever facing the light; Mrs. Chace, a woman of granite strength and stability of character, with a keen mind always bent upon the reason and the right of things, and with a single-hearted devotion to the great principles of life.[424]

The vice-presidents of the association number "honorable names not a few."[425]Among them was the Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, who during the eleven years of his ministry in Providence, 1878-1889, acted as the first vice-president and did the greatest possible service to the association in all ways, ever championing the principle of equality of rights. The secretaries of the association always have been among the leaders in the movement. At first Rhoda Anna Fairbanks (Peckham) was the single officer in that capacity. In 1872 Anna C. Garlin (Spencer) was added as corresponding secretary but resigned in 1878 when her marriage required her removal from the State.[426]Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles served from 1891 to 1900 when Mrs. Annie M. Griffin was elected. There have been but three treasurers—Marcus T. Janes, Mrs. Susan B. P. Martin and Mrs. Mary K. Wood.[427]The chairman of the Executive Committee has always shared theheaviest burdens. Mrs. Chace was the first chairman. Mrs. S. E. H. Doyle succeeded her and continued in the office until her death in 1890. Mrs. Anna E. Aldrich then served to the end of her life in 1898. The association has done a great deal of active work through its organizers, the brilliant and versatile Elizabeth Kittridge Churchill, Mrs. Margaret M. Campbell, Mrs. Louise M. Tyler, and others. Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles, from 1890 to 1898, acted as organizer as well as secretary.

The State Society affiliated with the New England Woman Suffrage Association from the first; with the American in 1870 and with the National-American in 1891. It was incorporated in 1892 and has been the recipient of legacies from James Eddy, Mrs. Rachel Fry, Mrs. Sarah Wilbour, Mrs. Elizabeth B. Chace and others. It raised and expended for the woman suffrage campaign of 1887 more than $5,000 and has had some paid worker in the field during most of the years.

Legislative Action:From the first year of its existence, 1869, the State Association petitioned the Legislature for an amendment to the constitution abolishing sex as a condition of suffrage, and hearings were held before many committees.

In 1885, through the influence of Representative Edward L. Freeman, a bill for such an amendment actually passed both Houses, but failed through some technicality.

In 1886 it passed both Houses again by the constitutional majority of two-thirds. It was necessary that it should pass two successive Legislatures, and the vote in 1887 was, Senate, 28 ayes, 8 noes; House, 57 ayes, 5 noes. The amendment having been published and read at the annual town and ward meetings was then submitted to the voters. It was as follows: "Women shall have the right to vote in the election of all civil officers and on all questions in all legal town, district or ward meetings, subject to the same qualifications, limitations and conditions as men."

The story of this campaign can be compressed into a few sentences, but it was a great struggle in which heroic qualities were displayed and was led by the woman whose life has meant so much for Rhode Island, Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace, who had as her able lieutenant the Rev. Frederick A. Hinckley, and as her body-guard all the faithful leaders of the suffrage cause inthe State and helpers from other States.[428]Headquarters were established immediately in the business center of Providence. These rooms were opened each morning before nine o'clock and kept open until ten at night throughout the contest. The campaign lasted twenty-nine days, during which ninety-two public meetings were held, some in parlors but most in halls, vestries and churches. Miss Cora Scott Pond came at once into the State to organize the larger public meetings and Miss Sarah J. Eddy and Mrs. C. P. Norton arranged for parlor meetings. The regular speakers were Henry B. Blackwell, William Lloyd Garrison, the Revs. C. B. Pitblado, Louis A. Banks, Frederick A. Hinckley, Ada C. Bowles; Mesdames Mary A. Livermore, J. Ellen Foster, Zerelda G. Wallace, Julia Ward Howe, Katherine Lente Stevenson, E. S. Burlingame, Adelaide A. Claflin; Miss Mary F. Eastman and Miss Huldah B. Loud.[429]Miss Susan B. Anthony was invited to make the closing speech of the campaign but declined as she considered the situation hopeless.

The cities and towns were as thoroughly canvassed by these speakers as the short time permitted. A special paper,The Amendment, was edited by Mrs. Lillie B. Chace Wyman, assisted by Miss Kate Austin and Col. J. C. Wyman; the first number, issued March 16, an edition of 20,000, and the second, March 28, an edition of 40,000. They contained extracts from able articles on suffrage by leading men and women, letters from Rhode Island citizens approving the proposed amendment, and answers to the usual objections.

The principal newspapers of Providence, theJournaland theTelegram, both led the opposition to the amendment, the former admitting in an editorial, published March 10, "the theoretic justice of the proposed amendment to the constitution conferring suffrage upon women," but hoping it would be rejected because"whatever may be said for it, the measure has the fatal defect of being premature and impolitic." The opposition of theTelegramwas more aggressive and even of a scurrilous type. To offset this hostility if possible the suffrage association hired a column of space in theJournaland half a column in theTelegramand kept this daily filled with suffrage arguments; toward the end of the campaign securing space also in theDaily Republican. The papers of the State generally were opposed to the measure, but the WoonsocketDaily Reporter, NewportDaily News, Hope ValleySentinel-Advertiser, Pawtuxet ValleyGleaner, ProvidencePeople, BristolPhenix, Central FallsVisitorand a few others gave effective assistance. The association distributed about 39,000 packages of literature to the voters.

In the ProvidenceJournalof April 4 the names of over ninety prominent voters were signed to this announcement: "We, the undersigned, being opposed to the adoption of the proposed Woman Suffrage Amendment to the Constitution, respectfully urge all citizens (!) to vote against it at the coming election."

The next day theJournalcontained in the space paid for by the association the signatures of about the same number of equally prominent men appended to this statement: "We favor the passage of the Woman Suffrage Amendment which has been submitted to the voters of Rhode Island for action at the coming election." The same issue contained a list of many of the most distinguished men and women in this and other countries, beginning with Phillips Brooks and Clara Barton, and headed, "Some Other People of Weight Who Have Indorsed Woman Suffrage. Match This if You Can."

The election was held April 6, 1887, and at the sixty-two polling places men and women were on hand to urge the electors to vote for the amendment. The result was 6,889 ayes, 21,957 noes—the largest defeat woman suffrage ever received.

Many of the ablest lawyers having decided that no extension of franchise, not even a school vote, could be secured in Rhode Island through the Legislature (except possibly Presidential Suffrage) and the amendment to the constitution having been defeated by so heavy a vote, it was deemed best not to ask for another submission of the question for a term of years. Thereforeother matters, involving legal equality of the sexes, formed for a while the chief subjects for legislative work.

In 1892 a special appeal was made to the General Assembly to confer upon women by statute the right to vote for presidential electors. Three hearings were had before the House committee but the bill was not reported.

In 1895 a hearing, managed by Mrs. Jeanette S. French, was granted by the Senate committee. A number of able women of the State made addresses and the committee reported unanimously in favor of submitting again an amendment for the Full Suffrage. It was too late, however, for further action and was referred to the May session. At that time it passed the Senate but was lost in the House by a small majority.

In 1897 the Governor was empowered by the General Assembly to appoint a commission to revise the State constitution. This was deemed by many as opposed to the spirit of the basic law of the Commonwealth, in substituting a small appointive body for the Constitutional Convention of Electors previously considered necessary to revise the fundamental law of the State, but the commission was appointed. The Woman Suffrage Association early presented a claim for a hearing which was granted for May 11. The Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer conducted it and introduced the other speakers who were all citizens of the State and of influence in their communities.[430]After interviews were held with the commission, the association adopted resolutions which were afterwards incorporated in a letter and read by Mrs. Bolles to the Committee on Revision. It said in part:

We are informed that you consider it inadvisable to incorporate a suffrage amendment in the revised constitution lest it endanger the acceptance of other proposed and necessary changes. This view may be correct, but surely it need not prevent you from advising a provision by which the Legislature would be empowered to extend suffrage to women at its discretion, and this we greatly desire. A conservative measure of this nature could not call out a large amount of antagonism from the voters, while it would be a great help to women in their efforts to obtain a voice in such matters ofpublic concern as are of vital importance to their interests. The constitution of Rhode Island is far behind the spirit of the age in its treatment of women, as only one other State makes it equally difficult for them to obtain even the simplest form of political rights. In revising the fundamental law this fact ought not to be overlooked and the instrument should be so constructed as to bring it up to date in this respect.

These appeals were not responded to favorably by the Commission, although great courtesy and willingness to consider the subject were manifested, and a large minority vote was given in the Commission itself to empower the Legislature to grant suffrage at discretion by statute. The proposed revision was submitted to the electors and during the campaign preceding their vote the association passed the following resolution at its annual meeting of Oct. 20, 1898: "Resolved, That we consider the proposed constitution unworthy the intelligence and civilization of the age, for these reasons: First, It does not give suffrage to women citizens and makes the obtaining of an amendment for this purpose even more difficult than it is at present by requiring a larger legislative majority to submit any question to the voters. Second, It restricts the suffrage of men by a property qualification."

The revised constitution was voted down by a large majority.

Laws:The Suffrage Association from its first existence closely watched legislation affecting women and children, and often appeared by representative speakers before committees engaged in framing changes in such laws; but in 1892 and '93 a special effort was made to secure full legal equality for men and women. Miss Mary A. Greene, a Rhode Island lawyer, educated for and admitted to the bar in Massachusetts, was engaged to prepare a full statement of the existing laws relating to women and children and to draw up a code for suggestion to the Legislature which should embody the exact justice for which the association stood. This step was taken at that time because the Legislature had just appointed a Committee of Codification to consider the statutes bearing on domestic relations, contract powers, etc. The suggestions of the association, as prepared by Miss Greene, were not acted upon in any formal way, still less with completeness, but the changes made in the interest of equal rights for women were marked and the association had a distinctshare in them. The property laws for women are now satisfactory except that of inheritance which is as follows:

Dower and curtesy both obtain. If the husband die without a will, leaving children, the widow is entitled to the life use of one-third of the real estate, and to one-third of the personal property absolutely, the remainder going to them. If there are no children or descendants she takes one-half of the personal property and as much of the real estate for life as is not required to pay the husband's debts. The other half of the personal property goes to the husband's relatives and, after her death, all of the real estate. The widower is entitled to a life use of all the wife's real estate if there has been issue born alive. If she die without a will he may take the whole of her personal property without administration or accountability to the children or to her kindred. The widow and minor children are entitled to certain articles of apparel, furniture and household supplies and to six months' support out of the estate. The widow has the prior right as administrator.

The wife may dispose of her personal and real property by will, but can not impair the husband's curtesy, or the life use of all her real estate. The husband may do the same subject to the wife's dower, or life use of one-third of the real estate.

If any person having neither wife nor children die without a will "the property shall go to the father of such person if there be a father, if not, then to the mother, brothers and sisters."

All the property of a married woman, whether acquired before or after marriage, is absolutely secured to her sole and separate use, free from liability for her husband's debts. Personal and real estate may be conveyed by her as if unmarried, the latter subject to the husband's curtesy. Her husband must present an order from her to collect the rents and profits.

A married woman may make contracts, sue and be sued, and carry on any trade or business, and her earnings are her sole and separate property. She can not, however, enter into business partnership with her husband.

Neither husband nor wife is liable for the torts of the other. The wife's property is liable for her debts or torts.

A married woman may act as executor, administrator orguardian if appointed to those offices by will, but she can not be appointed to them by the court except to the guardianship of children.[431]

In case of divorce for fault of the husband the wife may have dower as if he were dead. If alimony be claimed the dower is waived. If the divorce is for the fault of the wife, the husband, if entitled to curtesy, shall have a life estate in the lands of the wife, subject to such allowance to her, chargeable on the life estate, as the court may deem proper. In case of separation only, the petitioner may be assigned a separate maintenance out of the property of the husband or wife as the case may be.

The father is the legal guardian of the minor children. At his death the mother is entitled to the guardianship and custody. The mother may be appointed guardian by the court during the husband's lifetime. If he is insane or has deserted or neglected his children she is entitled to full custody.

If the wife is deserted by her husband unjustifiably and not supported by him, she may receive authority from the court for the custody and earnings of her minor children, and he may be imprisoned not less than six months nor more than three years. If he abandon her and is absent from the State one year or more or is condemned to prison for a year or more, the court can order the income from his property applied to the support of his family.

A law of 1896 provided that a wife owning property might contract in writing for the support of her husband and children, but this was repealed in three months. She is not required to support them by her labor or property, as the husband is the legal head of the family.

The most of the above laws have been enacted since 1892.

Until 1889, 10 years was the age for the protection of girls, but then it was made 14 years, with a penalty of not less than ten years' imprisonment. In 1894 it was raised to 16 and the penalty made not more than fifteen years with no minimum number specified. The former penalty still holds, however, for actual rape.

Suffrage:Women have no form of suffrage. The husband may vote as a taxpayer by right of his wife's real estate.

Office Holding:Eligibility to office is limited by the constitutionto electors. The article referring to school committee (trustees) merely says, however, that they shall be "residents of the town." In 1872 and '73 the suffrage association procured by direct effort an Act qualifying women to serve on school committees and many have done so with distinction. There are sixteen now serving in the State. The city charter of Pawtucket requires one of the three members to be a woman.

As far back as 1869 an appeal was made by the suffrage association that women should be placed on all boards of management of institutions in which women were confined as prisoners or cared for as unfortunates. In partial response an Act was passed in 1870 establishing an Advisory Board of Female Visitors to the charitable, penal and correctional institutions of the State. This board had no powers of control, but had full rights of inspection at all times and constituted an official channel for criticism and suggestions. It is still in existence and is composed of seven representative women.

The association was not satisfied with a board of such limited powers and in 1874 it memorialized the Legislature for an Act requiring that women, in the proportion of at least three out of seven, should be placed on the State Board of Charities and Correction, with equal powers in all particulars. This petition was presented for three years successively and special hearings granted to its advocates, but at last was definitely refused. In 1891, however, two institutions, the State Home and School for Dependent Children and the Rhode Island School for the Deaf, were placed in charge of boards of control, to be appointed by the Governor, to report to the Legislature and to exercise full powers of supervision and management, "at least three of whom shall be women."

In 1878 a meeting was held by the association to consider the need of good and wise women in all places where unfortunate women are in confinement, and the matter of placing police matrons in stations was discussed. Agitation followed and the W. C. T. U., under the enthusiastic lead of Mrs. J. K. Barney, adopted the matter as a special work, the W. S. A. aiding in all possible ways. In March, 1881, the first police matron in the country (it is believed) was appointed in Providence and installedas a regular officer. From this beginning the movement spread until in 1893 an Act was passed by the General Assembly, without a dissenting voice, requiring police matrons in all cities, the nominations in each to be recommended by twenty women residents in good standing.

The first agitation for women probation officers was started in a meeting of the State Suffrage Association in 1892. The W. C. T. U. and the leaders in rescue mission work in Providence continued the movement, and in 1898 a woman was appointed in Providence to that office, with equal powers of the man probation officer, to be responsible for women who are released on parole.

In 1893 an Act was passed as the result of a determined movement lasting several years, in which the suffrage association shared, although the principal leaders were the labor reform organizations of the State and the Council of Women of Rhode Island (to which body the W. S. A. was auxiliary). It raised the legal age of the child-worker from ten to twelve years, provided for sanitary conditions and moral safeguards in shops and factories, and for the appointment of two factory and shop inspectors, "one of whom shall be a woman," to secure its enforcement. The man and woman inspector were made exactly equal in power, responsibility and salary, instead of the woman being, as in most States, a deputy or special inspector. Mrs. Fanny Purdy Palmer was chosen for this position.

Appointive offices which women have held recently, or are holding, are assistant clerk of the Supreme Court and Court of Common Pleas; stenographer for same; clerk to State Commissioner of Public Schools; clerk to State Auditor and Insurance Commissioner; as superintendent of State Reform School for Girls, and as jailer in Kent county.

No woman has ever applied to serve as notary public, but doubtless it would not be considered legal.

Occupations:No occupation or profession is forbidden to women, but a test is soon to be made as to whether they will be admitted to the bar. Women are prohibited from contracting to work more than ten hours a day. They can bind themselves to be apprentices till the age of eighteen, men until twenty-one.

Education:Rhode Island contains only one university—Brown—foundedin 1764. In 1883 Miss Helen McGill and Miss Annie S. Peck, college graduates, addressed a meeting at Providence on the higher education of women. Arnold B. Chace was requested at this time to report at the next regular meeting of the State Suffrage Association the prospects for the admission of women to Brown University, as he was treasurer of the university corporation. At a later meeting the Rev. Ezekiel Gilman Robinson, then president of the university, by request addressed the association and declared his views, saying in substance that he was not in favor of their admission, especially in the undergraduate departments, as the discipline required by young men and women was quite different and all social questions would be complicated by the presence of the latter.

After much discussion at other meetings it was decided to form a committee, representing several organizations interested in the advancement of women, to work more definitely in this direction. On Feb. 20, 1886, a number of ladies assembled at the home of Mrs. Rachel Fry, a prominent member of the suffrage association, and, after discussion and advice from Mr. Chace, appointed a committee.[432]Three days later it met at the home of Mrs. R. A. Peckham, organized and elected Miss Sarah E. Doyle chairman and Mrs. Fanny Purdy Palmer secretary. It met again March 14, to hear reports on the conferences of the members with professors of the university, and the result showed a considerable number of them in favor of the project. To influence public opinion the committee published statistics showing that thirty young women of Rhode Island were attending colleges outside the State, and argued that most of these who now were "exiles" would gladly receive the higher education at home.

The movement was accelerated by the act of four young girls, Elizabeth Hoyt, Henrietta R. Palmer, Emma L. Meader and Helen Gregory, who took by permission the classical course in the Providence High School, at that time limited to boys; and in 1887 addressed a petition prepared by David Hoyt, the principal, to the president of the university, urging that when their preparationwas complete they might be allowed to share the educational privileges of Brown. They received a discouraging response and all turned to other colleges.

Up to this time friends on the faculty and in the corporation of the university were working up a scheme for the unofficial entrance of women and their instruction in the class-rooms, and the committee had engaged itself with the practical details connected with this plan.

On Feb. 4, 1889, this somewhat informal committee organized an association and adopted a constitution which declared its object, "to secure the educational privileges of Brown University for women on the same terms offered to men." Of the thirty-two original signers to this constitution eighteen were members of the State Suffrage Association and the number included the president, two vice-presidents, secretary, treasurer and four members of the executive committee. The same officers were continued.

Prof. Benjamin Franklin Clarke was from the first an earnest supporter of the claims of the women, and worked within the faculty as Arnold B. Chace did in the corporation. When in 1889 Elisha Benjamin Andrews (who as professor had in 1887 indorsed the woman suffrage amendment) became the president of the university, the cause of the higher education of women took a great leap forward. In October, 1891, the Women's College connected with Brown University was established and a small building hired for its home. Six young women, among them the now distinguished president of Mount Holyoke College, Miss Mary Woolley, entered the class rooms. The results of the next ten years are thus summed up in the official year-book for 1901:

The Women's College was founded in October, 1891. At first only the privileges of university examinations and certificates of proficiency were granted. In June, 1892, all the university degrees and the graduate courses were opened. In November, 1897, the institution was accepted by the corporation and officially designated the Women's College of Brown University. The immediate charge, subject to the direction of the president, was placed in the hands of a dean. All instruction was required to be given by members of the university faculty. Pembroke Hall, which was built by the Rhode Island Society for the Collegiate Education of Women, wasformally transferred to the university in October, 1897, and was accepted as the recitation hall of the Women's College.

The record of the admission of women to this ancient university is part of the history of the Woman Suffrage Association, because all the initial movements were taken by that body, the society which continued the work was separated from the association only for purposes of practical efficiency, and the first principle on which the movement proceeded was that of absolute equality in educational opportunity, which is the corollary of political democracy. With its actual opening to women, however, other elements of leadership assumed control and have secured later results.

On Jan. 16, 1892, the original association having practically secured its object, the money in the treasury was turned over to the Women's Educational and Industrial Union, and from that body finally found its way to a scholarship fund for the Women's College, and the association disbanded. Later the need for raising funds to meet the requirement for buildings and endowments led to the reorganization of the work, and the present Rhode Island Society for the Collegiate Education of Women was formed. Miss Doyle was elected the president of this new association, as she had been of the old. At the dedication of Pembroke Hall, which the efforts of this later society had secured, the early history (especially the connection of the Woman Suffrage Association with the work) was not dwelt upon, but the facts should have permanent record to furnish one more proof that woman suffrage societies have started great collateral movements, which, when they are fully successful, often forget or do not know the "mother that bore them."[433]

It was not until 1893 that the full classical course of the Providence High School, preparatory for the university, was officially thrown open to girls, although a few had previously attended.Now all departments, including the manual training, are open alike to both sexes, and there are no distinctions anywhere in the public schools. In these there are 207 men and 1,706 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $103.74; of the women, $51. Only one other State (Mass.) shows so great a discrepancy.

The Association of Collegiate Alumnæ has an active branch in Rhode Island. Seventeen clubs representing 1,436 members belong to the State Federation. The Local Council of Women, which is auxiliary to the National Council, has a membership, by delegate representation, of thirty-two of the leading educational, church, philanthropic and reformatory societies of Providence and of the State. About one-half of these have men as well as women for members, but all are represented in the Council by women. This body has done many important things, having taken the most active part in securing Factory and Shop Inspection; initiated the formation of the Providence Society for Organizing Charity; started the movement for a Consumers' League and launched that association; and is now at work to secure a State institution for the care and training of the Feeble-Minded. The Council holds from six to ten private meetings in the year, at least two public meetings, and an annual public Peace Celebration in conjunction with the Peace Committee of the International Council of Women.

FOOTNOTES:[422]The History is indebted for this chapter to the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer of Providence, vice-president-at-large of the State Woman Suffrage Association.[423]SeeHistory of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 340.[424]The annual meeting in October, 1895, celebrated the completion of a quarter of a century's service on the part of Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace as president of the Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association. Letters from absent friends were read expressing their high appreciation of her life-long service in the cause of humankind as well as womankind. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Mr. William Lloyd Garrison and Miss Mary F. Eastman attended to speak for the cause, and to testify their love for Mrs. Chace. The Hon. E. L. Freeman, ex-Gov. John W. Davis and others of the State also spoke words of great respect. The association honored itself by once more electing Mrs. Chace its chief officer, although she had expressed a strong desire to retire from the position as she felt that the burden of the work should be borne by younger shoulders. [Annual Report to National Suffrage Convention.[425]Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Julia Ward Howe, Rowland Hazard, Phebe Jackson, Susan Sisson, Sarah Helen Whitman, Elizabeth K. Churchill, Abraham Payne, Sarah T. Wilbour, Charlotte A. Jenckes, George L. Clarke, Francis C. Frost, Susan R. Harris, Augustus Woodbury and many others of the best known and most useful citizens.[426]Others were Mrs. M. M. Brewster, Mrs. Mary C. Peckham, Mrs. Rowena P. B. Tingley, Miss Charlotte R. Hoswell, Mrs. Anna E. Aldrich and Mrs. Martha Knowles.[427]Present board: President Mrs. A. C. Dewing; first vice-president, Mrs. Thomas W. Chase; second vice-president, Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles; third vice-president, Mrs. Charlotte B. Wilbour; secretary, Mrs. Annie M. Griffin; treasurer, Mrs. Mary K. Wood; auditors, Mrs. O. I. Angell, Mrs. Elizabeth Ormsbee; honorary vice-presidents, the Hon. H. B. Metcalf, Dr. L. F. C. Garvin and Arnold B. Chace.[428]The officers were: President, Mrs. Chace; vice-presidents, Mr. Hinckley, Arnold B. Chace, Phebe Jackson, Mary O. Arnold and Julia Ward Howe; acting secretary, Mrs. Anna E. Aldrich; treasurer, Mrs. Mary K. Wood; executive committee, Mrs. S. E. H. Doyle, Miss Sarah J. Eddy, Mesdames Aldrich, Fanny Purdy Palmer, C. P. Norton, Louisa A. Bowen, Elizabeth C. Hinckley, Susan C. Kenyon, Mary E. Bliss, Frances S. Bailey and S. R. Alexander, from whom the campaign committee was selected.[429]Occasional addresses were made by Gen. Thomas W. Chace, Col. J. C. Wyman, Judge R. C. Pitman, Dr. L. F. C. Garvin, the Revs. H. C. Westwood, Augustus Woodbury, H. I. Cushman, N. H. Harriman, Thomas R. Slicer, O. H. Still, J. H. Larry; Messrs. Olney Arnold, Augustine Jones, R. F. Trevellick, Ralph Beaumont, John O'Keefe and others.[430]Dr. Helen C. Putnam represented the physicians, Mrs. Mary Frost Evans the editors, Miss Sarah E. Doyle the teachers, Mrs. Mary A. Babcock and Mrs. A. B. E. Jackson the W. C. T. U., Mrs. L. G. C. Knickerbocker and Mrs. S. M. Aldrich women in private life, while the W. S. A. contributed Mrs. J. S. French, Mrs. A. C. Dewing and Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles. Edwin C. Pierce and Rabbi David Blaustein, members of the association, also spoke in favor of suffrage for women.[431]The right to be appointed by the court was given to married women by Act of 1902.[432]Mrs. Francis W. Goddard, Miss Sarah E. Doyle, principal of the Girls' High School of Providence; Mrs. M. M. Brewster, president of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union; Mrs. Fanny Purdy Palmer and Mrs. R. A. Peckham, representing the State Suffrage Association; Mrs. Augustine Jones, representing the Friends' School, and Mrs. M. E. Tucker.[433]The Suffrage Association has held one meeting in Pembroke Hall, however, which was presided over by its acting president and at which the daughter of Julia Ward Howe, Mrs. Florence Howe Hall, spoke upon "The Political Position of Women in England," and the use of Sayles Hall of Brown University was freely granted for a series of meetings under the auspices of the W. S. A. devoted to a presentation of "Woman's Contribution to the Progress of the World." These were addressed by Abba Goold Woolson, Mary A. Livermore, Lillie Devereux Blake, Lillie Chace Wyman, Alice Stone Blackwell, Mary F. Eastman, Prof. Katherine Hanscom and the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer.In October, 1901, Miss Susan B. Anthony addressed the students and was enthusiastically received.

[422]The History is indebted for this chapter to the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer of Providence, vice-president-at-large of the State Woman Suffrage Association.

[423]SeeHistory of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 340.

[424]The annual meeting in October, 1895, celebrated the completion of a quarter of a century's service on the part of Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace as president of the Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association. Letters from absent friends were read expressing their high appreciation of her life-long service in the cause of humankind as well as womankind. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Mr. William Lloyd Garrison and Miss Mary F. Eastman attended to speak for the cause, and to testify their love for Mrs. Chace. The Hon. E. L. Freeman, ex-Gov. John W. Davis and others of the State also spoke words of great respect. The association honored itself by once more electing Mrs. Chace its chief officer, although she had expressed a strong desire to retire from the position as she felt that the burden of the work should be borne by younger shoulders. [Annual Report to National Suffrage Convention.

[425]Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Julia Ward Howe, Rowland Hazard, Phebe Jackson, Susan Sisson, Sarah Helen Whitman, Elizabeth K. Churchill, Abraham Payne, Sarah T. Wilbour, Charlotte A. Jenckes, George L. Clarke, Francis C. Frost, Susan R. Harris, Augustus Woodbury and many others of the best known and most useful citizens.

[426]Others were Mrs. M. M. Brewster, Mrs. Mary C. Peckham, Mrs. Rowena P. B. Tingley, Miss Charlotte R. Hoswell, Mrs. Anna E. Aldrich and Mrs. Martha Knowles.

[427]Present board: President Mrs. A. C. Dewing; first vice-president, Mrs. Thomas W. Chase; second vice-president, Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles; third vice-president, Mrs. Charlotte B. Wilbour; secretary, Mrs. Annie M. Griffin; treasurer, Mrs. Mary K. Wood; auditors, Mrs. O. I. Angell, Mrs. Elizabeth Ormsbee; honorary vice-presidents, the Hon. H. B. Metcalf, Dr. L. F. C. Garvin and Arnold B. Chace.

[428]The officers were: President, Mrs. Chace; vice-presidents, Mr. Hinckley, Arnold B. Chace, Phebe Jackson, Mary O. Arnold and Julia Ward Howe; acting secretary, Mrs. Anna E. Aldrich; treasurer, Mrs. Mary K. Wood; executive committee, Mrs. S. E. H. Doyle, Miss Sarah J. Eddy, Mesdames Aldrich, Fanny Purdy Palmer, C. P. Norton, Louisa A. Bowen, Elizabeth C. Hinckley, Susan C. Kenyon, Mary E. Bliss, Frances S. Bailey and S. R. Alexander, from whom the campaign committee was selected.

[429]Occasional addresses were made by Gen. Thomas W. Chace, Col. J. C. Wyman, Judge R. C. Pitman, Dr. L. F. C. Garvin, the Revs. H. C. Westwood, Augustus Woodbury, H. I. Cushman, N. H. Harriman, Thomas R. Slicer, O. H. Still, J. H. Larry; Messrs. Olney Arnold, Augustine Jones, R. F. Trevellick, Ralph Beaumont, John O'Keefe and others.

[430]Dr. Helen C. Putnam represented the physicians, Mrs. Mary Frost Evans the editors, Miss Sarah E. Doyle the teachers, Mrs. Mary A. Babcock and Mrs. A. B. E. Jackson the W. C. T. U., Mrs. L. G. C. Knickerbocker and Mrs. S. M. Aldrich women in private life, while the W. S. A. contributed Mrs. J. S. French, Mrs. A. C. Dewing and Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles. Edwin C. Pierce and Rabbi David Blaustein, members of the association, also spoke in favor of suffrage for women.

[431]The right to be appointed by the court was given to married women by Act of 1902.

[432]Mrs. Francis W. Goddard, Miss Sarah E. Doyle, principal of the Girls' High School of Providence; Mrs. M. M. Brewster, president of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union; Mrs. Fanny Purdy Palmer and Mrs. R. A. Peckham, representing the State Suffrage Association; Mrs. Augustine Jones, representing the Friends' School, and Mrs. M. E. Tucker.

[433]The Suffrage Association has held one meeting in Pembroke Hall, however, which was presided over by its acting president and at which the daughter of Julia Ward Howe, Mrs. Florence Howe Hall, spoke upon "The Political Position of Women in England," and the use of Sayles Hall of Brown University was freely granted for a series of meetings under the auspices of the W. S. A. devoted to a presentation of "Woman's Contribution to the Progress of the World." These were addressed by Abba Goold Woolson, Mary A. Livermore, Lillie Devereux Blake, Lillie Chace Wyman, Alice Stone Blackwell, Mary F. Eastman, Prof. Katherine Hanscom and the Rev. Anna Garlin Spencer.In October, 1901, Miss Susan B. Anthony addressed the students and was enthusiastically received.

In October, 1901, Miss Susan B. Anthony addressed the students and was enthusiastically received.

In 1890 Mrs. Virginia Durant Young being on a visit to Mrs. Adelaide Viola Neblett at Greenville, these two did so inspire each other that then and there they held a suffrage conference with Mrs. S. Odie Sirrene, Mrs. Mary Putnam Gridley and others, and pledged themselves to work for woman's enfranchisement in South Carolina.

Mrs. Young made a suffrage address to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Beaufort in 1891, and later spoke on the subject by invitation at Lexington and in the Baptist church at Marion. She eventually succeeded in forming a State association of 250 men and women who believed in equal rights, and interested themselves in circulating literature on this question. Its officers for 1900 are Mrs. Young, president; Mrs. Mary P. Prentiss, vice-president; Miss Harriet B. Manville, corresponding secretary; Mrs. Gridley, treasurer.

In 1895 Miss Susan B. Anthony, president of the National Association, Mrs. Lillie Devereux Blake of New York, and Mrs. Ellen Battelle Dietrick of Massachusetts, made addresses at various places, on their way home from the national convention in Atlanta. In April of this year Miss Laura Clay of Kentucky, Miss Helen Morris Lewis of North Carolina, and Miss Elizabeth Upham Yates of Maine, with Mrs. Young and Mrs. Neblett, began a suffrage campaign at Greenville. They went thence to Spartanburg, Columbia and Charleston. Here the party divided, Miss Clay and Mrs. Young going to Georgetown, Florence, Marion, Latta, Darlington, Timmonsville and Sumter. Later Mrs. Neblett, Miss Clay and Mrs. Young spoke at Allendale, Barnwell, Hampton and Beaufort.

Miss Clay, auditor of the National Association, worked fourmonths in South Carolina this year at her own expense. Half of the time was spent in Columbia, assisting Mrs. Young and others in the effort to have an amendment giving suffrage to taxpaying women incorporated in the new constitution then being framed. They had hearings before two committees in September, and presented their arguments to the entire Constitutional Convention in the State House, with a large number of citizens present. The amendment failed by a vote of 26 yeas, 121 nays.

President D. B. Johnston, of the Girls' Industrial and Normal College, and John J. McMahan, State superintendent of instruction, have done much to advance the educational status of women, and both believe in perfect equality of rights. Among other advocates may be mentioned the Hon. Walter Hazard, Dr. William J. Young, McDonald Furman, B. Odell Duncan, George Sirrene, Col. John J. Dargan, Col. Ellison Keith, the Rev. Sidi H. Brown, Col. V. P. Clayton, the Rev. John T. Morrison, Samuel G. Lawton, J. Gordon Coogler and William D. Evans, president of the State Agricultural Society.

Miss Martha Schofield, superintendent of the Colored Industrial School at Aiken, regularly enters a protest against paying taxes without representation. Other women who have been devoted workers in the cause of suffrage are Miss Mary I. Hemphill, editor with her father of the AbbevilleMedium; Mesdames Marion Morgan Buckner, Daisy P. Bailey, Florence Durant Evans, Lillian D. Clayton, Gertrude D. Lido, Cora S. Lott, Abbie Christensen, Martha Corley and Mary P. Screven; Dr. Sarah Allen; Misses Claudia G. Tharin, Iva Youmans, Annie Durant, Kate Lily Blue and Floride Cunningham.

Legislative Action and Laws:In 1892 Mrs. Virginia Durant Young petitioned the Legislature for her personal enfranchisement, adopting this method of presenting the arguments in a nutshell, and as "news" they were widely published and commented on. At this session Gen. Robert R. Hemphill, a stanch advocate, presented a bill in the Senate to give women the franchise and the right of holding office, and brought it to a vote on December 17; yeas, 14, nays, 21.

In 1895 numerously signed petitions for suffrage were sent to the Legislature by the women of Fairfax, Lexington and Marion.The right of petition was also frequently used by the members of the State W. C. T. U.

In 1896 Mrs. Young addressed the Legislature in behalf of Presidential Suffrage for women.

In 1892, '93, '95 and '98 the laws were improved in regard to married women's property rights, allowing them to hold real estate independently of their husbands, restraining husbands from collecting debts or wages owing to their wives, and making the wife's signature necessary to the legality of mortgage.

In 1895 was enacted by the Constitutional Convention that, "The real and personal property of a woman, held at the time of her marriage, or that which she may thereafter acquire, either by gift, grant, inheritance, devise or otherwise, shall be her separate property, and she shall have all the rights incident to the same, to which an unmarried woman or a man is entitled. She shall have the power to contract and be contracted with, in the same manner as if she were unmarried."

Dower prevails but not curtesy. If either husband or wife die without a will the other has an equal claim on the property. Should there be one or more children, the survivor receives one-third of the real and the personal estate. If there are no lineal descendants, but collateral heirs, the survivor takes one-half of the entire estate. If there are no lineal descendants, father, mother, brother, sister, child of such brother or sister, brother of the half-blood or lineal ancestor, the survivor receives two-thirds of the estate and the other third goes to the next of kin. If there is no kin, the survivor takes the whole estate.

A homestead to the value of $1,000 is exempted to "the head of the family."

South Carolina is the only State which does not allow divorce.

The father is the legal guardian of the children, and may appoint a guardian of their persons and property by will.

The law requires the husband to support the family, but there is no effective way for its enforcement. Any one may sell the wife necessaries and subject the husband's property to the payment of the bills, if he does not furnish a suitable support, but he can claim his homestead against such a debt and in many ways render this remedy unavailing.

In 1895 the "age of protection for girls" was raised from 10 to 14 years. The penalty is "death, with privilege of the jury to recommend to mercy, whereupon the penalty may be reduced to imprisonment in the penitentiary at hard labor during the whole lifetime of the prisoner."

Seduction under promise of marriage is punished by a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $5,000, or imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than five years.

Suffrage:Women possess no form of suffrage.

Office Holding:In the early '90's Gov. Benjamin R. Tillman secured the election of the first woman State librarian. Ever since this office has been filled by a woman, elected annually by the Legislature. No other elective office is open to women.

A number of the engrossing clerks in the Senate are women.

Through the efforts of the W. C. T. U. there is a police matron at Charleston.

Dr. Sarah Allen was appointed physician in the State hospital for the insane in 1896, and still holds the position.

There are women directors on the board of the Columbia Library Association.

Women do not serve on the board of any State institution.

They can not be notaries public.

Occupations:Women are not permitted to practice law. No other profession or occupation is legally forbidden to them.

Education:In 1894 the State University at Columbia opened its doors to women. In the same year the Medical College of Charleston admitted them, and still later Furman University (Baptist) at Greenville. These were direct results of the agitation for equal rights. Charleston College and Clemson Agricultural College are closed to women, but they may enter the other educational institutions. Gov. Benjamin R. Tillman was largely instrumental in securing the Girls' Industrial and Normal College at Rock Hill, in 1894.

In the public schools there are 2,245 men and 2,728 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $25.18; of the women, $24.29.

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