The History of Woman Suffrage Volume III Part 100

To Doctors Hood and Whetstone is due the credit of establishing the Northwestern Hospital for Women and Children, and training school for nurses, of which they are now the attending physicians; and Dr. Hood also attends the Bethany Home, founded by the sisterhood of Bethany, for the benefit of friendless girls and women. In the town of Detroit may be seen a drug store neatly fitted up, with "Ogden's Pharmacy" over the door, and upon it, in gilt letters, "Emma K. Ogden, M. D." While the doctor practices her profession, she employs a young woman as prescription clerk.

The Minnesota State Medical Society has admitted nine women to membership.[442]

Conspicuous among evangelists in this State are Mrs. Mary C.

Nind, Minneapolis, Mrs. Mary A. Shepardson, Wasioga, Mrs. Ruth Cogswell Rowell, Winona, and Rev. Eliza Tupper Wilkes, Rochester.

Thus far this chapter has been given mainly to individuals in the State, and to the home influences that have aided in creating sentiment in favor of full suffrage for woman. United with these have been other influences coming like the rays of the morning sun directly from the East where so many n.o.ble women are at work for the freedom of their s.e.x. Among them are some of the most popular lecturers in the country.[443]

In September, 1881, representative women from various localities met at Hastings and organized a State Woman Suffrage a.s.sociation[444] auxiliary to the National. During the first year one hundred and twenty-four members were enrolled. During the second the membership more than doubled. In October, 1882, the a.s.sociation held its first annual meeting. The audiences were large, and the speakers[445] most heartily applauded. Mrs. Nelson presided. In her letter of greeting to this meeting, from which ill-health obliged her to be absent, the president urged the a.s.sociation to firmly adhere to the principles of the National a.s.sociation. Let us not ask for an amendment to the State const.i.tution, and thus put it in the power of ignorance and prejudice to deny the boon we seek; while we are auxiliary to the National let us work according to its plans. Mrs. Stearns was unanimously reelected president, and her views heartily endorsed.

In the spring of '83, at the request of the State society, and with the generous consent of Mr. Bixby, the editor of the _State Temperance Review_, Mrs. Helen E. Gallinger commenced editing a woman suffrage column in that paper. This has been a very convenient medium of communication between the State society and the local auxiliaries which have since been organized by Mrs. L.

May Wheeler, who was employed as lecturer and organizer,[446] in the summer and fall of 1883. Auxiliary societies had previously been organized by Mrs. Stearns, in St. Paul and Minneapolis. The Ka.s.son society, formed in 1872, also became auxiliary to the State.

During the Northwestern Industrial Exhibition, held in Minneapolis August, 1883, a woman suffrage headquarters was fitted up on the fair-grounds, in a fine large tent, made attractive by flags, banners and mottoes. The State and local societies were represented, officers and members being there to receive all who were in sympathy, to talk suffrage to opposers, to pa.s.s out good leaflets, and to exhibit copies of the Woman Suffrage History. At the annual convention this year we were honored by the presence of Julia Ward Howe and Mrs. Marianna Folsom of Iowa, and many of the clergymen[447] of Minneapolis.

Rev. E. S. Williams gave the address of welcome, and paid a beautiful tribute to the self-sacrificing leaders in this holy crusade. Mrs. Howe not only encouraged us with her able words of cheer, but she presided at the piano while her Battle Hymn of the Republic was sung, and seemed to give it new inspiration. In the course of her remarks the president said:

Should congress finally adopt that long-pending amendment in the winter of 1883-4 enfranchising women, we should still have work to do in 1885 to secure the ratification of this amendment by our State legislature. But should congress still refuse, let us be thankful that the way is opening for women to secure their freedom by the power of the legislature independent of all const.i.tutional amendments, as there is nothing in ordinary State const.i.tutions to prevent legislators from extending suffrage to women by legislative enactment. The const.i.tution of the State of Minnesota simply enfranchises men, and does not even mention women; we have clearly nothing to do but to convince our legislators that they are free to give educated women full suffrage.

With this view the society adopted the following resolution:

_Resolved_, That we accept with joy the argument that comes to us from the east and from the west declaring suffrage amendments to State const.i.tutions unnecessary, because the word "male," occurring as it does in most State const.i.tutions, in no wise restrains legislatures from extending full suffrage to women, should they feel inclined to do so. Be it also

_Resolved_, That it therefore becomes our duty to talk with all men and women who are friendly to our cause, and ask them to examine the argument, and if it commends itself to their judgment, to give us the benefit of their convictions.

Though pa.s.sing the above resolutions at that time, the State a.s.sociation of course waits to see what may be done, in view of this new idea, by older and stronger States whose const.i.tutions are similar to ours. Although failing health induced Mrs.

Stearns, in the fall of 1883, to resign her suffrage work into other hands, and ask to be excused from any office whatever, she has, with improving health lately accepted the presidency of an Equal Rights League in Duluth. Dr. Ripley was not present herself at the convention[448] which chose her for president for the ensuing year, being then at the East, but immediately after returning, she entered upon her new duties with enthusiasm. As there was to be no legislature in 1884, there could be no pet.i.tioning, except to continue the work commenced as long ago as 1871, of pet.i.tioning congress for a sixteenth amendment. The work was carried on with vigor, and many hundreds of names obtained in a short time. Early in 1884 Mrs. L. May Wheeler continued to lecture in the interests of the suffrage cause. While so engaged she issued her "Collection of Temperance and Suffrage Melodies."

In 1884 a woman suffrage headquarters was again fitted up in Newspaper Row, on the grounds of the Northwestern Industrial Exhibition. The large tent was shared by the State W. C. T. U., and appropriately decked within and without to represent both of the State organizations and their auxiliaries. A large amount of suffrage and temperance literature was distributed among the many who were attracted by the novelty of the sight and sentiments displayed on banners and flags.

As Minneapolis had already become headquarters for the suffrage work of the State, it was thought best to again hold the annual meeting in that city. This was in October, continuing two days, and was both interesting and encouraging. Dr. Martha G. Ripley presided. Many interesting letters were read, and cheering telegrams received.[449] Miss Marion Lowell recited "The Legend,"

by Mary Agnes Ticknor, and "Was he Henpecked?" by Phebe Cary, Mrs. A. M. Tyng of Austin, made a good speech, also recited a poem ent.i.tled "Jane Conquest." Mr. Lars Oure of Norway, spoke well upon the "Claims of Woman." Dr. L. W. Denton of Minneapolis, gave a very good address. Dr. Martha G. Ripley spoke on suffrage as a natural right, and in support of this view read extracts from a pamphlet ent.i.tled, "Woman Suffrage a Right, and not a Privilege," by Wm. I. Bowditch; Eliza Burt Gamble of St. Paul, read a very able paper on "Woman and the Church"; Mrs. Stearns spoke upon the new era to be inaugurated when women have the ballot. Miss Emma Harriman read a bright and entertaining paper.

The fine address of the occasion was given by Rev. W. W.

Satterlee, showing the nation's need of woman's vote. Judge and Mrs. Hemiup, of Minneapolis, just returned from a visit to Wyoming Territory, were present. The judge made several speeches, and was enthusiastic in his praise of the workings of woman suffrage there. He and his wife are now active members of the State and city (Minneapolis) suffrage societies. The judge is also a member of the State executive committee.

Wishing to give honor to whom honor is due, we would mention the brave young women who have formed the Christian Temperance Unions, the leading spirits[450] in this grand movement in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Winona and St. Cloud. Their names will be usually found as delegates to the annual meetings of all the State Unions. The small army of n.o.ble girls who have helped to make the Good Templars' lodges attractive and worthy resorts for their brothers and friends, have done an inestimable work in elevating the moral tone of the community all over the State.

They have also done their full share in pet.i.tioning congress for a sixteenth amendment, in which they have received most untiring help from the young men of the lodges. In 1884 Miss Frances Willard again visited the State, advocating the ballot as well as the Bible as an aid to temperance work. Her eloquent voice here as elsewhere woke many to serious thought on the danger of this national vice to the safety and stability of our republican inst.i.tutions. It was through Miss Willard's influence, no doubt, that the friends of temperance established a department of franchise for the State, and made Mrs. E. L. Crockett its superintendent.

The women of Minnesota seem thus far to have no special calling to the legal profession. Mrs. Martha Angle Dorsett is the only woman as yet admitted to the bar. She was graduated from the law school at Des Moines, and admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Iowa in June, 1876. She was refused admission at first in Minnesota, whereupon she appealed to the legislature, which in 1877 enacted a law securing the right to women by a vote of 63 to 30 in the House, and 26 to 6 in the Senate.

In some of the larger cities and towns the literary, musical and dramatic taste of our women[451] is evidenced by societies and clubs for mutual improvement. Many are attending cla.s.ses for the study of natural history, cla.s.sic literature, social science, etc. There is an art club in Minneapolis, composed wholly of artists, both ladies and gentlemen, which meets every week, the members making sketches from life. Miss Julie C. Gauthier had on exhibition at the New Orleans Exposition, a full-length portrait, true to life, of a colored man, "Pony," a veteran wood-sawer of St. Paul, which received very complimentary notices from art critics of that city, as well as from the press generally.

In the Business Colleges of Mr. Curtis at St. Paul and Minneapolis, many women are teachers, and many more are educated as shorthand reporters, telegraphers, and book-keepers. These have no difficulty in finding places after completing their college course. Nearly fifty young women are employed in the princ.i.p.al towns of the State as telegraphers alone. Miss Mary M.

Cary has been employed for seven years as operator and station agent at Wayzata, for the St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba R. R.

Her services are highly valued, as well they may be, for during her absence from the station two men are required to do her work.

By her talents and industry she has acquired a thorough education for herself, besides educating her two younger sisters. Mrs. Anna B. Underwood of Lake City, has for many years been secretary of a firm conducting a large nursery of fruit trees, plants and flowers. Her husband being one of the partners, she has taken a large share of the general management. The orchard yields a profit of over $1,000 a year.

From the list of names to be found in the Appendix, we see that Minnesota is remarkable for its galaxy of superior women actively engaged as speakers and writers[452] in many reforms, as well as in the trades and professions, and in varied employments. One of the great advantages of pioneer life is the necessity to man of woman's help in all the emergencies of these new conditions in which their forces and capacities are called into requisition.

She thus acquires a degree of self-reliance, courage and independence, that would never be called out in older civilizations, and commands a degree of respect from the men at her side that can only be learned in their mutual dependence.

FOOTNOTES:

[431] The names of the young women who applied for admission to the cla.s.sical course of the Michigan State University, in 1858, were Sarah Burger, Clara Norton, Ellen F. Thompson, Ada A. Alvord, Rose Anderson, Helen White, Amanda Kieff, Lizzie Baker, Nellie Baker, Anna Lathrop, Carrie Felch, Mary Becker, Adeline Ladd and Harriet Patton.

[432] See Appendix, Chapter XLVII., note A.

[433] For further account of Mrs. Swisshelm's patriotic work in Minnesota see her "Reminiscences of Half a Century": Janson, McClurg & Co., Chicago, Ill.

[434] The three women were, Mrs. Almira W. Anthony (whose husband was a cousin of Susan B. Anthony), Mrs. Mary Powell Wheeler and Mrs. Hattie M. White.

[435] In a volume of Minnesota biography, Mrs. VanCleve is reported as a woman of great force of character, strong in her convictions of what is right, and fearless in following the dictates of her conscience. She was one of the original founders of the Sisterhood of Bethany, a society for the reformation of unfortunate women, and has held the position of president since its formation. Through the medium of lectures and social influence, she has enlisted the sympathy of a large number of the community. She has served faithfully as a member of the East Minneapolis board of education, and has always improved every opportunity to advocate the right of suffrage for women. She is a member of the State Suffrage Society, and has been for many years honorary vice-president for this State, of the National Suffrage a.s.sociation. The following interesting fact is told of her, on the authority of Major-General R. W.

Johnson. It was given in an address delivered by that gentleman before the old settlers' a.s.sociation of Hennepin county, at a reunion in the city of Minneapolis: Many years ago a soldier at Fort Snelling received an injury to his feet, and mortification ensued. Amputation became necessary and the case could not be postponed until a surgeon could be sent for, because there was none nearer than the post-surgeon at Prairie du Chien. No gentleman in the garrison was willing to undertake so difficult an operation.

Equal to any emergency, Mrs. VanCleve, on hearing of the case, resolved to make the attempt. She performed the operation skillfully, and saved the soldier's life.

[436] Mrs. Charlotte S. Winch.e.l.l was a graduate of Albion College, Michigan, and came to this State in 1873, with her husband, Prof.

Newton H. Winch.e.l.l, widely known as Minnesota's State geologist.

Mrs. Winch.e.l.l has always been an advocate of suffrage for woman, and cheerfully accepted the position on the school board, serving as clerk. She took an active part in the nominations and elections of school officers. She was chairman of the committee for introducing temperance text books into the schools, secretary of the Woman's Board of Foreign Missions, a member of the State and City Suffrage Societies, and of the a.s.sociation for the Advancement of Women.

[437] For names of women elected as school directors and county superintendents, see Appendix to Minnesota, Chapter XLVII., Note B.

[438] The officers of the Minnesota State W. C. T. U. are: _President_, Mrs. H. A. Hobart; _Vice-Presidents_, Mrs. Mary A.

Shepardson, Mrs. E. J. Holley, Mrs. R. C. C. Gale, Mrs. H. C. May, Mrs. L. M. Wylie; _Recording Secretary_, Mrs. D. S. Haywood; _Corresponding Secretaries_, Mrs. E. S. Wright, Miss M. E.

Mclntyre; _Treasurer_, Miss A. M. Henderson. Editor W. C. T. U.

department of _Temperance Review_, Mrs. Helen E. Gallinger.

[439] See Appendix, Chapter XLVII., Note C.

[440] During the same decade 138 young men were graduated from the different departments of the University.

[441] For names of graduates and professors, see Appendix, Chapter XLVII., Note D.

[442] See Appendix, Chapter XLVII., Note F.

[443] Miss Anna d.i.c.kinson, Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Howe, Miss Alice Fletcher, Miss Frances Willard, Mrs. Wittenmeyer, Mrs. Sarah B.

Chase, M. D. In the years 1875-6, Mrs. Stanton favored our State with a series of lectures that awakened much interest. In 1878-9, Miss Anthony came, and spoke in the princ.i.p.al cities. From Iowa came Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, Matilda Fletcher, and Marianna Folsom, and from Missouri, Miss Phoebe Couzins.

[444] _President_, Sarah Burger Stearns; _Vice-President_, Julia Bullard Nelson; _Recording Secretary_, Mrs. C. Smith; _Treasurer_, Mrs. H. J. Moffit; _Executive Committee_, Mrs. Minnie Reed, Mrs. L.

H. Clark, Mrs. R. c.o.o.ns; _Corresponding Sec'y_, Mrs. Laura Howe Carpenter. The following were the charter members: Mrs. Harriet E.

Bishop, Mrs. Martha Luly, St. Paul; Mrs. A. T. Anderson, Mrs. H. J.

Moffit, Mrs. C. Smith, Minneapolis; Mrs. Harriet A. Hobart, Julia Bullard Nelson, Mrs. R. c.o.o.ns, Red Wing; Sarah Burger Stearns, Duluth; Mrs. L. C. Clarke, Worthington; Mrs. L. G. Finen, Albert Lea; Mrs. K. E. Webster, Mrs. Minnie Reed, Mrs. M. A. VanHoesen, Hastings.

[445] Mrs. Nelson, Mrs. Hobart, Mr. Satterlee, Mrs. Charlotte O.

Van Cleve, Mrs. Laura Howe Carpenter, Mrs. Viola Fuller Miner.

[446] The societies organized were at Wayzata, Farmington, Red Wing, Mantorille, Excelsior, Rochford, Lake City, Shakopee, and Jordan: committees for suffrage work were also formed in the following places: Anoka, Armstrong, Blakely, Brooklyn Center, Champlin, Frontenac, Long Prairie, Long Lake, and Wabashaw.

[447] Rev. W. W. Satterlee, Rev. H. M. Simmons, Rev. F. J. Wagner, whose church we occupied, and others. The speakers at this convention were Mr. and Mrs. Dubois, Mrs. Wheeler, Mrs. Elliott, Mrs. Hobart, Mrs. Carpenter, Miss Harriman. Letters were received from Mrs. Devereux Blake, Dr. Clemence Lozier, Rev. J. B. Tuttle, H. B. Blackwell, Lucy Stone and Col. T. W. Higginson.

[448] The officers elected at this convention were: _President_, Martha G. Ripley, M. D., Minneapolis; _Vice-President_, Mrs. Lizzie Manson, Shakopee; _Recording Secretary_, Mary T. Emery, M. D., St.

Paul; _Corresponding Secretary_, Emma Harriman, Minneapolis; _Treasurer_, Mrs. Helen E. Gallinger, Minneapolis; _Executive Committee_, Mrs. S. K. Crawford, Anoka; Mrs. M. A. Warner, Hamline; Mrs. F. G. Gould, Excelsior; Rev. E. S. Williams, Prof. W. A.