Volume III Part 120 (1/2)

The State Pharmaceutical a.s.sociation, formed in 1882 with 110 members, unanimously elected Miss Eliza Rudolph a member. Miss Rudolph was then the only woman in the drug business. Having been refused admission to the medical college of the State University, she perfected herself in pharmacy by a course of private lectures. In 1884 she was elected corresponding secretary of the a.s.sociation.

The _Daily Picayune_, in closing its half-century, gives the following of Mrs. E. J. Nicholson, its chief owner and manager since January, 1876:

”Pearl Rivers,” the lady's _nom de plume_, was already well known in the republic of letters before she became, as she now is, the most eminent female journalist in the world, largely owning and successfully directing for years a great daily political journal. The fact is unique. The fame of Mrs. Nicholson belongs to the world of letters and her biography may be found in any dictionary of Southern authors, nevertheless a history of the _Picayune_ would not be complete without some notice of one who has had so much to do with its destiny. Miss Eliza J. Poltevent is a native of Hanc.o.c.k county, Mississippi. She was born on the banks of one of the most beautiful streams in the South, Pearl river.

She wrote over the name of ”Pearl Rivers,” and her poems made her a conspicuous niche in the temple of Southern letters. She wrote much for the _Picayune_ and wrote herself into love as well as fame. She was married to Col. Holbrook, the proprietor of the paper, and after his death in 1876, she succeeded to the owners.h.i.+p. This was a trying position for a woman. The South had not recovered from the devastation of the war, and the _Picayune_ was involved in embarra.s.sments. Friends even advised her to dispose of the property and not to undertake so formidable a task as the conduct of a daily paper under existing complications. Brave and true-hearted, with a profound and abiding conviction of her duty in the matter, she a.s.sumed the control of the paper. She wisely surrounded herself with able and devoted a.s.sistants, and with their help has gallantly and successfully surmounted many formidable obstacles, until she has seen the _Picayune_ reestablished on a sound and prosperous basis. Mr. George Nicholson had acquired a proprietors.h.i.+p in it, and when Mrs. Holbrook a.s.sumed control the firm name was E. J. Holbrook & Co. On June 28, 1878, the interests of the two copartners were further consolidated by marriage. Since then the _Picayune_ has been published under the firm name of Nicholson & Co., and the columns daily attest the energy, enterprise and ability with which it is conducted, while its advertising patronage speaks for itself.

Mrs. Martha R. Field is a member of the editorial staff of the _Picayune_. She has charge of the Sunday woman's column, besides her regular column over the _nom de plume_ of Catherine Cole.

The _Times-Democrat_ is owned by Mrs. Burke, who however leaves its management to her husband, Col. Burke. Miss Bessie Bisland, under the name of B. L. R. Dane, contributes to the Sunday paper, and edits the ”_Bric-a-Brac_ column” which consists of criticisms and reviews of the leading magazines. This paper boasts the most clever ”Society column” in the country; it is edited by Mrs.

Jennie Coldwell Nixon who is now, 1886, superintendent of the Woman's Department of the Exposition.

Mrs. J. Pinkney Smith edits the ”Social Melange” of the _States_.

Among the regular Sunday contributors are Miss Corrinne Castillanos, who buzzes as the Society Bee, and Mrs. Mollie Moore Davis, known as the ”Texas Song Bird.” Mrs. Ada Hilderbrand, editor of the _Courier_ at Gretna, did the printing for the Woman's Exposition.

New Orleans has a Woman's National Press a.s.sociation of which Mrs. E. J. Nicholson is president; a Christian Woman's Exchange, Mrs. R. M. Wamsley, president, doing a business of $45,000 a year,[520] a Southern Art Union and Woman's Industrial a.s.sociation, with Mrs. J. H. Stauffer and others on the auxiliary executive committee, and a Woman's Club,[521] originated by Miss Bessie Bisland who was the president of the club for the first year, 1885.

The laws of Louisiana relating to women have been given by Judge E. T. Merrick, a well-known legal authority and for ten years the chief-justice of the Supreme Court of the State:

The rights of married women to their estates are probably better secured in Louisiana than in any other of these United States. The laws on this subject are derived from Spain. Certain provinces of that kingdom were conquered and for centuries held by the Visigoths, among whom, as among the Franks at Paris, the inst.i.tution called the community of aquets and gains between husband and wife, prevailed. In Spain, as in France, there were certain provinces in which the ancient Roman law continued in force, and they were called the provinces of the written law. In these (called also the countries of the _dotal regime_) there was no community between the spouses of their acquisitions. Both of these systems are recognized by the Louisiana civil code, but if the parties marry without any marriage settlement the law implies that they have married under the _regime_ of the community. To prevent error it is proper to observe that there have been three civil codes adopted in Louisiana, viz., in 1808, 1825 and 1870. The marriage laws are substantially the same in all, but bear different numbers in each code. The following references are to the code of 1870.

Except in a very limited number of cases the husband and wife are incapable of making binding contracts with each other during the marriage. Hence all settlements of property, to be binding, must be executed before marriage and in solemn form, that is, before a notary and two male witnesses having the proper qualifications. The betrothed are granted considerable liberty over the provisions of their marriage contract, as the following quotations show:

ART. 2,325. In relation to property, the law only regulates the conjugal a.s.sociation in default of particular agreements, which the parties are at liberty to stipulate as they please, provided they be not contrary to good morals and under the modifications hereafter prescribed.

ART. 2,326. Husband and wife can in no case enter into any agreement or make any renunciation the object of which would be to alter the legal order of descents, either with respect to themselves, in what concerns the inheritance of their children, posterity, or with respect to their children between themselves, without prejudice to the donations _inter vivas_ or _mortis causa_, which may take place according to the formalities and in the cases determined by this code.

The parties are also ”prohibited from derogating from the power of the husband over the person of his wife and children which belongs to the husband as the head of the family, or from the rights guaranteed to the surviving husband or wife” (C. C., Art. 2,327).

If the parties adopt the _dotal regime_ in their marriage contract the dotal effects are (except under some circ.u.mstances) inalienable during marriage; and at the dissolution of the marriage, they are to be replaced or returned to the wife, or her heirs, and to secure this, the wife has a mortgage on her husband's lands, and a privilege on his movables, including those of the community (C. C., Art. 2376; Art. 2347). ”The dower is given to the husband, for him to enjoy the same as long as the marriage shall last.” Strong as is this language, the dowry is given by the wife or her father or mother or other relations or friends, simply to support the marriage.

Under the _regime_ of the community, the individual property of the husband or wife, and all property either may acquire afterwards by inheritance or donations re-remain separate property. The conjugal partners.h.i.+p is defined by C. C., Art.

2402. ”This partners.h.i.+p, or community, consists of the profits of all the effects of which the husband has the administration and enjoyment, either of right or in fact, of the produce of the reciprocal industry and labor of both husband and wife, and the estates which they may acquire during marriage, either by donations made jointly to them both, or by purchase, or in any other similar way, even should the purchase be in the name of one of the two, and not of both, because in that case the period of time when the purchase is made is alone attended to, and not the person who made the purchase.”

During the marriage the husband has the management of the community, and he can sell or exchange the same, but he cannot give away the real estate without binding his estate to recompense the wife or her heirs, for the one-half so given away. All the income of his estate must enter into the community. On the other hand the wife may at her pleasure take her own estate from the management of the husband into her own control and discretion (C. C. 2384). But in this contingency she must contribute to the family expenses (C.

C. 2389 and 2435).

If the affairs of the husband become embarra.s.sed, the wife can sue the husband for a separation of property, and get a judgment against him for all indebtedness, on account of money or property used or disposed of by him, and sell him out under execution, and buy in the property herself if she sees fit. Thus she stands in a more favorable position toward the community than the husband, who is bound for all its debts, for she can stand by and choose. If the community becomes prosperous, she has the absolute right, as owner, to one-half of it after payment of debts, and a right to the income of the other half until she dies, or marries a second time.

By causing her claims on account of her separate or paraphernal estate to be recorded, she secures a mortgage against her husband's lands and the lands of the community.

If a husband or wife dies affluent, leaving the survivor in necessitous circ.u.mstances, the latter can claim one-fourth of the estate of the deceased. This is called ”the marital fourth.” The wife, also, if she or the children do not possess one thousand dollars in their own right, can claim as a privilege and against the creditors, one thousand dollars, or a sum which, with her own estate, shall equal that amount.

The wife cannot appear in court, or dispose of, or mortgage, or acquire real estate, without the consent of the husband, but the judge of the court of the domicil may authorize the wife to sue, or be sued. If the husband refuses to empower the wife to contract, she may cite him into court and have the property of the proposed contract settled by an order of the judge. The wife has full power to make a will without any authorization from her husband or the court.

ART. 2,398. The wife, whether separated in property, by contract, or by judgment, or not separated, cannot bind herself for her husband, nor conjointly with him, for debts contracted by him before or during the marriage.

ART. 119. The husband and wife owe to each other mutual fidelity, support and a.s.sistance.