Volume IV Part 111 (1/2)

New Hamps.h.i.+re was the first State in New England to give School Suffrage to women.

OFFICE HOLDING: Women are eligible to all elective or appointive School offices except where it is forbidden by special charters. They are not eligible to any other elective office.

A number are serving on School Boards. They may sit on State Boards which are appointed by the Governor. They have done so only on the Board of Charities and Corrections and on that of the State Normal School.

There is no law requiring women physicians in any State inst.i.tutions, or police matrons in any city. One has been appointed in Manchester.

Women may act as notaries public.

OCCUPATIONS: On July 25, 1889, Chief Justice Charles Doe of the Supreme Court delivered the opinion that women may become members of the bar and practice in all the courts. No occupation or profession is legally forbidden. Ten hours are made a working day.

EDUCATION: The old college of Dartmouth at Hanover is for men only.

The State Agricultural College at Durham admits both s.e.xes.

In the public schools there are 256 men and 2,714 women teachers. The average monthly salary of the men is $69.75; of the women $40.59.

FOOTNOTES:

[364] Among other officers since 1884 are: Presidents, Mrs. E. J. C.

Gilbert and Miss Josephine F. Hall; vice-presidents, Judge J. W.

Fellows, Gen. Elbert Wheeler, the Rev. Enoch Powell, Mrs. Martha E.

Powell, John Scales, Mesdames C. A. Quimby, Caroline R. Wendell, N. H.

Knox, Marilla H. Ricker, M. L. Griffin, f.a.n.n.y W. Sawyer and Mary Powers Filley; corresponding secretaries, Mrs. Jacob H. Ela, Mrs.

Maria D. Adams; recording secretary, the Rev. H. B. Smith; treasurers, Mesdames A. W. Hobbs, C. R. Meloon, Uranie E. Bowers and Miss Abbie E.

McIntyre; auditor, Mrs. C. R. Pease; executive committee, Mrs. Mary E.

H. Dow and Mrs. (Dr.) Tucker.

[365] President, Miss Mary N. Chase; vice-president, Mrs. Elizabeth B.

Hunt; secretary, Miss Mary E. Quimby; treasurer, the Rev. Angelo Hall; auditors, Miss C. R. Wendell and the Hon. Sherman E. Burroughs.

CHAPTER LIV.

NEW JERSEY.[366]

Although many local suffrage meetings had been held in New Jersey prior to 1867, in that year a State Society was organized by Lucy Stone, which met regularly in various cities until she removed to Ma.s.sachusetts a few years afterwards, when the a.s.sociation and its branches gradually suspended, except the one at Vineland, with Mrs.

Anna M. Warden as president. Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey, Mrs. Katherine H. Browning, Mrs. Warden and others continued to represent the State as vice-presidents at the national conventions.

In 1890 Dr. Mary D. Hussey, who had been a member of the old society, invited a number of active suffragists to unite in forming a new State a.s.sociation. Eleven responded and, at the residence of Mrs. Charlotte N. Enslin, in Orange, February 5, a const.i.tution was adopted, Judge John Whitehead elected president and Dr. Hussey secretary and treasurer.[367]

In 1891 the Rev. Antoinette Brown Blackwell became president; Mrs.

Amelia d.i.c.kinson Pope was elected in 1892; and in 1893 Mrs. Florence Howe Hall, daughter of Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, accepted the presidency.

The first public meeting of the a.s.sociation was held at Orange, March 4, 1893, where Mrs. Clara C. Hoffman of Missouri, gave an address. The first auxiliary society formed was that of Ess.e.x County, with forty members, Mrs. Jennie D. De Witt, president. Five other State meetings were held and the members.h.i.+p trebled. Among the lecturers were Aaron M. Powell, Mrs. Blackwell, Mrs. S. M. Perkins of Ohio, and the president. A number of clergymen gave sermons on suffrage, 14,000 pages of literature were circulated in seventeen of the twenty-one counties, and the _Woman's Column_ was sent to 200 persons at the expense of Mrs. Cornelia C. Hussey. The women's vote at school meetings greatly increased and a number were elected trustees. The annual convention was held at Newark in November.

The const.i.tutional amendment campaign in the neighboring State of New York had a very favorable effect on public opinion in New Jersey during 1894. In addition to the usual meetings a memorial service in honor of Lucy Stone was held in Peddie Memorial Church, Newark, one of the largest churches in the State, with more than 2,000 people present, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore being the chief speaker. Another meeting was held in Orange, Mrs. Julia Ward Howe making the princ.i.p.al address.

A sunflower lunch was given to raise funds for the campaign in Kansas and $200 were sent, of which half was contributed by Mrs. Hussey.