strictly to the contracts of the wife made in relation to
her separate property, and not in relation to general trade. This
case arose before the passage of the Act of 1869. The right of a
married woman to bring a suit in her own name is a necessary
incident to the law. (Cole _vs._ Van Riper, 1 _Legal News_, 41.)

V. THE TRADES AND PROFESSIONS OPEN TO WOMEN.--The doors of many
of our universities and law schools are now open to women upon an
equality with men. The Government of the United States has
employed women in many of its departments, and appointed many,
both single and married, to office. Almost every large city in
the Union has its regularly-admitted female physicians. The law
schools of the nation have now many women in regular attendance,
fitting themselves to perform the duties of the profession. The
bar itself is not without its women lawyers, both single and
married.

Mrs. Arabella A. Mansfield, wife of Prof. J. M. Mansfield, of
Mount Pleasant, Iowa, was admitted to the bar of Iowa, upon the
unanimous petition of the attorneys of that place, after a very
careful examination, not only of the applicant, but of the
statutes regulating the admission of attorneys.

The statute of Iowa provides that "any white male person,
twenty-one years of age, who is an inhabitant of this State," and
who satisfies the court, "that he possesses the requisite
learning, and that he is of good moral character, may, by such
court, be licensed to practice in all the courts of the State,
upon taking the usual oath of office."

The clause construing statutes is as follows:

Words importing the singular number only, may be extended to
several persons or things; and words importing the plural
number only may be applied to one person, or thing; and
words importing the masculine gender only may be extended to
females.

In Mrs. Mansfield's case, the court not only held that she could
be admitted, notwithstanding the fact that she was a married
woman, under the clause of the statute giving a construction to
the masculine noun "male," and pronoun "he"; but that the
affirmative declaration, that male persons may be admitted, is
not an implied denial of the right to females. We know of no
instance in the United States, wher