ry Thomas read the petition signed by over one thousand
residents of Indiana, and urged the Legislature to pass laws giving
equal property rights to married women, and to take the necessary
steps to so amend the Constitution of the State as to secure to all
women the right of suffrage. She claimed these rights on the ground of
absolute justice, as well as the highest expediency, pointing out
clearly the evils that flow from class legislation.

Mrs. Birdsall being introduced, read a clear, concise address,
occupying about half an hour.

The following resolution, offered by Gen. Steele, was unanimously
adopted:

_Resolved_, That the addresses just read be spread upon the
Journal, and that copies be requested for publication in the city
papers.

After the Senate adjourned, the Speaker called the House to order, and
on the motion of Mr. Murray, it resolved itself into committee of the
whole on the memorial just presented. On motion of Mr. Hamilton, the
petition was made the special order for Friday, when it was referred
to the Committee on "Rights and Privileges," who reported "that
legislation on this subject is inexpedient at this time," which report
was concurred in by the House.

The ninth annual meeting was held in Good Templars' Hall, Richmond, in
October, 1859. It continued but one day, as the time was fully
occupied in business plans for future work. Mary B. Birdsall was
chosen President of the Association.

The intense excitement of the political campaign of 1860, and the
civil war that followed, absorbed every other interest. The women who
had so zealously worked for their own rights, were just as ready to
help others. Some hastened to the hospitals; others labored in the
sanitary movement. Others did double duty at home, tilling the ground
and gathering in the harvests, that their fathers, husbands, brothers,
and sons might go forth to fight the battles of freedom. No
conventions were held for ten years; but public sentiment had taken a
long stride during those years of conflict, and when the pioneers
of this reform, who had been accustomed to opposition and
misrepresentation, again began the work, they were astonished to find
themselves in a comparatively popular current.

We find the following letters from Henry C. Wright and Esther Ann
Lukens, in _The Liberator_:

DUBLIN, WAYNE CO., Indiana, _Oct. 14, 1851_.

DEAR GARRISON:--I am in a Woman's Rights Conv