ss. A petition was widely circulated and bore thousands of names
when the ladies carried it to the General Assembly in 1894. They
succeeded in having a bill introduced, and were given hearings before
an appropriate committee; but the Assembly adjourned without acting.
In 1895, Mrs. Martha R. Stockwell was added to the committee, which
again went to the Assembly with the petition; but without success, and
the "age of protection" still remains 12 years. The penalty is death
or imprisonment for life.

By special statute the Common Law is retained which makes 12 years the
legal age for a girl to marry.

A law to make mothers equal guardians with fathers of minor children
is one to which the State association has devoted much attention, but
which still waits on the future for success. At present the father is
the legal guardian, and at his death may appoint one even for a child
unborn. If the court appoints a guardian, the law (1894) requires that
it "shall choose the father, or his testamentary appointee; then the
mother if [still] unmarried, then next of kin, giving preference to
the males."

The husband is expected to furnish the necessaries of life according
to his condition, but if he has only his wages there is no law to
punish him for non-support.

SUFFRAGE: Kentucky was the first State in the Union to grant any form
of suffrage to women by special statute, as its first School Law,
passed in 1838, permitted widows in the country districts with
children of school age to vote for trustees. In 1888 further
extensions of School Suffrage were made and in the country districts,
including fifth and sixth class cities, i. e., the smallest villages,
any widow having a child of school age, and any widow or spinster
having a ward of school age, may now vote for school trustees and
district school taxes; also taxpaying widows and spinsters may vote
for district school taxes.

In 1894 the General Assembly granted women the right to vote for
members of the board of education on the same terms as men in the
second-class cities, by a special clause in their charter. There are
three of these--Covington, Newport and Lexington.[288]

In the one first-class city, Louisville, the five third-class and the
twenty or more fourth-class cities, no woman has any vote.

OFFICE HOLDING: In 1886 Mrs. Amanda T. Million was appointed to the
office of county superintendent of public schools. Her husband had
been elected in Madison County, bu