the dowry,
unless there be a stipulation to the contrary.

Art. 2347. The dowry is given to the husband, for him to enjoy
the same as long as the marriage shall last.

Art. 2349. The income or proceeds of the dowry belong to the
husband, and are intended to help him support the charges of the
marriage, such as the maintenance of the husband and wife, that
of their children, and other expenses which he may deem proper.

Art. 2350. The husband alone has the administration of the dowry,
and his wife can not deprive him of it; he may act alone in a
court of justice for the preservation or recovery of the dowry,
against such as either owe or detain the same, but this does not
prevent the wife from remaining the owner of the effects which
she brought as her dowry.

Art. 2358. The wife may, with the authorization of her husband,
or, on his refusal, with the authorization of the Judge, give her
dotal effects for the establishment of the children she may have
had by a former marriage.

All accumulations after marriage, except by inheritance, here as in
all States, are the property of the husband. Any wages the wife may
earn, the very clothes she wears, belong entirely to him.

The laws of inheritance of separate property are practically the same
for widow and widower.

The father is the legal guardian of the persons and property of minor
children. Until 1888 the custody of children while a divorce suit was
pending was given to the father, but now this is granted to the
mother. The final guardianship is awarded by the Judge to the one who
succeeds in obtaining the divorce.

Before 1896 no "age of protection" for girls was named in the
statutes, but the penalty for rape was death. In this year, the Arena
Club of New Orleans, a socio-economic society of women, secured a law
fixing the age at 16 years. The penalty was changed to imprisonment,
with or without labor, for a period not exceeding five years, with no
minimum penalty named.

SUFFRAGE: Since 1898 taxpaying women have the right to vote in person
or by proxy on all questions of taxation.

OFFICE HOLDING: The clause in the constitution of 1879 that made women
eligible to school offices was inoperative on account of some
technicality, which in 1894 Mrs. Helen Behrens, a member of the Portia
Club, succeeded in having removed. In 1896 Mrs. Evelyn W. Ordway, as
chairman of a committe