e than one year nor less than three months.

In 1887 the "age of protection" for girls was raised from 10 to 12
years; in 1894 from 12 to 14; in 1896 from 14 to 16. The penalty is
imprisonment not more than twenty nor less than three years.

SUFFRAGE: The law of 1894 permits women, on the same terms as men, to
vote for members of the boards of education (trustees), but not for
State Commissioner (superintendent) nor on any question of bonds or
appropriations. There are no county commissioners in Ohio.

The history of this law, after it passed into the Revised Statutes, is
as follows: In December, 1894, Mrs. Ida M. Earnhart of Columbus, whose
husband, Senator M. B. Earnhart, had championed the bill, was one of
the first women to register for voting at the school election to be
held the next April. For the purpose of a test case a written request
was made of the board of elections to strike her name from the list;
they refused and suit was brought in the name of the State of Ohio
against the board and Mrs. Earnhart. The case was argued in the
Circuit Court of Franklin County in January, 1895. Mrs. Caroline
McCullough Everhard, president of the State W. S. A., attended the
hearing. Senators William T. Clark and M. B. Earnhart ably defended
the law. On February 1 the decision was rendered by Judge J. G.
Shauck, Judges Charles G. Shearer and Gilbert H. Stewart concurring in
the opinion, which declared the law to be constitutional. The case was
appealed to the Supreme Court, where the decision of the lower court
was sustained. This completed the victory which the State suffrage
association had worked so hard to win. More than 30,000 women voted at
the first election following. In the spring of 1902, 14,800 women
registered in Cleveland and 80 per cent. voted.

Everything was quiet until the winter of 1898, when the activity of
the suffragists was again called out by the introduction into the
House of a bill by A. J. Hazlett to repeal the School Suffrage law.
The board of elections of Cleveland had asked for this. Forthwith
letters were sent to all the suffrage clubs by Mrs. Everhard, and
requests were made to many prominent persons to use their influence
against it. Protesting petitions were circulated and, with more than
40,000 names, were sent to the Legislature in a very short time. On
Feb. 10, 1898, members of the legislative committee of the State W. S.
A. appeared before the House Committee on Elections and spoke aga