lities of his
noble wife:[163]

In company with Mrs. Howe and Miss Anthony, we were entertained
at the governor's mansion, a fine brick building in the heart of
the town. It has a small pond on one side, and eight acres of
land, laid out in gardens, walks and lawns, with extensive
greenhouses and graperies. The house is spacious, elegantly and
tastefully furnished, with all the comforts and luxuries that
wealth can command. With a conservatory, library, pictures,
statuary, beautiful (strong-minded) wife and charming daughters,
the noble governor is in duty bound to remain the happy, genial,
handsome man he is to-day. Though the governor, owing to his
pressing executive duties, did not honor our convention with his
presence, we feel assured, in reading over his last able message,
that he feels a deep interest in the education and elevation of
women. In speaking of their school system, he calls attention to
the low wages of female teachers, and the injustice of excluding
girls from the scientific schools and polytechnic institutions in
the State. He says:

I would especially call the attention of the legislature to
the importance of furnishing to women such educational
facilities as will better fit them for the industrial
pursuits which the true progress of the times is opening to
them.

On the rights of married women, he says:

While our laws with regard to married women have been
amended from time to time for several years past, so as to
secure to them in a more ample manner their property, held
before or acquired after marriage, yet we are still
considerably behind many of our sister States, and even
conservative England, in our legislation on the subject. I
would recommend to your favorable consideration such an
amendment of our laws as will secure to a married woman all
her property, with the full control of it during her married
life, and free from liability for any debts, except those
contracted by herself or for which she has voluntarily made
herself responsible, with the same right on the part of the
husband to an interest in her property, on his surviving
her, that she now has, or that it may be best to give her,
in his.