ecame particularly incensed, as
was natural, upon my exhibiting a woman suffrage petition signed
by the women he had misrepresented, and headed, _mirabile dictu_,
by the name of his own wife! The so-called representative of
women lost his temper, and gave vent to some inelegant
expletives, for which he was promptly reprimanded by the chair.
This offender has since been many times a candidate for office,
but the ladies of his district have always secured his defeat.
The woman suffrage bill received an unexpectedly large vote at
this session, and was favored in 1874 by a still larger one, when
it was ably championed by Hon. C. A. Reed, the before named
ex-president of the first woman suffrage society in the State.

In 1872 the Senate, the House concurring, passed a Married
Woman's Sole Trader bill, under the able leadership of Hon. J. N.
Dolph, who has since distinguished himself as our champion in the
Senate of the United States. This bill has ever since enabled any
woman engaged in business on her own account to register the fact
in the office of the county clerk, and thereby secure her tools,
furniture, or stock in trade against the liability of seizure by
her husband's creditors.

Perhaps I cannot better illustrate the general feeling of
opposition to women having a place in public affairs at that
time, than by describing the scenes in the State Temperance
Alliance in February of that year, when somebody placed my name
in nomination as chairman of an important committee. The
presiding officer was seized with a sudden deafness when the
nomination was made, and the Alliance was convulsed with
merriment. Ladies on all sides buzzed about me, and urged me to
resent the insult in the name of womanhood. And, as none of them
were at that time public speakers, I felt obliged to rise and
speak for myself.

"Mr. President," I exclaimed, "by what right do you refuse to
recognize women when their names are called? Are men the only
lawful members of this Alliance? And if so, is it not better for
the women delegates to go home?"

"Mr. President: The committees are now full!" shouted an excited
voter. Somebody, doubtless in ridicule, then nominated me as
vice-president-at-large, which was carried amid uproarious
merriment. I took my seat, hal