E. Merrick, a good and practical-minded friend
of the cause of woman. The 12th was the seventieth birthday
of Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and a decorated picture of
the famous woman hung in the rooms. Mrs. Merrick read a
sketch of the life of Mrs. Stanton, but devoted the first
part of the evening to reading the following paper, the
matter of which is, of the keenest interest to all thinking
men and women in the State:

More than eighty thousand children attend the public schools
in Louisiana, and of this number one-half are girls, and of
the 389 teachers employed in the public schools of New
Orleans, 368 are women. It cannot be denied that these are
of equal concern and importance to the State with any like
number of boys and men, nor does it require any argument to
prove that mothers are best qualified to superintend and
look after the welfare of their own children. In view of
this fact the convention of 1879 embodied the following
article in the constitution of the State:

ARTICLE 232. Women 21 years of age and upward shall be
eligible to any office of control or management under the
school laws of this State.

Notwithstanding the absolute right conferred by this article
on women over twenty-one years of age, the chief executive
of the State, with his present views, is apparently
unwilling to make any appointment of women to such
management without further legislation. The views of the
Governor on all questions are always entitled to great
respect. The question is one of interpretation, and many of
the best lawyers in Louisiana do not hesitate to hold and
declare a different view.

I am told that there are in the various constitutions of the
States and general government two classes of provisions, the
one self-executing and absolute, and the other requiring
legislative action before they can be exercised. For example
of the first class, article 59 of the constitution declares
that "the supreme executive power of the State shall be
vested in a chief magistrate, who shall be styled the
Governor of Louisiana." Nobody would ever undertake to say