Litchfield enquirer., 1880-05-20
Women Voting upon School Questions.
STAMroRD. M ". Nav 15. 1880.

" oAte1 sosA6 0po&A SoA'~A
 STAMFORD, N. r.. May 15, 1880. In my last, mention was nadeof call for a meeting to determine whether Union Free School should be established in this village. This meeting was held last night. There was much interest manifested for various reasons. Among these was the fact that this was the first meeting of the kind in the place, at which women were entitled to vote under the Act Of the Legislature passed last February. Tine legal qualifications of voters are expres- sed in the following terms: @~.-i
 Every male person of full age residing in the District and entitled to vote in this State, whe owns or hires real property in sucl, Dis trct subject to taxation for school purposes i; every resident of such District authorized! 10 vote at town meeting of either town within the limits of which portion of said District is situated, who owns any personal property liable to be taxed for school purposes in said District exceeding fifty dollars in value, ex- elusive of such is exempt from execution or who has permanently resided with him child or children of school age, some one or more of whom shall have attended the District school for period of at least eIght weeks in the year proceeding the date at which said meeting is to be held. :
 By the Act of February 12, 1880, entitled 'An Act to declare women eligible to serve as school trustees it is declared that. "no person shall be deemed to be ineligible to serve as any school officer or to vote at any school meeting by reason of sex, who has the other qualifications as required by law"
 There were present at the meeting about thirty women, some of whose were not en- titled to vote. Of those entitled, fifteen voted. suppose that natural instinct leads woman to be conservative in the matter oi taxation. With no one left to depend upon for the increase of their incomes they feel the importance of holding on to what they already have At all events the vote of the women is supposed to have been two to one against the establishment of the school. -.:
 The vote was very close one. fifty-seVen for and fiftv-three against. The opposition was very strong and grossly partisan and per. sonal in their remarks upon the motion. was curious to see what effect the presence of ladies would have upon the tone of such 3 meeting Of course one cannot assert what might have happened under other circum- stances, but on the part of those determined to defeat the measure, there did not seem to be any consciousness of the fact that ladies were present They appealed to the most selfish and base motives, holding up to ridicule the most prominent members of the community in way to excite the disgust of all right thinking men. In fact they did great damage to their own side.
 So, to be consistent, after the result of the vote was declared, the ladies of the opposition protested against the entire action cn the ground of ''illegal voting. So an adjourn meut for ten days was voted, and the whole ground may have to be gone over again.
 I presume it is cold again in Litchield. Sun, day aud Monday were very warm with us, but we had cold turn later in the week. Yesterday there was snsw visible on the mountains, that had fallen the previous night, and this morning the ground was white with frost. Many plants are injured, if not entire. lY ruined by the frost.
 Vegetation came forward rapidly the first three days of the week. It is interesting to note the effect of altitude upon vegetation. Near here the mountain rises fifteen hundred feet above the level of ths village. At it's base the trees are quite green and the various wild flowers are in bloom, while near the top the trees are still nearly leafless. and the mountain side retains its dark, somber hue of winter.
 There is another peculiarly in the landscape wrought out by the mountain that struck me as new. On cloudy day in winter the mis- and clouds play about the tops of the noun tains, which sometimes are enveloped for an entire day in mass of vapor. When the clouds pass, the trees of the portion wrapped in fog come out bespangied with frost worh that gives them a very striking appearance, especially when lighted up by the rays of the morning sun. G.