The evening world., 1894-03-08
MEN MAKE A BOTCH Of It..
Phoebe CoulinS Tells the Young Women
It's Time They Took a Hand in
EXpOundins Our Laws.
THEN HOW THOSE GIRLS DID CHEER !
Tho woman's Legal Education Society Lis
tens to a Brilliant Address by tho
Lady from Missouri.

II anybody laboring under the impress
sion that while New York women are
1ocking into the medical profession and
the ministry they are overlooking the ad-
vantages OF the law as II means OF liv;i-
hood had been present at No. 10 West
Forty-third street last evening, that per-
son would Immediately rave amended his
Views. There were at least sixty young
women In the big audience which
crowded the lecture-room at that ad-
dress who are already on the high road
towards securing licenses to practise
at the bar Of this State. and there were
hundreds more thinking seriously OF
making the attempt to become lawyers.
The meeting was held in the main hall
Of the Academy OF Medicine Qkindly
lent to the would-be women lawyers for
the occasion). and chairs had to be
borrowed from adjacent rooms to accom-
modate the crowd. Mrs. Leonard Weber,
President Of the Womsn's League Edu-
cation Society. presided and Miss Phoebe
w. Couzins made the principal address.
The lovely law students were from the
University of the City OF New York. and
occupied front seats.
1t may not be known TO residents of
this city who have not kept pace with
modern educational matters that the
organization known as the Woman's
Legal Education Society has endowed a
chair OF law lectures In the University
Of the City OF New York. which is filled
by Prof. Isaac f. Russell. The move
ment to secure for women the privilege
OF practice In the courts OF this State
has. however. been going steadily for
ward for several years. and one of these
days the indolent attorney who picks
his teeth In the corridors of the Court
House will wake up to discover that the
energetic law firms of Miss Brown &
Miss Green or Miss Jones & Miss Smith
have taken away all his clients.
1t is impossible to conceive Of a
more enthusiastic gathering h that
OF last night, and II Is perfectly safe to
assert that hundreds of women who had
before thought seriously of studying
cousins. That ' lady e'0 i wiil be OF rem Mlns
bered, is the first OF her sex to have re-
eeiyed an important Federal office hither-
father. who was Marshal OF one OF
the Federal courts of the State OF Mis-
souri,. she was appointed to MI the
soSohSys DIX 10 dibO the SECOND woman
In America to have been graduated
from a regular law college. It is not to
be wondered at that her address stirred
The enthusiasm Of the multitude OF
When" said she. II first entered the
law school In competition with a class
OF men. l was nervous. My Imagination
young .co%llegiates whose brightest jests
and Jokes would be framed in classic
Latin or Greek. but when I discovered
1hat a large Part hO Of TIE class didn't evsn
courage fSr my sex" The girls APP
plauded this announcement until the
rafters rang.
that women are not only fitted for the
legal profession. but that they are actu-
ally needed. Law has been said to be
the perfection OF reason, but how alb
SURG that statement. u when only one
half or the human mind Ia engaged n
the reasoning! What would art, fitera-
,nre and poetry have been had the de-
MIND alone? And ! tell you young aides
Ihere Miss Couzins's voice became con-
ndentiaD that when you get into the realm
81 the law you VIII discover. as I have,
housekeeping in the Temple Of Ju lice
ior years all by himself. with the result
or all over the premises. The
piled upon legal fiction and precedent on
precedent. until the whole storehouse OF
law Is In a helpless, confused condition.
1t needs women's wit, women's fairness
and women's sense OF right and
Righteousness to put the legal fabric In
order and repair. IL no other motive can
induce you women to take up the study
and the profession OF the law, a senae
OF sisterhood to the un%fortunates OF our
sex should inspire you. In England no
butcher is allowed to serve as a juror on
a murder trial. n I assert that to no
man should be given the trial OF a
woman for the acts of degradation to
which man has brought her"
Miss Couzins then went into history to
prove that III all times since Biblical
days women hav proved themselves pc
culiarly fitted to the administration OF
Justice.
Did you ever" SAID she. "see the fg-
ure OF Justice or of Peace. Prosperity or
Righteousness, represented except In fe-
male form? The female form Is used to
symbolize all that is good. while the
form of man symbollzes only War,
Death and the Devil" Again the build
ing shook with applause.
Chancellor MacCracken. OF the Univer-
sity of the City OF New York. and Prof.
Russell, OF the Law School. followed Miss
Couzins in brief addresses, in which they
declared that the law as a profession
was admirably suited to the talents OF
women.