The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-09-17
A YOUNG GIRL AS GOVERNOR.
Miss Richards Assumes the Responsible
ties When the Father caves
the State,

the State.
The private secretary of Governor
W. A. Richards, of Wyoming, is his
nineteen-year old daughter, Miss
Eleanor Alice Richards. Miss Alice
not only performs the duties OF an
amanuensis while her father, the Gov
ernor, is here, attending to all the cor
respondence of the governors office,
but during the absence of the govern
or from the capital or from the State,
n is, to all practical purposes, his re-
preventative, and fulfills in a very cred
liable manner the duties of his Office.
Alice was born at oakland, Cal,
just nineteen years ago., says the New
r Herald. AS she has never been
east OF the Missouri river she may be
considered a typical Western girl. She
lived with her parents at Oakland IN
Gil she was five years old, and then e
moved with them to Colorado Springs,
Col. At the age of ten she went with
her parents to live on a big cattle
ranch on the banks of the Big Horn
river, in Northern Wyoming. Here
for four years she was instructed by
her parents, there being no schools in
the country. Here, too, she formed
the habits of independence and self
reliance which life on the frontier
gives Western girls. She learned to
ride half broken cow-ponies, and some
times went on the ''roUnd ups" with
her father. She also learned how to
keep house in the practical, common
sense way of earlier times.
Nh. Richards, Alice's father, was ap-
pointed Surveyor General of Wyoming
in 1888, and came to Cheyenne to live.
Alice went to school in the Cheyenne
public schools for several years, and
attended Mills College, lee Oakland.
Cal, where she graduated last year.
Her father, upon his election as Gov
ernor of Wyoming, gave her a position
in his Office last January as his private
secretary She was taken on trial, and
the trial resulted favorably, and she is
pretty certain to hold the position
throughout her fathers term of Office,
which does not expire until 1899. Miss
Alice is an expert stenographer and
typewriter. To aid her in performing
the duties of her Office with satisfac-
ton she has devoted her spare time to
studying law, paying particular atten-
ton to the Constitution and statutes of
Wyoming.
Early in June Governor Richard and
his wife attended the inter state drill
of the National Guard in st. Louis, and
during their absence Alice not only
managed all the business of the Gov
ernor's Office but was at the head of
the household affairs at home, where
there are three younger children.
While the Secretary of State is dur
ing the absence of the Governor 'act-
ing governor" that official, a very
gallant gentleman, did not assume any
of the duties of his position exceptsuch
as required his official signature, and
80 far as the performance Of the duties
OL Lu0 pOS4ULCu "5L0 COuNSAuSO3 Hiss
Alice was the ''acting governor"
On one occasion a notorious criminal
who had murderously assaulted a
Cheyenne policeman and was appre-
hended in Kentucky was want here
for trial. Miss Richards signed the
requisition papers requesting the Gov
ernor of Kentucky to deliver the man
into the custody of officers from Wy
omiug, which in due course of time was
done. Every evening she telegraphed
her father, giving him britf an idea
of just how the affairs Of the Office stood
and how the children were at home.
The fact that Miss Richards performs
these duties causes no particular com
ment here, and the matter vas scarcely
thought of until notice in outside papers
brought it forcibly to the attention Of
Wyoming people. The institution o.
woman suffrage, which has been in
practical operation in Wyoming for the
past twenty, five years, gives very
many clever women of the State an
opportunity to assume political duties
and perform them satisfactorily, and
the opinion prevails here that there il
no position in the State beyond the
ability of Wyoming women to fill.