The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-04-01

| women gdtnereQ IN a room IN the F1ICE
Avenue hotel. One Of the women was
Ella Knowles Haskell, ex-assistant attor
! ney general of Montana, who Is said to BIZ
the only woman who ever got $10,OOt
! cash fee in her profession. a second was
a physician from Iowa, by name Brans.
/ worth, and one of three sisters who are
successful doctors. The third was a
newspaper woman. A fourth was inter.
ested in Western mining ventures, and
| two more had business of their own that
brought them to New York.
z"It was a funny chance in my case.''
| said Mrs. Knowles Haskell, as reported In
| the New York Sun. IT had been a
| teacher in Montana, but aspired to more
than a teachers pay, so T. decided I'd get
| it in the law business. After had been
| graduateds there; was vigorous opposition
to ne, and, in fact, I had to pull a. bill
through the legislature to permit women
to practice law in the state. Then was
| a full-fedged lawyer, but without a client
| or an idea of any one likely to throw
even a IS fee In my way. I determined
I'd got to have some money" Mrs. Has
kell was carelessly playing with an old
| half dollar now. II started out to find
| some bills to collect It wasn't lofty
i
any bills in Helena for +.-.ss Knowles to
collect Everybody either had no bills or
| had his own collector or counsel /
| finally found a man who admitted he had
| some old debts, and rather poohed at the
! idea of my attempting to realize on them.
I finally, got him to promise to get them
together in a couple of days. I marched
| around in a couple of days.
| YOU is it? Well I haven't had time
to get those bills together. Come around
| again In day or two ......--. .
| ''He was still fairly polite. In the day
tOr two appeared and he wasn't so polite:
but I persuaded him to give me another
| chance, and in a. few days I called once
more. It was a vile, nasty day, raining
! like the deluge. The rain had started
rather unexpectedly, and half the town
expected to soak going home.
F. You is 2it?' growled the merchant
If he had said what he wanted to say it
would have been visibly blue and smelled
| of sulphur. If you want to collect any
! thing for me why don't you go ont and
| collect my umbrellas? I've loaned 'em
! to everybody until haven't one for my
| had poured out the names Of the people
| who were in full ENJOYMENT of his UNI
brellas and wound up with: Go and col
| lect those if you want to do anything
| for me-
II WILL + said, and before he realized
that I was in earnest I had vanished
Nov the names Of the people he had
mentioned included three of the most
fashona BILE families in polite Helena So
ciety. But rang the bell of the first
mansion. When the maid opened the
door I said with polite firmness: g..
CT am Miss Ella. Knowles from AS
Office mentioning where I had studied.
Mr.. r. has sent me to collect the UNI
brella he loaned to Mr.. c. g..
HIT
I insisted, and when the door closed be-
hind me I had the borrowed umbrella
| under my arm and marched to the second
| mansion. To the maid here repeated
the same formula. and at the third house
also, leaving behind me a trail of indig-
nant, insulted households. r. .
""There are the three umbrellas which
you ordered me to collect from such and
| such houses said I, as I laid them down
| before the merchant. Then he wasn't
polite. Oh, no! He said things but
only said You told me to collect them.
My fee Is 50 cents -.
with another explosion he threw this
| 50-cent piece at me and rushed away 20
begin what proved a long operation of
| smoothing over those three fashionable
households. The story was too good to
keep. It leaked out, and before the man
| had made his peace with thoye three
! households he had sent for me to do some
=
| mans legal business and since then have
| had as high as $4,000 fee from him for
a single case" ~-
'"rhat certainly was chance with ven
geance," said the woman doctor, ''but not
| q bit more SO than in my own case.
was the first Of our family who decided to
| study medicine, and as lived in a small
place, and this was some years ago, when
| the prejudice against feminine NJ. DIS
was very lively, especially in small towns,
hardly thought it desirable to settle at
home when the time came. It was decid-
at ALL There was one prominent business
man in the little town who was a friend
| Of our family, but had bitterly opposed
my branching out into medicine. The
things he said about women doctors and
the determination he announced to expire
and be inferred In q costly cofln before
employing one were very pronounced. I
was at home waiting to dnd place in
which to settle down. when one night this
mans wife came in, evidently excited, but
hesitating. It was a very humble appeal
to save her husbands life. He knew he
was dying, and it was only at her solicit
tatiOn that he had consented to see me.
But the two doctors whom the village
boosted happened to be away that night.
I and she knew and he knew that it was a
matter of life and death and only instant
4 treatment could save his life. OF course,
| It was a triumph for me, but was as
humble as the woman. and with my
satchel hurried over to the good friend Of
the family. From that day to this have
1 attended all his family, and he himself
! wouldn't have masculine M. D. near
him now. That resulted in my settling
down at home. and there are actually
| now three of us girls who are In the pro-
fession. never really felt bad. either,
when I considered the nature Of his at
tack that night. TWAS only beautiful
case Of cramps and collie. but 1t settled
4 my professional fate. =
The newspaper woman was next called
4 on for confederation Of the chance theory.
st really was chance in truth that
started me to success and even led me
into the business, In which have al
ways done mans work and got mans
pay she said. What chance It was I
10 not know to this day but VIXEN Gen!
Phil Sheridan started from Washington
i for Nonquft. Mass, where he died. the
managing editor Of q Boston paper sent
me a letter to go to Nonauit for them
had only written once or twice fora pa
iper and really had no idea Of going into
the business When got to Nonquit
along came one big man and then another
big man. both saying they were from the
same paper. Green as spinach and un-
fused to newspaper methods. decided
& q draw out and leave the men e the