The Portland daily press., 1900-09-21


somewhere else. but who would NOT do
anything to enforce it in their own neigh
norhood, especially when it interfered
with their own success in life.
Therefore she thought, that If senti-
mnt In Maine was as elsewhere, it would
not be wise to join the suffrage to the
prohibition movement. She would ad-
wise Maine sutfragists to go kindly to the
W. Q. Il. U. and endeavor to arrange
narmoniously so that the two move. |
ments might not conflict. But She did |
not believe that anything should deter
the sutfragists from appearing in their
own behalf. If they stood back this
year becaase the W. Q. Il. U. were COM
ing forward, what was to show that the
same thing would not occur in succeed |
Ing legislat ur esq (Applause.)
The noon hour arriving the considera-
tlon OF the question was postponed to an
executive session Of the afternoon. Then
1t was decided to leave the whole subject
to the executive committee with pow er
to act.
AT the business sessions the reports of
the various committees were received and
thefollowing committees were appointed:
Credentials, Miss Vetta Merrill, Mrs.
}. r Worcester; resolutions, Mrs. Sa-
rah +. Hamilton of Saco, Mrs. w. f. Fer
nald of Old Orchard, Mrs. H. IL. Shaw of
Portland; courtesiss, Mrs. Zenas Thomp-
son, Miss Charlotte j. Thomas, Mrs. N
S. Gardiner of Portland.
Mrs. Mary G. Davis of Ocean park was
appointed time keeper.
-
dress OF the president, Mrs. Charles Day.
Mrs. Zenas Thompson presided while
Mrs. Day spoke.
Mrs. Day reviewed the work on the past
year in detail, giving at first a brief re-
sumo of what has been accom- plished.
The a1st national convention was re-
ferredto in passing, and the favorable re-
ceptiOn of Miss Gail Laughlin, "Our
Maine star, - was thus pleasantly referred
to: 'She magn stized her audience from
the beginning. Tremendous applause
expressed intense satisfaction with the
Iyoung speaker"
Miss LaughIin's subject was "Condi-
tions Of the Wage-earning Women of
Our Country. -Ihe brilliant young law
yer has since been appointed by the spec
1al commission created by the legislature
to Investigate these conditions and a S
soon as she returns to New York from
her Maine vacation, she VIII continue
QcE ldDOfS III UllS Qlr6CUlOQ.
The three events of the year have b cen
Miss Diana Hirschler lecture tour of
Maine, under the auspices of the Maine
association, Ola Home week, and Maine
Woman Suffrage day at Ocean Park.
Miss ii irschler s lecture tour was most
successful. A part of the time Mrs. Day
was her companion, and the result is a
renewed interest in Maine.
During Old Home week the Maine as
ISOLATION assisted by the Portland Equal
] II OI1 Eov In 0rf..
land. The register shows record of 232
names, representing IA states from Cali
fornia to Florida.
"The Suffrage day at Ocean Park, the
first meeting of the kind ever held in
Maine, is SO recent ana so successful we
need not take time to rehearse its pleas
ures and successes. The hospitality of
our friends at Ocean Park was as bound
ltsssas the great sea that rolls au their
doOrs.'
Finance, literature. press and organi-
zation work were reviewed briefly, with
the following recommendations! IA
larger appropriation for press work. 2
| Increased circulation OF literature. D.
Prize essays in the schools. 4-Prepared
programmes and public meetings.
The afternoon programme was carried
out IN an interesting way. Mrs. George
=. Frye, chairman OF the bazar commit
tee reported the plan Of Names booth at
the great Madison Square hazar. The
committee proposes to decorate the booth
with Christmas trees and the seal OF the
State OF Maine. The fir pillows from
Dorothea Dix park. samples of Maine
products to be sold and shipped direct to
the purchaser, fancy work and domestic
articles will be attractively displayed.
1t is hoped some member of the Maine as
ISOLATION viii be able TO go to New York
and take charge of the booth.
| During the afternoon session Mrs
Chapman Gait told her hearers, whom
| she was exhorting to missionary effort,
CSC frro
might be converted to woman suffrage
In the evening she delivered an address
/ especially adapted to the work of conver-
sion. After an invocation by Rev. E X.
Purdy, Madame President Day In intro
ductiOn said that the women wanted the
ballot for protection. In this county OF
Cumberland the law had been violated
for years, until finally the voting power
the men-arOse in their might and elected
man who was pledged to enforce the
law. The men had finally protected
themselves. The women wanted the
ballot that they might protect themselves.
MRS. CARRIE GAIT
was then introduced. She began by say
ing that there had been a woman ques
tion in the world since the days of the
garden of Eden. Ali through the centur-
les there have been legal enactments re
Iating to women. Before the seventeenth
century, in the dark days for men, there
were still darker times for women. In
the age OF asceticism the preachers ex-
horted their hearers to remember that sin
came into the world through woman;
and women were even made to do penance
for their motherhood. A grave church
council of those days debate whether
woman had soul and might go to heav
en-. They finally decided that she might.
Later in the age OF chivalry, when wom-
an was the spoil of war, another grave
ch11rch nn11ncil debated Whether women |