The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-09-11
MRS. LEASE. FEMININE DENEOSTHENES, CELEBRAIEo
 SETH BIRTHDAY TO-DAY

Miss Mary Elizabeth Lease, once the fair Demosthenes of Popu11sm ana plum ed sknightess who trun her sh1n- | ing IancefuIl and fair turns against the brazen foreheads of the mere men who refuse the ladies the right to speak. on the Mmelight and will ceIe- brate her fifty-ninth birthday today as the staunch defender Of the platform. principles and candidate or the new Progressive Party. Mrs. Lease, the silver-tongued oratoress and most eloquent of her sex, will prooaoly speak in favor of the electlon @ or States that have granted women the ballot. She has a. record for sosliveT- ing ''the geoods.r politiea,Hiy, She q 1t speeches during the campaign in Kansas, turned John J. Ingalis out Of the United States Senate, and influ- Popuiist, as his successor. A few wears later Mrs Lease herself had a large following for United States Sen- ator.
 Mrs Lease, ffty-nine today. is far from looking so old as she admits On a recent public appearance in New York, when she addressed an aud'- 10. ence of her sex in the interests of the Roosevelt cause she was resplendent in a black satin princess gown, trim med with black fringe, and topped with a most amazing picture hat bear ing waving black plumes. Mrs. Lease does not share the opinions of some of her colleagues in the woman's rights movement as to the desirability of extreme simplicity and 1nannish- ness in attire.
 Mary Eaizabeth-some papers refer error-was born in Ridgway, Pa. Sept. II, 1853, the daughter of the Hon. Joseph F. and Mary Elizabeth Clyens. After graduating from St. EIizabeth's Academy, at AlIeghany. N. Y, she removed to Kansas. where she was admitted to the bar. Her first political speech was made before a union labor convention in 1886, and from that time on, while Populism was at it's height, she was the greatest orator of the government: She was president of the Kansas State Board of Charities, asd was the first woman in the United States to hold such a
 At the Chicago worlds fair Mrs. Lease was chosen as the Kansas Day orator. After Populism had declined, writer on literature. politics, econo- mics, woman's suffrage and interna- tional peace. She has been heard in cities all over the United States, and fame as an orator is well esta blished. She was vice president of the of her written works have been pulp lished in magazines. but she is the author of one book bearing the mod est title. ."The Problem of Civilization Solved"
 Mrs. Lease now spends most of her time in New York City, but she re- tains a full measure of affection for Kansas in general and Wichita in particular, since it was the Peerless Princess of the Prairies'' that was e. home when she first attained to fame.
 Mrs. Leases opinion of men is not very flattering, although she will ad- init that they have their points. taRe aftee tRer Ps ah CTS and sons after their mothers" de- clared Mrs. Lease. Then is it sur prising that daughters inherit the vices of their fathers, and become pampered dog-caring women ?''
 When I asked her if this law of nature will be repealed when wom en get the vote, Mrs Lease showed me the door.