River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1915-02-25

| from a corner of the office q
asked her father why he did t
get this woman's property back
for her. Her father showed her
various passages governing such
cases, and the little girl labori-
ously spelled them out in the
ponderous law volumes, family
marking them with pencil and
in her little indignant mind d e
Gliding to get rid Of them; for to
her, law began and ended with
her fathers office and his books
on law composed the entire legal
library. T h at night she stole
down stairs through the dark
ness to her fathers library, with
her scissors in her hand and, even
though she was prevented from
completing her task at that time,
she took it up later in life.
[ wish to tell two more stories
illustrating the utter disregard
Of Woman's rights. The first is Of
a doctor and his wife in California ::
The wife had been trained nurse
before their marriage and the $500
she had saved was put into the
home they bought. All went well
for few years, but the doctor
finally became worthless and ran
off with a dissOlute woman. The
wife discovered he had given
away everything they had, even
to the home she had helped to
pay for. The other story is told
by the University Law School of
New York, about a Connecticut
woman. At the time Of this Wom-
ans marriage her grandfather
gave her, for a wedding present,
a beautiful mahogany bureau. In
two or three years her husband
died and every article they owned
was sold. but the widow was al
lowed to buy her grandfather's
gift. She was again married only
to have h er husband die in a
few years and the second time
she had to buy her grandfather's
gift or lose it. According to the
story she was still young and at
tractive and a third man request
ed that he might endow her with
all his earthly goods, but she is
said to have answered that she
preferred to keep her bureau.
oI11c lilo fhiC ovicfo6
where and such women as Mrs.
Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Lydia
Maria Child, Susan B. Anthony,
and others spent many years in
addressing legislative committees,
writing to newspapers, circulat-
ing petitions until finally in 1648,
an effective Married Women's
| Property Law was passed in New
York and western states follow
ed. Men Of property stood for
this law because they saw that
their wealth, given to daughters,
could be wasted, given away, Or
gambled away by sons-in-law, and
they had no guarantee that their
| daughters were provided for
during life or that their grand
children might ever enjoy their
wealth unless it was controlled by
/ their mothers.
When this bill was brought be-
fore the English Parliament there
were men who objected to
it because they said a woman
might squander her property on
men she preferred to her hus-
band, and in America some argued
that if women were made indie
pendent like this they would
leave their husbands by regiments.
In the last two generations
women have succeeded in repeal
ing many unjust laws and secured
the passage Of more nearly equal
ones. until today Colorado is wom-
ans paradise. Three years ago there
were only ten states and the Dis
trict Of Columbia n which t h e
m o t h r is co-guardian of her
NAOA NC a IL w 1hOIC
now. In only few states is
the legal profession closed to
70 en- four state universities
still close their doors to women,
two states will not elbow woman
to become a doctor or lawyer, and
one state will have nothing to
do with woman preacher. All
states are following-La. in til e
rear; for, outside of N. o. it is
similar to Washington Irving's
"Sleepy Hollow."-changes around
it do not affect it-and there wom-
an is simply a domestic animal so
far as legal rights go.
The Woman Suffrage Organiza-
! ti0n iS tha oldest OrUanizotiop II,