ing to his and his children's wants and pleasures? Is there not a nobler idea in a husband's and a wife's giving up part of each other's life, giving up their children, too, to the service of humanity, and by their sacrifice perfecting their own lives?

But it may be said in answer to this that women can and do give up their lives to the service of humanity without ever touching politics.

That is so; but is it right? At least, is it right for those of us who believe in our country, and in the justice and wisdom of her laws? Where the people are ground down by their rulers, or where they have no voice in the making or modification of their laws, it may be the only plan to try to alleviate suffering or help forward the people by working through individual agencies; but surely in countries where boards are appointed to attend to education for the poor, to municipal or other local affairs, and where we elect representatives to look after the interests of the people, we must needs show our respect for our country, its laws, and its institutions by striving to make these boards, and parliaments, and congresses as efficient, as pure, as earnest for the real good of the people as it is possible for them to be.

I must not dwell longer on this subject. I should like you, however, to ask our friends who grieve over us what their ideal of a woman's life is? If they agree that a true woman's life should touch life from every side, then politics must be included. It must not predominate, but it must be included, otherwise assuredly there will be a want; there will be a lack of balance, for certain conditions of life will not be weighed or understood. And so once more I say that the reason why those for whom I speak have become politicians is because we have the strong conviction that woman has a political duty which she owes to her country; not the same as that of men, but, as in all other departments in life, man and woman working side by side, each in his or her own way, will best be able to

accomplish the allotted task of leaving the world better than they found it.

THE SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED IN AN ADDRESS BY LILLIE DEVEREUX BLAKE OF NEW YORK.

It may be that the best way in which I can illustrate what women can do in politics is to give you a brief chapter from the history of my own State of New York. It has been said that all things come to him who waits, but I think that sentence can be improved upon by saying that all things come to her who strives. It is better to strive than to wait. In 1878 a bill passed through the Legislature which gave the women of New York the right to serve as members of the school board and as school board officers. Then Governor Robinson vetoed the bill; he said the God of nature didn't intend women for public offices. Mr. Robinson asked a reëlection for Governor; we decided that the God of nature did not intend Mr. Robinson for Governor of New York. We opposed his election in every way. We organized, in every city, political meetings. In many of the cities there are strong political organizations. You have heard how it has worked in Kansas, how they have retired the Hon. John J. Ingalls to private life. In New York we organized against Mr. Robinson. Here and there we held our conventions, and Mr. Robinson was retired to private life. Within a few days Mr. Cornell took the seat of Governor, and the Woman's Suffrage Bill was passed through both branches of the Legislature and received the Governor's signature. That bill provided that any moral woman might serve as a school officer, and might vote at all school elections. Step by step we have built up the bill. We have passed a bill decreeing that saleswomen generally shall have seats while they are not occupied in waiting on customers. We have passed a bill providing for women on the boards of public institutions, such as the lunatic asylum,

prisons, etc. We have passed a bill that no insane woman shall pass through the State unless she be accompanied by a woman, and we have passed a number of bills of minor importance. We have passed the Police Matron's Bill. When we first took hold of this matter, all women who were arrested were entirely in the hands of men. If a young woman was arrested for a first offense, it was men who examined her, talked with her, took care of her. If a lady in any of our streets in New York was knocked down, she was taken to the police station, where she was put into the hands of men. If a woman were accused of theft, she was searched by men, notwithstanding the manifest disgracefulness of it. Since we passed the Police Matron's Bill, we have had a matron in charge of certain police stations, of every station to which women are taken. These are some of the victories we have achieved.

The latest triumph we have gained in the State of New York, and the most important that has ever been gained, is the passage last winter of the bill which provides that women are eligible to seats in the Constitutional Convention of 1894. That is a great concession, as great as has ever been made to women.

Mrs. Fenwick Miller told you of the wrong that existed in England in the fact that men alone are guardians of the children. Do you know in almost every State of the Union that infamous law prevails? Under the former law in New York the father of the child, although only a minor, might take the child from its mother's arms as soon as it was born. That law stood on our statute books for years. It was one of the things we fought against most strongly. I will give you one instance of the working of this law. A couple were married in the State of New York, and they were very unhappy together. After a child had been born the mother went to live in New Jersey, where, under the laws, the woman had an equal right with the man to the child. The wife went away to take care of a neighbor one night, and toward daylight, as she was coming home, she saw her