Page:Democratic Ideals (Olympia Brown).djvu/20

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Nebraska


president. A Nebraska woman says in the History of Woman Suffrage: "As long as Mrs. Colby was a resident of Nebraska she stood at the head of every phase of the movement to obtain equal rights for women." Not the least important work of her years in Nebraska was the founding of the Woman's Tribune in 1883 which she continued to publish there until her removal to Washington in 1888.

Her efforts, however, were not confined to the suffrage movement for she organized the free public library of Beatrice, Nebraska, in 1873. A very complimentary account of this work is given in the fifth annual report of the directors of this library.

During this period she visited her Alma Mater at Madison, Wisconsin, on the occasion of one of the annual meetings of the alumni. The poet appointed for the day failing to be present, Mrs. Colby was asked to supply the place and with only twenty-four hours' time for preparation she wrote the following poem describing the Indian legends of Nebraska.

THE SONG OF THE PLAINS
(Dedicated to the Pioneers of the Prairies).

The purpose of this poem is to present in terms of Indian Mythology the development of that large section of the Middle West which was formerly included in the Terri-

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