those that deprive married women of the right to hold property and do business themselves. I think that man and woman both would live more happily if the laws were more equal ; but as they are, they are a shame to this enlightened age. They make a married woman a beggar all her life, although she may have a rich husband, and a most pitiable one, if he is poor. Wipe out the law entirely that gives us a third of our husband’s property; we can make better bargains than that ourselves with our husbands. The one-third law does us not a mite of good, unless our husband dies, and we do not all of us want to part with them, although the laws do make them our oppressors. But notwithstanding the mean position that we are compelled to occupy, I feel like upholding the Government as the best that is, feeling quite sure that the kindness and good sense of our rulers will give us something a little more like justice after a while.
WISCONSIN.
To the Meeting of Loyal Women in the City of New York, Greeting :
It is now nearly three months since the loyal women of Madison, Wis., desiring to express their equal interest in the preservation of the Union and Government, and their abhorrence of all who by word and deed encourage the unholy rebellion which has filled our land with mourning, organized the first Ladies’ Union League in the country, and pledged themselves, during the continuance of the war, to such individual persistent effort and self-sacrifice as should prove to our soldiers and their families that we have made common cause with them. Without delay we issued our preamble and constitution in the form of a circular-letter, inviting the co-operation of all loyal women of the State in the formation of similar organizations. Copies of this circular, inviting a full expression of feeling, and statement of cases of individua] necessity, were sent to every company of infantry, artillery, and cavalry that have gone from the State; and the most gratifying letters from the army have proved the value which they put upon our efforts. We organized visiting committees, renewed every week, who examine into and report upon all cases of want in soldiers’ families, many of whom have been cared for and relieved through the agency of these committees, thus obviating one of the most productive causes of discontent in the army. The ignorant woman who does not know what are the proper steps to take in securing her bounty, allotment, and pension; the discouraged wife who hears the low murmurs of treason to the Government on every side, whose appeals to her soldier in the field increase when they do not create the same feeling, are alike the objects of our care.
In addition to, and of more importance even than these home efforts, are those we make in encouraging the soldiers by correspondence. Does some officer distinguish himself by an act of personal bravery in the army of the West? we save the newspaper notices, cut these out, and inclose them, with a few hearty, earnest words, to some member of the army of the Potomac, and thus become a medium for the diffusion of all that can stimulate and inspire courage and loyalty.
We have deemed this brief statement of our organization and mode of operation the best expression of our sympathy with your meeting. We joyfully hail the formation of such associations in the great centers of influence, and believe that a cause to which the women of the country as one soul devote their time, their energies, and all they love best, will stand vindicated as the cause of God, of justice and humanity, before the whole world.
Madison, WisMadison, Wis., May 9, 1863.Mrs. E. S. Carr, Secretary.
