Cropsey is another living denial of the common assertion, that only half-cultured and ill-paid women want the ballot.
Of the four medical colleges in Indianapolis, two admit women and two exclude them. No theological school in the State receives women, nor does the only law school, which is located at Indianapolis; but its former president, Hon. James B. Black, told me that it was ready to receive them upon application.
Formerly, many questions now decided by the board of trustees of each school district, were directly settled by the people themselves at the annual school meeting. For instance, the teacher for the coming term was elected from among the candidates for that place; the salary to be paid, the length of term, the location of the school-house, were all questions to be decided by ballot. I have reliable authority for the assertion that in some parts of the State, as early as 1860, widows, and wives whose husbands were necessarily absent from the school meetings, voted upon these questions. During the years of the war this practice became very common, but fell into disuse upon the return of peace.
There are many physicians in Indiana enjoying the merited esteem of their respective communities and having a lucrative practice. The most notable example of success in this profession is Dr. Mary F. Thomas of Richmond.[1]Another living testimony to woman's right in the medical profession is Dr. Rachel Swain of Indianapolis, whose patrons are among the first families of the city. By zealous devotion to her profession she has secured the respect and social recognition of the community in which she moves. As an avowed friend of suffrage, whose word in season is never lacking, Dr. Swain carries a knowledge of our principles into circles where it would otherwise slowly penetrate. Dr. Mary Wilhite of Crawfordsville ranks with the best physicians of that city. In her practice she has gained a competence for herself and disseminated among her patients a knowledge of hygienic laws that has improved the health and the morals of the community to which she has ministered. She, too, advocates political equality for woman. Dr. Sarah Stockton of Lafayette settled in Indianapolis in the autumn of 1883, and was soon, on the petition of leading citizens, including both men and women, appointed as physician to the Woman's Department of the Hospital for the Insane. Her professional labors at the hospital and in general practice indicate both learning and skill. In November, Dr. Marie Haslep was elected attendant physician at the Woman's Reformatory, a State institution having some four hundred inmates, where her services have been characterized by faithfulness and caution.
Elizabeth Eaglesfield, a graduate of the law department of Michigan University, was admitted to the bar of Marion county in the spring of 1885, and is the first woman to open an independent law-office in this State.
Very few women have served in the ministry. The only one who ever secured any prominence in this profession was Miss Prudence LeClerc, who was pastor of the Universalist church in Madison in 1870-71, and[Pg 550] served parishes at different points in south-eastern Indiana until her death in 1878. Miss LeClerc frequently spoke at suffrage conventions, and called meetings wherever she preached, instructing the people in the philosophy of this reform.
- ↑ See sketch of Dr. Thomas, Vol. I., page 324.
