principal topics discussed during the day by outsiders. I was[Pg 587] thankful that our nation was so well represented at the very first meeting, and the Parisian journals were all loud in their praise of Mrs. Jones' welcoming address, as well as the charming apparition of her young and accomplished daughter.
As indicating the numerous lines along which woman's aroused energies have found expression, we would call attention to the Art Union of central Illinois. It is composed of nine societies, "The Historical," and "The Palladium," of Bloomington; the art class at Decatur; "Art Society," of Lincoln; "Art Association," of Jacksonville; "Art Society," of Peoria; "Art Society," of Springfield, and "Art Club," of Champagne. Mrs. Lavilla Wyatt Latham, wife of Col. Robert G. Latham, of Lincoln, was the originator of the Art Union. Their spacious home, built with large piazzas in true southern style, is a museum of curiosities. Its library, cabinet, pictures, and statuary, make it a most attractive harbor of rest to the wandering band of lecturers, especially as the cultivated host and hostess are in warm sympathy with all reform movements. Mr. Latham was a warm friend of Abraham Lincoln, and entertained him many times under his roof.
The Woman's Journal of March 24, 1877, said:
Seventy women of Illinois, appointed by the Woman's State Temperance Union, went to the legislature, bearing a petition signed by 7,000 persons, asking that no licenses to sell liquor be granted, which are not asked for by a majority of the citizens of the place.
Mr. Sherman moved a suspension of the rules to admit of the presentation of the petition.
Mr. Merritt objected, but, by a decided vote, the rules were suspended, and the petition was received and read.
Mr. Sherman moved that Mrs. Prof. S. M. D. Fry of Wesleyan University of Bloomington, be invited to address the House upon the subject of the petition.
Mr. Herrington objected to the obtrusion of such trifling matter upon the House, which had business to do. It was well enough to let the petition be received, but he wanted nobody to be allowed to interfere with the business of the House. Referring to some forty or fifty ladies of the Union who had been admitted to the floor of the House, he wanted to know by what authority persons not entitled to the privilege of the floor had been admitted. He insisted on his prerogative as a member, and asked that the floor and lobbies be cleared of all persons not entitled to the privilege of the House.
According to the Chicago Tribune, this speech of Herrington created a slight sensation, among the ladies especially, but Mr. Herrington's demand was ignored, and a recess of thirty minutes was taken to allow Mrs. Fry to address the House in support of the petition, which she did in a speech put in very telling phrases. At its conclusion, some of the members opposed to temperance legislation, signalized their ill-breeding, to say the least, by derisive yells for Mr. Herrington and others to answer Mrs. Fry. Presently the hall was resonant with yells and cheers, converting it into a a very babel, and the hubbub was kept up until, at the expiration of the half-hour recess, Speaker Shaw called "order" and the House immediately adjourned.
If any body of men bearing a petition of 7,000 voting men, had gone to the same legislature, and by courtesy been admitted to speak for their petition, no member would have dared to insult them. It is because they had no recognized political rights that these women were insulted. Claim your right, ladies, to be equal members of the legislature, then you can enact temperance laws, and have an unquestioned right "to the privilege of the floor."
In 1879, under the lead of their president, Frances E. Willard, the women of Illinois rolled up a mammoth petition of 180,000, asking the
