lecturers,[1] and nearly all of the ministers and lawyers of the city have given addresses in favor of the cause. Only one minister has openly and bitterly opposed the measure, and his sermon on the "Subordination of Woman," published in the Register, called out spirited replies from Mrs. Savery and Mrs. Bloomer in the same journal, which completely demolished the flimsy fancies of the gentleman.
About 1874 Mrs. Maria Orwig edited a column in the Record, and Mary A. Work a column in the Republican. Since 1880, Mesdames Hunter, Orwig, Woods and Work have filled two columns in The Prohibitionist, of which Laura A. Berry is one of the editors. Mrs. M. J. Coggeshall has for several years served the society as reporter for the Register, proving herself a very ready and interesting writer. All of these ladies are efficient and untiring in whatever pertains to woman's interest.[2] The Register says:
The field of labor in Des Moines is pretty well occupied by the ladies. You will find them at the desks in the county and United States court-houses, in the pension office, in the insurance office, in the State offices, behind the counters in stores, in attorneys' offices—and there is one woman who assists her husband at the blacksmith's trade, and she can strike as hard a blow with a sledge as the brawniest workman in the shop.
In the autumn of 1870 a society was organized at Burlington, with fifty members. One of the earliest advocates of the cause in this place was Mary A. P. Darwin, president of the association, who lectured through the southern tier of counties during the summer of 1870. She was an earnest and forcible speaker.
At Oskaloosa the opening work was done in 1854 by Frances D. Gage, who gave four lectures there, and roused the people to thought and discussion. Mattie Griffith Davenport has long filled a prominent place in the woman suffrage movement in that city. She commenced lecturing in 1868, and during that and the two succeeding years traveled over much of the State, speaking upon temperance and woman's rights. During 1879 she edited a column of the Davenport News in the interest of suffrage. In the summer of 1870 Mrs. Cutler and Mrs. Bloomer held two meetings in Oskaloosa, in one of which a gentleman engaged in the discussions, and as is usual in such encounters, the women having right and justice on their side, came out the victors; at least so said the listeners. Following this a Woman's Suffrage Society was organized.[3] Many prominent speakers lectured here in turn, and helped to keep up the interest.
Council Bluffs also organized a society[4] in 1870, holding frequent meetings and sociables. There is here a large element in favor of the ballot
- ↑ Lucy Stone, Mrs. Stanton, Miss Anthony, Mrs. Cutler, Mrs. Livermore, Anna Dickinson, Phœbe Couzins, Mrs. Swisshelm, Miss Hindman and Mrs. Campbell, from abroad; Mesdames Savery, Callanan, Gray, Pittman, Boynton, Harbert, Brown, and Messrs. Fuller, Pomeroy, Rutkay, Cole, and Maxwell, of the city, have each in turn come to the aid and encouragement of the society's work.
- ↑ For information regarding Des Moines I am indebted to Mary A. Work, one of the most able advocates of woman suffrage in the State.
- ↑ President, Porte Welch; Secretary, Mattie Griffith Davenport.
- ↑ President, Amelia Bloomer; Vice-Presidents, C. Munger and Mary McPherson; Recording Secretary, Ada McPherson; Corresponding Secretary, Will Shoemaker; Treasurer, E. S. Barnett.
