CHAPTER LIII.
CALIFORNIA.
Liberal Provisions in the Constitution—Elizabeth T. Schenck—Eliza W. Famham—Mrs. Mills' Seminary, now a State Institution—Jeannie Carr, State Superintendent of Schools—First Awakening—The Revolution—Anna Dickinson—Mrs. Gordon Addresses the Legislature, 1868—Mrs. Pitts Stevens Edits The Pioneer—First Suffrage Society on the Pacific Coast, 1869—State Convention, January 26, 1870, Mrs. Wallis, President—State Association Formed, Mrs. Haskell of Petaluma, President—Mrs. Gordon Nominated for Senator—In 1871, Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony Visit California—Hon. A. A. Sargent Speaks in Favor of Suffrage for Woman—Ellen Clarke Sargent Active in the Movement—Legislation Making Women Eligible to Hold School Offices, 1873—July 10, 1873, State Society Incorporated, Sarah Wallis, President—Mrs. Clara Foltz—A Bill Giving Women the Right to Practice Law—The Bill Passed and Signed by the Governor—Contest Over Admitting Women into the Law Department of the University,Supreme Court Decision Favorable—Hon. A. A. Sargent on the Constitution and Laws—Journalists and Printers—Silk Culture—Legislative Appropriation—Mrs. Knox Goodrich Celebrates July 4, 1876—Imposing Demonstration—Ladies in the Procession.
The central figure in the seal of California is the presiding goddess of that State, her spear in one hand, the other resting on her shield, the cabalistic word "Eureka over her head and a bear crouching quietly at her feet. She seems to be calmly contemplating the magnificent harbor within the Golden Gate. The shadows on the distant mountains, the richly-laden vessels and the floating clouds indicate the peaceful sunset hour, and the goddess, in harmony with the scene is seated at her ease, as if after many weary wanderings in search of an earthly Paradise she had found at last the land of perennial summers, fruits and flowers—a land of wonders, with its mammoth trees, majestic mountain-ranges and that miracle of grandeur and beauty, the Yosemite Valley. Verily it seems as if bounteous Nature in finishing the Pacific Slope did her best to inspire the citizens of that young civilization with love and reverence for the beautiful and grand.
California, admitted to the Union in 1850, owing to the erratic character of her early population, has passed through more vicis-
