ons are important and varied enough to allure 85 per cent.
of the male voters to the polls, but in many districts it is
difficult to obtain enough of them to transact the business of
the annual meeting. In the largest district in the State, school
meetings have been held and considerable sums of money voted,
with less than a dozen men present. Woman can not be adjudged
peculiarly lacking in interest because they are not found voting
in large numbers on one question and one set of officers.[199]

In 1897 the Legislature amended the School Suffrage Law. The women
believed that this change was effected to make the process of becoming
a voter more disagreeable. Heretofore they had been permitted to go at
any time before the town clerk, answer the necessary questions and be
registered. The amendment required them to observe the same
regulations as the men who have the full franchise. They must make
application to the registrar at one fixed time, fill out a blank and
have their names published in the newspapers in the list of those who
wish to be made voters. Then at another fixed time they must go before
the selectmen, await their turn, take the necessary oath, etc. In many
towns and cities it was ruled that all who had been made voters under
the old law must re-register. Feeling the injustice of this, many
women refused. In Hartford they rebelled absolutely, and after much
discussion in the papers and otherwise the city attorney decided that
the law was not retroactive.

OFFICE HOLDING: Since 1887 women have been eligible as school
trustees, and at present 45 are serving, of whom 29 are school
visitors. The latter prescribe rules for the management,
classification, studies and discipline of the public schools. The old
school district system prevails in many cities and towns and there are
a dozen or more women on district committees.

Women are filling other offices, elective and appointive, as follows:
Public librarians, 27; police matrons, 5; matron of the State
Hospital for the Insane, one; matrons of Reform School for Boys, six,
and one assistant; visiting committee of State Industrial School for
Girls, 12, two acting each month; assistant superintendent for same,
one; in each of the eight Homes connected with this school are to be
found a matron and an assistant.

Two of the five members of the State Board of Charities must be women.

Women may serve as notaries public and forty-t