woman as enrolling
clerk, and women have held this office ever since.

During the session of 1900, stormy as it was, the House for the first
time elected a woman as enrolling clerk.

Women serve as notaries public. (For other offices see Legislative
Action.)

OCCUPATIONS: Women are engaged in all the professions and no
occupation is forbidden to them by law. On Dec. 15, 1886, the Court of
Appeals affirmed the right of women to dispense medicines. The case
was that of Bessie W. White (Hager), a graduate of the School of
Pharmacy of Michigan University. She applied to the State Board of
Pharmacy for registration in 1883, complying with all the
requirements. They rejected her application, whereupon she applied for
a mandamus. The writ was granted but an appeal was taken. Judge
William H. Holt delivered the opinion of the Appellate Court, saying
in his decision: "It is gratifying to see American women coming to the
front in these honorable pursuits. The history of civilization in
every country shows that it has merely kept pace with the advancement
of its women."

EDUCATION: On April 27, 1889, at a called meeting of the Board of
Curators of Kentucky University (Disciples of Christ) in Lexington, it
was decided to admit women students. This was the result of a petition
the preceding June by the Fayette County E. R. A. In response a
committee had been appointed, President Charles Louis Loos, chairman,
and, upon its favorable report, the resolution was carried by
unanimous vote. An immediate appropriation was made for improvements
to the college buildings to accommodate the new students, the opening
was announced in the annual calendar and women invited to avail
themselves of its advantages. This was the second institution of
higher education opened to women, the State Agricultural and
Mechanical College and Normal School, also in Lexington, having
admitted them in 1880.

In 1892 the work done by Mrs. Sarah Hardin Sawyer resulted in the
admission of women to Wesleyan College in Winchester. The Baptist
College at Georgetown became co-educational through the influence of
Prof. James Jefferson Rucker. The Homeopathic Medical College, opened
in Louisville the same year, admitted women from the first and placed
a woman upon the faculty. In 1893 the Madison County E. R. A. secured
the admission of girls to Central University at Richmond.

Co-education now prevails in all the normal and business schools, and
in the majority