he was likewise greeted with good audiences at seven
other towns, among them Jackson, the capital, where she spoke in the
House of Representatives. A work conference was held at Flora in
September of this year.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION AND LAWS: The W. S. A. has not attempted any
legislative work, other than the one effort made in 1900 to secure a
bill providing for a woman physician at the State Hospital for the
Insane. This was introduced and championed in the Senate by R. B.
Campbell (to whom the association is also indebted for the compilation
of a valuable pamphlet on The Legal Status of Mississippi Women). It
passed that body almost unanimously, but did not reach the House.

The measure which provided for the State Industrial Institute and
College for Women (white) was the conception of Mrs. Annie Coleman
Peyton, the bill itself being framed by her brother, Judge S. R.
Coleman, a legislator and a leading attorney. It was sent to the
Legislature as early as 1877, but was not at that time even
considered. Mrs. Peyton continued her agitation in its behalf and
succeeded in having it introduced in 1880 and in 1882, but it was
twice defeated. By the time the Legislature convened in 1884, however,
its author had enlisted the sympathy of so many of the prominent men
and women of the State that the bill was passed at that session. Wiley
P. Nash and Mac C. Martin were its earnest champions on the floor of
the House; while Col. J. L. Power, the present Secretary of State,
Major Jonas, of the Aberdeen _Examiner_, and Mrs. Olive A. Hastings
were among the ablest coadjutors of Mrs. Peyton.

In 1900 the suffrage association petitioned Gov. A. H. Longino to
appoint one woman on the board of this institution, which is wholly
for women, but he refused on the ground that it would be
unconstitutional.

In 1880 the Legislature abrogated the Common Law as to its provisions
for wives, being a pioneer among the Southern States to take such
action. It declared:

The Legislature shall never create any distinction between the
rights of men and women to acquire, own, enjoy and dispose of
property of all kinds, or their power to contract in reference
thereto. Married women are hereby emancipated from all
disabilities on account of coverture. But this shall not prevent
the Legislature from regulating contracts between husband and
wife; nor shall the Legislature be prevented from regulating the
sale of