Norwood of the Magnolia _Gazette_,
James Faulk of the Greene County _Herald_.

Adverse articles were carefully answered and private letters were
sent, the enemy quietly reasoned with and in most cases converted.
News bulletins furnished by the national press department were used
but most of the matter sent out was prepared at home in the belief
that an ounce of Mississippi was worth a pound of Massachusetts.
Articles published in leaflet form and distributed broadcast were
written by Mrs. Somerville, Miss Kearney, Mrs. Thompson, the Rev.
Thomas K. Mellen and the Rev. H. Walter Featherstun, Methodist
ministers. One of the most valuable contributions was The Legal Status
of Mississippi Women, by Robert Campbell, an attorney of Greenville.

In November, 1907, a conference lasting five days was held at Jackson
in the home of Charles H. Thompson, a devoted suffragist, and his
wife, Lily Wilkinson Thompson. Among those attending were Miss
Kearney, Mrs. Somerville, Mrs. Harriet B. Kells, president of the
State W. C. T. U. and a life-long suffragist; Miss Laura Clay of
Kentucky and Miss Kate Gordon of Louisiana. The advisability of
attempting to have a woman suffrage measure introduced in the next
session of the Legislature was considered. Two men besides the host
appeared at this conference, a reporter, who regarded the meeting as
something of a joke, and the Hon. R. H. Thompson of Jackson, an
eminent lawyer, who came to offer sympathetic advice. Visits were made
to the Governor, James K. Vardaman, and other State officials; to the
Hinds county legislators who had recently been elected and to others.
Most of these gentlemen were polite but bored and it was decided to
defer legislative action. When two months later Governor Vardaman sent
his farewell message to the Legislature he mentioned woman suffrage as
one of the questions "pressing for solution in a National
Constitutional Convention."

In the spring of 1908 the State convention was held in the Governor's
Mansion at Jackson, Governor and Mrs. Edmund Favor Noel giving the
parlors for the meeting. Six clubs were reported and State members at
twelve places. Three or four women from outside of Jackson were
present, Mrs. Pauline Alston Clark of Clarksdale having come from the
greatest distance, and about fourteen were in attendance. The officers
elected were: President, Mrs. Somerville; vice-presidents, Mrs.
Thompson, Mrs. Fannie Clark, Mrs. Kells; corresponding secretary,