eneral agreed with Mrs. Ricker,
remarking that the line between crimes punished and those not
punished, and the lines between those in prison and those
outside who ought to be there, were so dim and shadowy that great
care should be exercised in order to secure just and humane
treatment for prisoners. Mrs. Ricker's remarks were earnest and
dignified, and were listened to with the closest attention by the
governor and his official advisers. At the close of the hearing
the governor referred the subject to the special prison committee
of the council, directing its members to procure all possible
information as to the management of penitentiaries in other
States, and report at the next meeting. Through Mrs. Ricker's
influence the last legislature passed an act providing that any
convict may send sealed letters to the governor or council
without their being read by the warden.

In 1882 a judicial decision in New Hampshire recognized the advance
legislation of that State in regard to the position of married
women. This decision shows that they are no longer under the shadow
of the old common law, but now hold equal dignity and power as
individuals and joint heads in family life. The "divinely ordained
head," with absolute control in the home, to rule according to his
will and pleasure, is at last ruled out of the courts altogether,
as the following case illustrates:

Mrs. Harris and her husband sued Mrs. Webster and her husband for
slanders uttered by Mrs. Webster against Mrs. Harris. The suit
was brought on the old theory that the legal personality of the
wife is merged in that of her husband; that she is under his
control, his chattel, his ox, and therefore he is responsible for
her trespasses as for those of his other domestic cattle. The
Court held that the wife is no longer an "ox" or "chattel," but a
person responsible for her acts, and that her innocent husband
could not be held responsible for her wrong. In rendering the
decision in this case, Judge Foster further said: "It is no
longer possible to say that in New Hampshire a married woman is a
household slave or a chattel, or that in New Hampshire the
conjugal unity is represented solely by the husband. By custom
and by statute the wife is now joint master of the household, and
not a slave or a servant. The rule now is tha