first speech you told about; and I have
been most earnestly hoping and working for the enfranchisement of
women ever since."--[S.B.A.

CHAPTER XLIV.

MISSOURI.

Missouri the First State to Open Colleges of Law and Medicine to
Woman--Liberal Legislation--Eight Causes for Divorce--Harriet
Hosmer--Wayman Crow--Works of Art--Women in the War--Adeline
Couzins--Virginia L. Minor--Petitions--Woman Suffrage
Association, May 8, 1867--First Woman Suffrage Convention, Oct.
6, 1869--Able Resolutions by Francis Minor--Action Asked for in
the Methodist Church--Constitutional Convention--Mrs. Hazard's
Report--National Suffrage Association, 1879--Virginia L. Minor
Before the Committee on Constitutional Amendments--Mrs. Minor
Tries to Vote--Her Case in the Supreme Court--Miss Phoebe Couzins
Graduated from the Law School, 1871--Reception by Members of the
Bar--Speeches--Dr. Walker--Judge Krum--Hon. Albert
Todd--Ex-Governor E. O. Stanard--Ex-Senator Henderson--Judge
Reber--George M. Stewart--Mrs. Minor--Miss Couzins--Mrs. Annie R.
Irvine--"Oregon Woman's Union."

It has often been a subject for speculation why it was that a slave
State like Missouri should have been the first to open her medical
and law schools to women, and why the suffrage movement from the
beginning should there have enlisted so large a number of men[377]
and women of wealth and position, who promptly took an active
interest in the inauguration of the work. A little research into
history shows that there must have been some liberal statesmen,
some men endowed with wisdom and a sense of justice, who influenced
the early legislation in Missouri.

By the constitution, imprisonment for debt is forbidden, except for
fines and penalties imposed for violation of law. A homestead not
exceeding $3,000 in value in cities of 40,000 inhabitants or more,
and not exceeding $1,500 in smaller cities and in the country, is
exempt from levy on execution. The real estate of a married woman
is not liable for the debts of her husband. There are eight causes
for divorce, so many doors of escape for unfortunate wives from the
bondage of a joyless union.

The memory of the unjust treatment of Miss Hosmer will always be a
reproach to Massachusetts. That she enjoyed the privileges of
education in Missouri denied her in Massachusetts was due in no
small measure to the generosity and public spirit of Waym