[423] See [History of Woman Suffrage, Vol. III, p. 340].
[424] The annual meeting in October, 1895, celebrated the completion of a quarter of a century's service on the part of Mrs. Elizabeth Buffum Chace as president of the Rhode Island Woman Suffrage Association. Letters from absent friends were read expressing their high appreciation of her life-long service in the cause of humankind as well as womankind. Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, Mr. William Lloyd Garrison and Miss Mary F. Eastman attended to speak for the cause, and to testify their love for Mrs. Chace. The Hon. E. L. Freeman, ex-Gov. John W. Davis and others of the State also spoke words of great respect. The association honored itself by once more electing Mrs. Chace its chief officer, although she had expressed a strong desire to retire from the position as she felt that the burden of the work should be borne by younger shoulders. [Annual Report to National Suffrage Convention.
[425] Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Julia Ward Howe, Rowland Hazard, Phebe Jackson, Susan Sisson, Sarah Helen Whitman, Elizabeth K. Churchill, Abraham Payne, Sarah T. Wilbour, Charlotte A. Jenckes, George L. Clarke, Francis C. Frost, Susan R. Harris, Augustus Woodbury and many others of the best known and most useful citizens.
[426] Others were Mrs. M. M. Brewster, Mrs. Mary C. Peckham, Mrs. Rowena P. B. Tingley, Miss Charlotte R. Hoswell, Mrs. Anna E. Aldrich and Mrs. Martha Knowles.
[427] Present board: President Mrs. A. C. Dewing; first vice-president, Mrs. Thomas W. Chase; second vice-president, Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles; third vice-president, Mrs. Charlotte B. Wilbour; secretary, Mrs. Annie M. Griffin; treasurer, Mrs. Mary K. Wood; auditors, Mrs. O. I. Angell, Mrs. Elizabeth Ormsbee; honorary vice-presidents, the Hon. H. B. Metcalf, Dr. L. F. C. Garvin and Arnold B. Chace.
[428] The officers were: President, Mrs. Chace; vice-presidents, Mr. Hinckley, Arnold B. Chace, Phebe Jackson, Mary O. Arnold and Julia Ward Howe; acting secretary, Mrs. Anna E. Aldrich; treasurer, Mrs. Mary K. Wood; executive committee, Mrs. S. E. H. Doyle, Miss Sarah J. Eddy, Mesdames Aldrich, Fanny Purdy Palmer, C. P. Norton, Louisa A. Bowen, Elizabeth C. Hinckley, Susan C. Kenyon, Mary E. Bliss, Frances S. Bailey and S. R. Alexander, from whom the campaign committee was selected.
[429] Occasional addresses were made by Gen. Thomas W. Chace, Col. J. C. Wyman, Judge R. C. Pitman, Dr. L. F. C. Garvin, the Revs. H. C. Westwood, Augustus Woodbury, H. I. Cushman, N. H. Harriman, Thomas R. Slicer, O. H. Still, J. H. Larry; Messrs. Olney Arnold, Augustine Jones, R. F. Trevellick, Ralph Beaumont, John O'Keefe and others.
[430] Dr. Helen C. Putnam represented the physicians, Mrs. Mary Frost Evans the editors, Miss Sarah E. Doyle the teachers, Mrs. Mary A. Babcock and Mrs. A. B. E. Jackson the W. C. T. U., Mrs. L. G. C. Knickerbocker and Mrs. S. M. Aldrich women in private life, while the W. S. A. contributed Mrs. J. S. French, Mrs. A. C. Dewing and Mrs. Ellen M. Bolles. Edwin C. Pierce and Rabbi David Blaustein, members of the association, also spoke in favor of suffrage for women.
[431] The right to be appointed by the court was given to married women by Act of 1902.
[432] Mrs. Francis W. Goddard, Miss Sarah E. Doyle, principal of the Girls' High School of Providence; Mrs. M. M. Brewster, president of the Women's Educational and Industrial Union; Mrs. Fanny Purdy Palmer and Mrs. R. A. Peckham, representing the State Suffrage Association; Mrs. Augustine Jones, representing the Friends' School, and Mrs. M. E. Tucker.