that stood by his side, who was the sharer of his joys, the partner of his sorrows, whose heart-strings were wound about his great heart in that seal of eternal love; what wonder if the shock of that sad hour, that made a Nation reel, should leave a tender, loving woman, shattered in body and in mind, to walk softly all her days. It is no reflection upon either the strength of her mind or the tenderness of her heart, to say that when Abraham Lincoln died, she died. The lightning that struck down the strong man, unnerved the woman. The sharp iron of the pungent grief went to her soul. The terrible shock, with its quick following griefs in the death of her children, left her mentally and physically a wreck, as it might have left any of us in the same circumstances. I can only think of Mrs. Lincoln as a dying woman through all these sad years of painful sorrow through which she has lingered since the death of her husband. It is not only charitable but just to her native mental qualities and her noble womanly nature, that we think of her and speak of her as the woman she was before the victim of these great sorrows. Drawing the veil over all these years of failing health of body and mind, which have been spent in seeking rest from sorrow in quiet seclusion from the world, I shall speak of her only as the woman she was before her noble husband fell a martyr by her side." Mrs. Lincoln's death occurred at the residence of her sister, Mrs. Ninian W. Edwards, July 16, 1882, and her remains lie beside those of her husband and children within the Lincoln monument, whither they were followed by the State officers and many sorrowing relatives and friends. MRS. MARY S. LOGAN. One of the great women of Illinois, who has shed lustre upon her sex, is Mrs. Mary S. Logan, wife of Gen. John A. Logan, who was born August 15, 1838, in Petersburg, Missouri, a town now extinct. She was a daughter of John M. and Elizabeth Cunningham; she was educated at St. Vincent Academy, Union county, Kentucky, and was married at Shawneetown, November 27, 1855. Mrs. Logan, has always been a noted woman in society, and whether as the wife of the young lawyer, the great soldier, or the able senator, she has been the same noble, pure woman; and has ever stood by the side of her husband in the battle of life; and whether in peace or war she has been his most able and trusty adviser-and during all the years she has occupied so conspicuous a place in the eyes of the Nation, she has never lost her place in the affections of her sex. WOMEN LAWYERS. The courts and law-makers of Illinois have been somewhat tardy in according to women their natural rights. Until 1872, neither married nor single women were admitted to the bar. In 1868, Mrs. Myra Bradwell, publisher of the Chicago Legal News, after passing a creditable examination, made application to the court to be admitted to the legal profession, but her application was refused, on the ground that she was a married woman. Mrs. Bradwell brought suit in the courts to test the validity of the decision, and it was finally carried to the Supreme Court, which sustained the lower courts. Miss Alta M. Hulett was the next woman to apply for admission to the bar, but her application was treated, on account of her womanhood, with silence. In 1872, through the instrumentality of these ladies, an act was passed by the General Assembly, which declared that no person should be debarred from any occupation, profession or employment on account of sex. Under this act they were both admitted to the bar, and were the first and only women lawyers in the State until 1884, when Miss Bessie Bradwell, a daughter of Judge James B. and Myra Bradwell, graduated at the Union College of Law, Chicago. She was valedictorian in a class of fifty-five, and Judge Booth, dean of the college, in his address to the class, paid a high tribute to her merit, and wished her a successful future in the profession. Miss Kate Kane, of Wisconsin, was admitted to practice law in the Supreme Court, at Ottawa, in March, 1884, on a foreign license. WOMEN SCHOOL OFFICERS. The first recognition of the law-makers of Illinois to women as public servants, was the passage of an act in 1873, allowing women, married or single, of the age of 21 years, to hold any office under the general or special school laws in this State. Nine women were chosen County Superintendents at the ensuing November election, whose names are as follows: Phoebe A. Taylor, Alexander county; Mrs. Mary E. Crary, Boone; Miss Mary S. Welch, DeWitt; Mrs. Cath. Hopkins, Greene; Nettie M. Sinclair, Kankakee; Mary Ellen West, Knox; Amanda A. Frazier, Mercer; Mary W. Whiteside, Peoria; Sarah C. McIntosh, Will; Mary L. Carpenter, Winnebago. WOMEN NOTARIES PUBLIC. In 1875, an act was passed by the General Assembly rendering women eligible to the office of notary public. The law went into effect July 1, and Mrs. Annie Fitzhugh Ousley was the first woman to receive a commission, which was given her by Governor Beveridge, on that day, and on the same day he issued commissions to six women, from Cook county, namely: Lucy A. Bunting, Helen Culver, Lucy M. Gaylord, Alice C. Nute, Sarah A. Richards and Caroline Wescott, since which time many commissions have been issued to women in different counties of the State, and it is now no uncommon thing to see legal instruments bearing the notarial seal of a woman. In 1879, at the instance of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, a bill was introduced in both houses of the General Assembly, proposing an amendment to the constitution allowing women the right to vote on all questions relating to the control of the liquor traffic; but it failed in both. In 1881, the subject was again brought before that body, with no better success. HOW LONG WILL IT BE BEFORE THEY CAN VOTE? It remains to be seen whether women who have mastered the arts and sciences; who fill the professions; who keep the cash account of the largest mercantile houses in our great cities, or the mother who moulds the character of the man, shall ever, in the minds of the statesmen of Illinois, know enough to know how to exercise the right of suffrage! Women and Chinamen are the only classes of mankind in Illinois who are not allowed the privilege of the ballot. CHAPTER XLIX. ILLINOIS NATIONAL GUARD. When the war for the Union ensued, the State was without an effective military organization; indeed Governor Yates found the law under which the military power of the State was to be brought into requisition, so faulty as to be almost useless, and he relied mainly on the presence of the soldiers of the National Government to preserve the peace of the State and prevent its invasion from without. Since then the General Assembly has amply provided the legislation necessary to bring into existence a most excellent military system, which is styled the Illinois National Guard, whose total strength of men and officers was, according to the official report of AdjutantGeneral Elliott, on the 1st of January, 1884, 4,847. The efficiency of the National Guard in preserving law and order, has not infrequently been attested; but in the great strike of railroad employees in 1877, which permeated all the States, its service in protecting life and property was incalculable. In Chicago, Peoria, Springfield, Galesburg, Rock Island, Decatur and East St. Louis, the mob threatened devastation, and but for the timely presence of the Illinois soldiery, the scenes at Pittsburg would have been re-enacted at Chicago and East St. Louis, and millions of dollars' worth of property would have been laid in ashes, and many lives made a sacrifice to the madness of the hour. The Guard is composed of two brigades, of which the following is a partial roster: John M. Hamilton, Governor and Commander-in-Chief. Brigadier-General J. W. Vance, Adjutant-General. FIRST BRIGADE--HEADQUARTERS AT CHICAGO. Brigadier-General Charles FitzSimons, commanding. Col. W. H. Thompson, Second Regiment, Chicago. Col. Joel D. Welter, First Regiment Cavalry, Chicago. Capt. E. B. Tobey, Battery D, Chicago. SECOND BRIGADE-HEADQUARTERS AT SPRINGFIELD. Brig.-Gen. J. N. Reece, commanding. Lieut.-Col. C. F. Mills, Assistant Adjutant-General. |