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WYOMING

special law two or more districts are enabled to unite in the formation of a high school district by an affirmative vote of qualified electors on the ques- tion, and thereby maintain a high school. This plan makes it possible for a number of districts in sparsely settled counties to combine their resources in the establishment of a high school which is sup- ported by a special tax. School attendance by children between the ages of six and fourteen years is compulsory, and penalties are prescribed for truancy or parental neglect in the matter of school attendance. In 1910 there were 1109 teachers em- ployed in the state, and the total enrolment of pupils was 24,584. The district tax revenues for that year were $739,668.88 and the earnings and income from 3,4.56,999 acres of school land was $1.50,212.91. Other public school revenues are derived from a percentage of the receipts from government land sales and the income from forest reserves paid to the state by direction of Congress. The state university is situated at Laramie, and includes a graduate school, colleges of hberal arts, agriculture, and engineering. A normal school and departments of music, commerce, home economies, and university extension are also maintained. The number of professors employed is 45, and 307 stu- dents were reported in attendance in 1910. The institution is supported by state tax, a land income fund, and certain annual donations made by the Government pursuant to Acts of Congress for the promotion of instruction in agriculture and the mechanic arts. A convent (boarding, and parochial school), was established at Clieyenne in 1886 by the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus "at a cost of $50,000. This institution lias passed through the vicissitudes of early pioneering and grown to a prosperous con- dition, the average attendance being about 200. Jesuit Fathers established a mission school for Indian boys at St. Stephens on or about the same date, and Catholic sisters also conduct a mission school for Indian girls on the Shoshoni Reservation.

V. St.\tb Institutions. — Indigent poor are cared for and supported by the counties of their residence. The State maintains: a hospital for the insane at Evanston; a home for feeble-minded and epileptic persons at Lander; an institution for blind, deaf, and dumb at Cheyenne; a soldiers' and sailors' home at Buffalo; and general state hospitals at Rock Springs, Sheridan, and Casper. A state sanitariiim is pro- vided at Thermopolis, where a square mile of land surrounding mineral springs of great medicinal value has been granted to the state by the United States Government. The state penitentiary is situated at Rawlins, and an appropriation has been made for a reformatory to be located hereafter by a vote of the people. There are laws providing for the incorporation of charitable, educational, and religious societies, including cemetery associations; and chari- table bequests are not forbidden by statute.

VI. Gbner.\l Legisl.\tion. — Freedom in the ex- ercises and enjoyment of religious profession and worship is guaranteed to every person by the con- stitution, with the sole quahfication that the liberty of conscience thus secured shall not excuse Ucen- tiousncss, nor justify practices inconsistent with the peace and safety of the state. This qualification was undoubtedly inserted to prevent the practice of polygamy as a possible incident to Mormon settlement in the state. Tlie disturbance of religious worship is made punishable as a misdemeanour. Sunday observance prevails generally throughout the state, and places of business with a few exceptions are required to be closed on Sundaj'. The first day of January, twelfth and twenty-second days of February, thirtieth day of May", fourth of July, the date ap])ointed by the jiresident as the annual Thanksgiving Day, twenty-fifth of December, dates

upon which general elections are held, and Arbor Day are declared holidays by statute; and if a legal holiday falls on Sunday the following day shall be the hoUday. The use of profane or obscene lan- guage is pimishable as a misdemeanour. A statutory form of oath is prescribed, concluding with the words "So help me God", and persons having conscientious scruples against taking an oath may affirm under the pains and penalties of perjury. The seal of confession is privileged. Church bodies may incor- porate for purposes of administration. Property used exclusively for religious worship, church par- sonages, and all denominational school property are exempt from taxation. Ministers of the Gospel of all denominations are exempt from jury service. The marriage ceremony ma}' be performed by any judge, district court commissioner, justice of the peace, or licensed or ordained minister of the Gospel. No particular form of ceremony is required other than an express declaration in the presence of an ordained minister or magistrate and witnesses. Desertion of wife and children is a felony. Causes for divorce are: adultery; incompetency; conviction of a felony, and sentence to imprisonment therefor after marriage; conviction of felony or infamous crime before marriage, provided it was unknown to the other party; habitual drunkenness; extreme cruelty; intolerable indignities; neglect to provide common necessities; vagrancy of the husband; and pregnancy of the wife before marriage if without knowledge of the husband. The plaintiff must reside in the state for one year immediately preceding his or her apphcation for divorce, unless the parties were married in the state and the applicant has resided there since the marriage. Neither party is permitted to remarry within one year after a decree of divorce.

A married woman can hold, acquire, manage, and convey property, and carry on business independent of her husband. When a husband or wife dies intestate one half of the property of the deceased goes to the survivor if there be children and one half to the children collectively. If there be no children, nor descendants of any child, three-fourthe of the estate goes to the siu-vivor. If there be no children nor descendants of any child, and the estate does not exceed SI 0,000, the whole of it goes to the survivor. Except as above, the estate of an intes- tate descends to his children surviving and the descendants of his children who are dead. If there be no children nor their descendants, then to his father, mother, brothers, and sisters, and to the descendants of brothers and sisters who are dead. If there be no children nor their descendants, nor father, mother, brothers, sisters, nor descendants of them, then to the grandfather, grandmother, uncles, aunts, and their descendants. The home- stead of a householder who is the head of a family, or any resident of the state who has attained the age of sixty years, is exempt to the value of S1500 from execution or attachment arising from any debt contracted or civil obhgation incurred other than taxes, purchase money, or improvements so long as it is occupied by the owner or his or her family. And the exemption imu-es for the benefit of the widow or minor diildren. If the on-ner be married the homestead can be aUenated only by the joint consent of the husband and wife. The family Bible, a burial lot, and $500 worth of personal prop- erty are likewise exempt to any person entitled to a homestead exemption. One half of the earnings of a debtor for his personal services, rendered at. any time within sixty days next preceding a levy of execution or attachment, is exempt when it is made to appear that such earnings are necessary for the support of debtor's family residing within the slate and supported in whole or in part by his