Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 3.djvu/638

Rh women. Upon the roll of honor connected with this work we gratefully place the names of many brave, self-sacrificing women.

The Rev. Mr. Chappell, pastor of the Baptist church, then gave a most eloquent, liberal oration. In closing, he said: "But what think you, sisters, of the dangers that threaten the republic? Do they lie on your hearts? Are they in your prayers? Do they enter into your plans? All compliments and gallantries aside, it makes a vast difference in the destiny of the republic whether you understand and feel its dangers. The scale has turned. No longer need we dread oppression, disability, power; but on the other hand, license, luxury, listlessness, forgetfulness of God and the wholesome truth. This watch-night of the republic augurs well. This gathering of the sisterhood has its meaning. You are the power behind the throne; with you and with God lies the destiny of the republic." After the benediction the audience dispersed, all expressing of the entire programme the most enthusiastic approval.

About the close of the year 1876, a noticeable change in the direction of thought and effort was very apparent in the State of Illinois. Asa result of the ravages of the fire and the severe mental strain to which business men were subjected, women sprang to the rescue, and actively engaged in business. These additional burdens assumed by the many, the few were left to bear the weight of religious, philanthropic and social duties. Women had tested their powers sufficiently to realize their strength, and were impatient for immediate results, hence many of the active friends of woman suffrage, believing that the temperance ballot could be more speedily secured than entire political equality, joined the home-protection movement, while through the broadening and helpful influence of the Grange in the farm-homes of the northwest, requests for aids to organization came from all quarters. In order that the earnest thoughts of the one class and the practical methods of the other, might be rendered mutually beneficial, I one day entered the sanctum of the progressive editor of the Inter-Ocean, and asked for a ten-minute audience. The request was granted, and Wm. Penn Nixon, esq., courteously listened to the following questions: 'As a progressive journalist, and one who must recognize the philanthropic activity of the women of the Northwest, has it ever occurred to you that there is nowhere in journalism a special recognition of their interests? We have special fashion departments, special cooking departments, but no niche or corner devoted to the moral, industrial, educational, philanthropic and political interests of women; and does not your judgment assure you that such a department could be rendered popular?" As a result of this conversation a special corner of the Inter-Ocean was yielded to woman's interests, designated by the editors, "Woman's Kingdom," and on January 6, 1877, the following announcement appeared:

Congratulations to women that we have at last found a home in journalism; that amid the clashing of sabers of our modern press tournament, the knights of the quill