Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 3.djvu/654

Rh 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[Pg 595] 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 Wayman Crow. Speaking of the gifted sculptor, a correspondent says:

Harriet Hosmer was born in 1830. She studied sculpture in the studio of Mr. Stephenson, in Boston, and also with her father. In 1830, after being denied admission to anatomical lectures in Harvard and many other colleges at the East, she went to St. Louis, where, through the spirited determination of Wayman Crow, a most liberal benefactor of Washington University, she was admitted to the Missouri Medical College through the kindness and courtesy of Dr. Joseph N. McDowell, its founder and head. Here for a whole winter she pursued her studies under the instruction of Dr. McDowell and Dr. Louis T. Pim, the able demonstrator of anatomy of the college, who gave her the benefit of their constant and unremitting aid; also Dr. B. Gratz Moses and Dr. J. B. Johnson were particularly kind in inviting her to be present when important cases were before them. The names of these men are gratefully mentioned, now that the doors of hundreds of colleges have opened to women. While in St. Louis Miss Hosmer had a constant companion and friend in Miss Jane Peck, a lady well known in society circles, and together they daily attended at the college; indeed, Miss Peck informed the writer, that on no occasion did Miss Hosmer go to the college without her. So quietly was this done, it was not until the month of February that the students became aware of their attending, and when informed of it the entire class, numbering about one hundred and thirty, gave them a most cordial and hearty endorsement, and from that time on until the day of graduation they were treated by the young gentlemen with marked attention. The students were not aware of their attending in the earlier part of the course, because it had been the custom for the ladies to attend in the amphitheater after the class had left to go to the various hospitals. On one occasion while on their way to the college, a number of the students being behind them, they heard the gentlemen say to some men they met, "These ladies are under our charge, and if you offer them an insult we will shoot you down." They did not hear the language of the men, only the reply of the students. At the close of the session the students gave a ball and not only were Miss Hosmer and Miss Peck invited, but a carriage was specially sent to take them to it.

In March, 1869, Mrs. Stanton and Miss Anthony again visited St. Louis. In a letter to The Revolution the former said:

We went to the Mercantile Library to see Miss Hosmer's works of art, and there read the following letter to Wayman Crow, who had been a generous friend to her through all those early days of trial and disappointment.