Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/539

 

In 1885 the first woman suffrage association in Arkansas was formed at Eureka Springs by Miss Phoebe W. Couzins and Mrs. Lizzie D. Fyler, who was made president. Miss Susan B. Anthony lectured in February, 1889, in Helena, Fort Smith and Little Rock, at the last place introduced by Gov. James B. Eagle. On Sunday afternoon she spoke at a temperance meeting in this city, to a large audience that manifested every evidence of approval although she advocated woman suffrage. These were the first addresses on woman's enfranchisement given in the State.

No regularly constituted State suffrage convention ever has been held, but at the close of the annual Woman's Christian Temperance Union convention it is customary for the members of this body who favor the ballot for woman to meet and elect the usual officers for that branch of the work.

For fifteen years before her death in 1899, Mrs. Clara A. McDiarmid was a leader, was president of the association and represented the State at the national conventions. Dr. Ida J. Brooks is an earnest worker, and valuable assistance has been given by Mrs. Fannie L. Chunn and Mrs. Bernie Babcock.

In 1896 Mrs. Lida A. Meriwether of Tennessee gave twelve lectures under the auspices of the National Association. Miss Frances A. Griffin of Alabama also spoke here on this subject.

Not even this brief history of the suffrage movement would be complete without a mention of the Woman's Chronicle, established in 1888 by Catherine Campbell Cunningham, Mary Burt Brooks and Haryot Holt Cahoon. Mrs. Brooks was principal of the Forest Grove School, and Miss Cunningham a teacher in the public schools of Little Rock, but every week for five years this bright, newsy paper appeared on time. It was devoted to the general interests of women, with a strong advocacy of their enfranchisement. During the General Assembly it was laid each