Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 4.djvu/560

 of Los Angeles was the leader, and from its headquarters the main work was carried on. These, consisting of four large rooms on the second floor of the Muskegon block, a fine stone building in the business center of Los Angeles, were donated by T. D. Stimson. They were handsomely furnished by friends with every requirement for office work and semi-public meetings. Leo Alexander and William D. Hayward contributed the typewriters. Their arrangement was in the hands of Mesdames J. H. Braly, A. M. Davidson, R. L. Craig and Laura B. Fay. All through that ever-to-be-remembered hot summer of 1896 these dainty, artistic rooms, constantly supplied with fresh flowers, afforded a cool retreat for the busy suffragists, as well as a resting place for their less active sisters who were invited to visit them, even if not in sympathy, and none left without some of the literature and a gentle hint as to their obvious duty.

In San Diego the work was led by the president, Mrs. Flora M. Kimball. Mrs. Kimball was the first woman ever elected Master of a Grange, and was for eight years a member of the San Diego school board. She was a most efficient manager and the beautiful grounds around her home were the scene of many gatherings. A gifted writer also, her satires during this campaign, over the signature "Betty Snow, an anti-suffragist," made many converts.

Prominent among the workers were Mrs. Annie Bristol Sloan, president of the San Diego County W. S. A., the Rev. Amanda Deyo, Dr. Lelia Latta and Mrs. Laura Riddell; Mrs. Helen Joslin Le Boeuf (Tustin), organizer of Orange County; Mrs. Lizzie H. Mills, secretary of the Southern California W. C. T. U., and its president, Mrs. N. P. J. Button, who kept the question prominently before the people of Riverside County. Mrs. Ida K. Spears led the work in Ventura County with pen and voice. Kern County though less densely settled had in its little clusters of humanity staunch friends of the cause under the leadership of Mrs. McLeod, and gave also its majority for the amendment. San Bernardino was ably marshaled by Mrs. Ella Wilson Merchant, the county president. In Santa Barbara County Mrs. Emily Wright had stood sponsor for the cause for many years, and Mrs. S. E. A. Higgins assisted with her facile pen. This