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Rh committees in both houses. Her appearance in Washington as presiding officer of the Woman's Suffrage Convention in 1910 made many converts to the cause of equal suffrage from the ranks of national legislators. In appearing before the joint committee of senators and representatives and in the open-air meetings, in which she was the moving spirit on this occasion, her splendid characteristic of keen humor and ready wit enabled her to carry her points where logic alone would have failed.

A naturally gifted woman and supported by an unflinching enthusiasm for the right, about the richest possession any cause can have! Such has been the record of Mrs. Helen M. Gougar, author and woman suffragist, born in Litchfield, Mich., July 18, 1843. At forty years of age her head was prematurely whitened by a bitter and hard-fought attempt to weaken her power in political circles by defamation, but the battle over and her enemies completely vanquished, she went on to contest heroically, fighting for what she believes to be the right and patriotic cause to a higher civilization. In this battle she decided forever the right of women to take an active part in political warfare without being compelled to endure ridicule or defamation. Her special work in reforms lies in legal and political lines and constitutional law, and statistics she quotes with marvelous familiarity when speaking in public. Mrs. Gougar is the author of the law granting municipal suffrage to women in Kansas, and the adoption of the measure was wholly due to her efforts. She proved the correctness of her theory by redeeming Leavenworth, the largest city in the state at that time, from slum rule by the votes of women. The success which has attended this law in the interest of political honor and exaltation of public service is well known. As a writer she has a concise, direct and fluent style. For many years she was a contributor to the Chicago Inter-Ocean, and no better evidence of her ability and enthusiasm could be found than the high esteem in which she was held by the management of that old Republican organ.

In the summer of 1884 Mrs. Belva Ann Lockwood was nominated for the presidency of the Equal Rights party in San Francisco, California, and this was the first step toward giving woman suffrage a similar recognition to that accorded the male vote. In 1888 she was renominated by the same party in Des Moines, Iowa, and on this occasion awakened the people of the United States as never before to the consideration of the right of suffrage for women. The notoriety given to her by these bold movements called forth much censure ; nevertheless, in a history of what women have done for the United States, Mrs. Lockwood's life should figure prominently. She was born in Royalton, Niagara County, New York, on the 24th of October, 1830. Her parents' name was Bennett, and they were of the farming class in moderate circumstances, so their daughter was educated first in the district school, and later in the academy of her native town. At fourteen years of age she taught the district school in summer and attended school in